Rethink

I've had to think about my project properly and think realistically about how i am going to use my time effiencently. Ideally i was planning to create my animation by drawing and scanning up, but learning from creating my title this takes a lot of time. Also i don't think i have got the nack of it properly yet to create something that will work right in timing and look very good at the end result.

I've come back to a reoccuring thought of making my animation be as strong as how i picture it to be. What i'm going to do now is to cut out the characters out of paper and do stop motion, i think this will be easier to make scenes and see the project in a better perspective. I have left this quite late to change my idea but i think i will be able to make a much more successful animation by changing it to this.

I was also thinking about how i would do the phenomes and speech to work effectively with timing, i will be able to achieve this better buy looking at cut outs in paper than drawing. I've been thinking about animations like South Park where its made from paper and how effective it is as a whole outcome.




There is another animated video in this style that literally blew my mind. Fleet Foxes "The Shrine/ An Arguement" this was made from a combination of few artists. Illustrator Stacy Rozich has created these very mystical characters out of paper and made this fantastic story. 





I think i will be able to turn around my project and pull off a better outcome than drawing it in many frames on tracing paper. 

Tester Animations

These are a few tester animations i have created based on my character designs, they are only a few seconds long but it was just to get the feel of what i will be doing.



This is the old man just having a little yawn. I found this quite easy and think the timing is about right where it doesn't look odd.



This is a little animation i've done just of myself, it's a bit jolty when it finishes, i probably should of had more of the patience to finish it.



This is the title for my animation, only i think it is too fast and messy. I spent a long while on it but it doesn't seem like much effort has gone into this.

"I didn't catch his name"

This is the title of the animation, i would like to draw out the whole scene of what happened, myself and this man sitting on a bench whilst he tells me this story. I like the idea of having very subtle guestures, obviously facial expressions and movement. But as there is interference in the tape i could draw scattering rubbish and sand being swept up by the wind or a seagull waddling up then away.

This is a rough sketch of something i am picturing in my head. I'm thinking a very simple animation will have a great outcome for what narrative is being told. Hopefully it will be around 30 seconds, i think i will have to edit the audio as my voice does spoil it. I think i might exclude myself from the audio totally as i'm closer to the mic my voice is very loud and you can hear the real essexs in me. 

Just some small character designs, i think i like the idea of having a very simple stylized character.

The Conversation

I've been having a problem where for over a couple of weeks i've been trying to record the right conversation for my animation. I thought of different ways of trying to get audio of random conversations and it was actually really quite hard. I spent most days walking around town with a recorder in my hand, in shops following people around or in queues. But i could never really quite get the clarity right, or even a remotely interesting dialogue.

I thought i'd treat it as fishing, i'd sit in different coffee shops have a drink, do some work and have the take recorder at hand incase anyone sat down next to me. Some people did and i thought i would of gotten some good material but you could barely hear it.
I also went to the oceanarium and thought i might be able to catch some kids shouting loudly to their parents which i find is what i always hear but when i went, the whole place was desolate!

I had to take things into account in the places where i was recording, i managed to get a whole conversation which was happening right behind me on the bus. But when listening back to it all that ou could hear is the engines.

Things were getting quite late and i couldn't start my animation until i had the audio sorted and i had my crit where my tutor basically said i had to get this done asap. I don't know why but it didn't feel right having a force conversation or making it up as i wouldn't feel inspired to carry out the project as it wouldn't be sticking to the point of recording a strangers conversation.

Luck happened literally the next day, it was fate. I sat down on a bench by the beach and i moved my bag to get a book out when a elderly man came and sat next to me asking if this seat was taken. We started to talk and i saw my opportunity. Typically, the audio recorder i borrow from uni decided not to turn on, but i had my tape recorder on me thankfully and begun to record.

It was perfect, he talked about how he used to go to Pontins when he was younger at Clacton-On-Sea and how he used to dress up nice for the girls. "Oh how i remember it" telling me the best days of his life.
He asked what i did and i told him how i was currently job searching and talked about politics of student life which i didn't quite understand how i will live afterwards. He also told me his wife died 5 years ago and told me what his daughters did, all in all it was really pleasant.

