Development on the Animation (and a few sneak previews)!

 I have got down to getting this animation done! It's been a tough week with the PDP and context presentations, so now is the final push.

 I have drawn each frame using pen and ink onto A5 horizontal sheets. It's a timely process, but it's a method I know works effectively from having done it before. Here are some photographs of my method:

 This is my light box and it's the special ingredient within this whole process. It shines light through underneath with a standard light bulb. The cardboard right-angle corner on the light box keeps the frames in equal position. With out these the animation would be very messy and ill-composed.
 I first drew the straight line on two separate sheets to attain the flickering effect. I did this by drawing one, then put the next sheet on top whilst on the light box. I deliberately hit and miss the previous line so the flicker is emphasized. I carry on this method throughout the whole of the animation, slightly moving the lines each time. A problem I faced at the beginning was that the ink wasn't drying quickly enough. I grew impatient and kept the process going, but the wet ink from the previous drawing would inevitably make a dark patch under the sheet was drawing onto. I began using my laptop as a heater which proved successful and convenient.
 As I was drawing historical figures, places and machines, I had to research some reference in order to portray them properly, otherwise they'd just be random shapes. Putting in detail, such as one of the individual's facial expressions, proved difficult a couple of times because the ink may have ran slightly more than I wanted; thus making the face appear less like them.
 Now for a few previews of my frames that I have drawn to show evidence of my reference:

Telegraph and Telephone

Thomas Hardy

19th Century Generation

Thomas Edison

Lyon

Sean Street

 Now comes the process of editing it all into After Effects. Wish me luck!

My Idea and Storyboard

 Now to properly begin focusing on the animation! I have listened to the radio broadcast a few times now and I have written down the times for whenever a different subject is listed. Here is my storyboard:

 This is a rough version of how my animation will play out. I hadn't collected my image references by the time I did this, so forgive me if the images look a little off. The way I want my animation to run is to have a horizontal line constantly going across the the frame. This line will be 'shake-y' like my creature animation, as in that I'll draw two or three frames for each lingering image. By this I'll be using a light box, but I won't explain that process yet. I'll show my development with it in one of the next blog posts.

 As the line lingers and the duration of the broadcast plays, images will morph themselves from the line upwards. Each image will appear whenever their name is mentioned, such as the telegraph and telephone. These images will also linger for some time too, so I will apply the same method as with the straight line. The gradual morphing drawings will consist of about 5 or 6 frames. These will then reverse back into the line again when the next subject arises. Here is a test example of what I am explaining:

Test Storyboard

 See how the globe moulds out of the line and then sinks back into it? That's how the animation will appear. When the image lingers, I will add something to make parts of it flash as it goes from frame to frame. Now I just need to use my image reference to begin drawing out what I want the images to look like.

I Wish I'd Done This

David Hughes

 The image I have chosen to reflect upon is this image by one of my influences, David Hughes. It isn't an image of his I've seen before, but its compostion, style and context emit qualities that relate to my working method. Many of Hughes' work have this impact, but this one in particular stands out to me more so.

 Firstly its style consists of a scratchy black line technique, which is done no doubt by using a nib/pen and a pot of ink. His method displays various depths in each of the drawn lines. The lines that appear thin acquire the ability to swerve in and out of the figure's faces, in turn creating facial features such as wrinkles and muscles. These details appear mostly around the figure's eyes: the brows and the bags underneath. What the thin line does most importantly is create each of the cast's outlines. Their raw and aggressive nature is a definite influenetial quality seen within my own work.
 The other type of line seen within the image are the thick ones, which are used to create the image's constructive border. They appear less, compared to the thin ones, because they are possibly deliberate mistakes made by Hughes and his penwork. The flicks of ink too can be seen scattered throughout the composition. These are also more qualities I find within my own work, which adds to the rawness. The ink too has been possibly used to fill in areas, such as the boots of the figure on the left and the bombs dropping from the sky.
 Going back to the detail element within each of the figure's faces, I notice that another method has been used to create shading. I imagine pencil has been used for this. It is subtle and compliments the scratchy lines in that it looks as though Hughes has gone to the effort of making the ink lines miniscule!
 As well as the use of line within this image, colour has been used to make the image more aesthetically appealing. The colour template conists mainly of various shades of murky yellow. The paper Hughes has used to present this image on plays as the catalyst for other uses of colour. It's beige tone plays as the background, whilst the colours layered on top are darker creating a sense of depth. The other shades of yellow/mustard emphasise various shapes that Hughes has featured, including the hammer and sickle and hats. Other colours are used also, such as white, kharki green and an orange/pink blend. The most noticeable colour used is the striking red in the top left-hand corner of the image. Its colour relates to the image's context in that it colours a Nazi swastika flag.

