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BA2b: Weekly Summary 7 - 07.05.2018 - 11.05.2018

BA2b: Production Team Collaboration Project

In this final week, the results of the project begin to bare fruit once all my animations are being put together. I really like the transitions in the part, especially the clicking of the mouse that acts as foreshadowing and is revealed when it zooms out and reveals the laptop. However, it’s a shame that I wasted a lot of my time making a character that wouldn’t be included since this time could have been used to refine my essay and animation.

BA2b: Research Report Proposal

Due to poor time managing skills, this last week had a massive amount of development for the research report proposal project. While researching, I came up with my title and began research about WWII and animation, which really gripped my attention. The research went quickly because of it and before I knew it I was writing my dissertation. problem being, I had to write the plan. I started again and typed up the plan and what I am aiming to achieve with my extended essay, which I feel was strongly conveyed.

Summary

With this project, I have struggled a lot with using my time efficiently and managing that time, but in the end, I finished everything I set out to and learned a lot during the time of working on the project.

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BA2b: Production Team Collaboration Project - Evaluation - 10.05.2018

Over the duration of this project, I worked with my group from conceptualisation to final animation, sharing the responsibilities involved with creating the animation. To begin with, I edited the audio forgiven to use by the BBC since I felt that to prepare the audio for the final animation, that an adaptation of the original was necessary to make the 90-second runtime coherent. After this, I then started the storyboarding process, sketching out a frame that I would later piece together in an animatic. After reviewing with the group, we decided to work on the storyboards together to link the scenes and understand what our scenes should transition to or from. With the storyboards complete, I drew cleaner versions and edited into another animatic for the BBC review. After receiving feedback on my animation and being told in accordance with the text that it was too literal.

At this point, my work on the project slowed significantly as I worked on another project, something I feel I did wrong since if I spent the time polishing my storyboards, the better the result would be. This is something I should learn from in hope of avoiding in the future. After returning to the project, I came up with the idea to model a character in Illustrator which I could then rig in After Effects. So, I started creating assets for the scene and character. Once finished with this part, I finished the assets for my other scenes and rigged them up first, and this is when I began to regret not making another storyboard. I decided against rigging the robot character I created in the end since I felt that it wouldn’t really add anything to the story due to Transformers and Disabled Superheroes being mentioned later.

With a new plan, I began animating in After Effect, creating a scene and linking them together. Something I noticed when doing this is the duration of this part. Setting the scene didn’t take too long, which gave me a lot of time to refine my scenes and add additional effects and animations to improve the quality, something I may have not had time to do if I just focused on the character that took me days to create. Once I had finished with my scene, I presented it to my group who advised me to add a series of effects to my animation, something that they had already done to theirs, which would highlight the grain featured an artistic vision for the animation. With this done, I exported my scenes that were then ordered and rendered to give me the final animation.

Evaluation

As I mentioned before about the downside of the break I took mid-way through the project, I more than made up for when I comeback. Over this project, I got to turn with using Illustrator and familiarising myself with creating art with vector graphs. In addition, making use of the Duik plug-in allowed me to learn new thing about creating and rigging characters in After Effects. From creating multiple scenes and coming across many problems when animating, be that through an issue with the hardware or my lack of knowledge, I was spurred to learn more about the program and worked independently to rectify these, fuelling my own learning. Overall, even though I should have been more committed, I learned a lot from this BBC project.

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BA2b: Weekly Summary 7 - 07.05.2018 - 11.05.2018

BA2b: Production Team Collaboration Project

In this final week, the results of the project begin to bare fruit once all my animations are being put together. I really like the transitions in the part, especially the clicking of the mouse that acts as foreshadowing and is revealed when it zooms out and reveals the laptop. However, it's a shame that I wasted a lot of my time making a character that wouldn't be included since this time could have been used to refine my essay and animation.

BA2b: Research Report Proposal

Due to poor time managing skills, this last week had a massive amount of development for the research report proposal project. While researching, I came up with my title and began research about WWII and animation, which really gripped my attention. The research went quickly because of it and before I knew it I was writing my dissertation. problem being, I had to write the plan. I started again and typed up the plan and what I am aiming to achieve with my extended essay, which I feel was strongly conveyed.

