[PERSONAL] 25/11/2016 Presentation and Feedback

On the 25/11/2016, I presented my wok to my peers and tutors for feedback. In this presentation I wanted to put more information in than the last presentation, as the main goal of the last presentation was to get opinions of an ending for the film, however this time I am wanting opinions on everything overall. This presentation focuses on what I am animating, why I am animating, and how I am animating the video and shows all the recent work I have created to back up my video. I also gave out a sample of my draft 8 script as well as my layout test, below is the presentation:

25/11/2016 - When Dreams Became Data - Presentation from Jack Alexander Gray

I felt that my presentation went much better this time in contrast to last time, I was more confident with my idea and conveyed it well to my peers. I got a few different opinions on Max's design, they were curious on whether he would have colour, shading, rough drawings behind or just a line character. This was because I have multiple drawings of Max in a variety of finished styles, it made me realize that I was unsure on how Max will be drawn in the video. Sarah suggested to have the animator draw the line art for Max, however once he springs to life he gets his shading. I feel that this would be a good way of conveying that he is not only alive but also drawn.

One other thing I got from the feedback was a few more referencing techniques, it was suggested to try and record myself drawing Max, to get a feel on how I myself actually draw Max. I will try this and compare it to how I have drawn Max in Flash.  

Overall I am very pleased with the feedback I received, it was mainly positive and offered me some very good feedback, I will continue to produce my animation and I will begin to create my storyboards shortly.

[FILM] Winnie the Pooh (2011)

The last hand-drawn animated film produced by the Walt Disney Animation Studio, Winnie the Pooh was a fitting tribute to the most loved children tales by thousands. The animation was in the film was fantastic, as were the voice acting and the musical numbers. For a hand-drawn animated feature to come out during a time when CGI animated feature films are striving, it was a very brave move on Disney's part. One of the more notable things about the film however, is the length, the film pushes 70 minutes, and even for a children film, is considered short. Average film lengths are around 90 minutes, and Pixar have been creating 90 minute children's animated films for nearly over 20 years when Winnie the Pooh was released. The film may have been shorter than the average animated feature, however it was a very gentle and pleasant animation to watch. But then why was this the last hand-drawn animated feature to be released by Disney?

Nobody can know for sure, but we can speculate. The film did moderately well in the Box Office, although not the worst a Disney feature film has been, this could arguably be blamed on the fact that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 was released on the same weekend as Winnie the Pooh, which earned $483.2 million on the opening weekend, compared to $7,857,076 from Winnie the Pooh. Another thing to take note is quite possibly the overall story-line of the film, it seemed somewhat familiar to other Winnie the Pooh films (Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin) and overall seemed to lack any drama. Just as the film begins to finally open up, it quietly comes to an end and you're left thinking "is this it?". Winnie the Pooh overall earned around $50.1 million, compared to CGI animated features like Rio and Kung Fu Panda 2's $484.6 million and $665.7 million. In this regard, it is understandable why Disney would compare Kung Fu Panda 2, Rio and Winnie the Pooh, thus leaving the animated styles as the big difference.

I don't believe that Disney have stopped producing hand-drawn animation because the medium is bad, it wasn't down to the animation, it was down to the storyline of the film, the length of the film and the fact that it had to compere with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 during it's opening weekend, which set a worldwide opening-weekend record with $483.2 million. Winnie the Pooh had bad luck, bad production and bad writing, resulting in Disney moving towards CGI for the near future.

[PRACTICE] Animation Test #4

I have recently been experimenting with animating paper animation using Adobe flash, one of the experiments was to create the illusion that the character I have drawn on paper being drawn using Flash. To do this, I had to draw the character first on paper, scan it, and import it into Flash. After importing, bit by bit I deleted little sections of the drawing until there was nothing left, I reversed the animation and it gave the illusion that the character was being drawn in Flash. Below is the example:

After creating this animation test, I wanted to animate a hand drawing the picture. To do this, I drew a hand in Flash, creating groups for each individual finger and moved the hand around the image to create the illusion that the hand was drawing the character, below is the example:

I didn’t want to delve too deep into this by having the hand draw the entire character, as I felt that this would be very time consuming for a test animation and if I were to use the footage, would be very long winded and drag out, so I decided to stick with the drawing of the head. I will continue to experiment with paper animation, I am currently in the process of creating my storyboard and I feel that these tests will help me when I begin to create my animatic. 

[PRE-PRODUCTION] Final Script/Layout Test

Now that I have a finalized script, I wanted to jump right into a storyboard, however one of the things I struggle with when starting the pre-production is getting the layout of the animation correct. To help with this, I created a very rough layout test, similar to how Walt Disney created his storyboards in the 1920s. However, I didn't want to create my storyboards in this way, I wanted to use a more modern means to create my storyboards. Below is the layout script that I created after finalizing my script:

Now that I have created my layout test, I can see how some of the scenes will play out. This will make it easier when I create my storyboards and when I am setting the scene. I will begin to create my storyboard shortly, now that I have my final script and now that I have a rough layout test.

[RESEARCH] Neil Boyle Questionnaire - What is the future for mainstream hand-drawn animation?

