Rotoscoping

Rotoscoping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHqc0fgMT-E&feature=youtu.be

I created this short clip of a person moonwalking with the use of rotoscoping. This process involves filming a piece of live action footage, uploading it and drawing over it so get the effect of animation. It is key to draw over each frame or every second frame to get this effect. The file was a .mov file so I converted the file using a converting program online to make it into a FLV file for web use. After I had done this, I imported the short clip into Flash CC to begin the process of rotoscoping it. 

Firstly, I created another layer above the layer with the video clip on it. This had to be done so that I could delete the layer with the video clip afterwards and achieve the above effect. I began drawing on every two to three key frames, making sure to press F6 and delete the onion skin to draw over the footage each time. It was a tedious process but I like the effect that I ended up with!

Animation of Stickman

Animation of a Stickman

This is the link to my video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2bp8cYGHHQ&feature=youtu.be

I created this animation with the use of Flash CC - an animation software. I made this animation of a stickman falling over and shuffling off the screen on his stomach. I used 'Frame by 'Frame' animation to create this short piece, which involves creating each frame one after the other until they flow as one animation. The first two frames were blank, and then I drew the first action that I wanted my stickman to do using the paint tool in the colour black. Then I made another key frame by pressing F6. by doing this, it made a second image of my stickman appear on the second key frame. I made sure to put the onion skin effect onto my keyframe, leaving a ghosted image of the stickman's previous action so that I could base my second drawing closely on him. I kept doing this technique, moving the stickman a little each time, changing his posture and facial expression as I went. This created a smooth animation as a result.

Notes on Animator Presentations

Notes on Animator Presentations

1. Matt Groening 

Matt Groening is an American cartoonist, most famous for 'The Simpsons' and 'Futurama.' He was born on the 15th of February 1954. He is also a screenwriter, producer, animator, author, musician, comedian and voice actor! He attended the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. This school was a liberal arts school and during his time there, he was the editor of his school's magazine, drawing entertaining cartoons and writing the occasional article. 

His biggest inspirations were Linda Barry and Charles M Schulz. His interest in becoming a cartoonist began when he watched the animation created by Walt Disney Studios. His favourites were Dumbo and 101 Dalmatians.  

The Simpsons & Futurama

'The Simpsons' is probably Matt Groening's most famous piece of work. It was first shown in 1989 and is still shown all over the world today in many different languages. A movie was made from it in 2007, starring all of the show's most well-known characters.

Futurama premiered in 1999, but was in no way as successful as 'The Simpsons,' as it was cancelled after four short years. Fortunately, 'Comedy Central' brought the show back for a while before the fins episode was shown in 2013.

Techniques

The entire process of creating one episode of 'The Simpsons' takes about nine months altogether. Firstly, the script has to be finalised, before it is sent off to the animators who create story boards and rough sketches of how they want the show to appear. The voice track is then added to a series of black and white sketches of these story boards. Once this has been finalised and checked over several times, the drawings are sent off the Korea, where they are coloured in and then shot once again before being linked to the voice track once more. 

Once the music has been added, and the writers and producers have viewed the episode is is ready to be aired on television. 

The Purpose of his Work & his Appeal to Audiences

'The Simpsons,' although a children's show, contains some quite controversial material. Many members of the public decided that Bart Simpson was a bad role model for young boys due to his behaviour in the show and how he treats his peers and parents. Due to this, any merchandise to do with the show was banned in many American state schools.

On the other hand, 'The Simpsons' is one of the most successful cartoons around today, and has aired over 550 episodes to date. 

Due to Groening's success with 'The Simpsons,' he decided to create 'Futurama for a more mature audience. 

Who did Groening inspire?

Matt Groening's work has had a huge influence on many cartoonists and animators. Shows such as 'Family Guy' and 'American Dad' have taken many ideas and influences from Groening's ideas of animation. Groening is known for being one of the main influences in the world of animators.

The Principles of Animation & The Affordances of Animation

'The Simpsons' animation often exaggerates the characters' actions to emphasise their actions. These well loved character show appeal throughout the episodes, with their personalities and humorous natures. The scenes are very busy which gives the viewer a lot to look at instead of focusing on one particular action or character. 

2. Gorillaz

'Gorillaz' are a British band, formed in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett.   The two friends created this original idea of having a completely animated band. Hewlett studied at North Brook College. By 1992, he had become a major creator in the comic industry, He is well known for his comic, Tank Girl.

