ANIMATION PRINCIPLES - MOVIE TASK INTRODUCTION

This session, we started out the main project for the After Effects unit: a looping animation, taking two props from a live action movie and having them morph into each other on a continuous loop!

First, we were all tasked to choose our favourite live action movie. I decided to go with Avengers: Infinity War, directed by Joe and Anthony Russo.

(Avengers: Infinity War trailer - credit: Marvel Studios)

Once we had a film, we had to choose two props from it. The aim, as stated before, was to make the two repeatedly morph into each other.

Infinity War had a lot of props to choose from, so I wasn't really short of choices. The most obvious one I had to do was the Infinity Gauntlet. In the film, the Infinity Gauntlet is a glove that has 6 slots to fit 6 Infinity Stones. It's coloured gold & bronze, with the only other colours coming from the stones themselves.

(The Infinity Gauntlet prop, as shown at Disney's D23 Expo - credit: D23)

The Gauntlet is the most important prop from the whole film, so it was an easy decision to include it. The other prop, however, was a difficult decision. 

The film includes many other props aside from the Gauntlet, including the casing for 4 of the Infinity Stones, Iron Man's helment, and Thor's weapon Stormbreaker. I came up with an idea for the animation which would involve an Infinity Stone remaining unchanged, with it moving between it's casing and it's place on the Gauntlet. This left me with four choices, between the four Infinity Stones. In the end, I opted for the Eye of Agamotto, which houses the Time Stone.

(The Time Stone encased in the Eye of Agamotto, from it's first appearance in 2016's Doctor Strange - credit: Marvel Studios)

I made some sketches as to how things could look, since the props needed to abstracted enough to look recognisable, but at the same time not include every single detail on them. I also had to accomodate a limited colour palette, since we were only allowed up to 5 colours.

So this project seems REALLY exciting! I love working with media I love; it's the kind of stuff I was doing before starting this course. When both your subject matter and your medium involves something you're passionate about, then you become a lot more invested in it, which is exactly what I'm going for!

From here, I think asset creation is what I'm going to aim for next. The drawing tools in After Effects, the program we're making this animation in, aren't really my cup of tea. However, I'm a lot more comfortable in another vector based program, Illustrator. I could make the assets there and import them over somehow? Will have to look into that.