Title Scene Rough cut Stop Motion

This is my rough cut of my stop motion title scene however, there are a few things that went wrong with this and so I'm going to redo this once I am ready to follow on with the rest of my scenes.

Animation Treatment

Animation treatment from Dayna Crawford

Voice Actors in the Simpsons

The Simpsons Movie: Voices:

Dan Castellaneta: Homer Simpson, Itchy, Grandpa, Crusty the Clown, Sideshow Mel, EPA Official, Groundskeeper Willie.

Tress  MacNeille - Agnes Skinner, Nelson's Mother, Pig, Crazy Cat lady, Female EPA worker, GPS woman, TV Son.

Harry Shearer: Scratchy, Mr Burns, Rev. Lovejoy, Ned Flanders, Lenny, Principal Skinner, Dr. Hibbert, Smithers.

Hank Azaria: Comic Book Guy,  Moe, Chief Wiggum, Lou, Carl, BumbleBee man, Apu, Sea Captain, EPA Passenger.

Nancy Cartwright: Bart Simpson, Maggie, Nelson and Todd Flanders.

Julie Kavner: Marge Simpson/ Selma and Patty.

Yeardley Smith: Lisa Simpson

Pamela Hayden: Millhouse.

Tom Hanks: Himself.

Character Profiles

Profiles of Beth. Front, Back and side profiles

Profiles of Bert. Front, Back and side profiles

Face Expression sheets

Face Expression sheet: Bert

Face Expression sheet: Beth

Animation Flow Chart

Animation flow chart from Dayna Crawford

animation grids

Animation grid from Dayna Crawford

Animation practice

This is a practice of an animation idea i could do. This shows a flicker book dancing. Originally I was going to use this idea but practicing other ideas made me realise that there are other ideas out there.



This is another idea. This is taking each shot frame by frame which made the animation look more realistic and makes each shot run more smoothly.

Changing faces.

This is the cover photo of the film. This is before I coloured it in and shows the two people that bert lives as. One shows bert as a man and the other shows Bert as a woman otherwise known as Beth. My animated film is going to be called 'Changing Faces' and is going to be about a man that wakes up one day as a woman and is forced to live in this body until the poison wears of in which changed bert into a girl. This all becomes difficult however when Bert sees a girl he likes but cant make a move until the poison wears off.

Chick jump - practice

inspiration

Inspiration- existing media productions? influence?

how are you going to do this?
- technique?
- what do you need?
- how are you going to get it?

Who with?
Design - what is it going to look like?
structure?

final idea - storyline.

• First scene - opening shot, story is set in New York.
• Camera zooms into Bert sitting at the bar in the pub drinking a beer.
• Camera zooms out onto a man in the background with a drink flask in his hand and a grin on his face. 
• Whilst Bert turns around to talk to a man on the other side of him, the man in the background empties his flask of poison into Berts Beer. 
• The man then leaves and Bert takes a sip from his beer. After feeling a bit ill, Bert then decides to leave and go home.
• Camera cuts to outside the pub where Bert is standing, waiting for a taxi. Its a cold night and its starts raining. Bert pulls up an umbrella and stands there in the rain. 
• The taxi arrives and Bert lets down his umbrella. A girl gets out the taxi and bert is stunned by her looks. He smiles and she smiles back at him whilst walking off. 
• Bert gets into the taxi and the taxi driver pulls off and drives to Berts house. 
• When Bert gets home, He gets changed, brushes his teeth and goes to bed. 
•  Camera fades out and back into the next morning. Instead of Bert, we see a girl waking up in his bed, Bert is nowhere to be seen but this girl gets up and goes to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She looks in the mirror and screams. She pats down her face and screams again then camera shows her looking down and her looking scared. 
• The girl then pulls at her top and the camera shows her looking at her boobs. 
• the girl then thinks of everything she can do to turn back as shes really Bert trapped in a girls body. She closes her eyes hoping that shell turn back into a guy but it doesn't work. 
• Theres a knock on the door and she goes to answer the door but remembers that shes a girl so shouts through the door, hearing that she now has a female voice, she coughs and groans to try to sound more male like. 
• She groans at them that she's not feeling well and that she'll see them another day so they walk off. 
• Bert gets dressed but realising that he has no feminate clothing he chooses his most feminate clothing which consists of jeans, a top and a jumper. She ties up her hair and heads out the door. Bert decides to choose a feminine name of Beth and goes for a walk. He gets some fresh air and starts thinking about what he can do to change back but whilst on a walk he sees his friend and calls her name but as she turns around she doesn't recognise Bert so she walks off.  
• After her friend walks off she sees the girl that he bumped into yesterday outside the pub in the taxi. He tries to flirt with her but as hes a girl it doesnt work so she gets scared. He apologises and carries on talking to her. He becomes her friend and gets her number. He carries on his day but struggles as hes a girl. He decides to go to the pub and drink his sorrows away.
• He wakes up the next morning and is still a girl so he decides to spend the day in the house. At this point he decides to wish to turn back into a boy and goes to sleep. 
• The next morning he wakes up and looks in the mirror expecting for nothing to have changed and to have woken up as a girl again but to his suprise he is a man again. He is overwhelmed and happy. He texts the girl and meets up with her. She recognises him from the night at the pub and they fall in love. He tells her about the whole thing with when he woke up as a girl and at first she is scared but then she understands. 

