With this project I learned that no matter what situation we are given to animate we always have to go back to the 12 principles of animation and that without them our animation would be lacking of weight,gravity, balance, and it simply wouldn't look real or convincing. I can not describe the importance of nailing the 12 basic steps to ensure the success of the animation.
I am pleased with the final result, and after a number of exercises with detailed characters and exciting camera movements I finally learned to tone down on the design and focus only on the movement and working on it's fluidity. To do so, I had to finally surrender myself and use a simple stick figure to achieve a successful movement, which I have to admit that it saved a large amount of patience and it wasn't so time consuming. From now on I will always bear in mind to start simple and then allow it to build itself after achieving a successful strong foundation.
A few weeks ago we were given a project about the animation fundamentals where we had to go back to the very basics. The 12 principles of animation...1 Squash and stretch, 2 anticipation, 3 staging, 4 straight ahead or pose to pose, 5 Follow through and overlapping action, 6 slow-out and slow-in, 7 arcs, 8 secondary action, 9 timing, 10 exaggeration, 11 solid drawing, 12 appeal.
Here are some of my videos that I did when researching about the animation fundamentals...
Rocket exercise
Going up the stairs
movement exercises
standing up
After all the research, we were given a brief where we were suppose to do a major video with a series of exercises in which we could show off our skills about walk/running cycle, weight, and finally an obstacle course. We were told to keep the design minimalistic and just focus on the movement, so as you will see I tried to keep simple but fluid lines. Here is the outcome (still in progress)
First of all, as an animation student I decided to create a blog to talk about all the topics that we talk in classes and to publish all the little exercises that we have to do.
Second, I am also going to post my own research and sketchbook work to support my research material.
The Importance of drawing!!!
Since the first year that our tutors always highlighted the importance of carrying a sketchbook with us all the time. DRAW DRAW DRAW!!! that's the rule….. As an animator you are expected to draw all the time…when your bored…when feeling creative…when taking the tube…or at the coffee place..it doesn't matter really just as long as you keep practicing your hand, you'll see that after a while you will be able to draw really fast just from your head. It's just as if your hand has a mind of it's own and remembers the movements..
As an animation student, I decided to create a blog to support my research material and to keep track of all the exercises and projects that we are given at university.
First of all, I am going to talk about the importance of drawing… Since year 1 that our tutors always highlighted the importance of drawing constantly and carrying a sketchbook with us wherever we go.
DRAW DRAW DRAW….thats the rule…
Burton has directed 14 films as of 2010, and has produced 10 as of 2009. His next films are an adaptation of the soap opera Dark Shadows, scheduled to be released on May 11, 2012, and a remake of his 1984 short, Frankenweenie, scheduled to be released on October 5, 2012.
"Vincent"
While at Disney in 1982, Burton made his first short, Vincent, a six minute black and white stop motion film based on a poem written by the filmmaker, and depicting a young boy who fantasizes that he is his (and Burton's) hero Vincent Price, with Price himself providing narration. The film was produced by Rick Heinrichs, whom Burton had befriended while working in the concept art department at Disney.
Personally, this video was one of the many reasons that made me want to study animation. Tim burton is one of my biggest inspirations. He is the master in combining charm and innocence with mystery and darkness. Regardless how child like the story line is, he somehow is always able to bring this dark humour feel to the screen through his highly original characters and gory backgrounds.
Edward Scissorhands
In 1990, Burton co-wrote (with Caroline Thompson) and directed Edward Scissorhands, re-uniting with Winona Ryder from Beetlejuice. His friend Johnny Depp, a teen idol at the end of the 1980s due primarily to his work on the hit TV series 21 Jump Street, was cast in the title role of Edward, who was the creation of an eccentric and old-fashioned inventor (played by Vincent Price in one of his last screen appearances). Edward looked human, but was left with scissors in the place of hands due to the untimely death of his creator. Set in suburbia (and shot in Lutz, Florida), the film is largely seen as Burton's autobiography of his childhood in Burbank. Price at one point is said to have remarked, "Tim is Edward." Depp wrote a similar comment in the foreword to Mark Salisbury's book, Burton on Burton, regarding his first meeting with Burton over the casting of the film. Edward is considered one of Burton's best movies by some critics.Following this collaboration with Burton, Depp starred in Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows.
In 2004, Matthew Bourne came to Burton with the idea to turn the story of Edward into a ballet. In 2005, the ballet first aired. It has now toured the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and parts of Europe.
Edward scissorhands trailer
This is personally my favourite scene of the film. It has all the "Tim Burton" style on it, and it's rich in crazy original ideas that makes us want to jump into the scene and do something of this kind.
