Here I have chosen great reference of stage fright.
at 0:05 he first glances to his left, pupils are also moving to his left, next he rotates his head probably looking at the people around him, this shows he is trying avoid the people however he is surrounded. He is surrounded by viewers including TV watchers this means there is a lot of psychological pressure, his body is in a sympathetic state, his body movements look uncomfortable and restricted. He is also thinking he doesn't want to be in this situation when someone glances to the side or looks left or right in anxiety it can show they don't want to be there, we generally back away from what we don't like.
Further analysis
Eyes
at the beginning when he says (now) his eyes dart towards the people that he is talking too, or possibly someone who offers support like a mother figure or father figure.
eyes blink fast
Head
when rotating his head slow it shakes however there are also fast turns of the head quick bursts of movement which is similar to excitement
0:39 Head tilts forward shoulders follow shaking slightly.
head most of the time is retreating this shows a lack of confidence like he is hiding from the people watching. If his head was brought further forward it would show more engagement and confidence.
Body
less exposure of the torso, arms are protecting his torso showing discomfort or anxiety
After the research and idea generation, this is what I decided to go with for my story board.
The comedy in the animation is, I will show excited leading into nervous and embarrassment.
The rocket is first excited, when his light goes off but when the spotlight is on him he gets a bit of stage fright. This leads to him taking off with his eyes closed, only to open his eyes, feel hopeful for a second thinking that wasn't so hard. Then at the end realizing he hasn't even taken off.
I hope the audience will feel empathetic for the character as we can all relate to stage fright and being put on the spot.
Overall I think this is an interesting idea and reflects how I have reacted to the second year of university, in that I still have along way to go. However there is fun in that challenge that can involve making fun of my own quirks and experiences,so pain can lead to comedy.
The storyboard was done on paper this time which allowed me to be more free with the actions. since this storyboard is just a guide I decided to put it on paper.
I am going to do an an animation of a rocket getting excited cause they have been chosen to take off. There light gets activated they start to dance and jump around they start to take off cuts to close up of face they open there eyes looking down realizing they are still on the ground they get embarrassment and then randomly take off.
During the Incubation process I went to see an event at the media museum. A talk by co founder of Aardman Peter Lord I was so excited about the event but also nervous, I realized this will be great a inspiration for my animation mixing both feelings of excited and nervous and in the end embarrassed the last emotion. I did not feel that emotion but it will add to the comedy. Through Psychological research I realized that excited and nervous are run by the same chemicals (epinephrine) adrenaline. This means whether we feel stress or pleasure we get a burst of adrenaline, adrenaline is also used as defense mechanism in a state of emergency.
The Aardman viewing documentary made me realize the unique animation of the company and how much it means to me. The subtle use of both simple gestures and even camera to show what a character is thinking is genius.
The idea is the rocket will act like he was picked to blast off and he feels honored and excited, He then starts to get nervous and as he takes off feels like he has done it but he hasn't then he feels silly and embarrassed knowing he couldn't do it until setting off randomly very fast.
For my analysis I decided to analyse "Jinky Jenkins
& Lucky Lou" from 0:14 to 0:30
The animation uses strong silhouettes as well as subtleties. underneath are some of the key poses in the animation.
At 0:14 the guy walks out of his house in a depressed and
negative state of emotion this can be shown by his slumped shoulders, and bent
over torso, his facial expression is squashed and his eyebrows are curved down. The way
he walks out is fast but the gestures show his lack of confidence showing
weaker poses. His body language also looks more uncomfortable and restrained as
well as a high power center located in his back and shoulders which also
indicate his emotion of sadness.
The sign 13 representing bad luck hits him on the head
staging the concept of his unlucky personality. The weather also takes a
dramatic change to rain exaggerating his unlucky nature. He then grips his
fists in as he closes his eyes showing frustration. The way his head looks up
and eyes dart up to the right show he is thinking about the change in weather
looking hopeless. He then rests his torso and hands down showing despair and
sadness. He then walks back into his house in defeat of his inner conflict of
bad luck and depression.
