Here are all the shots that I completed in Flash for our 30 second film project, making up exactly half the amount of animation required for the film. I also designed all the storyboards and many backgrounds for the film, as well as contributing to the storyline, providing some sound effects and performing one of the character voices (the angry father). Crafting the storyline was probably the most fun to work with, since the poem I chose, "The Time I Like Best", had plenty of potential and strong material for me to translate onto film. Flash was chosen as the animation software for the film since our initial choice of software, CelAction, kept crashing and was unable to import the files/rigs we needed. We wanted the film to be animated in 2D since our film was Christmas-themed and 2D can be used to create imaginative worlds away from real-life, and offers a cozy, warm Christmas theme. Although animated in stop-motion replicating 2D, the recent 2013 John Lewis Christmas advert could be an example of this. Flash was fun to work with although I had to remind myself how to use the software, after not using it for a long time!
Link to video here: https://vimeo.com/80738700
The above video contains all the shots I worked on for "The Time I Like Best". The password to view the above video is uclan. The last shot in the video was rendered incorrectly since I was working with a different computer which is not compatible with QuickTime. However, the render errors present in the final clip demonstrate why we chose against CelAction for our final film, since we came across this problem every time we worked with the software. This shot was rendered again on another computer more successfully, and has been used in the final film.
Sunday, 1 December 2013
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Animatic
Here is the animatic for the upcoming 30 second piece I am currently working on, entitled "The Time I Like Best". The animation is the next stage, and David and I will be working on the project using CelAction. The simple 2D look is intended to help achieve a very simplistic look, which would give this piece a warm, fuzzy feeling that people get around Christmas time. This ties in with the theme and subject matter of the poem the film is based on.
Monday, 4 November 2013
Character Bio and Designs: Spyder
The following post includes a character bio and designs created for our modelmaking project, where we were asked to create a woodland creature (although the characters don't have to belong in a woodland in any stories or films about them). The woodland creature-based character will eventually be made into a model by Christmas.
Character Bio:
Spyder is a lovable hero who works for a
large, underground organisation working to give spiders everywhere a much
better reputation and future. Spyder is himself a spider who has nicknamed
himself ‘Spyder’ to make himself sound ‘really cool’; one of many examples of
how vain Spyder is at times. He can be very self-centred and is very interested
in defeating the bad guys and winning the hearts of the ladies, giving his Boss
concerns that Spyder doesn’t understand fully how espionage works. Spyder’s mishaps
make him clumsy and incompetent at times, which constantly winds up his Boss,
and he always takes the credit every time his Boss teams him up with a new
sidekick. Strangely though, it’s often Spyder’s incompetence that proves useful
in getting the job done, and Spyder always does get the job done, much to his
Boss’ extreme annoyance. His Boss would love to fire him and run his
organisation better, but the authorities hear about Spyder’s many successes and
believe Sypder is actually their best agent, so they always refuse. Although he
doesn’t show it, Spyder is actually very observant and extremely dedicated to
his missions, despite his clumsiness. It may take longer for Spyder to solve
mysteries and crimes due to his bumbling nature, but it’s always worth it
because remarkably noone else can get the job done as efficiently as he can.
His life is espionage and this is his main interest in life. He does have a
caring side which he mainly shows around his family, and he is happy to make
his mum and dad proud every time he goes out to do “spy stuff they wouldn’t
understand about”.
The organisation exists to keep all
efforts going to restore peace between spiders and humans, who actually had a
very strong friendship thousands of years ago around the world. Sadly, the
humans seem to have forgotten this important piece of history, and instantly
see spiders as disgusting creatures who are a threat to humans everywhere. The
humans don’t understand the spiders only work to defend themselves and have
never actually killed anyone (well, except in Brazil, anyway…).
Spyder is a character who has potential
to star in his own movies or TV series aimed at younger children, whilst
keeping it fun for adults to watch as well, as many mainstream animated films
attempt to do. Spyder would be a homage to the entire spy genre, referencing
the James Bond series (e.g. Spyder is Agent 008, or Agent Eightlegs), Mission:
Impossible, the Pink Panther series, etc.
Spyder is, of course, an anthropomorphic
spider who only bears certain characteristics to a real spider. Spyder was
inspired by domestic house spiders, and his design still keeps a realistic body
faithful to what a house spider really looks like. However, I went through many
designs for the character’s face. Many real spiders have eight eyes, so I also
wanted Spyder to have eight eyes, but this proved challenging to put on a
protagonist without making the eyes too distracting. I went through many
designs, but eventually went around this problem by enlarging and exaggerating
the middle eyes, so these would become the main focus of the character. Some
designs also show Spyder supporting a quadorcle (as opposed to a monocle) as a
homage to literary characters such as Sherlock Holmes.
Friday, 18 October 2013
Final Storyboards for "The Time I Like Best"
Recently I completed the final storyboards for my upcoming 30 second animated piece, "The Time I Like Best", based on the poem by Roger McGough.
