Ccccooooooolllllllll

I found this link today on my favorite website, neatorama.com. It's Blu's sequel to "Muto" and it's called "COMBO." It's a collaboration piece between Blu and painter/film-maker/performer David Ellis. Check it out.

http://www.urlesque.com/2009/09/29/time-lapse-tuesday-blu-and-david-ellis-make-combo/

Walt and Jr (by Alex Irwin and Michael Grant)

Here's our short from the toy animation assignment.

Project 2. Sand Animation

Participants: Work in pairs

Exercise: 30 second – 1 minute sand animation

Films: Caroline Leaf, The Owl who Married A Goose, Ferenc Cako, Vivaldi: Summer and Winter, Rekegut, Gladpack

Reading: “How Michaela Pavlatova both incorporates and rebels against the Czech animation Tradition,” by Miriam Harris

Objectives: 1. To develop a storyline based on random elements

2. To develop skills in working with simple light dark value in animation

3. To develop skills in working with an additive and subtractive medium for animation

4. To begin to understand the value of light in animation

5. To develop formal skills in camera use, frame composition, and timing

For this project you will produce a 30 second to 1 minute film produced with sand animation only. As we discussed in class, you may use a light box or one of the stop motion stands with a glass base and a light underneath. You may choose to filter the light with paper, with colored Plexiglas or with painted onionskin paper or transparency paper. As we discussed you can use colored sand or white sand, or you are free to purchase your own sand. (Sandbox sand (clean) is available in Home Depot Stores or (CALL FIRST) craft sand from Michael’s or Pearl Paint (on Canal Street in NYC. Ask for the Craft Store it is behind the regular art supply store).

In this piece try to consider where your camera eye is in relation to your characters.

For instance, are we watching the action from a distance, at an angle, from above, from below, do we get details, close ups, etc…? Consider the following shots. You have no obligation to use any of these but the list can prove helpful.

Shots:

Head Shot

Close Up

Detail

Medium Shot

Long Shot

Over the Shoulder Shot

Slow Pan

Low Angle (looking up)

High Angle (looking down)

Appearance of layering – when one bird flies in front of another, a fish dives into the water, rain blots out a character (see Carolyn Leaf for examples of these effects)

Action:

Fluid movement - slow graceful

Hard movement - rapid changes of action (ex jump cuts where you wipe out the entire sand drawing and begin your next shot with a different image entirely)

Subtle movement – leaf falling, hair blowing – usually while something else is happening

Spinning motion

Full screen movement - character or object moving onto screen from left then off screen right, or bottom to top, etc.

Depth movement – object or character moves up at an angle on the screen and gets smaller, less clear and lighter (indicating depth)

Bounce – if something falls does it have bounce; if it hits water does it splash?

PROCESS

THIS WEEK

1 – Choose an object, place, and character

2 – With your group (or alone) establish a storyline integrating these three elements.

3 – Choose your materials. Decide whether you are lighting from the top down or from the back.

4 – If your film has more than one scene how will you show the transition? Options: Hand over lens to create black or turning down the camera’s iris (wheel on side) until the screen goes black then bringing the iris back up for full light or written transitions (example: Scene II or At the Beach….)

5 – Best camera to check out is the Panasonic DVX – use on Stop Motion Stands or use the one in place in 136.

6 – Set your lighting. TURN OFF FLORESCENT LIGHTS

7 – Remember you might need to make several attempts at the film. So give yourself enough time.

THURSDAY NIGHT

1 – We will add sound to your work if you want it. If you’d like to do a voice over please check out a microphone from the ER and bring this with you. Sound Effects can be downloaded free from many sites and saved on the desktop or on a CD for use. You can make music on Garage band or bring other music. YOU DO NOT need to know Final Cut. I will work with you individually on this. Important: iStore music will not import into Final Cut Pro.

FRIDAY September 25

Project is due. Please have as a Quicktime movie on a DVD or on an external hard drive. (From IStopMotion you should go to Export> as a QuickTime Movie.

Swipes SHOULD be ready by late today. If not security will let you in to 129 and 136. Enjoy.

White Balancing!

The Animation Room DVX Camera's have this neat little trick called White Balancing.

To show us how to do it here's a Scanned page from the Manual!




























Click on 'em for the full-size.

Feel free to print it out and read it with your own eyes.

Let's get this party started.

Welcome to the SLC Animation Blog. A place for all of you to come and post your awesome work and keep updated with all of the wonderful work

Alrighty then, so the basic functions of the blog should be self-explanatory, you can post up your homework and the like if you want, comment or ask questions about what's going down, and let people know about cool animation-related events. Cool right?

Now then, feel free to post up your animations and the like here for now. To preserve bandwidth you can use the HTML feature to present videos straight from Youtube rather than upload straight. Like so:



Now that that's clear, shall we proceed to rock?

I think we shall.

~Ying