Final Critical Analysis: Change of State

To round off the project, I will provide a critical analysis of my final animated sequence.

To recap, the aim of the project was to choose a theme relating to 'Change of State' and produce an animation to answer our chosen theme. I chose the theme 'Human to superhero'.

First, I will review the process I went through to produce my final animation. In terms of efficiency and management of workload, I feel that it was a success. I produced the animation in five distinct stages; keys, rough animation, details, colours and effects. I feel that I managed each of these stages in a controlled and efficient manner. One aspect that kept things going smoothly was my decision to incorporate the soundtrack from the offset, so I never lost track of what I was supposed to be animating.

Stage 1: Animation Keys

Now, I will analyse my character designs and animation style. I designed characters that are straightforward, but have a lot of potential for facial and physical expression. The use of bold lines and simple shapes allowed for characters that are both easy for the audience to relate to and easy for me to animate.

Stage 2: Rough Animation

In order to better manage my workload, I also made use of limited animation. This decision came as a result of the previous Animated Cycle brief, in which I insisted on drawing every frame by hand. This was not only laborious; it took a lot of time. Time is money in the animation industry, and though I managed to submit it on time, I might have lost a lot of money if it had been a professional submission turned in late. By using limited animation in this brief, I was able to finish the piece an entire week before it was due for submission.

Stage 3: Details

As well as lightening the workload by a significant amount, my decision to use limited animation allowed me to focus on the silhouettes of the characters and make sure that their poses and body language were dynamic. The use of flat colours also keeps the animation clean and uncluttered, which allows for clear communication, an essential thing to consider when animating.

Stage 4: Colours

This project was also a learning experience for me, as it was the first time I had experimented with filters and graphic symbols of multiple frames. I had a lot of trouble with getting the glow filters to look right, and it took a lot of trial and error. As stated in a previous post, I achieved the final result completely by accident, but the information I gained from this happy accident will serve me well in later projects.

Stage 5: Effects

Now I will look at how the soundtrack and the animation compliment each other. I was originally going to use a different piece of music, but I changed my mind because the music I used was the perfect length for the animation and suited the subject matter much better (I was even told that the music I used perfectly suits a superhero). The dynamic, over-the-top nature of the music also works with the dynamic, over-the-top nature of my characters' movements. By working out the animation keys in conjunction with the music, the action was solidly grounded, and it also made animating easier.

The final result is one I am incredibly pleased with

The overall look and feel I was going for, in terms of design and animation, was that of a television cartoon for children. Based on feedback I received throughout the project, I neatly managed to achieve this, which I am pleased about. As far as I know, there is a lot of work in children's entertainment, and if I can develop my skills in that sort of area, I should stand a good chance of getting a job in the animation industry.

Overall, I believe that this project was a resounding success. I learned a lot of new skills and techniques for animating in Adobe Flash while correcting the mistakes I made in the previous animation project. In the group critique of our finished animations, the tutor found nothing wrong with my submission. As well as learning a lot about Adobe Flash, I also learned a lot about myself as an animator. It seems that my strengths lay in limited animation; it would do me a great service to try and break this personal boundary, but for now, further strengthening my grasp of limited animation will serve me well.

Characterisation and Influence on my Animation

For this reflective task, we have to consider what characterises and influences our individual styles of animation, and to consider which animators we admire and why.

I have Language and Communication Disorder, so I need things to be made more clear to me to understand. I suppose that through animation, I can turn my disability into an advantage, as in making something clear to me, I can make it clear to a vast majority of people.

Clarity is the key aspect I strive for when animating, therefore I believe that clarity and ease of communication are what characterises my work. I always try to ensure that the animation I am making can be understood, and enjoyed, by anybody. I feel that clarity is one of the most important things to consider in animation. If an animation is too complicated or opaque, the viewers' enjoyment may be compromised.

My views on animation are reflected in my art and animation styles. My character designs are straightforward, allowing the viewer to easily identify with the character. When animating, I make use of limited animation and bold movements to ensure that the appeal of the character is not lost or otherwise detracted.

In terms of influences on my animation, the work of Disney, Pixar, Cartoon Network Studios, Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera have been sources of inspiration to me for their clarity and devotion to characterisation since I was very young. More recently, I have been influenced by the work of Frederator Studios for their straightforward design and crisp animation.

Adventure Time with Finn and Jake - Produced by Frederator Studios

I am also regularly influenced by Japanese animation studios such as Studio Ghibli, A-1 Pictures, Madhouse and Wit Studio. As with the previously mentioned studios, these Japanese studios also make clarity their operative word, while also producing work that is arguably more dynamic than that of their western cousins.

Princess Mononoke - Produced by Studio Ghibli

Sword Art Online - Produced by A-1 Pictures

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time - Produced by Madhouse

Attack on Titan - Produced by Wit Studio

Change of State: Final Animation

After one whole month of work, my superhero animation is finished.

