Music Video
Skills Audit
Demo Work
Demo Work
Demo Work
Contents
Demo Work
Contents
> Theoretical exploration of the purpose
and application of research
> Secondary research into
music video genres, codes, conventions,
techniques, and theories
> Primary research with the
client to inform ideas development
> Focus group presentation of ideas for
feedback and review via questionnaire
survey
Moving Demo
This page covers my research and development for my options project. I began by looking at visual and audio techniques for developing animation. This was particularly useful as I have no real experience with doing animation before. To find this research I found videos and websites with useful information on. From all these sources I then concluded the information that I myself would find useful.
For my primary research I did quite a lot. The first couple of weeks before options project we conducted several demos that would come in handy for this project. The demos that were especially useful were ones on different types of animation as well as developing sound design. These ones are the most important for me as this project is focused around both visual and audio techniques. Continuing with primary research, I made a survey which helped fuel ideas for my project as well as gaining people's opinions on animation and providing myself with more inspiration. Once I had a proper presentation, I then presented it to a focus group. Once I had presented my presentation, I allowed the focus group to ask any questions that they may have had and answered them. This allowed me to understand parts of the piece people may find confusing, or parts which need improving. Finally, I conducted some of my own animation tests. This allowed me to practice my own skills and start to visualise what my final outcome may be like.
Visual Animation Techniques
12 Animation Principles
Squash and Stretch
how does the speed and force of an object affect its shape. E.g. a bouncy ball will stretch as it falls and squash as it impacts the ground.
Anticipation
The preparation for the main action. E.g. the build up before swinging a bat. This can also help for the audience to realise the action is about to happen and helps to make the action feel less out of nowhere.
Staging
Where is the camera and characters positioned? Very similar to live action shoots. Do the interactions between characters seem realistic based on where they’re staged.
Straight ahead and pose to pose animation
Straight ahead animation is where you draw each frame one after another in order. Pose to pose animation is where the key poses within a scene are drawn first, then the in between frames are drawn in later on. Pose to pose can help with consistency as it allows you to see the rough movement early on. Straight ahead is better for less planned movement, e.g. drawing liquids or fire.
Follow through and overlapping action
When a moving object comes to a stop, certain parts may still move due to the force of movement. These can be things such as hair or clothing. This makes movement seem more realistic.
Ease in and Ease out
Slowly speeding and or slowing down makes the movement feel more realistic. E.g. a car doesn’t instantly get up to speed or stop. It has to get up to speed and slow down slowly.
Arcs
Arcs operate along a curved trajectory. Using arcs can stop animation feeling mechanical or clunky as it allows for a more smoother natural feel to the movement.
Secondary Action
Gestures that support the main action to add more character personality. Secondary actions should only act as support, it’s important they don’t take over the viewers attention and distract them from the primary action.
Timing
Where on the timeline each frame of action is placed. Larger spaces between frames can emphasise a faster speed whereas more frames in a shorter time can help show slowing.
Exaggeration
Exaggeration adds more personality to a character, for either comedic or dramatic effect. It can also increase the appeal of a character for the audience.
Solid Drawing
Making sure that animated forms feel like they’re in 3d space. Obviously if the animation is meant for 2d this principle isn’t always necessary.
Appeal
People remember interesting and engaging characters. Playing around with different shapes and proportions helps to keep the character memorable and fresh. Enlarging the character's most prominent feature can give them more personality.
References
Rotoscoping
Rotoscoping is the process of manually altering live action film footage frame by frame. Max Fleischer invented and patented it in 1915 in order to improve the animation of the time.
The technique was originally achieved by filming scenes in live action and then projecting the film onto glass panels so an animator could trace the action in every frame, thus capturing the movement of the actors.
Nowadays it can be achieved digitally using programs such as adobe photoshop and after effects. This can be either used to convert the live action for animation or to add in specific visual effects.
I feel using some rotoscoping within my piece would be a good way to increase the smoothness and fluidity of my piece.
References
Summary
Overall, I’m planning on using a mix of rotoscoping and more traditional animation within my piece.
