My animation :)

Evaluation

Evaluation

There were a number of issues that I had to face throughout the process of making the animations. 

Lighting was a a major problem for both of the animations I made. The lighting changed as the sun moved around the building, making the set darker and lighter and different times of the day. I tried to resolve this by blocking out as much natural light as possible. This helped a lot as the lighting of the sets was coming from light around the room, which remained constant. 

A lot of time went in to making each character, which is why it was so frustrating when they kept falling apart or crumbling. Another problem with the characters was that they were very top heavy and kept on falling over during filming. The more I manipulated the characters, the more misshapen they got. 

Obviously the main problem I faced was losing all my work and having to start over again. By that time my clay had gone hard and was crumbling everywhere. Even though it was a major setback, I think I resolved the issue well. I used a different method of claymation, and it was a really good effect. Despite these issues I think my final project is actually pretty good.  

I chose to use Windows Movie Maker as I had used it before and knew how everything worked. However, another programme that I could have used was ZU3D which Mandy had introduced us to in her sessions. Even though it was a really good programme to use, and was easy to get around, I did not have access to it at home. I think my animation would have been better had I used proper programmes. It also could have been better if I used a camera on a stand. A problem I had was moving the clay around and then trying to get the camera back in the same place. This made the animations a bit jumpy at times.

Even though it was a really stressful process, when it was all finished I was really happy with my final animation. 

Making the claymation

Making the animation was very frustrating and time consuming for many reasons. 

Firstly, the characters kept on falling over as they were top heavy. This made it hard for me to carry on, as I had to try and place the characters in exactly the same position as they were in before. This was extremely frustrating. 

The second problem was lighting. As the box was black, it was extremely dark during filming. I thought I had solved this problem by pointing a torch at the stage, making it look like a spotlight. However, this was too confusing as it was hard to hold the camera still, take a picture and hold the torch at the same time. In the end I ended up moving the set several times to try to find a place which allowed enough light in to carry on. However, as the day went on, it started getting darker and darker. This meant that the animation had different lighting in different stages and did not look as good as they could have if they had all been filmed in the same circumstances. 

Thirdly, the clay started going hard after they had been out for a while, making moving them even harder. The characters started losing shape and even started crumbling after manipulating them too much. As much as this was annoying me in the process of making the animation, when it was all put together it actually didn't look that bad. 

To make the animation I used Windows Movie Maker. I have used this programme many times before for a number of assignments so I already knew how to use it. This meant that no time was wasted trying to figure out how to work it. 

To take the pictures I just used the camera on my phone. The quality of picture on my phone is really good so this was not a problem, and I found that it looked better when I was using my phone than when I used a webcam. 

When putting the photos all together on Movie Maker I had to play around with the speed or a little while. This was to make sure that the animation as a whole ran smoothly and change to quickly or too slowly. This took quite a bit of working with but in the end It looked good. 

DISASTER

The day before the presentation of my animation my laptop screen completely broke. I couldn't turn up without an animation so I had to start from scratch! 

 

By this time my clay was useless, it had majorly dried out and was crumbling everywhere. I knew that there was no way that I could make the same animation again with this clay or with the time I had left. 

So i had to start again. I thought that rolling up little bits of clay and arranging them in shapes would be a good effect. So I was trying to think of a topic that would suit this style of animation and was also a topic that met the assignment brief. I decided to do Deforestation, as it is a massive problem that tends to be overlooked. Even though saving the planet has become a very popular topic lately, I think deforestation is not talked about as much. 

I wanted to play background music during the animation so instead of speaking over the animation I decided to write down the points I was trying to make a bit at a time to get my point across more. This ended up being a really effecting part of the animation, as the viewers had to read it. If I had a voice over, the facts could have been ignored or misheard over the music. 

The animation starts off by explaining what is meant by the term deforestation and the effects that it will have on the planet. Then there is an claymation clip showing a tree being cut down. I then went on to explain how we, as individuals can all help contribute to stopping deforestation. By recycling paper, not wasting paper, using products made from recycled materials, and planting trees and plants.