'Gorillaz' started out as a 2D band, however, as technology advanced, they were able to animate their characters into 3D. Their first song they animated was 'Feel Good Inc.'

Techniques

'Gorillaz' use a number of varied techniques to create their animations and characters. Their latest album 'Plastic Beach' is completely 3D. They use a transition between 2D & 3D, which highlights important scenes like disturbing imagery. An example of this is 'Melancholy Hill.' Each video tells a different story for the audience. 

Work

'Gorillaz' have a huge range of work. Their first video is called 'Clint Eastwood' shot in 2001. All of their first videos were in 2D. As time progressed and 3D became a possibility, their animations became a lot more detailed. They have a Guinness World Record for being the most successful virtual band. Their album, 'Demon Days' was real eased in 2005 and went platinum five times in the U.K. Their debut album 'Gorillaz' sold over 7 million copies worldwide. 

 Examples of the 12 Principles of Animation

Secondary action is used repeatedly throughout their videos, where ghosted images remain after the actions of the main body. Slow in and Slow out is also used frequently for effect. Arc is also used, where a character falls back leaving the shape of his fall behind him. There is also pose to pose animation used, where some monkeys follow a human figure. The animators have animated the key poses and then have filled in the gaps with more frames to make the scene flow smoothly. There is also an appeal shot used in several of their videos.

Who have they influenced?

'The Gorillaz' are the first ever band to produce an all animated music video and have influenced many other bands. 'Arctic Monkeys' used clever animation in one of their recent videos, 'I Wanna be Yours' and Coldplay used animation for their hit 2012 track, 'Hurts like Heaven.'

3. Hanna Barbera

About

Hanna Barbera Productions was formed in 1957 by William 'Bill' Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It is an American animation studio that has dominated American television for over four decades. It is most famous for cartoons such as 'The Flintstones,' 'Yogi Bear,' 'Scooby Doo' and 'The Smurfs.' 

Hanna was born in New Mexico and Barbera was born in New York. The two first paired whilst working at the Metro Golwyn Mayer cartoon centre in 1939. Their first project was called 'Puss gets the Boot' in 1940.

Successes

Their first major success was the Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958. It was sponsored by Kelloggs Cereal. The shows contained three segments, one featuring Huckleberry Hound and another one starring Yogi Bear and his sidekick Boo Boo. 

'Scooby Doo - Where are you?!' was the first show on the Hanna Barbera Saturday morning show. It was created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. It was the result of CBS and Hanna Barberas' plans to create a non-violent Saturday morning programme. It is still one of their most famous cartoons with one of the most iconic characters - Scooby Doo.

'The Flintstones' is about a working class stone age man's life with his family and his next door neighbour/best friend. It was one of the most financially successful cartoons for three decades until 'The Simpsons' came along. It is often ranked as one of the best cartoons of all time.

Techniques

The company used many limited animation techniques such as the ring around the collar trick. This allowed them to produce cartoons on a low budget, quickly enough to meet the television schedule. Ring around the collar is a low-budget animation technique which shows the character wearing a simple item of clothing around their neck such as a scarf or a tie. 

Influences

They were influenced by older animations such as those by Walt Disney. Pinocchio, Dumbo and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Hanna Barbera cartoons appeal to audiences because they are simple but effective in making people laugh. Hanna Barbera's simple drawing and colour schemes have influced many cartoons over the years such as 'Family Guy' and 'The Simpsons.'

4. Walt Disney

Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5th 1901. He was an American cartoonist, filmmaker, voice actor and many more. He is a cultural icon, as he contributed to entertaining during the 20th century. He began at McKinley high school and took night courses at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He left school at the age of 16 to be in the army, but was rejected as he was underage. Instead, he drove ambulances in France. He moved to Kansas City to begin his artist career in 1919.

He was influenced by the artists Louis Grell and Ubbe Iwerks.

Catalogue of Work

All of Walt Disney's animations have similar styles. The drawings and sketches are similar to each other. For example, the facial expressions have a lot of detail and the body structure of all the characters is realistic. The characters were different from other animators which appealed to audiences. 

Techniques

There were lots of processes that Disney used had to go through to create animations. Disney created their much loved characters by using 'Imagineering' - a process that Disney made up himself. This term was a combination of imagination and engineering, involving a dreamer, a realist and a critic. 

