The Ultimate Christmas Movie

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I've never seen 'It's a Wonderful Life' before, but now that I have I can really see why it's a lot of peoples favorite film ever. Completely plays with your emotions.. proof that a good original story teamed with some brilliant actors can make a really good film.

Scene analysis

Currently working on analyzing a scene for Brendans class, but I'm having trouble deciding which one, really want to do this scene from Drive but I'm worried I'm making life difficult for myself! It's just such a good example of modern film making

Language in media texts

I'm starting to go through my media theory assignment and structure it properly, I've decided to use as many of the texts for as many of the questions as possible, then hopefully I will be able to see what the strongest arguments are and cut out the weaker ones. The problem is, certain questions (language, structure) are far easier to talk about then others, I must try and equally answer each of the questions if I'm aiming for distinction. I must admit it has been easy learning more about Thatcher and the riots.. Hopefully I will do the articles justice.

Dreamweaver and web design

Just been learning the basics in web design today, making my ideas flow for when I design my site.. This screenshot is from the site I've created in this lesson, advertising London. I just used the London theme so I could create a basic looking site that ties together, obviously I wouldn't normally put all these different objects on the homepage, but it was just so I could play about a bit. I need to start sketching up some ideas of my layout.

Beyonces Visual Album

I don't need anymore reasons to love Beyonce, but I really liked the way her new album was released.
There was no marketing prior to the release it was just a social media announcement that it had come, with 14 songs and 17 music videos. You can see clips of all the videos on youtube. Apparently she has already sold record amounts in just 3 days, which just proves the power of the social media, it's  impressive. I think the fact so much effort was put into the videos also shows how music is becoming more visual, videos are now expected with a song release. Video releases as part of the album release is definitely the way of the future.

Auteur study, further decisions

After ditching the idea of studying Francis Ford Coppola, moving swiftly onto Quentin Tarrantino and then feeling like he would be to easy to do.. I am again stuck choosing between two directors. David Fincher and the Coen Brothers.
I've come up with a couple of different aspects to look in to:

The Coen Brothers
- the obscure
- use of the same actors
- botched crime, a crooked criminal - obsession with film noir
- an average joe who gets involved in a big scheme that is too much for them, something goes wrong with the plan and chaos spirals
- the effect of money on people, negative
- violence death and murder
- distinctive, american settings - malice in familiar settings
- greed and corruption

David Fincher
- a master of form, shot angles and filming techniques
- visual style, dark and gothic - flashy
- working with Brad Pitt
- Life theme, teaches a life lesson
- Downbeat endings
- Title sequences that set the tone for the film

I'm really stuck as to what to choose, I'm drawn to Fincher because he is undoubtedly an Auteur and has a brilliant visual style, but also drawn to the Coens just because it's far more light hearted! I am going to see what articles I can find on both and will probably end up doing the one I can create the best catalogue for. 

John Lewis Christmas Advert.. Memories

I keep seeing the new John Lewis Christmas advert, and all though I love it (it's become a bit of a Christmas tradition!), it just can't get better then last years. It quite literally fills me with emotion every time I watch it, such brilliant advertising.

Behind the Scenes: the Old Spice adverts

I absolutely loved watching this video and seeing the interesting way they create the old spice adverts, sometimes it is nice to see that everything isn't CGI, it reminds me of the way Michel Gondry does his effects.

Technology Wins

Lately I find myself constantly sticking up for modern technology, in a world where we have so many privileges it's surprising to me that so many people can complain about the way it works. I agree that somethings have negative sides, like twitter being used for bullying or how the internet takes notes of your interests without really asking your permission. But sometimes you've got to admit, we are incredibly lucky to live in an age where you can easily contact people a million miles away, and technology is constantly growing. At the rate it's growing, who knows how long it will be before we find a cure for cancer, or before travelling to space becomes a possibility for everyone. I'm not saying the bad things aren't an issue, but it's nice occasionally to just look at the positives, no matter how small they are. Below is a video from a Nine Inch Nail concert in Las Vegas, and it shows the front man Trent Reznor facetime a guy whilst on stage during the encore. It's a sweet thing to do for a fan anyway, but the guy he facetimes was actually a guy who couldn't be at the gig after just been given only a few weeks to live. Its these small privileges, being able to video call someone at the touch of a button, that we take for granted. Sometimes, the little things mean the most.

