MONDAY - After Effects continuation Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/01/animation-principles-iteration-3.html - "At this point, I'm really happy with how this is coming along! It's looking as smooth as I wanted it to, with the only thing I need to fix at this point already being mentioned. This post was mostly about the build up to turning back into the Gauntlet, but the actual transformation is what's next." TUESDAY - Narratology: The Hero's Journey Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/01/narrative-heros-journey_15.html - "There wasn't too much that spoke to me in terms of the films or questions I have in mind, apart from one aspect of the non-conventional narratives; specifically, the evolution of materiality. I want to explore how animation can be integrated into the narrative, and seeing an unconventional structure with that very idea could be useful to look into!" WEDNESDAY - After Effects continuation Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/01/animation-principles-final-iteration.html - "So that's it for the morphing animation! I'm really happy with how it came out! The colours, animation and visuals all match what I want, and it even made me get along with After Effects a little bit more! I feel like if there wasn't a restriction on the colour palette (maximum 4 colours), then I could've presented a more accurate Infinity Gauntlet, just in terms of bringing in more Infinity Stones. That was the only real part of the brief that limited me, everything else I was fine with!" THURSDAY - TINE KLUTH STOP MOTION INTRODUCTION <to be added> SUMMARY This was a good week! I got a satisfactory amount of work done, and it was a great way to segue from the first part of BA1b into the second, with each half of the week being somewhat dedicated to each. I finished my morphing animation! I spent a lot of time just working on it this week, I had a lot of motivation all of a sudden! I'm really happy with my end result; a phrase I should stop using so often, but that's the only way I can really put it! The visuals and motions are all clean and look really nice in my opinion! I got some positive feedback from some peers, and any advice they gave was very helpful and immediately got implemented into the animation (if I saw eye to eye with them on it). Narratology this week was unexpectedly helpful in it's subject matter. I don't plan on doing my essay about the Hero's Journey, but there were some parts towards the end of the lecture that are going to be very helpful when talking about Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Specifically, there was a term we learned about at the end regarding riffing, an animation narrative type where gags and jokes take over story. In my chosen film, riffs are used as full on story beats, so definitely one to keep in mind going forward! My sketchbook was more doodles than anything this week. I've been trying to treat this less as a uni task, and more so as just another one of my own personal sketchbooks; and that attitude has been helpful with filling up sketchbooks! I've also looked back on sketchbooks of mine from 2013-2016, seeing what kinds of things I drew there and if I could recapture the same kind of things I was doing then.
This post is looking at my final iteration of my Infinity War Morphing animation!
I sat down for a while to get this completely finished. I had a list of things I needed to do, and was determined to get them done to the absolute best I could. The main bulk of the work was turning the Eye of Agamotto back into the Infinity Gauntlet. I decided the best way to make the morph look natural was to have corresponding colours from both props turn into the elements of each other. This mean the light gold base of the Eye of Agamotto would turn into the light gold hand plate, and the darker gold Eye inner casing would turn into the Gauntlet's cuff. I tried to make both sub-transformations look unique from each other in some way; to achieve this, I had one be transformed by squishing flat down and re-emerging, and the other growing outwards. I created a new path for the Time Stone to travel along to get back to it's original place on the thumb plate. I kept the same general idea of travelling with a loop incorporated in, but changed the speed from something quite fast to something slower. I also got rid of an element connected to the Time Stone; the rune from iteration 3. I ultimately decided not to use it, both out of it somewhat distracting from the start of the morph and it didn't fit with everything else going on. The fingers also needed to come back, so instead of making them just reappear, I had some fun with it. I made them all sprout up one at a time, having a little jump as they did. I thought it was a fun little visual, and it fit with everything else. The thumb plate also pops out, but not as prominently as the fingers do. The final thing I added was the placements for the other stones. Last time I had them applied, they were too fine-lined and weren't noticeable. This time, I decided to make them bigger and bolder. They used dark gold outlines and black insides, to show them off more. They were all one object, so the five could move at the same time. There wasn't a good way to make them move out the way during the morph, be it collectively or not. So I decided that, at an appropriate point, they would leap off the hand plate towards to viewer, but in a way that the gap between them becomes an excuse to have them disappear. When they came back, they'd slam back down onto the hand plate as the penultimate action. So that's it for the morphing animation! I'm really happy with how it came out! The colours, animation and visuals all match what I want, and it even made me get along with After Effects a little bit more! I feel like if there wasn't a restriction on the colour palette (maximum 4 colours), then I could've presented a more accurate Infinity Gauntlet, just in terms of bringing in more Infinity Stones. That was the only real part of the brief that limited me, everything else I was fine with!
