ma-2020-ziwei

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: Animation

I SAW A PEACOCK WITH A FIERY TAIL

Written by Anonymous

17th Century

Reference:

Crouch, C., 2019. Free Music Archive: Chad Crouch - Children By The Creek. [online] Freemusicarchive.org. Available at: <https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chad_Crouch/Field_Report_Vol_II_Reed_Canyon_Instrumental/Children_By_The_Creek> [Accessed 30 April 2020].

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: Summary and Reflection

After creating vector graphics using Adobe Illustrator, I imported them into Adobe After Effects to create animations. In the end, transition, synthesize, and add sound in Adobe Premiere Pro. 

The text that appears in the animation is a PNG image with a transparent background made using the Adobe Photoshop text tool, and then imported and synthesized in Adobe Premiere. The text font is AGNES. 

From this part of the study I have summarized some experiences and lessons.

In February, Alex was teaching software that can help us draw lips during class, so that we can calculate how long it takes to read each sentence in the poem. But I forgot to leave a gap between each sentence when making the animation, so I had to add some frames. This causes some screens is stationary.

In order to reflect the feeling of the production theater, I also sacrificed the rich motion design. If I have time, I will delve into why traditional Chinese shadow puppetry can make non-deformable pieces of paper make rich movements.

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: The Background Music

https://www.uscreen.tv/blog/free-music-for-video-editing/

When I chose background music, I considered the issue of copyright, so I searched for free music sites on the website. This is the article recommended by the bloggers I found.

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chad_Crouch/Field_Report_Vol_II_Reed_Canyon_Instrumental/Children_By_The_Creek

After consulting with Alex, he also recommended two copyright-free music sites to me. This site is divided into many types of music, and I finally chose two songs. Considering to meet the research conclusions I got when analyzing poetry, I chose this lighter song that fits the nursery rhyme style.

Reference:

Crouch, C., 2019. Free Music Archive: Chad Crouch - Children By The Creek. [online] Freemusicarchive.org. Available at: <https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chad_Crouch/Field_Report_Vol_II_Reed_Canyon_Instrumental/Children_By_The_Creek> [Accessed 25 April 2020].

Dann, A., 2018. Best 7 Places To Find Free Music For Video Editing . [online] Available at: <https://www.uscreen.tv/blog/free-music-for-video-editing/> [Accessed 24 April 2020].

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: The Sound Design

https://www.voicechangerdiamond.com/

Because in the analysis of poetry, I mentioned that the sentences were spoken in the tone of children, and after Alex helped me analyze the poetry, we thought that the poetry was a second-hand story, that means the story is author listened from other people. Combined with my animation, I hope it gives a feeling of a bedtime story, so I want to use a child voice to express this poem.

I tried a lot of voice changer software, such as AV Voice Changer Diamond, but it was not ideal. The sound is too stiff or the sound quality is not very clear. In the end, I used sound effects PitchShifter in Adobe Premiere to make it. Its advantage is that the sound produced by computer software is very clear, and the disadvantage is that the amplitude of my voice change is small.

And I also designed the music pinch point, the first sound coincided with the opening of the curtain in the animation.

Reference:

Voicechangerdiamond.com. 2020. AV Voice Changer Software Diamond 7.0 - Real Time Voice Changer. [online] Available at: <https://www.voicechangerdiamond.com/> [Accessed 18 April 2020].

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: Material Design - The Man

The last sentence should reflect that the writer is writing what he saw or heard is someone else’s story, which means it is a second-hand story. So I designed the last screen of the last sentence as an illustration to appear on the page of the poem that the author is writing. Coupled with the audience who are watching this animation, this forms a story in a story.

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: Material Design - Sun

I didn’t really understand this sentence, but Alex analyzed why the sun appeared at midnight in this poem. He thought that this poem refers to the solar eclipse, and the sun was blocked, so the sky was as dark as midnight. So I created a sun, and made a black gradient centered on the sun in another layer. Added some stars to reflect midnight. In fact, there are stars during the day, but the sun's rays are too bright so people can't see the stars. Maybe during the solar eclipse, the sun's light is blocked and you can see it.

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: Material Design - House & Moon

There is no modern skyscraper in the 17th century, so I adopted the design of the church spire. 

Let the moon rise from behind the house, blocked by the house, is in order to show that the house is bigger and higher than the moon.