Target Audience

AGE: 15-25
GENDER: Ideally women. Based on a chick flick, Rom com. would be aimed at the women demographic.
MEDIA CONSUMPTION: The group this animation is aimed at would also be into Rom Coms, Romantic film, chick flicks and teen dramas. they would be into films such as Twilight and films such as the proposal, love actually, 500 days of summer and love actually. Into rock pop music. This includes Paramore, all time low, you me at six and is also into clean bandit which includes indie dance music and electronic.

typical reader: 

Name: Rianne
Age: 17
Average day: College, studying vetinary.
Hobbies and interests: Socialising with friends, sports, working
Spending Power: Part-time job, Pocket money, no bills to pay - lives with parents.
Typical media consumption per day: watches a film on netflix most evenings after work or college. Normally a rom com. Has the whole box set of the twilight films. Rianne also listens to music on the way and on the way back from work and college. She listens to the radio whilst at work and sometimes whilst working at college.
Why the animation will appeal to them: The animation will appeal to Rianne as the theme of rom com is a genre that appeals to her. the humour will draw Rianne to this animation as the humour is quite teenage based and the main character is also to connect to. You start to feel for the main character and feel sorry for him when he cant originally get the girl of his dreams due to him being the same sex as her at one stage.

Legal and Ethical issues surrounding my animation

Copyright: Is there any licensed music, any well know brands, logos etc. any similarity to any media celebrity, film or book that may cause your film to become legally eligable to be sued? 

article: 

http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/gta5/news/lindsay

_lohan_sues_rockstar_over_gta_5.html

In my animation, there may be a few brands shown on buses, cereal packets or at the pub on beer bottles so therefore this could cause me to be sued if companies decide to. There are no characters that betray or look like any celebrity that made me choose the characters that i did however, my animation is based around a film called freaky friday starring Lindsey 

                       Lohan. This may be a problem as if directors of freaky friday found out, i could be sued. 

Offensive material/ rating? Is there anything that could cause it to be offensive for the audience i.e taboos? Drugs? Violence? Politically controversial? might not be appropriate for your target audience? 

                                                       Article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6988578/Peppa-Pig-forced-to-wear-seatbelt-after-health-and-safety-fears.html

In my animation, the only things that could be seen as offensive are the fact that Berts drink gets spike and the fact that in the morning after, when Bert wakes up as a girl, he falls for another girl. People could see this as a same sex relationship and could cause people to believe that its pro - gay. People who are against same sex relationships may be against this animation. This may cause the age rating to be aimed at an older audience. 

Representation: Personality? appearance? issues may be problematic? Gender? Sexuality? Disability? Race? Ethnicity?