I remember when my dad brought this movie one night and I watched it about a thousand times … I always love stories with a fantasy side like this one, plus one of my favourite actress Helen Botham Carter is in it, beautiful and elegant as always.
It's interesting because all the movies i loved so much since i was little were made by Tim Burton i didn't even know they were made by the same guy.
I give you here the trailer of the film for you to have an idea of how amazing it looks like, but I strongly recommend you to watch the whole film. I would describe it as magical and dream like.
Corpse Bride
Corpse Bride (2005) was Burton's first full-length stop-motion film as a director, featuring the voices of Johnny Depp as Victor and Helena Bonham Carter (for whom the project was specifically created) as Emily in the lead roles. In this film, Burton was able again to use his familiar styles and trademarks, such as the complex interaction between light and darkness, and of being caught between two irreconcilable worlds.
Personally, this film has everything to be successful, it's emotional, it's humorous, it's mysterious and it's all combined in a charming fantasy musical film. I leave you here the trailer and hope it will excite you to watch the film.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
The DreamWorks/Warner Bros. production was released on December 21, 2007. Burton's work on Sweeney Todd won the National Board of Review Award for best director and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Directorand won an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Art Direction. Helena Bonham Carter won an Evening Standard British Film Award for her portrayal of Mrs. Lovett, as well as a Golden Globe nomination. The film is a devastating blend of explicit gore and Broadway tunes. Johnny Depp was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for the role of Sweeney Todd. Depp won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy, as well as the award for Best Villain as Todd in the 2008 MTV Awards.
In 2005, filmmaker Shane Acker released his short film 9, a story about a sentient rag doll living in a post-apocalyptic world who tries to stop machines from destroying the rest of his eight fellow rag dolls called Stitchpunk. The film won numerous awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. After seeing the short film, Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, director of Wanted, showed interest in producing a feature-length adaptation of the film. Also directed by Acker, the film was written by Acker (story) & Pamela Pettler (screenplay, co-writer of Corpse Bride) and starred Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly and Christopher Plummer, among others. This was Burton's first animated movie aside from his stop-motion films .
Beautifully captured, Sweeney Todd is mind blowing, in fact, I have to admit that after watching the film, it made me appreciate being a vegetarian…Anyway, it's a must for dark gory musical lovers to watch.
Tim Burton appeared at the 2009 Comic-Con in San Diego, California, to promote both 9 and Alice in Wonderland. When asked about the filmmaking process by an attendee, he mentioned his "imaginary friend" who helps him out, prompting Johnny Depp to walk on stage to the applause of the audience. The film won two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design
Alice in wonderland - trailer
When I saw this film at the local cinema, to my surprise people were dressed up as some of the characters in the film. There were 2 Mad Hatters, an Alice and the Cat. I have to admit it was very entertaining.
Jan Švankmajer is a Czech filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media. He is a self-labeled surrealist known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, the Brothers Quay, and many others.
Švankmajer has gained a reputation over several decades for his distinctive use of stop-motion technique, and his ability to make surreal, nightmarish, and yet somehow funny pictures. He continues to make films in Prague.
Švankmajer's trademarks include very exaggerated sounds, often creating a very strange effect in all eating scenes. He often uses fast-motion sequences when people walk or interact. His movies often involve inanimate objects being brought to life through stop-motion. Many of his films also include clay objects in stop-motion, otherwise known as clay animation. Food is a favourite subject and medium.
Stop-motion features in most of his work, though recently his feature films have included much more live action sequences than animation.
Alice
Jan Svankmajer's first feature film - an adapation of Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' may be the antidote for anyone who didn't like the Disney version. Then again, it might not. Stuffed white rabbits leaking sawdust, animated dolls and animal skulls, wind-up March Hares smearing butter on watches... Svankmajer's version may defy analysis, but embraces the surrealism of the original story without abandoning its basic narrative.
Many of his movies, like the short film Down to the Cellar, are made from a child's perspective, while at the same time often having a truly disturbing and even aggressive nature. In 1972 the communist authorities banned him from making films, and many of his later films were suppressed. He was almost unknown in the West until the early 1980s.Today Švankmajer is one of the most celebrated animators in the world.
Dimensions of dialogue, part1/2 and 3
Plot
The animation is divided into three sections. "Exhaustive discussion" shows Arcimboldo-like heads gradually reducing each other to bland copies; "Passionate discourse" shows a clay man and woman who dissolve into one another sexually, then quarrel and reduce themselves to a frenzied, boiling pulp; and "Factual conversation" consists of two elderly clay heads who extrude various objects on their tongues (toothbrush and toothpaste; shoe and shoelaces, etc.) and intertwine them in various combinations.
PS: This is my favourite short film of Svankmajer!! Mandatory to watch