References:

Lanrentuku.com. 2020. 8款创意城镇建筑风景矢量素材. [online] Available at: <https://www.lanrentuku.com/vector/landscape/8kuanchuangyichengzhenjianzhufengjing-shiliang.html> [Accessed 24 March 2020].

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: Material Design - EYES

I think this verse should reflect people's angry eyes. Literally, there is a flame in their eyes.

[ma-2020-ziwei]

FOREFRONT 5:  The Crocodile Who Dies After 100 Days

https://grapee.jp/en/135395

Japanese cartoonist Yuki tells about a gentle crocodile's daily life with his works, which successfully attracted millions of Twitter users for a 100-day loyal follow-up. It‘’s called The Crocodile Who Dies After 100 Days. Its first words were posted on Twitter on December 12, 2019. At the end of the comic, it also topped Twitter's popular search ( 沪江日语, 2020) .

Why does this work cause such a big response? ETtoday星光云 attribute it to the serialization of this work: 100 days. This number is not only the duration of the serialization carefully designed by the author, but also the lifespan of the crocodile king, the protagonist of this work. In other words, from the moment of birth, the character of this newly born work has already been known to the audience.

It describes the corner of the daily life of an anthropomorphic crocodile. The content is very plain, but as long as you see the death countdown written at the bottom, it will make you cannot smile again. But more importantly, the main character of the comic Crocodile is completely unaware of the urgency of the matter. As the work are updated, but you also understands the world of crocodiles more and more: he has several friends, has troubles with work and little hobbies. He is so ordinary and so similar to us in life. This divisive experience makes the manga very esoteric, and you have begun to think that one day you may die suddenly like a crocodile. Just like Cinnamonellie wrote on his website after watching this work.

With the passage of time, the last episode has finally arrived. There is no unexpected plot, and no style mutation. The ordinary crocodile died in a traffic accident to save an ordinary bird. Despite the ordinary life, as long as you die, you can't continue to experience it. Just like HAN’s feeling, if you can always be aware of death, then the world may live in a better direction. I feels that such a point of view is extremely difficult to convey to the world. Because most people think that living is a natural thing. 

The author interprets this heavy theme with the "dragging sense" formed by the dullness of the characters and the reader's tense mentality. In order to convey the matter of death, it is necessary to convey the matter of being alive. The author only needs to describe the ordinary daily life of the crocodile, but at the beginning he threw a time bomb that made everyone nervous, so that the countdown of "ordinary life" echoed in the reader's heart I firmly grasped the reader's heart, and as time went by, the sense of tension increased with each passing day, thus forming a long-term suspense and story tension.

This is a very good way to create a story, which can reflect the author's deep meaning from the plot of the story and cause the reader to think.

References:

ETtoday星光云 . 2020. 爆红《100天后就会死的鳄鱼》大结局！樱花雨马路哭翻百万粉. [online] Available at: <https://dy.163.com/article/F89CQTMG05375CPZ.html> [Accessed 21 April 2020].

Han, D., 2020. “This Croc Will Die In 100 Days”: A Review. [online] Mustang Monthly. Available at: <https://khsmustangmonthly.com/1920/reviews/this-croc-will-die-in-100-days-a-review/> [Accessed 19 April 2020].

沪江日语. 2020. 日本爆红漫画《100天后死去的鳄鱼》为什么如此受欢迎？. [online] Available at: <https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?src=11&timestamp=1593665672&ver=2435&signature=1Cg1X12hfsLTvZ0I-7GiP*NKQIKwDJKg0RaTMPp1pi0QlZlfIcUX6Gs31wGn9Vm0rIBdEasikQW5T1g2nOFDiNF6fWi*ja7*sRBBQRLZ1xqQRat1CtHT1WpTU1RmErIn&new=1> [Accessed 20 April 2020].

Cinnamonellie. 2020. The Croc Who Dies In 100 Days: The Popular Manga Has Ended And Left Everyone In Tears. [online] Available at: <https://grapee.jp/en/135395> [Accessed 22 Apr 2020].

Kingu. 2020. Crocodile Tears?! This Crocodile Will DIE In 100 Days. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKiJ_hTUzBY> [Accessed 23 April 2020].

[ma-2020-ziwei]

FOREFRONT 4:  The Ideology that Hidden in the Lovely Cartoon Style

https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/media/md113472/?from=search&seid=2320251015669613366

LITTLE BEAN is a short animation produced by the Making Animation studio and played on Bilibili on July 5, 2018. It tells an interesting story that a red bean goes to various desserts every day to go to work, dreaming of being eaten, however he can not being eaten every time.

