Having been briefed upon our animation exercise for this week in Performance and character, I wrote down my character's biography being a master thief stealing from a bank and running away from the crime.
Biography:
Following this was the production of a story board and barsheet for the exercise. The exercise in question was called climb, and the performance was having the character run, jump, climb on the fence then throw something after landing on the ground. I decided to approach this in 2D and stopmotion as this seemed much to hard a task for 3D given my understanding of the software thus far. This I felt was an opportunity to develop my skills in 2D.
In the production of my exercise piece, I learned that unlike before the reference footage wouldn't be one simple film but two different pieces, such as climbing the fence or jumping over it. This meant looking at police academy training footage or how to climb a fence to map out the basic positions and poses.
Reference footage:
Doing the animation itself in 2D was rather difficult, as I felt unsure how to condense the animation into 10 seconds which was the overall run time. One difficult aspect I encountered was mapping out the running movements and poses as the character ran up to the fence preparing for the jump such as which leg went where. Which was when I learned not to do some of the figure in the same colour as it compromised leg positions.
I had an idea to use a layered background in the animation treating it like an animatic. However in doing so I learned how different layers were in Adobe Animate than in Photoshop, and how they didn't shrink down into the right size or place. Hence why I decided to place the fence layer into After effects upon completing it. I felt rather confident doing the animation even if it was a simple stick man that I was using.
Once completed I was rather pleased with the end result and how I rendered a smoke screen in After Effects. However I feel I could've improved upon some areas such as the fence layer in after effects as in some of the comments from my classmates showed that the fence doubled in appearance. I may consider a different approach in terms of backgrounds.
Stopmotion, was a different story. I knew this would need a large block to act as a wall/fence but what I didn't realise was the height of the armature compared to the wooden block which had magnets in. One other element was the updated software which had a new appearance and new controls which I didn't understand as we weren't shown how it works on our induction.
This meant self teaching myself which I found difficult when doing the animation itself despite the help sheet in the studio. However I feel my tired state at the time may've had a factor in my judgement. What I learned from this was to take into account the size of the armature and the frames I was taking with the camera, as I felt the end result lacked any good presentation or proper positioning of the camera itself. Looking back at the finished animation it seemed a rather rushed piece and didn't seem to show any passion or performance despite the climb over the wall being realistic.
Learning from this I may consider bringing in my own armature for exercises like this as I wanted it to fit my story. I've also learned a little about the new stop motion software and how it works. However I feel I should've asked for a tutorial or a briefing from James the technician so I would have a better idea of how it would work for future reference.
Given my first two tries in these mediums its clear I still have a lot to improve upon, but I've since learned that nothing is perfect on the first try and there is room for development and feedback.
In future I shall ask for an induction on the new stopmotion software and possibly make or bring in a smaller armature to be used for any future attempts at the climbing exercise. In addition look at movements in throwing a ball over head or how to properly align a layer from Photoshop in Animate.
Biography:
Name: Zak Rykers
Age: 17
Gender Male
Hobbies: Running track at school, Athletics, Rock climbing
Talents: Photographic memory.
Bio:
Since the age of 11 years old, Zak Rykers has had a talent for lock picking locked doors and getting into places he shouldn’t. As he got older he began to hone his skills in lock picking to safe cracking. At the age of 17 he became the best known thief once in a generation earning the name “Safe crack Zak.” .However unlike normal thieves he doesn’t steal the money for himself but gives it to those less fortunate than himself most would call him a typical Robin Hood. He’s done his best to avoid the police for so long earning a few enemies along the way. He stays in hiding after his father kicked him out of the house for being a common thief.
However he does keep in contact with his younger sister who’s currently attending boarding school and misses her older brother.
While in High School he was a very skilled athlete in sports, especially running and climbing, known to be the best in his P.E class. He utilises these skills in running from the police and scaling buildings and fences in his path.
Relationships:
Colton Rykers: Father:
Zak has always been at odds with his father since he was 15 and can’t seem to understand him. Colton wanted more for his son and can’t understand why his own son becomes a thief to steal from others after giving him a home and income.