Throughout November, I have been sending questionnaires to independent animators who have experience in the animation industry. In this questionnaire, I wanted to figure out how they market their animation, their personal preference on animation and their opinion on the future of hand-drawn animation. On the 18/11/2016 I received a reply from Neil Boyle, an independent animator who has worked on projects such as The Snowman and the Snowdog, The Jungle book 2, Space Jam, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and more recently, Ethel and Ernest.

The feedback from the questionnaire was very insightful to what it is I am researching, it has helped me with my Literature and Contextual Review greatly. Below is the questionnaire with the feedback in full I received on the 20/11/2016:

The Future of Hand-drawn Animation in Mainstream Cinema  

Neil Boyle

What medium of animation is your personal preference?
Hand drawn animation, or as people sometimes refer to it now, '2D animation' 

(Regarding the previous question) Any reasons for this?
There is an extraordinary charm to seeing drawings come alive - drawings that seem to walk and talk and think. I enjoy the feeling of 'magic' when a drawing is both obviously unreal (it's clearly a graphic symbol, made of pencil, ink and paper) but it also seems incredibly alive (apparently with weight and form, and able to move and emote). 

How do you (or your team) market your animation?
I am rarely involved (as director and/ or animator) with the marketing of my projects, as I am usually  working within the commercial art field (TV adverts, 'Specials', and feature films) where producers and marketing teams are already involved. But within the realm of personal short film projects (such as my short The Last Belle) I would put the film out around selected film festivals for about a year or two, followed by a release onto a public platform such as YouTube.  

Why do you think CG animation is more dominant in mainstream cinema?
CG animation is much more 'producer-friendly'. The digital realm makes it easier for producers - including non-creative producers - to impose their footprint on the production. Camera angles, design elements and colours can all be changed relatively easily, right up until the last minute. With traditional animation far more decision making has to happen during the pre-production process, and once those decisions are made they are harder (and thus more expensive) to change further down the line.
Fashions are also cyclical. At the moment CG has already hit its peak and there is some renewed interest in hand drawn animation. The bottom line is that audiences will always be drawn in by good storytelling, regardless of the medium. 

Walt Disney Animation Studio has not released a hand-drawn feature film since the release of Winnie the Pooh in 2011 and there are no plans to return to hand-drawn in the near future, do you think this has impacted animators, animation studios and the mainstream cinema?
It certainly had an impact on mainstream animation in the sense that many hundreds, even thousands, of 'traditional' artists lost their jobs. But hand-drawn animation has begun to flourish on the 'arthouse' and smaller commercial circuit. It has begun to tell stories that CG animation has not gone near, with films like 'Ethel and Ernest', 'Persepolis' and the forthcoming 'The Breadwinner'. Developing technologies like TVPaint software, and the Cintiq drawing board are also reinvigorating the 2D animation world. 2D animation may be regarded as a more 'boutique' technique now, and not something that will compete with the likes of monolithic entertainment corporations like Pixar, but it is growing a reputation for more interesting, individualistic projects for smaller, even niche, audiences.   

Animation has become so advanced in recent years, do you think we should disregard old animation techniques (light-box, cut-out etc.) to make way for newer, easier and faster animation methods?
Every trick in the book is useful! Every technique has its place. The more an artist understands the heritage of technologies and methodologies, the more tools he or she has at their fingertips. For me, the exciting future of animation is blending 'Old School' thinking with'High-Tech' tools to create something fresh and exciting. 

What are your opinions on this quote?; “I think today 2D animation has a responsibility, much like painters had after photography was invented, to reinvent what it is. It can’t go after realism, because there is no point; it has to do something only 2D can do. In painting, we got Expressionism, Impressionism, Cubism and other modern movements because of photography.”
Broadly speaking I completely agree with this quote. There is no point in trying to achieve absolute realism visually. What is always interesting to me is how an artist sees the world, what that world looks like in their eyes, and feels like in their heart. 'Reality' is dull - I want to experience the world now and again through someone else's perspective - in just the same way our mental and emotional horizons can be broadened by reading different authors, from Dickens to  Austen, or Kafka to Zola. Artists open up how we experience the world, far beyond the superficial sense of what something looks like on the surface.

[PRACTICE] Character Profile - The Old Animator

The Old Animator

Basic Statistics:

Character Name: The Old Animator

Full Name: Albert Underwood
Sex: Male
Age: 70

The old animator is an elderly, humble, retired man who spends most of his time drawing cartoon characters in his animation studio in his house. He lives in a small house in Rotherham in the United Kingdom alone, and could be considered fairly passive. He has a son and four grand children, however his parents and brother have all deceased. 

Physical Characteristics:

Weight: 120-130 kg

Height: 5'4-5'9 ft
Species: Human

The old animator's most distinguishing feature is his large, grey, bushy beard and mustache. He wears a dark red shirt, wears a pair of dungarees and large brown shoes. He has hairy arms, however has receded his hair. He is fairly fat however has a well built top half, he has to wear size XL shirts and have his trousers held up by a belt, however chooses dungarees because they are comfier.

Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes:

The old animator is a gleeful man who enjoys the work he does, and could be considered a child-at-heart. He isn't very stern in his attitude, nor does he show any real negative traits. He is a fairly loving, nurturing and protective person, and is quick to accept things. He has spent his entire life selflessly trying to bring joy to others through animation. The old animator is a very wise man and can be considered intelligent, is is incredibly imaginative and likes to create a variety of characters. He is a dedicated man who is quick to help anyone.

Emotional Characteristics:

The old animator has many strengths; including the ability to animate in the 1930s, being selfless to everyone and being a well known and liked individual, however he is considered passive and somewhat absent-minded which can be a weakness for him. He was an extrovert in his early years, however now he is getting older he has become more of an introvert, he would rather spend time in his animation studio than leave his house. 

[INSPIRATION] The Powerpuff Girls

The Powerpuff Girls may seem like a strange animated show to talk about, however, for May the Cat I feel like this show has given me a good amount of inspiration. The show is created by Craig McCracken, an animator who is still creating shows even today, he first created the show as a student film for CalArts, the show would be called "The Whoopass Girls", and soon, the show was pitched to Cartoon Network as The Powerpuff Girls. 

One of the things about the characters that strikes me is the simplistic designs. The three girls, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup all have the exact same body and head shape and can be made up using these steps below:

May the Cat is a little more complicated than that, however I have been thinking of altering her design slightly to have a more smoother look, similar to the Powerpuff Girls. The characters can be easily animated using the models sheets above, as they consist of balls, tubes and sausages respectively. Craig McCracken's character designs are always very lively, bouncy and fluid, his later show, Wander Over Yonder is a perfect example of this and in someways has also inspired Max the Cat, as Wander Over Yonder incorporates a sort of new rubber-hose animation style.

The Powerpuff Girls designs are easy on the eye, there is nothing complicated about them, which is something I wanted for May the Cat. I feel like if I do a few more tests with May the Cat, but keep the design I am happy with, I can get a character with similar attributes to the Powerpuff Girls but keep the same feel which I am going for.

[PRACTICE] Character Profile - The Young Animator

The Young Animator

Basic Statistics:

Character Name: The Young Animator

Full Name: Daniel Pickle
Sex: Male
Age: 24

The young animator is a lanky, smart mouthed young man who spends most of his time drawing cartoon characters in his new animation studio in his new house. He has only recently moved into a small house in Rotherham in the United Kingdom alone, where the old animator used to live before passing away. He has no brothers or sisters and his parents live down South in London.

Physical Characteristics:

Weight: 65-70 kg

Height: 5'9-6'2 ft

Species: Human

The young animator as a dark grey hat that he wears over his shaggy black hair, he has two large stretchers in his ears and wears a two-toned long sleeved shirt, white and blue. He has baggy brown trousers and wears black sneakers. He is very lanky, fairly tall and has fair skin. 

Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes:

The young animator is a fairly laid-back, dimwitted individual who is very easy-going. He is creative and imaginative and enjoys drawing and animating. He is a very friendly person who is sweet and charitable, however can come across as boisterous and eccentric at times. He isn't the most intelligent man, however he does make up for this with his ability to create. He is a nice person who is willing to help anyone in need, however because of his lazy attitude he isn't the most popular person.

Emotional Characteristics:

The young animator has many weaknesses; including his laid-back attitude towards everything, his somewhat boisterous and eccentric personality and his intellectual level, however has strengths too; he is a very nice and caring young man, though he doesn't have many friends, the friends he does have are good ones and he has a fantastic ability to animate in modern software. He is an introvert, he would much prefer a night in by himself than going out with his friends. He wants to be a great animator one day and is motivated, if he could make an animated show or an animated movie, this would make him the happiest man and make his dreams come true.

[BOOK] Masters of Animation

"The Felix films contained a huge number of visual gags which played upon the basic genre of the animation medium itself. When Felix used a question mark as a fishing hook and caught a fish, the animator was seen to be commenting on a functional metamorphosis which was only possible with animation."

Masters of Animation is a fantastic delve into the history of animation, however rather than focusing on the history of the medium itself, it focuses on the animators from all over the world. Because the book was released in 1987, it focuses on very early forms of animation, which to me is useful as it only delves into digital animation only slightly, because it was newly developed. 

The chapters in the book focus on specific animators, a few in particular are Pat Sullivan, Max Fleischer, Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney. It talks about how animation was developed at specific times and also talks about studios and development across the world, one specific thing I took from this book is why rubber-hose animation was popular, and why animation moved away from the rubber-hose style. One thing the book states is that "Psychologically, the audience became virtually addicted to the comic relief of watching cartoon characters perform or survive feats which they themselves could not have enacted.", however "after the initial period of exploration and expansion, the once ambitious and challenging outlook became somewhat stagnant, which the emphasized increasingly falling on a cute-but-realistic style which was instantly accessible to popular audiences." Because companies were shifting direction, namely Disney, artists were rebelling and leaving the company; notably was John Hubley who left to form UPA (United Productions of America).

