Experimental Animation Project

Experimental Animation Project

Introduction

Within this project we are tasked with creating a 30 second experimental animation along with a 10 second 'sting' for E4. 

This experimental animation is exactly what it sounds like where we have to experiment and try new things without the boundaries of narrative or character. This exercise is purely supposed to be subconscious and can be abstract. 

There are a range of mediums and techniques we can choose as well as a range of artists to gain inspiration from. These techniques include: Rotoscoping, Sand Animation, Paints, etc. 

Initial Production

Initial ideas

I started my initial ideas by mind mapping and trying to decide a medium I would stick with for the final product. 

Tests

Stop Motion Test: Hotel Bed

This was my first test where I just messed around with the duvet and pillows of the hotel bed. As this is experimental I had no plans on what happened next and just went with how the duvet and pillows moved. 

I am happy with the results of this test because it went better than i thought it would and while I was making it I had no idea how it would turn out. 

I would add more bounce and weight to the pillows especially when they are switching the lights off. This is because they look lie they are gliding across the bed which doesn't look very good.

Stop Motion Test: Clothes

This was another stop motion test where I just experimented, this time I used clothes that were around my room. 

I am happy with the result of this test because I like how the socks move like caterpillars. However I would improve the movements of the other clothes by adding character to their movements like the socks, however I couldn't think of anything while I was creating the test.  

2D Test: Pen and Paper

This is another test I did but using paper and sharpies. This is another very subconscious work where I wasn't thinking what I drew and just went with what I thought. 

This is very short as I wasn't sure what I was doing and this is only a test. I have learnt that I should draw larger so it is clearer to the audience and maybe even draw more recognizable shapes.

Moodboard V1

This was my first attempt at a moodboard. As you can see I tried to gather a number of inspirational images to portray motion, and the possible mediums I could use including pixelation. Despite this this moodboard is not effective because it does not have a clear theme is not specific on what i am going to create. Therefore I spent more time on developing ideas.

Continued Initial Ideas

After my first initial tests and other research, I decided to take another route and to decide on a theme for my experimental animation.
Particularly after watching this video: https://vimeo.com/102311596 [Feet of Song by Erica Russell]
I was inspired to capture the human form and shape in motion using shapes and lines. This would be experimental because the lines, shapes and colours would not be clearly figurative and would be abstract.
Therefore I did some research, created a couple of tests and thought about the idea.

Moodbaord: Second Attempt

I started with a mood board focusing on human anatomy, human poses during dance and muscles.

Dancer Tests

Then I created these tests by observing the following GIFs.

 This was the first test I created using paper, pencil, sharpie and highlighter. I wanted to capture the motion of the ballet dancer only using lines and shapes which didn't clearly show the figure. However I believe I did make my drawings too figurative; therefore I would have to make them more abstract.
I drew these sketches by observing the GIF of the ballet dancer multiple times, that is why it is not perfect.

This was the second test I created of another dancer doing a completely different dance. This is because I wanted variety in my experimental animation. Again i observed the movements of the dancer in the GIF and attempted to recreate the motion of the dancer in my animation. This time I wanted to just focus on capturing the movement ; that I could focus on the aesthetic of the animation at a later date of production.
I would improve this by adding more drawings to slow in and slow out the dancer in my animation because as it is the animation is very clunky.

From these tests I felt that I was missing the point of the project and decided to listen to the music provided again. From listening to the music I felt that these dances were not relevant to the music and were becoming too figurative to be experimental.
As I listened to the music I created mindmaps of the music that i could brainstorm from. Some of the music I had no idea what to do with and couldn't mindmap them.

From Track 4 I managed to create a very rough storyboard, however I realised it became too figurative and i began to create a narrative. This is not what we supposed to do because our animation is supposed to be experimental and not figurative or not be driven by a narrative. 

This was a short and rough storyboard of a person running away from an unknown pursuer. He would run as a figure on paper and then jump off the page and be salt on a kitchen table and continue to run back onto paper. From there he would then fall in a hole. 

However i had to stop there because of the points mentioned previously. 

