Pre-Comping

To keep things nice a organised while animating, I used a technique called pre-comping to nest any looping or composite animation elements. A good example of this would be the fan animation:

The fan was first drawn twice in Illustrator with the fan blades facing opposite directions. These 2 images were then dragged into a separate composition, lined up and then made to alternate using 100% and 0% opacity on individual keyframes spaced one frame apart. These keyframes were duplicated around 10 times.

This composition was then dragged into the main composition, and time remapping was then enabled so I was able to use the looping function.

The loopOut()function was then used to keep the composition looping indefinitely, with a single keyframe being removed at the end to keep the loop smooth without a pause every time it restarts.

 Below is an example of the fan animation looping in after effects:

Creating Depth

Because almost all of my assets are 2D .PNGs I decided to add a bit of depth using the drop shadow tool in After Effects. I initially planned to use identical settings for each asset but sadly the parameters seemed to be based off the image size, so the same settings produced wildly different visual effects. In order to combat this I started with red red ball and just tried to match everything by eye as best as I could.

Overall I think I managed to keep things relatively homogeneous, or as close as is needed given that individual elements are only on screen for quite a short time, meaning a perfect match is not as essential. Below is a screen-shot of the effect being used on the work in progress:

Recording Voiceover

After deciding to have a partial voice-over for my animation I began to make preparations. Thankfully I work with internationally renowned voice actor David Barrie, who has voiced numerous educational tutorial packages as well as being the singing voice of Kinder Egg Australia.

I drew up a basic script to make sure we nailed all the aspects of the idea I had in my head, and to provide a reference for Dave to use to do whole takes of all the material, as well as make his own notes. This was to maintain volume levels and overall tone of voice from start to finish. 

All the audio was recorded using a basic condenser mic mounted on a boom stand, with a pop screen and wind filter used to minimise sibilance and smooth out the dynamics. I used my MacBook's built-in soundcard to record in uncompressed AIFF-C format, which will be converted to 128kbps MP3 for maximum compatibility with After Effects and minimum file size, without sacrificing a meaningful level of quality.

In the end we recorded 10 full takes of the script. The 3 best were then chosen and will each be trailed during the final steps of animation to see which one works best.

Drawing and Researching Assets

Before I started on Illustrator I did some research into some of the objects I would be using in my Rube Goldberg machine. Once I had a good idea of what they looked like I drew them out before  converting them to Illustrator drawings.

Asset Resolution

To make sure that all my assets maintain high fidelity when zoomed or scaled I created them at a much higher resolution then the size of the final animation. I decided to use a 4k equivalent artboard in Illustrator:

At first I thought that this would mean very large file sizes but as I'm working with un-interlaced .png files with very clean and simple artwork it presents much less of a problem. The file sizes for each element are mostly under 300kb with a few exceptions from things like complicated lighting and gradients:

Assets

To help with the creation of my assets I created a list of all the individual elements I need to create in Illustrator that will be used in my final animation. I printed the list to stick in my sketchbook and will cross off each once as its finished to keep a good visual guide on how many more need making. I believe this will help me manage my time much better than on previous projects where large amounts of finals needed to be generated. All the files will be stored in a separate folder called 'Assets' and file labeling will be used to show if they are finished or in progress. The following is the list of all the assets I need to generate:

Kinetic Text???

For a while I experimented with the idea of have some kinetic text added to a few scenes, mainly the one where the ball rolls down the rails. The choice was between the kinetic text and having a voice-over but given the reception and feedback around my animatic during the pitch the voice-over will be the route that I take.

Pitch Feedback

After pitching my idea to the class I received some feedback and validation from the rest of the class:

• Music works well with animation style and idea. No changes needed for music.
• People prefer the way the cannonball/cactus move in the animatic. For the final animation I will just have the moving elements centred in the frame and 'shake' them with speed lines.
• The class thought that a voice-over throughout. I will only script and record a voice-over for the final scene, having it say 'Furniture recycling- get the ball rolling' as the camera pans out.
• Visual style works well. No changes needed. 

         

Animatic

As part of my ideas pitch we had to create an animatic to show to the group. For mine I drew loads of 16:9 boxes in my sketch book, drew the story board into them, scanned them all in and animated the jpegs together using Adobe Premier Pro.

