QMD310 week 23

HOW TO MAKE A FILM ANIMATION

BRIEF QMD3105: STOP FRAME ANIMATION - PRE-PRODUCTION

HOW TO MAKE A FILM ANIMATION

(Tips taken from various animation houses)

O1

Script Great films begin with great concepts. Some of our ideas are completely original, while some are inspired by a wide variety of sources, including children’s books and comic strips. Once we’ve settled on an idea, the first step is to write a script. Storyboards Once a script page is ready, we give it to our storyboard artists. Imagining how the words will translate into actions and pictures, they make a series of sketches — a kind of comic book — to tell the story and bring it to life. Once the directors and producer approve, the drawings are digitally photographed and strung together to create what we call a story reel (imagine a flipbook that lets you see how the drawings flow together). We combine that with temporary music, sound effects and dialogue, and work with the movie in this form for about 18 months. Visual Development Once the story reel is underway, our visual development department begins to plan the look of the film, developing the style, tone, colour and overall artistic approach to each and every sequence. Everything has to be designed, from the major characters to the smallest of props. Thousands of drawings, paintings, blueprints, sculptures and models later, our development artists have designed a fantasy world and characters to tell the story.

Casting Our storyboards are drawn, our characters and sets are designed, so now we need to find voices for our characters and start recording their lines. Casting in animation is unlike casting for live action movies. Since we create the physical characters on the computer first, we’re much more concerned with what an actor sounds like than how he or she looks. In other words, we cast with our ears, not our eyes. We record the actors before we start animating. We usually videotape the actors performing their roles to help provide reference for the next phases of production and to make sure that we capture key expressions, reactions and other nuances. Modeling From this initial design, our modelers will construct the digital 3-D model we’ll use for planning and animation. Rigging The modelers start with this wire frame sculpture that we call an armature, that breaks down our design into workable geometry and allows us to “rig” the figure, which will give the animator the ability to move our 3-D figure in whatever way is necessary to get the articulation we want. Basic Surfaces Once we’ve set up the armature, we can begin to add basic surfaces. It is this simplified “puppet in a box“ or digital marionette that we use in our next step. Layout Layout artists use rough “stand-in” shapes to block out the movement of the character in the scene. This rough layout or animatic is the blueprint from which we determine camera movement, character placement, spacing, lighting, geography and scene timing. The animatic maps out the entire movie, giving us a digital picture of each scene before we actually begin the character animation.

Character AnimationOnce the sequence is working well in layout, the animators start bringing the characters to life in the computer. They articulate the thousands of controls that were created during the character-rigging phase to bring each character to life and to synchronize them to the voice performances. Now the characters really look like themselves, but not quite. Remember, this is just the animation; the scene isn’t quite finished yet.Effects After the camera moves have been set and the characters have been animated, the next steps are effects and lighting. In a live-action film, it’s easy to photograph things like leaves blowing in the wind, waves at the beach or even footprints in the sand. In computer animation, these simple things are all designed and animated by the effects artists. In other words, if it’s not acting, but it moves, it’s an effect. Let’s use water to illustrate our point. Here’s the scene where Marty the Zebra surfs onto the beach, from our 2005 hit Madagascar. This is what the scene looks like once it has been animated but before any effects have been added. The effects animators take that very blocky and plain looking stand-in water and turn it into something beautiful. Let’s focus on a single shot and look at the series of steps it takes to accomplish this. We start by building and animating the translucent surface of the wave. Next we visualize how the surrounding environment is reflected in the wave like a mirror.

We add foam to the surface, and bubbles under the surface. Then our effects animators add the finishing touch — spray and splashes. When all those elements are combined, or “composited,” the composite is sent to the lighting department where we add final textures and lighting to get a complete frame from the movie. The Finishing Touches Throughout this entire four-year process we have been able to see and track our progress daily, projecting our images as they evolve. Finally, we are ready to add sound effects, add the final score into the film, mix our soundtracks, correct the color, and make our film or digital prints and release to theaters nationally and worldwide. How to Improve Your Animation. Once you’ve got the hang of animation (weight and balance, timing and spacing, moving joints in arcs, strong silhouettes, etc, etc.) what next? These following things should help make you a better animator. Life Drawing Classes Think of life drawing as popping down to the gym and exercising some of that flab. The more you look at the human form and draw it the better you get at sorting out those key positions! All animators should do life drawing regularly. The best models to draw are aspiring actors or mime artists. They know how to use their bodies to express emotions.