Click the link to watch the video

Tarantino Referencing Pop Culture

I'm thinking about studying Tarantino for my auteur study, there's a lot of info out there on his references to pop culture and I think it would be something I could really go to town on. However, is it too easy? It's certainly easy to watch his films again and again.

Animation station

With the animation deadline looming, I'm trying to get as much done as possible every day. It's certainly a challenge, but it'll be good to get it done so I can put it onto the website I am creating for Web Design. Here's a screenshot from my opening title sequence, hopefully more to come soon!

  

American Beauty: The Dinner Scene

Today in film studies we watched clips from 'American Beauty'. I particularly enjoyed this dinner scene.

It's great how you get the impression of a happy family scene and this slowly deteriorates. In particular, the camera shots, cutting between the mother and father create real tension and an idea of separation. The division is clear from the establishing shot and the distance between them, but it isn't really clear until further on in the scene. I especially like the use of lighting, the way Kevin Spacey ascends into darkness every time his anger rises. Brilliant film making. 

Exciting news from Disney

I love the first feeling I get when I see a new film poster for something that excites me. I love Disney in general, but Sleeping Beauty was always a favorite when I was a child. I'm not Angelina Jolie's biggest fan, but I can't believe how good she looks as Maleficent. I haven't heard much more about the making of this new film, but a picture is worth a thousand words.

Image taken from: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/angelina-jolie-maleficent-trailer-released-article-1.1515321

Unfortunately the trailer isn't nearly as exciting, but still.. I'm sure it will be well worth a trip to the cinema.

Typography presentation

I've been researching typography for a presentation we have to do in Graphics, I'm going to look at different TV and film posters and analyse the fonts used and how they create different moods. I've chosen to only look at the speculative fiction genre, I think the sub genres  like sci-fi and horror have brilliant genre conventions that will help me with my assignment.

New: "Carry Me" Interactive Music Video

These days the amount of music videos being released is endless, bands no longer have to only release videos just for their main singles, with websites and social networking sites needing more video content then ever before. I regularly find myself watching a video and comparing it to a million other ones that are pretty much exactly the same. With the industry changing, most bands/artists are constantly battling to come up with the best new ideas, and trying to do something a little bit different. Bombay Bicycle Club are no exception, with their new music video being an interactive experience, where the viewer drags their mouse across the screen to get different things to happen on screen. This not only makes the viewer feel involved in the process, it also means you can watch the video a number of times and never see the same thing twice. Sure, it might not be the best looking video in the world, but it's different. And being different means it's a lot more memorable then your regular indie music video.

Watch: "Carry Me" Interactive Video

For me this is just proof of the many ways in which the world is changing, nothing is off limits anymore. It's extremely exciting, and even though this video won't get the same amount of hits as the more mainstream videos, it's a nice little reminder of the way we are heading. Everything is multi-platform. This isn't just a music video, it's a game and a piece of art too.

Graphic Design and Typography

Today we were given our first two assignments for Graphics. The first being a Powerpoint presentation analysing different typographies on products, and the second being taking this research and using it to create a product.

 Image taken from: http://www.brandsalsa.com/branding/destination-branding-states-and-countries-part-one/

I've got a couple of ideas already about the kind of product I could do. I think it could be good to do a website or app, or even a magazine. Something where I can incorporate image manipulation aswell.

Intellectual Property

Today we were learning about copyright and trademarking, it surprises me how things eventually become public domain and are free for the public to use as they like. It's also very interesting to learn about intellectual property and the loopholes in the law. It's almost unbelievable that the man who designed the Dalek doesn't make any money now.

Image taken from: http://connect.everythingzoomer.com/video/rammstein-feuer-frei-fire-at-will-not-william

I think this lesson will stick with me for a while, and it's going to be really useful to know my basic rights with regards to the things I create.

