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.

Week 4- Jan Svankmajer

This surrealist animation helped me to understand that everything does not need to be perfectly, exactly correct in an animation. I get wrapped up in making it as close to live footage as possible that I forget that it can be abstract and different.

Dimensions of a Dialogue
This showed me that animation can also include real elements or truly imagined elements. I particularly liked the sequence where the apple was destroyed by the measuring tape. I think animating objects which are generally inanimate in "live footage" adds a different dimension and truly changes the way a viewer sees a particular piece of animation.

Week 1/2- Makoto Shinkai

Beyond the Clouds' trailer was an interesting transition from McCay's animations. The most interesting aspect of these animations was how they portrayed wind. The wind blowing through the woman's hair, and pushing the clouds along. Additionally I liked the way that the sun was shown as lighting up the classroom, but only certain parts of it. Shinkai's animations appear to be extremely related to live footage.

Week 2/3/4/5 Tutorials

Updated Post--Thanksgiving Break

Week 1/2 Tutorials on Lynda.com
The shape tweens described on Lynda.com help to give the animation a "live footage" feel. I used it to move the clouds across my stage and also to move the ferry in an opposite direction. The tutorial helped me to understand that graphics moving across a stage can be directed to move in a variety of ways--they do not all need to follow the same motion path as long as they are on different layers and are different symbols. This will help me to show how rain moves and wind can move items in a variety of ways.

Week 3 Tutorials on Lynda.com
Mastering Motion Tweens helped me to better understand how to use the tweening feature. It will help me make my animation more stable throughout the course of it's evolution--from inanimate objects on a stage to a full-on movie. This will also help with the weather feature, I think.

Week 4 Tutorials on Lynda.com
The bone tool is an interesting addition to flash, however, I am having quite a hard time using it. I think it will help moving objects as well as people. Animals can also take advantage of this interesting effect. I will have to work on getting the bones attached at the proper angle in order to truly master this concept.







Original Post
The shape tweens help to give a 3d feel to the animation-- I plan to use it to change the shape/"size" of my Ferry in the city design 1. It might also help with creating bridges in other designs.

I have decided to make it go from sunrise to sunset or at least dusk in my animation and I plan to use a variety of shading to do this. I'd also like to use the shadows shown with the monster in order to create a more realistic feel for the city.

The character animation sessions were interesting and I can see how they would be useful but I don't think they really apply to my animation.

The animations we watched in class two weeks ago-- with the dolls and rabbits definitely could have been done in flash with the character animation techniques shown.

Week 1- IDD Tutorials

These tutorials showed me how to work with flash-- the most helpful tutorial dealt with changing the look of flash and also editing the keyboard short cuts. The polystar tool will be useful when creating animations within the city to give the cityscape a different look.

Week 3- The Danish Poet and The Old Mill

The Old Mill by Disney used a variety of techniques to show weather and moving water. The frogs on the lily pads is the most interesting in my opinion. I think it's interesting how the ripples grew as the frogs got loud and as more frogs entered the picture. I also liked the camera angles which added another dimension to the piece. The animals also had a distinctly human characteristic about them, which is typical in Disney animations. The bird cowering under the turnstile, is an interesting piece of animation as well. I believe that was a loop--as the bird and the block of wood kept coming almost into contact with one another--and I think it helped show the urgency of the situation as they increased the loop speed.

The Danish Poet was also unique. I liked how the style of people did not really change as they were entering and exiting the ferry. The loop of the ferry--with the same people, boats, and other outside affects--is an interesting aspect of this animation. It's also interesting to see creatures like the dog in their "natural state" in an animation. For example the dog on the farm, continually bit at its master's shoes, but then when the woman was the only one left, it rubbed up against her and appeared to be happy. This gives animation a real life quality and is something I will try to remember to always incorporate.

I want to try to incorporate moving water into my city animation as I am working on making it a view from the shoreline.

How a Mosquito Operates Week 1/2

In Winsor McCay's animation--"How a Mosquito Operates"-- I was able to see and understand the early techniques of animation. McCay's frame by frame animation seems to be the best way to utilize the tools available at the time. I liked the technique because it was realistic, albeit a little stunted at times. The man walking to the door and turning around again appeared to be a repeat action, and due to the type of film used was jerky at times. This gave me the best idea of how these early animators had to work.

Hello World!

Hi!

I'm a senior print journalism major and have taken IDD 160, and use Wordpress, blogger and other HTML coding in my internships. I love shoes, bags and fashion-- and of course am fascinated by design because it contributes so much to the fashion world. Creative people are essential to fashion design and fashion-- as they say in the devil wears prada- is the best kind of art because it's art you wear! It's art you LIVE in!!

So basically I hope to learn to design things that will change the world-- in journalism and in fashion, and if I can get an A in the process, well that's just great =)