 Furthermore, the image's composition consists of six casts: The bull faced figure on the left, the bull faced figure on the right, the camera headed figure stood on a box, the falling bombs, the windmill and the Nazi flag. They are all enveloped inside a basic sqaure-shaped border which sets a narrative or scene. Also there is a sense of hierarchy from how I listed each of the casts. The bull faced figure of the right appears most prominient as its head is the largest. The other bull faced figure comes either second or third due to the strking colour of the Nazi flag. The other three casts are presented within the background and prove they're lower down in hierarchy.
 Another potential cast would be the mustard coloured sky at the top of the composition. Its role develops the narrative of the image into having a sense of place and environment. The sky hints that the area in which the other casts are placed is some sort of flat plain. This reminds me of my animation for the mythological creature project. The use of a single horizontal line sets a basic but effective landscape in that it can behold infinite possibilities in size and scale. It plays with the idea of perspective and distance too. I have used this quality in the past a lot to create my narratives, i.e. when I was a child. The other use of lines towards the bottom of the image create the sense that the cast members are on some sort of stage. This relates to the context of the image which I will be discussing next.

 Finally the context of the image presents many ideas and themes that I take general interest in. The first quality to be noticed is the swastika. This immidiately brings to the attention of what context this image is in. The context is obviously not pro-Nazism: it is historical. The larger bull faced figure on the left is holding the flag and appears to be in the attire of someone from the SS. This cast member represents a Nazi. The smaller bull faced figure on the right is holding a hammer and sickle and is dressed in workmen's dungarees. This cast member represents a communist (most likely Soviet). In historical context, these two extreme political powers were against each other during the course of WWII. The figures both stare at one another with mean intensity which represents their conflict.
 The reason why the communist figure is smaller is due possibly to the spears going into its back; otherwise, it's unclear. This could however bring in another historical context: the Spanish Civil War. The bull is a prominent symbol of Spain and is involved within their national sport of bull fighting. The bull fighter, if the chance is given, stabs the bull in the back with his sword of lance. This is possibly what is represented here, in that the communist rebels of Spain were depleated by the fascist state (in which the Nazis also helped fight against). Perhaps even that the so-called 'Nazi bull' is instead a fascist and is luring the communist into the its fatal trap with the red flag (as they do in the performance of the sport). Also what is noticeable is the direction in which the bombs are descending. A curved dotted line hints that the bombs are swaying towards the flag, implying even more destruction. This brings to the table that the context represented is perhaps a mixture of things which have occured in the past between the two political sides instead of it just being about WWII. However another element of the piece informs connotation with European culture; this being the windmill in the background.
 The final element to be discussed is the figure in the background with what appears to be a camera for a head. The figure's attire connotes that of a film director. The figure is also holding a megaphone, as though he is about to direct what is happening in the foreground bewteen the two bull faced figures. This also brings up the idea again that the bull faced figures are stood on what appears to be a stage platform, due to the lines drawn underneath them. Does this evoke that the battle between these two sides of politics is almost like a drama? Or even that the battleground is somewhat like a theatre?

