Walk cycle's side view

I have done the base sketches for the side view

This image has 24 drawn images. This is the walk cycle that (to me) appears cleaner with a smooth and swift movement. I am aware that the head looks very ridged. This is because I forgot to flex the neck/scarf and make the neck shorter. I will fix this little problem to improve the animation .

This image has 8 drawn images. I can easily get away with this walk cycle with good merits. But (for me) I want to test how clear I can make the movement appear. So if I was making a short little GIF, I would use 8 images. But because this is an assessment, I will make 24 images to show how clear the movement I have made can be.

New Software

I have gotten permission to download Toon Boom Harmony and Toon Boom Storyboard on my mum's laptop.

This means I can finally work on important homework at home instead of rushing to town to work in the spare time I have. Mum is also going to buy a $100 mini drawing tablet to connect to the laptop. I am excited. My life got a whole lot more easier.

The next task will be to install Photoshop on the laptop

Thumb-nailing, first copy

I have drawn the paper copies of the thumb-nailing to my animatic story, Pharmacist Trouble

(Waning, these images when scanned were bad quality. Please hang in there)

I have uploaded these images onto ToomBoom Storyboard. My next move is to draw a cleaner, nicer version for my animatic.

Brief overview

This is a brief overview of the film makers/animators work I have found interesting while covering them in class

There was a lot of different film makers/animators I did find interesting in class. The one I found most interesting was the style of Soviet Montage's. There were three main film makers/animators that all partook in creating the montage's. There was Lev Kuleshov, Sergei Eisentstein, and Daiga Vertov.

The Kuleshof Experiment. Image from Snapshot

Lev Kuleshov was a pioneer film theorist. He studied the film techniques of the Hollywood directors, like D.W Griffith. Lev introduced crosscutting and montage into Russian films. Lev found that people responded differently to different shots, depending on the images they have seen before and after the shot. He could create a new meaning with two different shots. He created the Kuleshof Experiment.

The Odessa Steps, Image from YouTube

Sergei Eisentstein's film style was very influenced by the Russian Revolution. He created propaganda poster to help motivate people well the in Red Army. Sergei had attended Lev's workshop. His definition of montage was five different things.

Metric- The timing or number of frames

Rhythmic- Movement with in the frames

Tonal- The tone of the shot, the content of the visuals influence the emotional response.

Overtonal- Combination of Metric, Rhythmic and Tonal.

Intellectual- Express ideas by creating relationships between opposing visuals.

Man with the Movie Camera, Image from YouTube

Dziga Vertov worked as a newsreel cameraman and coined the term Kino Eye (film eye). Dziga believed that the world is seen more clearly though the eye of the camera rather than the human eye and that cinema should be real and truthful. Dziga disagreed with Sergei's  theory of narrative film making and thought that it could be corrupting. He attempted to create a unique environment in film, free of theatrical effects and influence and artificial lighting. He wanted to show real life. He also created Russia's first animation 'Soviet Toy's'

Soviet Toy's, Image from YouTube

This has been a brief overview of the film makers/animators I found interesting

Thank You

David Lynch's film, Eraser Head (1977)

Review of Eraser Head (1977)

It is a surrealist film because it made very little sense to me. There is multiple interpretations/themes that are present, but is unknown the true purpose of this film. Some parts of this film is very distressing, like a surrealist film usually is. I personally didn't understand or recognize a theme in this film, but my classmates had some thoughts on some possible themes.

There was the theme of reproduction, with the symbolism of the long worm things being sperm and the main character desperately throwing them away. The theme of recognizing mental disorders, with many female characters randomly having some sort of mental breakdown, like once they were panting and shacking very strangely while crying.

Eraser Head. Image from, eraserhead.wikia.com/wiki/Henry_Spencer

I found it fascinating how the film maker was able to create an 'alien baby' so well with the limited technology back in the 1970's. But I found the scene when the main character cut open the alien baby's body as showed it screaming and gasping in a huge amount of pain, very distressing. I did not like seeing the insides of the alien baby and how there was blood everywhere, along with guts. The film was shocking and confusing to me. Why did the female characters randomly act so strange? I might never know.