I used to get really funny when strangers started to talk to me but then i'm quite awkward, but that day i realized this was how i was going to get my conversation. It's a shame how people can feel so lonely and even though we are surrounded by people we feel like we cannot talk to  each other. I think i learnt something that day, i think because when i walk amongst people or around people i feel generally very detached. But  maybe people should warm up to each other and not treat each other when passing to not even acknowledge another life form passing by. I'm not sure what my point is but i would like to think my animation of this man telling me a brief story of the glory days of his life would touch some people.

Audio

I thought of various ways of how i could record the audio of my conversations and what i would like is to use a tape recorder and have a crackly old effect. I want it to have a certain charm and not sound flat.
I thought of how i could have a recording and play it through a phone and record it down the other end but since i don't have a home phone or any credit that wouldn't really be feasible!

 Grundig Mh15 Micro Cassette Recorder

This is a very basic tape recorder with a simple push button to record nothing too technical. This is sticking with my idea of creating a very old school sound and the quality of the tape is just how i would like it to be. 

The only thing i'm slightly worried about is if there is any noise interference if i'm not in closer ear shot of a conversation. Also if i wipe off the conversation by accident by re recording over it. 

I've also got a olympus vn-750 which i'm not very fond of and sort of regret buying. It is definitely not worth £34.99 as you can't even upload the digital audio onto a computer. I find it pointless to have a digital equipment that doesn't support a hook up like this. Though i might be wrong and over looked this as i haven't properly yet read the manuel which is a classic thing most people do is assume things! But to have on myself for all time i guess it is worth recording random things i hear then finding a way to put it on my mac to work with. 

"People I've Never Met & Conversations I've Never Had"

"People I've Never Met & Conversations I've Never Had" by Nick White is a illustrative book that has a collective collages and drawings of various conversations. I wanted to see if there was any illustrators who have made any 2d work based on narratives of people's dialogue. I came across this book which has lovely print and mark making, use of collage but some of it seems very niave drawing, a bit too much for me maybe. I looked at what sort of conversations that were used and it's a bit tedious how some of them seem really stupid and made up if it were. I'd like to think that they weren't as i think that would lose the books charm. But some of the conversations seem a bit far fetched or a complete idiot is talking.

Here are some examples that i think are the most strongest in the book.

I like the idea of using collage to make a Fair Isle look with the top, with the few portraits of various people i think are effective, but some of the dialogue just makes it weird. 

This is the one conversation that i could tolerate for being actually real, some of them were literally stupid. Can't enthasize that even more. 

What caught my eye on this is how Nick White has written like a child does, which i like as i have in previous work i have done written like this as i find it interesting and amusing. 

The Talk

I want to record snippets of people's conversations, not telling the whole story but catch a couple of sentences of it. When i walk along the street in a busy crowd or on public transport i always hear a odd end of a story which is sometimes amusing. When you don't know the beginning or end to it but it makes you curious to hear more. Also the way some people deliver their sentences if they have a accent or slang, or quite well spoken, it is all quite interesting what some people have to say. 

This is what inspired me to do the conversation and then animate it, this is by Julia Pott. I like how it's just 15 seconds long of a woman telling you a story yet you don't hear it all but you get the jist of what she is talking about.    

V&A Post Moderism Exhibition: Style and Subversion 1970-90

I went to the V&A Post Moderism Exhibition: Style and Subversion 1970-90 and was literally in awe with all what was there to see, a truely inspiring collection of works of art, style and culture.
One of the things that attracts me to Post Moderism is use of pattern making and illustrations especially in this music video by Grace Jones "Love Is The Drug"



Various techniques of animation has been used in this like stop motion and rotoscoping, this video inspires me a great deal as i wish i could have the imagination to conjure up designs like this. The bold and brash silhouette of Grace Jones face with the real footage of her lips singing rotoscoped over the image mesmerizing. The frantic images of figures dancing and stop motion of objects, it's very busy and wouldn't normally have different styles in once sequence but this works.