The appearance of the characters show that both characters are good looking, this does not show equality but a perfect race. Maybe if it sent a better message across, this maybe a better animation. As the same as the last question, the sexuality of Bert changes and when Bert turns to a girl, as Bert falls for a girl even though at the same time hes a boy in a girls body shows a same sex relationship. This maybe seen as a bad message to be spreading in the eyes of the parents of the children so the age certificate of the animation might have to change.

animation costs

For my Animation I would need:

• Producer : £11136 
• Director:   £11136
• Production Designer: £11136
• Production Manager: £9840
• Editor:      £9840
• Character Designer:   £1250
• Senior model animator £10448
• storyboard artist:        £5665.50
• Senior 3D/2D computer animator: £9952
• Studio Manager:        £8448
• Artworking Animator:  £9952
• Colourist:  £7856
• Checker:   £7856
• Clean - up artist:         £2814           

         = £117329.50

Representation and ethics in cartoons

Representation and ethics in cartoons

Article used for research:
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/apr/06/repressed-brits-evil-mexicans-arab-villains-hollywood-animated-movies-stereotypes

Why does the writer of the article believe Rio 2 is problematic in terms of its representations? 
The writer believes that Rio 2 is problematic in terms of its representations because as it has a mixed cast that include white, latin american and african-american voice actors however, certain prejudices have been cast allowing the voices of the characters chosen to cause the film to be offensive to some races and to be bordering racism.  This is because the two main characters have a white ethnicity and the rest who have a crazy, wacky behaviour are of a black ethnicity.

What are PEPs and why are they an issue for racial representation? 
PEPs stand for problem contexts, entertainment contexts and performance contexts. These are an issue for racial representation because black people and other genotypes are associated with different and normally vexing circumstances. Those of black ethnicity are normally associated with villains, exoticism, jocularity and athleticism

Why does Da Costa believe we end up with stereotypes in animation? 
Da costa suggests it may be due to the slow and expensive labour process included. He suggests that decisions on the character normally have to be made up quickly so therefore, the safe representational idea is normally made in which is sometimes taken to be stereotypical.

What does Turbo say about Social Mobility?
In Turbo, it has been suggested that social mobility is only available to white characters however, non-white characters seem to be voicing them. These voices are voiced by people such as Samuel Jackson, Snoop Dogg and Michelle Rodriguez.

budget and schedule

Schedule for animations

This is the production schedule for my film with the different things I would have to incorporate and this shows how long each task would take. 

these show the costs of hiring each member of staff for shooting a movie. I would have to take these into consideration when shooting if i was to shoot a real animation with a real budget. It would depend on the size of the budget to how many staff i could employ. 

Animated Turtle homework

Idea, mode board and write up

For my idea, i have based it around a girl called Lottie, she is taken away as  baby and put up for adoption. She  is taken to live with a beautiful woman called Elanor. Her parents are heartbroken and spend a very long time thinking about her growing up and missing out on her education.
When Lottie goes to live with Elanor, one day when she is angry she tells Lottie that she's adopted. From here on in she wants to find her real parents, she remembers their dog and what it used to look like. She remembers it being called Marley .

BBFC homework

who is the BBFC and what is their role?
BBFC - "British board of film classification" or otherwise known as "British Board of Film Censors."
It is a Non - governmental organisation funded by the film industry and is responsible for the National classification and censorship of films in the United Kingdom.
Their requirements are to classify videos, DVDS and video games to a certain extent as some video games are under the 'video recordings act of 2010'.

History
The BBFC was established in 1912 as a 'British Board of Film censors' by members of the film industry and began operating on 1 January 1913. Its legal basis is the "Cinematograph act of 1909".  This is because cinemas have to have licenses from local authorities.
This was introduced for safety reasons after a number of cases of nitrate film fires in unsuitable venues (shops that had been changed into cinemas.) however, in the following year, court ruling determined the criteria of granting or refusing a license.

In December 1986, the first computer game to be certified by the BBFC was an illustrated text adventure of "Dracula" which received a 15 certificate but also the first computer game to receive an 18 certificate on the 11 December 1987.