In the world of animation, the dreams of food are eaten, just like most people pursue a stable and decent job, it seems that this is the common principle of this world. However, some viewers are questioning why the dream of food must be eaten, thinking that it is only the dream imposed by human beings. This view is also a reflection on human society. This world is full of eccentricities, and the pursuit of a life different from everyone should not be denied.

https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/media/md113472/?from=search&seid=2320251015669613366

For example, the character Xiao Jiang is a piece of ginger itself. According to the spicy taste of ginger, Xiao Jiang claims to be a hot girl, and her unique dream is to want to sweeten and work in desserts.

https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/media/md113472/?from=search&seid=2320251015669613366

There is also Green Bean who dreams of becoming a singer. The singer is just a symbol, representing its different dreams, it expresses the hope to break away from the established social norms and destiny. This is the same view I want to show in my animation, thinking about universal values.

These interesting character designs make the heavy stories that were originally related to death become cute and easy. On the other hand, in the seemingly simple plot, there are some philosophies. After going through the stories of some characters, Little Bean also has a little reflection on the dreams that want to be eaten. This character will grow so constantly, just like the audience itself, it will continue to grow in thinking about this world.

Inspiration comes from life. When looking at excellent works to learn, not only to learn the plot and setting, but also to look at the essence through the phenomenon, look at the logic in it, and whether to go under the plot and setting of the work Express what. Just like this work, through simple and lovely artistic style, you can also explore thinking about life. As I wrote in the animation above, I think about universal values. It uses plots to guide viewers to think deeply, and it is also helpful to the scheme of my work.

Reference:

Making Animation. 2018. Little Bean（2020）. [online] Available at: <https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/media/md113472/?from=search&seid=2320251015669613366）> [Accessed 20 Apr 2020].

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: Material Design - Well & Tear

I didn't find a specific description of the 17th-century well. The wells in some pictures only have a cylindrical shape, I think it's too monotonous, so I found a modern farm well for reference.

References:

Lanrentuku.com. 2017. 创意农场绵羊和庄园风景矢量素材. [online] Available at: <https://www.lanrentuku.com/vector/landscape/chuangyinongchangmianyangzhuangyuanfengjing-shiliang.html> [Accessed 20 March 2020].

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: Material Design - Venice Glass & Ruler

Based on the pictures of the seventeenth-century Venetian glass I studied earlier, I think its characteristics are the shape and color matching with marine elements, such as sea horses and fish. At the end of the previous sentence, Ale should be in the cup.

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: Material Design - Sea

"Sea" as a scene prop has no frame. But the spray in the sea, in order to make it more like Ale, I made it into a foamy circle.

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: Material Design - Pismire & Whale

I didn't find any pictures of Pismire and Whales in the 17th century, so I made them according to what are they look now.

References:

Lanrentuku.com. 2019. 6款彩色昆虫图标矢量素材. [online] Available at: <https://www.lanrentuku.com/vector/icon/6kuancaisekunchongtubiao-shiliang.html> [Accessed 16 March 2020].

Lanrentuku.com. 2020. 搜索 鲸鱼 - 懒人图库. [online] Available at: <https://www.lanrentuku.com/s.php?typeid=1&q=%BE%A8%D3%E3> [Accessed 15 March 2020].

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: Material Design - Oak

The Oak leaves are like an umbrella. I didn’t search many cartoon oak pictures, so I transformed an oak tree out of ordinary trees and made roots that crawl on the ground. Inspiration also comes from 懒人图库.

References:

Lanrentuku.com. 2020. 4组创意做家务的人物矢量素材. [online] Available at: <https://www.lanrentuku.com/vector/people/4zuchuangyizuojiawuderenwu-shiliang.html> [Accessed 15 March 2020].

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: Material Design - Cloud & Ivy

As part of the scene props, "Cloud" does not have white borders like other patterns.

When making Ivy, I looked up Google Images, and it showed that most of Ivy is five forks, like stars or footprints.

[ma-2020-ziwei]

LIVE BRIEF: Material Design - Comet

When making a comet, I considered that it must be related to the end of the previous sentence, so I only made a long tail. The material is divided into three layers and different colors to facilitate the animation to let it fall at different speeds.