Summary

With this project, I have struggled a lot with using my time efficiently and managing that time, but in the end, I finished everything I set out to and learned a lot during the time of working on the project.

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BA2b: Production Team Collaboration Project - Final Animation 1920x1080 - 10.05.2018

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BA2b: Production Team Collaboration Project - Final Animation  1080x1080 - 10.05.2018

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BA2b: Production Team Collaboration Project - Part 1 Final Animation - 10.05.2018

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BA2b: Production Team Collaboration Project - ‘Women Unknown’ Scene - 09.05.2018

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BA2b: Production Team Collaboration Project - ‘About a Girl’ Animation - 09.05.2018

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BA2b: Production Team Collaboration Project - Supermarket Scene - 09.05.2018

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BA2b: Research Report Proposal - Final Essay - 07.05.2018

The history and the current state of the Traditional 2D Animation Industry and what it means for its future

The history of 2D animation is a long one, beginning with Emil Cohl’s “Fantasmagorie”, and developed by many more creatives through character, storyboarding, and backgrounds until evolving into the medium we know today. However, what really interests me are the events that took place that shaped the art form. With this essay, I want to consider the history of 2D animation and look into different aspects of traditional 2D from characters, meaning, message, and how these have been used in history to entertain, educate and influence the masses.

From World War II to anime, I’ve researched a large amount of the history of traditional animation. Some of the research being about “The Silent Era”, “Influencing America through Animation – WWII Propaganda Cartoons”, “The Impact of Akira”, and many more articles detailing the history. What I think I should also research is the psychology behind animation so I can explain why it has been used to influence people emotionally.

In order to adhere to my title, I need to:

·         Delver into the history of animation and the events that shaped traditional 2D.

·         The creators that fuelled traditional 2D.

·         The media that was created by these creators and the effect this had on audiences.

How I plan to research these topics is research the history through online organisations and sourcing the information, checking its integrity by comparing with others on the same topic so the information used won’t jeopardise the essay with false information. With the pioneers, I will cover them briefly so I can state their contribution and how it innovated the art form. Finally, I will view the traditional animations that were created and the effect it had, be it through the story, art direction or animation.

Currently, I feel the most fitting report type would be the extended essay, which will give allow me to maintain the essay format while investigating the history and linking how it pioneered traditional 2D. I know my aim is to talk about animation, but I also want to talk about the events that really shaped the industry, even if they don’t necessarily contain animation, it’s an important part of history that goes on to shape the stories that are told through the medium.

Introduction

This while is used to inform the reader of my essay, the chapters that I’ll cover and a brief meaning, and the questions I will be raised throughout.

Since my dissertation is going to split into chapters, I was thinking of going for 6 chapters within 5,000 words. How I was thinking to name them is as follows:

The Conception & Birth of Traditional 2D Animation

I want to cover the technology that inevitably leads to the creation of 2D animation, from items such as the Zoetrope, Kinetoscope, Cinemographs, Light Bulb, Tape etc. The birth of 2D as a style of animation and the development it experienced through “The Silent Era” leading up to the creation of Walt Disney’s “Steamboat Willie”.

The Golden Age of Animation

To cover the dates from 18th November 1928 – late 50s, spanning the history of the Golden Age of Animation and how World War II contributed to its growth. I need to research about Disney and how the animations they produced set in motion a rapid growth, the other studios involved in creating animation and World War II caused the industry to progress during these chaotic times.

The Dark Age of Animation

The end of the golden age of animation and the beginning of “the Dark Age of Animation”, viewing how the production animation changed in response to the taste of the consumer changed, causing television animation to be produced with limited animation which became the norm in the West.

The Rebirth of Japanese Animation

From the information about the war, in this part, I wanted to shift my research to post-war Japan and how the creation of “Astro Boy” as the first popular animation on Japanese television would eventually lead to the international acclaim of anime. In addition, how the events of the war would influence the shows to come.

