My Presentation

Last Wednesday, the 12st November, was the day of my presentation. A presentation that explained my essay in as great a detail as I could manage.

I knew about said presentation but ignorantly I did not realise that it was so soon, having dealt with health problems and other such projects beforehand, it had slipped my mind. Hardly an excuse, just an observation.

I was therefore, not really prepared though had enough to talk about to keep it up for at least ten minutes. I had also drawn something in my sketchbook to express and show what it was I was trying to explain.

I can only hope I succeeded in getting my point across and explaining it properly.

What I have learnt from the other presentation is a good amount. How others presented themselves and their questions and explantations were very informative.

I also noticed that there are a few that mention the same film(s) as I have in my essay/presentation and that gives me a second opinion and viewpoint, something I can easily add into my essay if I wished.
Many of their research and references would help me also. Looking further into Animation and the whys and the what ifs behind certain films, is something I should look into. As well as looking into what emotions/memories they prompt in the audience and why.

Essay Draft and resources

The question that shall be examined and then answered within this essay is as follows, why are objects that are durable in real life softened and unrealistically flexible in Animation? There are several other questions and paths that can be followed connected with this and each one will be pressed upon and explained in as much detail as possible.

  Primarily, does the elasticity of normally hard objects make said object in animation friendlier for the audience? Well, yes, to take an object like a toaster, for example, like the one fromThe Brave Little Toaster and soften it to the point of exaggeration where it can be given a face, expressions and movement, makes it more likeable and applicable to the audience then just having a standard toaster without features, move across the stage. Giving an object often referred to as ‘lifeless’ and commonly thought purely as an item without a soul and merely there to aid people in their day-to-day lives a personality, a life and a history makes it more human and relatable. Allowing the audience to feel, connect and hope for the object.

              The same applies in the short Make Mine Music -Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnett where the film follows two hats whom battle for the chance to be back together again. A love story about hats, not the most common relatable film to watch one would think, but because of the way it is approached, the way the hats are shown and moved in certain ways, expressing their personality and wants, make it watchable and significant. The expressions are managed in a different way to the toaster also, they don’t necessary have mouths but because of how the objects are bent and morphed with their movement give the impression of different emotions. The stands, in the screenshot of the scene provided, additionally aid with their actions, reactions and personality. Of course, the obvious image of eyes upon them likewise makes the objects more anthropological.

              WithinThe Animator's Survival Kit one is shown the twelve core principles of animation and how it helps animation along and one such principle is squash and stretch, this seems to have been used in many animations to give objects character. The purpose of squash and stretch is to give an object a sense of weight and springiness, perhaps to such an extent that it makes a lifeless object lively. In animation, it is argued that anything is possible, and so most is and can be taken to the extreme, the stretch and squash of something exaggerated to such a large degree.

              Does cuteness aid the choice of softening objects? It may be believed so as according to a video on Youtube called Why Are Things Cute?, it was said that things many might label as ‘cute’ activate the Nucleus Accumbens, a pleasure center that therefore allows us to be more receptive and captivated by an object that shows this cuteness appeal. This appeal being a softening and roundness of an object. Touched upon in the video is an additional information about the softening of the famous Disney character Mickey Mouse, wherefore, as well as his personality moderating they softened Mickey’s overall look, making more amiable and childlike, triggering adorability.

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I struggled immensely to gather information that I thought was relevant to my question.

 

I, of course, found some things to note but some of them are not books and are something I found online. They are not random, they actually explain/show quite a lot and connects easily with my question and the point/path I wish to make.

Below is one piece of research that is not a book and was not really about Animation, however it does discuss certain aspects that can be linked to Animation referring to animals or objects soften. If you watch it, you will notice that they talk about how some cartoons/animations have been soften over time and what reason there might be for this.

Vsauce (14th October, 2012). Youtube. 1 of 242 videos. [Online]. Available from - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0zConOPZ8Y. [Accessed: 14th October 2012]

Williams, R. (8th December, 2009). The Animator's Survival Kit. Expanded Edition. London: Faber and Faber Limited  = Everyone should use this as research and reference! This not only explains the 12 principles of animation but nearly everything there is to know about animation.

Rees, J. (10th July, 1987). The Brave Little Toaster. [DVD]. US: Walt Disney Pictures. = I shall be referencing and using this film as an example, so it only prudent to have it within my research.

Disch. M. T. (2nd April, 1986). The Brave Little Toaster. A bedtime story for small appliances. UK : Doubleday = I might as well show the differences between the book and the film and my opinions on why that is, as well as finding others opinions.

Kinney, J. Geronimi, C. Luske, H. Meador, J. Cormack, R. (15th August, 1946). Make Mine Music - Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnett. [DVD]. US: Walt Disney Productions. = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoX4YjC47oY This was another film that caught my eye when I had thought about my question.

Toon Boom & Maya

Two different programs. So far, so obvious.

Maya

Some may say Maya is quite complicated and when I was first shown it, I was instantly confused and panicked at the amount of tools and buttons there are on the interface. I should not have stressed so.
Many of Maya's tools are sort of duplicates of the same tool in some cases and to cut back on confusion I am able the freedom to make my own tool selection so I do not have to take time searching for what I want to use.
I only have one negative thing to say and it's not so much about the program but the keyboards provided. As predicted, the Macs at Uni are used quite regularly and therefore some of the keys stick or the shortcuts do not work and you have to go the long way around to do something. Also, the program is Maya 2013 and, being an updated 'new' version, it has its upsets sometimes and will do the complete opposite to what you want or just not work at all. Of course, this can easily happen with any program.