At 0:20 the girl walks out of the house in contrast with the
guy going in it is well timed. She anticipates the rain with her leg out
showing preparation for the conflict; however as she jumps and raises her hand
out thrusting her body upwards, she shows a positive hopeful gesture to feel
the rain with her hands. She is engaged in her action very clearly through a
strong stretched silhouette pose.
However it then deliberately stops leaving her in a state of slight
disappointment as she slowly lays her arms by her side and looks up. She then
lowers her head showing she feels just as bad as the guy. She has too much
luck. There are no surprises; life for
her feels perfect but bland. She then walks down casually with her arms behind
hands touching showing psychologically she isn't really happy with her life as
well.
The staging of the guy coming out with an umbrella first not
showing himself, this shows insecurity and fear of his bad luck. As he raises
his hand out the door first opening the umbrella is a subtler story beat it
shows how cautious he tries to be to stop his luck getting even worse.
This scene would not work if it wasn't for the story beat at
0:16 where he opens the door quicker first gets hit with bad luck shows his
discomfort because he walks out slower this time, this does not just show that
he is aware of the situation but also that he is nervous about it. followed by
a slow not eager walk out the door.
One of the pose that shows the best staging in my opinion would be when the guy is wondering where the rain has gone showing the girls presence in effecting the other character. (look above)
The use of lighting as he shows his reaction shows false sense of hope before he is picked up by the wind. First he slowly reacts to the sun puts his hand out realizing it has stopped raining. his eyebrows are raised in hope and for the first time he shows a more open posture. The look on his face still shows he is sad but he is curious how it stopped raining and is glad.
The staging of the this scene should not be changed we need to see these two clashing perspectives to understand the story.The animation would not work from another angle the split perspective. The way characters are introduced sets up the rest of the story. The two characters effect each other. These scenes are important to developing the plot. I feel there aren't any poses that you could remove, the timing and pacing of the animation anticipates the story
The character was originally going to be a rabbit, but I decided to change it to a deer. The model is influenced by Aardman's characters especially Gromit since he has no mouth. However this might change and he might have a mouth. This time the character didn't require a model sheet however it would have been useful instead quick drawings of the character with drawn with reference from my pinterest boards.
The knowledge from last years modelling made building an organic character allot easier.
First a cube was cut in half and then used duplicate special on the the X axis the box was smoothed into a head then eyes and snout were added
Here on the first image the model is just in beginning state The head and the body have been built roughly.
added arms and legs
blocking out the model and adding arms legs and extra details.
smoothed lower body and added edge loops to arms to shoulders. This will allow the arms to deform smoothly.
Fixing Topology of snout and head to allow to create more detail and ease of modeling, rigging and animating
fixed topology: smoother shape easier to manipulate.
Model currently Shirt has been refined will become pajama top feet will be slippers.
Overall the model is coming on well
Next strarted to refine the feet to look like hooves. and added a tail.
Used inspiration From Elliot from Sony Pictures Open Season (2006) by adding hands that look like hooves
Finished for now added some ears and rearranged face to look more deer like. Antlers might be changed again.
Each video focuses on a different action of the animation the most interesting part is where the wrapping paper is ripped off the box. This should be taken into consideration when animating ripped paper flying out. This will be the more challenging part to stage correctly in the animation.
Here are The Silhouettes for excitement. I used a a square that I textured white for the background and turned lights on even though there weren't any in the scene. This created a silhouette effect.
Picture of model without silhouette
Excitement is an interesting and powerful emotion and can be triggered in many ways. In the films I watched excitement can be expressed for many reasons. It can come from a passion or desire when you are inspired or love doing something. This could even be a huge challenge that a character is optimistic about facing.
Courtesy of Pixar
In Inside Out the challenge is getting used to Riley moving to San Francisco and Joy feels like it is her duty to keep Riley happy during these dramatic changes, this is her passion in life that is what excites here even when things are grim.
Excitement is also fueled by expectancy, a kid waiting for Christmas or just the weekend shows a build up of excitement and impatience over time. An example of repressed excitement would be waiting in line for a ride at a theme park. Another method is surprise like getting a gift from someone or winning the lottery.