Making the set

I wanted the set to look as much like a real stage as possible. I used an old box and cut off some of the edges. I then painted the sides black. I made a little stage that fitted in the side of the box and painted that silver. 

I also decorated the box with glittery stars and patterns to make it look more like a stage, as well as adding a red curtain which would close at the end of the show. 

The main problem I faced when making the set was that the set was really dark. Mainly because it was painted Black, but also because the sides of the box was not letting in enough light. I resolved this by using a torch. The animation is a show on a stage so I figured the torch could work as a sort of spot light, highlighting the contestants. This ended up working really well and actually made the animation look more like a show than it did before. 

Making the characters

I actually found making the characters really difficult. I had to make them big enough to move properly but not too big that they would be disproportionate to the set. I made a couple of different prototypes to see which size would look better. 

I then had to decide how much detail I was going to put into the characters. I had the basic shape but I had to decide if I was going to use different colours for their clothes, faces etc. I tried to make outfits for the characters but it proved to be really difficult. The characters fell apart whenever I played with them too much. 

I therefore decided to keep them basic. I would rather the characters be all one colour than making them more detailed if they were going to keep falling apart during filming. 

Decision time!

I decided to make my animation about recycling. It is a massive topic at the moment with a lot of organisations working to make the environment better. Recycling has become popular in schools, so I wanted to make an animation that would be interesting to school children as well as adults. 

Trying to decide what to make was proving to be more difficult than I thought it would be. Mainly because every time I had an idea and started the claymation I would change my mind, come up with a different idea and have to start again. This ended up being extremely time consuming so after changing my mind 3 times I decided that that was it, and I would not have time to change it again. 

I ended up really liking my idea! 

I chose to do an animation based on Britains got talent....It would be called Britain gets Recycling. 

It would be set in the finals of the competition, each competing to impress the judges. But who will win? I hope it ends up looking as good as it does in my head...

ZU3D - Our Animation

This is an animation that me and Rhiannon made today using Zu3D animation. I really enjoyed making this movie, it was a really fun application to use.

Zu3D

Todays lesson was basically so we could familiarise ourselves with the software Zu3D. This software is amazing for children as they get to create their own animations, gaining skills such as creativity and problem solving. Not forgetting the amount of fun they will get out of it! The website says its brilliant for children and adults and they are definitely not wrong! I am 21 years old and I had a blast playing on it! 

Its a really good application which allows you to make an animation using either drawings or photos. As its being made, it is presented as a a series of slides of different pictures. But by pressing play the application creates a movie or clip by quickly flicking through all the pictures to make it look like the objects are moving. 

This lesson was useful as we got to play with all the different tools that are available from this software so we know what to expect when it comes to making our actual projects. 

The software is really quite simple to use as everything is quite simple and basic - It's easy to understand what each button is for, so there is no confusion. 

After making the animation there is a choice to add music, or sound affects that are already on your computer, or you can upload some from online, or you can even make a recording of your own voice and play that. 

Overall I think this is a really good app and I look forward to using it some more as the weeks go by. 

This is my first attempt at it, using the drawing tool. It may not look very good but I am actually very proud of it! 

Animation as a Learning Tool

From the session last week and from what you already feel about animation, what do you think animations have to offer the learning process?

Created with Padlet

Claymation - Stop motion Animation

For the second part of our assignment we have to make some form of stop motion animation. There are loads of different types we can choose from, such as drawings, clay, and photographs. I have decided to use Claymation as I find it really interesting to watch and would love to give it a go myself. 

Here is some information about Claymation...

Claymation was created by a man named Will Vinton. Claymation involves using objects or characters sculpted from clay or other moldable material, and then taking a series of still pictures that are replayed in rapid siccession to create the illusion of movement.To create the illusion of movement, the position of the sculptured characters is altered slightly in every still photo.