Toon Boom



Toon Boom I found to be very simplistic. As soon as I had opened it I knew almost instantly what the tools were and what they did and how to work it. I made a ball bounce animation in the first few moments of being introduced to Toon Boom. It's that simple. As time goes on, I have no doubt that I will learn more about it and find things I didn't know where on there.

Brainstorm/Random Notes!

Objects in Animation:

* Why are certain objects used more than others? - More familiar/used daily in audience's life

* Do certain objects shown in Animation help with the overall feel/viewing of the scene/film?

* Colour of objects in scene/film?

* Why are hard objects in Animation softened? - Make them friendlier/desirable/loveable/relatable

* What different types of ways are objects in Animation used (for)?

* How and why an object morphs from an lifeless object to being full of life, and what ways are used to show transformation?

* How emotion is shown on/with objects in Animation?

Films/Animations:
Brave Little Toaster
Beauty and The Beast (though I know my lecturer would dislike the mention of this)

When I mention 'softened' I don't just mean just when objects look soft and spongy, but also when they are morphed and bent into positions the object wouldn't normally be able to go into in real life. One must show emotion and movement in an object some way and many Animators/Animations may 'soften' or change the density of an object to make it easier to animate.

This is the question I have chosen for now. I need more time and I don't believe I can explain correctly what I mean by the question. I realise I don't have many examples of films or animations that I can reference either, or not as many as I would have liked.
My question may change.
I'm not happy with my choice of question.


Below is a postcard I had to create to better explain/illustrate my question.

Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism

This can also be named Personification in some cases and it's meaning is simply this; it is about human attributions given to a lifeless object, animals, concepts, extra. Many people give animals, plants and even forces of nature human qualities.

This has been used in films, cartoons, animations, stories and descriptions for years and we often do it without knowing.

When one gives an object that in reality is 'dead' a soul and a conscious we, the viewer, automatically bond and connect with it. If an animal is given a personality, we view that animal with a different perspective than we normally would because we see something in them that is 'human' and something we can easily relate to.

As children I believe many already gave inanimate objects humanity and feelings, bringing the toy to life with our fingertips and imagination.

12 Core Principles of Animation

Here I shall list what I've come to know as the 12 core principles of animation. Most of them I knew prior to the course (and many would also know or have seen them) but I didn't know they had a specific names and therefore was surprised to find out. Most of it is basic common sense when one is thinking about animation of any kind, be it 3D or 2D.

Squash and Stretch


Apparently this is the most important or at least the most used. The purpose of this to give a sense of weight, movement and flexibility to drawn/created objects. It can be applied to many things ranging from lifeless and simple objects such as a bouncing ball, or to something more complex and alive like a human face/body or an animal. More often than not it is taken to the extreme to better portray what the artist is trying to show the audience or just for the comic value, this is mostly shown in cartoonish animations, be them 3D or 2D. However, in more realistic animation the most important aspect of this principle is to show that an object's volume does not change when squashed or stretched.



















Anticipation



This principle is used to get the audience ready for action and in some cases make the action appear more realistic. For example, if a character/animal were to pounce\jump, they would bend their legs first (squash) before leaping (stretch) propelling themselves forward. It may also be used for less physical things like a character glancing off-screen to showcase another character's arrival or just focusing their attention on something they wish to move to or pick up. The action, like many others, can be over the top/unrealistic  



Staging

This is basically similar to what is known in film and theatre, the purpose of this is to direct the audience’s attention to a certain thing, making it clear to them what is the greatest importance in the scene; this can be with an action, expression, atmosphere of the scene, background or personality of a character or scene which can be done in a numerous of ways.

2D/3D Animation & Life Drawing

I'm going to go more into what tasks and things I've learnt last week in this post as well as upcoming tasks if needs be.

After Induction week, one of the tasks that my classmates and I were given (on the 24th September) was to create a post-it note flip animation.
My animation can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/50534473 -- You have to be following me to view it

This was very challenging for me only because we had to use 100 notes and were not meant to think too much about it nor spend too long on it, something which is hard for me as I'm a perfectionist and must have things the way I want them or imagine them, and I like to take my time with something but there was, of course, a due date. During the task I was frustrated and had to take regular breaks when doing it as I got distracted and found it rather tedious, I also seemed to struggle to come up with different and unique ideas.

Life Drawing (on the 25th September) was very enjoyable, even if I got immensely irate at the types of things were we set to do. Firstly, we had to draw poses in a series of lines (and were shown a very interesting video on how one person in particular went about this) and only had a set time to do it in, ten to thirty seconds tops. I have done something similar when I had done Life Drawing before but I didn't enjoy it then and my feelings don't seemed to have changed since. I cannot say I disliked the lesson and even though I was annoyed (mainly at myself) I continued on with the lesson and actually loved every moment of it. I haven't been able to draw for a few years now and doing it again, even doing things I wasn't in favour of, was a tremendous joy. The second thing we had to do was rotate around the room and draw/continue other persons drawings.
After the lesson was an optional one and I happily applied for it. I loved every moment of that optional lesson as I was allowed to draw for longer (30 mins near the end of the lesson). I look forward to the following Life Drawing sessions eagerly!

Stop Motion was something we were taught next (on the 27th September), the equipment used and the program. With this, I didn't play as big a part as I should have, mainly put off by the fact that a lot of the equipment/computers/programs didn't work. Once I was in a small group and had found some equipment that was in working order, I allowed one member of the group to do most of the work and merely regarded the process silently and closely beside him.
That animation can be viewed here: Coming soon

3D animation done on Maya was the last lesson I had (on the 28th September) where I created a Pendulum swing animation. It was quite interesting as I've not used Maya before but I have had experience in 3D programs therefore most of the tools that were available were known to me, which was good. Maya has many buttons and tools, though most of them do the same thing and so it's very confusing, but I believe I did well.
The animation can be viewed here: Coming soon