I wouldn't want to watch this film a second time, not because it is a bad film. I am not into this kind of film. If you like confusing, distressing, and shocking films, then I would recommend this film.

Surrealist films

Surrealist Film History

Image from 'Un Chien Andalou'
Image from You Tube

Surrealism was an artistic/cultural movement that started in the 1920s. This new style was prominent in painting, literature, and films. It evolved out of the Dada movement (1916-1922). Dada was a protest against everything, and commented on the stupidity of WW1. Dada was anti-rational, humorous, shocking and anti-art.

Andre Breton was one of the main members of Dada. Breton drafted the Surrealist Manifesto in 1924, and also described surrealism as "pure psychic automatism, by which an attempt is made to express, either verbally, in writing or in any other manner, the true functioning of thought. The dictation of thought, in the absence of all control by the reason, excluding any aesthetic or moral preoccupation". This movement used irrational, shocking, or absurd imagery. It is also often used to try to capture the imagery experienced in dreams. Symbolism became a large part of
this movement.

Early surrealist filmmakers rejected standard plots and attempted to disrupt the plot's time and space, as well as characters, and then mix and match them all until nothing could make any real sense. Surrealists aimed to derange meaning, to upset, disorientate and shock the viewers. They wanted to show images rather than words, feelings rather than thoughts.

Image from 'Un Chien Andalou' (1929), Image from YouTube

The film 'Un Chien Andalou' is an example of surrealist film makers creating a dream sort of state. Un Chien Andalou is a French silent short film, directed by Luis Buñuel and artist Salvador Dali. This film had a lot of Symbolism that could be perceived in a lot of different ways. Their was also no real plot line for the film to follow along. Some imagery was distressing to me, so the film maker did achieve in his goal with getting a reaction from me, a viewer.

Walking cycle's front view

I started with the front view walk cycle

This walk cycle has 24 drawn images. This took more time to do but has a much smoother look to it. I like this one, but it did take more work to complete.

This walk cycle has 12 drawn images. This takes less time to achieve and still has a nice movement to it. But it does not have as nice of a look as the 24 image walk cycle. I can easily get away with this walk cycle, but I would like to show how much work I am willing to complete to have a nicer, clean look.

Both are good oppositions. I will chose the 24 drawings opposition. I like it more with the smoother movement and cleaner look about it.

Flying Character

Instead of creating/drawing a bird of some sort for me to animate flying with, I have used my own character being half dragon to fly.

This was fun to draw

When drawing, I took in account the fact that when the wings are being pulled back upwards, that there is nothing pushing the character upwards. This means that in that short place of time, the character must drop back down, only to be pushed back up again. I also added the secondary effects on the characters hair and shoulders when animating this. I did this because the hair will not be just be stiff, it will bounce upwards and then downwards. The same with the shoulders. They bounce up and down, according to gravity and secondary effect. Also, the wings are very flexible and agile. It is not rigged, it instead has a nice flow and smooth way of moving. they are not like arms 

Head turn

I have drawn Silver Jewel's head turning

This short animation shows the three basic key actions that happens when someone turns their head

The first one is the slight dipping of the head as it turns, creating an arc. This brings out the face more on a realistic and 3D scale. Also it improves the animation. Second thing is the blinking that happens during mid turning. This is a natural reaction that happens when people turn their head (when not brought into focus/attention). Finally thing is the direction of the pupils. It is usually always facing the direction the head is turning to.

Head Turn Trial

My first try at a head turn.

What you see is a very simple version of a head turn. My tutor suggested that I just try a simple egg-shaped head with a basic face. This was so that when I submit my head turn piece, I would have a very good idea on how to make the head realistically 'turn'. The image above is a GIF.