The Figli Migli Products/ The Fan and the Flower

The soldier bird animation scene was an interesting one because of all the repetitions and the silhouettes. I really liked the way that the birds continued to grow back every time the man threw them at the wall-- kind of like silencing a clock, but being unable to do so.

Additionally I liked the way the motion moved in time with the music-- back and forth and side to side. Although this animation was simple it was very engaging and its characters have a very human quality.

The Fan and the Flower

This animation was very interesting and ultimately was the model for how I portrayed different seasons and angles in my final animation. Even though it was in black and white there was constant and varied motion.

My favorite scene was when the fan ended up breaking through the ceiling to save his love, the flower-- and I also liked how the flower ended up being planted in the ground and came up as a "fan" flower. It was very cute and heartfelt, additionally the human qualities applied to both of these objects helped me to better understand animating lamps, windows and other things that don't really move in nature.

Week of 12/7-12/11

Spirited Away

After watching Spirited Away, I decided to change several areas of my own animation. I liked the sequence with the lever which poured water into the bath. The motion that was repeated several times- the pulling of the rope- showed me that real-life motions can be easily portrayed if you work to put them on a loop and to do it accurately.

The faces in this animation also amaze me. I like how the old woman--the owner of the bath-- is so expressive and how her expressions change depending on what is happening in the film.

The depth perception in the bath is also very interesting-- when the little girl is climbing down the huge stairs, it seems like they go on forever, until she slips and runs the whole way-- the background moves with her as well.

Additionally my favorite "looped" animation, was the little spiders that delivered the coal to the heater. I liked how it seemed so heavy for the girl and yet these little monsters could carry it swiftly across the floor. I also thought it was funny how their eyes moved when they saw that she helped one of their comrades move the coal and how they all "dropped" theirs to have her help them as well.

Week of 11/30-12/2

This week I continued to add to my final project and also have determined that they best way to create symbols and moving symbols is to make little movie clips and include them in the overall timeline of the feature.

Creating each symbol helps the layers to stay organized and also to keep your file organized as a whole.

Week of 11/9-11/16 and the Week of 11/23-30

This week we viewed the motion study in the Studio Ghibli documentary. This is essential to my own animation as I plan to use a dog in my final project.

The documentary showed me how much work goes into creating an animation, particularly a real-world animation. I liked how they continually thought of different animals to describe the different motions. Animation, to me, is about taking what you see and distorting it into what you imagine.

Next week I will continue working on my final project. I have completed my walk cycle and animation sketch outline.

Week of 11/2-11/8- John Canemaker

The moon and the son

This was my favorite animation of the course. I love history and so loved seeing the old photographs of Canemaker and his family. I'm also Italian, and from New York, so all the references to my heritage and my hometown really hit home for me.

The images in this animation were done in a way that each and every object had a symbol and meaning. I liked how his father's elderly face turned into a moon, a happy moon, and he being the son was depicted in a variety of ways throughout his life.

The best animations were the ones which connected the antique photographs and the newspaper headlines. I also liked how he incorporated various aspects of the court into the images. Using a voice over also really helped to make this appear to be real-time footage. I think narration is important when animating a life story-- it gives you a sense of the true meaning of the symbols and photographs.

Week of 10/26-11/2

Adam Phillips' Waterlollies

For this assignment, I chose to watch Phillips' Waterlollies. This reminded me very much of video game animation--animation which has it's own "world" so to speak. The moving background allowed the animation of the creature to move at a much quicker pace; even if in his technical work he didn't have it moving at a fast pace, it appeared that way because of the moving background. This is another animation which stretched my view in a way because it allowed me to see the infinite possibilities. I particularly liked when the rain drop fell and the other rain drops moved to accommodate it, and the "insect" moved as well. This is what would have happened in real time and thus by creating it in the animation it makes the "world" created by Phillips appear all the more plausible.

Walk Cycle
Copying the walk cycles in the Animator's Survival Guide and the tutorials provided allowed me to finally grasp the concept of the bone tool and also to understand how to best manipulate it to suit my purposes.

The Walk Cycle is incredibly hard, but allows for quicker animation--it does not require you to move a character in a frame by frame manner. It instead allows for a loop, or at least that's what it seems to be to me.

Week 4- The Brother's Quay

The Brother's Quay documentary made me a little concerned to say the least!! The use of dolls and other objects which only come alive in one's nightmares was a truly different concept. They also used several loops, which severed to "dress" the larger doll and also to smooth the paper over the piece of candy, or something else. I can't really identify what that is.

I think these animators have a vivid imagination which contributes to their ability to use a variety of objects for a variety of purposes. Despite the fact that these dolls are plastic, or glass, they appear to move with ease.