In order to make it slightly more dynamic I reused and animated the same frame several times, using zooming and panning. 

Final Music Choice

After lots of deliberation I finally decided on a soundtrack for my animation; Lets Go Surfing by The Drums. I chose this song because it fulfills all the criteria I set when I started looking for one, it has fun and quirky feel and starts immediately with a catchy and interesting melody, gabbing the viewer/listeners attention right away.

Exploring My Chosen Animation Style

In order to get a better idea of what my final animation will look like in terms of visual language, I decided to use Illustrator to mock up a few assets to help inform the production of my animatic;

I stayed with my original theme of plain 2D shapes made more interesting using gradients and drop shadowing to make them stand out as 2D shapes in a 3D space. Overall I think it works well visually but I need to slightly simplify the colours or shift them towards a more pastel scheme.

Research into Animatics

To better understand animatics before I made mine I looked into a few and then compared them to the final animated outcome. The one I like most was the one released to promote the Gorrilaz single Dirty Harry ahead of the full and finished video:

This example uses detailed drawing but very simplistic cuts and movement to illustrate the timings, paying particular attention to the beat of the music which ties things together really well. 

When the two are compared side by side its very interesting to see what shots were moved around, had timings changes or removed all together. After watching both its clear that creating an animatic for my animation will give me a much clearer insight into what will work and what wont.

Animated Rube Goldberg Machines

To get a better idea of how to animate my Rube Goldberg machine I explored how other people have done it in  the past. I struggled to find 2D(ish) versions in YouTube as they were mostly very badly done 3d animations, this one is one of the few 2D ones I found:

I quite like the hand drawn style but the motion seems slow and not very dynamic, this is something I'll have to make sure to avoid when doing mine. To achieve this I will animate a better sense of weight and gravity to the objects in my machine.

Music Choices

As far as music goes I chose to use something cheerful and light-hearted, to reflect the positive and uplifting feel of my animation (as the brief requires you to not be lecturing or negative). The front runner in my short-list is a song by the English producer duo Lemon Jelly called The Staunton Lick:

The segment I'll most likely use will be from the 0:41 second mark, to allow a single bar of guitar and bass before the machine starts when the drums come in.

The next song that sticks out for me is Lets Go Surfing by The Drums:

This ones fit perfectly for what I intend to use it for, the only problem is that its been used a few times in existing ads to give an upbeat/quirky feel. I'm still trying to decide whether this validates my choice or makes it the clichéd. If I use this I'll most likely loop the first few segments to try and create an instrumental version of the intro and first verse.

Initial Research Into Music Choices

To start off my research into what music I was going to use for my animation I scrolled through my entire 12000 song iTunes library and YouTube history to try and find songs that I thought worked well. The 2 main things I looked for were immediately interesting lyrics/patterns and a light-hearted and slightly quirky feel. I settled on the following selection:

I will make my final decision by listening through each one and trying to imagine the animatic and reading the voice-over out loud, although this is subject to change once I have something more solid to look and play the music along with.

The Inconvenient Truth Sketchnotes

Investigating Animation Styles

I want to keep a very simple visual style with very dynamic movements and effects using skewing, transformation, motion blur and selective focus. One piece I found very inspiring was the 'Blue Dot' advert made for American Express by Ogilvy and Mather:

I really like how they add lots of dynamic movement to make a very simple style visually grabbing. This is the closest example of the animation style I intend to use.

Rube Goldberg Machines

As part of the idea I have at the moment I want to make and animate a Rube Goldberg machine to symbolise things (furniture?) being passed on without anything being wasted. To get some more inspiration for it I took to youtube to find some examples of Rube Goldeberg machines. The first one I found was built for the band OK GO's music video for This Too Shall Pass:

 

I really like this example because of its huge scale and variety of objects used, but for mine I'll have to narrow it down a lot more in terms of what I use to make sure my theme stays consistent. There are also 2 cuts I noticed that must have been done because the machine didn't work as correctly as they'd hoped. Animating one instead of building one for real will be much easier for me as all the parameters will be fully under my control, something that I need to mindful of due to time constraints. 

