Semester troubles

For the last blog, I've been requested to post a summary of main issues I've encountered over the semester.

First, I think it's extremely important that everyone gets a place-holder voice as soon as the project is started. You don't need to do anything fancy, just record yourself in the way your actor will present the text and you'll avoid A TON of revisions a few weeks into the project.

When it comes to drawings, pen is much, much more forgiving than pencil. I wasted an entire week of work and drawing because of the grainy aspects of pencil. Made me want to rip my hair out!

Your storyboard shouldn't be 5x as long as the rest of the class, as the animation is much easier said than done.

File management is extremely important, and I regret not taking account for this earlier because you end up with exponentially more files than any other process of design I've worked with.

Transitions are the stitching of animation, without them your work will fall apart at the seam and be very unappealing. This is mostly important because many students felt it was alright to leave transitions until they actually animated and found themselves SOL.

Accept evolution, the finished result is usually unlike anything you started with.

Staring at a computer screen for so long gave me pretty bad headaches (especially when masking frame by frame)...not sure what you can do about that, but it makes it hard to work on other homework.

Unlike most, I never had too many issues rendering.

Video Critique 14

http://vimeo.com/16153664

Cool after effects project of simple forms and vectors. Lots of stroke effects, and apparently a usage of “shine and form?” Not sure what the is, but the pacing suffers from the fact that it’s merely a study. It leaves me wondering why he didn’t try to piece together a concept instead of just making things look cool. There’s a consistent usage of natural things in a vector setting (leaves, fish, birds, strokes), but it doesn’t really say anything.

Hierarchy and scale works well, he’s obviously got a keen eye for composition. Music isn’t too exciting, but it works alright with the pacing of the piece. Some transitions leave my mouth a little dry and I find myself bored after a couple of views.

In summary, it’s pretty, but not much more.

Video Critique 13

http://lookslikegooddesign.com/animation-we-are-seventeen/

Cool combination of Vector and 3-d graphics. A surreal piece, but the 3-D and 2-d comes together in a beautiful harmony. The colors are great, and though I have no idea what the concept is, it’s lovely. The music moves along with it stellarly, and I find it almost essential to the pacing and feel. Hierarchy is great, the classical type moves along very waell with the music. I also love how it’s arranged in chapters, yet the transitions don’t seem wasteful, yet classy.

A great project that showcases both execution and creativity, with many elements coming together to form a truly abstract video. My largest complaint is that some things are pushed to be a little too shiny- as if they got overly excited with the lights, everything looks glossy. The textures are beautiful however. Great juxtapositions between timeless and contemporary styles. I also enjoy the inclusion of real footage (the arm).

Video Critique 12

http://lookslikegooddesign.com/meet-buck-teamcerf/

Funny animation, though it's definetly created with some 3-D rendering software. Must have taken a really long time to render! Character and set illustration is very painterly, but with a contemporary digital and vector feel. Some nice texture going on as well, and I'm curious to learn how they set up lights. Music creates an excellent sense of pacing. Type color and hierarchy works fine in credits, and is seamlessly integrated as signage throughout the animation.

Conceptually it was a little lacking for me, specifically the end. There was one forced connection in the tunnel, but that's about as creative as it got. More of an execution project than concept.

Shatter Tutorial

Sprite Study Tutorial

http://www.vimeo.com/14861124

Really cool kit for a study of sprites. It's a pretty open tutorial so you can play with it as much as you want to.

Wiggle Tutorial

Learned this for my signs, obviously this is a bit more extreme

Counter Tutorial

Counter Tutorial

Critique 10/8

http://lookslikegooddesign.com/animation-johannes-timpernagel/

The animation in critique today has a very geometric, tranced out aesthetic. The pacing is fast, and matches the music well. Some of the secondary elements are a little rushed, but since they are only on the screen for split seconds at a time, it works fairly well. The colors are cohesive, and lends itself to the feel of burning out. This could very well be the result of not enough sleep and too much coffee.

I'm curious as to the storyboarding process, since it's extremely sporadic. Did they just make a bunch of geometrical designs and flash them at random? If you aren't a large fan of the music, it could be considered a little long since there isn't much of a concept behind it. Since I'm unaware of the culture behind this aesthetic, it's hard to criticize the style.

Transitions are choppy, but that's intentional (seems easier!). There is little evolution throughout the video, and this is kind of bothersome to me. Not much of an idea driven project, so much as an act of execution.

Video review

http://vimeo.com/4248858

This video is fairly impressive due to the fact it was created in 2 days. I'm assuming he didn't sleep much, and rendered it on a nice computer! It's a decent blend between type and live video, though it doesn't really deliver the message very emotionally.

I wonder why they chose the actor, or if it's just the person that created the whole project. He doesn't bear much significance, but then again, who would be a stronger candidate?