Do short poses and draw quickly. Try to capture a pose as quickly as possible. Broaden your life experience (or at least do some research)! How can you possibly animate something that you have no experience of? Do your research. If you need to animate a horse, go and look at some horses. Sketch them, video them but most of all just look at them as analytically as possible, for as long as possible. Almost all the people involved with the production of Finding Nemo had a go at Scuba diving. The best animators do their research. Keep looking at the world around you and take it in. Develop an interest in life and everything and everyone you come into contact with. The best animators do not spend every waking hour with their nose six inches away from a computer screen.

FLASH ANIMATION TIPS: Tip 1: Draw your characters in Illustrator or freehand. The drawing tools in Flash are too primitive and limited. Tip 2: It’s all in the story idea. Tip 3: Timing is very important. Tip 4: Characters must be believable. Tip 5: If you have a bad story idea, great characters and timing aren’t going to save it. Tip 6: Break up your animation when composing it in Flash. Make sure to use lots of different Scenes when making your animation. Tip 7: Have dialog in your animation; i.e. characters talking? Record the dialog before you start to make the animation. Tip 8: Start any sound a frame or two before the visual takes place.

STOP-MOTION

ANIMATION

Animation is the optical illusion of motion created by the consecutive display of images of static elements. In film and video production, this refers to techniques by which each frame of a film or movie is produced individually. These frames may be generated by computers, or by photographing a drawn or painted image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model unit (see Claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result with a special animation camera. When the frames are strung together and the resulting film is viewed, there is an illusion of continuous movement due to the phenomenon known as persistence of vision. Generating such a film tends to be very labour intensive and tedious, though the development of computer animation has greatly sped up the process. Graphics file formats like GIF, MNG, SVG and Flash (SWF) allow animation to be viewed on a computer or over the internet.

Stop motion is an animation technique, which makes static objects appear to move. It is central to the clay animation technique used on popular children’s shows such as Gumby and to the puppet-based animation of such well-known films as (Tim Burton’s) The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993), Chicken Run (DreamWorks/ Aardman Animations, 2000) Corpse Bride (Tim Burton, 2005), and all of the Wallace and Gromit films. Stop motion requires a camera, either motion picture or digital, that can expose single frames. It works by shooting a single frame, stopping the camera to move the object a little bit, and then shooting another frame. When the film runs continuously at 24 frames per second, the illusion of fluid motion is created and the objects appear to move by themselves. This is similar to the animation of cartoons, but with real objects instead of drawings.

ANIMATION TECHNIQUES Traditional animation began with each frame being painted and then filmed. Cell animation, developed by Bray and Hurd in the 1910s, sped up the process by using transparent overlays so that characters could be moved without the need to repaint the background for every frame. More recently, styles of animation based on painting and drawing have evolved, such as the minimalist Simpsons cartoons, or the roughly sketched The Snowman. Computer animation has advanced rapidly, and is now approaching the point where movies can be created with characters so lifelike as to be hard to distinguish from real actors. This involved a move from 2D to 3D, the difference being that in 2D animation the effect of perspective is created artistically, but in 3D objects are modeled in an internal 3D representation within the computer, and are then ‘lit’ and ‘shot’ from chosen angles, just as in real life, before being ‘rendered’ to a 2D bitmapped frame. Predictions that famous dead actors might even be ‘brought back to life’ to play in new movies before long have led to speculation about the moral and copyright issues involved. The use of computer animation as a way of achieving the otherwise impossible in conventionally shot movies has led to the term “computer generated imagery” being used, though the term has become hard to distinguish from computer animation as it is now used in referring to 3D movies that are entirely animated. Computer animation involves modeling, motion generation, followed by the addition of surfaces, and finally rendering. Surfaces are programmed to stretch and bend automatically in response to movements of a ‘wire frame model’, and the final rendering converts such movements to a bitmap image. It is the recent developments in rendering complex surfaces like fur and clothing textures that have enabled stunningly life-like character models, including surfaces that even ripple, fold and blow in the wind, with every fiber or hair individually calculated for rendering. However, that actually has little to do with the animation itself. Animation is the process of bringing a lifeless puppet to life through the use of motion. Many people confuse fancy effects and high-res textures with animation, but in fact life-like motion can be created using the simplest of models. There is for some a misconception that computers create animation today. However, a computer is nothing more than a very expensive and complicated drawing tool, as a pencil is a drawing tool. The choices a computer makes when interpolating motion are almost always awkward or unattractive ones, because the computer can not know what the animator is trying to express. Even if a complex physics system were created complete enough to exactly mimic the real world, the end result would not be affecting, because a significant part of the craft of animation concerns the artistic choices that an animator makes, and of which a computer is incapable.