Anarchy in the UK vs. Pride of Britain

One UK event that sticks in my mind from the last few years is the riots that took place in London and various places across England. I remember watching a live stream on the news of a furniture shop going up in flames. As the anchor explained how the shop had been a family business, built up for years by one family and destroyed in a minute by some thoughtless kids, I couldn't help but be filled with anger.

Image taken from: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/08/london-riots-escalate-police-battle

Another strong memory I have from the last decade is the feeling I got when watching the London Olympics opening ceremony. As the beautiful spectacle directed by Danny Boyle unfolded in front of me I remember feeling extremely proud to be British, and excited for the coming sports events. 

Image taken from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/london-2012-olympics/wp/2012/07/27/opening-ceremonies/

The contrast between these events is obvious, which is why I'm glad that one of our media theory assignments is to compare the representation of the two in the newspapers at the time. It's always good to have experience and feelings that you can use in your work, but it's about understanding everyone feelings and how the media tries to control them. I can't wait!

Production time!

My animation folder is finally done! Now to move on to the tricky stuff.. I've written a production plan so I don't lose track of time

Week 1 (Mon 14^th October – Sun 20^th October)

 

-          Make all graphic items in library

-          Create Title Sequence

-          Create Pause/Play/Skip buttons

-          Start Production Log

 

Week 2 (Mon 21^st October – Sun 27^th October)

 

-          Shots 2-4

 

Week 3 (Mon 28^th October – Sun 3^rd November) (Half Term)

 

-          Shots 5 – 7

-          Check House Style is working, make any changes

-          Start final report discussing the production

-          Find Sound effects

 

Week 4 (Mon 4^th November – Sun 10^th November)

 

-          Shots 8 - 10

 

Week 5 (Mon 11^th November – Sun 17^th November)

 

-          Shots 11-13

 

Week 6 (Mon 18^th November - Sun 24^th November)

 

-          Final Shot

-          Credit Sequence

-          Add Sound effects

 

Week 7 (Mon 25^th November - Sun 1^st December)

 

-          Final Changes

-          Write about animation effectiveness

 

Thatcher - Deconstructing Newspaper covers

I have to analyse some different newspaper covers about the death of Margaret Thatcher, and looking at the amount of different opinions and media techniques used, this is going to be an interesting one.

Image taken from: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/amid-the-tributes-to-margaret-thatcher-cheers-and-jeers/story-e6frg6so-1226616236137#mm-premium

I have made notes on four different papers and will be analyzing them in closer detail before I write my assignment. Maggie definitely had a way of dividing a nation, I'm going to have to bare this in mind when going into more depth. 

Title Sequence and the blurring tool in Flash

Today in class we practiced doing a title sequence. We practiced using key frames and frames to make our name and a Title fade in and out on screen.

I need to think about my title sequence, and how it will tie in to the following scenes. For me it is not necessary that I use the text tool to write the title sequence, I think it might be nice to hand draw it. Especially as this is a cartoon, it will tie in with the rest of the animation.

We then learnt to take a photographic image from the internet and convert it to a bitmap, this means we could use it in our animation as a background. We then played with tinting to edit the photo. 

 

We talked about the importance of backgrounds, I need to make a list of backgrounds I want to use in my final animation, and then add this to my final list of things I need.

 

We then worked on using different layers with different movie clips within them, and blurring them at different levels to create a sense of depth in the shot.

 

 

 

This is going to be important when it comes to making my animation as I really want to use depth of field effectively.

 

We then learnt how to use a mask layer to hide something in a shot behind it. We took the example of the ladder and boat in the Pixar short “Le Luna” where the ladder appears from behind the boat.

  

The finished effect looked like this

 

 

I need to draw my storyboards for my final animation.

 

“Whatever the length or style of film being considered, however, it is a fundamental requirement of the process that the animators fully understand what they are seeking to achieve with each scene from the get-go.” (White, 2012)

This quote shows the importance of the storyboarding process and emphasises the relevance of understanding each part of my animation and knowing what scenes I will need to make, before I begin the production.

