Ideas generation, sound track evaluation and further research

As per my research, I would like to create an animation involving particle effects, however, instead of using 3D software I would like to try to create this using 2D software, such as Adobe Flash or AfterEffects, of which I'll have to do some research into how to do this.

In terms of the rhythm and how the particles behave I'm thinking of using a background sound track and having the particles move to the beat of the track, for example the particles will behave more erratically if its a fast sound track or more slowly and softly for a slower, peaceful sound track. But I'm in to do this, I think it'll be best if I chose the sound track first as this would influence the pace, rate of movement, colour schemes and any title text involved in the animation. It may also be worth looking up visual music to help me plan and produce this project.

In terms of sound track I feel it would be best to use a softer, quieter source of sound as this will be view by the public so a faster of heavier rhythm wouldn't be the best to use in my opinion but I would like to experiment with this and true to different genres of music, as few early examples would be classical and rock.

In terms of colour pallet, I'm thinking of either using bright hues such as blues, reds, purples, yellows with a white background or black background, this would depend on the sound track I'm using though.

The sound tracks I'm thinking of using are listed below and I'll also be evaluating them on how I will be able use to the sound track, if I think the sound track would be appropriate for the project, (length of song etc) and how well I'll be able to work with the sound track.

The first track I'll be evaluating is Mozart's Lacrimosa.

Lacrimosa is a short classical piece (3 minutes, 20 seconds) which is much shorter than the limit imposed by the project brief (8 minutes), so if I need to extend the time for this I can loop the animation.

The piece itself is interesting and I feel that it'll be interesting to work with and I can see the particles movement being simple to animate in some parts of the animation but more of a challenge in in other areas.

Another potential track I could work with is Edvard Grieg's 'In the Hall of the Mountain King'. This is another short classical piece at 2 minutes 58 seconds, so again it would be an idea to loop the animation.

I think this would be a fun track to work with, being livelier than Lacrimosa, however I feel this would be more difficult and time consuming as the particles will require more movement to keep them in sync with the music.

The final classical piece I'll be looking at as a potential track to use is Mussorgky's 'Night on the Bald Mountain'. This is a longer piece at over 8 minutes.

I feel that the length of the track would be an issue due to the time limit of the project, so IF I was to choose this track I would have to find a way to cut it down to fit with in the limit. This track will also be the most complete to work upon, being a faster track and far more complex than the others I've look at before. Saying this I feel using this track wouldn't be the best choice for this project.
Out of the remaining two tracks I think that The Hall of the Mountain King would be the better choice as I feel that my ability is great enough to use it and animate particles to the track as well as providing me with enough of a challenge.

In terms of after track I could use from other genres of music, I'm thinking of using rock due to it being the complete opposite to what I've already researched. I do feel that if I where to use this genre it would be best if I used an instrumental sound track. This would help me avoid any issues with lyrics and any language that would be inappropriate.

The tracks I'm thinking of using of the rock genre are Heart Breaker by Motorhead, Back in Black by AC/DC and Iron Man by Black Sabbath. The reason behind choosing these three is due to the relativity simple sound track which I plan to animate particles too.

This sound track, Heart Breaker, has a simple beat that can easily animated with particles. the duration of the track also fits in with the limit set in the brief. even though I said that I would remove the lyrics from this sound track due to issues with the lyrics, etc. I don't see any issues with keeping them in after reviewing them but I'll still try to edit and remove them.

The fifth track is Black Sabbaths Iron Man, I managed to find an instrumental version of this track, saving me from having to remove any of the lyrics. Again this track fits easily with in the 8 minute time limit set in the brief. The tracks rhythm is repetitive and very simple making it an easy track to animate too however this does cause an issue of it being potentially boring to view but I could use brighter or stronger tones to make it more interesting.

The final track I'll be looking at is AC/DC's Back in Black Instrumental. This track has to be the simplest to work with but I feel this would be an issue much like Black Sabbaths track, but it does have a higher, however the track does become more interesting and much livelier. Again I think that this track would benefit from using brighter colours on a dark background thus making it far more eye catching.

Out of the 6 songs I've briefly reviewed I would be most interested in working with AC/DC's Back in Black or Edvard Griegs Hall of the Mountain King.

Research #3

Whilst I was looking particle animations that were produced using 2D software, I came across a series of .gif images which I found to be very interesting. These animations are based on elemental changes, such as water freezing and bolts of energy dancing. A copy of the images can be found below:

The creator of these animations say's that these were created by using flash exported into a sprite sheet with Zoe and optimized in Photoshop with the intention of using them in a mobile game. The creator of these effects has also split these in to categories such as projectile, impact and emanating effects.

After looking at particle effects and how can be created in 2D instead of 3D I think I'll centre my project around this. This is due to finding them to be extremely interesting, visually appealing and hopefully an enjoyable project to work upon.  These effects can be found at https://www.behance.net/gallery/3030623/2d-Effects-Animation.

