COP 3 - PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT - COMPOSITING 3

This is the full walk cycle animation with the turns and drop shadow included. (above)

On the left here is the thumb of the younger character, I have included a drop shadow on thethumb also to give the illusion that the thumb is coming away from the screen a little bit.

The plan is to edit the two together and have it speed up switching between the two until the two characters eventually meet.

COP 3 - PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT - COMPOSITING 2

Here was an animation test made using an earlier walk cycle test animation composited using after effects and animated to move across the screen using the transform tools.

COP 3 - PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT - COMPOSITING

When it came to compositing the character animation on top of the video footage I decided to scale down the footage and place the character in front of the the footage with a drop shadow falling of the footage behind him, a little bit like a projection going on.

The idea behind this and how it is relevant to the written part of this module is that there is this separation between the person in a society and the cultural artifacts around them and that there is a different approach to experiencing culture from person to person. I have shown this through using the social media format in combination with the smartphone using a thumb at the side of the screen.

COP 3 - PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT - CHARACTER ANIMATION

To animate my character I decided to use TV paint as I find it quite accessible and suitable to my approach to illustration style. I used it to create a simple walk cycle (or stumble cycle!) for this elderly character. I decided to go ahead with the simple block colours - with a reference to the market with the red and white stripey attire that the character is wearing.

I also added a section of animation whereby the character turns away from the camera and towards the video edit of the market behind them as if they were browsing the goods.

I am still getting to grips with TV paint so there might be a point where I go back and add some more in between frames, and make the characters movement more fluid and exaggerated in some parts.

COP 3 - PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT - EDITING/IMPROVEMENT (BACKGROUND)

A way that I thought might improve the look of the footage would be to remove some of the frames in the video and apply a texture on top to make the video look like more of a stopmotion/pixelation animation than a video montage. The way I achieved this was to import the video frames in to photoshop layers and limit the amount to every two frames being imported.

I then opened an animation timeline, made the frames from the layers in the project and made sure the layers were in their own group.

I then placed the newsprint texture above the group layer and applied a soft overlay blending mode - to get the lighting right and the contrast correct I made further adjustments in the levels and hue and contrast windows.

Once i had exported the video out of photoshop I noticed that it moved a little too quickly so reduced the speed in premiere.

COP 3 - PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT - PRIMARY RESEARCH//EDITING

Here is an early edit of the type of pixelation animation that i would like to create out of the footage that I have gathered from the market, I am currently deliberating on whether or not to sync up sound effects to each cut the camera makes/ jumps to each scene. Or creating a loop that flows well and includes all of the different textures and colours that i would like to include in the background.

I think using shorter cuts would allow the viewer to concentrate on the character animation that is going on in front of the live action video.

I am going to have to improve the technique of this type of editing, by having colours/textures of the same kind cut together e.g having cuts of footage that feature butcher stalls put together - this way I think the footage would fit together better and the transition from each stall would be smoother, there would be a more stable background for the character to move in front of.

COP 3 - PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT - CRIT FEEDBACK 2

What was also brought up in conversation through the group crit was how I was going to represent the youth character in my animation. At first I was thinking about the colours that i have associated the older generation and also the atmosphere that they are placed in within my animation.

What i think distinguishes the older generation from the younger generation in this country is the competence, and in some respect the absolute absorption into social medias, and how the younger generation functions in society in general - there is a different dynamic.

To show this different dynamic I thought about the way the younger character's scene might look on screen. The idea of using the scrolling format that you can find on most social media sites suddenly sprung to mind, the simple colour schemes that are also found might be something that I incorporate into this part of the project, to give a fitting juxtaposition against the warm colours of the market atmosphere.

COP 3 - PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT - CRIT FEEDBACK 1

In my group crit I mentioned that I wanted to use live action film and incorporate it in a manner that would look similar to a pixelation animation. This animation by Frank Mouris titled 'Frank Film' came up in conversation, it has inspired me to use the primary research that i have gathered in the market, turn the footage and images that I have gathered into a pixelation and use the pixelation as a base/ background for which I can place some character animation on top.

In the case of the footage gathered from the market, I will use the animation created from that as a background for the older character in my narrative.

COP 3 - PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT - SYNTHESIS 2

This element of live action that I had wanted to incorporate in my initial experiments was still present in my idea process, I still wanted use that element as feel that it puts the viewer into the atmosphere and captures it better than I could using my own custom assets created digitally or handmade.

So here I have used a series of photographs and made a pixelation type animation that uses sound effects so as to give the movement from picture to picture more bite/ make the viewer notice it a little more than they would if there were no sound effects. Also included in the animation is atmospheric sounds from the market place itself.

