Cletus Clay

        As an animation student, I am ashamed to say I am not a big gamer. I have never used an xbox, and have only ever used a PlayStation to play Crash Bandicoot, and not since I was about seven years old. As such, this is the area of animation that I have least knowledge of; very little knowledge in fact.

       Since most of my awareness of the games industry comes from what is advertised on TV, or in Empire magazine, that only really encompasses the big, popular, blockbuster releases, and not the smaller, less mainstream games. Joining this course means that I can learn from other student's as they share animations that appeal to them.

        One such example are Anthony Flack's scrolling platform games Cletus Clay and the earlier Platypus. I have always imagined that video games are all digital and, well, made on computers. It had never occurred to me that someone might use claymation to develop  a game, mainly as it sounds like a ridiculous amount of hard work:

 

        What Flack says about the stop motion creating a level of intimacy and eliciting a response from the gamer, similar to a how a viewer responds to a hand made animation, made sense to me. Video games seem to be moving more and more in a cinematic, first person shooter direction, aiming to place the gamer in the midst of the action, yet are so broad in their scope and ambition that many details must become lost in the fray. The more traditional platform format is well suited to traditional stop motion as the smaller environment means that the gamer can take in the whole scene and can appreciate and enjoy the depth and character the clay models contribute to the game's aesthetic. This unusual combination makes the game stand out in a rapidly growing market.

Dinosaur

        Aside from Toy Story, Disney's Dinosaur was the first 3D computer animation I had seen. The difference between the former and the later is that the characters in Toy Story are mostly toys and live in a correspondingly soft, idyllic toy box world. The dinosaurs on the other hand are depictions of living, breathing animals, inhabiting a harsh pre historic landscape, hence the animation style is slightly more naturalistic.

 

        As a child I distinctly remember being bowled over at the realism of the water and other habitats. Later, I discovered that this was due to the fact that many of the locations were real places, filmed and used as a backdrop. However, the animated creatures blend seamlessly into these environments, adding to the magic a young audience would no doubt feel at these long extinct being brought back to life before their eyes.

        There is a lot to admire in the way the dinosaurs move; flesh rippling as they run, fight and tumble which really adds a sense of weight and substance to these digitally rendered images. Also, despite being made just before the 'breakthrough' fur animation of Monsters Inc, the Lemurs' fur is very convincing and looks soft enough to touch.

Photography Induction Part 1

        What I mainly learnt from this induction is that I am photography illiterate. Although I can see that changing the aperture, shutter speed, ISO and white balance for different conditions improves the quality of the image, I don't know why and most of my images are not very good.

A couple of the 'better' images from the first workshop.

         So, to improve my knowledge I have done a little research into what each of the above terms actually means:

• Aperture- refers to the diameter of the opening in the lens, which can be adjusted to control the amount of light that reaches the film/digital sensor. (F-stop)
• Shutter Speed-  measurement that determines how long the shutter remains open as the picture is taken. The slower the shutter speed the longer the exposure. Together with aperture, controls the amount of light reaching the sensor. (Fractions of a second)
• ISO- refers to light sensitivity. The higher the number the more sensitive to light. Lower sensitivity requires longer exposure to light, but results in a better quality image, so use the lowest sensitivity you can get away with. (100, 200, 400, 800)
• White Balance- used to compensate for different colours of light. Allows a digital camera to be calibrated to correctly display the colour white.

        Hopefully with practice I'll manage to improve.

Parasite Pixiliation

        In order to further explore the process behind pixilation, I am going to make my own based on the relationship between a host and parasite. The pixilation needs to be between 600 and 1000 frames long, at a rate of 12 frames per second, which would make the animation between 50 and 72 seconds long. This may not sound much, but looks can be deceiving.

 

        After coming up with a few concepts, including a tired person being consumed by their duvet, I decided to use a mobile phone as a parasite, with earphones and cables as 'tentacles'. Once I had plotted a rough story outline, it was then time to draft a storyboard showing the kind of framing and camera movements I envisaged, in case I needed to do the actig and get someone else to man the camera. Here is the result...

 

 

        There were a few practical problems that needed sorting out in the plot, such as how to firmly secure the phone to a hand and give the cables enough stability to hold their shape to be photographed. 

 

         

        While the fungus in the clip below is dramatic and eerily beautiful, it was not was I was looking for and doesn't really fit in with the use of a mobile phone as a prop.

 

 

        In the initial stages of this project, what sprang to mind for the word parasite was this scene from John Carpenter's 1982 version of The Thing. The grasping whip-like tentacles wrapping around the frantic dogs in particular was what seemed suitable for the wires and cables that could emerge from the body of the phone. 