House Style

In my previous lesson I learnt that most animations and cartoons have what is referred to as ‘House Style’. This means there are a set of standards they follow when creating something that makes it recognisable as their own. For example, when anyone sees a yellow character they automatically associate it with the Simpsons. I want to look into a couple of different conventions of some different animations and see what stands out for each.

The Simpsons

            

-          Yellow characters

-          Certain drawing style, same as Futurama (see below)

-          Unique text font used

-          Facial and body shapes/details unique to Groenings work

Futurama

                

-          Same creator as the Simpsons – similarities in style of drawing and character features

-          Set in space, fantasy style

-          Special font used

South Park

-          Unique animation style – paper cut out look

-          Characters body shapes and facial features

-          Background setting style

The Flintstones

-          Special drawing style

-          Character body shape and facial features

-          Clothing and background setting

-          Unique text font

-          Caveman theme

From the cartoons I have looked into I can see a core theme running through them all, they all have a text font used for the title that is unique and stands out. They all have a certain drawing style, and their characters all have different body shapes and features. I think this is really obvious when you look in particular at the Simpsons and Futurama, because they have similar drawing styles and character features. This is because they have the same creator, Matt Groening. These elements would be considered his House Style. I know that I need to take this into account when creating my animation, as continuity is important, if all my different drawings look a different style the animation will not gel nicely. I’m going to remember this when drawing my backgrounds and later when making the final product.

Tablet Drawing: my coffee cup

Today I drew a simple example of what my character might look like using the drawing tablet straight into flash, I need to practice using it more often if I am going to be using it in my final animation. To draw it I took a photo of a coffee cup so I could get an idea of the basic shape I needed to do.

Tablet drawing

I have been struggling with moving my timeline around, and remembering which frame to use when I want to change or keep something on the screen for longer. I must remember that a key frame is what you use when you want something different to happen, and a frame is what you use to make something stay still.

We also practiced using the drawing tablets to trace over a picture. We did this by importing a picture of a character into the library and dropping it into one layer. We then draw over the main lines in another layer, before deleting the first. I chose a picture of my favourite studio Gihbli character, Totoro. Below is the finished result

Flash - Music and Sound Timing

Today I learnt how to drop a mp3 piece of music into flash, and how to time pictures on a screen to match the sound. I chose to use the song “Hold On” by SBTRKT, and thought I could do a simple animation of notes appearing as each of the notes in the song played. Each picture as it appears to the notes, must be in a different key frame. This showed me the importance of timing, and I will use this in particular when timing the sound effects in my animation. Here are some screenshots of my timing animation. 

I need to remember that a sound goes onto a key frame, and that if I am going to use a background audio over the top of my animation I want it to stream. I must start to really consider timing and sound with my animation. If I use a number of sound effects, a good website to get them is www.flashkit.com.

An auteur study

I've been thinking about different directors to do for my Auteur study, and after watching the Godfather last night I'm considering doing Francis Ford Coppola. It's got to be one of the best films ever made.

I'm not sure if it's purely my love for Brando that makes me want to do this, but it's definitely something I'm going to look into.

Animation TVA

Today I wrote a list of all the things I will use in my animation, all the different moving parts that I will have in my library in flash when creating my final product. I have also thought about what software I will use and where I will get my sounds and drawings. Soon I will be thinking about storyboarding, so I have taken my previous rough timeline plan and from that made a rough storyboard shot plan. Using this I created a Time/Audio/Visual table, and from that I was able to see some shot changes I wanted to make.

Tweening in Flash

Today we learnt how to create a graphic that is separate from the background stage, and how all these graphics can be stored in the ‘Library’, to be dropped into your animation when you need it. I have learnt how to create a range of simple animations, using these graphics.

 The first thing we learnt is how to use key frames to create a simple stop motion of a face going from neutral to happy and back again. We learnt that combining this with the ‘Onion skin’ tool meant that we could create a smoother transition between key frames, as it allows you to see what was drawn in the previous frame while you are drawing the next one.

One thing I found particularly helpful in this lesson is to remember that the little black dots on the timeline symbolise a key frame. A key frame means that I want to change something, make something move.

