Finishing my city! (Module 6)

This week I worked hours and hours on my city project. It was already a decent way completed. But I had a lot to add this week. Animation was put in, sounds were added, the timeline of the story was created, details were critiqued, and on and on and on. It was tedious, but also rewarding. It's like editing a movie, for me (being a film major); it's very tedious, long, and tiring, yet the final product makes it all worth it. I have a few minor details to adjust once I get to class (to discuss with Professor Grace), although the primary animation is done.

Something that took me a long time, but was one of my favorite parts in a way, was the sound. I find sound to make or break a video. It can add SO much to the emotion of the piece. You are literally choosing how the viewer feels about a certain situation or person, just by what music you choose to play during a scene. I love having that control -- it's a painful process to find something that fits just right (without creating it yourself), but it's a process worth working through.

I also really utilized the use of sound effects to drive the story. The powering down and powering up of the city's power added some drama to the scene as well as a way to grab the attention of the viewer and help them better understand what is happening in the story. It makes things more realistic.

The voice of my "blob character" is also really "intriguing" for lack of a better word. It helps drive the emotion of the character effected by the events occurring in the scene. This was a challenge to come up with a way to show the blobs emotions without making things horribly complicated. Originally, I was going to allow the blinking of the eyes (and sound effects to go with it) to primarily drive the emotion. It was a bit obscure and abstract, but it would have worked. After having some difficulty with this, I chose to record myself grunting in different ways and adjusting the pitch to make it sound a bit like a Pixar character.

Ultimately, I'm really pleased how it came out. It's simple, it's fairly clean, the sounds add depth, and there's a story -- a very short story. Please watch the movie (at it's current state) below.

The weekly viewings this week were really interesting. There was one regarding a happy new years animation for 2012. It was so simple. it was literally just a bunch of different designs put together. Each number had a completely different design and each design changed every second when it was a different number. It seemed like someone could have just created this on a rainy Saturday afternoon, playing with flash or after effects. And yet, the detail and time that goes into the simplest things is remarkable. Animations definitely get overlooked by society. Feel free to view this lovely animation for yourself at this link --> https://vimeo.com/34295313

Working on my City Project (Module 5)

My focus and concentration this past week for this class has been on the city project. As many other things that may seem to be going on, I am trying to get a bit of a head start and really solidify my vision so that I can focus next on the execution and playing around with flash for the next few weeks to really nail it. After scribbling notes and drawings (nothing fantastic) and ideas in my journal (and much of this coming after a lot of thoughts swirling in my head), I believe I've come up with an idea that will be interesting to watch and yet attainable to execute. Below, i've included some snapshots from my journal and the process I took to get to where my idea currently stands for this "city" project.

 

I think one of the main things that will add to this story is sound. It will go from a normal animated flash project, to an enticing 30 second story once sound is added. I plan on incorporating sound effects to make things more realistic and attention-grabbing, along with underlying musical track to add drama, suspense, or excitement.