Age certificate:

Symbol	Name	Consumer Advice	Recent examples
	Universal	All ages admitted, there is almost nothing unsuitable for children.	Turbo The Smurfs 2
	Parental Guidance	All ages admitted, but certain scenes may be unsuitable for young children. Should not disturb children aged 8 years or over. May contain mild language and sex/drugs references. May contain moderate violence if justified by context (e.g. fantasy). Parents may wish to check the film before they let their children watch it.	Wreck-It Ralph, The Sapphires
	12A	Cinema only. Introduced in 2002. Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for very young people. Cinemas are only permitted to supply tickets to see a 12A-rated film to children under the age of 12 years if they are accompanied by an adult, aged at least 18 years. However, it is unlikely to be suitable for children under the age of 12. Films under this category can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, infrequent strong language and moderate violence, sex references and nudity. Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sexual violence may be implied or briefly indicated.	The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Pacific Rim, Iron Man 3
	12	Home media only since 2002. Suitable only for persons aged 12 years and over, not to be supplied to anyone below that age. It is illegal to knowingly rent or sell a 12-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game to anyone under the age of 12. 12A-rated films are usually given a 12 certificate for the VHS/DVD version unless extra material has been added that requires a higher rating. The content guidelines are identical to those used for the 12A certificate.	Les Misérables,The Perks of Being a Wallflower
	15	Suitable only for persons aged 15 years and over, not to be supplied to anyone below that age. It is illegal to knowingly rent or sell a 15-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or supply cinema tickets for a film with this rating, to anyone under the age of 15. Films under this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, regular use of foul language and limited use of very strong language, strong violence and strong sex references, and nudity without graphic detail. Sexual activity may be portrayed but without any strong detail. Sexual violence may be shown if discreet and justified by context.	The Heat,Mama
	18	Suitable only for persons aged 18 years and over, not to be supplied to anyone below that age. It is illegal to knowingly rent or sell an 18-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or supply cinema tickets for a film with this rating, to anyone under the age of 18. Films under this category do not have limitation on the foul language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and explicit sex references along with detailed sexual activity are also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context. Very strong, gory, and/or sadistic violence is usually permitted. Strong sexual violence is permitted unless it is eroticised or excessively graphic.	Django Unchained,Evil Dead
	Restricted 18	Can only be shown at licensed adult cinemas or sold at licensed sex shops. It is illegal to sell a film with this rating to anyone under the age of 18, and it is illegal to sell a film with this rating by means of mail order, or online or by telephone. Films under this category always contain hard-core pornography, defined as material intended for sexual stimulation and containing clear images of real sexual activity, strong fetish material, explicit animated images, or sight of certain acts such as triple simultaneous penetration and snowballing. There remains a range of material that is often cut from the R18 rating: strong images of injury in BDSM or spanking works, urolagnia, scenes suggesting incest even if staged, references to underage sex or childhood sexual development and aggressive behaviour such as hair-pulling or spitting on a performer are not permitted. More cuts are demanded in this category than any other category.[23]	N/A

Legal Backing

The BBFC has no legal power, films don't have to be submitted for classification as it falls to councils to decide who should be admitted and who shouldn't. It generally applies to the BBFC certificates making them legally binding. In some cases however, councils may impose their own conditions either raising of lowering the minimum entry age for certificate. Setting their own minimum entry age for films that may have been refused by the board or that have never been submitted for BBFC certification. Before 1985, there were no legal binding ratings on video releases. The video Recordings act of 1984 introduced new legal powers to certify video releases independently from any existing cinema certificate. 

Coraline Case study:

 

Director: Henry Selik 

Year: 2009

Status: PG Uncut

Why did the BBFC settle on PG for Coraline?

BBFC guidelines for junior categories notes that PG has some scary moment as has a "rollecoaster effect" like Jurassic Park or Lord of the rings: The fellowship of the ring.

Coraline arrived at the BBFC with a PG category request as it is based around a children's book by Neil Gaiman and is a stop - motion animated film similar style to "Nightmare Before Christmas and "The corps Bride." 

