Saturday, 5 December 2015

MMc401.4 Motion graphics brief

What is an Animatic

 "The production of an animatic is a stage in the pre-production process engaged with producing a 'mock-up' of animation by identifying movement within scenes, duration and speed of shots as well as camera angles."




"In animation and special effects work, the storyboarding stage may be followed by simplified mock-ups called "animatics" to give a better idea of how the scene will look and feel with motion and timing. At its simplest, an animatic is a series of still images edited together and displayed in sequence with rough dialogue (i.e., scratch vocals) and/or rough soundtrack added to the sequence of still images (usually taken from a storyboard) to test whether the sound and images are working effectively together.
This allows the animators and directors to work out any screenplay, camera positioning, shot list and timing issues that may exist with the current storyboard. The storyboard and soundtrack are amended if necessary, and a new animatic may be created and reviewed with the director until the storyboard is perfected. Editing the film at the animatic stage can avoid animation of scenes that would be edited out of the film. A few minutes of screen time in traditional animation usually equates to months of work for a team of traditional animators to manually draw and paint all those frames, meaning that all that labor (and salaries already paid) will have to be written off if the final scene simply does not work in the film's final cut. In the context of computer animation, storyboarding helps minimize the construction of unnecessary scene components and models, just as it helps live-action filmmakers evaluate what portions of sets need not be constructed because they will never come into the frame. Animation is an expensive and labor-intensive process, so there should be a minimum of "deleted scenes" if the film is to be completed within budget." 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyboard

Until recently animatics were made by filming or video taping an actual storyboard, over the past ten years animatic production has evolved to a more sophisticated procedure with the use of special effects software. 





Animatics are made to save time and money, as it would take months of work to animate even a few seconds of a storyboard, animatics are a efficient way of planning. 




Development of ideas :

for my first story board, i wanted to include the research i carried out into  the origins of idioms. i want to include an insight into the history of 'white elephant'.  white elephant means something that is useless, so i want to put emphasis on that, as well as being a gift from the king. 

This is my first 9 slide story board with my initial ideas on it, my idea is that the sound for each section will tell the narrative, the idea being that its supposed to be funny that someone has been given something that can be related to a 'white elephant' which is supposably a useless thing.                                                                        Eventually I want the type to turn the elephant white, the text will appear to drop down onto the elephant and completely turn it white. 




In this part of the story board I want the elephant to slowly appear out of the circle, and start walking across the screen.


 In this part of the storyboard I was thinking i want to add a little history, I want to use a shape that resembles the graphics of hans richter and Saul Bass, who, were the first artists to have develop motion graphics.
Im going to have shapes similar to these move the 'white' and 'elephant' cross the screen into position to say "white elephant'.





"Motion graphics extend beyond the most commonly used methods of frame-by-frame footage and animation. Computers are capable of calculating and randomizing changes in imagery to create the illusion of motion and transformation."



In an effort to learn more about motion graphics and understand the current standard I have been searching on Vimeo for motion graphics, I found some amazing stuff that has inspired me.   

I've also found a website called motiongraphiccollective which is a publishing platform for recognising cutting edge graphic design and motion graphics. it runs competitions where people can send in there work to be published. Its full of great motion graphics and has definitely inspired me.





Motion graphics goes hand in hand with Adobe after effects, and over the years they have both evolved together. As the quality of the software evolves so does quality of motion graphics produced, and as the softwares continue to grown so to will the boundaries of motion graphics.



Kinetic typography "is the technical name for "moving text"—is an animation technique mixing motion and text to express ideas using video animation. This text is presented over time in a manner intended to convey or evoke a particular idea or emotion". 

Kinetic typography is often used in movie titles and credits, it was first used back in 1959 in an Alfred Hitchcock film 'north by northwest' which started a phase of directors using kinetic typography in the opening credits of a film to establish a mood. 



I have found some information online, it is advise on how to use kinetic typography, and what effects are best :
I found some more great examples of kinetic typography, in the pictures below you can see that star warz is the theme and to keep with the narrative, the 'and' of hand has been sliced and then moved down as if it has been cut off by a lightsaber and then the actual words 'cut off' appear. 






"Motion typography

In dynamic layout, text elements move in relation to one another. Letters and words may move away from one another on a 2D plane, or in three-dimensional space. Likewise, scrolling typography can scroll across the flat screen, or can appear to recede or advance.

Fluid typography

In fluid typography, letterforms change and evolve without necessarily changing location."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_typography#Motion_typography




Professional Work 

While looking for  professional work to view I found a website of a motion graphic designer whos is currently working as an art director, His name is Jim cascarina and he is an animatic specialist and has worked, producing professional level animatics for the advertising industry for years. 

He writes a blog to a-company his work: 
"On this particular job the Agency already had an artist in mind, it was great to work with their artist and between us we came up with some great solutions for the ad.
After getting the edit and animation right for research, we handed the baton over to the Mill and they produced the final Ad, which is a thing of beauty". 





"Other types of research material that come under the banner of animatics are:
Photomatics: These are films made from photos of actors posed and shot on location or in a studio and then placed on to photographic or drawn backgrounds.
Stealomatics: These are films made from freeze frames or clips from movies, tv shows, magazines etc.
Mood films: normally the same as above and cut to music. More often than not these won't try to attempt to explain the narrative of the intended end script, just give the viewers a feel for how the end product will look.  
So, in short, the agency will spend some time and money on the animatic to make sure the ideas are working. They can then use this to work out any problems that might come up when filming the real ad."

On his website there is also an article that describes his own experiences in the industry working to produce animatics and how it has changed over the years he has been working. He has so much work on his website, it really gives you an insight into the depth of animatics on the professional side of things 

http://www.animatic.co.uk/what-is-an-animatic/













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