Pocket City

For the My Animated Self project i wanted to show my transition from the start of the year and then show what kind of things i want to do in the future without being too obvious about it. In order to do this i decided to start off with a flip book, then move onto flat 2D animation in flash or photoshop, and then a 3D pendulum in Maya. After this i wanted to have a city built itself up around it.

I faced some problems while making this project, such as;
i wanted the Maya pendulum to have a shadow but i wanted to overlay it simply over the top, i did this by making a virtual studio with a large white sheet that curved in order to flatten the background into pure white, which was easily edited out in After Effects.
The Strobing from the studio lights kept showing up when filming the flipbook section, i fixed this by upping the shutter speed to make it brighter and make the strobing show up less.

overall i am quite happy with the final animation, i would have liked to have added some sound effects as i feel that sound greatly improves animation, however i didn't have the time and couldn't settle on a single idea for sound.

Metalosis Maligna - an extraordinary disease, and more dark storytelling

Metalosis Maligna - An Extraordinary disease is a fictitious documentary about a disease that affects people with metal medical implants, in which the metal 'grows' and turns patients into disfigured metal things. The thing i love about this animation is the style is so believable that there will most likely a few people out there who believe this is a real disease. Because the filming style and the informative animations are so similar to that of a BBC documentary the disease feels all the more chilling. This style of storytelling and forging of another more chilling version of our reality is something i am always fascinated by, i am a fan of websites of fictional places and/or corporations, for example; Scarfolk City Council blog, a blog that tells the story of a dark village stuck in a darker version of the 80's, or The SCP Foundation, A corporation that specialising in the collecting and containing of supernatural phenomenon. This style of fictional things that are extremely close to reality is a kind of storytelling i really enjoy experiencing, and i would like to make some kind of Fictitious documentary myself in the future.

3D models in battlestar Galactica

Recently i've been watching a lot of battlestar galactica, and though i have thoroughly enjoyed it, there are moments where the quality of the CG Cylons drops dramatically and is so obvious that they aren't actually part of the scene that it can be quite jarring, however the CG space ships always look fantastic apart from a few fight scenes where there are explosions on and around the ship but next to no battle damage or parts of the ship collapsing.

This is most likely because its so much easier to composite onto a black background and don't have to worry about making sure that  the moving parts applies to gravity in the same way the real actors do. 

flying lotus you're dead!

you're dead is an album by flying lotus, and the trailer for said album has an amazing animation. It is very psychedelic with detailed imagery with people sliced in half or with pieces missing, generally very organic. It reminds me of the body horror stories of Junji Ito. The illustrations themselves are quite stationary but is slightly parallax with the background like that which is achievable in after effects. It is a lot less focused on movement and a lot more just an arrangement of gory illustrations.

Bastion

Bastion is one of my favorite videogames of all time, the controls are simple and the objective of the game is  too, but the story, soundtrack and visual styles is amazing. The colours are fantastic, and the gritty fantasy setting is really cool. The bright detail is a huge contrast to how bleak to story is, but the soundtrack is upbeat enough to get you pumped about fighting enemies without feeling cheesy like some videogames that always feel the need to use dubstep. I love the narration, the gritty nature is represented with an equally gritty, and with 'telling it how it is' dialogue perfectly compliments the game. I love it.

Binding of Isaac

The binding of Isaac is a videogame that in all honesty i am addicted to. Edmund McMillen has never shied away from slightly offensive or gross themes in his games, which are all very simple, but very addicting. With settings such as a lab experiment that gets to the exit by puking or a boy made of meat that makes gross slapping noises when he walks and is trying to save his girlfriend from a fetus in a jar. The binding of Isaac is no different. The game is about a boy abused by is overly religious mother escaping down from a basement, lower and lower, into a fetus, into hell and then into a chest, fighting disgusting tumour ridden monsters along the way. The game is simple, fire your tears at enemies to kill them, and upgrade your tears with equally disgusting objects as the enemies you're tying to defeat. Every run of the game is different and it is always random. I love the setting the most i feel, as any game can have upgrades and enemys to fight, but the fact its with tears, religious themes and gross medical objects like cysts, tumours and offensive themes made lighthearted. This adds to make a unique game that is easally recognisable off the bat.