After producing the rough build of the animation, I worked on finalising the lines (that is to say, redrawing them as solid black lines) and adding colour and special effects. There were a lot of layers to navigate, and there were several instances in which I accidentally started drawing or colouring on the wrong layer. Those mistakes were relatively easy to fix, but the real difficulties came from the timing and the special effects.

I had a bit of trouble trying to get the timing right. I could not get past the fact that the final pose seemed to come too late. In the end, I cut two of the inbetween frames from the last little sequence of movement and the timing worked out just fine. The special effects were more complicated. I basically wanted to give the impression of bright, glowing light as the superhero transforms and then a bright flash as the transformation finishes.

I discovered the solution completely by accident. I had been wrestling with the glow filter for hours, trying to make it expand just big enough to make the transformation seem more impressive without the glow effect looking terrible. Eventually, I took a break from it to sort out the transition of the background, which fades to grey as the transformation starts, back to white. The combination of the expanding glow effect and the background fading from grey to white perfectly created the effect I had been trying to achieve all along. I think that this happy accident is one of the crowning glories of this animation.

Research Task: Comparing Andreas Hykade and Bill Plympton

For this research task, we have to compare and contrast Andreas Hykade's 'Love and Theft' with Bill Plympton's 'Your Face', and see if we can think of any other animations in which 'change of state' could be a theme.

Screenshot from Bill Plympton's Your Face, displaying the character's face 'wrapping' around itself

To start, I will take a look at Bill Plympton's 'Your Face'. Much like Hykade's 'Love and Theft', the content of 'Your Face' is heavily psychedelic. Where 'Your Face' differs from 'Love and Theft' is how its psychedelic nature is presented. 'Your Face' features a singing man's face warping and twisting into different shapes, his entire head dissipating and reconstructing, his features stretching to grotesque sizes. This method of playing with the human face, possibly the most recognisable thing in the world, creates a sense of unease on a level that is arguably more personal than 'Love and Theft', which uses a combination of strange shapes, colours and music to play with the viewer's senses.

Screenshot from Andreas Hykade's Love and Theft

Adding to the more personal nature of Plympton's 'Your Face' is the fact that the whole animation has been hand drawn with pencil and pencil crayons, similar to the famous animated adaptation of Raymond Briggs' 'The Snowman'. The overall effect is one that is gentle and pleasingly messy, which only adds to the strangeness of the piece. In direct contrast, Hykade's 'Love and Theft' appears to have been produced digitally, and uses harsh colours, clean lines and smooth inbetweens. This is possibly a reference to the entertainment industry.

Title card for the Ninjas animation series

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=FLTKpxG-Sr9RbE7ZtLT_RngA&feature=player_detailpage&v=VRudsOaEpmg

One animation I remember seeing a while ago that had 'Change of State' as part of its themes is 'Ninjas', produced for the Youtube gaming network The Yogscast by Youtube animator 'balbod'. The link above goes to the sixth episode of the series, in which the character of the Burrito Bushido (voiced by Chris Lovasz, also known as 'Sips') is pushed into a machine that transforms him from an overweight blob into a muscle-bound martial artist. The contrast between the 'before' and 'after' states of the character makes the transformation both amusing and memorable, and acts as a strong turning point in the story of the series.

Research Task: Andreas Hykade and 'Love and Theft'

For this task, we are meant to look at the work and career of animation director Andreas Hykade and to analyse his short film 'Love and Theft', which was shown at the 2010 Bradford Animation Festival.

Andreas Hykade is a German animation director. Born in Altotting, Bavaria in 1968, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart from 1988 to 1990. From there, he worked as an animator in London in 1991 before going back to his studies, studying animation at the Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg. As an animation director, he works at Studio Filmbilder in Stuttgart and as the Professor of Animation at Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg, as well as teaching animation at Harvard University.

Screenshot from Andreas Hykade's 1995 student film Wir Lebten im Gras (We Lived in Grass)

Hykade is well known for his films known collectively as The Country Trilogy. The first in the trilogy, 'We lived in Grass', is a student film produced in 1995 by Hykade that recieved numerous awards. The following two entries in the trilogy, 'Ring of Fire' and 'The Runt', were similarly praised. As a whole, the trilogy appears to address themes of masculinaity and the myths surrounding the concept.

Screenshot from Andreas Hyakde's Love and Theft, submitted to the 2010 Bradford Animation Festival

Looking at his film 'Love and Theft', I made the assumption that it is about ownership and copyright. I came to this assumption because the content of the film mostly consists of the faces of copyrighted characters melting into each other. Several characters from the likes of Disney and Warner Bros can be seen. Another possible theme of the animation could be "express yourself, but remain true to yourself". The psychedelic nature of the animation allows for innumerable interpretations, and it is my assumption that this was Hyakde's intention when producing 'Love and Theft'.