In order for me to understand the animation process' and what I could really create within animation, I began by researching existing animations, although my initial research displayed some very complex pieces I really like whats been incorporated visually and musically.
Paper Planes
The Animation above is a stop motion generated to accompany the song Paper Planes. Stop motion is something that I plan on avoiding because its very time consuming and I want to focus on learning After Effects and creating something digitally. Despite this I absolutely love the style of the animation. The hand drawn paper cut out style is softened through the use of colour pencil lines which generates a very lovely cartoony style that has a lot more weight and finesse than some of the flat children's cartoons exampled in the animation principles. The textural lines of colour match the paper style perfectly introducing a very playful tone despite the melancholy musical accompaniment. The video does match the music very well, although theres a certain amount of sadness within the music it has a very plodding melody and the animation has been timed incredibly well to the music. Surprisingly enough the movement of the characters is very smooth especially considering that its a stop motion and the transitions between each setting are very fluid. There is a very organic way to the transitions, shapes have been moved upwards and outwards to form a new setting which really matches the rhythm and the overall style and is certainly something that I am considering for my animation.
The Seed
The Animation above is a combination of stop motion and digital animation and was an animation commissioned by Adobe to display what could be done using After effects CS4. It follows the hypothetical life of a seed, its a fair bit smoother than the Paper Planes video and I really love the simple line drawings that have been used to create this effect. The growth in the seed itself is one that I find particularly effective since the line drawings grow upwards on the screen, the use of black and white in these sections is bold, striking and once again simple and is contrasted through the colourful paper stop motion elements. The jelly fish scene manipulates a blue background (a theme that I noticed within the global warming posters previously researched) and I think it works very well with the white line strokes although I think that I would prefer more of a textural element which is why i plan on employing different brushes and using a combination of Illustrator and Photoshop to generate my characters. The music to this animation is whimsical soft and flowing which works well to compliment the actual animation- its entirely instrumental which allows the focus to remain on video but the lighter notes help to generate a playful tone.
I didn't particularly like the content of the silhouette animation above because not a lot actually happened, the rain fell and the red flower grew. However I do think the use of shape is very striking and again the two tones used creates more of a contrast which helps to makes the shapes more intricate. The flower is further emphasised through colour as its petals grow red. Once again a hand drawn style has been manipulated to give this perception of growth something that could be included within my animation.
Planets
The planets animation has been created entirely digitally using After Effects but it has been given a 3D paper cutout feel, an aspect that I think is going to play heavily within my own work. It tells the story of a character who moves his own planet and comes across a world and small characters that need saving from a black hole. The use of a bicycle to move the planet is playful and fun and I want to try and find an angle to my theme that conveys this similar ridiculous playfulness. He even fishes for stars at one point which really emphasises the tone. Exaggeration of expression has been used to convey emotion which helps to ensure understanding of the plot. And i like how each setting is contained within a world. it allows the focus to remain solely on the main character. The music was not memorable but it worked well in providing sound effects for the various actions that took place, but the concept is part that I liked the best.
Overall I now have a general idea of what my style is going to look like and what i can now investigate more. I plan on focusing on this paper style which I think will help me to ensure that tonally I include the playful optimism that is mentioned in the brief. I also really need to carefully plan my music choice since it obviously has great impact on the tone and the animation itself.
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