Another good example of a Rube Goldberg machine that I found was made for a Honda advertising campaign called The Cog:

I found this video very helpful in developing my idea as it validates my choice to keep the building blocks of the machine part of a consistent theme. The way they only use car parts keeps it very obvious what is being advertised as well making things visually more interesting as components are used for things they aren't normally used for.

Sketchnotes

To further my idea development I watched the film by Al Gore called The Inconvenient Truth, which covers most of the topics discussed in the brief. In order to organise the information I gained from it I used a technique shown to me called Sketchnoting. This is process of not only writing down useful information but using mostly drawings to interpret what you are trying to remember. I didn't find it very helpful for remembering what was being said in the film, but it making the process of note-taking much more fun for me. Below are some examples of Sketchnoting I found on the internet:

 

In future I probably wont use this technique very much but I'll save it for times when note taking becomes a struggle as its a very engaging process to use.

Principles of Animation

As part of our initial research we were asked to investigate the 12 principles of animation. I found this a very helpful exercise as it helped me clarify what I was trying explain when forming my ideas. The 12 principles are as follows:

Squash and Stretch:
This action gives the illusion of weight and volume to a character as it moves. Also squash and stretch is useful in animating dialogue and doing facial expressions.

Anticipation:
This movement prepares the audience for a major action the character is about to perform, such as, starting to run, jump or change expression. A dancer does not just leap off the floor. A backwards motion occurs before the forward action is executed. The backward motion is the anticipation.

Staging:
A pose or action should clearly communicate to the audience the attitude, mood, reaction or idea of the character as it relates to the story and continuity of the story line. The effective use of long, medium, or close up shots, as well as camera angles also helps in telling the story.

Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose:
Straight ahead animation starts at the first drawing and works drawing to drawing to the end of a scene. You can lose size, volume, and proportions with this method, but it does have spontaneity and freshness. Fast, wild action scenes are done this way. Pose to Pose is more planned out and charted with key drawings done at intervals throughout the scene. Size, volumes, and proportions are controlled better this way, as is the action.

Follow Through and Overlapping:
When the main body of the character stops all other parts continue to catch up to the main mass of the character, such as arms, long hair, clothing, coat tails or a dress, floppy ears or a long tail (these follow the path of action). Nothing stops all at once. This is follow through. Overlapping action is when the character changes direction while his clothes or hair continues forward. The character is going in a new direction, to be followed, a number of frames later, by his clothes in the new direction. "DRAG," in animation, for example, would be when Goofy starts to run, but his head, ears, upper body, and clothes do not keep up with his legs. In features, this type of action is done more subtly.

Slow-Out and Slow-in:
As action starts, we have more drawings near the starting pose, one or two in the middle, and more drawings near the next pose. Fewer drawings make the action faster and more drawings make the action slower.

Arcs:
All actions, with few exceptions (such as the animation of a mechanical device), follow an arc or slightly circular path. This is especially true of the human figure and the action of animals. Arcs give animation a more natural action and better flow. Think of natural movements in the terms of a pendulum swinging. All arm movement, head turns and even eye movements are executed on an arcs.

Secondary Action:
This action adds to and enriches the main action and adds more dimension to the character animation, supplementing and/or re-enforcing the main action. Example: A character is angrily walking toward another character. The walk is forceful, aggressive, and forward leaning. The leg action is just short of a stomping walk. The secondary action is a few strong gestures of the arms working with the walk.

Timing:
he basics are: more drawings between poses slow and smooth the action. Fewer drawings make the action faster and crisper. A variety of slow and fast timing within a scene adds texture and interest to the movement.

Exaggeration:
Exaggeration is not extreme distortion of a drawing or extremely broad, violent action all the time. Its like a caricature of facial features, expressions, poses, attitudes and actions. Action traced from live action film can be accurate, but stiff and mechanical. In feature animation, a character must move more broadly to look natural.

Solid Drawing:
The basic principles of drawing form, weight, volume solidity and the illusion of three dimension apply to animation as it does to academic drawing. The way you draw cartoons, you draw in the classical sense, using pencil sketches and drawings for reproduction of life.

Appeal:
A live performer has charisma. An animated character has appeal. Appealing animation does not mean just being cute and cuddly. All characters have to have appeal whether they are heroic, villainous, comic or cute. Appeal, as you will use it, includes an easy to read design, clear drawing, and personality development that will capture and involve the audience's interest.