The Protagonist that we follow is not human, therefore his movements don’t have to be as smooth or natural as the audience would typically expect. Therefore, I am going to use traditional animation for this character. This will allow me to better practice this skill as well as making the piece more traditionally animated
For secondary characters, such as more human characters, I will be using rotoscoping. This will allow me to make these animated characters a lot smoother and more lifelike, which will help to contrast with the less human main character. This also allows me to get practice in multiple animation forms.
The backgrounds will be traditionally animated similarly to the main character, but as they are backgrounds, they will have little movements as our focus will be on the characters.
This research has been incredibly useful. I do not have much previous experience in animation, so finding out different techniques and how I can accomplish them is incredibly useful.
Audio Production Techniques
As animation is a completely drawn medium, there is no basic audio to base the final audio off of. Unlike in live action where base sound would be captured on set while filming.
This means each and every sound within an animated piece must be made completely from scratch. Due to this there’s several things I need to keep in mind:
Dialogue
Does the dialogue make sense with what is happening on screen. Dialogue can either be used to either give information or explain the visuals. With animation, the dialogue matching with the character’s mouth movement is also very important.
Sound Effects and Foley
This is important in creating the world of the animation. Sound effects can be used in line with foley to make the world seem naturalistic or can be used for either over dramatic or comedic effect.
Layering sound can be used to deceive the audience, e.g. sizzling bacon can be used for rain sounds. Alternatively, multiple different sounds can be used to create a new sound where you have nothing to base it off, e.g. a dinosaur's roar. Layering can also be used if one object is making several noises at once, or if these sounds are all compiled to make a singular soundscape, this could also be used to help set the scene.
Layering
Audience Position
Where are the audience positioned in terms of where the sound is coming from. For example, we write next to the action or watching from afar. This should affect the volume of the sound. If the character is clapping their hands far away, it shouldn’t sound like they’re right next to us. This is important in keeping the audience engrossed in the world of the animation.
Environment
How does the environment affect the sound. For example are the characters in a large empty space, therefore echoes may need to be used in order to show this. Or are they in a small busy room, many voices may be being heard at once. The environment that we find our character in is extremely important to how the sound should be displayed.
References
Summary
Audio is gonna be really important in my piece. Due to it being an animation, I will have no base audio to base it off, which means everything that is heard in the final piece, I will have to create. My piece contains five different locations, which I plan to create a different soundscape for. This will help to set the different location apart, in more ways than just their visual appearance.
Additionally, due to this project being narrative focused, dialogue will be quite important in my piece. I plan to use a decent amount of dialogue in my piece which will allow me to develop the characters more using audio.
Overall, audio will be vital to my piece and this research has helped me in understanding what techniques I can use in order to create my world and characters.
Options Project
Primary Research
Monday 31st January
Finally, for options project, I created a questionnaire that I have sent out to a wide variety of people. This will act as my primary research as help fund my ideas development. I’ve sent it to a wide variety of people which will allow me to get a wide range of feedback.
Tuesday 1st February
When I got home, I first reviewed my survey that I had sent out yesterday. I’ve had around 10 people answer it with a range of ages and genders so I’ve got a vast variety of answers. Thankfully, the majority of the answers agree with what I had initially planned to include in my piece. I’ve also gathered some tips that I can use for my animation as well as other animations that I can check out for inspiration.
Analysis of Questions
The first question acted as a basis to get the participants current view on animated shows. If the participant didn't like animated shows before taking the survey then I'd now it may affect the rest of their answers. However all the participants said they liked animated shows so a bias against them was not a problem.
The second question was made in order for me to get a wide variety of inspiration. The people I surveyed were a wide range of ages and genders, which allowed for me to get a wide range of different animated shows. These ranged from kids cartoons to Japanese anime. And I was able to look at several of these in relation to my own project.
The third and fourth question allowed me to get people's views on the aspects of animation. I knew that within my own piece, If I wanted to fit in my whole story line then it would be a longer piece, which may come at the risk of slightly less smoother animation as a result of needing to animate more. However, seeing that the majority of people valued a better story over smoother animation helped my confidence in my own idea.