The purpose of Disney's animations was to entertain children. The majority of his animations contain valuable lessons and distinctive characters that are famous world wide today. Most of his animations are used for positive purposes, with morals and lessons to teach the children watching. The reason why these animations were made was to appeal to audiences and trigger emotions such as sadness and happiness. 

How did Disney influence other animators?

Disney's animations influenced many other animators. Matt Groening - maker of 'The Simpsons' became interested in animating after he watched Disney's '101 Dalmatians.'

5. Yellow Submarine

'The Yellow Submarine' was a film created by 'The Beatles' as an attempt to finish a contract with United Artists. It was directed by Bob Balser and Jack Stokes. 

Stokes was an English animator, born in 1920. He trained at the Southend College of Art. By the early sixties he had created his own studio called Stokes Cartoons. 'The Yellow Submarine' is probably Stokes' most famous piece of work. He did a lot of work for the Beatles during his career including the title sequence for 'The Magical Myster Tour' and their mini television series called 'The Beatles.'

12 Principles of Animation & Affordances of Animation

* STRETCH AND SQUASH: When Ringo jumps across the screen his body squishes with each step to show that he is running fast. Also, when Ringo helps the Nowhere Man to get up their arms and the Nowhere Man’s body stretch to show movement and that force is being applied.

* STAGING: Ringo is staged separate from the rest of the group to show a difference in opinion.

* ANTICIPATION: Before the Nowhere Man spins on the spot, his body slightly squishes to show movement is about to happen.

* Artist Character, very unrealistic proportions and movement style.

* Nowhere Man is being liften by a headless peacock, completely impossible.

* When they are opening the doors the scenes inside are impossible: A giant gorilla breaking into a woman’s room, a train coming from the inside of a living room through the door.

* Colours and staging used within the repeated scenes of the song could not be recreated in real life without using CGI, a form of animation.

The 12 Principles of Animation

The 12 Principles of Animation


"The 12 Principles of Animation" were created by the men who worked at Walt Disney Studios in the 1930s. They are known today as the 'old men' of Disney but when these principles were developed they were young men with many interesting and wonderful ideas to put towards this new art form for animation. They created this principles because Disney wanted to create a new way to animate their characters and objects that made them seem more life-like and realistic. They wanted these motions to express personality and character. 'The Illusion of Life' written by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston was the book they created containing the following 12 principles of animation.


1. Squash and Stretch

The 'Squash and Stretch' method of animation gives the illusion of volume and weight to a character.
It can be used to animate dialogue and movement, as well as body language/posture and facial expression. It works well for many characters and is commonly used for people walking. It is the most important principle of animation.

2. Anticipation

Anticipation is another method which prepares the audience for something that the particular character or animated object is about to do. It is an interesting technique, as it shows the actions we do building up to the main action. For example, if we want to reach up to pick an apple from a high branch, we haver to stand on tiptoe, reach our arm up and then pick the apple, we cannot just simply pick the apple.

3. Staging

Staging is a simple technique used to demonstrate a character with a particular feeling or emotion, it also demonstrates a single object. It is meant to make this character or object stand out to the viewer, so that it is their main focus and they want to know what is about to happen to them/it.

4. Straight Ahead and & Pose to Pose

This type of animation begins at the very first drawing, showing the characters' very first movement or idea, however, the animators then draw the continuation of the scene from drawing to drawing. They do not plan each different part of the scene. 

5. Follow Through & Overlapping

These techniques of animation allow the animation to seem more life-like. It adds a lot of movement and character to the scene. It can easily be spotted when the body of a character is moving rapidly, and all of the other parts of the character seem to rapidly catch up with the rest of it's body. For example: arms and legs, clothes, long hair, any objects or bags the character is carrying. 

6. Slow-out & Slow-In

This technique makes the object or character appear to be moving slower than it really is. This is achieved by adding fewer drawings to the frame at the start and the end of the particular movement. This type of animation makes the character seem a lot more life-like and the fewer drawings also soften the object, making the scene a lot more snappy and easy to view. 

7. Arcs

This is the simple idea that all animations naturally follow a circular action - with a few exceptions such as the animation of a mechanical device. This is true to animals and humans. Using this technique allows the animation to appear more natural and life-like.

