Monkey model -- OUAN404

During the modelling induction Andy suggested that the plasticine was too crumbly and dry to animate with, so he gave me a different sort of modelling clay that was more waxy and flexible (with the caveat that it might be more prone to melting under studio lights). This other wax only came in grey, so I decided rather than do a monochrome version of my pirate character I would make something that suited grey - and chose a baboon.

Animation and the video game industry -- OUAN405

In recent years video games have become more and more cinematic, relying on well designed and voiced characters, powerful story arcs, and - because of increasing importance of cut-scenes - good animation. Games like Heavy Rain, atmospheric, emotional and engaging stories, particularly need to be backed up by good character animation, not only in the cut-scenes, but during gameplay, in which the story actually effects the way the characters move and look. Because of this I think we will see skilled 3D animators moving into the games industry more, especially since the wider games industry looks like it will be heading towards games with more engaging and filmic stories. In more recent years Beyond: Two Souls, a game which used cinema motion capture technology to create realistic character animations, became the latest in a long line of games to feature Hollywood actors lending not only their voices, but this time their faces and actions. Willem Defoe and Ellen Page, who play the two main characters have spoken about how it was the script that engaged them and made them want to get involved, signalling that perhaps as video games begin to utilise better and better scripts, and as bigger and bigger names sign on to write, direct or act, the gaming industry will become a new home for high-quality animation.

South Park and the 1-week turnaround -- OUAN405

South Park, created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, is well known for being crude, offensive and puerile in its storytelling, but among the deliberately obnoxious plots (they don't hold back from racist, sexist, or homophobic jokes) can be found heaps of often subtle political satire. The trick to South Park's success is a team of dedicated writers and animators, based at the headquarters in California, who are able to turn out an episode in one week. In contrast to other animated sitcoms like the Simpsons, which take around eight months to complete an episode, South Park's quick turnaround allows them to include up to date political issues. The animators use Maya to replicate the look of the original short, the Spirit of Christmas, which Stone and Parker made with traditional cutout techniques, and it allows them to work to tight deadlines in a way that hand-drawn animations can't keep up with. We can also assume that having animators, writers, storyboarders and voice actors all within the same building during production encourages the speed and efficiency with which the episodes are completed, as any last minute changes to scripts, characters or set designs can be put into effect straight away. Possibly the best example of South Park reacting to current events might be the episode About  Last Night, which focused on the result of the 2008 presidential election. The episode was written before the results came in, with two alternate scripts prepared for use in either outcome. As much as possible was animated beforehand, and then when news of Obama's victory came through the voice actors and animators set to work completing the rest of the episode. The turnaround on the episode was so quick they were even able to include voice recording from Obama's acceptance speech, given only 24 hours before the episode aired. More recently South Park has parodied the rise in popularity of Donald Trump - within a week of his suggestion that a wall should be built to stop South American immigrants, an episode aired including a xenophobic Canadian president strongly resembling Trump who had erected a wall around Canada.

Time pressures, and workarounds -- OUAN405

Because I restarted my animation with a different story I began to feel the heat as it got closer to the deadline. There are one or two shots which are single static frames where I did not have time to draw extra frames. As an alternative to line boil I tried to add some movement to these shots with an animated texture on top of the video. To do this I simply found 20 interesting looking newspaper pages online, sequenced them in Photoshop, and then put them on a new video track in Premiere, using the blending options to overlay them onto the video.

Changes from the initial storyboard -- OUAN405

I have decided to change two shots from my initial drawings in the storyboard/animatic.

The first shot where one character picks up a card is changed from a front facing shot of his arms and chest, to the reverse of that - as if we are viewing a GoPro strapped to his chest. This new shot is more visually interesting, and allows you to see the other character sitting across the table.

The second shot is the turnaround shot near the end, in which the camera rotates from one character's face to the other. I decided to change this to a straight pan, as my tests didnt quite portray the rotation properly, and this way you can see the eye contact between the characters better.

The animation of Ray Harryhausen -- OUAN405

In the days before digital film, and many years before the widespread use of computer generated animation, the only option for filmmakers who wanted to create fantastical imaginary creatures was traditional drawn or stop-motion animation. The techniques to combine drawn animation with live-action film had been devised as early as 1918 when Max Fleischer patented his rotoscope technique. His Out of the Inkwell series, featuring animated character Koko the Clown interacting with his creator in the real world was a hit amongst audiences, but fairly limited in scope and action. King Kong (1933), and Mighty Joe Young (1949), both featuring an animated giant ape, popularised the use of stop-motion segments within live action films, but it wasn't until Ray Harryhausen created his 'Dynamation' technique - first used on The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) - that actors and 3D creatures could appear simultaneously within the same shot. By combining the techniques of double exposure, back projection and scale model stop motion puppets, Harryhausen was able for the first time to create scenes where fantasy creatures interacted realistically with live action film. The technique is probably most famously used in the film Jason and the Argonauts (1963) during the scene where the Argonauts fight a cohort of skeleton warriors. Using back projection allowed Harryhausen to see the movements of the actors on screen whilst he was animating the puppets, so interaction, for example swords clashing, could be timed perfectly, aiding the illusion that the puppets were really in the scene. We can see the traces of Harryhausen still in modern CGI, but what I find interesting is that, until very recently, computer animation in films was not good enough to truly look like computer generated characters were really in the scene, and because of this the skeletons and dinosaurs of Harryhausen's films are still far scarier than many villains from modern films.

Other Side Production, Drawing Issues -- OUAN405

Originally I planned to animate everything using a graphics tablet, but after a few initial test drawings decided that I am not a fan of the way my drawing turns out when done on a tablet. Despite the fact that it would be a much slower process I have chosen to hand draw it, scan, and add colour in Photoshop afterwards.

Animation as propaganda and as a tool for subversion -- OUAN405

Animation is such a malleable and broad form of art that it can be used to tell a wider variety of stories than many other media. Because of the ability to anthropomorphise animals, plants or still objects, animation lends itself very well to metaphor and allegory, and because of this has been widely used as a technique for propaganda. Being able to replace human characters with animals allows you to tell stories and messages to the audience that may come across as preachy or have obvious political intentions if people were involved. On top of this, violence against cartoon characters is much more acceptable, and can be much more graphic than would be permitted with live action. An example of this would be the Bugs Bunny propaganda cartoons during the Second World War - depicting the main character inflicting violence against the enemies of the state, in this case the Japanese. At the same time in Germany a small group of animators, working under the direction of Goebells' propaganda machine, managed to sneak subversive anti-Nazi messages past the censors. The main producer of these films was the studio of Hans Fischerkoesen, whose animations - particularly Verwitterte Melodie (Weatherbeaten Melody) and Der Dumme Ganslein (the Silly Goose) - spread messages of unity, fraternity and equality which were quite opposite to Nazi ideals. (It has been suggested that Goebells allowed these animators more freedom and control over their stories as long as they kept up with the American studios in terms of technical achievement.) These films, obvious as their intentions are with hindsight, would not have been able to spread these messages if they had used human characters instead of insects and animals, and in the case of the Bugs Bunny films, would have been socially unacceptable - even in times of war.