Synopsis

During production of the animation in After Effects i had some concerns as to how all the camera shots and scenes where going to work together, but after completely rendering the movie out and watching it as a whole completed sequence i am very happy with the way it all came together.

After obtaining a character design and construction for animation that i was happy with, I built the background scenes in photoshop and exported them as .png files
I created the character animation using flash and exported them as .swf files then imported them into After effects, where I placed them on top of the background scenes i had created in Photoshop.

Using some animation techniques in After effects i made sure the .swf movies where properly fitted to their surroundings and moved around the scenes as i had designed them to do. I found it too difficult to create the whole sequence as a single composition therefore i created it using various compositions which i fitted together at the end in a single composition. Next i created shadows for the character animations which proved a bit tricky, but in the end very effective. one of my favorite elements of After Effects are the lighting effects which i used in every scene, each with their own animation and timing, i feel that this added a vast amount to the collective atmosphere of the production.

One of the most challenging parts of the process i found was achieving the correct timing for all the sound effects. Not being able to hear the actual sounds on the main timeline makes it very difficult to match them to each animation composition, meaning that every sound clip had to be exactly the right length down to the specific frame!

With the sound now matching to the animation compositions, i animated camera effects in most of the scenes (street walk, stage performance 1,2,3) with the crowd scenes i just used scaling to create a zooming effect.

The final task i had was pasting each of the compositions in order and time within one large composition, and creating fade out effects where necessary so that one composition would move effectively to the next!

Submission!

The final production wooooooooooooo! finally done enjoy guys ;) xxx

DVD

This is the Background I am going to use for the DVD menu, which i plan to create using Nero 8. The DVD will feature both the completed animation and the rough cut that i have shown in previous posts.

Nero 8 enables you to create a menu that shows a small section of the animation next to its title, making it easier for the user to choose what they wish to view first. I thought that this was an evective feature rather than simply using text based buttons.


DVD packaging

Further Character design

In order to achieve some of the actions performed by my 'rPod' character, i redrew the hands a number of times, to suit each change in position or movement. Most of the hand movements could be achieved by simply altering the size and shape in flash however seeing as the hands were the most animated objects they had to look convincing therefore redrawing them from a few different perspectives was necessary.

Title for Animation, DVD menu and packaging

As part of my character design i decided to create variations of my main character for the robots in the crowd one of the main reasons for this was i wanted to relate to the post human theme by giving the viewer a sense of productivity through the vast number of almost identical robot forms.

Week 4

Rough Cut



The rough cut depicts most of my completed character animation, the background that i will be using for the first scene and some of the music tracks that will feature in the completed production. However i have yet to create the background scene for the stage performance, which will also use lighting and camera effects from After Effects!

Scene Design

I wanted to portray the environment of my animation to be a futuristic one, while avoiding aspects like pristine, cutting edge technology and rather portray a future where technology is old, hinting a feeling of abandonment, for in the world of the 'RoboPod' man is extinct and robots have continued to evolve, simply taking humanities place.

For my first scene i will be using this photograph of a dirty city alleyway that portrays a thick urban environment that one would perhaps most associate a robot with, rather than a rural one.

For the second scene i attempted to build on the dark urban atmosphere by composing a stage from a vast number of photographs. This stage appears to be old, almost rotting away, but also contains traditional elements such as the red curtains which re-enforces the animations subject matter.

Week 3

Animatic

Storyboards

(frames 28-31)


(frames 22-27)


(frames 16-21)


Scene 3 Stage Performance (frames 10-15)


Scene 2 Street Walk (frames 7-9)


Scene 1 Intro (frames1-6)

Animation Sequence Drafting

Animation Concept Ideas

Just a rough word list of ideas and concepts in the initial stages of planning the animation sequence.

Character Design

After creating rough story boards I began the process of refining my character design. Seeing as my concept is most significantly related to iPods and their development, I want to use a similar design style with the ‘rPod’ robot, my main character. I have begun looking at other mp3 players and hand held devices, looking at how they’re different to their competitors and superior to their predecessors. This is a video of an interesting product developed by Sony, which steps out from typical contemporary music devices;



Another major aspect of my animation is the succession of the dance moves that I plan to make the ‘rPod’ perform. I’m still deciding if the ‘rPod’ will move in a natural human form or a strict robotic movement style both can be highly effective but I feel that in this case a more natural human appearance will add more to the humour of the scene. This is a video of ASIMO, a robot developed by Honda. This is a demonstration of how human movement can be reproduced effectively by a robot;



Initial Character Sketch



Refined Character Design

Week 2 - My Concept

I’ve decided to create my animation based on the evolution of iPods, but to take a step further into the future and explore how far iPod’s and machines like them can evolve. My animation features a world where iPods, which I have renamed ‘rPods’ have advanced so far that they’re now fully operating/walking/talking robots themselves, hence the name ‘rPod’ (roboPod). These ‘rPods’ are no longer a human accessory but entertain their own kind (machines).

In my animation I want to subtly include some of the tendencies of this genre of music handset such as, the poor battery life and the fact that every kind of small portable device eventually becomes a multi-purpose electronic platform, for example; mobile phones, digital cameras, etc. I find humour thinking that ‘iPods’ could advance so far as to become fully operating robots that are still limited by poor battery life!

I gained inspiration for my animation from and introductory animation I found on http://www.eminem.com/ the style which this animation has been created, I feel is very effective and really appeals to my interests. I plan to design my characters and background settings in Adobe Illustrator and create the animation in Adobe After Effects. At this point I am looking at creating my own sound effects!

Week 1

Brief Received
During the tutorial, we were audience to an assortment of videos consisting of animations and digitally manipulated videos relating to the concept of post humanity.

My Response
The foremost impression that I derived from the examples shown in class was that technology could advance so far that humanity could become an obsolete design and therefore, flesh may be replaced by machine, a product, an element of design and manipulation. After watching these videos, I was left asking the question; what will happen to humanity? What will become of our physical form, lifestyle and mentality? Once technology becomes so advanced that we adapt ourselves around it instead of it being adapted around us, will ‘Humanity’ be a thing of the past?