8. Secondary Action

Secondary Action is a technique in which the animator is able to make the action seem more realistic and have more dimension to it. It may show a second object or an exaggerated, interesting way that they are moving/walking. This technique adds depth and a new interest to the character being viewed. 

9. Timing 

This is the theory of animation that means that the more drawings means a slower action and the less drawings you use means a faster action. 

10. Exaggeration 

The principle of exaggeration in animation is similar to that of a caricature or amusing drawing. It distorts the features to express a particular emotion or action. Exaggeration is displayed in such a way that the main action, character or object captures the attention of the viewer. 

11. Solid Drawing

Each drawing is drawn separately drawn in a solid form.The volume, weight and size must be taken into account for the animation.

12. Appeal

Appeal is the idea that the animation must be appealing to whomever may be viewing it. It must appear simplistic enough for the viewer to become interested and follow, and must have firm characteristics. 

Motion Tweening - Cars Racing

Motion Tweening - Cars Racing

This animation was created using a program called Adobe Flash CC - a multimedia program that can be used to create animation content for computer games, television shows and movies. I used one of it's features called 'Motion Tweening' which allows the animator to make the object move easily from one point of the screen to another. I drew a single car using the paintbrush and fill color tools.
To keep it as a symbol I selected 'Modify' then 'Convert to Symbol' and it then became an option to drag and drop the image wherever I wanted on the screen.
To create the 'Motion Tween' I right clicked the image of my car and then clicked 'Create Motion Tween.' I continued to do this with a second image of a car that I drew and coloured in red. I then made one set of key frames stop at 40 frames p/s and one at 70 frames p/s, so that one of the cars would beat the other one.

Persistence of Vision & My Thaumatrope

Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which an afterimage is thought to persist for approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina. The myth of persistence of vision is the belief that human perception of motion (brain centred) is the result of persistence of vision (eye centred).

Sarah Kavanagh - 3809       Persistence of Vision & My Thaumatrope          11/09/14

Materials

- Fish/Bowl Thaumatrope Template

- Cardboard

- A Straw

- Selotape

- Scissors

Persistence of Vision

I made this Thaumatrope from a template I found online. I coloured in the template and stuck them to a piece of card the same size as the two pictures. I then stuck a folded straw to the inside of the cardboard.

My thaumatrope

Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which an afterimage is thought to persist for approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina. The myth of persistence of vision is the belief that human perception of motion (brain centred) is the result of persistence of vision (eye centred

It is very interesting to see the persistence of vision here as you spin the straw round in your hands. The fish seems to swim though the fish bowl very fast.

Research forInitial Assignment

Sarah Kavanagh 3809                   BTEC Creative Media Production                          01/09/14

Diplomas and Subsidiary Diploma: Initial Assignment

1. Joseph Plateau

Joseph Plateau was a physicist born in Brussels in 1801. He was the first man to display the illusion of a moving image. He was extremely intelligent from a young age, considered a child prodigy at the age of six for his reading knowledge. His parents were killed when he was fourteen years old and the trauma of his loss made him very ill.

In 1832, Plateau and his sons introduced the Phenakistoscope which is a spindle viewer. It was also invented independently in the same year by Simon von Stampfer who called his invention a stroboscope. As a famous Pioneer, Plateau had inspirations from other inventor’s work from Michael Faraday and Peter Mark Roget. The invention consisted of two disks that spun in opposite directions from each other.

At first it was a toy which was called the Faraday’s wheel until later he named it the Phenakistoscope.

On 27 August 1840 he married Augustine–Thérèse–Aimée–Fanny Clavareau: they had a son a year later, in 1841. His daughter Alice Plateau married Gustaaf Mensbughe 1871, who became his collaborator and later his first biographer.

He was such an influential man at the time and still is today, as he has made a massive impact toward animation. If it weren’t for his skills, we may not have the wonderful animation we now have today.

He died in Ghent in 1883 at the age of 81.

Links: Wikipedia, Animation Geek, Early Visual Media.

2. William Horner

William George Horner, born in 1786 was a British mathematician. He was a school master, headmaster and school keeper, who taught classics as well as maths. He wrote many documents on functional equations, number theory and approximation theory, and also focused on optics. His contribution to approximation theory is honoured in the designation Horner's method, in particular respect of a paper in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London for 1819. The modern invention of his zoetrope, under the name Daedaleum in 1843, has been attributed to him. 

