This is the animation compiled and put together. It has a running music loop in the background which was sourced from Flashkit and the Crow caw which was also sourced from Flashkit i believe.
Enjoy
Compression kind of killed the quality but i'll upload the SWF file on a host site soon.
Monday, 24 May 2010
Sounds you say?
When i had finished the animation i went about emailing Lauren asking if she thought sounds would be a good idea.
She promptly replied and linked me to a few sound sites (i've never been a genius with adding sound/music to animations. I was always under the impression that i'd just be the animator and sound and music would be other people's jobs (which now thinking about it, is just stupid).
I tried various meows and crow caws along with various backing music but in all honesty none seemed to fit (Apart from the crow's caw which is was kept in).
I found some nice moody music that i thought fit well with the tone of the piece along with the comedy towards the end. I stand by my decision to not add too many stupid slap sticky sound effects and i think the final piece works well.
"This is cool! I think it does need sound though, if you're looking for sound effects try http://www.freesound.org/
Funny sounds:
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=25762
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=44877
Crash sounds for the garbage:
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=50506
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=40158
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=28669
Theres plenty more, you've just got to play around with keywords to search with."
She promptly replied and linked me to a few sound sites (i've never been a genius with adding sound/music to animations. I was always under the impression that i'd just be the animator and sound and music would be other people's jobs (which now thinking about it, is just stupid).
I tried various meows and crow caws along with various backing music but in all honesty none seemed to fit (Apart from the crow's caw which is was kept in).
I found some nice moody music that i thought fit well with the tone of the piece along with the comedy towards the end. I stand by my decision to not add too many stupid slap sticky sound effects and i think the final piece works well.
"This is cool! I think it does need sound though, if you're looking for sound effects try http://www.freesound.org/
Funny sounds:
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=25762
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=44877
Crash sounds for the garbage:
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=50506
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=40158
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=28669
Theres plenty more, you've just got to play around with keywords to search with."
GRAVE danger.
The final scene is just a simple shot of a tombstone with "RIP FLUFFY" on. It went through a lot of changes before landing on the final design.
It originally (In the anamatic started as this) with the name "mittens" and a little "Gone but not forgotten" engraved
at the bottom. I persoannly thought this was the opposite of comedic and bordering on the quite sad, so i reworked it and removed the "Gone but not forgotten" and changed Mittens to Fluffy.
The punchline was originally "Not recycling may kill a kitten, please recycle" it (like the tombstone) seemed a little too serious even with "not recycling may kill a kitten" in it.
So i thought about it and reworked it again.
This was the final design, as you can see it was changed to Fluffy, and for pure comedic value i added a paw coming from the soil. I showed this to a few people and it was a case of "Omg what the hell /laugh" which is the kind of reaction i like more than just laughing.
That kind of "oh my god" prior to the laugh.
This punch line once again got that reaction of "what the hell" which i think gives it a lot more impaact thn forcing something in your face with stats and figures that any normal person won't remember or take account of.
It changed from "Not recycling may kill a Kitten, please recycle". To "Recycling...because curious Kittens may die if you don't" This works on the premise that "Kittens" and "curious" give a sense of cuteness and innocence.
It originally (In the anamatic started as this) with the name "mittens" and a little "Gone but not forgotten" engraved
at the bottom. I persoannly thought this was the opposite of comedic and bordering on the quite sad, so i reworked it and removed the "Gone but not forgotten" and changed Mittens to Fluffy.
The punchline was originally "Not recycling may kill a kitten, please recycle" it (like the tombstone) seemed a little too serious even with "not recycling may kill a kitten" in it.
So i thought about it and reworked it again.
This was the final design, as you can see it was changed to Fluffy, and for pure comedic value i added a paw coming from the soil. I showed this to a few people and it was a case of "Omg what the hell /laugh" which is the kind of reaction i like more than just laughing.
That kind of "oh my god" prior to the laugh.
This punch line once again got that reaction of "what the hell" which i think gives it a lot more impaact thn forcing something in your face with stats and figures that any normal person won't remember or take account of.
It changed from "Not recycling may kill a Kitten, please recycle". To "Recycling...because curious Kittens may die if you don't" This works on the premise that "Kittens" and "curious" give a sense of cuteness and innocence.
Tip of the Rubbishberg?