Animation Research

 Now that I am going to create a new animation, I wish to use the same method as I did with the mythological creature project. First off, here are some animators I have taken influence from for this project and previous ones:

David Shrigley

 An illustrator I've used as research before, Shrigley always achieves my approval. This animation expresses his random sense of humour and deliberate imperfections with his use of line. The animation, along with his others, create narratives that seem like something that would happen in everyday life, but then become twisted somehow. It's performed in an innocent childish way too which expands his abilities in allowing random things to occur.

Peter Millard

 When playing this, have the volume turned down. Kept making me jump with the random silences and then the sudden outbursts of noise! I stumbled across Millard recently and realized he's doing exactly the same method as me, only with far more frames I imagine. The childish-like crude behaviour in this animation makes me laugh. I also noticed he applies colour in his animations; something I could possibly begin doing myself.

Willis Earl Beal

 This animation was made using graphite. It's a very useful medium because it does all the things a pencil does, but better! The various shadings and lines used throughout this animation evoked a very sombre atmosphere along side the song which I believe Beal scored himself as well. The string instrument (probably acoustic guitar) being played alongside the quiet melodic singing sounds as though it was recorded through something very old - the sort of quality you hear with old blues music. This emphasized character's moody nature as he went about his day with a glum expression. Each of the frames had a grainy, scratchy effect like an old film roll. This could potentially work within my animation since it discusses in context with the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

RA D IO_4

 I hope the title is legible! I based it on the In Rainbows album cover type style by Radiohead. Anyway, onto the next and final brief of 2nd year!

 Again the rest of the students and myself were given the choice of three briefs to choose from. I chose to take on another animation project. The task is to create at least a minute long animation to go alongside a BBC Radio 4 broadcast. There were four to choose from and I chose the one titled 'The birth of Radio'.
 I listened to all four but this one appealed to me the most because it spoke of social historical changes, which I always find fascinating. It goes over and brings into context: the Industrial Revolution, the British Empire, the first of radio technology, Victorian England, Thomas Hardy and even the French Revolution! Its main topic point is to do with 'wireless telegraphy' and its inventor, Guglielmo Marconi.

 Here is the radio broadcast and some background knowledge to do with 'wireless telegraphy', Guglielmo Marconi and other elements related:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p010qnhc

'Wireless Telegraphy', sourced from Wikipedia

Wireless telegraphy is a historical term used today to apply to early radio telegraph communications techniques and practices, particularly those used during the first three decades of radio (1887 to 1920) before the term radio came into use.

Wireless telegraphy originated as a term to describe electrical signalling without the electric wires to connect the end points. The intent was to distinguish it from the conventional electric telegraph signalling of the day that required wire connection between the end points. The term was initially applied to a variety of competing technologies to communicate messages encoded as symbols, without wires, around the turn of the 20th century, but radio emerged as the most significant.

Wireless telegraphy rapidly came to mean Morse code transmitted with Hertzian waves (electromagnetic waves) decades before it came to be associated with the term radio. Radio-telephony by 1920's began to displace radio telegraphy for many applications and was the basis of public broadcasting. Radio-telegraphy continued to be used for point-to-point business, governmental, and military communication, and evolved into radioteletype networks. Wireless telegraphy is still used widely today by amateur radio hobbyists where it is commonly referred to as radiotelegraphy, continuous wave, or just CW.

Guglielmo Marconi, sourced from Wikipedia

Guglielmo Marconi (25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian inventor, known for his pioneering work on long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy". As an entrepreneur, businessman, and founder of the The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company in Britain in 1897, Marconi succeeded in making a commercial success of radio by innovating and building on the work of previous experimenters and physicists. In 1924, he was ennobled as a Marchese.