A zoetrope is one of several pre-cinema animation devices that produce the illusion of motion by displaying a sequence of drawings or pictures showing progressive phases of that particular movement/motion. The name 'zoetrope' comes from the greek words for 'life' and 'turning.'

The zoetrope consistes of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. On the inner surface of the cylinder is a band with images form a set of sequences pictures or photographs. As it spins, the user sees a rapid series of images. The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from merging together and the user is able to see the motion before their eyes. 

The zoetrope has been used in many hit films in including the famous children's film 'Toy Story' by Pixar Animation Studios. 

Horner died in England at the age of 51.

Links: Wikipedia, Encyclopedia, Film History.

3. Emile Reynaud

Charles-Emile Reynaud was born in 1844. He was a french inventor, known for creating the first animated cartoons. He created the Praxinoscope  in 1877 and the Theatre Optique in December 1888. He projected his first animated film in public, Pauvre Pierrot in Paris in 1892. 

The Praxinoscope - like the zoetrope, also used a strip of pictures placed around the inner surface of a spinning cylinder. It improved on the zoetrope by replacing its narrow viewing slits with an inner circle of mirrors, places so that the reflections of the pictures appeared more or less stationary in position as the wheel turned. The pictures looked brighter and less distorted than the images that the zoetrope showed. 

Reynaud's late years were tragic after 1910 when his creations were outmoded by the Cinematograph. He was very poor and threw the greater part of his irreplaceable work into the Seine in a moment of anger. 

The public had forgotten his "Théatre Optique" shows, which had been a celebrated attraction at the Musée Grevin between 1892 and 1900. He died in a hospice on the banks of the Seine where he had been cared for since 29 March 1917.

4. Edward Muybridge

Edward Muybridge was the man who famously proved that a horse can fly! He proved this amazing theory by getting a galloping horse to trigger the shutters of a bank of cameras. The theory and the experiment that he carried out proved indisputably for the first time wheat no eye has ever seen before - that a horse lifts all four of its hooves off the ground at one point in its action of running. Seeking a means of sharing his groundbreaking work, he invented the zoopraxiscope, a method of projecting animated versions of his pictures as short moving sequences, which anticipated subsequent developments in the history of cinema.

Muybridge was British - born in Kingston upon Thames, U.K, but emigrated to the United States in the 1850s. He is probably one of the most influential photographers of all time, creating world-famous images of animals and humans in motion. 

Dramatically, he was accused of murdering his wife's lover, and a great scandal broke out.

Muybridge died at the age of 74, in 1904 in Kingston upon Thames.

Links: Tate Website.

5. Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison was born in 1847. He was an American inventer and business man. He created many devices that have greatly influenced life today such as the phonograph, the light bulb and the motion picture camera. His nickname was 'The Wizard of Menlo Park' as he created so many interesting and modern inventions, and was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass, production and large scale team work to the process of invention, and because of that, he is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. 

The key to Edison's fortunes was a telegraphy. With knowledge gained from years of working as a telegraph operator, he learned the basics of electricity. This allowed him to make his early fortune with the stock tickers, the first electricity based broadcast system. Edison patented the sound recording and reproducing phonograph in 1878. Edison was also granted a grand patent for the motion camera or "Kinetograph." He did the electromagnetic design, while his employee W.K.L Dickson, a photographer worked on the photographic and optical development. Much of the credit for the invention belongs to Dickson.
Edison build a Kinetoscope in 1891, sometimes referred to as a peep-hole viewer; which was soon installed in many penny arcades for people to look through and watch short films.
The Kinetograph and the Kinetoscope were both publicly exhibited May 20th 1891.
Having achieved many things in life, Edison died aged 84 in New Jersey, U.S.A, a very influential man, who greatly impacted the world with his fantastic inventions.


Links: Wikipedia, American History, Encyclopaedia


6. The Lumiere Brothers


The Lumiere Brothers were named Auguste and Louis Jean and they were born in 1862 and 1864. They are credited to be the first film makers in history. The patented the cinematograph, which contrary to Edison's 'peep show' Kinetoscope, the former allowed viewing by multiple parties at once, like current cinema. Their first film, Sortie de l'Usine, shot in 1894, is considered the first real motion picture in history. Curiously, their surname is French for light!
It was not until their father retired in 1892, that the two brothers began making moving pictures. They patented a number of significant processes leading up to their film camera, most famously film perforations, as a means of advancing the film through the camera and the projector.