Unit 4: ANIMATION (STOP MOTION)

Animation History and Career Opportunities

History of Animation
When people think of early animations, they might think of a Disney animation like Bambi or Fantasia. However, there are numerous animations like Walt Disney, Hayao Miyazaki, Bob Clampett, Winsor McCay, and many others that paved the way for these famous creators.In the first lesson, you will explore early animations and discover career opportunities for animators today.

Career Options
There are many different career paths for professional animators. They can include jobs like storyboarder, rigger, sound effects, etc.

Watch & Learn: Portfolio
Accepted Sheridan Animation Portfolio 2019

Typically individuals starting in the animation field will be offered entry-level jobs, these jobs provide countless opportunities for networking and advancement.

Sheridan College

Forest City Film Festival

Vanvouver Film School

Animation Principals

What is Animation

The role of an animator is to create the illusion of life to an inanimate object or

illustrated character. The animation is brought to life by projecting sequenced images quickly one after another to create this illusion.

Animators employ 12 principals of animation in order to convey a sense of “life” to their work. These principals were first introduced by two Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their book the illusion of Life

In this activity you will have an opportunity to explore each of the 12 principals and consider how you can apply them in your animations. When you understand these principals you will have the knowledge and skills to take your work to a new level

Creating Characters and Backgrounds

What are the consequences of any choice? Why do we care? Stakes in storytelling are the risks, impacts, and rewards of a character's choices, which make audiences care about the story. They are divided into three categories: external (physical consequences), internal (emotional/mental consequences), and philosophical (underlying ideas/values). High stakes create tension and engagement.

STORY STRUCTURE

Part A: Describe the moral or theme of your three favorite films. Can you identify the lesson that the main character(s) learns by the end of the film?

Part B: Think of a story from your own life. What was the moral of your story? What did you learn and why?

Part C: Return to the story you are developing and try the following:

Brainstorm ideas for the moral in your own story (return to the needs of your main character from the Character lesson)
Try retelling your original story spine in order to reinforce (clarify) the moral at the end.

FLIP BOOKs Animation, Wordless Storytelling

Students explore apparent motion by using marker drawings to create a flip book that animates a simple, wordless story. 24 Frames per second, 30 - 60 pages.

Decide on a topic for your animation, for example, hitting a volleyball.
Draw your first image on the very last paper in the pile – paper #1.
Draw the next image on paper #2.
Draw it almost the same as #1, but with a slight change.

Remember:

- If you draw it exactly the same there will be no motion;

- If you draw it with a slight change there will be smooth motion; and

- If you draw it with a big change there will be choppy motion.

Apple App Store Screen-Light

Google Play Lightbox

Learning how to create characters and backgrounds while creating Flipbooks can be extremely satisfying.

There are many applications for mobile devices and PC/Mac Computers that can help you with your creations. One FREE application for education is called SketchBook by AutoDesk.

Download: Sketchbook

https://heyzine.com/

Stop Motion ANIMATION

What is Stop Motion?

Stop motion animation is a type of animation that is captured one frame at time
Physical objects that are moved between frames. When you play back the sequence of images rapidly, it creates the illusion of movement.
It is similar to 2D drawn animation (early Disney), but stop motion using physical objects instead of drawings.
The basic process of animation involves taking a photograph of your objects or characters, moving them slightly, and taking another photograph.
When you play back the images, the objects or characters appear to move on their own.

*A tripod is important for stop-motion animation

Stop Motion Studio App

Frame Rates

Frame Rate 24 FPS (Frames Per Second)

The speed at which a film runs
Within that one second there are 24 still frames that are almost identical, but with small variations in order to move the subject forward
All movies whether they are small or large are made up of hundreds, thousands and even millions of still frames

*Clay and Lego 12 FPS

https://www.omnicalculator.com/other/timecode-to-frame

Stop Motion EXAMPLES

Student Works

Copy of Giraffple

Copy of InShot_20230307_135047387.mp4

Copy of InShot_20230306_142304166.mp4

Copy of ANIMATION #2 - VIDEO (Mar 6, 2023 at 2:03 PM).MOV

storyboards

There are many reasons animators use storyboards, ranging from cinematic convention to checking whether something is viable within a production. Key reasons why they are often essential include:

Tried and tested method, animators and filmmakers started using storyboards in the 1930s and continue to do so to this day.

Captures a vision, until the storyboard stage, an animated film exists largely in the heads and imaginations of its creators.

Combines words and pictures, films are made of words and pictures.

Can plan scenes and shots, it is a great tool for planning and organizing a production.

Provides a checklist, do it right and you’ll know how many scenes you have, which characters are in them, if there’s audio, a list of shots to complete and more.

Builds a reference document, these often undergo several revisions, which means they change significantly as documents.

Allows for feedback, helps identify specific challenges and obstacles and gather constructive feedback from others on the planned vision.

Luca and Alberto eat with Guilia and Massimo — Pixar Side-By-Side

This charming Pixar animation tells the story of Guilia having friends home for dinner. In this side-by-side video you can see the storyboard running above the final animation. By watching, you should pick up some useful tips on the level of detail needed.

UP ‘Married Life’ — Pixar Side-By-Side

Here, in the famous (and heart-breaking) ‘Married Life’ section of Pixar animation UP, we can see the original storyboard laid over the top of the finished animation. There’s plenty of action in this scene and it’s useful to see how the storyboard can handle motion.

How to storyboard an animation

1. Getting started

To get started with a storyboard, you first need an idea of the animation you want to create, as well as the basic materials for setting it out.

Create your synopsis, this is an overview of the plot, including key characters, acts, conflicts and resolutions.

Know your narrative structure, as well as the overall plot outline, you need to have an idea of what will be happening to who and in what order.

Know the action, what will the characters be doing in the shot? Will they be moving, will they be speaking? What will be going on around them?

2. Sketching your animation storyboards

Sketching your storyboard begins with paper and pencil. You might start by roughing up a small thumbnail sketch for each shot. These should be drawn from the perspective of a viewer would see on screen. If you have to move your head to see something else, that means a new shot and therefore a new thumbnail.

3. Creating your storyboard panels

Once you have built a narrative with rough sketches, it’s time to transform these into panels. A storyboard panel is a rectangular frame drawn onto a sheet of paper, with separate boxes for notes on dialogue and action.

At the top of the panel there’ll be space to write the scene number and panel number. Panels can be created on actual paper, but amateurs and professionals alike increasingly use digital software to pull these together.

Pre Production (Story, Story board, Script)