Its also great to freak people out with phrases that seem normal in context to the game.

For Example:

"I'm not sure i want to pick up that dead cat"

"A tumour! Great!"

"I hope i get a deal with the devil on this run"

"I think i might re-roll this bucket of lard"  

Thomas Was Alone

Thomas was alone, is a simple puzzle game, which a fantastic story. The designs of the characters are ridiculously simple, they are all squares or rectangles that are different colours and they never speak. The game would just be another simple puzzle platformer that would probably be quite dull if it wasn't for one thing.
The narration.
Thomas was alone has narration through it that gives each of the shapes a character, with names and personality, such as Thomas, a red rectangle who is extremely curious about the world around him,  Chris, an orange square who hates everything and everyone, and john, a long tall yellow rectangle that is extremely egotistical but also very positive. There are man more characters all with different personalities, skills and an overarching story that makes you extremely attached to simple quadrilaterals. I am going to replay this game soon and take note of the storytelling techniques it uses.

Is Tropical - The Greeks

I saw this animation in 2011 when it came out but i recently remembered it again. The thing i love about this animation is the fact they have illustrated the imagination of kids. Though it seems way too graphic for children's imagination, i definitely remember playing games like this with my friends when i was younger. I also love the fact that the stuff around them isn't really affected in the scene to show that it is just children's imagination illustrated, such as the casual man barbecuing in the background as a boy gets killed with a flamethrower, and an old lady walking getting sniped but not being affected. i also love the fact that the colours and style of the explosions feel very looney tunes esque, though it wouldn't show as much blood as in this video but the colours and the smoke clouds from explosions feel very much Acme esque. i also like the compositing of the animation and the way that though its 2D it still is on different layers of the perspective, such as explosion clouds being both in front and behind one of the boys without feeling too contrasting.

Out Of Sight.

Out of sight is a great animation which has an amazing twist that isn't completely obvious at first but when you realise what the twist is you gain a new appreciation for the animation. Unfortunately i have to spoil the twist in order to talk about why i like this animation so i would recommend watching the animation before reading on.









-SPOILERS START HERE-
The animation itself focuses on showing the viewer what the girl can hear, feel or smell, rather than see, and visually shows the world materialising around her as she discovers parts of it, it also displays the world in a way that could be interpreted from those scenes only alone, such as the lady with a flower head because of the strong perfume, and the flying whale rather than a plane as it would be impossible to tell what it is from the sound alone and the fact that stick she uses is a magic wand to her because it helps her differentiate what things are what in the world. I also like the scene with the cat. She can't tell it's a cat until it meows, but she knows something is there so it is represented as a small ball moving. I love how entertaining the animation is but also how it interprets how the blind experience the world.
-SPOILERS END HERE-

Draw with Jazza : How to develop your own style

i watched this video a little while ago because it came across my feed on youtube and i thought i'd give it a watch. In all honesty i didn't pay much attention because i already have my own ideas about people having their own style. I find that so long as artists keep drawing they eventually develope their own style without any helpful tools coming from outside influences. Creatives take influence from the kind of styles they like, draw like those styles and eventually forge a style they enjoy drawing themselves, and i feel like i didn't need this youtube video to tell me this. Though it may be useful for other people who want to get into creative media i found this video pretty useless and only told me  what i already knew.

Toon Grumps: Lets Animate

For April Fools day this year the game grumps team produced an hour long video of Ross animating in flash, which was a fantastic way to see how animation in flash works and in turn make me attempt to use flash again for the first time in a long time, but also had a conversation between Ross and Arin, the two animators who make up game grumps talk about how they both got into animation, which was just as a hobby that they practiced until they became professional, but they also talk a lot about how animation online has changed, such as how they used to use newgrounds but then moved to youtube when they found out they could monetise their videos and make a living off of it, and then how youtube became more strict with how money was earned on youtube, such as how it works on how many minutes viewed, and how they help other independent animators by making their animations be at least one minute long so that it can be used to earn money on youtube. It was nice to be informed and entertained by the people i watch on a regular basis for soley entertainment.