The fifth and sixth question were in relation to Alternate universes which is a large part of my piece's plot. Everyone who took the survey said that they liked the concept, this means I'll definitely keep it as part of the central plot. And even better was that there was a variety of reasons to why people liked it.
The seventh and eighth question were in relation to genre. I had originally planned for quite a light hearted animation, and the majority of my surveyed people agreed with me, which was great. This means what I originally planned can be kept being developed.
The last question was similar to the second in terms of giving me inspiration. Seeing what people enjoy in their own animated shows allows me to see what I could include in mine in order for people to enjoy it. I've definitely taking many of these into account, and some of them have even fueled ideas for future projects.
Presentation
Wednesday 2nd February
Once I had completed my project 2 work, I went back to my options project. Today, I continued on my character and location design. This allows me to get a rough sense of what everything will look like, additionally, these designs will be used in my PowerPoint that I will used in my presentation, which I will be doing before the end of this week. So once I completed these designs, I added them into my PowerPoint, along with additional description paragraphs.
Thursday 3rd February
After this, I completed my PowerPoint for the presentation tomorrow, using the character and location designs that I completed yesterday. It’s good to have this done now, as I’m all prepped for the presentation tomorrow now.
Focus Group
Summary
Monday 7th February
To finish the day, I wrote up my 300 word summary for my focus group which I had held over the weekend. This finishes off all my research and it was really good to get feedback and constructive criticism on my plans for this project. The people in my focus group were helpful and I feel my project will definitely improve from taking their views into account.
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Monday 7th February
I conducted the actual focus group online as it was the easiest way to get all the people together in one place. I don’t feel this hindered the focus group in any way and I believe all the results and feedback I gained from it will help me to progress my piece now in pre-production and further when I’m actually producing my piece.
The focus group was really useful. It was really great to get other people’s views on my idea and they brought up stuff I hadn’t even considered before. When working on it myself, I can get blinded of other potential ideas. But having other people view and question it helps me to question my own work.
One of the best features of the focus group was the people questioning parts of the story I hadn’t considered. For example, they brought up the question of why Wallace is travelling to different worlds instead of just space, or whether the stressed relationship at the beginning is wrapped up or not at the end. These were parts of the story that I hadn’t considered yet and it was great they brought it up. Now that I’ve realised about these features I can continue developing the story in my pre-production stage.
They also brought up other features such as the name of Wallace or parts of the other world that I realised I had never justified within my ideas development so having these parts justified and being able to explain them in this focus group was really good and I feel definitely helps to improve my own work.
And I think the best part of the focus group was the people challenging me on my own ideas. When working alone, it’s easy to just assume everything you think of works. But having my ideas questioned allows me to not only adapt and improve my own ideas but also see some of the plot holes and things that don’t work in my original idea.
In conclusion, I think from this focus group there’s definitely going to be things about my piece that I will definitely improve. I definitely want to improve some of my worldbuilding, especially with explaining some of the backstory behind Wallace and why he’s doing what he’s doing. I need my piece to be able to be understood by someone who’s never heard of this story or character for, and that’s the thing I need to work on the most.
Sound Design Demo
Monday 17th January
Today was the start of the options project. We first conducted a demo on sound. We were given a short clip from Toy Story with no sound. We then had to go through and create our own sound to bring the clip to life. My group started by planning the sounds we needed, which included dialogue, sound effects and foley. Then once we had it planned, we went out and recorded our sound. It was quite hard at first to record sound, as we struggled to find a room that was quiet enough. Luckily, we found a room which allowed us to record well. We used several different techniques to get the right sounds. For all the dialogue we used our own voices. I voiced all the soldiers, as well as having to contribute to some of the kids voices. We used my Lego keychain as the base for the running sound of the soldiers and we even used a real door for the opening of the door.
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When we were finishing up on our filming the technician alerted us to the fact that the boom mic that we had been using the whole time wasn’t working. I was immediately very worried, luckily though it just meant we were recording with the microphone on the recorder, and the audio still sounded fine.
Finally, we imported all our clips into Adobe Audition and started editing. I’ve only used Audition once before so it was good to get some more experience with it. I began with cutting all my audio tracks and placing them in time with the music. I then adjusted the volume of all the clips to make them better fit the environment of the film. I only used the basics of Audition today, but it was still good to get more experience with it. Especially since the options project is coming up.