I wanted a rather "shocking" outcome to the animation and scene 4 is when it actually pieces together.
The idea was to kill the cat off in a rather comedic way, and for the tagline to be along the lines of "Recycle or a cat will die". Rather than all these preechy advertisements that don't work (in many cases, some are incredibly powerful) i went with what Lauren asked for an adding a sense of joviality to it.
In terms of style i decide
d to do it in silhouettes, it originaly started as just a blue background and the silhouette of the cat and the rubbish.
This was the scene in the anamatic and i wasn't a huge fan of them just floating in nothingness so i went back and changed it in the final.
This was the final, it was night-time from the 2nd scene onwards so i changed the background colour to a nice dark blue/purple.
I also added the picket fence and the sidewalk as i personally feel they just add something to the silhouette effect, just made a little lighter to not clash with the cat and the rubbish i think it works well.
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The idea was to kill the cat off in a rather comedic way, and for the tagline to be along the lines of "Recycle or a cat will die". Rather than all these preechy advertisements that don't work (in many cases, some are incredibly powerful) i went with what Lauren asked for an adding a sense of joviality to it.
In terms of style i decide
d to do it in silhouettes, it originaly started as just a blue background and the silhouette of the cat and the rubbish.This was the scene in the anamatic and i wasn't a huge fan of them just floating in nothingness so i went back and changed it in the final.
This was the final, it was night-time from the 2nd scene onwards so i changed the background colour to a nice dark blue/purple.
I also added the picket fence and the sidewalk as i personally feel they just add something to the silhouette effect, just made a little lighter to not clash with the cat and the rubbish i think it works well.
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Looks like a Meow-ntin.
Sorry.
Anwyay sticking with the idea of adding a cat, i thought this would be the perfect time to add it into the mix.
This was the cat from the anamatic, tried to make it cutesy looking so the final impact of the animation was stronger.
The base came from this image, and i'd also recently watched the Aristocats so i kind of tried to take the "fat cheeks" style from it.
The final design of cat i tried to keep dark and moody, rather than going for the overly cutesy look. When you see it in animation it looks quite nice so i'm happy with the way it turned out.
CAT SCENE
Anwyay sticking with the idea of adding a cat, i thought this would be the perfect time to add it into the mix.
This was the cat from the anamatic, tried to make it cutesy looking so the final impact of the animation was stronger.
The base came from this image, and i'd also recently watched the Aristocats so i kind of tried to take the "fat cheeks" style from it.
The final design of cat i tried to keep dark and moody, rather than going for the overly cutesy look. When you see it in animation it looks quite nice so i'm happy with the way it turned out.
CAT SCENE
They call me the Tundra boy.
because i move like an arctic lizard.
The 2nd shot in the animation was interely inpsired by the Might boosh.
Series 3 had an episode called "Tales of the crack fox", there's a scene where Vince goes out into the "backyard" and see's all the black bags he's piled up (see below 4:45 onwards)
I was impressed with the shot when i first watched it and it was obviously memorable as it jumped into my head when thinking about this animation.
The crows were also a direct rip from The Boosh.
This scene was also the one and only scene i added sound to (There is running background music in all scenes) but specific sounds are only in this one scene.
It's the sound of a crow and was found from www.flashkit.com
The 2nd shot in the animation was interely inpsired by the Might boosh.
Series 3 had an episode called "Tales of the crack fox", there's a scene where Vince goes out into the "backyard" and see's all the black bags he's piled up (see below 4:45 onwards)
I was impressed with the shot when i first watched it and it was obviously memorable as it jumped into my head when thinking about this animation.
The crows were also a direct rip from The Boosh.
This scene was also the one and only scene i added sound to (There is running background music in all scenes) but specific sounds are only in this one scene.
It's the sound of a crow and was found from www.flashkit.com
First things first.
The first thing i needed to do was create a house/street. I began doing this on flash (in my vector style).
It started with a picket fence as i wanted the street to look quite "American" in feel.
A simple design nothing to complicated or confusing, i used no refrence to this as i think a wooden picket fence is simple enough to design.
I then moved onto doing the background, the main thing i wanted there was a house along with a tree and another fence in the background.
The design came together reasonably quickly, i was a little unsure about making the windows actually look like windows, but they looked somewhat passable.
