The animation technique of Stop-motion is rarely used in modern movies and television as 3D computer generated animation has increased in quality and has rendered Stop-motion as low quality. However, some studios such as Aardman still use this format of animation as seen in the cartoon of Shaun the sheep. This is to look into stop motion into a medium for a short film, how a plot can be explained in this short time, and the use of characters in a story. I will also be looking at the theory of hammer-space as this plays a large part in the plot for this animation. Hammer-space: "The infinite amount of space within something in which items are stored. Inventories in video games are a prime example, as the character is somehow able to hold a large number of items and objects without any sign of even a bag on him."
The basic plot of Shaun the sheep Episode 14 Season 3 is that of a mouse being found on the farm and the havoc caused by the sheep (led by Shaun) in their attempts at protecting the mouse from the cat. The plot is simple however it enables the creators to have some fun with the different characters; Shaun is always shown as the hero and is of a different design to the rest of the flock, being smaller and skinnier than the rest of the sheep. The Cat is shown as a villain; with the stereotypical evil laugh and grin. The use of stereotypes for good and evil allows the audience to easily recognize who is good and who is bad. Animations conventionally manipulate the audience by using stereotyped protagonist/antagonist representations. this is because it enables the target audience whose point of view is the correct one. an effective animation clearly communicates strong character values in often very simple character; The rest of the flock are shown to have little character, however they are all shown to be good guys, if, a little simplistic and childlike. There are also a few other members of the flock who are different to the rest of the flock. There is an easily recognised mother who is represented stereotypically by her hair curlers and her relationship with her young lamb, named Timmy. This pairing of mother and child gives the audience a reference point. The final member of the flock is a massive sheep who is relatively twice the size of the other sheep.
This sheep's fleece is mainly used in story-lines for "hammer-space."There is a lot of usage of Hammer-Space in this episode, at 2:38, the mouse hides in a flock member's fleece, and trying to extract him, the cat pulls various objects out the fleece which normally would not have fitted in the wool, i.e. a large boot and a large wallet with photos. It is this theory that I wish to recreate with my animation. I am planning to exploit this idea to its limits and try to explain its use whilst entertaining an audience. This is because it is an extremely widely used idea in children's cartoons as it enables the creator to getaway with a lot more; Comedy values can be exploited and items can be easily stored without being seen.
There is no actual speech used in the animation, language is conversed through the use of music and animal grunts and squeaks. The lack of speech and the use of conveying messages through movements is another area I wish to investigate to use in my animation as it is very hard to accurately lip-sync in an animation. This is due to the fact that the human mouth, during speech, makes thousands of different shapes and each of these shapes would have to be recreated for an accurate interpretation of talking. I will submit another post about lip syncing in animation and the difficulties it can pose.
Friday 28 October 2011
Tuesday 18 October 2011
Target audience research
Slide one shows the ratio of my audience, With the majority being boys being at 13 and girls at 8.
Slide two shows the amount of hours watched. Statistically the majority of of boys watch between 2 to 3 hours of television per day whereas the gils watch around 1 to 2 hours. This signifies that I will have to make my animation very interesting to keep my audience's attention for this short time.
Slide three shows which channels are most popular and with which gender. with boys the most popular channels were CBBC, BBC1, Nickelodeon, or other. CBBC, BBC1, or other were the most voted by girls. This means that the majority of the chanels are aimed at childrens programs, so I will host my film on these channels as a short film.
Slides four to six are the groups reactions to three animated films; Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, and Coraline. Interestingly Wallace and Gromit receive the greater reviews despite being the oldest film. This is most likely due to the fact that the audience can relate more towards a human than to the birds of chicken run and Coraline was not broadly seen.
The seventh and final slide shows what kind of humour is most popular with my target audience. This information can be effectively used in the planning of my story with plenty of slapstick being used throughout the film.
Slide two shows the amount of hours watched. Statistically the majority of of boys watch between 2 to 3 hours of television per day whereas the gils watch around 1 to 2 hours. This signifies that I will have to make my animation very interesting to keep my audience's attention for this short time.
Slide three shows which channels are most popular and with which gender. with boys the most popular channels were CBBC, BBC1, Nickelodeon, or other. CBBC, BBC1, or other were the most voted by girls. This means that the majority of the chanels are aimed at childrens programs, so I will host my film on these channels as a short film.
Slides four to six are the groups reactions to three animated films; Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, and Coraline. Interestingly Wallace and Gromit receive the greater reviews despite being the oldest film. This is most likely due to the fact that the audience can relate more towards a human than to the birds of chicken run and Coraline was not broadly seen.
The seventh and final slide shows what kind of humour is most popular with my target audience. This information can be effectively used in the planning of my story with plenty of slapstick being used throughout the film.
Wednesday 12 October 2011
Animation routine.
Animated films are created throught a simple process that usually follows the same routine. This routine usually consists of these 11 steps:
1) Idea, brief, treatment, script, production planning.
2) Concept Design
3) Storyboarding
4) Production Design and Visual Development
5) Recording the Dialogue
6) Building the Models, Rigging
7) Layouts and Animatics
8) Animation
9) Final Backgrounds and Colouring
10) Lighting and Compositing
11) Post Production
For more information visit: http://www.skillset.org/animation/overview/article_3768_1.asp
This method is mainly for professional usage so I will not be using all of these steps in this order. My past experiences of animation have taught me to use the order of:
1) Idea, brief, treatment, script, production planning.