Courtesy of Disney
This scene of Vanelope's first reaction to her new race car really displays excitement. The movement she does is fast and sparky. She first stands in awe then she jumps up and down around the car dancing. The hand gestures as she points at the details show how much she is in her element discovering something that she loves that fuels her passion for racing. Another important aspect of this scene is the context in the story. So excitement can be a window into a characters dreams and desires, there goals in life.
Excitement can also be triggered by just feeling really happy and confident. How ever Excitement can also come from fear.
Age and Personality
Excitement is shown differently depending on the personality and age of the individual. Kids and Toddlers generally get over excited over little things that adults wouldn't, this is because they are still learning about the world and every new experience can have a bigger reaction. However this also depends on personality some adults and teens get just as excited as kids.
Movement /Poses and Expressions
When excited are minds are in an arousel state this means the brain is less stable and far more unpredictable. The movement of excited is like lightning fast in small or big spurts. Smaller spurts when a little excited, to giant bursts of movement. When people are very excited they may dance and have less control on what they are doing. The chemicals that cause excitement are Adrenaline and endorphin's these chemicals create surges of energy through the brain. Other movements of excitement are jumping up and down, swinging arms and fast hand gestures. an anticipation for excitement would be when the body shivers, then jumping high up with arms up in the air exploding into movement like a rocket setting off. or a sparkler being lit.
Other gestures that show excitement could be
heel of feet pushed up
hands clenched to each other
arms in front of body raised out
hands out like paws shaking.
eyes in direction of the interesting object, person or activity
many different shapes from squashed to stretched
feet jumping one at a time like a dance
fingers spread out widely
head nodding back and forth lead by the torso and shoulders.
Character Design
A use of shape and colour can show excitable and happy as a personality trait. This creates more appeal for the character.
Joe Murray's Camp Lazlo
Lazlo's character design shows excitement using bright saturated colours that are appealing and welcoming. the bright orange represents warmth this makes the character feel more approachable. The use of shapes is simplistic and is easily readable. still represents the characters personality in silhouette.
Joy from Inside Out
Joy's design looks like a sparkler or a star this simple shape shows the happiness and excitement in her character.
The use of yellow and blue show she is literally like lightning. Yellow is used as a very positive colour and represents excitement and joy.
Levine S. (2015)How-does-the-feeling-of-being-excited-come-from-How-can-we-feel-excited-about-something [online] available from https://www.quora.com/How-does-the-feeling-of-being-excited-come-from-How-can-we-feel-excited-about-something16th October 2016
One of the most important aspect's to a good computer model
is good topology if the topology of the model isn't taken into account then it
will become allot more difficult to rig skin and animate. Good topology also
makes it easier to change later. The key to this is to start with a low amount
of polygons until you have the right shape you're looking for then you can just
add on edge loops and extrusions to add more detail and smoothness. A good
amount of polygons allows smoother skinning and animation. Working from
reference allows more accurate results in the form of the shape of the character,
which is why using a drawn character concept of the front and side allows the modeller
to create the character accurately in 3D.
There are 2 types of polygon for modelling, squares which
are best for creating smoother deformations and shading. This type is best for
animating complex characters. While triangles are better for video game
characters since they take up less rendering time.
Triangles should be avoided for animation, they lead to tears rips and rough deformations.
The modeling can make and break your animation and should be taken into consideration from straight at the beginning
UV mapping also makes a good model because the better a
character has been mapped out for texturing the more detailed and accurate the
textures will look when applied to the final model.
Lastly a model should always be made in a T pose if not rigging and skinning becomes very difficult.
For my character I decided to go with an Aardman style for the face and body. I love the charm of Wallace and Gromit and am hoping to recreate the replaceable mouth pieces for my characters facial expressions. To get the effect stepped tangents maybe used on purpose when animating the face. This technique was used on Flushed Away which was Aardman's first computer animated film using the stop motion technique.
The Process
The process would involve rigging multiple mouths as well as using set driven keys to show and hide each mouth shape. This could be a challenging process but it could lead to some fascinating
results.