By 1897, Guglielmo Marconi conducted a series of demonstrations with a radio system for signalling for communications over long distances. Marconi is said to have read, while on vacation in 1894, about the experiments that Hertz did in the 1880's. Marconi also read about Tesla's work. It was at this time that Marconi began to understand that radio waves could be used for wireless communications. Marconi's early apparatus was a development of Hertz’s laboratory apparatus into a system designed for communications purposes. At first, Marconi used a transmitter to ring a bell in a receiver in his attic laboratory. He then moved his experiments out-of-doors on the family estate near Bologna, Italy, to communicate farther. He replaced Hertz’s vertical dipole with a vertical wire topped by a metal sheet, with an opposing terminal connected to the ground. On the receiver side, Marconi replaced the spark gap with a metal powder coherer, a detector developed by Edouard Branly and other experimenters. Marconi transmitted radio signals for about a mile at the end of 1895.


Industrial Revolution, sourced from Wikipedia

The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes that occurred in the period from about 1760 to some time between 1820 and 1840. This transition included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, improved efficiency of water power, the increasing use of steam power and development of machine tools. The transition also included the change from wood and other bio-fuels to coal. The Industrial revolution began in Britain and within a few decades spread to Western Europe and the United States.

The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. Most notably, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. In the words of Nobel Prize winner Robert E. Lucas, Jr., "For the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth ... Nothing remotely like this economic behaviour is mentioned by the classical economists, even as a theoretical possibility."

British Empire, sourced from Wikipedia

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1922 the British Empire held sway over about 458 million people, one-fifth of the world's population at the time. The empire covered more than 33,700,000 km²(13,012,000 sq mi), almost a quarter of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, the phrase "the empire on which the sun never sets" was often used to describe the British Empire, because its expanse across the globe meant that the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories.

Telegraph, sourced from Wikipedia

An electrical telegraph is a telegraph that uses electrical signals, usually conveyed via telecommunication lines or radio. The electromagnetic telegraph is a device for human-to-human transmission of coded text messages.

The electrical telegraph, or more commonly just 'telegraph', superseded optical semaphore telegraph systems, such as those designed by Claude Chappe for the French military, and Friedrich Clemens Gerke for the Prussian military, thus becoming the first form of electrical telecommunications. In a matter of decades after their creation, electrical telegraph networks permitted people and commerce to almost instantly transmit messages across both continents and oceans, with widespread social and economic impacts.

Phonograph, sourced from Wikipedia

The phonograph, record player, or gramophone (from the Greek: γράμμα, gramma, "letter" and φωνή, phōnē, "voice"), is a device introduced in 1877 for the recording and reproduction of sound recordings. The recordings played on such a device generally consist of wavy lines that are either scratched, engraved, or grooved onto a rotating cylinder or disc. As the cylinder or disc rotates, a stylus or needle traces the wavy lines and vibrates to reproduce the recorded sound waves.

The phonograph was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison. While other inventors had produced devices that could record sounds, Edison's phonograph was the first to be able to reproduce the recorded sound. His phonograph originally recorded sound onto a tinfoil sheet phonograph cylinder, and could both record and reproduce sounds.

Final Final Book Cover (phew)!

 After some criticism about my final design, I now had the chance to edit the piece before the Penguin competition deadline, which is tomorrow! Here is my original draft again and the edited version below:

