To see the version of my idents without the addition of sound click here.
I'm not sure whether they work better with or without sound but I've done it both ways just in case. If this was a professional job I would let the castle choose after I'd shown them both versions.
With that I have completed my brief and accomplished what I set out to do. To those reading this I hope you enjoy the final result. :)
Tuesday 24 November 2009
Sunday 22 November 2009
idents with sound
I've attempted to add sound to the idents using soundtracks I found on iMovie and from the Ren and Stimpy soundtrack.
I'm not sure whether I like this use of sound though and will put up the version without sound shortly and make a proper decision then.
I'm not sure whether I like this use of sound though and will put up the version without sound shortly and make a proper decision then.
Friday 20 November 2009
reflection
I have now completed all six of my idents and have kept in accordance with my schedule.
I would like the idents to either be on the website for Warwick Castle (as loading screens perhaps) or on monitors around the site between important snatches of information about the castle for visitors. They might even work as adverts during children's television if I find the right soundtrack to go with it.
The things that remain to think about are the use of sound as well as the evaluation of my project from the beginning brief and the application of any necessary changes;
stills from each of my six idents
--
I began this brief with quite a clear idea of what I wanted to achieve; six 5 second idents promoting the summer activities of Warwick Castle aimed at children, but the process of getting to this result was quite turmulent.
I wanted to challenge myself so I chose to create the idents in a programme I was quite unfamiliar with but wanted to get better at; Adobe Flash. This led to a lot of problems especially with the 'actionscript' trying to create water effects, using the 'tween' tool and just getting to grips with all the functions.
I feel like I do know the program a lot better now; whenever I was stuck I either asked for advice from a fellow classmate (notably Dean Pankhurst and Steven Pender who have both previously used the program before this course) or I sought online help and tutorials from professionals like Maxwell Langdon.
The style of the idents was also a problem as first I wanted to create it similar to the ending animation of Bolt (see the first blog entry to view it), but animating without lines was a little tricky so I soon sought other inspiration and found it at the HAFF animation festival and through youtube videos. I think the style and vibrant colours I chose will attract the target audience to my animations.
I paced myself well with the project and have finished a week ahead of schedule so that I can get feedback and improve it if need be. I can't imagine how I could have completed this project with more success, I've tried my best with all aspects of it.
The one area I feel I am weakest in is the initial designing stage. Often I rush my ideas so that I can get started as soon as possible since I panic at the thought of deadlines! Going back it might be worthwhile re-thinking a few of the ideas and seeing if I can get them any more original or interesting.
Finally, comparing this work to the industry-standard out there I feel as though I still have a long way to go in terms of drawing skill and using flash to its fullest potential. There were no very interesting camera angles in my work and some of the animation was a little robotic because I didn't have time to dynamically animate everything. I would also be part of a team in the industry and wouldn't have to go through the process by myself so that could be solved later on. I feel the time frame I had was adequate and working a few hours a day really paid off instead of intensely working on it during one short period of time.
I really enjoyed working on this project and want to continue using flash in the future, it is a really inventive program and I feel I have not yet lived up to my animation potential using it, but this is as good a start as any.
I would like the idents to either be on the website for Warwick Castle (as loading screens perhaps) or on monitors around the site between important snatches of information about the castle for visitors. They might even work as adverts during children's television if I find the right soundtrack to go with it.
The things that remain to think about are the use of sound as well as the evaluation of my project from the beginning brief and the application of any necessary changes;
stills from each of my six idents
--
I began this brief with quite a clear idea of what I wanted to achieve; six 5 second idents promoting the summer activities of Warwick Castle aimed at children, but the process of getting to this result was quite turmulent.
I wanted to challenge myself so I chose to create the idents in a programme I was quite unfamiliar with but wanted to get better at; Adobe Flash. This led to a lot of problems especially with the 'actionscript' trying to create water effects, using the 'tween' tool and just getting to grips with all the functions.
I feel like I do know the program a lot better now; whenever I was stuck I either asked for advice from a fellow classmate (notably Dean Pankhurst and Steven Pender who have both previously used the program before this course) or I sought online help and tutorials from professionals like Maxwell Langdon.
The style of the idents was also a problem as first I wanted to create it similar to the ending animation of Bolt (see the first blog entry to view it), but animating without lines was a little tricky so I soon sought other inspiration and found it at the HAFF animation festival and through youtube videos. I think the style and vibrant colours I chose will attract the target audience to my animations.
I paced myself well with the project and have finished a week ahead of schedule so that I can get feedback and improve it if need be. I can't imagine how I could have completed this project with more success, I've tried my best with all aspects of it.