The Rise of Japanese Animation through the 70s, 80s & 90s

During these decades, I wanted to look at the development of anime and how anime started to make itself known to the Western World. Additionally, how Japan was creating shows not only based towards younger audiences but shows like “Akira” that told darker stories that captured the Wests attention and introduced them to the existence of Japanese animation, turning the pursuit into a cult following.

Traditional 2D today and what’s yet to come

To research the last decade and Japanese animations growth from a cult following into being recognised internationally. As well as Disney’s departure from traditional 2D animation, there last movie being “The Princess and the Frog”. Moreover, I’ll address the digitalisation of the art form in more recent years and analysis my research and current trends to make an educated guess on traditional 2D’s future.

Conclusion

The final segment of my essay that I will aim to answer is the questions that I would have referred to during to the chapter, coming to a satisfying end.

With these six different topics, I have clearly identified the 6 areas I need to research, along with the context of history which will both be used in conjunction to answer my questions and coming to a satisfying conclusion. With that, I will have created a dissertation that only educates on the history of traditional 2D animation and its influences, but the current state and where the future may take it.

Bibliography

Gavin, M. (2017). Influencing America through Animation – WWII Propaganda Cartoons: Part Three: Walt Disney | Inside the Magic. [online] Inside the Magic. Available at: https://insidethemagic.net/2017/01/influencing-america-through-animation-wwii-propaganda-cartoons-part-three-walt-disney/ [Accessed 8 May 2018].

Gertie the Dinosaur. (1914). [film] Directed by W. McCay. United States: Winsor McCay.

Imperial War Museums. (2018). How Europe Went To War In 1939. [online] Available at: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-europe-went-to-war-in-1939 [Accessed 8 May 2018].

Kajimoto, M. (2000). Interview: The Nanking Atrocities. [online] The Nanking Massacre. Available at: https://thenankingmassacre.org/2015/07/03/interview-the-nanking-atrocities/ [Accessed 8 May 2018].

Kane, K. (2013). The History of 2d Animation. [online] prezi.com. Available at: https://prezi.com/cu-azfqwltc9/the-history-of-2d-animation/ [Accessed 7 May 2018].

Moma.org. (2004). Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks. Steamboat Willie. 1928 | MoMA. [online] Available at: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/89284 [Accessed 8 May 2018].

Pike, J. (2011). London Naval Conference (December 1935 - March 1936). [online] Globalsecurity.org. Available at: https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/naval-arms-control-1935.htm [Accessed 8 May 2018].

Steamboat Willie. (1928). [film] Directed by W. Disney and U. Iwerks. United States: Walt Disney Studios.

The Bioscope. (2008). Emile Cohl. [online] Available at: https://thebioscope.net/2008/02/17/emile-cohl/ [Accessed 7 May 2018].

The Public Domain Review. (2011). Gertie The Dinosaur (1914). [online] Available at: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/gertie-the-dinosaur-1914/ [Accessed 7 May 2018].

TV Tropes. (n.d.). The Golden Age of Animation / Useful Notes - TV Tropes. [online] Available at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation [Accessed 8 May 2018].

Ushmm.org. (n.d.). Remilitarization of the Rhineland. [online] Available at: https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_fi.php?ModuleId=10005141&MediaId=226 [Accessed 8 May 2018].

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BA2b: Production Team Collaboration Project - Text Composition - 08.05.2018

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BA2b: Production Team Collaboration Project - Part 1 First Animation - 08.05.2018

With this first part, I didn't end up using my robot in the end. There was two reason for this:

I didn't feel that making the first scene of a robot/transformer, then they get mentioned a lot later in the audio. It would be out of place.

Another, I had a lot of issues rigging the character. I fixed all the issue apart from one. The rig didn't seem to rig the spine properly when using Duik, so when I tried parenting the layers manually, it would ruin the rig. In summary, I couldn't move the limb controller I had created since the spine would not follow neither the waist or torso.

Instead, I reverted back to my older idea but changed a few things that I believed would work better and lead to the second part nicely. I kept the different shows that appear so it links with Matt's.

