proposal

aim and objectives

Aim and objectives

Aim:

• my aim is to get merits and distinctions (hopefully)

Objective:

• my objective this morning is to make a storyboard and start to create the animation that i have been asked for.
• finish up all the tasks
• create the character and its actions
• 
  

where animation is used

Animation in movies

When it comes to animation for movies, the animator is only responsible for animating whatever is in the view of the shot camera. In other words they only have to worry about one camera angle at a time. If you're watching a movie, you hit the "Play" button on a movie you can't rotate around to look at the whole set. So you're stuck looking at whatever the camera is viewing. It allows an animator working on a movie to cheat in many ways, because they know that the shot will only be seen from one angle. So if it looks great from that angle, that's ultimately all that matters. This isn't to say animating for movies is easy. Quite the contrary. But there are certain difficulties that arise with video game animation that can be very different than the difficulties that arise with animating for movies. As previously mentioned, in movies the audience has no control over what's happening. In a sense they're just along for the ride. If you were to get a behind the scenes look at a movie you'd see a whole set, with the director, lights and many other things sitting right behind the camera. As long as they're out of the shot of the camera, the audience is never going to see the whole production crew.

audience: 
Animation films are usually considered to be children's films and can be watched by the whole family. This is because animation has a visual appeal for kids with basic characters and a simple plot that children can follow along with and enjoy. Allot of these films do cater for adults and parents as well because sometimes the stories can have a serious meaning under all the visuals and humor. For example Disney UP had humor with simple character exteriors but the story was a upsetting story of a mans journey after losing his wife which children may not fully understand the plot. Animations try to please all audiences but target children and make a film the parents can enjoy to.

genre:
for example of animations relying on genre to attract an audience would be WALL-E, at first glance it is appealing to kids because the movie uses a very bright palette to attract the kids attention as well as giving the characters big eyes so the younger audience finds them appealing. WALL-E also appeals to an older audience as the kids usually get their parents to watch it with them because there are a lot of inter-textual references to other films like Space Odyssey when the space ship is flying through space. If the kids didn’t find WALL-E appealing the parents would of never took them to watch the film which would mean Disney would not only loose their younger audiences but also their older audiences. All animations and films rely on the genre to attract and audience apart from star appeal, but they also rely on the audience to attract another range of audiences, like WALL-E using kids to attract the older audiences. WALL-E also appealed to the Sci-Fi audience because it is set in space also involving space ships and robots, like Kung Fu panda appealing to the chinese audience and kung-fu 'goers'.

Animation in games

Games, however, are meant to be interactive. When you play a game, you'll have complete control of the character and the camera. You're the one driving the story forward and making the character move. So not only does the animation need to look good, it needs to look good from every possible angle. For instance, if the game is third person, and the player rotates the camera around they'll see the walk or run cycle from a completely new angle. This new angle can revealing things like knee pops that may not have been visible in the normal camera view. These are things that a game animator needs to take into account to ensure their animation holds up to whatever the player may throw at it. Unlike animation in a movie where the animator doesn't need to worry about how it will look from a side view or from behind, creating animations for games need to look good from any angle. For instance, when implementing the principle of arcs into an animation, the animator needs to ensure the character is following nice smooth arcing motions from any camera angle.

audience:
Gender is an important axis that shapes media participation starting from an early age. This has recently been noticed in several studies concerning young people and media. The early traits may have implications later in the life-paths of the young – not only as audiences of media, but through gendered interests for creative participatory inputs in media and, even choice of careers.
Media educators can help children develop a positive sense of their own gender. In media productions, a positive learning environment could be created for young children offering an anti-bias worldview. Identifying differences in gender-like uses of media is the base for adults in equipping children with positive learning of media skills regardless of gender.
Personally, I don't think it's a bad thing that video games reach an older audience. I think that video games can target kids AND adults. Some games can target kids. That's fine. Some games can target adults. That's fine, too. And I think we're going to lose a lot of potentially good stories if we forget games aimed at adults. I'm not just talking about games aimed at men, either. I think if the whole "kids should be the primary target" mindset comes up, we'll lose games that touch on mature themes, such as Life is Strange, That Dragon Cancer and even the schlocky, pandering stuff like God of War or Gears of War.

genre:

purpose of animation across media sectors 

post-digital era

The work of a key animator from the post-digital era

John Lasseter 

A junior animator at the company Walt Disney left behind, saw computer-generated imagery for the first time. It was a rudimentary sequence and contained no characters, yet it introduced such astounding new physical dimensions and such a flexibility in point of view that Lasseter had an epiphany. 

When Lasseter got fired he went on to co-found the Pixar animation studio, where he directed the first fully computer-generated feature film (Toy Story) and where, as director or producer, he has overseen eight more spectacular hits (A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille and Wall-E), almost single-handedly turning cartoons from Saturday morning TV fodder to one of the biggest money makers in the film industry. Meanwhile Disney's animation division foundered. In 2006 Disney brought Lasseter back - along with Pixar.

It was after the success of Tin Toy, when Lasseter started to think about the creation of a computer animated feature film.

The aim was to create a story that was different from the traditional Disney films. The final story was about a group of classic toys, which belonged to Andy, who received a new toy with the name Buzz Lightyear for his birthday. The old toy-cowboy got jealous and made Buzz disappear. But then, he had to find it again. Toy Story was a huge success all around the world and earned John Lasseter a Special Achievement Academy Award for his work in making the first completely computer animated feature film.

pre-digital era

The work of a key animator from the pre-digital era of animation

Walt Disney

Walter Elias “Walt” Disney (05.12.1901 – 15.12.1966) was an American entrepreneur, cartoonist, animator, voice actor and film producer. He was a prominent figure within American animation industry and throughout the world, and is regarded as a cultural icon, known for his influence and contributions to entertainment during 20^th century.

Significant characters; Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy 

Walt and Roy Disney founded a company that became famous, beloved by all ages.

Nowadays, Walt Disney holds the record for most Academy Awards, with 26 Oscars. But four of Disney’s Oscars were special, honorary awards, and it’s these awards that truly shows how Walt and Roy and the company they began have affected the world of animation.

Mickey Mouse is an animal comedy cartoon character that was created by Walt Disney and the Walt Disney Company in 1928. It is a mouse who wears bright red shorts, big yellow shoes and white gloves. Today Mickey Mouse is one of the most recognisable characters in the world.

Len Lye

Leonard Charles Huia "Len" Lye (5 July 1901 – 15 May 1980), was a Christchurch, born in New Zealand. Known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture.

He involved colorful films with special effects.

Significant works: Color Box, A 1935, Rainbow Dance 1936

A Color Box, A 1935 is a first Len Lye's direct film that combined dance music and abstract design. The film won festival award and some festival said that is a new animation style.

Rainbow Dance (1936) is second Len Lye's animated film. This film is about a man who is holding an umbrella and dancing, when he is dancing the background is completely change. Rainbow Dance is full of new filmic ideas such us moving objects and colored background.