The role of drawing in the multimedia design process:

• When you begin a project, it usually starts on paper. Storyboards are blueprints for your digital content. It can bring you closer to your vision by helping you prepare your shots, 3D models, levels of detail and inevitably determine how you will direct the shots in your animation.
• If an animation project is the road and you are the driver, the storyboard is your map. It helps you to plan where you’re going, helping you to avoid unwanted turns, which can cost you both time and money. Good storyboards help reduce the overall cost of a production because the shots are planned out, leaving unnecessary shooting aside.
• Storyboards also help the editor put the movie together. The editor can piece together the different shots you’ve created in the order you planned, without guesswork.
• A proper storyboard allows the director, actors, cinematographer and effects people to prepare properly. From this point the actors can rehearse their scenes, the lighting people can determine the best lighting situation and the director can work out the shots.

1. Conceptual Illustration

2. Planning

If your location resembles something that exists, then this would be the stage where you could study it. While on location you might see more things than you visualized. It can also help you to decide how to direct shots.

The designer’s first creative task in the development of any multimedia product is to produce a range of ideas in response to the brief. The concept stage is one of visual problem solving, and the range and quality of proposed solutions to the problem will be a gauge of the designer’s creativity, technical skills and experience. As an animator you need to be aware of your goal – it’s your job to bring the visual plan to the table. Concept illustration is extremely important. It can establish a mood, production design, types of equipment needed for the shot. It can also help you to decide what type of camera lens to use, what model preparation you’ll need and what props you’ll need to get. This is the rough stage so don’t overthink it.

3. The Storyboarding Process

At the visual conception, the only hardware a designer needs is his pencil and some paper. However, the software he requires is rather formidable, in that he needs the sum total of his knowledge and experience of all the component media, and his knowledge of how to integrate them into a coherent idea for an interactive programme suitable for the defined target audience. Effectively, this means the designer will need to develop ideas and test them for effectiveness and technical feasibility. He does this by creating a visual scheme or structure of the product.

This is the storyboard. Drawing is a critical step in the conceptual stage of the multimedia design process; it is problem solving with a pencil. The storyboard is a visual presentation tool by means of which the designer can explain to his client how the programme will look and work, as well as providing a “programme map” for the production team. It provides a graphic outline, which describes the product in exact detail - using words and sketches for each and every screen image, sound, and navigational choice, right down to specific colours and shades, text content, attributes and fonts, button shapes, styles, responses and voice inflections.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Achievement of the outcomes is evident when the student has: Creativity Shows creativity and originality in constructing the characters and setting Demonstrate unity in style applied to their animation. Knowledge Demonstrate a good understanding of stop frame animation planning. Skill Apply detailed and fitting images to be used in a stop frame animation Value Innovation, creative solutions and concepts.

QMD3105: Stop Frame Animation - Pre-Production 10 Weighting 40 Creativity 25 Knowledge 25 Skill 10 Value Materials - Own Materials OUTCOMES On completion of this project you will have an understanding of: Demonstrate ability to conceptualise a complicated theme Demonstrate a thorough understanding of pre-production planning Experiment with different methods of Claymation Innovation, creative solutions and concepts. Handed in a complete brief with all components present.

Once you have finalised your concept and your story (again, keep it simple) you will be required to take photographs of your model. Imagine yourself as a director of a movie and as the director you will need to think about camera shots and angles, your scenes, how you will cut to a new scene, close ups, the actors, post production and of course music and audio. The most important things to remember when taking shots is lighting and making sure that your camera does not move. So make sure to light your scene with artificial lights and consider not doing this outside. Try get a tripod for your camera or make your filming device stable. Plan what you do with a storyboard before you take any pictures, as this will help you streamline the process. Your lecturer will want to see your storyboard before they allow you to take any pictures or film. For BRIEF QMD3106, you will shoot your pictures & be required to import your images into Aftereffects. In Aftereffects getting the dynamic correct is very important so make sure that the frame rate of your movie is 25 – 30 frames per second and where necessary adjust to preference. For BRIEF QMD3107, once your movie has been created in Aftereffects you will then be required to add in your SFX (sound effects) and music etc. Once your animation is complete you will be required to create an MP4 file for playback. The screen size of your movie must be at least 640 x 480 pixels. Your movie may not be shorter than 90 sec. You need to include sound. It could be background noises, music or a voice-over that tells the story. For examples you can look at “Wallace & Gromit” and “Sesame Street”.

