"Buddy" - Senior I animatic

Well HEY! Long time no see, blog fans!

What have I been up to, you ask? Oh, just a few things. Among them, interning at Animation Collective working on a Nicktoon by the name of "Three Delivery". That was pretty sweet, so I took my Three Delivery knowledge back to the SAV and cranked out the first half of my senior film.

The film is a short by the name of "Buddy", and at this point in time, is at its halfway point. Have a gander!

"Buddy"

Et voila!

(heart)Beat

Evergreen

By the way, here's a parting gift for all. It's a really gorgeous animation from the latest aniboom competition. Definitely made me rethink the style of my senior thesis.

Finito!

Well, that is that. (heart)Beat is complete. I am now in the final stages, editing the sound and making it look like a presentable file. The final file will be up by the end of class today.

I had a great time working on this project, and have really enjoyed my experience with Flash. You can definitely see a marked improvement in my work (look at the drawings at the beginning of the animation compared to the end!). I will be utilizing this frame-by-frame hand drawing technique for my senior thesis.

Hoorah! More soon!

Scene 8 Test

Scene 8 Test. Getting tired of birds.

Scene 6: Complete! (Blogger is being retarded, here's a Youtube clip)





This leaves only two scenes and a camera movement left to go. I'm feelin' good.

PS: Let it be known that Brandyn and I are no longer friends since he will be missing our Rock Band tournament for his mother's wedding. Who does that?? Also, let it be known that I am looking for a new drummer.

Week 8?

Okay, well, apparently Blogger doesn't feel like uploading video today, but I've completed the 4th scene. Now I'm working on scene 5 and 6. This is going to be a busy weekend.

Well, despite the fact that I took a mini-vacation this weekend (very bad of me, I know), I still have an update for you. Here's the latest pass on Scene 3:



It's definitely getting down to crunch time, but I feel I've been managing my time well. So far, so good.

Things have been trucking right along smoothly. So far, I have kept to my schedule accurately, and may in fact be finished earlier than I had anticipated. Here's a test of the scene I'm currently working on:



I actually found video of birds "dancing", so I may change some of the motions around in this test to seem more "birdlike". If I'm feeling ambitious.

Week 7

So here we are: the beginning of week 7.

So far, things have been progressing nicely. The only roadblock I've run into so far is that the file I have been working in has started to become slow due to having so many shapes and frames. From now on, I will have to create scenes in separate files rather than all in one file with multiple scenes. Also, I recently discovered that I was doing my early scenes in the wrong aspect ratio, so I will need to go back and scale those to the correct size. However, these are minor speedbumps, and overall, I have been very happy with my progress so far.

The test of scenes 1-3 (scenes 1 & 2 are complete besides needing to be rescaled, and scene 3 is in progress):




And I also began work on scene 6 when scene 3 started to slow down. This is a very rough blocking, so far, and the bird will be fully animated (not gliding, as he is in this test).

And yet another!

Even fresher!

Here's a test of my progress so far.

NOTE: There are extra frames at the end of the avi of blank or repeated animation that won't be in the final film. This is to give myself buffer room to work in. I'm not that bad at timing, I promise.

The Latest Update

Alright, so production is underway, and things are now in full swing. I'm very excited about this project, and I think it will be pretty impressive when complete. This past week, I started Scene 1, and its nearly complete, now. Here's a test of Scene 1:



In addition to Scene 1, I also created my production schedule this weekend. Here that is:

(heart)Beat Production Schedule
Week 6
Sunday, April 27th – Create Production Schedule
Monday, April 28th – Complete Scene 1 (4 hours)
Tuesday, April 29th - Begin Scene 2 (4 hours)
Wednesday, April 30th – Complete Scene 2 (6 hours)
Thursday, May 1st – (miscellaneous)
Friday, May 2nd – Begin and complete Scene 3 (6 hours)
Saturday, May 3rd – Begin Scene 4A (4 hours)

Week 7
Sunday, May 4th – Complete Scene 4A (4 hours)
Monday, May 5th – Begin Scene 4B (5 hours)
Tuesday, May 6th – Continue Scene 4B (3 hours)
Wednesday, May 7th – Complete Scene 4B (5 hours)
Thursday, May 8th – (miscellaneous)
Friday, May 9th – Begin Scene 4C (4 hours)
Saturday, May 10th – Continue Scene 4C (3 hours)