The idea of the animation here was to give a kind of "passing of time" animation to the rubbish on the street, i began by making a movie clip of a "starter" pile of rubbish.
I then created a second pile, then a third and finally a forth.
2
3
4
I tried 2 ways of showing the passing of time, i originally had the idea of it going from night and day by making the background a movie clip i would slowly adjust the brightness on a tween to make it darker. Then alpha in the rubbish as the new day dawns.
In theory it sounded good, but when put in practice the background getting darker didn't make it look like night.
A good example is when a white wall is seen at night, it isn't "Gray" as you would expect, sometimes it can be a green/brownish colour.
So i scrapped that idea, but kept the idea of alpha-ing the rubbish (see below)
I personally think it works well and i guess it shows time passing, reflecting on it i could of changed the background to match different seasons...might of been nice.
It started with a picket fence as i wanted the street to look quite "American" in feel.
A simple design nothing to complicated or confusing, i used no refrence to this as i think a wooden picket fence is simple enough to design.
I then moved onto doing the background, the main thing i wanted there was a house along with a tree and another fence in the background.
The design came together reasonably quickly, i was a little unsure about making the windows actually look like windows, but they looked somewhat passable.
The idea of the animation here was to give a kind of "passing of time" animation to the rubbish on the street, i began by making a movie clip of a "starter" pile of rubbish.
I then created a second pile, then a third and finally a forth.
2
3
4
I tried 2 ways of showing the passing of time, i originally had the idea of it going from night and day by making the background a movie clip i would slowly adjust the brightness on a tween to make it darker. Then alpha in the rubbish as the new day dawns.
In theory it sounded good, but when put in practice the background getting darker didn't make it look like night.
A good example is when a white wall is seen at night, it isn't "Gray" as you would expect, sometimes it can be a green/brownish colour.
So i scrapped that idea, but kept the idea of alpha-ing the rubbish (see below)
I personally think it works well and i guess it shows time passing, reflecting on it i could of changed the background to match different seasons...might of been nice.
Ideas?
After seeing Lauren's storyboard/anamatic and knowing we only had 2 weeks rather than cycling through a few ideas, i decided to chose one and stick with it.
Her brief had 5 different starting points;
ANYWAY back on topic. I wanted to incorperate a cat into the animation as i thought it'd be like a "running gag" if all of the animations had a cat in (Although i think only mine and Laurens do).
I immiedtialty began thinking of recycling as the centre of what i wanted my animation to be about, you see it in the streets nowadays. Litter everywhere and there are blatently bins a few inches away (I'm not one who does this) so i thought it would be a good subject to pick up on.
I can't explain my thought process all that much as it just seemed to have "happened". The idea popped into my head and i ran with it.
Her brief had 5 different starting points;
- Water
- Enery
- Waste
- Travel
- Diet
ANYWAY back on topic. I wanted to incorperate a cat into the animation as i thought it'd be like a "running gag" if all of the animations had a cat in (Although i think only mine and Laurens do).
I immiedtialty began thinking of recycling as the centre of what i wanted my animation to be about, you see it in the streets nowadays. Litter everywhere and there are blatently bins a few inches away (I'm not one who does this) so i thought it would be a good subject to pick up on.
I can't explain my thought process all that much as it just seemed to have "happened". The idea popped into my head and i ran with it.
Brief
For my final specialist study project I have chosen a very current topic with, potentially a very wide target audience. Climate change is a worldwide issue and while many people recognise the term, not as many will understand what it is all about and what they can personally do to help. I intend to focus on providing information on ways the average UK person can help the environment in their everyday lifestyle.
As part of the project I will be producing a website that will contain such information but in an entertaining way with the use of animation. Each animation need only be short, perhaps only 10-15 seconds long- Just enough to present one or two points in an interesting way, not all points need be animated.
Deadline is Thursday 20th May so it gives you all 2 weeks to come up with a 10-15 second animation which I think is do-able. I've tried to describe the topics to be covered in as much detail as I can but at the bottom of the proposal are relevant websites for obtaining more information if needed.
I tried to pick out key phrases within the brief that would help me centre what needed to be done. Words like "Entertaining" were the words i tried to pick on. Lauren also gave an example of the "comedy" she wanted injected into the animations.
I found myself laughing when others didn't and found myself being composed when others were laughing, so the comedy wasn't forced or in your face, it was left open for interpretation.
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