Research #2

Today I screened Navigations #1 and Dawn of the Cat to my class and received comments about their thoughts on the animations.

For Navigations #1 the students agreed for what I had to say about the animation as well as showing some surprise for what images where made up of, being cancer cells.

the comments of the second animation mentioned that the animation was of a surreal nature and they also mentioned how the story was not in chronological order, beginning with the end of the story where the woman works with the cats body and then leading up the cat’s accident, this makes the animation a little harder to follow. The class also mentioned how the colour of the cat changed between when it was alive and dead the latter being in a paler tone.

I also had a chance to look at the animation which the other students showed to the group, there was a few animation that caught my eye, there first one is called Flow: The Beauty of Ink - A Particle Aniboom Animation by Alldin Dauti. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMPAkYC4axM

This animation was created by using 3D Studio Max, FumeFX, Krakatoa and AfterEffects, Dauti also mentions that there is 20 - 80 mil particles per shot. His purpose for creating this animation was to see how he could make particles move like ink.

Another one that interested me was an animation on Hashback Hashish’s on youtube channel called PAPERCUTZ - Rivers (Hashback Hashish Remix) 3D. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDZnE-sruTU

Unfortunately there isn’t much information on this animation, however I do think that the animation as a whole was made by using a 3D program as well as using an video editing software like Adobe AfterEffects.

I've taken a particular in particle animation, I find it to be visually appealing as well being an potentially interesting project to work on.  This form of project will also allow me to produce an animation with out having to work on a complex story line or a lot of preproduction work, potentially allowing to concentrate on the animation portion of the animation.

I also don't necessarily need to work on a project such as this using 3D software, I could create something similar using a 2D software such as Flash.

Research #1

http://centerforvisualmusic.org/

http://animateprojects.org/films

http://vimeo.com/mattabbiss/videos

Matt Abbiss produces short animations that are made using either flash animation or hand drawn frame by frame. the flash animations seems to either have a black background and using bright colours for the animation itself or bright backgrounds, like white, yellow, etc, with dark drawings, I feel this is to provide contrast to keep the animation easy and interesting to watch.

something else that i’ve noticed is that his animation have no story for the most part, having simple animations that are matched to the sound. Most of these animations are labeled as untitled, this might be due to a naming theme or due to being unable to give it a proper name due to the fact that its an animation comprising of random movements.

An example I’d like to discuss as an example is untitled 14. ( http://vimeo.com/97321727)

Abbiss uses roughly drawn geometric shapes, such as squares and triangles as well as lines which move in a random fashion.

The animation, for an instant, changes from shapes moving and changing at random to what seems to be a curvature of a planet with satellite like objects moving above it. The animation then abruptly changes back to its original form.

The sound track used for this seems to be collection of popping and whirring sounds to match the movements of the shapes.

Another animation I’ll be looking at is called Navigations #1 which can be found at the link below:http://animateprojects.org/films/by_date/20141/navigations

the animator, Iain Gardner, describes the process of creating the animation. He goes to say ‘

Thin water absorbent paper was cut in scale with laboratory petri dishes and immersed in an inky solution, replicating the three dimensional mesh cancer cells are grown within the laboratory. Once dried out, these layers of stained paper were photographed and animated within a three dimensional digital space.’ I find this to be incredibly interesting in terms of style and the way is was produced. I do however find this hypnotic and to make me feel lethargic. I think this is due to soft movements in the animation, where the layers move and rotate in the animation.

Please click on the video to view in Vimeo:


Navigations from Animate Projects on Vimeo.

This animation, Paint Unpaint (http://animateprojects.org/films/by_date/20141/paint_unpaint), is an animation the recreates a section of the Film Jason Pollock 51 (Namuth, H) where the artiests paints on glass installed between Pollock and the camera to create this animation.

The synopsis attached to this video goes on to say, ‘Namuth’s and Pollock’s collaboration could already be seen as a form of animation where Pollock’s well-known drip paintings became alive and resulted in a moving image. By redrawing the film using today’s technology Paint Unpaint updates this 1950s experiment and integrates the painter and painting into a new moving painting’.  What caught my eye about this animation is that once its reaches a certain point its reversed, making it look like the artist is erasing the work he has previously done.

The style of the animation is that of rotoscope, where the animator draws over the orgional film to give it a flat, 2D appearance

Dawn of the Cat

http://animateprojects.org/films/by_date/2013/dawn_of_the_cat

This animation used 3 mediums and then combines them to create striking visuals. The mediums used are live action footage, for the actors faces and occasional their limbs, 2D for the bodies of the characters and their pets, and finally special effects to create a crumpled paper effect. all these are brought together to create a non-linear story ( the story is told from end to beginning rather than the usual order.

I like this style as it bring together forms of animation which I would like to try for my experimental animation as well as creating a non-linear storyline.