Advantages of using 'Claymation'
It allows me to create a short movie based on my own ideas and storyline. 
It is very fun to produce!
It can be done at my own pace, when I have the time to do it because it can be done anywhere.
Making 'Claymation' allows me to experiment with new equiptment, which I usually wouldnt use. 


Disadvantage of using 'Claymation'
Claymation is very time consuming to produce. To successfully complete the task it will take a lot of preparation time, photo-taking time and then editing time. The average professional Claymation takes 24 photos per second...and I need to produce a 2 minute video. Very time consuming. 

The most popular example is Wallace and Gromit.

Here is a video which shows step by step how to make a basic claymation. 

The last animation I watched...

The last animation I watched was Frozen. It is a brilliant film and I really enjoyed it! I have watched it so many times! The songs are great and catchy. What I love most about this film is that not many children's films and cartoons like this one promote independence. Instead, they all include a woman who needs a rich prince to come and save her! In this film, the princess in independent and does not need a man and is happy being just by herself which I think is important.

Frozen is a 3D Computer Animated film about a princess who has icy powers she cannot control. After a huge accident where she freezes the whole of the kingdom she runs away into the mountains. Her sister tries to find her, with the help of a snow salesman, a talking snowman and an overly excited reindeer.

How to upload a podcast

Today we learned how to create a Podcast. We did not have much time to play around with the sound which is why our example is only a few seconds long.

We used a website called Audacity, which is free to download on to pretty much any computer. This is a really easy to use and simple website when creating a podcast.
Our project involves making a podcast that is 10 minutes long, and even though we could use our phones to record our voices, it is a long time to talk without making any mistakes.
This website is good because it allows me to edit what I have already done. I can also do it in sections and record everything a bit at a time and it automatically just flows on from the previous recording.

After we had recorded our message and were happy with it we had to save it as an MP3 file. Saving the recording normally creates a WAV file which means that we would not be able to save it on to our Blogger.

To save the file as an MP3 was really easy to do. Just click on file at the top, then instead or clicking save, click on export. Type in what you want the file to be called and then underneath there is a drop down box, which has WAV written on it. Click on this and select MP3 instead and then save.

Then we had to get the MP3 file on to our Blogger using a website called Archive. Once i had created an account, i pressed the upload button, names the file I wanted to upload and waited for it to upload. Then when that was done, I got the Embed code and linked that onto a new blog post.

Before this lesson on Podcasts I was really worried about this assignment. I thought it was going to be really difficult to do! But after going through it this way I think that it is going to be okay, as it was pretty easy to do.


   

Scratch

I missed the session where we were supposed to use the software 'scratch' but luckily it is available to use online for free so I was able to catch up at home. 

Scratch is a programme that allows children to programme their own stories, games and animations.  It allows for them to share their creations with other people who are also using Scratch. This is useful as they get to see what other people have done with the software and can get some ideas about what to do. 

When I first started the programme, I found it very difficult to understand. It took me ages to make my animation do something as simple as move forwards properly. 

After hours of playing around with it I managed to get my animation (a unicorn) to do the Thriller dance! Exciting stuff! 

There are so many things you can do with Scratch, whether just giving a picture a simple list of instructions to follow (what I've done so far) or you can create a game! 

I understand why schools are increasingly using this software in classrooms. 

It is hard to control and does take a while to figure out, but I got there eventually! 

Yay! 

Using 'Hopscotch' to build a house!

Today's session was about using an app called Hopscotch. We started off basic, figuring out how to get the right commands to build different shapes e.g. triange, squeare and hexagons. We then was asked to make a house using the coding we learned by making the shapes! 

It was really hard to do, and for a while my shapes were all over the place! 

 After about 1000 attempts I finally got the hang of it and I made a very basic house. 

 Check out my house here...

 http://hop.sc/1cnEvM9 

 This session was really frustrating but it felt so good when I finally understood what was going on! :D