At PG, the BBFC guidelines allow some elements of 'horror' along as it meets the criteria that there are not too many "frightening sequences" and are not too intense. The film has to have a positive and reassuring outcome for the BBFC to consider it as a PG.  Examiners noted a general air of creepiness of spookiness running throughout the film and despite the scariness, the film features a number of elements that reduce the intensity of frequency scenes. This includes moments of comedy and fun like silly songs, performances by dancing mice and the strange behaviour of the amusing and colourful neighbours. There is also, a lot of emphasis on the reassuring, happy ending. Its smiley, cuddly puppets, and its complete lack of violence, death, sex or swearing allowed the BBFC to agree on the age certificate of a PG.

animated characters

GIF and write up

I went about creating this GIF by using Premier Pro. I had to firstly download the file with all the layers included.
After I had downloaded the file, I imported it into Premier and created a new sequence where I made the different layers appear at different times. I did this by making key points and making the different layers visible at different key points and made them last for a certain amount of seconds. I then looped the sequence so it plays over and over again.

Animation charcaters

Idea feedback

Sunshine on Leith - First idea animation

Write up of animation videos

Feature films:
2013: Frozen, Monsters University and Despicible me                          IP: Interllectual property
2012: Brave, Madagascar
2011: Smurfs, Kung fu Panda, Cars

Tv Shows:

Ed, Edd and Eddy:


Adventure Time:


The Amazing world of Gumball:


The Regular Show: 



Theme: Spaced out - Lead protagonist, Teenage audience.
No obvious moral guidance
Episode - solving problems.

2D - Very Stylised (Animation Process) American

Web: kids short animation,
          Gummy bear song
          Cousins in the bath

Artistic/ experimental animation/ educational 

Youtube: 
Charlie & the unicorn
      

ASDF movie

 
Comic, Abstract "Quotable"

Cartoon silhoutte annotation

Shape characters

Annotation of Animation: Grid

Animation Character

Character Design

 

Character design is the combination of physical traits and narrative. The look of the character has to informed by personality and context (genre, location settings.)

Colman:
"A face is the primary channel to express emotion of a person. Hense the big headed cartoon characters."
"A lot can be said by the picture and body language."

Solarski:
"Hands are an effective way in expressing personality. Also how a character carrier their weight also informs us about their personality - especially which body part they lead with."

Chest - heroic, confidence, strength : Johnny Bravo - Superman , Popeye.
Pelvis - Lazy, Laid back - Goofy, Dopey, Shaggy - Scooby Doo
Head - Implies intelligence
Knees - Cowardess

Power and dominance evolve around expanding.
Power : take space up + expand.

Weakness: Making small size, taking low space

Goofy: Moves with his Pelvis: Suggests he's lazy











Johnny Bravo: Moves with his chest. Suggests superior lead and power.

Dr Heinz: Leads with his knees. Suggests cowardice.

Tin Tin: Leads with head, Implies intelligence.

independent studies: animation

In this youtube clip, it shows a number of frames where the drawn character fights back at the hand. It is called "Maker vs Marker - The epic Battle" and could have been created by rotobrush or maybe by a flick book however, this is a great example of animation as it shows how a good quality of animation could be created.



In this youtube clip, it shows another example of good quality animation. This is different in comparison to the clip before but it also works. It is called "Runaway" and is by Susan Yung. It has a good storyline and the animation is flawless.

By looking at these two animation clips sourced from youtube, this gives me possible ideas for when I come to creating my own 2 minute animation sequence. The first clip would an easier option however, I also like Runaway and the challenge it would give to work to such a high level. I may need to look at some more clips to see the range that are available.

GIF and write up

 

 

We used the teddy bear file to create a sense if a walk cycle. This is because  it is used in many animations. I did this by downloading an original file of the teddy bear and importing it into after effects. From here I made pin points in the joints of the teddy bear. This included the top of the arm, the elbows, the top of the legs, the knees and in the head, this allowed me to rotate them to a certain extent.

 

From here I placed key points in my sequence to position the arms legs and head in different positions along the sequence to create the effect of a walking movement. Although I found it difficult at certain times to move the knees to a certain position to create a realistic movement, above you will find my version of this.