 



 

        The facehuggers from the Alien films also provide a good reference point for my pixilation, as their super strength constricting tails are quite similar to what interested me in The Thing. 

Pixilation

        Before this task, I had never heard of pixilation, and could only imagine that it was a digital process, having something to do with pixels. Therefore I was surprised to discover that it was a technique not dissimilar to stop motion animation, only using photographs of people and props rather than puppets. In principle, all you need to create a pixilation animation is a camera and maybe a tripod.

        In spite of these similarities to stop motion (one of my favourite styles of animation), I found it difficult to find much to admire in some of the examples we were shown, though this may be to do with the subject rather than style. Jan Svankmajer's Food was quite nauseating (though it was undoubtedly intended to be so) and I found the clay animation effects crude and jarring. On first viewing it, I didn't really see what Svankmajer was trying to communicate, but after doing a little research the general consensus seems to be that the vignettes are highlighting human greed and consumerism, but for me this message was lost behind the surreal stories.

        Norman McLaren's Neighbours was far more enjoyable. The pixilation in this film made the two characters (not to mention their homes and garden furniture) move in a slightly off kilter way reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin and other films of the silent era, which combined with the perfectly suburban setting, created a charming picture book feel to the film. Until that is all hell breaks loose over a flower and the two protagonists go to war, destroying everything and eventually each other. The simple plot works well as a microcosm for the cold war, allowing the audience to focus on the characters rather than searching for hidden metaphors. By using pixilation, McLaren is able not only to create effects which would not be possible with live actions, but is able to depict things which would be abhorrent if done realistically (a man throwing an infant across a garden) and make them funny. It is true that, to quote Terry Gilliam, "serious ideas can often be communicated very powerfully with humour" (from Frame by Frame Stop Motion: Non Traditional Approaches to Stop Motion Animation by Tom Gasek).

Frame by Frame Animation in Photoshop



        Following on from our Flip Book study task, we were asked to use the skills we had learnt to create 3 short frame by frame animations using Photoshop. Once again the key principles of animation that we should have been taking into consideration were the use of squashing and stretching, as well as timing and spacing.

 

        As a rigid object, a pendulum would not squash and stretch as it moves through the air. However, the use of spacing and timing is critical to create the correct swing speed. By adding more frames at the highest points on the pendulum's arc, it appears to slow as though through the effects of gravity, while fewer frames and larger gaps towards the centre of the arc creates the illusion of speed and a gain in momentum.

         A bouncing ball on the other hand, will squash upon impact with the ground, and stretch as it moves quickly through the air. The more the ball stretches, the more elastic and springy it will appear. As with the pendulum, the ball needs to slow as it reaches the highest peak of its path (slow in and slow out) and speed up as it falls, so that it appears to be governed by gravity, rather than merely floating. To make this ball bounce as smoothly as the pendulum swings, I could increase the 12 frames that I used.

       This final animation is a combines the movement in an arc with squashing and stretching. It was more challenging than either the pendulum or the simple ball bounce, as it required me to consider the length of each arc/bounce and how many frames each should take, in conjunction with the changing ball shape.

        These tasks also provided me with an opportunity to experiment with a graphics tablet for the first time. While I admit I did find it tricky to get used to, not to mention frustrating at times, it is far more easy than drawing using a mouse and I can see that it will be a valuable tool for later digital work. 

Flip Books

        We have been tasked to create a series of flip book animations taking into consideration the 12 principles of animation developed for Disney in the 1930s by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. Although there have been many great animations developed without these principles, they are helpful when you are a student taking your first steps into the world of animation.

 

        Thomas and Johnston's principles are:

• Squash and Stretch (illusion of weight and volume)
• Anticipation (the movement made before a major action)
• Staging/Mise-en-scene (presentation of an idea through framing, scenery etc.)
• Straight ahead (animating frame after frame without planning key frames) and Pose to Pose (work out key frames before drawing the in between frames)
• Follow through and Overlapping (actions that happen once the main body of the character/object has stopped moving i.e. hair, clothes, ears and jowls)
• Slow out and Slow in (more frames at beginning/end of pose to give more lifelike movement)
• Arcs (most actions follow arcs or circular paths)
• Secondary action
• Timing (more drawings = slower and smoother; fewer drawings = faster and crisper)
• Exaggeration (can mean more subtle, as well as more extreme. A contrast to normal)
• Solid Drawing (form, weight, volume, illusion of life etc.)
• Appeal (character personality, creates interest)

 

        The highlighted principles are what we were asked to focus on for our flip books showing a bouncing ball, however others such as slow ins, arcs and anticipation naturally began to work their way in.