This demo is particularly useful, especially for this project as it's helped me to expand my knowledge of using audio equipment. In the past I had missed the lesson on using the audio equipment and so this was useful in bringing my knowledge up. And I even made mistakes in this demo, majorly being not connecting the recorder to the mic. But since them I have checked with Ash and now know how to correctly sync the two meaning I definitely won't make that mistake again. I'll be able to use the skills I learned in this demo a lot, specifically when recording dialogue, Foley and sound effects for my own piece.
Rotoscoping Demo
Tuesday 18th January
Today was a great day. We learnt how to rotoscope, which is essentially drawing over an original video. This was so great to learn as I can now finally animate much easier on Photoshop. Originally, I was drawing each individual frame and then exporting it as a JPEG. Now, I’ve been shown you can import a video and draw on each frame, and then export it as a video. This will save me so much time, I’d really been worried by how hard animation was going to be, but learning this technique has made me feel so much more confident.
You can use rotoscoping for adding effect over original videos, but today I mainly focused on using it for animation as that is what I’m hoping to do in the near future, but the skills can be transferred if I wanted to edit onto real videos.
Wednesday 19th January
We did some more work on our rotoscoping today. Our task was to create sound for the video that we started yesterday. To began with, I added some more detail onto my rotoscoping. I started with adding some of the detail to the characters cloak, this made the movement seem more realistic. I then drew the other character that is present in the scene. This helped with the story as it showed where the bullet came from. Finally, I coloured in the two characters which just elevated the video and made it look a lot better.
When designing the sound, I wrote up an audio script. It was a very short video so there weren’t too many sounds I needed. After I completed my audio script, the sounds I needed were; a gunshot sound; the sound of a bullet moving; wind and clothes sound. For the wind and clothes sound I simply stood outside and recorded me moving my jacket around, this allowed me to get a naturalistic sound. For the gunshot sound I simply stamped my foot on some laminated floor and for the bullet sound I quickly dragged my foot along some concrete.
Then in post production I did some simple editing to make the sounds more realistic. For the wind and clothes, I slightly slowed down the sound to make it seem more slow mo like the clip, then turned the volume down as it was more background noise. For the gunshot and bullet sound I used pitch shifter. I pitched down the gunshot and pitched up, while also quickening the sound of the bullet. This made them sound more realistic as the gunshot sound was deeper and more dramatic and the bullet sounded like it was whistling past the character.
Finally, I compiled them together in audition and I was very happy with the results.
This demo acted as a great hands on approach to research. This has helped to introduce me to a new way to animate. Thanks to my experience with this I think that I will definitely use some form of rotoscoping withing my own piece. I do not want to do the whole thing rotoscoped as I would also like to do some more classical 2d animation but containing some form of rotoscoping would be a great way to expand both skills. Additionally, I really enjoyed doing rotoscoping, so doing it again is something I'd really look forward to.
Stop Motion Demo
Tuesday 25th January
In todays lesson, we were looking more at animation, specifically stop motion. I have previous experience with stop motion animation as I’ve played around with it before in the past. So there wasn’t too much new information given to me. But it was still a good practice of it as a potential for use in the options project. We will be editing our pieces next week.
Although I do not plan to use stop motion in this project it was still very interesting to look at. In the end I didn't edit it, but learning the skills for shooting it was still useful. Especially as when I do my traditional 2d animation it will follow similar rules, with each frame having to be its own image as both run at about 12 frames per second. So even though I will not use this exact form of animation, learning the skills was still useful.
Animation Tests
All of these animation tests have been really useful. Most importantly, they're helping me to test and better my skills in animation, but they're also helping me in visualising what my final piece may look like. So far to animate, I'm using photoshop to draw my individual frames and then compiling them in premiere. I'm pretty sure that this is probably not the easiest or quickest way to animate, but currently, I'm able to use this method well and it's working for me so I think for now I will continue to use this method. Overall, these tests are incredibly successful in the process of heading to my final piece. Some of them I may either use or use as a basis in my final piece as I think the quality of them is good enough for use.