The one area I feel I am weakest in is the initial designing stage. Often I rush my ideas so that I can get started as soon as possible since I panic at the thought of deadlines! Going back it might be worthwhile re-thinking a few of the ideas and seeing if I can get them any more original or interesting.
Finally, comparing this work to the industry-standard out there I feel as though I still have a long way to go in terms of drawing skill and using flash to its fullest potential. There were no very interesting camera angles in my work and some of the animation was a little robotic because I didn't have time to dynamically animate everything. I would also be part of a team in the industry and wouldn't have to go through the process by myself so that could be solved later on. I feel the time frame I had was adequate and working a few hours a day really paid off instead of intensely working on it during one short period of time.
I really enjoyed working on this project and want to continue using flash in the future, it is a really inventive program and I feel I have not yet lived up to my animation potential using it, but this is as good a start as any.
research
I realise this post is a little belated but I don't want to fail to mention some of my research so here it is.
After the formative I pushed myself into further research, and the BBC drama 'Merlin' was a useful start. It's set during the middle ages, aroundabout the same time Warwick Castle would have been an active castle.
The joust scenes in particular were very useful and while I may not have the time to go into as much detail as they did with the fighting, it was still useful and enjoyable viewing.
As well as this, from the 4th to the 7th of November, I went on a trip with Ravensbourne to the Holland Animation Film Festival (HAFF) in Utrecht. I saw 9 different films overall;
Competition shorts 1
Cartoon d'Or 2009
Gurren Lagann the Movie:Childhood's End
9
Piano Forest: The Perfect World of Kai
Coraline
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Competition Students 3
Competition Shorts 4
(http://haff.awn.com/)
The competition ones were especially inspiring as many were done by students my age or by professionals in the industry I'm aiming for. I looked on youtube for some of the ones that inspired me most;
Although the style is years ahead of what I can do, I loved the atmosphere this video created.
The mix of 2d and 3d animation is what really opened my eyes to this video.
I just really liked the simplicity of this one and the storytelling. You will need to watch it a few times to really understand it =)
Unfortunately most of them were not on youtube but for reference, 'Clichés de Soirée by Merwan Chabane and 'I am so proud of you' by Don Hertzfeldt' were also a great inspiration to me and helped me decide on the final style of my idents (which has changed somewhat since my first post...)
I got a lot out of the trip and I definately wouldn't have seen these animations otherwise so for that I am thankful.
I was also hugely inspired by a lot of videos people had made for fun on youtube using flash. Most notably the 'prowlies by the river' series which has some fantastic no-lines animation with fluid movements and water effects;
and also this quirky fanmade nintendo animation;
After the formative I pushed myself into further research, and the BBC drama 'Merlin' was a useful start. It's set during the middle ages, aroundabout the same time Warwick Castle would have been an active castle.
The joust scenes in particular were very useful and while I may not have the time to go into as much detail as they did with the fighting, it was still useful and enjoyable viewing.
As well as this, from the 4th to the 7th of November, I went on a trip with Ravensbourne to the Holland Animation Film Festival (HAFF) in Utrecht. I saw 9 different films overall;
Competition shorts 1
Cartoon d'Or 2009
Gurren Lagann the Movie:Childhood's End
9
Piano Forest: The Perfect World of Kai
Coraline
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Competition Students 3
Competition Shorts 4
(http://haff.awn.com/)
The competition ones were especially inspiring as many were done by students my age or by professionals in the industry I'm aiming for. I looked on youtube for some of the ones that inspired me most;
Although the style is years ahead of what I can do, I loved the atmosphere this video created.
The mix of 2d and 3d animation is what really opened my eyes to this video.
I just really liked the simplicity of this one and the storytelling. You will need to watch it a few times to really understand it =)
Unfortunately most of them were not on youtube but for reference, 'Clichés de Soirée by Merwan Chabane and 'I am so proud of you' by Don Hertzfeldt' were also a great inspiration to me and helped me decide on the final style of my idents (which has changed somewhat since my first post...)
I got a lot out of the trip and I definately wouldn't have seen these animations otherwise so for that I am thankful.
I was also hugely inspired by a lot of videos people had made for fun on youtube using flash. Most notably the 'prowlies by the river' series which has some fantastic no-lines animation with fluid movements and water effects;
and also this quirky fanmade nintendo animation;
Tuesday 17 November 2009
correspondence with Maxwell Langdon
For one of my idents I need to use some actionscript on flash to make the water look as though it is moving. I found a useful website called 'pixelhivedesign' and a flash tutorial for water.
http://www.pixelhivedesign.com/tutorials/Realistic+Flash+Water+Effect/
Unfortunately when i tried to apply it to my animation, there was a severe delay in the playback, so I emailed him with the query and here is a copy of our correspondence;
16 November 2009 at 12:04
Dear Maxwell,
I recently used your 'realistic flash water' tutorial, and while the example worked fine, when I tried to apply it to my own animation the playback speed was very slow. I've tried changing the fps and resizing the actionscript and image to no avail.
Can you think of a reason why this may be happening?
-Michelle
16 November 2009 at 14:29
Hi Michelle,
Mind sending me the compiled Flash .swf or even the .fla, so I can see what is happening on the Stage. You were right to try and resize the effect, it is cpu intensive. However, you said it didn't help so must be something else.
Regards,
Maxwell Langdon
Pixel Hive Design - Professional Web Development & Graphic Design
http://www.pixelhivedesign.com
Nov 16, 2009 at 15:56
Thank you for the fast response!
I've attached the flash file, hope it helps. I was also trying to find away to make the 'bottom logo' and 'dragon' layers have the water effect on them, is that possible?
Anyway, thank you again!
-Michelle
16 November 2009 at 16:25:34
Hi Michelle,
I did two things. The main thing was you had the effect applied to an area of 720x800. I changed the 800 to 388, the size of the reflection:
myBitmap = new BitmapData(720,388,false,0);
The second thing I did was add a few lines of code to allow the effect to be paused. I pause the effect during the scroll up animation since you don't really notice the effect anyway during the scroll and it is also hard on the cpu to scroll and animate the effect. I unpause it when it's done scrolling. You can see how I pause it on the "water" layer on the main timeline. Look at the actionscript on the frame when you begin and end the scroll animation.
Animation looks good on my computer now.
Maxwell Langdon
---
I have since been able to complete that ident bringing my total of completed idents up to 4. So far I am on schedule but I'll need to finish the other two by friday and then worry about properly updating this blog. I've also completed the final background for the idents;
Till then!
-Michelle
http://www.pixelhivedesign.com/tutorials/Realistic+Flash+Water+Effect/
Unfortunately when i tried to apply it to my animation, there was a severe delay in the playback, so I emailed him with the query and here is a copy of our correspondence;
16 November 2009 at 12:04
Dear Maxwell,
I recently used your 'realistic flash water' tutorial, and while the example worked fine, when I tried to apply it to my own animation the playback speed was very slow. I've tried changing the fps and resizing the actionscript and image to no avail.
Can you think of a reason why this may be happening?
-Michelle
16 November 2009 at 14:29
Hi Michelle,
Mind sending me the compiled Flash .swf or even the .fla, so I can see what is happening on the Stage. You were right to try and resize the effect, it is cpu intensive. However, you said it didn't help so must be something else.
Regards,
Maxwell Langdon
Pixel Hive Design - Professional Web Development & Graphic Design
http://www.pixelhivedesign.com
Nov 16, 2009 at 15:56
Thank you for the fast response!
I've attached the flash file, hope it helps. I was also trying to find away to make the 'bottom logo' and 'dragon' layers have the water effect on them, is that possible?
Anyway, thank you again!
-Michelle
16 November 2009 at 16:25:34
Hi Michelle,
I did two things. The main thing was you had the effect applied to an area of 720x800. I changed the 800 to 388, the size of the reflection:
myBitmap = new BitmapData(720,388,false,0);
The second thing I did was add a few lines of code to allow the effect to be paused. I pause the effect during the scroll up animation since you don't really notice the effect anyway during the scroll and it is also hard on the cpu to scroll and animate the effect. I unpause it when it's done scrolling. You can see how I pause it on the "water" layer on the main timeline. Look at the actionscript on the frame when you begin and end the scroll animation.
Animation looks good on my computer now.
Maxwell Langdon
---
I have since been able to complete that ident bringing my total of completed idents up to 4. So far I am on schedule but I'll need to finish the other two by friday and then worry about properly updating this blog. I've also completed the final background for the idents;
Till then!
-Michelle
Monday 9 November 2009
flash tests
flying test for the falconry ident. I had help, using the 'Cartoon Animation' book by Preston Blair as reference.
I am also working on the jousting animation, and for reference I have used another page in the book by Mr Blair;
Schedule;
There are now 2 and a half weeks remaining.
By the end of next week I am hoping to have finished my idents so that on the last week I can perfect my blog and change it in time for the summative (if there are any critical errors). I want to have completed 4 of them by the end of this week and 2 next week.
So far I have completed 2 idents :)
I am also working on the jousting animation, and for reference I have used another page in the book by Mr Blair;
Schedule;
There are now 2 and a half weeks remaining.
By the end of next week I am hoping to have finished my idents so that on the last week I can perfect my blog and change it in time for the summative (if there are any critical errors). I want to have completed 4 of them by the end of this week and 2 next week.
So far I have completed 2 idents :)
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