Susie Rykers: Sister:
Susie Rykers is Zak’s younger sister currently attending boarding school after he was kicked out of the house. Susie was more broken up about her brother leaving more than anything and wishes he didn’t leave and is still mad at her father for driving him away. Secretly she keeps in contact with him and meets up with him, she can undertstand him wanting to help those less fortunate but wishes it didn’t keep him away from his family.
Setting for story behind the animation:
One day after doing a little run to get exercise, Zak plans his next heist on the bank vault of a corporate CEO of a company that extorts and cons millions of earning bystanders just to make ends meat. So Zak decides to give back the money the CEO stole. In the day time he looks at the building for escape and entry routes and clocks the times of the security guards in the day and night patterns. One night he pulls his heist, he enters and accesses the vault with no issues and takes the money. However upon his escape he neglected the motion sensors outside the building and the night security force standing by.
So he runs from the scene carrying a back pack with the money in it.He soon turns into an alley blocked by a fence. It seems theres no escape, however it only seemed that way using his athletic skills he climbs over the fence and upon landing on the ground tosses a smoke bomb covering his escape much to the dismay of the security guard. Zak drops off bags of the stolen cash back to their respective owners.
Following this was the production of a story board and barsheet for the exercise. The exercise in question was called climb, and the performance was having the character run, jump, climb on the fence then throw something after landing on the ground. I decided to approach this in 2D and stopmotion as this seemed much to hard a task for 3D given my understanding of the software thus far. This I felt was an opportunity to develop my skills in 2D.
In the production of my exercise piece, I learned that unlike before the reference footage wouldn't be one simple film but two different pieces, such as climbing the fence or jumping over it. This meant looking at police academy training footage or how to climb a fence to map out the basic positions and poses.
Reference footage:
Doing the animation itself in 2D was rather difficult, as I felt unsure how to condense the animation into 10 seconds which was the overall run time. One difficult aspect I encountered was mapping out the running movements and poses as the character ran up to the fence preparing for the jump such as which leg went where. Which was when I learned not to do some of the figure in the same colour as it compromised leg positions.
 |
| Background for animation. |
I had an idea to use a layered background in the animation treating it like an animatic. However in doing so I learned how different layers were in Adobe Animate than in Photoshop, and how they didn't shrink down into the right size or place. Hence why I decided to place the fence layer into After effects upon completing it. I felt rather confident doing the animation even if it was a simple stick man that I was using.
Once completed I was rather pleased with the end result and how I rendered a smoke screen in After Effects. However I feel I could've improved upon some areas such as the fence layer in after effects as in some of the comments from my classmates showed that the fence doubled in appearance. I may consider a different approach in terms of backgrounds.
Stopmotion, was a different story. I knew this would need a large block to act as a wall/fence but what I didn't realise was the height of the armature compared to the wooden block which had magnets in. One other element was the updated software which had a new appearance and new controls which I didn't understand as we weren't shown how it works on our induction.
This meant self teaching myself which I found difficult when doing the animation itself despite the help sheet in the studio. However I feel my tired state at the time may've had a factor in my judgement. What I learned from this was to take into account the size of the armature and the frames I was taking with the camera, as I felt the end result lacked any good presentation or proper positioning of the camera itself. Looking back at the finished animation it seemed a rather rushed piece and didn't seem to show any passion or performance despite the climb over the wall being realistic.
Learning from this I may consider bringing in my own armature for exercises like this as I wanted it to fit my story. I've also learned a little about the new stop motion software and how it works. However I feel I should've asked for a tutorial or a briefing from James the technician so I would have a better idea of how it would work for future reference.
Given my first two tries in these mediums its clear I still have a lot to improve upon, but I've since learned that nothing is perfect on the first try and there is room for development and feedback.
In future I shall ask for an induction on the new stopmotion software and possibly make or bring in a smaller armature to be used for any future attempts at the climbing exercise. In addition look at movements in throwing a ball over head or how to properly align a layer from Photoshop in Animate.
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