Sumo Science

Sumo Science comprise of Ed Patterson and Will Studd and are known for their experimentation in animation.
Their best known works are the world largest stop motion animation 'Gulp', and the world's smallest animation, 'Dot'.



Gulp. The world's largest stop-motion animation shot on a Nokia N8. from Nokia HD on Vimeo.


Nokia 'Dot' from Sumo Science on Vimeo.

I think these animations are interesting as they try to push the boundaries of animation by filming them in extremely difficult situations and filming them on everyday equipment such as a mobile.

Sumo Science other works include this advert for Innocent orange juice.


Innocent Orange Juice from Sumo Science on Vimeo.

Little and Large

After having finished my animation in Maya, I was initially disappointed. I kept seeing and noting the many errors I made as well as the time I wasted through lack of planning. However, now that it has a background and a soundtrack, I am really happy with it.
As this is my first animation, there are bound to be mistakes. Hopefully next time I will plan more thoroughly.

Backgrounds

As the brief states that that the final animation needs to be multi-shot, I have to get around the problem of having a constant sky as a background.
In my previous playblasts, I used a single image plane to create the background, however this will limit the camera placement.

After discarding the idea, I thought of placing everything into a giant blue sphere. This way I could have a constant blue sky that wouldn't limit the placement of my camera. Again, I encountered problems as I the sphere changed my light set up and I would constantly select unwanted geometry.

I then decided on discarding these ideas and would render out my animation sequence as tiff.
This way I didn't encounter any problems, however I did have to create more cloud textures.

Here is a test of what it could look like. I am really happy with this as the clouds give the background depth rather than the previous one that looked like it was all on the same plane, which it was.

I'm unable to upload a video to show this, so here is a screen shot

and here is a few screen shots of the final animation -

Animation so far

Here are some playblasts of my animation so far.
I have tried to make the motion as natural as possible by tweaking the curves and tangents in the graph editor.

I have no idea why it is pink

Ideas and their technicalities

After reviewing my second storyboard, I have again decided that my technical ability is no where near good enough to be able to animate the parachute effectively in the limited amount of time I already have.
I have decided on keeping the Luxo jr-esque, father/son relationship while getting rid of the parachute. I shall replace it with a beach ball that they will both play with.
Hopefully, this is now the final version and I will be able to animate it.

Star wars - first use of animation

I surprised to find out that Star Wars features the first use of CGI animation in film.The video below shows the processes the animator had to go through just to produce a clip that lasts little than a minute.
The process looks tedious and time consuming when compared to current technology, however a necessary step that pushed animation to what it is today.

Second storyboard

After having difficulties with animating some of the scenes in my first storyboard, I have decided to keep the basic ideas and start again. However, this time there will be a small plane and big plane interacting with each other, much like the relationship between the big and small lamp in Pixar's Luxo jr.

I began to think of what a plane, specifically a warplane, would play with. My first ideas being the guns they are fitted with. In the end, I decided to use a parachute, this way I could implement the principles of animation more effectively than in my previous storyboard.
The story begins with both planes flying. The parachute floats down and the small plane sees it and begins to play with it. The big plane, the father figure, starts to get annoyed and tells the small plane to stop it.
Hopefully, this simple narrative isn't too hard to animate. I think I will have some trouble with animating the parachute naturally.

Here is my second storyboard-

Motion Capture

Motion Capture is usually used to produce a more natural looking body animations and is now being increasingly used in games.
To hype up Naughty Dog's latest game, The Last of Us, they have released a behind the scenes of the games trailer featuring motion capture. The video demonstrates the processes the actors and the animators and the animation go through to create the final product.

Motion capture advantage is that it produces natural body motion that could not be achieved with just animating a model. You are able to capture the little details that make it look more realistic.
One great example being the gameplay trailer for Far Cry 3. Far Cry 3 features Vaas, the guy who gives the insanity speech. He is motion captured by Micheal Ando who gives the character a very unsettling, tense atmosphere. Far Cry 3 uses technology that records body and facial expressions simultaneously.
Through motion capture, actors can be used to really capture a character's mood, creating a good atmosphere and overall, an awesome game experience.

Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen is a traditional animator specializing in model animation.
Before CGI and computer animation was used in film, clay models were used. Harryhausen soon became one of the most prolific animators in the industry.
In his films, models could interact with other characters quite realistically for the time period.

 The models are surprisingly small from what I expected. It is interesting to compare the similarities to between Harryhausen's work with current model animation. The processes seems to be the same albiet on a much large scale. 

Define me final film

Here is the final film for our second film, Define me.


Define Me from PJ Productions. on Vimeo.

Due to time constraints we could not develop the film further, however it is my favourite of the two. I should have checked the tripod for a slider beforehand so I could have made use of it. I think it would have made it look better if the shots were stable and smooth.
Also, we didn't use any of the previous ideas of portraying stereotypes visually. Instead, we decided on bring attention to the definition of the main character an how he portrays himself.

Ghazal final video

Here is the final short film for Ghazal.


Mind Wonderer from PJ Productions. on Vimeo.

I like the video, however i think some of the shots can be improved as well as creating a larger contrast in colour between the girl's dream world and her reality.

How to open a jar storyboard

Here is the storyboard for my instructional video -

I have tried to use camera angles that I think will clearly show a set of instructions. My video will also require an actor and as I am filming it, I shall have to ask someone to act for me.