We also learnt how to do a simple motion tween of an object simply moving across a screen, I created a tween of some clouds drifting through the air at different speeds and angles.

Each of the clouds was in a different layer so I could make them go in different directions and different times. I like this idea of clouds floating about for a title sequence.

It’s very important that I know exactly what graphics I will need in my final animation, including all the different moving parts.

“Understand what you need to achieve. This means that with whatever form od animation being attempted, the animator must first full understand the story, the emotion, the motivation, the continuity (in other words, the scene with the scenes around it), and of course, the character acting needs for any particular scene.” (White, 2012)

I think this quote explains clearly the need to have all the elements of the animation planned out. I need to create a list of what I will need in each scene so that I can use this when making the final product.

We started to use other effects like rotating and blurring to create a short animation of a spaceship moving through the sky. I can use the blurring in particular in my animation to create the impression of things being further away in the distance.

Toy Story Character Research

I have given my synopsis to a number of different people and gained some ideas of how to change my synopsis.  From this I have decided on a title name, and how I need to make some changes. I have also decided to do some character research on the Toy Story films as it was compared to my idea twice in my market research.  Hopefully from this I will be able to gain some ideas for when I am drawing my characters.

The Toy Story Films – Character Research

The Toy Story films were a series of animated films produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It’s about a group of Toys all living in a young Childs room, that pretend to be inanimate when the boy is around but come to life the moment they are alone. The film was very funny, and had a range of characters that the audience sympathized with, especially the main character Woody. I remember really enjoying it as a child, and it was very popular throughout the series. I’m going to look at some of the characters I think are most similar to my character ideas so I can gain an idea of what my final drawing might look like.


Hamm – 

-          Big head and Body

-          Small eyes and eyebrows used for expression

-          Short legs

-          Snout and slightly rosy cheeks

-          Very simplistic shapes

Mr & Mrs Potato Head -

-          Big eyes, small pupils

-          Short legs, quite big steps

-          Big Body

-          Bold contrasting colours

-          Simple big shapes

Lenny - 

-          Big eyes, takes up whole body

-          Big pupils

-          Short legs, waddles

-          Bright Colours, big contrast

-          Doesn’t talk, makes squeaking noises

I chose these three characters to look at because they are the most similar to my character in the sense that they are not the shape of a human, they are all inanimate objects with facial features. There are a few things that seem to be a theme through all of them.

They all have large eyes, I think this helps to make the character seem cute and cartoon like to the audience. Most of them have a rounded body, or simple shapes, with very small legs and they kind of waddle. I think this movement would be good to have in my animation but I need to think about how I would do it. They also all are bright colours that contrast quite well. I think this is because they are toys and most toys are bright colours, but I would like to use kind of unrealistic colours on my cup, as the colours of a coffee cup are kind of plain. I do want my animation to be fun and cartoon like without being too unrealistic.

Oliviero Toscani and his Benetton campaign

Image taken from: http://agonistica.com/oliviero-toscani/

It was very interesting to learn about the rise and fall of Oliviero Toscanis relationship with United Colors of Benetton. I think "shock factor" advertising is a very risky technique, and it's interesting how he can do it for so long and seem to be getting it all right, before crashing down just for one misjudged idea. I'll be making sure I think of all the possible reactions to any campaigns I create before I put posters all around the world.

We also have to think about what Film director we are going to do for our Auteur study, some particular favourites of mine spring to mind...

Christopher Nolan
Michel Gondry
Wes Anderson
Coen Brothers
Ang Lee
Danny Boyle

I might use this an excuse to have a movie marathon this weekend, I've got some hard choices to make!

Synopsis and Character Research

I’ve written my synopsis, and I have drawn a couple of character ideas out. To help me write my synopsis I also did a rough timeline plan, so I could check that the timing would fit into the story. From all the characters I have drawn, I am thinking that the best one is the coffee cup. I may show my drawings to people to see which one they prefer, but I myself think I prefer the coffee cup. I wondered if a coffee cup would be a suitable object to make my character likeable, and I remembered that there was a coffee cup in the latest Wrigleys Extra advert, that dances around with a number of other foods. I can take this into account when drawing my final cup.