Markiplier Animated: Stranded deep

I've never been a huge fan of stop motion, i find the characters uncanny and often too shaky, however i recently discovered a Markiplier Animated short which was stop motion and i really enjoyed. Most Animated shorts produced for youtubers such as GameGrumps and Markiplier are digital, however this one was not and i really enjoyed it. the character moves smoothly yet is still exaggerated enough to keep the movements interesting. The comedic timing is fantastic, and the juxtaposition of the characters lines being so deadpan but in such serious and/or dangerous situations is fantastic. Though the animator (in this case Cranbersher) has a script to work towards anyway, his use of shots and character movements is fantastic. Furthermore his wide shot of the character screaming is a fantastic collaboration between the let's player and the animator, using audio effects and shot framing to make the lines even more hillarious. Over the summer i am deffinitly going to attempt an (x-youtuber)animated in order to work with a ready made script, but i am also considering attempting some kind of stop motion.

The Bear and the Hare

The bear and the hare is an animation that is stop motion, but the characters are 2D cut outs, which i really like. I think the production of stop motion scenes is probably the best part of stop motion animation, but i always find the characters too uncanny and a little disconcerting, however in this animation the 2D characters are cut out and then placed in the scene, bringing the 2D characters in to replace the 3D Stop motion ones. I also love that fact they used actual cut outs as opposed to putting them in in after effects afterwards. If i were to do stop motion i feel that this method would be one i would like to have a go at, particularly after seeing the sets made by classmates which seem fantastic.

Jaltoid

Jaltoid is a youtube channel that can be found here. They are a couple who animate shorts together. They always seem either internet humour oriented or a very similar, lighthearted and childish humour but about slightly more adult themes such as click baiting and attention seeking on the internet. They have a very cutesy japanese drawing style which i have always liked, with some western themes such as faces shaped similar to that of fosters home of imaginary friends and the amazing world of gumball such as oval faces and mouths in line with eyes. Their colours are quite flat but with some highlights which makes the animation interesting. Sometimes i find the humour quite tiring, however i find this is the case with a lot of childish humour, but most of the time i do enjoy.

Gonzo

An animator that i have seen around for quite a while but haven't really researched until now is Gonzo, his youtube page can be found here. He has a very unique visual style with smooth lines which gives the impression he has worked in flash, but he also uses a wide range of colours to show shades and highlights, furthermore he rarely uses black outlines for objects however he does use darker lines to make objects or characters the main focus. He also shows quite extreme gore and doesn't shy away from details such as the shine of blood and the purples and blues of internal organs. I like the ammount of colour he uses and the quality of his animations is fantastic for one man to produce alone, i feel that i need to experiment more with the different colours in flash and see what i can create with flash animation. I will also look at other flash animators on youtube such as egraptor and rubberross of the game grumps along with others and look at their working practice for animations.

Effective Presentations

To give an effective presentation we have to use effective storytelling techniques and performance techniques. The goal is to share ideas, concepts, and/or inform a ground of people of a process you plan to take.

we should always assume that the audience knows nothing, but we shouldn't focus on how we are perceived during the presentation, only the information we are trying to give.

Presentations should not be stressful, they need to be clear but simple and accurate. This means not too much text, not too many bullet points and should still be clear from 8ft away.

be enthusiastic, and confident, don't show the presentation anxiety you feel, and don't worry if you make a mistake, it can easily been fixed.

Copyright

Today we were given a presentation on what copyright is.

Everything is automatically copyrighted by the design and UK Patents act of 1998 and gives the owner/creator/publisher the rights to make any changes and control how their work is used.

Anything that is part of the creative process, not just the final creation can be copyrighted, for us that means things like storyboards, concept art and scripts.

Under Copyright, no form of reproduction is allowed unless permission is given by the copyright holder, this includes; Copying, Adapting, Distributing, Public Transmission, Public Performance, Renting and Lending.

Copyrights last for a long time but it varies for which creative media it is.
Photographic, artistic, literary and dramatic works all last for the life of the artist +70 years
Sound recordings last for 70 years

To get permission to use work you must contact either the creator themselves, or the organisation the represents them.

permission is usually only needed when the work is going to be used for commercial purposes, it isn't needed for educational or personal use.

In order to claim copyright we need mark the website with ©YourName and Year of Publication. To prove i created a piece of work i can either leave it with a bank or solicitor, or i could post it to myself with a date stamp on it which proves it existed at a certain point of time.