Saturday, 12 October 2013
Fantastic Mr Fox - Book vs Film Analysis
Recently for a project on adaptations, I looked at the differences between the book and film versions of Fantastic Mr Fox, and how director Wes Anderson made a beloved Roald Dahl tale very much into his own.
Book to film adaptations are nothing new for Roald Dahl's novels, but what separates the movie "Fantastic Mr Fox" from other Dahl films is not just the adaptation of a different art style, but the screenplay for the film is essentially a retelling. The new script was written by Wes Anderson and long-time collaborator, Noah Baumbach, and includes many typical features of a Wes Anderson screenplay. His style of humour is present, which consists of very dry wit and smug, smart alecky dialogue. Film critic Mark Kermode has highlighted the example that "comme ci comme ca" (French for "so and so") does not seem like the usual nonsensical Dahl vocabulary, such as "snozzwangers", "wangdoodles", "snozzcumbers", etc. The dialogue in the film (released in 2009) also seems more updated than in the original book, first published in 1970. The dialogue is heavily Americanised to appeal to the US market, as are the casting choices including George Clooney and Meryl Streep. However, the human characters (the villains) were played by British actors including Michael Gambon as the primary villain, Franklin Bean. This is a stark contrast to the book's sense of timelessness, and the idea that the book is not set in one specific location and has a universal appeal. Only one rhyme in the film during the first ten minutes serves as a true reminder of Dahl's writing style ("why couldn't I be a tree, a beagle or a bald eagle?"). Like the book, however, the film is divided into short chapters - possibly in reference to the story originating from a novel.
The film's title card also serves as a reminder the film was adapted from a Roald Dahl book. It's also another example of Anderson's smart alecky humour, literally pointing it out to the audience.
The film often shows everything quite literally to the audience in the exact same manner, another example of Anderson's humour. In one scene, a character is explaining how a game of "Whack Bat" is played at the same time it is described via visuals on screen.
As a result of Anderson's smart alecky humour and more adult vocabulary such as "cuss", the target audience has changed. The Dahl book was aimed purely at younger children, but now more adults are likely to watch the film and enjoy it. Further examples of adult humour include a cameo from Jarvis Cocker, who more mature audiences will recognise but kids will see him as simply a background character who just sings part of the story to move it along.
The original book was also too short to stretch out into a 90 minute feature, so, much like with "The Grinch" and "The Cat in the Hat", new material was added to the script to develop the original story and expand on the character's personalities. In the book, Mr Fox has four sons who he teaches to steal chickens, but in the film, he only has one son named Ash. This allows more focus onto one character who feels he is ignored by his father, particularly when his cousin Kristofferson arrives and steals all the attention. This highlights a strong father-son relationship in the film - another typical feature of Wes Anderson's films and screenplays - which was not present in the book, which was written for pure entertainment. Anderson's film adaptation has more depth and meaning, due to the character's personalities being expanded upon. Mr Fox himself is made into a much more sympathetic character, because he has an obsession (stealing chickens) which he knows he shouldn't commit to, but he cannot help himself.
The art style and stop-motion animation in the film was also Wes Anderson's choice. He liked the idea of everything looking hand-made but also incredibly realistic, like it was set in a real world. He started developing the look of the film with Henry Selick (director of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Coraline"), because he felt that if he tried to contact any other director or studio, they wouldn't support his vision and turn it into CGI - a more common and less attractive art style, in Anderson's view. The art style deviates largely from the cartoony drawings illustrated by Quentin Blake, which are as famous as Roald Dahl's written material and tie in perfectly with Dahl's wacky and inventive style. However, Anderson still adapts some of the book's most iconic images, which I found more powerful than copying every single image from the original book. For me personally, the stop-motion style was the highlight of the film because it's beautiful to look at and has great detail, especially with the movements and the fur on the animals, which makes them look very realistic.
Other factors of the art style which make it stand out as Anderson's include the colours. The film is full of yellows and oranges, with occassional greys, whites and blacks, all colours you would see in the autumn, in the countryside and on the fox animal itself. Anderson also uses his favourite (trademark) font everywhere in the film - Futura.
In the film, the animals move around very slowly when they are talking, and move extremely quickly when they are walking, running, jumping around, etc. This was accomplished through shooting on double frames (12 per second) then changing to single frames (24 per second) when moving about quickly.
The film's cast and crew choices also include frequent collaborators from other Wes Anderson films, much in the same vein as how often Roald Dahl collaborated with illustrator Quentin Blake. Writer Noah Baumbach wrote the screenplay with Wes Anderson, and actors Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Chase Anderson and Willem Dafoe have all worked on previous Anderson films. Wilson and Murray have worked with Anderson 7 times each - one away from the same number of times Tim Burton has worked with Johnny Depp! In the case of Owen Wilson, a character (Coach Skip) was created especially for him to have a voice role in the film.
The film's music also ties in with its country theme, with excessive use of banjos and country themes, composed by Alexandre Desplat ("The King's Speech"). The one exception is the "Boggis, Bunce and Bean" song, performed by the choir at the London Oratory School and following the same lyrics as the original Roald Dahl rhyme from the book.
Book to film adaptations are nothing new for Roald Dahl's novels, but what separates the movie "Fantastic Mr Fox" from other Dahl films is not just the adaptation of a different art style, but the screenplay for the film is essentially a retelling. The new script was written by Wes Anderson and long-time collaborator, Noah Baumbach, and includes many typical features of a Wes Anderson screenplay. His style of humour is present, which consists of very dry wit and smug, smart alecky dialogue. Film critic Mark Kermode has highlighted the example that "comme ci comme ca" (French for "so and so") does not seem like the usual nonsensical Dahl vocabulary, such as "snozzwangers", "wangdoodles", "snozzcumbers", etc. The dialogue in the film (released in 2009) also seems more updated than in the original book, first published in 1970. The dialogue is heavily Americanised to appeal to the US market, as are the casting choices including George Clooney and Meryl Streep. However, the human characters (the villains) were played by British actors including Michael Gambon as the primary villain, Franklin Bean. This is a stark contrast to the book's sense of timelessness, and the idea that the book is not set in one specific location and has a universal appeal. Only one rhyme in the film during the first ten minutes serves as a true reminder of Dahl's writing style ("why couldn't I be a tree, a beagle or a bald eagle?"). Like the book, however, the film is divided into short chapters - possibly in reference to the story originating from a novel.
The film's title card also serves as a reminder the film was adapted from a Roald Dahl book. It's also another example of Anderson's smart alecky humour, literally pointing it out to the audience.
The film often shows everything quite literally to the audience in the exact same manner, another example of Anderson's humour. In one scene, a character is explaining how a game of "Whack Bat" is played at the same time it is described via visuals on screen.
As a result of Anderson's smart alecky humour and more adult vocabulary such as "cuss", the target audience has changed. The Dahl book was aimed purely at younger children, but now more adults are likely to watch the film and enjoy it. Further examples of adult humour include a cameo from Jarvis Cocker, who more mature audiences will recognise but kids will see him as simply a background character who just sings part of the story to move it along.
The original book was also too short to stretch out into a 90 minute feature, so, much like with "The Grinch" and "The Cat in the Hat", new material was added to the script to develop the original story and expand on the character's personalities. In the book, Mr Fox has four sons who he teaches to steal chickens, but in the film, he only has one son named Ash. This allows more focus onto one character who feels he is ignored by his father, particularly when his cousin Kristofferson arrives and steals all the attention. This highlights a strong father-son relationship in the film - another typical feature of Wes Anderson's films and screenplays - which was not present in the book, which was written for pure entertainment. Anderson's film adaptation has more depth and meaning, due to the character's personalities being expanded upon. Mr Fox himself is made into a much more sympathetic character, because he has an obsession (stealing chickens) which he knows he shouldn't commit to, but he cannot help himself.
The art style and stop-motion animation in the film was also Wes Anderson's choice. He liked the idea of everything looking hand-made but also incredibly realistic, like it was set in a real world. He started developing the look of the film with Henry Selick (director of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Coraline"), because he felt that if he tried to contact any other director or studio, they wouldn't support his vision and turn it into CGI - a more common and less attractive art style, in Anderson's view. The art style deviates largely from the cartoony drawings illustrated by Quentin Blake, which are as famous as Roald Dahl's written material and tie in perfectly with Dahl's wacky and inventive style. However, Anderson still adapts some of the book's most iconic images, which I found more powerful than copying every single image from the original book. For me personally, the stop-motion style was the highlight of the film because it's beautiful to look at and has great detail, especially with the movements and the fur on the animals, which makes them look very realistic.
Other factors of the art style which make it stand out as Anderson's include the colours. The film is full of yellows and oranges, with occassional greys, whites and blacks, all colours you would see in the autumn, in the countryside and on the fox animal itself. Anderson also uses his favourite (trademark) font everywhere in the film - Futura.
In the film, the animals move around very slowly when they are talking, and move extremely quickly when they are walking, running, jumping around, etc. This was accomplished through shooting on double frames (12 per second) then changing to single frames (24 per second) when moving about quickly.
The film's cast and crew choices also include frequent collaborators from other Wes Anderson films, much in the same vein as how often Roald Dahl collaborated with illustrator Quentin Blake. Writer Noah Baumbach wrote the screenplay with Wes Anderson, and actors Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Chase Anderson and Willem Dafoe have all worked on previous Anderson films. Wilson and Murray have worked with Anderson 7 times each - one away from the same number of times Tim Burton has worked with Johnny Depp! In the case of Owen Wilson, a character (Coach Skip) was created especially for him to have a voice role in the film.
The film's music also ties in with its country theme, with excessive use of banjos and country themes, composed by Alexandre Desplat ("The King's Speech"). The one exception is the "Boggis, Bunce and Bean" song, performed by the choir at the London Oratory School and following the same lyrics as the original Roald Dahl rhyme from the book.
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