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BA2b: Research Report Proposal - Essay First Draft - 07.05.2018

The history and the current state of 2D animation and whether it is a dead medium

-          The Silent Era 1912

-          Western Animation 1939 -1445/ War Propaganda

-          Japanese Anime – Astro Boy

-          The Television Era/The Flintstones

-          The Golden Age of Japanese Animation/ 1980s/Akira/Nausica

-          The Princess and the Frog

The history and current state of Japanese Animation

Animation and the role it plays in War

 Before 2D

To look at the history of 2D animation, we first must look at some of the early moments of animation as a medium. In 1834, the “British mathematician” William Horner pioneered the Zoetrope; “a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides.” With the inner surface “band with images from a set of sequenced pictures” (Zoetrope.org, 2018) that when spun and viewing through the slits the illusion of motion is produced and along with it the foundation for animation. Over half-a-century later in 1891, the Kinetoscope was invented by American inventor Thomas Edison and his photography hobbyist employee William Dickson. The device also consisted of a spinning wheel with a narrow slit that works as a shutter, but introduced “an electric light bulb” and “a strip of film” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018) which projected the image and giving a “lifelike “representation of photography in motion. Maybe right about the Lumiere brothers.

Birth of 2D

From the invention of these invaluable technologies, Emile Colh, a French caricaturist, cartoonist and animator who created in 1908 the first 2D animation: Fantasmagorie. Consisting of “700 drawings on sheets of paper” (The Bioscope, 2008) and comprised at “24 frames-per-second” (Kane, 2013), this 70-second-long animation is the birth of 2D animation. 2D continued to develop with American cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay’s ‘Gertie the Dinosaur’ (Gertie the Dinosaur, 1914) , featuring the first character with a “appealing personality” (The Public Domain Review, 2011), making it one of the first cases of character animation and a predecessor to later cartoon characters such as Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, Felix the Cat, etc. It would be over a decade before Walt Disney’s “Steamboat Willie” (Steamboat Willie, 1928) on the 18th November, 1928 which would take American audiences by storm and trigger the beginning of a “Golden Age of Animation” (TV Tropes, n.d.). It being the first Mickey Mouse film released and being “the first cartoon with synchronized sound” (Moma.org, 2004) with its “long sequences of song and dialogue” (Moma.org, 2004), it stunned audiences and set in motion the beginning of Disney’s long history in animation and how they’d help shape the industry we know today.

Golden Age

In the years to come, animation would experience its first golden age, but first it is important to know the reason why the medium continued to frive during these harsh times. Instability began to grow over the world, and one-way animation was used to prepare the people for this was through propaganda, when in 1934 Japanese artists animated Disney’s “Mickey Mouse to show the evils of American Imperialism” (Gavin, 2017), influencing the nations opinion using animation to depict the States as a theat.  In December 1935 – March 1936, as tensions in the Pacific rose, the second London Naval Conference was to be held in London to “reduce the burdens and prevent the dangers inherent in competition in armament” (Pike, 2011). 1933 saw Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, who “embarked on rearmament” (Pike, 2011) and in March 1936 Hitler “gamble that western powers would not intervene” (Ushmm.org, n.d.) to the remilitarization of a key industrial region of Germany: The Rhineland. The naval arms control effort failed as Japan withdrew from the London Naval Conference in 1936, and in July 1937 Japan went to war with China, instigated the “Battle of Shanghai” (Kajimoto, 2000) which lead to the atrocious Nanking Massacre, also dubbed the “Rape of Nanjing” (Kajimoto, 2000). The chaos continued as Germany continued there aggressive expansion that “culminated in the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939” (Imperial War Museums, 2018), and as a result Britain and France declared war on Germany.

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BA2b: Personal Branding and Career Planning Project - Research - 07.05.2018

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BA2b: Personal Branding and Career Planning Project - Research - 07.05.2018

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BA2b: Personal Branding and Career Planning Project - Research - 07.05.2018

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BA2b: Personal Branding and Career Planning Project - Research - 07.05.2018