Week 8
Sunday, May 11th – Complete Scene 4C (4 hours)
Monday, May 12th – Begin Scene 5 (6 hours)
Tuesday May 13th – Continue Scene 5 (3 hours)
Wednesday, May 14th – Continue Scene 5 (6 hours)
Thursday, May 15th – Continue Scene 5 (2 hours)
Friday, May 16th – Complete Scene 5 (3 hours)
Saturday, May 17th – Begin Scene 6 (4 hours)

Week 9
Sunday, May 18th – Complete Scene 6 (4 hours)
Monday, May 19th – Begin Scene 7.1 (5 hours)
Tuesday, May 20th – Complete Scene 7.1 (3 hours)
Wednesday, May 21st – Begin and Complete Scene 7.2 (5 hours)
Thursday, May 22nd – (miscellaneous)
Friday, May 23rd – Begin and Complete Scene 7.3 (5 hours)
Saturday, May 24th – Cleanup

Week 10
Sunday, May 25th – Cleanup
Monday, May 26th – Editing
Tuesday, May 27th – Editing
Wednesday – Final Presentation

Scene Breakdown
Scene 1 – ELS – Egg inside -> zoom out to nest & woofer
Scene 2 – MS – Baby bird hatches, cuddles to woofer
Scene 3 – ELS – Establishing Shot – Transition from night to day
Scene 4A – FS – Baby bird dances -> night to day
Scene 4B – FS - Adolescent bird – night -> day
Scene 4C – FS - Adult bird – night -> day
Scene 5 – FS - Bird dances and flies from roof – PAN
Scene 6 – Downward pan as bird falls
Scene 7.1 – FS - Bird hits dancefloor – music cuts
Scene 7.2 – FS - Bird gets up, looks around
Scene 7.3 – FS - Bird belts out song, dancers resume, zoom out to ES


It's looking pretty intense, but so far, so good. My main concern thus far is just being able to balance this project, my concept class, and working 25 hours a week. But I'm a trooper.

Tutorial 5

Well, here it is: the last of the tutorials. I've had some problems with exporting, and this AVI isn't as good as the .swf file, but it'll do.

EDIT: Click this link instead, the quality is much better:


"I laugh in the face of danger!"



Five points to whoever can name the movie the clip is from!

Tutorial 4

Here's a walk cycle using my own puppet. So far it only walks in place, since I couldn't figure out how to turn the animation into a symbol. So let's call this a work in progress:

Tutorial 3

Tutorial 3: Rotoscoping.

(In my defense, the reference video was pretty terrible).



See my own walk cycle in the next post.

Storyboards

So here are the storyboards for (heart)Beat. I definitely settled into a color palette after the first page, so ignore the colors on the first page. Take a gander:

Animation Proposal

Well, since I'm still learning Flash, I'm going to try and go for something rather simplistic in motion, but impressive in style.

My story goes as follows:

(heart)Beat

•Baby bird in egg feels mother's heartbeat.
•Zoom out to reveal that the mother's heartbeat is actually a subwoofer, belting out dance music.
•Bird hatches, blind, and cuddles up to subwoofer.
•Zoom out further to reveal that bird and subwoofer are balanced precariously on roof of patio over a raucous dance party.
•Months pass – day to night, night to day – and the little bird grows to love his “mother's” heartbeat music. At first bobbing his head, then dancing, flapping his wings.
•Grown bird tests his wings, flapping to the music, before fluttering to the dance floor accidentally.
•The dancers stop to look at the fallen bird and the music stops.
•Bird struggles to his feet, looking around at the dancers, scared.
•Meekly, he opens his beak, belting out the song where it left off. The dancers resume.
Relatively simple. Now, the impressive part is that I would like to incorporate heavy texture, such as different kinds of paper, to give the animation a cutout kind of feel.

Now the hard part is executing it.


Here's a concept sketch of adolescent Bird:

Well, well

Look! I'm learning Flash!

Tutorial 01: Exercise 1 - Bouncing Ball


Tutorial 02: Exercise 1 - Manipulate Puppet Character


Tutorial 02: Exercise 2 - Create your own Puppet

Best Work?

If I had to choose, I'd have to say that "Jaguar and Fly" (posted two posts down) is my best work to date. However, this may be because it has got the best feedback from other people, mostly due to its cute soundtrack and colorful animation. I have a lot of relatively strong animation which isn't as cutesy, though.

