Planning For Animation

To be able to start the animation process, i first need to plan and create everything i will need, as well as getting used to the software i will be using.

First off, i need to come up with a story and characters. It doesn't have to be a story as such, but as long as something is planned, and i am able to create it with the basic tools and equipment that are available to me. To help me come up with a story, i will watch some tv animations and go on YouTube.com, to watch other people's homemade animations, and claymation's. I hope that doing this will give me some kind of idea as to what could happen in my animation. 

I will have to make sure that whatever tools and equipment i need will be available to me if and when i need them. 

After the planning of my story, i will now need to create the character models. I may want to plan what they look like before hand however, i might just try and make anything and see what i can come up with. I feel that if i just make the characters as i go instead of planning their appearance then trying to replicate it, may be too difficult as i don't have much practice or experience. 

Once the characters have been made, i will begin to create the 'set'. I will either take pictures myself, or just go onto 'Google Earth' and take screenshots of real places to use as backdrop. I may also edit some in Adobe Photoshop. I will only do this if i feel i can make a particular background look better.     

After preparing the characters and the sets, i will then begin to animate. I will Animate using some software called, 'iStopMotion'. I should at this stage already have a good idea about what the finished product will look like, but there could be some last minute changes if needs be. Animating could take a few hours collectively, and even longer f there are any problems, so i must plan for the inevitable. 

After everything is filmed, i will need to edit this. I will edit this in 'Adobe Premier', because it is a good piece of software and i could use some practice with it. The editing will include adding titles and credits, and finding or making any sound effects and/or music that i might need. I could either download and copyright free music and sound effects or attempt to create my own. This will depend on how much time i have when i am editing. 

I will then need to export my animation, and have it reviewed by my peers. After this i will complete a written evaluation on the work i produced.