Create and justify a planned animation (P5, P6)

Creating the charcters 

When We originally planned out the creation of our characters, clay seemed like the best option for my animation, this is because although it can be time consuming to mold the characters into place, it had a wide variety of colours and different types of ways to be used, therefore it made the most sense. However when actually put into practice this fell short, the clay I used did not sustain itself and actually started deteriorating, meaning the characters I created ended up breaking down. To compramise for this, I looked into using Custom modeled figures for my animation, this is because they are buildable and flexible and cut down the time it takes to create my characters by a longshot. 

 

 

 

Setting up my equipment 

The lighting and camera angles of my production were extremely important in order to get the setting right, because we are in lockdown, I had to ensure there was a location I could consistently produce the same lighting and angle from, I was able to produce this outcome using a bright UV light from a Ring light I owned as well as ensuring my tripod was never moved in the filming process. Specifically filming when it was dark out was part of my intention as it also allowed for me to have the exact same lighting as to not ruin the green screen I planned on using for my backplates.

 

 

 

 

 

Setting up the backplates

The usage of a previously used green/blue screen that my sister owned from past media work allowed me to use this and apply my work to premier pro to turn this into a green screen, I could then using this, add on my backplatets in Post-Production. Using these tools and this shelf allowed for me to hold a consistant scene when shooting from different days.

 

 

 

 

 

Log Sheet 

Having he addition of a log sheet for my animation was beneficial because it allowed me to track all of the elements and shots needed to complete my animation on time. This also means I can work out exactly what I might want changed for my animation, overall helping me to meet the brief 

Using my phone, I was able to download and use an app known as stop motion maker. I used this app as it was very easy to just put all my images together in order and easily create the animation. Because of this, all I needed to do after that was the actual editing and voice overs for the animation. 

First draft edit 

Following on suite from my planned animation, I have used my storyboards to influence the creation of my first draft animation. As well as this, when actually in motion I have made sure to change and refine some areas of my animation. For example, the 6th scene originally in my animation felt irrelevant and completely different to the motion of the story, so understanding this I changed my storyboard and replanned out my story to better suit what I was going for. 

Other changes such as the character models had to also be changed, this was because the original clay that I purchased and planned on using actually became very broken down and difficult to work with, as well as this it didn't give enough of a violent theme to it. To counter this I decided to purchase some more graphical modelled zombies to better suit the animation.

To ensure the quality of my animation could be upheld as well as all of the camera angles and shots, I decided to film the complete animation in one sitting, this was to garuantee the positioning of the camera and the lighting stayed the same on the characters. This ensured a high quality production.  

Offline draft

I used my offline drafts and production schedules to be able to properly manage, plan and track my process of creating my animation. When creating the raw footage, I had to make sure that I could keep the lighting as well as blue screen consistent, this was a bit of an issue because my blue screen was so large it was slightly creasing as we went through the scenes, so we had to make sure we were able to fix this whiles going through the production process. 

Audio and editing process 

Firstly I composed my editing process through Final Cut Pro. I used this software as it contains a wide range of tools to help me improve my video. This also allowed me to edit the lighting and green screening of my animation effectively.  

I made sure I kept a good track of all my progress throughout the creation process. This helped me to be on point with the deadline as it kept me on track and on time for each individual element of the creation timeline.

I used tools such as Chroma keys to be able to properly green screen my background so that I could use my backplates as well. After this I made sure to use the tool by clicking on the centre of each image which then fully gets rid of any background that isn't needed.

When going through the animation, I used proper lighting to ensure that in the editing process there was consistency throughout. Because of this, I was able to save time on the editing process and focus my attention on other aspects such as the voiceover implementation and background music. 

The music I used took influence from the film 'Shaun of the dead' as this is another iconic and well known horror film made by Edgar wright who has a very unique way of creating comedy even in zombie films. We took the song 'Don't stop me now' and implemented this into the animation because its a great piece of contrasting music. This is because whiles there is mayhem and havoc being had in the streets with zombies being chased, the upbeat and happy music will be used to contrast to it and lighten the situation in a comedic sense. 

The voiceover was also easy to implement, simply you just have to drag and drop the file into your audio timeline on Final Cut and then edit it into the area you want. Using this I was able to create in time audio with the scenario in my animation. 

Once I had finished the actual editing process of putting all the clips and pictures in order with the backplates, I made sure to include a range of different voice overs and audio. For example, I used a range of constant contrapuntal audio to the song "don't stop me now" to create a humorous contrasting to the graphic violence. 

Using a proportioning tool, I was able to correctly preparation my animation to fit the screen and be at a high quality as well. Also, when creating my blue screen to use for my animation I needed to make sure I properly got the lighting and screen to work. To do this, I made sure to properly key my work. Using this I was able to correctly adjust the background and lighting of my animation to look at a high quality. 

At the end of the animation I created a quick and simple background image for the advertisement of Zombiemarch. This was to promote the location and timings so that people were aware of when the event was happening if they wanted to attend. 

Final product

In the final animation it turned out that I had to compromise some of the scenes and effects due to it being unrealistic towards a stop motion. This was because whiles creating the animation I felt some of the extra scenes that I had included felt irrelevant and just were placed in as a filler for more time on the video. As well as this, the effects that I wanted to include felt very tacky and unrealistic to the theme of my animation, therefore I made sure to remove these so that I could properly meet the briefs needs. The overall quality of my animation was then met by the usage of good figurines and a high quality lighting / blue screen. This was really good because it allowed me to meet the briefs needs of a high quality animation for Zombie March.