COP 3 - PRACTICAL EXPERIMENTS 3

Here in this experiment I had the idea that I wanted to use found footage of subject matter that would be relevant to the research in my essay, the idea was to use old television adverts that were indicative of the times investigated within my essay and somehow create a narrative through them.

After this one experiment I reflected on the work I had produced and realized that this method of putting together a narrative of found footage with a combination of animation would take too long and also would not have fit in as well perhaps with the route that my research had been taking me down.

It is at this point that i decided to dive into my sketchbook further to really explore what the aesthetic of my animation should look like - so that I might better be able to create a solid narrative around that.

COP 3 - PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT- SYNTHESIS 1

At this point In the research project I had to take a step back and question wether the work that i was going to produce really the reflected the ideas that i was throwing up in my essay. With this idea of British culture being splintered through age, ethnicity and by global influences from the the internet - readily available to almost everybody. I knew that i had to rethink the way that i was going to represent that through my work.

The way I thought about representing this was to produce an animation that incorporated local places that encapsulated what could be called traditionally British - so I chose to investigate the local market, focus on the colours in the market, the sounds and the atmospheric lighting found in each stall, the types of people found in the market etc.

I then thought about how I might represent the characters with the animation in a relative way, I then thought that using textures from the market to represent the older generation might be the best way to use the primary research that I had gathered.

The signage in the market is very distinctive and I would even go as far as saying that it is traditional - in the sense that some of the stalls in the market are businesses that stretch back many generations, so the same aesthetic/colour palette is still held on to.

COP 3 - PRACTICAL - EXPERIMENTS 2

In this experiment I used some video footage that has some movement in it to give the scene an element of realism, or moreover just to further investigate putting my animations in live action video
This was another experiment using TV Paint, again with no real idea of a narrative but with the conceptual idea of merging animation and live action video. I think what worked well in this experiment was the way that the animation fitted well within the scene using a combination of the Transform tool and Blending modes in After Effects.

COP 3 - PRACTICAL - EXPERIMENTS 1

Here is one of the first experiments that I worked up for my cop practical, this came before any previous notion of story boarding or any idea of a narrative. I did however at this point know that i wanted to further incorporate my illustrative style into animation. I decided I would do this by using character and implementing them into live action footage. At this stage I decided to use a static image to get a feel for how the scene might look with the animation moving along walls or around the scene in general.
It was at this point that it was suggested to experiment with 3D tracking in after effects using some footage that would be in motion.
This experiment is also one of my first experiments with the software 'TV Paint' - I find the program to be very useful and versatile in that the brushes are fully customisable, I also find the textures well suited to my work.

COP 3 Research Proposal ISSUU

Visual Journal Overview

In my visual journal I have tried to collate images, make images and add texture to all of the pages to convey the information that is contained within my essay into one seamless story, begining with a rich contextual basis and slipping into the more abstract ideas that are brought up in my essay.

Study Task 6 - COP 2 - ESSAY

Evaluation COP2

overall I think the module went okay, I developed a reasonable amount of research and tried to produce a well informed argument in critical analysis as best I could, however I do feel like I could have said more with less context and opened the essay up into more of a critical discussion with more triangulation and key points being raised. I do feel like I have answered the research question I originally set out to answer but could have done so in a more clearer articulate sophisticated manner.
What I enjoyed the most about this module was producing the visual side to accompany my essay, and although I did not have time to produce an actual animated response to my question I think that the visual exploration that I have undertaken clearly indicates how I might have responded to the research question through an animated response, with the mixed media approach and use of contextual images to set the scene as it were.
what I least enjoyed about this module or found difficult was the ability to stay focussed on my research and decide what I wanted to say in my essay in regards to my research, I also struggled to find many examples of animation that were relative to my research.
what I think went well on this module was the way the critical analysis ties in nicely with the visual exploration that I have gone through, I think using music form Muslimgauze really helped me ti get inspired and produce visual work that is of the same subject matter.
I think my time management could have been better whilst producing the work for this module, I think I underestimated how much work I would be undertaking at the start of it which lead me to focus on other areas within the course.
From this I have learned that to feel secure within this module it is better to do the bulk of the work quite early on so that when it comes the final outcome all ideas are clear and there is a set plan of action towards completing the work.