Dreamin' About The Future ~ Will.i.am & Yuri Suzuki - Pyramidi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEmE060-IV0

This is a music video for Will I Am’s music video, We've been dreaming about the future, which was shown at the Barbican. This animation had the illusion of that the face of Will I Am would follow the viewers around the room. This was achieved by have the animation projected on to a canvas which had an indentation which the face would be shot in to.

The animation itself was created using 3D and perhaps Mo Cap to record the artists face, if this is the case this would cut down the animation time considerably as well as making it far easier to replicate his facial movements.  

Also, in front of the projection there was 3 cases which contained instruments which would react to flashes in the animation by moving and creating sound.

what also interests me in this video is the ancient egyptian theme used in this video, which influenced the colour pallet of this. Using, golds, blues, whites and reds as well as using head dresses from that period. What also caught my eye is the background animations used. which to me looked like rays of light beaming past the face.

Proposal

Proposal 

Summary

the aim of this project is to give my self the chance to produce a visually driven animation. I'm to produce an experimental animation by researching music along with particle animation (visual music). I'll be using this research to enable me create my own particle animation.

Current Situation

My current situation with this project is to develop an understanding of how to produce and particle animation with moves in sync with a music track. For this I will research how to produce a 2D particle animation using either Adobe Flash or Adobe Aftereffects and then develop it to appeal to my interests.

What I'm aiming to create is an animation which will be projected on to a canvas on board which will suspended from a ceiling either by reflecting on a mirror or by aim the projector upwards.

Project Goals

The purpose of this project is to gain a better understanding of visual music how how to produce a project centered around this.
The other purpose of this project is to get me out of my comfort zone of stop motion and working on a animation with a linear story line. This will also add to my portfolio and show that I'm able to produce different forms on animation, not just contemporary.

Target Audience

The target audience for my animation is anyone of the age of 16, my reasoning behind this is that I feel that anyone below this age wouldn't appreciate one of the potential soundtracks or this form of animation. I would like my audience to feel intrigued by the way the particles move in the animation.


Schedule

I am looking to start work on this animation by the 10th of November and to have the animation complete by the 18th of January. By keeping to this schedule this will allow to

Process

the process of this project would be to start by gathering research and techniques as to how to produce this animation to the best of my ability. Once I have done this I'll begin planning and producing test animations giving me knowledge as to how to use these techniques and tools required for this.

Music

For this project I will be using a pre existing track, which will be from either one of two genres, Classical or Rock due to the contrast. I will use these tracks to be the basis of the particles movement in this project. I'll be researching various tracks to see which one would be the most appropriate to use for this project.

Overall Summary

To recap, I'll be creating a visual music animation that'll dependant on the musics rhythm and beat. I'm aiming to use Adobe AfterEffects or Flash depending on the experiments that'll be working on to see which will be the best to use for this project.

michael.leslie@g.bdc.ac.uk

Barbican Visit

Yesterday we visited the Barbican Exhibition Centre to look at the experimental animations that where being shown as part if the Digital Revolutions exhibit as well as shots and videos of how 3D films and programs have been produced in the animation and film industry. The professional films that I felt where worth taking notes of where Gravity and We are the future (Will.I.Am) and for experimental animations where Wishing Wall, The Treachery of Sanctuary and the Atmospheric 3D Interactive Laser Room.

The reason for me taking such an interest in Gravity was due to the techniques that were used. the film itself is predominately 3D but they used recorded footage of the actress' face. These where then combined to create the final film.
I'm also interested in the 3D animation that was created for Will.I.Am's track, 'We are the future'. the animation is projected on to a screen, however, the area where the face is projected on to is con-caved giving it the illusion that the face is following your movements.

I also enjoyed the theme of the animation, having an ancient Egyptian feel to it, with the head dresses that where used as well as ray of golden light emanating from behind the head.

Whilst I found these animations intriguing, I did find the experimental animations to be far more interesting as such I've decided to look in to the Wishing Wall and The Treachery of Sanctuary.

The Treachery of Sanctuary is an interactive animation, created by Chris Milk, with is divided in to three sections, in the first section the users silhouette.
The second segment the users silhouette is then picked apart by the birds turning the screen in to a blank screen is built up on the screen by birds coming together.
The final section is the one which found the most interesting and impressive. This section turns the users arms in to wings, this is done by when the user lifts their arms above their heads. Following this the user then flaps their arms, like a bird, and the silhouette would then take off depending on how fast the actions is done. The video below shows the animation in process.

This was done by using Xbox Kinect technology to map the depth of field and track the audience which is then projected on to a wall.

The final animation I wish to talk about is the Wishing Wall, again, this is an interactive animation where the user talks into a microphone and the words spoken then write them selves on to the screen. These words then turn them selves into a butterfly. The Wishing Wall was created by Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet.