This session, we developed on our After Effects skills, and did an exercise more heavily focused on morphing. Our brief was given at the start of the session; take a square and a circle. Make one morph into the other, and back again. We were advised to consider both the 12 Animation Principles & where they can be applied, and to come up with unique ideas for each transformation. I came up with my two ideas; I had the square squash in it's sides to their extremes, making the shape more resemble an "X". Once it reached a breaking point, it would snap into four individual spiked components. They'd then reform into the circle. Once the circle was reformed, I'd have a simple squash down and reemerge as the square again. I managed to get the square to morph into the X shape easily enough; just change some attributes using bezier handles. But it was splitting the shape up that was the problem. I thought that you could just select the bit you wanted to separate, press a hotkey and then it's done. But unfortunately, that wouldn't work. There was a workaround however; separate layers. I created the four fragments on separate layers, and made an appropriate switch out when needed. Once the X seemed like it had reached breaking point, I brought the fragments in from offscreen and animated them as they needed to move. I used the same swapping technique when bringing in the circle; once it was onscreen, the fragments shrank into the circle, blending in with the colours, and then moving offscreen.
(The animation's first pass after finishing the session. I went back later to finish it.)
Moving back into the square was somewhat trickier. The technique I had used in the last session to turn on shape into another wasn't working; this was pretty frustrating, considering that action was the base for everything else I was going to apply to the squash and stretch back up. But I realised I could just use the same thing I did for the segments yet again. I learned later on that the elements of the animation didn't actually have to morph, but look like they did. I eventually finished, with this as the final pass;
(The final pass of the animation.)
Overall, this session was a lot like the last After Effects one; I didn't really enjoy it too much, nothing really appealed to me personally. After Effects still doesn't feel like "my thing", especially after giving it a fair go both at uni and when finishing work at home. While the animation came out alright, it just about meets my own personal standard. The thing I feel holding me back from making it better is just my incompatibility with After Effects. I should try and find ways to make things easier to work with next week.
This session, we started looking at our new research project about narrative. In total, there'll be six sessions, teaching us about
(Un)Conventional stories and storytelling methods
Narrative theory
The unique language of animation
How to tell our own stories
Identifying when / where stories work or go wrong
In addition, we also found out there would be 5 preset questions to choose from, instead of coming up with one for ourselves. We didn't get to that yet, but next session we should do.
This time, the essay is 1,500 words, exploring the role and development of narrative within animation. We have to choose an animated film, since the narrative needs to be clear and self contained, eliminating the previous options of TV series and video game basis'. Relevant contexts should be researched, including any origins of the story. It's also important to talk about the type of animation the film uses. In most cases, it'll either be 2D, CGI or Stop Motion. So the bulk of this lecture was centered around one topic:
What is a story?
"The idea of a 'story' may be understood as a sequence of events taking place over a particular period of time" ~ Wells, 1998
A story is just what happened in what order, essentially. There's also the term narrative, which is just a completed story. One thing that's also important to note is that plot and story, often interchangably used, are in fact NOT the same thing.
"Plot is distinct from story. Both include the same events, but in the plot the events are arranged" ~ Tomashevsky
Plots will usually rearrange the events in the most dramatic way; it makes sure the audience sees cause & effect, it withholds and reveals information. Where story is the what happened, plot is why it happened. Usually, plots have some kind of moral or message at the end. Philosopher Aristotle is stated to have said plots work for evoking pity and fear into the audience. Seeing characters achieve or fail teaches us, the audience, how to achieve or avoid the same fate they did. The size of the feat doesn't necessarily matter, just so long as (plot depending) the outcome is obvious. Plots also need turning points, also known as peripetia. For conventional stories, they're crucial to bring in something new and unexpected to keep engagement up and introduce conflict if necessary. In all, plots should follow four main guidlines:
They should be connected; don't introduce elements that don't go anywhere! Everything has to tie up at the end or end up somewhere.
They should complete at the end. Traditional plots / narratives need to leave no loose ends, so that the audience doesn't feel cheated out of a potential resolution.
Self-contained, unless the narrative is intended to have a second part.
A moment of change, completing a character's hero's journey and leaving them in a different place at the end than at the beginning.
Another key term is structure. The structure is essentially the skeleton of the overall narrative, how it's put together. In Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling, their 4th rule talks about structure.
"Once upon a time, there was _____. Every day, _____. One day, _____. Because of that, _____. Because of that, _____. Until finally, _____." ~ Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling, Rule 4
Most conventional structures are emotionally satisfying, wrap up with no loose ends, safely thrill and arrange events in the most dramatic order. Gustav Freytag, a German novelist and playwright, introduced the idea of a 5 act structure that narratives follow, called Freytag's Pyramid.
(Freytag's Pyramid, and it's 5 labelled points)
There are 5 parts to the pyramid, representing the 5 parts of the narrative Freytag outlined.
EXPOSITION - Where the audience learns who the narrative is about. Who's the main character? What do they do? Why do we care about them?
RISING ACTION - What sets the main character on their journey? Is it a person, an item, a journey?
CLIMAX - The fully risen tensions. This is where the audience should have the most adrenaline regarding the story. Later story structures have moved the climax closer to the end.
FALLING ACTIONS - A path set in motion after the main climax, usually the direct effect of it. Can be positive actions or negative, depending on climax's outcome.
DENOUEMENT - The final resolution. Loose ends tied up, nothing left unanswered.
A slight variation of this exists currently, and is more widely used at this point in time. The steps now read:
EXPOSITION (no change)
TRIGGER (the same as Rising Action)
COMPLICATIONS - Things getting tricky for the hero. Maybe a test of worth, or a wrench being thrown into the works.
TURNING POINT - A climax with a little bit added to the beginning of it, setting up the climax. Maybe something big is revealed, like a new plan or a secret is told.
RESOLUTION (the same as denouement)
Short stories may merge steps, in order to keep their story length minimal but have the structure remain satisfying. That was all the theory we had explained, but we had to analyse the 2016 Sainsbury's advert.
("The Greatest Gift", Sainsbury's Chirstmas advert from 2016)
We had to write down everything that happened in notes using the story structure headings. Here's what I had:
EXPOSITION - James Corden puppet (the main character) works in a factory around Christmas time
TRIGGER - He's spending so much time at work and shopping, he doesn't spend enough time with his family.
COMPLICATIONS - He realises that only one of him isn't enough to satisfy the needs of everyone in his life.
TURNING POINT - He breaks into the factory, and sets up the machines to make toys with his face on them.
RESOLUTION - He gifts the toys with his face to anyone around, so that everyone can see him.
Admittedly, I didn't like or really get this advert, or it's message. I didn't like it.
But I did enjoy this lecture! Granted, the subject matter for this essay isn't as personally interesting as the last one was (the subject was characters). But I just need to make sure I choose something I'll be happy writing about and then it should all be alright from there! I'm struggling to come up with a comprehensive pool of films I could choose from for this, the one I'm gravitating towards most is Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. I'm going to have to double check if I'd be able to use that film though, since it's only partially animated. But overall, enthusiastic about this project!
This session, we were introduced to the program After Effects and started learning how to use it. After Effects is a program released by Adobe, and is used in video editing and creation. It comes with a preset selection of visual effects and tools that can be applied to clips and assets.
(After Effects' user interface - credit: Adobe)
This session was essentially just messing about with the program, learning a few key skills and then combining some of them. We also had a brief look into the world / industry of motion graphics, which typically use After Effects.
"Motion graphics are pieces of digital footage or animation which create the illusion of motion or rotation, and are usually combined with audio for use in multimedia projects." - Wikipedia's definition of Motion Graphics
Motion graphics can be applied in many areas, such as in advertising, video essays, and within film & television. The website Motionographeris a hub for many different motion graphics projects from many different artists. They'll have interviews with the creator(s), explain what the video was for, and give all the necessary details about the video itself to anyone who desires it. We also looked at Art of the Title, a somewhat similar website, but dedicated to the opening / closing titles of films and TV shows. The site does breakdowns with people involved on the projects, be it directors, producers, etc. Influences and analysis are included within the page for each film, citing anywhere that the team making the titles may have been influenced.
(Jessica Jones gets a page dedicated to it's opening titles, featuring interviews with the creative director, illustrator and lead designer - credit: Art of the Title)
Once we had a brief look at the websites, we went on to learn some basic After Effects tools. We added shape layers, text, strokes, and techniques I was aware of beforehand, but not experienced with in After Effects. At this point I was starting think that this wouldn't be like the other Adobe programs I'd used before. Everything was there, just like the other programs. But they worked differently, it felt weird expecting a tool to do one thing, then have it do something completely different. We next looked at something I was more comfortable in; making what we'd put onscreen actually move. AE uses the same system to have elements moving onscreen as Adobe Premiere Pro, a program I feel more versed in. For each element, it has it's own timeline. By placing markers on that timeline and moving the element, it creates it's own movements in between the two markers. This can also be used to alter an element's scale and rotation, which we also messed around with. We also looked at motion paths. A motion path can be used to lead an element along a certain route, and combining it with each element's timeline can lead to speed changes along the motion path, kind of like how rollercoaster carts slow down and speed up as it travels along the track. Finally was morphing two shapes from one into the other. I followed this tutorial, which helped out learning the basics of morphing in AE.
(A tutorial on morphing shapes in After Effects - credit: Mobox)
It essentially involves creating the two shapes seperate of each other, creating two keyframes for each shape (1 start, 1 end), making their paths bezier paths, and moving one shape's end keyframe into the timeline of the other. All those steps combined leads to one basic morphing shape! I combined elements from everything we did to create a rather silly looking, but ultimately functional animation. I had the two shapes morphing into each other, spinning around as it did, and the text followed a twisting and turning motion path. Overall thoughts? Honestly, I didn't really like this session. Motion graphics usually don't interest me, but I thought I'd give it a fair shot with this introductory session like I had done for things I previously didn't like in the last unit. But ultimately... I don't think it's for me. The combination of the subject matter itself and After Effects wasn't my cup of tea, and I can't see myself utilising motion graphics outside my university work.
New unit, new blog! Today we were introduced to our new unit based around Concepts and Contexts. It's going to revolve around a few main areas and projects:
Morphing & Metamorphasis
CG Animation in Maya
The Mystery Box - character performance
2 Research projects: Narratives and Media Roles & Practices (in essay and presentation forms, respectively.)
This session, we started looking at Morphing and Metamorphasis. Morphing is when one image or illustration flows and transforms into another. There's no rule stating how realistic the transformation has to be, just so long as it's smooth and seems SOMEWHAT plausible.
(La Faim, or Hunger, is a morphing animation that used computers to morph between images - credit: Peter Foldes)
Our introduction into making our own morphing animations was through a series of drawings we did. The exercise for this session started with us drawing our hands in various different positions and poses. For me, this would've ordinarily seemed quite daunting. But thanks to the life drawing sessions we'd been having, I was much happier to draw from life, even if it was just my hand. We did a few, and did one which involved constructing a wireframe on our hand, to show curves and general 3D shaping. A wireframe, in animation, is used on a 3D model before textures are applied, giving the person modelling the character, prop or setting a clearer idea of the dimensions of certain parts of the subject.
(A wireframe of Woody from the Toy Story films - credit: Pixar Animation Studios)
In the end, we ended up with a sheet that looked something like this:
After the hands, we all went up to a table covered with different items. I chose a small vinyl idol, something you'd find on an office desk. We did the same with that item as we did the hands, albeit without the wireframe. Positioning the item in interesting ways was quite tricky, given it's more awkward shape and curvature. I managed to get a few drawings out of it though. From there, on that same sheet, we next had to draw what we thought a midway point between the two would look like. From here, we didn't have to strictly be realistic or "correct". It was completely up to interpretation, so it was admittedly quite a fun process! I decided that I wanted the ears of the idol to sprout from the hand quite obviously, and the thumb had to disappear from the hand first. Those two self-imposed criteria lead to two main ideas; one hand that could be somewhat achieved without injury, and one that would involve breaking two fingers and a thumb to achieve in real life.
After that, we had one final task: make the full timeline of the morph. In 5 frames, we had to make the hand turn into our item. It seemed like quite a large task at first, but the fact that we had 3 frames already done definitely made it seem like less of a big deal. It was interesting coming up with midway points between the realistic extremes and abstract inbetween, and I tried to come up with something that wouldn't lean too far into either side.
The final timeline I ended up with is something I'm fairly happy with, although I'd definitely tidy it up if I had the chance. Near the end, the drawings start veering upwards instead of staying aligned with the rest. Overall, I was happy with this session! But what I'm most looking forward to is the rest of the unit. Especially learning how to do 3D animation in Maya; I've never done CGI animation before, so it'll be interesting learning if it'll be easy, difficult, or maybe even something I'd want to keep doing throughout all 3 years! The Mystery Box project seems interesting as well; I'd seen previous examples of it, and it looks like a lot of fun to come up with the ideas and execute them!