        

        Above is a scanned version of my Spacehopper flip book, which in addition to timing and squash and stretch contains a little anticipation (could maybe have done with an extra page to make this more noticeable), follow through and hopefully appeal. After drawing so many faceless balls, I found it fun to be able to give the Spacehopper some character by changing his facial expressions.

 

Creature Discomforts

        Similarly to Animal Farm, in Creature Discomforts, Aardman's disability awareness campaign for Leonard Cheshire Disability, a familiar style is used to introduce a subject to a wider audience. The claymation animation, made popular by Nick Park's Creature Comforts is both highly recognisable and immensely popular.

        Indeed every aspect of the two animation series is similar. The only difference is that rather than extoling the joys of hot water or the wonders of science, the creatures discuss how their disabilities effect their lives and impact on how others perceive them.

        By using a format that has already proven successful and that appeals to a broad range of viewers, Aardman ensures there is already an existing audience for the campaign. As disability is a topic that is often glossed over and skirted around, the choice to make the brief animations comedic and anthropomorphic makes the message more accessible, while preventing the dialogue cutting too close to the bone.

        The overall effect is not to overly soften or trivialise a serious subject, but to invite the audience to consider how they perceive disability and realise that it is not a taboo discussion point.

Animal Farm

        As animation is often used as a medium for children, it can be used to make a difficult or challenging subject more accessible.

        In Animal Farm George Orwell disguised a scathing political parable behind the façade of a farmyard tale, just as Halas and Batchelor's animated adaptation ostensibly appears to be a children's cartoon, yet becomes something much darker.

 

 

 

        The use of a Disneyesque animation style by Halas and Batchelor perpetuates a sense of innocence, even as the communist and Stalinist comparisons become more apparent. This discrepancy between style and substance brings the film to a wider audience, although as many of these viewers would be unsuspecting children it is disputable how much of the political message would be received.

 

As the film progresses, the political themes become unmistakable.

 

        Yet maybe the choice of style has a greater purpose than to draw in a younger audience. As totalitarian regimes are often borne out of desperation and the promise of a perfect solution, before revealing oppression and extremism, perhaps the familiar animation style reflects the false security at the birth of the pigs' regime.

Storyboards

        Storyboarding is an essential process not just to animators, but to all film makers. Planning shots in advance helps prevent mistakes occurring while filming, allows key moments in the story to be plotted and changes to be made in the sequencing, and means a schedule can be drawn up for when actors/equipment are required; all of which prevent costs from spiralling.

 

        In animation there are further uses for storyboards. Knowing when a character will appear in close up or when the story will be told through actions means that it is not necessary to spend valuable time developing detailed expression that will never appear in the completed film.

 

        Also, on a collaborative project where there may be hundreds of people working together, storyboarding lets everyone know how a sequence should look, and what order the events of the story should follow. Consequently, every member of the team will know their role and be able to work together towards the same end.

Terminator

        As the use of CG in blockbuster films becomes more commonplace, it is quite special to come across practical effects and animation which, at least in my opinion, do the job better than their computer generated counterparts.

 

        A prime example of this is the Terminator franchise, a series of films which spans 30 years and consequently encompasses a broad spectrum of animation techniques. While I don't dispute the effectiveness of the ground breaking CG animation used for the liquid metal T-1000 (Terminator 2) the change from stop motion animation (The Terminator) to CG (Terminator Salvation) for the metal endoskeleton is jarring.

 

Stop Motion Sequence from The Terminator.

 

CG cyborg from Terminator Salvation.

 

       As the character portrayed is a robot, the mechanical an wooden stride produced by stop motion is ideal, while the digital version is too slick, too smooth and too human; it just doesn't quite communicate the impression of an emotionless, unstoppable machine.

Peter & The Wolf

        The first animation that I have chosen to examine is perhaps my favourite; Suzie Templeton's Peter & The Wolf. Although lack of dialogue in animations is not unusual, it is not something I have often seen in films of this length or with so many characters. Yet this absence is not keenly felt, largely due to the harmony between what the audience sees and what they hear.

 

        As a composition intended to cultivate musical tastes in young children, Sergei Prokofiev's characterful music is often performed in conjunction with spoken narration which would help introduce the young audience to Peter's exploits. This is not the case in Templeton's interpretation, where the responsibility for telling the story is ultimately in the hands of the animators. 

 Peter, the eponymous yet voiceless hero. His highly mobile face compensates for the lack of words. 

         Working with an already established score, there was a need for the characters to reflect the tone of their own instruments, which inform their specific movements, expressions, personalities and actions. The animators manage to convey all of the above with such subtle motions as the twitch of an eye, or the flick of a paw, tiny actions that make these creatures absorbing while demonstrating that words aren’t always necessary to tell a story.

 

“I thought the animators would animate her in a more complex and interesting way if they thought she was female”- Templeton on the Wolf.