 I also can’t decide whether my character should have arms and legs, this could be another thing I can ask people for advice on. 

Beauty and the Beast

I’ve watched the Disney film “Beauty and the Beast” to get a better idea of whether my character needs legs or not to move effectively. I found that most of the characters actually move without legs, they tend to topple from one side to the other. Only some characters (for example, Cogsworth) walk with some sort of legs, and even then the legs are formed from parts of his body. As my cup would not have parts I can turn into legs, it may be easier for me to move the characters in the same way the cutlery moves in the film.

Animation Story Line Development

Today I worked on my storyline, and I have come up with a fairly simple idea to develop. I’m thinking it should be one character, maybe a coffee cup or a can. It tries to cross the road, and has to dodge lots of traffic, possibly getting run over on the way, or even getting to the other side and getting trodden on. I wanted to check that the idea of something inanimate having features and getting squashed would work in effecting the audience appropriately. I managed to find a video for the song Coffee & TV by Blur, which features a male milk carton that falls in love with a female milk carton, shortly before the female milk carton gets crushed. When the carton gets crushed, the effect it had on me was humour, as well as making me sympathise with the male carton.

Pixar Animation Shorts

As I was looking back at the facial expressions we drew yesterday, I came up with a character idea for my story. I’m thinking of some sort of inanimate object, but it could have cartoon like facial features. Perhaps a cup or some other piece of litter, or a household appliance. I like the idea of the story being about something that couldn’t happen in real life, I think fantasy is one of the great things about animation, you can create things that in reality, would be impossible. As Walt Disney once said;

“Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive. This facility makes it the most versatile and explicit means of communication yet devised for quick mass appreciation.”

When thinking of my storyline, I did some research into other animation shorts. In particular I looked at the storylines of Pixar.

La Luna

This short shows a boy on a small dingy boat with two men, one who looks like he could be his father and the other his granddad. Once they’re in the middle of the sea they throw the anchor over the side. They each try to convince the boy of the right way to wear his hat. They pull a ladder out of the boat that goes up to the moon, and they climb up on to in. On the moon, the boy sees that the moons shine is made up of shining stars. They then begin to start using brushes to sweep the stars along the surface of the moon.

A large star bigger then the others crashes into the moon. They try to move it but it is too big. The boy climbs up the star and when he gets to the top, taps it with a hammer. The star explodes into lots of the smaller stars and the boy falls down with them onto the moon surface. They continue to brush all the stars to the other side of the moon, before going back down the ladder to their boat. When they look up, the crescent moon shines.

-          3 simple characters

-          Fantasy style story

-          Shows them overcoming struggle

Day & Night

In this short there are two characters, one is Day and one is Night. When they first meet they don’t seem to like each other. Each of the characters has things happen inside their body that would normally happen in the day or night time. These things can express how they are feeling at the time. When things are happening to each of them, the other becomes jealous, and they fight. In the end they start to warm to each other. The short ends with them relating to each other, and they swap places.  

-          2 simple characters

-          Complex detail inside characters

-          Characters fight then make up

For The Birds

This short focuses on a group of birds that land on a telephone wire, and start to argue. After the fight a bit, a larger bird lands in the middle of them all. The smaller birds pick on the larger one because he is different. The big bird is so heavy that the wire comes all the way to the ground. The smaller birds slowly push the big bird off the wire. The birds suddenly realise what will happen when the big bird falls off the wire, but it is too late. The wire pings up into the sky and the birds are sent flying. The small birds all fall to the ground, they have all been plucked featherless by the speed they were sent off, and the large bird laughs at them.

-          Simple characters, 2 types of bird

-          Simple setting

-          Smaller bird characters are mean but get their comeuppance

I’ve come to the conclusion that the most successful stories are always fairly simple, and often play with humour and emotion.  The narrative is important but doesn’t necessarily have to contain any actual spoken word, and the audio is key. It’s very important to have the right sounds at the right time, and just in general think about each object/sound carefully, does it need to be there?