This session, we looked at The Hero's Journey, 6 reasons stories are told, the 7 Basic Plots and Unconventional Narratives. We started off by looking back on Proppian narratives, which always start with a lack of or desire of something. The characters in those narratives are less complex than real people, and audiences like seeing characters with simple desires, fuelled by complex psychological reasons. The hero suffers from acts of villainy, offer to fight villains, and are bestowed magical items.
(Link from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is an example of a hero who takes on Proppian traits - credit: Nintendo)
A lot of the time, characters are given psychic wounds. In this sense, it's some kind of defect or flaw that makes the character different, and in some cases "special". For example, Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels has the psychic wound of, unbeknownst to him, being bestowed with great power and strength in the Force. John Yorke calls this Three Dimensional Storytelling, in which characters go on journeys to fix or define their flaw. We also looked over what has been coined as the "6 Reasons Stories are Told". They are as follows:
REHEARSAL - Prepares the audience, in the event that they have to go through the same challenges as the character(s).
HEALING - When we see characters healing and recognising their flaws, it can lead an audience to do the same.
INFORMATION RETRIEVAL - Stories & narratives help people to remember information; showing cause & effect, plotlines and characters help us tie down facts and info.
PANACEA - Happy endings give us hope; even history can be rewritten to suggest a sense of order and justice
PROCREATION - Ends in sexual union, or it's "symbolic manifestation through marriage".
PSYCHOLOGICAL - Lets the audience integrate their psyche onto the story, helping us conquer our own shadows, and give up our own ego-centric wants to fulfill our needs.
Aristotle said "Stories are about change". That's also true of society.
"Stories carry in their DNA a blueprint for society" - John Yorke
Stories change us, and in turn helps us change society. And that change comes from when we face opposition. New ideas come from posing an idea, or thesis, with it's antithesis.
Take Toy Story for example. Woody is our thesis; an old school, self aware, rational cowboy doll. The introduction of Buzz Lightyear, Woody's antithesis, shows Woody how to deal with a modern, deluded and rash spaceman action figure. Their dynamic is the catalyst for Woody's change, showing him how to achieve balance in their setting with the two of them.
(The first scene of Buzz Lightyear and Woody meeting shows their conflicting ideals and personalities bounce off each other, creating conflict - credit: Pixar Animation Studios)
THE HERO'S JOURNEY vs THE PLOT OF REVELATION The Hero's Journey is a transformative structure; someone changes, and there's either happy or tragic resolution. However, there also exists the Plot of Revelation. This structure focuses more on establishing the characters and settings, where events take a back seat. It's character oriented, and things stay essentially the same. The two both have a focus on characters, but there's a narrative theme or question. There's also the topic of character's wants vs needs. For example, the hero wanting to be in a relationship with the attractive cheerleader over the typical girl-next-door could lead to a less fulfilling, more shallow relationship.
(Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" music video perfectly captures the example given above - credit: Big Machine Records)
CATALYST HERO Catalyst heroes mostly appear in franchises or TV shows, where they should remain largely the same across all their appearances. They should get a few moments of change here and there, but still remain recognisable.
(This fan edit of the Marvel Cinematic Universe character Tony Stark / Iron Man shows us some of the key changes the character experienced. He's a catalyst hero, appearing in 7 films so far with major changes only coming from 2 or 3 of them - credit: TopScreen, Marvel Studios)
THE 7 BASIC PLOTS Christopher Booker outlined 7 basic plots that can be seen in whatever medium stories are told.
