2D Animation 17/7

Keyframe animation

Use the rotate tool to move the pivot point of an object to where u want it. Make sure to create a peg layer, and that the animate button turned on(little yellow man).

At this stage for simple, short animations I dont see much of a time difference between the key frames and frame by frame, but I definitely think it will save drawing time with longer, more complicated animations. Using keyframes to manipulate my ghostie character is probably going to be the best way to go, but I think the kitty(or at least his legs) will need to be frame by frame.

Pitch Bible

1. Title Page
2. Contents
3. Logline and Treatment (hunt it down and refine it)
4. Character Bio pages (one for simba, one for ghostie)
5. Concept art and background art - all finalised
6. Finished storyboard export

2D Animation 15/7

Frame by frame bouncing ball animation. Working on timing and squash and stretch.

Screen Arts 11/7

1950-1959 Animation

1st Yugoslavian cartoon was created in 1951 by Duga Film Studio. It was called The Big Meeting. The credits at the beginning of the cartoon is something you dont see these days. It does seem very propaganda-ish from the visuals, but of course not understanding what they are saying makes it purely guessing.

Neighbours is a 1952 film created by Canadian Norman McLaren. Won an Oscar for documentary after some killing scenes were edited out. The sound track reminds me of the old school 8bit video games, and the escalation of the fight over the flower became ridiculous quite quickly.

Halas & Batchelor created the first British animated feature, Animal Farm in 1954 based on the novel. Was a retelling of the Soviet communism story, and Stalins rise to power. The drawing style reminds me of Footrot Flats.

In 1958, George Pal created Tom Thumb while working in hollywood. It won a special effects OSCAR in 1959, using giant sets, superimposition and stop-frame animation.

The Fabulous World of Jules Verne was made in 1958 by Karel Zeman(Czech Republic), using live action and stop-motion animation. He was an inspiration for Terry Gillam of Monty Python fame.

A Venice film festival prize winner was Samac(The Lonely) by Mimica and Marks(Croatia). Was the precursor to the flood of existential films in 1958. It looks like what I would expect an acid trip to be like, commenting on the human machine that is the office job.

Legend of the White Snake(1958) is a Japanese full length animation that provided a basis for what we know as Anime and Manga today. Produced faster than the western features of the time.

2D Animation 10/7

People - who is in your story
Place - where does your story occur
Picture - what do you see when u think about the story
Plot - what are the pivotal events?

Basic Structure

• a character wants something badly
• something happens that moves him to action
• he meets with conflict
• things get worse until character is in crisis
• he nearly loses it all
• learns a lesson
• makes a hard choice in order to succeed

 Go back to storyboard blogs to help refine the story into something I am happier with - particularly the ending.

Things to do:

1. Fix the ending, either  go back to the one that I had written or come up with a new one
2. Rework  the bookcase scene - keep current plot or go back to original?
3. develop background angles - photoshop?

Gaming 11/07

2019.1.8f1 unity version - update home install to match. Look into the software bundles I got from humble and see if they are useable for class or not.


Look into NZGDA

Discuss and analyse 3 games that appeal to me

1 -  a NZ developed game
2 - an indie game
3 - a AAA game

1 - Path of Exile - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=57&v=dURQBqMiwIk
     I havent actually played this game, but watching the game-play I can definitely see the Diablo III influences and so Im rather keen to give it a go. It has that dark gritty dungeon crawler vibe to it, along with the standard fantastical magic elements in battle that make these kind of games fun to play. Even the UI is very Diablo III which makes me wonder about the copyright side of things.
   

2 - Machinarium - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwZBdWRSBRs
     I love the puzzle mechanics and artwork in this game. The subtle colour palette fits the      steampunk-ish type world and creates a fitting environment in my opinion. The game-play seems deceptively simple, but you definitely have to use your brain to solve the often "out of the box" type maps. Ive played the free access maps, and even those were enough to keep me occupied for a decent amount of time considering it was essentially a trial access.


3 - Diablo III - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q17FDfU7-ds
     I am a big fan of blizzard, in particular World of Warcraft, but for solo play Diablo III is the one that keeps me coming back. The choice to either follow the story, or jump straight into bounties with each new character means I can skip that boring repetition that happens when you level various classes, and just run around doing my own thing without having to worry about falling behind the storyline players.

2D Animation 8/7

Goin thru the schedule for semester two. First priority is deciding what story to go with either my storyboarding one, or a new one using my existing characters. The story must be 1-1.5mins long and no more than 2 main characters. Proposal is a Pitch bible this time around.

Animation pipeline - 1 Management, 2 Pre Production, 3 Production, 4 Post Production.

Research 8/7

Library database searches.  Using the advanced search to narrow down articles,  make several keywords to search with.  If some words are not effective,  use a thesaurus to find alternative key terms for the desired results and create a weird cloud.  For Boolean searches use the words and, or, or not. And includes both search terms to narrow the results, Or uses both terms to expand the results, and Not can be used to refine the results,  but may exclude useful items so use carefully.  Use quotes to search for phrase as a whole,  use brackets to search for one keyword,  and one of two alternate options (brackets gets searched first think BEDMAS) ie. Men AND (single OR married). These terms work with YouTube and Google searches as well. Make sure to only use legitimate sites for sources, .edu, .gov, .org etc. Be wary of .com. Use the first 3 page results, as beyond that the quality drops dramatically.