Week 6A

In class, I started working on the beginning part of my animation. This time, I started at the very beginning of the mp3 and created my animation around it unlike my last video that I had posted. I experimented with different features like easing in and out to make my animation appear more smooth. In addition to this, I experimented with the 3D features in After Effects to animate my characters in a more unique way. After finishing my other scenes, I will go back to polish and possibly add more details such as animating facial features more or minor details.

Week 5 Outside of Class

Over the weekend I had created more final frames along with a short segment of what the animation will look like. I will go back to add more detail, as I want to add more things like lip-syncing and more fluid animation. At a certain point, I do feel as if the animation is a little too static, and I want to make it much more dynamic. Below is what I had worked on. In addition to this, i'd like to add more detailed backgrounds to my frames, similar to what I had done with the delivery truck scene.

Week 5B (No Class)

No class due to snow.

Week 5A

In class, we reviewed each other's animatics and were given very useful feedback. Some of the feedback I had received was

• Add more keyframes, some parts were too static.
• Try to make characters more dynamic.
• Good recurring elements.

We then received a brief lecture reviewing some of the features After Effects has to offer. This was also helpful as I haven't used After Effects in some time. The rest of the period was ours to work on our animations. I had created more final frames that I will be using in my animation. I wanted to keep the color palette bright and minimalist, while having somewhat detailed environments (i.e shadows) Below is what I had been working on so far.

Week 4 Outside of class

Outside of class, I created an animatic for my future project. The point of this was to get a rough idea of what is going to be happening along with the audio clip. When I begin working on the animation for the audio clip, I will refer back to the animatic. When viewing the finished product, it will look very similar to the animatic. Below is what I had worked on over the weekend.

Week 4B

In class, we reviewed the storyboards other students had created as well as three different styles they may pursue. This was a really helpful activity, as it allowed me to see which direction other students were going with their projects. It was also interesting to see how even though everyone had started with the same audio-clip, we had tackled this project in many different ways. In addition to this, I had also received helpful feedback on my storyboard and was recommended which style I should pursue.
After this, we had began working on our animatics. This is a short animation using the sketches from our storyboards to see whether or not our ideas will work. To create this animatic, I plan to sketch out more keyframes, then take pictures and upload them into After Effects to see what it will be like. As usual, my final animation may stray from my animatic slightly if something doesn't work or a better idea arises.

Week 4A

No Class.

Week 3A

In class, we reviewed the visual narratives that we had created previously. I've received some useful feedback such as:

• Include more content and goals.
• Include other parts such as how my visuals will relate to the message the audio delivers.

I had focused almost entirely on personality, meaning the style of my animation rather than the message. Afterwards, we began creating our storyboard for the upcoming animation. Although this isn't finished, I jotted down a few ideas and will receive feedback during the next class meeting. For the first part, I created two different ideas to go with since I wasn't sure which would be better. Taking the criticism I had received into consideration, I will use it to improve my storyboard and upload it once it is finished.

Week 3 Outside of Class

Outside of class, I had been working on full color frames for what my animation might look like. These would be what the final representation may look like, excluding the more detailed backgrounds. I've experimented with three different styles, going from more simplistic and easy to recognize figures to others that are more detailed. In addition to this, I had finished the entire storyboard for the audio clip. When I receive feedback for which direction I should go in, i'll continue to flush out the visuals and return with a more updated and polished screen.

                                   

Week 2 Outside of Class

Outside of class I had finished my visual narrative. Below is a video I had created going over some of my ideas and inspiration for my future project. In the video, I show various animations along with an explanation as to why it appeals to me. None of my ideas are concrete, and I may go in an entirely different direction. This was simply something to start getting ideas going and how I might approach this project. To summarize, some of the points that I speak about are color-schemes, smooth & dynamic movement, shadows and symbology.

Week 2B

In class, we had began working on our visual narrative. The purpose of this assignment as to start looking for inspiration from other animations and getting a vague idea of how we would style ours. Right now, i'm just looking and playing around with a lot of different ideas. The only thing i'm really set on is using a lot of symbols for my animation. When reading the script, I had got a lot of symbolic imagery appear in my mind. During class, we had also received a refresher on how to use Adobe After Effects since it wasn't a program many of us had been using often. We were reintroduced to the interface, as well as going over elements of motion design such as Pause, Duration, Rhythm, Pace and others. This was a very valuable lecture, as I was somewhat unsure on ho to do some specific things in AAE.