OVERCOMING THE MONSTER - Defeating an antagonistic force threatening the protagonist, and/or their home; e.g. Moana
RAGS TO RICHES - A poor protagonist gains power & wealth, loses it, then gets it back; e.g. Cinderella
THE QUEST - Protagonists & co. go to get an object / go somewhere, with obstacles and dangers; e.g. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
VOYAGE & RETURN - A protagonist goes to a strange land, and overcomes a threat, returning with experience and newfound knowledge; e.g. The Wizard of Oz
COMEDY - Light & humourous, with a happy or cheerful ending. Triumph over adverse circumstance with a successful or happy conclusion; e.g. Toy Story
TRAGEDY - The protagonist is actually the villain, and their death is deserved and expected; e.g. The Dark Knight
REBIRTH - The protagonist is a villain, but this time, they live and redeem themselves; e.g. Venom
NON-CONVENTIONAL NARRATIVES
"Traditional animation tends to imply that it is a film that tells a story in moving drawings... and contains what has always been called 'personality animation'" - Pilling
There are rarely used story structures which narratives can utilise. Some include:
ABSTRACTION - Laying out only the necessary details, mostly in terms of visuals. Simple shapes and colours replace largely detailed sets and models.
SPECIFIC NON-CONTINUITY - Rejects "logical & linear continuity". This format can have illogical, irrational and sometimes multiple continuities.
INTERPRETIVE FORM - Leaves questions and gaps so that the audience can fill them in, leading to a more subjective experience over an objective one. Delivers a feeling or sensation over anything else.
EVOLUTION OF MATERIALITY - Involves the medium itself into the story / film. Colours, shapes and textures "evoke certain moods & ideas".
MULTIPLE STYLES - Combines various different styles and techniques to best express the artist's "vision"
PRESENCE OF THE ARTIST - A personal, subjective film that exists for the individual's vision
DYNAMICS OF MUSICALITY - A form used to "resist dialogue", and is essentially visual music.
PROTO-NARRATIVE (or RIFFING) - In line with early animations adapted from comic strips, riffing relies on using gags and jokes over a story.
And that was about it for this session! There wasn't too much that spoke to me in terms of the films or questions I have in mind, apart from one aspect of the non-conventional narratives; specifically, the evolution of materiality. I want to explore how animation can be integrated into the narrative, and seeing an unconventional structure with that very idea could be useful to look into!
This post is about the third iteration of my Infinity War Morphing animation.
This was the start of the second half of the animation, where the Eye of Agamotto turns back into the Infinity Gauntlet. I knew I wanted the Eye of Agamotto to break, and then turn back into the Gauntlet. Not only was this part of the original plan, but it also stays true to Avengers: Infinity War, the movie the animation is based on. Near the end of the Battle of Titan scene, Thanos takes the Eye of Agamotto away from Doctor Strange, crushing it in his hand.
(Thanos snatching and crushing the Eye of Agamotto - credit: Marvel Studios)
To replicate this effect, I needed to do three things;
Move any unnecessary details for this action out the way
Show how the Eye is being crushed
Show the Eye breaking
I did two of these steps at the same time; as the Eye of Agamotto gets squished from the sides, the two prongs recede into the Eye. They detatch from the Eye before it's crushed, and go back once it's dimensions change. To show the actual breaking, I created a lightning-bolt shaped crack. I coloured it black, so that it would match the background and look like there was an actual crack left in the Eye. I hid it just to the left of the action when it wasn't being used, seeing that it blended in with the black background. When I needed it, I positioned it right above the Eye, and made it stretch down when the Eye snapped. What I did notice after working on this was that there's one frame where the prong that snaps off gets covered up by the crack. Something to fix next time, either by moving the crack somewhere else or by adjusting the layer placements. One extra detail I added was a Time Rune. In the films, the rune appears when time is being manipulated. I thought it could be a good callback to the MCU's usage of the Eye of Agamotto to make it seem like time was reversing and reforming the Gauntlet. I'm not sure if I'll go forward with this though; while it looks cool at this point, it could distract from the rest of the morphing going on.
(A time rune being used in Doctor Strange - credit: Marvel Studios)
At this point, I'm really happy with how this is coming along! It's looking as smooth as I wanted it to, with the only thing I need to fix at this point already being mentioned. This post was mostly about the build up to turning back into the Gauntlet, but the actual transformation is what's next.