BRIEF You need to create a “Fantasy World”, this fantasy world will be the subject of your stop frame animation. Your main character needs to be a “clay creation”. This being said when creating your world and your characters keep in mind that you need to be able to manipulate the world and the elements in it. So don’t create your main character out of clay with no joints so that it cannot re-position. Do research into character development and building. Think about how you will make your character move by means of joints. Maybe you can create a skeletal system out of wire and model your character out of soft clay like “Wallace” from the “Wallace & Gromit” series/movie. Remember that sometimes having something simple that works is better than having something complicated that doesn’t. Before you get started with your planning view the basic process of Stop frame Animation as this will add to the thinking behind your character creations. Watch Learning Stop Motion Animation by Rich Harrington on Lynda.com: https://www.lynda.com/After-Effects-tutorials/Welcome/163241/167321-4.html?srchtrk=index%3a1%0alinktypeid%3a2%0aq%3astop frame animation%0apage%3a1%0as%3arelevance%0asa%3atrue%0aproducttypeid%3a2 (This is also covered in your SOF140 subject) Also watch some You tube clay animations like: Magic Clay. A Clay animation by Guldies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqCplyUordU and Clay Animation Short: Make a Face: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9k97zpz4Hw

STEP 1 Pre-production Plan and storyboard the movie, including making decisions about different types of shots, sound effects, whether to script dialogue or a voiceover, or use silent movie techniques with screen captions. Make the models, props and set. Design characters with features that can be remodelled, adjusted, or replaced in the case of cut-outs, for different expressions, and with at least one moveable body part. Deliverable/Format:

1. Research
2. Planning
3. Fantasy world sketches and final design
4. Character sketches and final design
5. Storyboard
6. Examples of fonts and sound effects
7. Prototype of your clay character.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Achievement of the outcomes is evident when the student has:

• Creativity
• The storyline is original and appropriate to its intended audience
• Shows creative use of photography & lighting

Knowledge

• The learner has taken a variety of stills from various angles & details.

Skill

• Characterisation, mood and action is successful

Camera-work is skilled Value

• Handed in a complete brief with all components present.
• Submitted within the allocated time.

QMD3106: Stop Frame Animation - Production 10 Weighting 25 Creativity 30 Knowledge 30 Skill 15 Value Materials - AfterEffects OUTCOMES Upon completion of the brief, the student should be able to: Be able to create a semi-fluent and creative animation in Aftereffects by using still photos of a 3 dimensional object to communicate a story

BRIEF THIS BRIEF CONTINUES FROM QMD3105 You will continue with the production phase of your stop frame animation. STEP 2 Production Set up the camera on a tripod, and allow for the possibility of different types of shot (long, medium, close up), but make sure that the set is always framed. However, bare in mind that one-second of film requires 25 stills, so let any shot last for at least one or two seconds, or about 50 stills. Move the models by about one finger width for each shot, making sure that you return them to the correct position after expressions, pose etcetera have been altered: mark their position with chalk, which can be rubbed off when the figure is replaced. Mark the position of the tripod on the floor with coloured tape. As image capture will take some time, try to control the lighting to avoid screen flicker – studio lights with daylight bulbs are ideal for reproducing the same lighting conditions, but if they are not available, improvise with whatever lighting is to hand. Deliverable/Format:

• Final characters and fantasy world
• All photos included from your animation
• Half way with the final MP4

22 September 2023

thanks

Achievement of the outcomes is evident when the student has: Creativity The student has applied interesting and creative sound effects and considered camera angles that enhance their storyline. Knowledge The learner is able to convert the still photos taken of the character to a fluent animation. Soundtrack works well with the visuals. Skill Be able to create a fluent and creative animation in Aftereffects. Value Handed in a complete brief with all components present. The animation holds good entertainment value.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Achievement of the outcomes is evident when the student has: Creativity The student has applied interesting and creative sound effects and considered camera angles that enhance their storyline. Knowledge The learner is able to convert the still photos taken of the character to a fluent animation. Soundtrack works well with the visuals. Skill Be able to create a fluent and creative animation in Aftereffects. Value Handed in a complete brief with all components present. The animation holds good entertainment value.

BRIEF THIS BRIEF CONTINUES FROM QMD3105 & QMD3106 You will continue with the post-production phase of your stop frame animation. STEP 3 Post-production Preview the movie and adjust timings if desired. Make a title frame and end credits for your movie. Add transitions between scenes and any special effect that contributes to the narrative, but be very sparing with these. Play the movie through and note timings for the soundtrack accurately. Read the script while previewing the video and make revisions to fit the timing. Use a sound recorder like the one in Windows (Start > Programs > Accessories > Entertainment > Sound Recorder), or an iPod if using iMovie, to record the soundtrack, which could be made in several short segments. Save the sound files to your audio folder.

Browse to this folder and drop your sound files onto an audio track on the Timeline. Adjust the volume at appropriate points, or add additional sound effects on a second audio track. Preview and edit the soundtrack. Format: This project must be published as an MP4 file and handed in on disc – make sure it opens correctly before you hand it in. Deliverable/Format:

• Your 90sec animation needs to include:
• Title frame and credits
• Sounds or score
• A basic rationale explaining your concept, no longer than 400 words