Workshops Evaluation

Sand Animation - I really liked this technique as it had a lot of freedom in terms of the designs you can do, i also like how fluid the final animation turns out. It has a simple technique but with a rather spectacular outcome.

Shadow Puppet Animation - I didn't particularly like this technique as to make the models is very fiddly which isn't my style, the final outcome i rather liked but the technique let it down.

Chalk Animation - This technique was really simple to do but is very time consuming to make a complex design, although saying that i did like the final outcome so on the whole i liked doing this technique.

Drawn Animation - This was by far my least favourite technique because of how time consuming it is and drawing isn't particularly my favourite technique anyway.

Final Animation

Final Animation


This is my final animation, I rather like it but the camera I used would have been better if I had a stand to keep it in the same place but other than that I would say it worked rather well, I made it to represent the missing plane in the far east, I found this story quite sad as the families the passengers had left behind didn't know how to feel as no one knew what to tell them because they had nothing to tell. I made it using hand drawn animation and object animation combined together.

Artist Research - Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki is a retired animator from Japan, he has created feature length films such as Castle in the Sky, Ponyo and Princess Mononoke. 

He takes a leading role when creating his films, in his early films he would personally review every individual frame but due to health issues he now delegates work to other animators.

Miyazaki uses traditional animation in majority in his films, he introduced computer graphics first into Princess Mononoke. In a interview he explained his use of computer graphics "it's very important to me to retain the right ratio between working by hand and computer. I have learnt that balance now, how to use both and still be able to call my films 2D"

Shadow Puppet Animation

Silhouette animation is animation in which the characters are only visible as black silhouettes. This is usually accomplished by backlighting articulated cardboard cut-outs, though other methods exist.
One of the main and first pioneers of this technique was Lotte Reiniger, she created feature length films using this technique such as Cinderella, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, Dr. Dolittle and His Animals and The Chinese Nightingale.


Silhouette animation is most often created in black and white, with either a black paper or cardboard silhouette on a white backdrop, or a white silhouette on a black backdrop. In many ways this style of animation requires more finesse and skill, because it relies solely on motion, shape, pacing, timing, and music to convey emotion without the benefit of things like facial expressions.

Chalk Animation

Chalk animation is the process of drawing objects or figures or a chalk board and then strategically rub out parts and draw them back in so when you take pictures of it looks like the picture is moving. This is quite a time consuming process to make a complicated or long sequence.

Equipment

• Chalk
• Chalk board
• Camera
• Computer

Method

1. Draw out the first scene of your animation
2. Take a picture
3. Rub out the bit you want to animate
4. Draw them back on but in a slightly different position
5. Take a picture

Drawn Animation

Artist Research - Lotte Reiniger

Lotte Reiniger was a pioneer of silhouette animation and created films such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretal. Lotte Reiniger was born in Berlin-Charlottenburg on 2 June 1899. As a child, she was fascinated with the Chinese art of silhouette puppetry, even building her own puppet theatre, so that she could put on shows for her family and friends.

As a teenager, Reiniger fell in love with cinema, first with the films of Georges Méliès for their special effects, then the films of actor and director Paul Wegener, known today for The Golem (1920). In 1915, she attended a lecture by Wegener that focused on the fantastic possibilities of animation.

Reiniger eventually convinced her parents to allow her to enroll in the acting group Wegener belonged to, the Theatre of Max Reinhardt. She started making silhouette portraits of the various actors around her, and soon she was making elaborate title cards for Wegener's films, many of which featured her silhouettes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvU55CUw5Ck&feature=player_detailpage