Animation Research and Practice - Week 1 - Initial Pitch and Feedback

Over the Summer we were asked to think about 2-3 ideas for what we wanted to do for our final film, or if we wanted to do a portfolio in a specific area like 3D animating.

First Idea - 

My first idea came from my Great Nan. She is originally from Ukraine and was taken to concentration camps during World War 2. I wanted to take some of the stories she had told me and animate them. My Nan has always told her stories about her life and so we have recorded and noted them before, but when thinking about her stories over the summer I struggled with how to animate them and not wanting to ruin them. Also she had never told her stories in an order which I found hard to connect some of her stories to dates and times. My Nan is 92 and wasn't too comfortable coming into the uni to record and I didn't want to push her. 

I feel although this is a really good idea, I don't have enough information and don't want to push my Nan and so I pursue this animation later. 

Second Idea - 

Inspiration :

I have a Pinterest account where I save loads of pictures for inspirations and I started finding photos of women from different cultures and Religions, who looked Beautiful in their own way, not necessarily how we as a modern society see Beauty. 

I wanted to create an animation that showed that EVERYONE! is Beautiful and not just what the magazines and media say is.

Synopsis: 

A machine run by the magazine company is brainwashing women to go through surgery to become all the same. One woman who is conflicted and doesn’t want conform to this idea of ‘perfect’ is going in and out of the brainwashing state and because of this she starts to break the machine. 

I wanted the setting to be a smokey factory where you see the factory is run by the magazines. Here is some pictures of factories I looked at : 

When I talked to Bethany about my idea she then showed my this film and I liked the use of the screen and choosing what to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsL7W-GHhJA

I was also shown this animation and I liked that it had no sound and the ending that she didn't become thin, but was happy with herself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZYVogCYsdA

Storyboard :

storyboard from Summer Davies-Newton on Vimeo.

Feedback : 

The feedback I got on this idea was that it was a bit generic and that it could be done differently. To look at technology and not just magazines, as technology and the internet have also had a similar affect. Also to look at men not just women, as men are affected just as much as women, but it's not talked about as much.

Third Idea - 

Inspiration -

For this idea I got the inspiration off my parents. They both suffer with depression, but have dealt with it completely different and it came on at different times in their lives.

It affects what they do a lot, but they try not to let it stop them doing everything and are always pushing themselves to go outside their comfort zones.

I wanted to show what they go through and portray it in a way that can relate to other people who suffer with depression or have loved ones that do.

Synopsis - 

A person (male or female) is going through the same routine everyday. They a starting to become very sad and withdrawing from the world around them, including their family, which is shown through the cracks that appear on their body.

Their loved ones begin to notice but at this point it is too late and the person shatters. Their loved ones are their to help pick them up along with professional help and although it cannot be fixed straight away, they are beginning to cope.  

Storyboard - 



Depression storyboard Idea from Summer Davies-Newton on Vimeo.


Style - 

I wanted people to connect with character and how they are feeling and so wanted to keep the style of it very simple and the story very simple.

I like the way these images are simple in colour and not very detailed, I didn't want the style to take away from the emotion.

Feedback - 

The feedback I got was again it was quite a generic story but the idea/ concept behind it was good. Sam suggested actually using my parents and making it into a documentary style animation. This would make my animation more connectable to the audience because it is real life.

My feelings - 

I feel the Pitch went well and I got great feedback from it, I will continue to improve and develop my work and take on the feedback I got. I think I will get my parents to record int he sound booth and see what happens. I also want to see if I can expand on the other Beauty idea for next week.


Class work - 

In class we were introduced to the module and given the brief for the year and discussed what we had to do for the pre-production and for the essay. We were given links and resources that would help us, including where to get free sound from and where we could look for journals and articles that would help us with our essays.

We were also put into study groups (me, Raj and Bethany) so we could help each other in researching our subjects and with our ideas since we are the only three making a film.

Professional Animation Project - Week 1 - The Brief

For our first week we were introduced to the module. By the end of the module we have to complete an animation to a professional standard, following a brief given to us by Jamie Cartwright, who works at Stone's Throw Media.

Stone's Throw Media Website -
http://www.stmedia.co.uk/


The Brief

The brief was to create an animation to the voice clip we were given. We can use any form of animation that we like as long as it is to a high standard.

The voice clip is talking about the United Nations and a part of them called the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster, who help people bring communication services to people in emergencies.

The script of the Voice clip - 

When an emergency like an Earthquake, Tsunami strikes a place where there is no reliable internet connection, the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster steps in, they help to provide Internet to humanitarians, non-governmental organisations, United Nations agencies and more recently hospitals that have been set up to fight Ebola.

Lesson

After we were given the brief off Jamie, we were then put into groups with the first years, who helped us come up with out initial ideas for the animation.

My Initial idea was to have a cartoon Earth character that would have an earthquake and tsunami, but I hadn't come up with the rest of the idea.

Once I was in my group the first years helped and we came up with a couple of different ideas:

First - was an idea about the cartoon earth having connection to different countries on his body and when the earthquake and tsunami strikes the connections were cut. Then people would come on the screen from the Emergency Telecommunications cluster and help reconnect the connections.

Second - Could the tsunami be a bucket of water on a door that falls on him ?
               Could the earthquake be him tripping and falling onto the floor?

Third - What if he had a phone and because he trips and falls he smashes the phone, which means he cannot connect with people anymore. As he carries on walking down the street he reaches a kiosk which is the Emergency Telecommunication Cluster and they give him a new phone and get him connected again.

Fourth - Could the hospital be like a castle and the ebola characters be trying to attack the hospital.


Mind map of our ideas:

After talking to Emily about the ideas we agreed on keeping it very simple and not crowding the the screen and making it hard for the viewer to keep up.

Idea - 

To have the cartoon earth walk onto screen and trip over. When he falls onto the floor that is the earthquake and then some of the water off of the earth spills out which is the tsunami. A second character then comes onto the screen, which is linked to the ETC in some way and helps the earth to its feet and pats it on the head.


Homework - 

• To write out a visual script with our initial idea and what will happen.
• To find animation that is relevant today and shows today's trends.  
• To research the United Nations and the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster