Lesson Diary: Limerick Animation 03/11/11

Today we moved on from object stop animation and started with cut out animation. We were told to stay in the same groups that we were in yesterday. The teacher then laid out ten pieces of paper on the table in the centre of the class room. Each piece of paper had a limerick on it. The task we were set was to choose a limerick and then create a paper cut out animation based around it. The group and I had a discussion about who had the best drawing skills, we came to the conclusion that Daniel was the most experienced drawer. So we chose our limerick based around what Daniel wanted to draw. We ended up choosing a limerick about a lady and a lion because Daniel liked the idea of drawing a lion. The teacher then gave us an A3 sheet to draw our storyboard onto. The next stage was to assign tasks to each team member, Dan's job was to draw the lion and the lady, Scott filled out the story board and Holly and I began drawing and colouring the background for the animation. We got down to work. Holly and I started off by searching "jungle backgrounds" in "Google Images", some of the results we got were good but they were very complex images and would have been difficult to draw. So we then searched for "Jungle Background cartoon", and the results we got from this search were far superior to the previous search. We chose a good simple image, and began to draw our background on A3 paper whilst using the image for inspiration. We then started to draw, I started from the left side of the page and Holly started from the right side. Once the basic trees and plants had been drawn, Holly began colouring the drawings. We opted for a strong contrast of light and dark colours, mainly greens and browns.

Once the background was fully drawn and coloured, it was time to cut out the background with a stanley knife. We had decided as a group that it would look good if the tiger could weave in and out of the trees as it came into shot. This meant that any sections of the background that had not been drawn on needed to be cut out. Before cutting, I placed a mat underneath the table so as not to cut into the table. This process took a long time and Holly and I overcame the task by doing the job in shifts, this was the best way to get the job done, taking regular breaks allowed us to cut with maximum efficiency and precision without one of us getting tired and making mistakes. While we were cutting out the background, Scott and Dan were busy creating the other pieces of the animation such as the tiger's stomach and the lady. The stomach and the lady were both made out of coloured card, this saved time because no colouring was needed, they simply needed to pick the colour of card and get cutting. 

Soon, all of the necessary components for the animation had been created, and it was time to film the animation. The animation was going to be made up of still images, so we switched the cam-corder's modes so that it would take still images instead of film footage. To make sure the camera was held steady and did not move during each shot, we were given a special stand that held the camera perfectly still with the lens pointing downwards. Once we had the camera in focus, we began to arrange the cut out components underneath the camera. Once all the relevant components were "in shot", we pressed the shutter release on the camera to take the still images. The camera was wired up to the laptop, this allowed us to see if the shot was up to a high standard before moving onto the next frame. This allowed us to keep quality control. We had no serious problems during this stage, aside some minor difficulties such as: the camera "going to sleep" every so often. 

Soon all of the frames had been shot, and we were able to play back our animation to see how it looked. We were all thrilled to see our animation come to life, and we were all very pleased with the end result. Although I am very pleased with the outcome, I think that the animation could have run more smoothly at the beginning.     

Evaluation
Looking back at the animation I am very pleased with it. There are two bits of the animation that I am extremely happy with. I am particularly happy with the scnene in which the woman is trapped in the tigers stomach, the whole scene moves smoothly and doesn't "jerk" about. Another part of the animation that I thought worked really well was when the tiger winks at the end. I am not too sure why this worked so well, but it looks very smooth and professional.
Even though I am pleased with this final animation, it is hard to ignore some of it's faults. During the beginning scene where the tiger and the woman are riding through the jungle, it is hard not to notice the  "juddering" and overall "roughness" of the scene. I also do not like the way the tiger moves through the trees during this scene, the illusion that the tiger is weaving in and out of the trees has not really worked. This is disappointing considering all the hard work that was put into cutting out the background. I am also slightly disappointed in the short title sequence at the beginning, this could have been much smoother, and it would have looked a lot more effective if the letters had flown in from one side instead of just appearing in the middle.
In conclusion, despite it's faults, I am very happy with this animation. During the last few weeks of creating different animations, I am starting to find that it is difficult not to be pleased with the results. There is something very satisfying about seeing your hard work brought to life.



GROUP 3 LIMERICK CUTOUT ANIMATION FINAL from Long Road Applied Media Diploma on Vimeo.