Experimental Animation

For this assignment, we had to produce 3 different 20-second animations using 3 different techniques that did not use the computer apart from post production and editing. We were also given a choice of soundtracks to work with and the idea was to make the 3 films play along with the soundtrack and relate to it in some way.

 





1st Technique: For the first technique I used a pencil, paper and a lightbox to animate a stickman character dancing to the first 20 seconds of the song I chose. I then photographed each page with a camera and arranged the frames together in Adobe Premier. I paid close attention to the variations and rhythm of the song and how the character would react to it. Before I animated, I imagined myself dancing to the song and thought of what I would do if I were in the stickman's position, and then I went ahead and animated what came to mind. Two inspirations I used for this song was the famous ' Staying Alive ' dance move from Saturday Night Fever and a dance move which Johnny Bravo uses in his cartoon intro.

 


2nd Technique: For the next 20 second film, I cut green coloured cardboard paper in small pieces and arranged them on an A4 paper positioned below a mounted camera connected to a laptop. The idea fo this film was to make the green cardboard pieces react to the music. I found this technique very easy because it was easy to manipulate and move around the green paper pieces. I was focusing more on the song here and deciding how the bits of paper would sway and react to the music.







3rd Technique: For the third 20 second film, I decided to make a stop motion animation in which computer peripherals come to life. I made on mouse climb out of a hole on a table and inspect a crushed green paper that was lying on the other end of the table. Then another mouse climbs out of a the same hole and moves along to inspect the crushed paper too. Mouse 1 accidentally knocks the paper off the table and then Mouse 2 gets annoyed because of this and Mouse 1 and Mouse 2 engage in a fight and in all that chaos another green crushed paper lands of the table, and all three of them fight over it, and then the film ends. I had to take many frames for this animation to ensure that the characters in it moved in a smooth enough manner, and I had to put my flexibility skills to the test too as I was holding the controller for the mounted camera on one hand and stretching out my other hand to hold the wire of the mouse from underneath the table and keep it still.



AT-ST Model

This is a project I started about two weeks ago. I'm modeling an AT-ST (From the Star Wars universe) in Maya. AT-ST stands for All Terrain Scout Transport, and it's a 2-legged vehicle, armed with laser cannons and a few missiles. You see these vehicles in ' Empire Strikes Back ' during the Hoth Battle scene and in ' Return of the Jedi '. I haven't finished the model yet but this is a picture of what I have created so far.

I have somewhat completed the model, but I am not completely satisfied by it. I feel like it needs more detail to give it some more life. I haven't textured it yet and it definitely needs a nice layered texture for that rough dirty metal look.

I tried 2 renders with the model - One in standard lighting and the other with a physical sun and sky based lighting. The 2nd one makes the model look like its made out of plaster, and that is definitely not the effect I intended. The first render though is close to the effect I'm trying to achieve.

Another issue is that the head of the AT-ST looks very disproportionate to its legs. I'll have to make it a bit smaller. It does look a little comical now, almost like a caricature and it would work well for a nice cute Star Wars themed cartoon but I'm trying to achieve a more realistic look, much closer to what is seen in the films.