First Draft

Edited Version

 The main element that needed adjusting the most were the composition of the types. On the front where the title 'The Big Sleep' is composed, I decided to make it a stronger design by making an alignment down the middle of each word. I did this by connecting the 'h' with the 'i' and then so on to the 'l' underneath. I had to adjust the sizes of each word too in order for this to work. It's improved because I believe the last one looked slightly messy and unconsidered. The connection down the middle as well emphasises the rain by making it look as though the type is running.
 As well as the title, I adjusted the author's name 'Raymond Chandler' by aligning both the 'R' and the 'C' with the back of the knight piece. This helped to form a frame around the composition. The same was applied to the type 'A Philip Marlowe Mystery' also. On the back, the only aspect that needed aligning were the critic's reviews underneath the blurb. I simply just boxed them together as they appeared widened last time  As well as the composition of the typography, I decided to lighten up the grey type on the front. It looked a little too dark in the first draft due to the background already being a solid black. The lightened type also composes more effectively with the rain because they appear almost the same shade.
 The image of the nude woman within the knight piece required some editing too. Her body is fine, but her hair in the previous draft was touching the edge of the knight piece. I simply just erased the parts that were touching and added a few more flicks at the end with the brush tool in Photoshop. The feet I believed needed a touch-up too because she looked as though she was on her tiptoes. I again applied the same method of erasing parts of the lines and used the brush tool to create a more realistic perspective.
 A final element that appears probably most noticeable is the dark rain within the spine. Seeing as rain was continuing from the front to the back in a diagonal motion, it seemed only suiting to connect the sides by placing the rain in the middle too. I coloured them with the same colour used on the original grey type. I experimented with black, but the mid-tone of the grey delivered better composition with the rest of the cover. It makes an effective contrast between the dark and light shades.

 And that's it for this piece so far. All I have to do is send it off to Penguin and hope for the best. I think I've done very well in this project. It has certainly increased my workflow.

Joyce's Moving Sweet Shop

 I have finally uploaded it onto YouTube and this time had no trouble with any copyright problems. Ta-da!

 Everything about this works well. The motion of the camera looking at the sweet jars almost feels human. Even though our eyes scan images by flickering, the gradual pace of the movement doesn't feel robotic. It enhances character too I believe, as well as the sound that goes with it of children. The height and perspective of the shelves too creates this feeling that the viewer is looking through the eyes of a child. The animated figure of Richard makes its contribution by evoking curiosity in the child's thought process. The child moves their gaze back towards the jar and zooms in knowing for sure they had just seen something.
 The child is based on Joyce and the sweet jars represent where her memories are stored. Symbolically, her mind will skim over these jars hoping to find that memory she lost of her husband. It is deeply saddening to think that the memory of a loved one could be lost so easily. Every time I watch this and the other animations people produced, I feel both saddened and happy. Happy because memories are usually based on visual experience and what we are doing by creating these animations and images is reinventing those memories into a physical form again, so to speak. Memories are meant to be cherished for later life and it's hard comprehending that they could all be forgotten...

Assembling Joyce's Animation

 I have now planned the way the animation will proceed and have gained all the elements necessary. The essential part of this animation is the gradual motion of the child's sight looking upon the jars of sweets. I did this using After Effects by placing the entire shop image into frame and zooming in. I adjusted the direction, the flow and the speed using very complicated functions which I can't even remember how. It worked to the way I wanted it though and so that leads onto the next essential part: Richard's figure flicking his hair.
 As Joyce grew up as an adolescent either during the 40's or 50's, Richard in my mind most probably could have been a greaser/rocker-type. Obviously she cannot remember his exact appearance, hence why he appears as a silhouette in the image and animation. But it gives him character regardless and the ability to display animation. What I did to achieve this was redraw him within Photoshop several times. In each drawing, he gradually tilts his head backwards. I would then reverse these drawings back to his original state and then have his hair bounce slightly, just to make his hair feel more real. Here is a representation of what I drew:

 From left to right is the full animation of his head tilting back and forward. It appears subtle, but within the animation it looks better that way, because it's not meant to be completely obvious: more like something you see in the corner of your eye. This movement occurs just before the viewer veers off into the next row of sweets, and of course the double-take happens and instead in the jar are the liquorice sticks. The trick behind that is another After Effects tool that makes something appear in at a desired point within the the frame.
 Another required element which is key for most animations is sound. For this I wanted to get the atmospheric sound of a gathered bunch of excited children within a enclosed space. My original plan was to record children near a playground, but I feared this would be controversial as the only recording equipment I have is a camera. So instead I recorded (with the lid on!) two of my cousins playing together. Seeing as there were only two of them, I recorded a mixture of sounds they made and merged them all together into After Effects. It was a funny experience because they were confused and interested as to what I was doing!