After listening to the music, I preferred the sound of track 5 as this allowed me top generate ideas of motion much like the dancing human motion idea I had before. But I believe i can obtain much more interesting and unusual movement from animals which can be part of my experimental animation. 

From this I drew some sketches of motion in nature. 

Such as a bird flapping its wing(s).

 Or a fish swimming by moving its tail back and forth.

From these sketches i believe i can create some very abstract motion that can be seen as representing movements seen in nature. This will give me a range of movement already provided by nature providing me with a diverse range of movement and materials to research.

From this I created a mood board inspired by animals and their motion.

With continued research and development I created these tests of different animals in motion to see if I could achieve each of these animals motions successfully.
Firstly I created a list of animals that could potentially be in the experimental animation with the most diverse range of motion.

From the animals I chose, I then watched and researched a reference video for each of the animals to see how they moved and to try to replicate their motions on paper.
The animals I have chosen so far are as follows:

-Bird

-Spider Monkey

-Gorilla

-Frog

-Elephant

-Cheetah

I am thinking of adding more animals, however these are the animals that I have created tests for so far.
I initially started with rough lines to capture the silhouette and 'significant lines' of some animals to evaluate the style I wanted to use.

Each of these tests are created using paper and charcoal, I tried to use as few lines as possible to keep the image abstract.

Test 1: Cheetah

I chose to draw a cheetah as my first test as I believe it is an animal with one of the most distinctive and diverse movements in the animal kingdom. 

I am happy with the test because it came out better as initially anticipated. 

I would improve this test by adding greater exaggeration when all four legs are in the air to clearly show the audience it is a cheetah and not just any large cat. Additionally I would use squash and stretch to further exaggerate the movements to emphasise the great speed of the cheetah. 

Test 2: Bird

My second test was of a small bird flying, much like a pigeon or dove. I did use a pigeon in flight as a reference video. I am happy with result of this test because the movement looks fairly smooth despite the low frame rate. With an addition of a frame between each drawing it would be much smoother and effective. 

I would improve this however by; placing the bird in the center of the page because the top of the wing is cut off.  This is to ensure all of the bird, even in extreme positions, is on the page at all times.

I would also improve the position of the wings because I believe I could do better as the wings come down as they are not as effective as they could be. 

I would also adjust the tail at the back of the bird because it twitches significantly at a certain point in the animation. 

Test 3: Frog

Frog Test V2

The third animal I tested was a frog. This is because this is another animal with an extremely distinctive motion. 

I am pleased with the test as i believe I have expressed the jump and weight o the frog accurately.

However, i would improve these tests by adding more frames to the second test to smooth out the movement. 

Test 4: Monkey 

Monkey Test V2

The forth test was of a spider monkey. I chose this monkey above all others because this is one of the species of monkey that swing from tree to tree in their habitat. I wanted this specific motion because it unique to this species and a known stereotype of monkeys. 

I am pleased with the results of the test as they turned out better than I anticipated. 

I would improve these testes however by: adjusting the spacing of the swing to express more weight to the swing. As the test is now, I believe it is too quick and doesn't express the mass of the monkey as effectively as it would. Therefore I would add more frames before and after the swing to show that monkey is swinging from branch to branch rather than just grabbing them like monkey bars. 

I would also improve the tail of the monkey because within the test the tail is rather useless whereas in reality the tail is a vital part of the monkeys anatomy and uses it as an extra limb. Therefore I would show more movement and life in the tail to make my animation more true to life. 

Test 5: Elephant Test

My fifth test was of an elephant. I found this test the most challenging because of how an elephant walks and the timing of the movements of its legs. I would have to do further research into the motion of an elephant to truly understand its movements and to be able to replicate them on paper. 

I would improve this test by: adding more frames to increase the mass of the elephant to exaggerate and express the weight of the elephant. 

Test 6: Gorilla Test

This was the final test I created in that day, this test was of a Gorilla. This is another animal that has a unique posture and distinctive movement.
I am happy with this test because of the way the gorilla looks and how the back legs move.
I would improve the movement of the front arms because as they are now they are very limited in their movement. They are not stretching far enough to show the progression of the walk.I would also add a frame between the movement of the back legs because there is a particular part where the leg appears to slam the floor rather than just meet it.