Overall, the book is a fantastic read, and although similar to other History of Animation books, this one focuses on a specific area, and because of its age, doesn't delve into different medums other than traditional.

[REFERENCE] Photographic References - Cintiq

Similar to what I am doing with the light-box, I wanted to take photographic references of the Wacom Cintiq that the young animator would use. I will be using the drawing tablet for the majority of the animation when I am not using the light-box. I wanted to make sure that I get the design right as it is one of the more common animation hardware that people use, in contrast to a light-box for example.

[PRACTICE] Character Profile - May the Cat

May the Cat

Basic Statistics:

Character Name: May the Cat

Full Name: Mavis Pickles Cat
Sex: Female
Age: 16

Max the Cat is an animated anthropomorphic cat who was born in the United Kingdom in 2016 in animation software using a Wacom Cintiq knock off drawing tablet, created by Daniel Pickle. May can move smoothly and using her model based shapes can tween around at will if she wishes. May is currently the only known drawing of Daniel, however she is highly intelligent and understands that she is an animated character and Daniel is her artist. May has never left the animation room however, because she is bound to a laptop she has the ability to travel providing the animation software is open during this time, if not she will sleep.

Physical Characteristics:

Weight: 6-9lbs

Height: 4'5-4'8cm

Breed: Cat

May the Cat is a full colour anthropomorphic cat, who has light blue skin with a slight white patch around her mouth. She wears a pastel pink dress which flicks out at the bottom. She is a short and slender character and is usually smiling and has large, wide eyes with large black pupils and has a thick, dark outline around her entire body. She has small hands and small feet and her ears are half the size of her head.

Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes:

May the Cat has a optimistic personality, and is usually seen smiling. She is very intelligent and quick witted and can usually handle herself in a situation. She is a nice person however isn't particularly a funny character, she has a good sense of humor and enjoys laughing. She is honest and free-spirited and has a fun-loving personality. May has an ambition to be a famous cartoon character, as well as travel the world. She is kind and caring and is willing to help anyone that she can.

Emotional Characteristics:

May the Cat is a nice character who is constantly smiling, she is an innocent character and will usually have her heart on her sleeve. Her strengths include being very independent, she can get herself out of sticky situations easily. May is very polite and is not judgmental of anyone, she hopes to one day leave the confides of her animation software and explore the world, this would make May a very happy girl.

[PRE-PRODUCTION] Film Treatment

Film Title:

When Dreams Became Data

Logline:

An animator in the 1920s creates a new cartoon character known as Max the Cat who comes alive, after the animator dies we fast forward 95 years and a new animator enters the scene, he creates a new cartoon character known as May the Cat and the two cat's fall in love, however can the two meet when Max is constrained to paper and May is constrained to the computer?

Synopsis:

The year is 1920, and an old, retired animator picks up his pencil once again to produce a new cartoon character, Max the Cat. Max springs to life once completed and the two form a strong bond, years go by and inevitably, the old man dies, leaving Max alone in the room he was created. Move forward 95 years and the room is disturbed by a young animator, who produces a new cartoon character, May the Cat. The two cats notice each other and soon enough form a young love, however, can two cartoon characters stuck in their drawn medium ever meet? Can the two be together, or will their love end in tragedy?

Technical Information:

Certification: U

Genre: Romance, Fantasy

Animated medium: Traditionally hand-drawn, 2D digitally drawn

Aspect ratio: 16:9

Resolution: 1080 x 1920

Main Characters:

Max the Cat

May the Cat

The Young Animator

The Old Animator

Plot:

Act one: The year is 1920, and an old animator enters the animation room and sits down at his desk, he begins to draw onto some animation paper sitting on a light-box, once finished he is left with a cat character; Max the Cat. He puts the animation paper onto the wall and Max begins to move around, the old animator laughs at Max and exits the room, we fast forward through time until the old animator dies, leaving the room dark and quiet and Max waiting for him to return, but he never does.

Act two: The year is now 2016, and the room has not been touched since the animator passed away. the silence is disturbed by a young looking animator who enters the room and begins to set up his laptop, animation tablet and projector on the table where the light-box used to sit. Curiously, Max watches as the young animator begins to draw a character using the new technology. The young animator sets down his pen and exits the room, meanwhile, Max tries to see what the young animator has drawn, he sees a full coloured cat drawing; May the Cat. The two look at each other and Max begins to try and make May laugh, he fails the first time but using the principles of animation he makes her giggle. The two begin to fall in love, however they cannot be with each other as they are limited to the mediums they were drawn in.

The young animator enters the room again, closes the animation tab, sets up the projector and begins to watch a film. We fast forward to the end of the film and the young animator is fast asleep, once the credits finish rolling the animation tab re-opens and May is left projected onto the wall. Max notices and runs across the room to finally meet her, he offers her a hand and she accepts, and the two are left holding hands.

Act three: Morning comes and the young animator wakes up, he realizes he has over slept and rushes out of the door, leaving everything still running. Once the door shuts it is revealed that the two are still holding hands, while Max is on a piece of paper and May is still on the computer, but however projected next to Max the Cat. Both of them are smiling and the film comes to an end.