The type is scattered, and while I think the slab serifs work, archer is kind of an odd choice (funny, since everyone acts as if it works on everything!). You can't read it half the time, and though that's probably the point, there are certain words that evoke different emotions than they're supposed to. Corruption looks funny, not scary.

His answers to his questions are more questions (that don't have concrete answers either). The pacing works, but since the writing falls short it really doesn't have the impact it could.

Though it looks fairly decent for being made in 2 days, the writing, type choices/alignments have obviously not gone through a process

Critique 10/10/10

http://vimeo.com/3514904

The animation in critique is a reinterpretation of the little red riding hood. It carries a strong infographic vibe, as the tale is modernized. The style is fairly consistent, and the music creates a pretty consistent pacing.

It’s extremely creative, and really pushes the story to the fringes of information. Hierarchy is fairly strong throughout the infographics, but I would pick stronger type options. Though the music creates pacing, it drags on for a little long, and makes the movie feel longer than it should.

My favorite portion is the middle, as things are changing the most and the creativity is happening at a faster pace. The styles are somewhat conflicting, as there will be really smooth animations, and then characters that look as if they’ve been drawn in MS paint. Some transitions weren’t thought out well, because most things fade out as new things fade in. Color worked fairly well, and it’s an enjoyable watch.

Scene1

Hand-drawn animation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V36LpPkwJ7I

In an effort to understand the mechanics of hand drawn animation, I’ve chosen the linked video for critique.

Stylistically, it pays great attention to detail (such as perspective, value, and shape). Pacing works well in the manner that it’s a fluent story. Voice acting is pretty good, certain characters could have more fitting roles. He ties computer graphics well with his hand-drawn style (such as the bottles, Capri-sun, computer screens). Some of the animation doesn’t transition smoothly, but it doesn’t hinder the concept or the execution. It only really bothers me when there are overseen details that correlate to function, such as stationary tires on a moving car. If you scroll through the animation while it’s paused, you see certain shapes overlapping when they aren’t supposed to. As stated earlier, this isn’t that bothersome since it’s got a hand-drawn feel. Certain mistakes actually serve to add to the aesthetic.

Whilst in movement, this isn’t a concern, so I take it for a grain of salt. Certain design elements, such as repetition/proximity, are employed well when creating concepts such as speed or mundane tones. Value is handled well since it’s done in greyscale.

The animator does a great job attaching emotion to the main charactor, generally done in the facial features. I’m assuming things like pupils, opacity faded clouds and camera-zooms were done in after-effects, or a program similar.

Critique 9/24

http://lookslikegooddesign.com/telephoneme-motion-mk12/

The video in critique is a long, well composed video. Stylisticly, it's amazing how well the 3-D rendering, audio and 2-D design relate. The introduction starts fast and grabs the attention of the viewer by using something common (the count-down) but introducing new elements for your focus. Sound modulation works well as the video is distorted itself. They added shadows really help pop the images as well.

Moving from 3-D to photo, we're put into 2-D design again. The transperency and colors work great, serving their purpose to overwhelm the viewer. The linework really moves the viewer's eye along with the camera as well. The typography is simple, but matches the retro vibe of the entire composition. My concern is that they pick peculiar words at times. The way sound modulates the typography is really interesting though.

Towards the two minute mark, the video begins to fall apart conceptually. This may have been done on purpose, but I feel it's too much for too long. They begin overlapping 3-d on top of photography, while simultaneously bringing on the colors that were originally attention grabbing. This works simliarly to yelling at someone for their attention, then screaming the entire conversation.

Overall, the video is strong, but goes on too long. There are so many elements your mind gets exhausted attempting to break it down, so the pacing is racing the entire video. Hierarchy is respected and broken with knowledge.

Excercise 1

Labarynth Chase Critique

http://lookslikegooddesign.com/animation-marcel-ziul/

This video is one depicting a chase, though my biggest fault is that it doesn't provide any real curiosity as the the intent of the storyboard. Why is the chase happening, why is there no real start or end, only a snippet of the middle? Conceptually, it is lacking and appears to be more of a project along the lines of reaching a certain stylistic aesthetic.

A very nice, drawn style, marrying that of old graphic novels with a contemporary feel. Stylisticly, the whole composition works well.

Hierarchy proves strong, working well on the Z axis through many overlaps. Typographically, it's simple, but there is little fault concerning scale of the communicated portions.

The construction of the typography is nice, paced well and consistently with it's flickering.

Pacing is fairly well, but as it is a chase I feel like there could be more energy. Most importantly, the cars don't look completely fluid in their turns or movement. This is an aspect of detail that would really bring the entire piece to a new level, as the cars attempt to strike realism otherwise.

"Labarynth Chase" is a bit obvious of a title, too see and say. Craft is handled pretty well, it's clean and functions well, certain mechanical/physical details aside.