 

 

 



Researching Studio Ghibli

Studio Ghibli: Research.
History, Ownership and Structure:
Studio Ghibli derives from Ghibli which derives from an arabic name for "sirocco" which in World War II were the Saharan scouting planes used. It was founded in June, 1985 and was headed by Directors Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki and is located in Kognane, Tokyo. The Logo for Studio ghibli includes the "fan-favourite Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's "My neighbour Totoro."
Before the studio was founded, Miyazaki and Takahata already had careers in Japanese films and television animation. Suzuki had also acted as an editor for Tokima Shoten's Animage manga magazine. They had previously worked together on the films "Hols: Princé of the sun" and "Panda! Go Panda!" The founders of Studio Ghibli's intentions was to "Blow a new wind through Japanese Industry" and they succeeded as they are now the most famous Japanese animation and film studio in the world.

The studio was founded after the film "Nausicaa of the called of the wind" in 1984 in which was directed by Miyazki for Topcraft and distributed by Toei company. Other directors that have worked with Studio Ghibli include Yoshikimi Kondo, Hiroyuki Monta and Gorõ Miyaki.

All the soundtracks for the Miyakis studio ghibli films were composed by Joe Hisaki. In August 1996, Disney and Tokuma Shoten publishing agreed Disney would distribute international Tokumaäs studio Ghibli animated films. The Walt Disney company has rights to all of Ghiblis output that did not have previous international distribution. This included films such as "Princess Minonohe and Spirited Away.”  Spirited Away became a popular film in cinema’s in the UK.

Studio Ghibli also work in Television films, Commercials, live-action films and video games. The video games include "Magic Pengel, with Garaluda studio and Taito" (playstation 2, 2002) and "Ni no muni" (Nintendo DS, 2010, playstation 3, 2012) Studio Ghibli work is grossed at $274 million worldwide and increasing. 

Their work is based at all ages as it connects to many age groups. The reason Japanese animation is such a big movement in Japan is because Manga is a big craze over there  Most people read manga so the Japanese see it as an important part of life. People of all ages read Manga from young to old.  As Manga has a wide audience it must be influential.

                                  

Significant achievements: 

Pom Poko is based around the late 1960s Japan, a group of racoons are quickly loosing their habitat by a development that is cutting up and dividing up their pan. The story resumes in in the 1990s during the era of the Heisei. With limited and decreasing food and living space every year, the tribe start to fight amonst themselves for resources. They eventually decide to work things out and stop the development from going any further.

• The highest - grossing film of 1994 in Japan : "Pom Poko"
• The first studio Ghibli film to use computer graphics: "Pom Poko."
• The fist Japanese film in Dolby Digital: "whispers of the heart."

   

The theme of spirited away incorporates the spiritual realm and spirits that she sees. This separates her from her normal way of life. she is in an alternative world where she sees spirits that she can engage with and talk to. It may be considered as a link to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland as it represents her journey from her being a child to her becoming an adult. Spirited Away enforces the difference between modern Japanese society concerning conflicts and struggle with dissolving traditional culture and customs within a global society.

My personal favourite studio Ghibli work would have to either be "The secret world of Arrietty" or "Spirited away." I find that the artistic quality of their work is something that is not used in many english based films.

Because the company focus of large - scale feature films, Studio Ghibli manage to make around one film a year. This has resulted in them winning a large amount of awards including an oscar for "Best animated feature film" for Spirited away as Spirited away proved more popular than Titanic.



 Although "the secret world of Arriety" is based around and looks like another film "The borrowers", the artistic animation talent in this video and many others is something to be adored. The plot is based around Arrietty, a girl who is from a family of borrowers who one day is found by a boy from the household she is borrowing from. They soon become friends and he goes out of his way to protect her and her family by keeping them a secret from the rest of his family.

Ghiblis work often features common female leads (often younger), talking cats, sweet old ladies, plot relating to aviation, characters with multiple forms and identities, bird like creatures and misunderstood, male characters.

Studio Ghibli also has a museum situated in Mitaka, Tokyo. The museum is designed as if it was a location from a Ghibli film and opened in 200. Props include massive spiral staircases, narrow walkways and openings in the wall to crawl under.

Studio Ghibli has a strict 'no cuts' policy after 1997 when Miramax attempted to make changes to a flm in order to try and make it more marketable.