[REFERENCE] Photographic References - Light-box

When I begin animating, I will be using a light-box for half of the animation, and because my animation features a light-box I want to make sure I get the accuracy of the light-box perfect. As you may have seen in a previous post, I usually draw a light box where the wood is much wider, however because I want the light-box to be a near perfect replica of Chromacolour light-boxes I will try drawing them more square shaped with the disc center.

[PRACTICE] Character Profile - Max the Cat

Max the Cat

Basic Statistics:

Character Name: Max the Cat

Full Name: Maximus Puddles Cat
Sex: Male
Age: 16

Max the Cat is an animated anthropomorphic cat who was born in the United Kingdom in 1930 on a sheet of animation paper, created by Albert Underwood. Max is the embodiment of rubber-hose animation so has the ability to remove limbs and other body parts at will, expand and deflate, as well as break many laws of physics using the twelve principles of animation. Although Max has no siblings, he considers Albert his father and any other drawings he creates his family. Max has never left the animation room as he is bound to paper, and can only hop from one sheet of paper to another.

Physical Characteristics:

Weight: 7-10lbs

Height: 4'8-5'0cm

Breed: Cat

Max the Cat is a black and white anthropomorphic cat, who has black skin with a white, mask like face. He wears white gloves and large white shoes, and also wears a light grey t-shirt. He has large ears and small eyes with a large grin-like smile. However, because he is drawn on paper he is never fully coloured in and often enough has sporadic white marks all over him.

Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes:

Max the Cat has a very excitable personality, he is constantly bouncing even when stationary and has a very optimistic view. He is clever and witty, he is quickinging and crafty and can save himself from a variety of danger to end up on top in the end. He is considered fairly intelligent and is a funny character and likes to make people laugh, he is imaginative and often uses his rubber-hose ability as a joke, expanding or retracting his arms or completely changing his shape. He believes he is perceived as a nice, funny and jolly character. Max's only ambition is to make people laugh. He is boyish and somewhat heroic and selfless, he would help anyone in need if he could. 

Emotional Characteristics:

Max the Cat is a very happy character, he is constantly seen with a large grin on his face, he is also known for being mischievous due to his curiosity and optimism. His strengths are his ability to make friends or turn people to his side quickly, however this can also be seen as a weakness as he appears fairly forward. He is an extrovert, however cannot ever leave the confines of the animation paper, he would one day like to leave his "prison" and explore the world making people laugh, which would make the Max very happy.

[PRE-PRODUCTION] Screen Writing - Scripting Conventions

Although I have finished the base of my story in the form of a script, I want to explain how I came to write my script and the research I did in order to create it. I learnt script writing while studying at Rotherham College of Arts and Technology, and now ironically enough, I teach script writing at Rotherham College of Arts and Technology.

While teaching how to write a script with my students, I ask them to create an example script and to include all of the following;

• Scene heading; A description of the location, time of the day and whether it's indoors or outdoors, usually in once sentence.
• Action; A description of any action or events that will appear on the screen.
• Characters first appearance; A description of the character that has first appeared on screen.
• Character; The characters name which always appears above the dialogue to show who is actually speaking.
• Dialogue; The lines of speech that the character is saying.
• Transition; Any form of editing instruction.
• Sub Header; A less detailed description of the location, time of day and whether it's indoors or outdoors, used when a longer heading is not needed.
• Parenthetical; A description of the action or attitude of the character.
• Extension; A description on how the voice will be heared by the audience.
• More & Continues; 'Mores' and 'continues' are used when the dialogue is spilling over to the next page, this is used to indicate the same character is speaking.
• Page Number; The page number which is located in the top right of the page.
• Intercut; Quick cuts between two scene locations.

Although every script does not need these, I think it's good to know what each of them are and what they do in the script.

Example of a script from 1928, Mickey Mouse - Steamboat Willie

Example of a script from 2010, Adventure Time - It Came from the Nightosphere

[INSPIRATION] Contemporary Rubber-hose Animation

I talked alot about classic examples of rubber-hose animation, from 1910s to the 1940s in a previous post. However, one of the things I have been interested in now is a contemporary take on the style, during the 1940s rubber-hose animation began to be replaced by a more realism style of animation, Walt Disney began to create more and more realistic styles of animation which followed the rules of live action. The trend began to spread and because of the popularity and success of Walt Disney's work, animation producers at the time began to follow suit. Fleischer Studios continued to use it until the 1940s before turning to a more contemporary style, and soon enough, rubber-hose animation became obselite.

Now-a-days, the style has a sort of cult following. It is often recreated and mimiced, including all the video distortions, the 4:3 aspect ratio and the black and white colours. It can also be parodied in a way, take for example Fernando Miller's short animated video; Flea & Fly in "City Troubles" (2013), the style of animation is 100% rubber-hose and it recreates it perfectly, however, towards the end they break the fourth wall in a way that wasn't possible by Felix the Cat in the 1920s, at 5 minutes and 18 seconds into the video the characters jump out of the 4:3 aspect ratio and wander around the darkness, revealing that the video is actually filmed in a 16:9 aspect ratio. Below is the full video:

This is a very clever way of using rubber-hose animation, and although it is a very nice homage to the style, the story of Flea & Fly adresses a dark topic which is lightened by the animation style. The film's underlining implication is that of the real life problems of street children in modern Brazil, the film focuses on two children who smoke, drink alcohol, steal, bathe in public and urinate in the street, the film ends with these children being killed in the street.