2) Concept Design
3) Storyboarding
4) Production Design and Visual Development
5) Recording the Dialogue
6) Creating sets and Characters
7) Layouts and Animatics
8) Animation
9) Post Production
This is because with stop motion animation the backgrounds and lighting have to be set up and created during the animation process. and cannot be easily edited afterwards. However, using green screening is one method that can be used to change the backgrounds afterwards.
1) Idea, brief, treatment, script, production planning.
2) Concept Design
3) Storyboarding
4) Production Design and Visual Development
5) Recording the Dialogue
6) Building the Models, Rigging
7) Layouts and Animatics
8) Animation
9) Final Backgrounds and Colouring
10) Lighting and Compositing
11) Post Production
For more information visit: http://www.skillset.org/animation/overview/article_3768_1.asp
This method is mainly for professional usage so I will not be using all of these steps in this order. My past experiences of animation have taught me to use the order of:
1) Idea, brief, treatment, script, production planning.
2) Concept Design
3) Storyboarding
4) Production Design and Visual Development
5) Recording the Dialogue
6) Creating sets and Characters
7) Layouts and Animatics
8) Animation
9) Post Production
This is because with stop motion animation the backgrounds and lighting have to be set up and created during the animation process. and cannot be easily edited afterwards. However, using green screening is one method that can be used to change the backgrounds afterwards.
Animation Industry
Animation Sector Profile.
The global market for the animation industry is currently estimated at $50Billion. The uk is a large part of this market. However, the UK has had to change, inorder for it to secure the the greatest profits from the international market, the animation industry of the UK will have to increasingly rely on highly skilled and specialsed workforce. More than 75% of the animation workforce are graduates and the it is due to the high quality of higher education, which is a key factor in determining the long-term future of the industry.
Professions in Animation.
Around 4,700 People are currently employed by the animation industry throughout the UK. However, around 40% are freelance or on short term contracts, with 20% Sole Traders, or self employed. The largest occupational groups are draw/stop frame animation employing around 1000 people producing (910), computer generated animation (900), and production (430). In addition, a further 1100 more people are employed in key animation roles in other audiovisual sectors.
The global market for the animation industry is currently estimated at $50Billion. The uk is a large part of this market. However, the UK has had to change, inorder for it to secure the the greatest profits from the international market, the animation industry of the UK will have to increasingly rely on highly skilled and specialsed workforce. More than 75% of the animation workforce are graduates and the it is due to the high quality of higher education, which is a key factor in determining the long-term future of the industry.
Professions in Animation.
Around 4,700 People are currently employed by the animation industry throughout the UK. However, around 40% are freelance or on short term contracts, with 20% Sole Traders, or self employed. The largest occupational groups are draw/stop frame animation employing around 1000 people producing (910), computer generated animation (900), and production (430). In addition, a further 1100 more people are employed in key animation roles in other audiovisual sectors.
Information from http://www.skillset.org/animation
Tuesday 4 October 2011
My questionnaire
This is the questionnaire I have created to gain my research:
Are you a boy or a girl? How old are you?
Boy/Girl 7 8 9 10
Do you like to watch television?
Yes/No
How long do you watch television for each day? (Circle one option)
Less than 1 hour 1 to 2 hours 2 to 3 hours 4 to 5 hours more than 6 hours.
What channels do you like to watch? (Circle all the ones you like)
BBC1 BBC2 ITV CBBC CITV POP
Nickelodeon Cartoon Network Boomerang
Other: (please say) ……………………………………………………………………………………
What is your favourite programme?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Why do you like this programme?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you like animated films such as:
Wallace and Gromit (Hate the films) 1------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ----- 7 ------ 8 ------ 9 ------ 10 (Love the films)
Chicken run (Hate the films) 1------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ----- 7 ------ 8 ------ 9 ------ 10 (Love the films)
Coraline (Hate the films) 1------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ----- 7 ------ 8 ------ 9 ------ 10 (Love the films)
Why do you like/dislike these types of film?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
What do you find funny in an animation? (Please circle the ones you like)
Hitting each other with hammers Slipping on banana skins
People falling over Funny words being said
Funny noises Funny faces
Other: (please say) …………………………………………………………………………………..........
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Email To Target Audience.
I have emailed a head teacher at my old middle school and have requested that she hand out some questionnaires for my target market research. I will post the results here.
This is an image of the email sent to the head teacher. It has the questionnaire attached. This enabled me to hand out the Questionnaires to obtain my target research. I have chosen to use this head teacher as I know that the school in question teaches students who fall into my target audience. As an ax-student I am also known and trusted at the school which will allow me to persuade the head teacher to spend some time on this questionnaire with the children and obtain more accurate results.
This is an image of the email sent to the head teacher. It has the questionnaire attached. This enabled me to hand out the Questionnaires to obtain my target research. I have chosen to use this head teacher as I know that the school in question teaches students who fall into my target audience. As an ax-student I am also known and trusted at the school which will allow me to persuade the head teacher to spend some time on this questionnaire with the children and obtain more accurate results.
This week I shall...
This week I am planning on completing my audience research, including posting the results onto my blog. I am going to email my Questionnaire to a middle school and ask them to fill it out as this will be the age of my target audience. I will collect the results, compile the results and post them onto here.
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