Notes
I initially intended to use black paper with white chalk as there is less contrast and brightness between white on black rather than black on white. However after doing these tests I found that I liked the effect of taking photos on top of each other so that the previous frame shows itself through the paper.

Storyboard and Planning

Continuing with this project, I started to plan out the timing of each animal and how they would all fit together as a 30 second animation.

This was where I was deciding how many frames there were going to be and trying to see how many drawings I would need to do for the timing of the different animals.
I have created a rough outline of how long each animal will be on screen, but ultimately I will just try to meet the 30 second mark by going slightly over or under. As I would rather focus on the delivery of the product rather than the timing and how many frames there will be.

I then created a storyboard to plan out the events of what would happen during the animation. this would help to plan what animal would turn into what. Despite the animation being abstract, free flowing and experimental there is a lot of structure and planning involved.
Here is my initial storyboard that just shows what would happen in the animation:

I tried to couple the most interesting animals together and just went with what I felt was right because this is an experimental animation after all.
This does not represent accurately the timing of the animation as it only a rough overview of what it would look like, and helps me follow the progression through the animation.

Animatics

From the storyboard I created I created an animatic to see how the storyboard plays out as a video. this will better show timing and how the video will flow. I have also created multiple versions of this animatic by adding the five different audio tracks to see if the music is appropriate with my video.

Here is the first one without any audio track. 

I then added the audio track to all the other versions. 

Track 1

Track 2

  Track 3

Track 4

Track 5

Production of Final Video

After the animatics, I started to create the frames of the final video that would be the final experimental animation video. I used both the previous tests and videos for reference for the movements of the animals and followed the storyboard to monitor my progress.  

I used charcoal and standard printing paper for all the sections to keep the video consistent. 

Tests

Fish

Frog

Bird

Cheetah

Gorilla

Elephant

After I drew all of the frames I scanned them the computer and tested each section in Photoshop. I decided to draw every frame first for the whole animation first before scanning and testing them. This is because I wanted to challenge myself to depend on my drawings alone and to predict what the animation would look like without testing. In addition, being an experimental animation, I believed this method would be more unpredictable and show a more 'natural' process of work.
Here are the results of those tests:

NOTE:
-The scans have smudged most of the frames that is why most of the tests have smudged blue colours.
-Not all of the frames were scanned correctly because the scanner skipped drawings or smudged during the scan.
-The Frame rate of these GIFS are not 24fps like it will be in the video; therefroe these gifs are showing a slightly slower version of each section.


Sec_1

This is the introduction with just a dot, as this is how the video starts. The dot enlarges to transform into a line. There is not much to say about this section because it is just about a dot. 

Sec_2

This is the section that follows the dot where the dot transforms into a line which then curves. This is the anticipation for the next section where it transforms into the fish. I am happy with this result because I like how the line smoothly becomes the line making it seem natural. 

Sec_3

This section is of the line transforming into the fish. I am happy with the result of this section because of the transition from the simple shape to becoming a fish and how it moves our from a bend stretching to become the fish. I would improve this by using less lines for the fish because I wanted the symbol of the fish to be abstract and for the motion to reveal it is a fish. 

Sec_4

This is the section where the fish swims. I would improve the motion of the tail fin because it is very unbalanced and 'jittery' as it is. I would add a more swaying motion and to draw the fin so that it has to push the water to propel the fish forward. this would be done with both exaggerated movements and spacing to make the fin move in a specific way. 

Sec_5

This is the section where the fish changes direction and swims upwards. I would improve this section by changing how the fin moves again the same way I would change the previous section. A swaying motion because how it is now, the tail doesn't look like its pushing water away to create movement. 

Sec_6

This is the section where the fish 'devolves' to a swirl. I am pleased with the result of this because of how quickly the fish breaks down into the swirl. i would improve this by smoothing out the curves by redrawing the curves so that all of the lines are smooth. 

Sec_7

This is the section where the the swirl transforms into a frog. As a drew this i intended the frog to be squashed and stretched to add a mass to the frog. however I feel that the problem is that the frog did not fall from a great enough height to expel enough that energy on the landing. Therefore i would increase the height of the fall of the frog to exaggerate the squash and stretch; that it is interesting for the audience and to show that the frog has mass. 