Study Task 5 - writing an Introduction

This essay will aim to give an answer as to how animation could be used as a tool to navigate the complexities of the on going conflict in the middle east, it will also give reasons as to why this may be an important issue for not just contemporary animators but also contemporary creatives in general. The reader will be guided to an informed conclusion to the overarching research question through the sum of research accumulated by trying to answer a series of sub-questions in relation to the subject matter. Using the research gathered and each idea formulated in an attempt to answer these sub questions triangulations will be made between pieces of evidence that support the claims that will be made in this essay. There are four main sub questions that I will attempt to answer in order to arrive at a conclusion to the overarching research question, and they are as follows:

Historical context, what is the historical context? How is it relevant? Knowing the historical context surrounding countries such as; Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, will give the reader a simplified yet in depth look at the key figures and groups in these countries and the historic relationship western governments have had with them. This historical context will also lead into comparisons being drawn between the current narrative of the western media towards middle eastern intervention, and those that were once presented to the public at times of western intervention in middle eastern conflicts – these comparisons will be key to understanding the relevance of the historical context.
The affect conflict has on culture, what makes this relevant? Why is this important to an animator/visual communicator? By keeping this question in mind whilst reading this essay, whether or not you regard yourself as an animator or creative practitioner – you build up an understanding of how much of an affect the extremities of conflict can have – not only on the people of a conflict stricken area, but also on the peoples of surrounding areas – a good example to point out would be that of Germany accepting a large amount of refugees from across the region and the problems that came as a result of trying to integrate people into society from a range of ethnic groups and cultures.
Western media coverage, How does the western mainstream media present conflict in the middle east to its audience? What affect does this have on western society? By analysing news stories and the mainstream political narrative at a given time in history and contrasting them with actual evidence based reporting and journalism – you are able to build up a clearer picture what is actually happening in area where conflict is present. This question is important as it’s answer holds much relevance to the answer of the research question, given that this essay is aimed at western animators/creative practitioners.
Contemporary Context, what is the contemporary context of conflict in the middle east? This question will be one that will be periodically revisited throughout this essay to assess the relevance of the research gathered in its relation to current affairs and contemporary animations that reference conflicts in middle eastern countries.

Study task 3 - Adorno & The Culture Industry

Adorno's view on television was that it presents conventional values in a way that is easily digested by the masses, that there is a formula that producers follow in order to make their shows accepted and viewed en masse but also put into categories/genres that follow their own individual formulas so as to give the viewer and idea/ preconception about which they are about to see, 'we are all familiar with the division of television content into various classes, such as light comedy, westerns, mysteries, so-called sophisticated plays, and others. These types have developed into formulas which, to a certain degree, pre-establish the attituinal pattern of the spectator before he is confronted with any specific content and which largely determines the way in which any specific content is being perceived.' (Adorno, 1954)

Adorno explains that the reason for this formulaic approach to making television programs is so that the audience does not have to think about what they watching too much, making it easily digestible - and it can be argued that most mainstream film and animation that is currently being produced still follow this approach, and this is to be expected of a capitalist society wanting to make the most money from a production as possible. If the content was challenging or jarring of peoples preconceived notions the production is inherently bound not to do so well in the mainstream.

Persepolis

Persepolis is a film that tells the story of Marjane Satrapi - a young girl growing up in iran at the time of the revolution and through the Iran-Iraq war. It is interesting an useful to my studies as the story is told from a female perspective and also from a middle eastern perspective. This is an interesting perspective to have a story told through as it is uncommon to hear the female perspective of woman from a conservative Muslim country.

This Is What Winning Looks Like - VICE

'This Is What Winning Looks Like' Is a documentary that explores the conditions in afghanistan as the British and american troops were about to pull out of the country and hand over the job of protecting civilians from the Taliban to the Afghan National Army.
This has helped me to gather contextual research on what the situation the country is now - and make some interesting points about the western media in relation to the conflict in the area.

Bryn Jones a.k.a Muslimgauze

Muslimgauze aka bryn jones is a musician that I found highly influential in relation to my visual journal, his music has a very political edge to it and a facination with arab world - incorporating middle eastern intruments and sampling news broadcasts he manages to paint a picture or create an atmosphere that I feel is really representative of the western point of view towards the middle east.
I have taken inspiration from this music and by listening to bryn jones' interviews on what he tries to accomplish in his music and tried to synthesize this into my visual research as I feel it would be silly not to take into account the work of someone who is trying to spark discussion around this subject matter with music as apposed to animation.

Adam Curtis - Bitter Lake - Contextual Research

I found Adam Curtis' Bitter Lake documentary to be very helpful in painting a picture of the events that have occurred in the middle east by bringing to light key figures and events that resulted to the present situation.

I think if \I were to produce an animated response to this brief it would be heavily influenced by this style of film making.