Development | Storyboarding

Once I'd decided on the concept of my animation I needed to put it down on paper. I drew a very short storyboard of images to illustrate my idea in my sketchbook, as seen below:



And then I went on to digitalise this using Adobe Illustrator. I have really enjoyed doing this process today. I think its shown me how working up from a paper copy to a rough digital copy is more helpful than I'd previously thought. By creating this digital storyboard I could easily create an animatic in no time ready to pitch my idea to my classmates. Here's a screenshot of my storyboard under construction:

Hopefully by the time I do the next post I'll have completed the storyboard and finished the visual elements of my animatic and the audio will be well underway.

Chosen | Concepts

At first I thought I wanted to a head up display on my animation like computer games have, but this has gone out the window since I've been brainstorming more and more in my sketchbook. 

Now I plan to have an stereotypical farm vehicle driving along a lane in the foreground of the animation. The start of the animation will have the vehicle chuffing out plumes of black smoke but once he fills up with biodiesel the music lightens up and the sun comes out and the smoke is clearing. 

I want to create a short animation that's educational but fun and playful at the same time. In my view its important to make the video fun as well as educational because I want to avoid the boring, lecturing tones that other educational videos have. I think that once my concept and visual style are coupled together I can create a fun, yet educational public information video.  

Chosen | Colour Scheme

Here's the colour scheme I'm going to be using. Mostly inspired by the artwork of Eva Galesloot whom I've spoken about in a previous post. I've made subtle changes between the regular and biodiesel schemes when it came to the green/ grey colours but the blue and the yellow are introduced as vivid, happy colours :) 

This may not be my final colour scheme as I might add to it throughout my drawing process when i decide to add textures. I'd like to put textures in to add some realism to my currently very flat images I've got at the moment. 

Research | Biofuel

http://www.biodiesel.org/docs/ffs-basics/emissions-fact-sheet.pdf

Here are the average biodiesel emissions compared to conventional diesel according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It shows that you can reduced your hydrocarbon emissions by up to 67% if you're using B100 which is 100% biodiesel. It also gives results for B20 which is 20% Biodiesel and 80% regular diesel. This still reduced unburned hydrocarbons that are being introduced into the atmosphere by 20% which I think is quite an impressive margin considering the little use of biofuel. 

By doing this research its bump started my ideas for a voice over. I think I might use something along the lines of:

"Reduce your car's carbon footprint by up to 67%!"

Research | Visual Style

Above is a screenshot from an app i downloaded recently and loved the art style of. Its something that I think I can pull off fairly well with the time I've got by creating a background that tiles as it does in the app. By doing this I can reduce the amount of time I have to spend creating the background imagery whilst still creating the effect I want to. I think this home made style of drawing will suit the biodiesel promotion aspect of my animation. I also think it pays homage to the older style drawing of the 1950's.

Here's another animation I really like. My favourite part of it is the use of foreground and background throughout to make it look like its 3d. The sharpness of an object tells you how close or how far away it would be in real space, something subtle but very effective. The foreground/ background also has its own pace, which again adds a sense of realism. I think this is something I'd like to utilise if i have time. 

Development | Concept and Visual style

After doing quite a few brain storms in my sketchbook I've finally decided to stick with promoting Biodiesel as my Co2 reducing activity. 

I've been toying with the idea of doing a game style head up display to get across the message of biodiesel being better for the environment than regular diesel. I was speaking to one of my lecturers who had the idea of having a "carbon foot" in the corner of the screen that got bigger as the character in the animation polluted more. I was thinking of using this relation between object and character but changing the foot for a leaf that degraded more and more until the character filled its car up with biodiesel. This idea has given me a point to focus on and will hopefully be the concept I stick with until the end as we don't have any time to mess about in this project with different concepts due to time constraints.

The problem with this is that I'd really like to use photography or hand drawing in this project so I can get away from the computer a bit more than I have in previous projects. I also think by combining my skills as a photographer and a digital designer I can create a portfolio with a bigger variation of works.

Here's a piece of work I watched about 3 years ago that's been an inspiration for me ever since. It combines some great photography and use of After Effects/ Photoshop. The title section before you see any photographs has a particle effect I like and I could use for my idea. I like the way it gives the effect of 3d space throughout the video even though all the photographical elements are 2d.

Research | Principles of Animation

Below are the 12 principles of animation with links to video example and a short explanation. These are the movements that can be used in animation to add realism. Some of them are used to make the animation more exciting or by combining two the animator can make something extraordinary e.g combining Squash and Stretch and Exaggeration to make a character move in an unnaturally exaggerated manor. 

Squash and stretch - BUPA Feel fine -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCJ8P2khTec
Weight and flexibility. Its makes movements either natural, or exaggerated. It can be used for kinetic movements.

Anticipation - Red (2010) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gxrI5CPYIM
Allows for the user to predict what will happen. Suspense is added. Alludes to the forthcoming movements. Heightens drama.

Staging - Skate Rotoscope -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUpPymtMRj4
Staging gives the objects a scene to sit in. It tells you about the object, or the situation the object has got itself into. Directs the audience attention.

Straight ahead action and Pose-to-pose - Stick Figure vs Mouse -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opAJyA-L-fw
Change of size and volume. Continuous sequences frame by frame. Pose to Pose action is key frames and interpolation. Character position cutting between poses.

Follow through action and Overlapping action - Never Enough Alfa -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx2sPfgqlkg
Overlapping action- More than one animation simultaneously on a screen. Interacting and affecting each other.

Follow through action- Explaining physical movements through the use of continuation.
Ease in and Ease out - HBTV: Depth of Speed -
https://vimeo.com/27010709

Arcs - BUPA Feel fine -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCJ8P2khTec
Paths of movement, they highlight gravity or effects of momentum.

Secondary action - Doctor Fish - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdNghrAeks0
Adds sense of realism, an example is a horses hair moving as it runs.

Timing - Animated Walk and Skip Cycles -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5ffy-YwybA

Exaggeration - Stick Figure vs Mouse -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opAJyA-L-fw
Adds an unatural effect. Overstated physical movements. Stops the story being boring and rigid. Explains whats happened.

Solid Drawing - Emotions and the Brain - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNY0AAUtH3g

Appeal - Animated Walk and Skip Cycles - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5ffy-YwybA
http://vimeo.com/39859084