Animation Update 11/03

I have Filmed more of my Animation today. You can view it below.

I Think somebody has been tampering with my plasticine models in the past week, because one of them was 'dirty' looking and had strange marks all over it. This meant i had to do my best to fix it quickly and try, get some animation done.
Although there weren't any network errors this week, i was still having problems with the istopmotion Software.
As this is my Arts Award, i think i may have enough animation for this project. But i must still continue with my animation, as it is being used in my other project.

A review of this Project will follow Shortly.

Animation Update 4/03 - 6/03

Today i got another 15 Seconds completed of Animation. Here is the video below.

As you can see, it looks a little rough, and without sound, it is certainly missing something. I plan to re-shoot some of this as it looks a little too rough for my liking. But overall i am happy with the progress i am making with this project. 

Last week i had completed little to no work at all, because the Apple Mac Computers were not working properly. Despite them not working too well this week either, i was able to work around it (just), and get something completed. I am hoping to finish the animating process within a 3-4 Weeks. I will then be able to get on with the editing and begin my evaluation of this project. 

Animation update

Today i started my animation. This animation will be used for not just for my Silver Arts Award, but for my Creative Project as well.
After building the set exactly how i wanted it, i set-up the camera, to make sure that the angles were going to work how i wanted them. I then began animating. I only got around 3 and a half seconds complete as shown in the video to the right here. This had taken me around 15 minutes at most to animate and the video when completed will probably be around the 1 minute mark, probably a little less.
I hope to get this finished within 3-4 weeks, and will hopefully then start the editing at that point which should not need too much work done to it.                
       

Arts Award Update

I have finally got the backgrounds complete and have started printing them out. I am almost completely ready to start Animating.

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.    

BBC Newcastle Trip.

Our recent trip to BBC Newcastle was a good experience. We had an insight into the making of TV and Radio. After being given a brief history lesson of the 'Pink Palace', we were guided into a small box room where they pre-record the weather and traffic updates. We were also shown around the archives room. This is where they store every bit of footage that they have ever recorded. They kept the more frequently used recordings on a shelf by the door for easy access. 

To the left is a picture of a film reel. This reel holds 30 Minutes of footage.      

We were then guided into the Television studio. This is the studio used for the Broadcasting of the North East's Local News Programme. All the walls and even the floor were sound proof. We were then guided onto the set. We were then being told about how the recording of the Live News broadcast works and we were aloud to sit in the newsreaders chairs for photos. That is me in the Picture Below. 

While in there, we were told some facts about the studio and given a little bit of History about this particular Studio. We were told that The Television Series, 'Biker Grove' was filmed in this very studio. We were then told about the equipment. If yo look up, you could see 70 very powerful lights. The reason their were so many lights was because when they are all on, they eliminate, or minimise the amount of shadows you can see on camera. We were then pointed towards the Cameras. The cameras had an 'Auto-cue' system which the Newsreader had to control themselves with a foot pedel placed just under the desk. While The tour guides were talking about the Auto-cue, one of the Presenters came in and began talking to us about his job, and shared some stories about some of the things he has had to do in his job. 

   

Proposal

Proposal.

For my Arts Award Project, i am going to make a Claymation. It will be linked with another animation project that i am currently working on. It will be the same or at least very similar to one another. 

   

The animation is about a friendly blue blob thing that gets attacked by a small green blob, and then itself turns into a 'zombie like' creature which cause havoc. 

Some of the props and pieces of equipment i may need are:

• Modelling Clay (Plasticine)
• Specific background images. (If needed)
• iMovie
• Garage Band
• Photoshop
• Matchbox size children's toys (Eg, Cars and Lego?)       
• Light (lighting effects).  
• Camera
• iStopMotion

    The inspiration for this idea was this YouTube Video below. 

My Animation most likely will have some kind of similarities to the one above, so i am going to make sure that i don't copy it or make it too similar. If i were to make mine very similar or nearly the same, it wouldn't seem right, and it would completely lack any kind of creativity.   

These images below are some of the things i have made at some point out of Modelling clay/plasticine.