This is loosely based of a true event which occoured in 1993 in Brazil in which 8 street children where killed by police officers outside the Candelaria Church, the same location in where the two children in this animation are killed in the street by the plice officers. One thing that is clever is that the story is lightened by the animation style, this sort of plot is very similar to plots that were around in the 1920s, such as Katzenjammer Kids, so while it has an underlined message about how children live in Rio, it is lightened by the styling of rubber-hose animation.

Another animation which is true to the rubber-hose style is Ghost of Stephen Foster a music video for the band Squirrel Nut Zippers, see below;

The animation was heavily inspired by the Fleischer Brothers style of animation, and focused specifically on their animation style of rubber-hose. this can be seen by the character designs and the animated objects. Fleischer Studios were among the few that not only gave life to their characters, but also gave life to objects as well, many objects would dance in time to the music, which makes it the perfect inspiration for a music video paying homage to rubber-hose animation.

Many modern shows have parodied rubber-hose animation, taking it to extreme lengths or just stereotyping the style. Below are a few examples of cartoons who have parodied rubber-hose animation:

Fairly Odd Parents - The Good Old Days

Futurama - The Beast with a Billion Backs! (Opening Sequence)

Tiny Toons Adventures - Two-Tone Town

Mickey Mouse - Get a Horse!

The Simpsons - Cough  Gag by Eric Goldberg

Porco Rosso

[PERSONAL] Wildseed Studios Film Screening with Q&A

On the 11/11/2016, I attended a film screening for the film Darkest Dawn (2016) and Q&A with Miles Bullough and Drew Casson, part of the production team at the company Wildseed Studios. The film itself was a live-action, horror, sci-fi, thriller hybrid and is released on iTunes, Amazon and Sky Store, hitting number 12 on the iTunes pre-order chart within 3 days of sale. 

The thing that I personally found striking about the entire film was two things; the actors and the origin of the film. Darkest Dawn had a very specific acting set, Youtube 'celebrities' such as Bethany Leadley, Cherry Wallis and Stuart Ashen. This is a very strategic thing to do, as Youtube celebrities usually have a large following, and because of this, an independent company (such as Wildseed) can use this for free marketing. The reason why I found the origin of the film striking is because it again comes back to Youtube. The director Drew Casson, started out as a VFX artist on Youtube, creating small projects and videos, until he was noticed by Miles Bullough, who previously was an executive producer for Aardman's A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008). Bullough contacted Drew and the two created the film Darkest Dawn.

Youtube played a huge role in the creation of this film, from it's origin to it's actors. Now this is a very interesting thing to me, as it's a completely different way for marketing than I have seen. Youtube is now a decade old, it's mainstream and has a very large demographic, it reaches over 81.2% of the internet's users in the US alone. Bethany Leadley and Cherry Wallis, actors from the film, both have popular make-up & cosmetic heavy content on their channel, which actually are the most popular videos for women on Youtube. Videos containing makeup & cosmetics accumulate 89.31% of the female viewership on Youtube, so these girls are very likely to get noticed by many female users. 

Stuart Ashen's Youtube channel is very review and comedy heavy and has accumulated over 1,000,000 subscribers to his channel. Stuart has a very large following, and his videos usually get roughly 250,000 views. Now this to me, seems like a very good opportunity for both independent film studios and Youtubers; independent film studios can have cheaper publicity and actors and the Youtubers can finally be on th ebig screen, not just through a computer monitor. Considering the film had around a £45,000, this was a strategic thing for Wildseed to do.

The reason I am intrigued by this, why I have focused specifically on marketing through Youtube, and why I am talking about this overall is because as I have previously talked about in Ethel & Ernest, hand-drawn animation is no longer the mainstream medium, it's very independent after the boom of CGI. If independent hand-drawn animation has a hope of surviving, it needs an audience, and I think many studios can appreciate what Wildseed did in order to reach their audience, they chose popular Youtubers and used them to promote their film by having them star in the film. 

[PRE-PRODUCTION] Storyboard Research - Modern Storyboards

Story-boarding has come a long way since story-boarding of the 1920s to 30s, modern day story-boarders take roughly around 20 minutes just to do a single panel in a story-board with the average length of an 11 minute TV episode storyboard takes roughly six weeks. However, on more current projects, deadlines have dropped the time to create a storyboard and artists are being squeezed to create the same amount of work within five to four weeks.

A fully cleaned-up panel should be made up of the following things:

• A background of suggestion
• A full, on-model character acting/expressing story point
• Scene description, camera action and special effect direction.
• Initial rough timing for the shot

Before creating a storyboard, you must have a completed script to begin planning. You need to think about staging; to see where and how a shot is set up in relation to location choice and camera position, acting; to see how the character(s) will act in the shot in relation to the personality of the character, style of the show and dialogue delivery, and continuity; to maintain continued visual plot points in relation to the costumes, on model character proportions and to maintain point of interest to the characters.

