My Roles for 'The House' Animation

I had several different roles during this project. Before we began shooting, I had the role of, 'Researcher' which involved me looking up Terry Gilliam's work. I found the Role of 'Researcher' to be Challenging and Good Practice for the Future! I also took the pictures of the location. We needed pictures of the location so that Bianne could draw them to be used in the Animation.

During the actual shooting of the Animation, I was the 'Camera Operator', which involved me taking most of the shots from the Panasonic Video Camera. I found the Role of 'Camera Operator' to be Very Useful but also Repetitive! I monitored our progress through the shot list. I also took still pictures of the group working on the Animation, from my Cannon Ixus 82.

Additional Animation Research

Here are a few examples of 2D and 3D Animation that I have enjoyed. I have included 2D Animation because that is the style we are using for our film. The 1st Clip is an example of 'Stop Motion', which is the technique we are using for 'The House'.

Animation Demo Reel - 2d, motion graphics, stop motion,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sed3FGglmRoAnimation Demo Reel - 2d, motion graphics, stop motion,

Ive enjoyed Animated Cartoons from an early age. 'Thunderbirds 2086'. The 1st part of this clip is 'Code Based Flash Animation'. From 0:58 onwards is 'Drawn Animation', which is the sort of Animation that is closer to what we are doing compared to the 3D Computer Animation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiS3tpTQenE


3D Simulation Animation used in Documentaries. This sort of Animation fascinates me because I have plans of becoming a Documentary Maker and Ive always enjoyed animation from an early age. This is 'Code Based Flash Animation'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG-5SGTgZuY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA55r_x7wuQ

How we made the Actual Animation

We made a 'Stop Motion' Animation as part of our 'Planning and Making a Film' Assessment. Here are some of the relevant preparations:

Number of Shots: 2100

Length of Film so far: 5minutes and 50 seconds.

6 Frames/Second because thats a nice round number we can use. A lot of animations use 12 frames per second. We do not have the time to do that because 12 frames per second is the equivalent of approximately 4000 shots.

Bianne drew pictures for the background. Unfortunately, her picture of Mr Green was not what we expected! The picture showed a small, clown like person. We had not put adequate descriptions of Mr Green in the script.

Short Film Festival Research

We have to submit our films to a film festival as part of our 'Planning and Making a Film Module' course.

1. www.lineupfilmfestival.com = This did not work because the deadline was 15th March for the actual film as well.

2. Encounters Short Film Festival = This might work. However, the submissions opened on the 19th April. They are still accepting Entries. Uni will be able to fund our entry. There is a Submission Fee for this Film Festival.

3. www.withoutabox.com = Search engine that will tell us when there are Film Festivals.

4. www.virginmediashorts.co.uk = This did look very possible. But later discovered that the rules state: 'Up to 2 minutes 20 seconds (140 seconds), including top and end credits' (Quoted from the actual Rules Section of the Website)

5. www.exposuresfestival.co.uk = This is a Possibility. We fit all the Criteria.

Terry Gilliam Animation Research

I was advised to research terry Gilliam because he has become well known for his animation skills. His style appears to be very similar to what we have been constructing.

I originally had to do some research on Terry Gilliam. I found this website that explains all of Terry Gilliam's Animation Achievements:

http://www.digitalmediafx.com/Features/terry-gilliam.html

I found some more information on Terry Gilliam from the International Movie Data Base (IMDB):

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000416/

Storytime (Gilliam, 1968) (Gilliam, 1968)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KUqHzk26kI

2nd film Music Planning

On the 8th March 2010, my Film group and I had a meeting with a music student called Gareth. We got in touch with him because we needed Un Copyrighted music for our Animated Film and Gareth was willing to help us.

During the meeting, we discovered that Gareth uses a piece of software called 'Logic' to create his music. Within the software, he used 'Midi Files' which are, instruments on the actual computer. The sounds of drums, guitars actually inside the software.

We agreed that after we had shot our animated film, we were going to send him a rough cut so that he could create music for the film. We also agreed that over the Easter Holiday, Gareth would send us copies of the music he has made.

Monday 17th May 2010 Recent Update.

Gareth did not get back to us. We initiated a BackUp Plan which involved:

Adam Sharpe researched music from: www.jamendo.com. Adam got: Band name is 'Mister M and the song is called, 'L'hiver' off the album, 'Nevermind'. Adam and Bianne researched sound effects from: www.sounddogs.com such as: Traffic Noise, Running Water, Television Background Noise etc.