The animation relies on excitement as the main emotion which fits the Aardman style well
Character Design
The character will be an anthropomorphic animal that fits the emotion and personality of excitement.
For this I have decided to design a bunny using inspiration from the design of Hutch from (Curse of the Were Rabbit) 2005, as well as Roger From Image works (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) 1988
The Style Animation
The reason this style was chosen was to further the investigation into the appeal of Aardman's characters and what makes this style stand out compared to other stop motion companies and computer animation companies. The mouths are replaceable to get much more exaggerated expressions. The animation is stop motion so uses less frames this however gives it it's charm and adds a more cartoony vibe. This can be contrasted by Laika's style which is more realistic in the mouth movement. Aardman
Laika
The Aardman mouth movement is exaggerated in shape as well as the squash and stretch. While laika's has more frames and feels more fluid and realistic. However the simplicity of Aardman adds more room for exaggeration of shape, as well as charming expressions.
Eyebrows and Body Language
Another technique that Aardman take advantage of is noticing the eyebrows are the most expressive part of the face. The character of Gromit doesn't even have mouth however the use of detailed body language and the use of his eyebrow really show what he is thinking. The ears also represent his emotions as well.
This proves that mouth animation may not even be needed at all if the rest of the face and body read well enough.
Most important reason Aardman stands out is that they show the characters are hand crafted out of Plasticine by leaving marks in the characters. This makes the characters feel more imperfect and adds an appeal of craftsmanship. Also the use of Plasticine allows more freedom in the shapes and movement of the characters. This can be recreated in computer animation but it never recaptures it fully.
Here is the plan for my story board originally I wanted to do something more adventurous but I had problems since this is my first actual storyboard for an animation.
In the end I went for opening a birthday day present focusing on the emotion of surprise. This can be interesting when adding shock when the trick is revealed. The strongest use of exaggeration in the storyboard is when they rip open the present.
Overall it it went quite well the animation was timed in real time using a home video camera to time out the events and add more into the expression. I feel that the story making process needed more work however I could change the location for the short to add different opportunities for conflict. Also how the story is at the moment it might be too long for 30 seconds. considering the smashing the present at the end. The character design also needs doing. The basic character used will be replaced with an anthropomorphic animal. The staging may need improving or simplifying to allow the audience to read the actions.
This tutorial is short but it does focus on the basic principles to focus on when blocking. Creating dynamic poses and movements using squash and stretch and solid drawing creating more fluid animation. The second tutorial is much more detailed and gives more tips.
Idea 1: Opening a small gift on April fools day - Nervous
Inciting Incident / First plot point: A character notices a random present on the table. First are relaxed until they see the present, next they show confusion / puzzled scratching there head thinking (it's not my birthday).
They then notice the calendar that reads April 1st and react in surprise
Second Plot point: After that they begin to nervously to open the present in caution. when lid is off it reveals a smaller present inside.
character squints when the they pick up the small present and open more nervous and frightened.
Finale and payoff: finally it turns out was a nice gift and they are happy but still a little freaked out unanswered question, how did the present get there in the first place.
Idea variations
At the
end something bad could happen after they think everything is OK e.g. a
creature jumps out of the smaller box or the gift turns into something scary or
just a practical joke. Maybe the present comes to life and starts moving.
Maybe it
doesn’t have to convey it is April fools maybe leave that out or leave it till
the end of the animation reference for gestures and subtleties: using films and media when they first see the present
confused and puzzled scratching head thinking (Its not my birthday)
eyes look towards calender
reaction to seeing it is April fools day
freaked out
Idea 2: Hiding from parents after stealing a snack from the fridge - proudexcited
Inciting incident / First plot point:Starts out as an explorer discovering hidden tomb. The chamber is opened revealing a treasure. Then it changes to reality showing it was the kids imagination. A domestic kitchen with the kid below a giant open fridge. kid is curious
The kid steals the snack with a cheeky proud gesture.
They then go back to there secret den to hide from parents this could lead them back into there fantasy the den could be like a cave or spy headquarters.
Finale and payoff:the parent discovers the hiding place leaving the kid in shock
The problem with this concept is it is more complicated and would have to be simplified in order to work.