Once you have finished the planning, you need to begin creating the image in the panel. The first thing that you should draw is the thumbnail; which is the initial skeletal composition, acting, staging and action. After you should create the rough drawing, which consists of reworking the initial ideas, background drawings and refined acting action. Finally, once the rough is complete you can start on the clean up, tightening all character acting and visual information.

Once you have a finished drawn panel, you need to put in the information and scene description, tis can consist of; camera information, dialogue, special effects, sound effects, description of action and any staging requests. 

"Storyboarding for animation is NOT just rapidly drawing a sketch. Even if a story artist is doing a pitch session and is quickly throwing up post-its, those sketches have to be taken down, reworked, and put into a blueprint like format so that the team working on the film can use them effectively."

Hulett, S. (2016). Storyboard Deadlines ... Storyboard Timelines. [online] Animationguildblog.blogspot.co.uk. Available at: http://animationguildblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/storyboard-deadlines-storyboard.html [Accessed 10 Nov. 2016].

[DRAWINGS] Recent Sketches: 07/11/2016 - 12/11/2016

Now that I have finalized my characters, I have been practicing to draw their faces in different expressions, experimented with styles and overall had fun drawing them. Below is a collection of a variety of drawings I have done over the last week, I spent more time on some than others however I enjoyed drawing each of these:

Max the Cat 

May the Cat

The Old Animator

The Young Animator

Overall I am happy with the drawings I am producing, and I am happy with the character designs I have created. I feel they are diverse from one and other and although the whole idea of my practice is the different mediums, I feel that the styles of each character are very similar, so the art direction doesn't drastically change all the time. This is something I wanted to achieve in my practice as I feel it would be a distraction from the overall story. Below are the main characters in the short which I drew after practicing above:

[INSPIRATION] 1920's Rubber-hose Animation

Rubber-hose animation will play a huge part in my animation, Max the Cat will play as an embodiment of classic rubber-hose techniques, although I have briefly talked about this in one of the first posts I made; Walt Disney, I want to delve deeper into what rubber-hose animation actually is.

Rubber-hose animation was created in America around the 1920s, a time when animation was fairly new, there was no real standard for animation nor were there any expirienced animators. However there were skilled comic strip artists who became fasinated by moving drawings and wanted to challenge their skills by delving into the possibilities of moving drawings. Artists would experiment with what would work and what would not, until they began to create drawings with the illusion of movement, and over time, the most successful characters and cartoons would have a huge influemce on the animation industry. One of the most successful characters and cartoons being Felix the Cat created by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer.

The animation had very bouncy and rubber like movement, the limbs were somewhat noodle like and avoided stiff movement. The humour was very visual, with many sight gags and surreal plot lines. However, it was Felix's happy-go-lucky but short tempered attitude, capability to use his initiative to get himself out of difficult situations and fourth-wall breaking made him a very likeable character and an influencial character to other animators, because of this many immitators emerged to recreate the style, affecting the entire industry. Over time, as animation began to evolve, although the dominating style and design varied from studio to studio, it became known as rubber-hose animation.

One of the studios that was influenced by the rubber-hose style was the Fleischer Studio, ran by the two Fleischer brothers; Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer. They created a character known as Koko the Clown which became the break through for the company in the Out of the Inkwell series of animation, which was a hybrid for rubber-hose animation and roto-scoping. However, once 1930s came the studio create a new character which in many ways followed very similar design styles as Felix the Cat, the character was known as Bimbo the Dog, an irrational character with a weakness for attractive women. Down the line, the studio decided to give Bimbo a girlfriend, Betty Boop, who quickly casted a large shadow over Bimbo in popularity. Over time, Betty Boop cartoons were forced to tone down the innuendos and seual humor soon was eclipsed by the creation of a character who could be considered the magnum-opus of the Fleischer Studio, Popeye the Sailor Man, in this regard, Fleischer Studios was rather special, as it was one of the few Studios whose stars were not animals, but human characters. However, the studio ran into financial problems in the 1940s and the studio shut down until Famous Studios siezed control.

The list goes on with how many studios, cartoons and characters were inspired by the rubber-hose animation style, below are a few examples of the style, represented through characters and cartoons from eras 1910s to the 1940s:

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Scrappy

Krazy Kat

Bosko

Cubby Bear

Pooch the Pup

Beans the Cat

[PRE-PRODUCTION] Concept Art - Cintiq and Room

Similar to what I did before with the Light-box, I wanted to see how the Cintiq that the Young Animator will use will light up the room in the animation. Once we jump into the future, the Young Animator will disregard the old light-box and replace it with a more modern drawing tablet. I wanted it to be a Cintiq rather than a Bamboo or an Intuos as Cintiq's have a screen, which allows people to draw straight onto it, this is the closest thing to a digital light-box in my personal opinion.

I wanted to re-create the animation software I will be animating in aswell, that being Adobe Flash CS4. Below you can see a comparison of the light where May the Cat is, compared to the lonely musky wall where Max the Cat sits. I personally like this, as it shows that traditional animation methods are overshadowed by the new, more modern digital animation styles. I will continue to experiment with the backgrounds and the objects, I will try and draw a few more walls in the room to get a real feel for where the animation will take place.

[PERSONAL] The Four Main Characters

Above are the four main characters in my animation, from left to right; Max the Cat, The Old Animator, The Young Animator and May the Cat. Although Max the Cat wont appear digitally drawn in the animation, I wanted to get an accurate size comparison to the animators if the cats were to ever enter their reality. I am personally really happy with the outcome of these characters, they have all become their own, from the colour schemes, to their style, to their attire, it's all diverse and original.

I want to try and create a few more digital practice drawings, to get a feel for the characters, how they move and interact with one and other. I think these characters will appeal to audiences, as they are diverse, but not too far out there. I will continue to experiment with positions and animation tests using these characters, however now that I have finished the character designs and finished the script, I feel like I am ready to begin story-boarding the overall story.

[PRACTICE] Final Character Design: May the Cat

The female cat, who I have decided to name May the Cat, as a play on the name Max the Cat, was the hardest character to design. I wanted to create a character who was a representation of a modern art style, which proved difficult as there are so many things that could represent a modern art style. I thought about a more anime style for her, however decided against it. I wanted something with a similar body shape to Max as to not have a huge size difference when they finally meet.

For me, there were many aspects that I had to get right with this character; one was the face, I didn't want May to have a boy-ish face, nor did I want her to appear too cat like, but with that in mind, I had to make sure the face and head shape represented a cat, and not some form of cat/creature hybrid. I did a few face tests to see what face could work. The second aspect that I had to get right was the body, I didn't want the character to appear too cat like, I wanted something similar to Max, perhaps a dress or a skirt for clothing. I didn't want gloves or shoes, as I feel we are delving back into the 1920s character designs. After a few traditionally drawn attempts, this is what I came up with:

The body to me felt very Hello Kitty (1974), but I was on the right lines. The face would come next, I had a few face ideas which involved big eyes, and some which involved bold black eyes. However the above 4 were the ones I was struggling between, any of them could have worked for the character I was wanting to create. I tested the eyes on the body above, and I narrowed it down to the big eyes. I liked the bold black eyes, however I felt there was only so much expression I could get from eyes like this, and I felt it would be too similar to Max, as he has bold black eyes.

I settled for the eyes with the bigger pupils, partially inspired by the 'Moe' theory derived from Japanese culture. Moe is a style of anime design in which they create a character just for pure cute aesthetics, although I don't want my character to be of pure anime style, I have taken inspiration from the technique. The style itself is partially inspired by Preston Blairs "cute character theory" as seen on the left of the page: short arms, small nose and mouth, fat legs, eyes spaced low on head and usually large and wide apart and head large in relation to the body. This can be seen in many different characters, especially in Japanese animation. I have tried to follow these techniques to create a character that fits the "cute character" theory.

This to me felt like a step in the right direction, as although the theory is derived from an old Disney animation technique, it's developed into the modern day Japanese term of Moe. As Moe characters a hugely popular in Japan right now, I feel like this would have been a great way to incoproprate a modern technique into my character.

"It is important to point out that the style of Anime that is so popular today, known as ‘Moe’ (Moh-aye), was inspired by western animation styles. It is true that there are many aspects of Anime as it is known today, which was inspired by Disney. Such things as the large, expressive eyes were popular for characters like Betty Boop and Mickey Mouse. "(Kintaro, 2008)

After finishing the body and face shape, I had to decide on the colour and any patterns the character might have on their body and face. Cats have many different colours and patterns, however, as stated before, I wanted to steer away from the normal cat aesthetics and go for bright and pastel colours, but i'd have to find a pattern that would compliment these choices, so I did a face test, as seen below:

There were many different face styles to choose from, I was inspired by Animal Crossing for many of the face patterns. It proved difficult to decide on a face pattern this way, so I decided to narrow the designs further, to do this I would get a variety of colours and mix and match patterns with styles. This would be what i presented to friends, family and students for advice. But first I had to narrow it down to a few patterns, I decided to try a little bit of each, except the stripes. This was for "line mileage", the more complex the pattern design the harder and longer it would have been to animate, so I decided for the simple two colour tones. Below was the test I produced:

After discussing with a few students, friends and family, we decided on choosing a blue and pink combo for the colours, as it represented a sort of "bubble gum" colour style, which is nice on the eyes and not too in your face. The colours also indicate the gender somewhat, light pinks and blues. 

After deciding on this, I added shading and created the final character design which can be seen at the top of the page, overall I am happy with the design, however the design is somewhat subject to change through the development. I will continue to develope the character further, but for now, I have the final character designs for all 4 of my main characters, and with a script finished, I feel ready to begin storyboarding the actual story.

"What Is Anime?". Critical Analysis of Japanese Animation. N.p., 2008. Web. 6 Nov. 2016.