There has been an issue in gaining the picture of my proposal form. Even though I cannot show you a picture of it I can explain what was on it.
My character was to be called an 'Oopee' and it was going to be a round fluffy ball character which had an orange body and a yellow bow on the top of it's head.
The method I choose to make this character is 'Clay-mation'.
The idea for the storyline is that the Oopee will begin to bounce and then be caught by a human hand, then the hand will squeeze the Oopee and squirt out of the hand and fall to the ground and splat.
In the process of planning and creating my animation many ideas were discarded for multiple reasons.
The main thing I departed from was my original character.
The reason for this was that although my test animation was a success, when it came to using that character in my real animation I encountered difficulties. I didn't consider that what I wanted to do in my final animation was different to that in my test animation. Different shapes and movements tested my character until the point where it was no longer like it's original form. With me realising that it wasn't going well I began to lose my patience and quickly discarded it.
I then realised I had to come up with another idea, with a storyline that allowed the character to do everything needed. Previously when I did my test shoot after completing it, in my spare time I made another character because I thought it looked cool and I had time. Remembering this my cool looking character 'Ralph' came into use as I decided to use his super hero look to fit a super hero situation. I thought about it carefully this time and established that what I needed to do was going to work.
Even though I departed from my plans I found that my final animation far exceeded the original idea and that it was more beneficial for me to make a mistake and learn from it.
What this did was allow me to structure my time so I completed certain tasks by a certain date. The benefit of this is that I am able complete my animation by a set dead line as each week I have certain tasks which are able to be completed.
Each week I set myself different tasks, some weeks have more than others. This is because I thought about how easy and time consuming each task was. After taking this into consideration I then structured my production schedule to reasonable weekly goals.
Initial Ideas This planning was essential so that we were able to explore different movements with different characters. This way we were able to establish what was possible and what would be the most effective in our animation.
You can see my final idea for my character in the bottom images down below. It is the coloured in image, coloured orange.
This pixilation animation was made in 1992 by Jan Svankmajer. In this animation other techniques are used less such as line action and claymation. Predominantly this is 'Pixilation'. Pixilation us taking lots of still photos of something living and then putting it all together so when you play it through each photo follows into the next. Its an animation technique which makes living objects including people appear as puppets.
The plot of this animation starts off with a man who uses another man as a human vending machine. Who then himself becomes a human vending machine after eating the food and drinking the drink. Once he changes to the vending machine the other one becomes human again and leaves. As every new person comes in the cycle continues.
This plot and whole film makes me feel a bit unsettled and slightly disturbed. However because it was strange and surreal it kept me interested throughout. It leaves you in awe not knowing quite what to make of it with its originality its hard to distinguish amusement from disgust.
The style of this animation is strange, disgusting , surreal and intriguing. Usually if this style were for something else your reaction would be not to watch it but how it's been cleverly used in this animation it has the opposite effect making you want to continue watching it.
Another 'Pixilation' animation I like is 'Human Tetris'. It is different to 'Food' because it doesn't disgust the audience to attract them and keep their attention. It uses human noises and people in the animation which makes it intriguing.
I think pixilation is a good animation technique every animator should try :)
Tim Burton considered one of the greatest animators of today, born 25th August 1985 Burbank California; has contributed too many films in his career with his unique style added to many great, well known movies and animations. His particular style seems to be somewhat twisted and surreal specialising in dark and quirky. Tim’s work is always engaging with its freaky abnormal edge to the storyline. Often his plots focus around a misunderstood outcast. In his career he has worked as a producer, director, writer, animator and other various roles within the industry more recently he seems to find his comfort in producing and directing. To name just a few films he has worked on there is “The Nightmare before Christmas”, “Corpse Bride”, “Beetle Juice” and “Vincent”. Vincent was the first thing Tim Burton made in the year 1982. The topic of this was about a young boy who is just seven years old who lives his life as any other normal person. However he has a passion for the charismatic horror actor Vincent Price. The boy wants to be someone he’s not and goes mad with the feeling of loneliness and the want to have a life he would rather live than his own. It’s almost like a living nightmare trapped between the life he lives and the life he wants to live. Tim has incorporated his style and his own life into this, his work is very autobiographical as he expresses himself through his animation. The feeling of loneliness and going mad is similar to how Tim felt when he worked as an animator for Disney, he got bored as it wasn’t him. The thirst to be something greater caused him to leave that job to pursue what he really wanted to do. The animation itself consisted of three things, stop motion, clay-mation and drawing. It was all featured in black and white with narration by Vincent Price throughout the six minutes. The theme of all this and what it’s trying to say is that people have the life they live and one they want to live. The feeling of being on your own, lonely stuck as who you are is what many people feel and what Tim Burton was trying to portray as well as representing his life through the twisted animation Vincent (1982). Tim Burtons “Vincent” was never released along with some of his other projects which Disney let him have the free will to work on; the reason was that they were judged unsuitable for children. The critics at Disney did not wish to show “Vincent”. My personal opinion about “Vincent (1982)” is that it’s highly engaging as you are never quite sure of what is happening as it’s influenced by the creepy, freaky and brilliant mind of Tim Burton. At parts of it I felt sad towards the main character Vincent Malloy as you could feel his frustration. There is a definite twisted style to the story which kept my attention. The narration helped me set the scene for what may be ahead even though I was never quite sure what to think, as the story developed so did my mind with all the possibilities of what could happen next. Throughout the majority of the animation you had creepy music playing such as the sound of church organs and the clap of thunder. All of this created an atmosphere which made me intrigued to watch it again and again. Reviews by other people including critics often have similar views about “Vincent (1982)”. They all point in the direction that Tim Burton is a genius and imaginative with his individual style for creepy and surreal things. “TIM BURTON IS A Genius!"Vincent" was one of Tim's first films. Actually, first ideas. He has a very interesting imagination when it comes to this film.” (IMBD) This is a very spooky stop motion short that makes you think a great deal. (IMBD) This video is really creepy, but it's that’s kind of creepy that makes you want towatch again and again! (YouTube User) The key things that appear in many of the reviews are that it’s creepy, admirable, a masterpiece, pure genius, amazing, imaginative, dark, and twisted. It’s been described to leave people speechless and be people’s favorites. Considering this was Tim Burtons first real animation he has done a great job incorporating all that is needed to make it a hit. Even though it did not get shown because it was unsuitable, even today people still admire the masterpiece that is “Vincent (1982)”. Vincent Price is a big role model to Tim Burton and he has done a great respect to Vincent by producing this and achieved the honor of working with him as well. His choice in animation techniques was probably best suited as he could show to an extent the idea he had in mind. Overall “Vincent (1982)”is a well made animation by a well respected mastermind Tim Burton.