Sec_8

This is the section where the frog is hopping along the screen. I am pleased with the results of this section because I like the anticipation of the anticipation where the head raises, to go down, to anticipate the jump. However I would improve this by utilising the space of the screen because the frog is in the centre of the screen, however if i lowered the frog, he would have more room to jump. 

Sec_9

This is the section where during the frog's jump, it transforms into a bird. This had to be a quick section because i wanted the two animals to be in the air and for the bird to catch the air to make the flow of the flight natural and believable. I would improve this by making the bird generate earlier to make it look like the bird predicts to catch the air to continue the flight whereas now it feels rather rushed towards the end. 

Sec_10

This section is of the bird in flight. I would improve this section by adding the drawing that didn't scan successfully to make the flight smoother. However I chose not to correct the scans because i felt that it would be more unpredictable and provide a more experimental result. 

Sec_11

This is the section where the bird transforms into the cheetah. i would improve this section by giving the bird height before transforming because the audience would belie the bird is high and flying in the air whereas the cheetah being a land creature would need to be on the ground. Whereas in the section here it is on the same level and place. 

Sec_12

This is the short section where the cheetah pounces into a run. I am pleased with the result of this test because it is only short and it is what I wanted; a short a swift movement anticipating the sprint. 

Sec_13

This is the run cycle of the cheetah. I would improve this by removing some frames to increase the speed of the sprint because as it is now, it is very slow and unnatural. 

Sec_14

This is the section where the cheetah transforms into the Gorilla. I am pleased with the result of this because of the over-lapping action of the cheetah stopping the sprint and the melting effect of the cheetah. i would improve this by having the gorilla in a stood position to then slam down to the floor. This would demonstrate the power of the gorilla and be more dramatic. 

Sec_15

This is the walk cycle of the Gorilla. I am happy with the result of this because it is mostly smooth. I would improve this by adding more mass to the gorilla to make the gorilla heavier to exaggerate its strength and power. I would do this with greater anticipation, overlapping action and secondary action. 

Sec_16

This is the very quick section where the gorilla rears up and slams down to transform into an elephant which rears back up and also slams down. 

I would improve this by adding the drawings that did not scan successfully and improve the drawings of the elephant from a perspective view. 

Sec_17

This is the section where the elephant turns from a perspective view to a side view to be followed by the walk cycle. I would improve this by improving the drawings of the elephant as I feel that the drawings of the elephant could be better. this is because i found it a great challenge to accurately draw an elephant. 

Sec_18

This is the first section of the elephants walk cycle. These sections are split into two because of the elephants slow walk. Again i would improve this by improving the drawings of the elephant as well as the movements of the legs. hey are not high enough off the ground to clearly show it is walking. I would also add secondary action to the rest of the body to exaggerate the movement and mass of the elephant. 

Sec_19

(same as previous section)

This is the first section of the elephants walk cycle. These sections are split into two because of the elephants slow walk. Again i would improve this by improving the drawings of the elephant as well as the movements of the legs. hey are not high enough off the ground to clearly show it is walking. I would also add secondary action to the rest of the body to exaggerate the movement and mass of the elephant. 

Sec_20

This is the section where the elephant melts back into a simple line. I am pleased with the result of this because of the transition of the elephant becoming the line is abstract and experimental

. 

Sec_21

This is the final section where the line becomes a dot again (like the start of the video). There is not much to say about this section because of how short it is.

Video

 This the final video with the experimental music track.

Link to video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bnHf6uYgFs 

Link to video on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/144815720

As you can see the final video did not look completely identical to the storyboard. This is because I decided to remove the section where the spider monkey swings from tree to tree. Despite this being an interesting part, i felt that video had too much content and that if I left that section in the video, each animal would not have enough screen time each. Therefore i removed the spider monkey section all together and now each animal within the video has a little longer on screen. Moreover this gave me more time to finalize and scan the images because it would have taken much longer if I had to also animate the spider monkey section as well. Despite this 'loss' I feel that the video isn't lacking and that it is much better without it.