Exhibit A:



Here is my demo reel as it stands now. It really needs some work, I think, but here's my best work all laid out in one place.

Enjoy.

Digital Cel - Hoorah!

I have to say, I'm very excited about this class. As one of 2D's biggest supporters, I recognize the importance of digital cel animation. Too often, 2D is considered a "dead art", when nothing could be further from the truth! I'm happy to say that 2D is seeing a revival lately (The Frog Princess - I can't wait!), but things are done much differently today than what many people consider "traditional animation".

Me, personally? I guess you could say I focus on character animation, so my goal for this class is just to learn Flash in order to do character animation. But, like I mentioned earlier, I'm also fascinated by experimenting with animation, and trying new things.

So, for this class, I think I'll kind of combine the two. I'd like to do character animation in a loose, sketchy-looking style - the kind you might see on an American Airlines commercial. You know, this sort of thing:



(One of my favorite animations, by the way)

Really, I'm just looking to kind of "find my style". I'm going to learn Flash, and just sort of see where it takes me. Where I have a lot of experience working with After Effects, I find myself kind of limited by it, and I think Flash can really offer me a lot more freedom in my animation.

Also, my demo reel needs some beefing up.

My favorite animation

Having grown up worshiping Disney and Nickelodeon cartoons, these are some of my favorite animations.

As I mentioned earlier, I truly feel that The Lion King is the pinnacle of 2D animation. If you don't believe me, here's a clip:



Of course, Disney has incredibly high standards for animation, and I know they work their animators into the ground, blah blah blah, but I'd say it paid off. Few things really depict the "illusion of life" the way The Lion King does, and that is a quality of animation that I really strive for. In fact, call me corny, but I like to keep a Disney movie playing while I'm working on my animation. Keeps me inspired, even if I often find myself staring open-mouthed at the screen, considering giving up animation, convinced I'll never be that good.

Another animated cartoon that really inspired me as a child was the Saturday morning Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon. Let's take a trip down memory lane:



While the animation here is more crude than Disney's variety, and may not have that same "illusion of life", it still is eye-catching and highly entertaining. Besides this, the characters all develop greatly through the series, and I guarantee every child of the 90s can name a character from this show that they really identified with.

And speaking of great writing and character development, another animation that I really love is the more modern Home Movies. This may be considered the epitome of "crude animation", but who doesn't laugh when Coach McGuirk "rearranges" the library's card catalog? This is an example of animation facilitating the humor for the sake of appealing to an older audience, and I think it does it splendidly. Here's a clip:



Just. Hilarious.

Unfortunately they don't produce the DVDs anymore, but I'd highly suggest checking it out. It's captivating.

Anyway, I feel like this isn't very indicative of my animation taste, so I'll be sure to keep you posted as I remember some more. Oh, and here's one of mine. I guess you could say this is one of my favorite animations. :)

Salutations! And welcome to the blog!

I'm Ashlee Perkins, originally of Merrimack, New Hampshire - a small New England town where we readily accept Canadian currency. Now, however, I've ventured out of my igloo to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design, where I am in my Junior year of studying animation.

I have a 2D focus, and would like to pursue traditional/digital cel animation as a career. Also, I am fascinated by storyboarding and pre-production work for animation, so I have a Storyboarding minor and have considered doing layout as a career.

I was inspired to pursue animation as a child, watching mostly classic Disney movies and (now-classic) 90s Nickelodeon cartoons. These animations really shaped my childhood, and I would love to do the same for a younger generation.

The Lion King really shaped my love for animation as a child, and I often go as so far to say that this movie has got me where I am today. As a child, I studied the drawings frame by frame to learn how animation worked, and later wrote my admissions essay on the animation of The Lion King. Naturally, I was thrilled to have Professor Phil Young teach my Animation I class, and I kind of idolize him. Too bad he moved to Montana.

Since coming to SCAD however, I've really developed a love for the more loose, abstract style of animation. I truly feel that animation has a lot of capabilities that have rarely been tapped, and I would love to attempt to broaden the field of animation in my career work. A friend and I have been developing a darker, edgier story that we'd love to produce someday, which I feel is the beginning of this "broadening process". Too often animation is labeled as "kids stuff", and I would love to bring it to a wider audience.

More later!