Amalgamated Segments Finale

After some assembling and editing of the obtained images in Adobe Premiere, this is the final result.

The author is thankful to the instructor Martin Rose for instigating his interest and aiding in using painted animation as a method.

Amalgamated Segments Production II

Using the key frames of the pencil test of the sequence as a skeleton, a pane of glass was set up in a camera stand, to be painted and shot with the use of the animation software Dragon.  The scene was elaborated by painting each frame on top of the glass, using glycerine and two types of paint. The set up for the scene came to be very important, not so much the surface of the glass, but the lighting conditions provided the sought illumination in the image, as it enhanced the range of tones made possible by the paint. A couple of key details were important here, the focus of the light from underneath the glass, the other dimly lighting the superior right corner; and the other being the density of the paint and the brush strokes.
Following are some images of the painting process.

 

Amalgamated Segments Production Process

After some researching reference videos of people falling from chairs and planning the scene, a rough line test of penciled key frames was done. The purpose of it being their use as reference for the painted scene. Here it is. The crows were intuitively added during the painted animation phase.

Amalgamated SegmentsPre and Production

This assignment, for the course of Experimental Animation, required to explore a chosen animation technique. My instructor, Martin Rose, informed me on the use of glycerine and poster paint ( among many) and also gave me examples of how the techinique had been employed. One of them being Caroline Leaf's short film "The Street", available by the following link here:

http://www.nfb.ca/film/The_Street


After review of my past attempts with the medium another work was started to sketch a more elaborate test, the result being the second version of the so called "Amalgamated Segments" assignment. The firts part of the process consisted on sketching an scene from which to animate, in this case the story of a man who unexpectedly transforms into a flock of birds.
(PendantadditionofThumbnails.)

Canada Line X

Versions ready to be composed along the final piece, a layer of the cityscape after being worked on digitally:

As also the completed footage for the color palette transition, from the city into the countryside.

Canada Line IX

Asides from the minor collaboration on the rotoscoping process, the focus of my production  also included the color palette whirlwind here are some stills from the process, this half corresponding to my own work. The final result being completed in collaboration with Rockey Chen.

Canada Line VIII

Additionally, the rotoscoping of the puppet into paint was done by Janice, previously counting with 12 frames from the puppet, in order to transit from one medium to another. A sample of this process can be seen as follows, the stills are taking from the capture station from which the final versions were done, the green background corresponds to the post production step of keying out the painted silhouette only.

Canada Line VII

My own focus with the project and the painted section of production was the citysacpe background through which the character and the train pan.  For this in order to establish an early formal connection between mediums the urban landscape was thought of consisting of painted imagery, the paint employed was printing poster paint.
Here are some first elements of the work:

Besides the cityscape there was some collaboration for the countryside background:

Canada Line VI

Here is a sample of work in progress assembled by our team member Rose (Rong Luo). The puppet is the work of the puppet branch of the group.

Canada Line V

Regarding the media used for the project part of it would be puppet animation while the second part would be painted animation. Begining the story with a stop motion setting and character and morphing into the painted animation medium.
It was agreed that in the story the transition from the urban setting of the train into the landscape to which the bird flies would be a color palette change simultaneous with a character rotoscope transition into paint.
Here is a color test done digitally for that purpose.

As also a link to prior developments by our classmate Janice (Ya Feng Lang) on the same topic:

http://vimeo.com/32111624

Canada Line IV

Based on the prior story board members of the group elaborated an animatic and a story board from which further production would be done. Here is the work of David O Brien and Cody Shaw:

As some art work on an additional story board by Cody Shaw:

Canada Line III

The animatic I proposed helped for a team idea. Based on those discussions and brainstorming I proposed this other story. A man drowses in the train, is suddenly blown away in to the sky where among a flock of birds he discovers he can fly and flaps his arms into the sunset. A bird is awoken by the noise of the sky train, its dream being that of being a man.

Canada Line II

As we developed this proposals they were shown to our benefactors for this project, memebers of the Canada Line where the animations would be placed. Here is a still that better illustrates the notion of an other world idea in my animatic.

Canada Line, or team production

This series of post concern the group project for the Canada Line animation done in Anim 323. A project consisting of four 10 second pieces of creative animation.
We started with sessions of brain storming where theme groups developed for each ten second clip, the final one consisting of a coda, or mix of all four sequences. Afterwards the class proceeded to show proposals upon which to build on.
The group where I worked on had the theme of other worlds, as a concept to play with.
For my proposal the story is one of a man in the sky train who drowses during the ride, awakening after a sudden movement of the train to find out he was really a creature in the transport system of an other world, dreaming of being human.
Here is a link to my animatic version of a story proposal.

Retazos I (untranslatable)

Video of paintwalk with music
Added music to one of the paint tests...

Rumores II: Lightning

The idea came accidentally but its development draws on articulated animation techniques for inspiration.
This development is partly based on the idea of the led panel screens, but also on the precursor techniques to animation, like the thaumatrope disks, or the praxinoscope, where the effect of the persistance of image on the mind generates the illusion of motion. It consists in tracing a series of consecutive images, and then limiting the passage of light through each of them, one at a time. by limiting the light the effect achieved is similar to of a lightning, the movement of the light not being obstructive to  perceive the illusion of motion.
As the adage says "A picture is  worth a thousand words".

Tracking or holding the image in different surfaces can create a fixed in place sequence, as also varying the light exposure and the materials underneath the drawing can alter the final appearance. An interesting visual effect obtained through analogue means.

Rumores 1: Sombras

As part of a course in experimental animation it seems necessary to experiment on the materials. If at list with ideas of the possibilities in producing images that can be arranged in sequence and therefore animated. Possibilities, rumors....
In absence to bring good images or some directly related to the following  idea for an animation I'll rely more on words to describe it.
Rather than building upon the seen, why not build with the unseen. The absence of light is not transparency but shadows, in spanish sombras.
A few researched examples of shadow animation point to it as that of silhouetted puppets.
The proposed idea differs in planning to use degrees of darkness in conjunction with silhouettes that exist within it. To illustrate this "anti-vision" I'll refer to what inspired it, a walk to the bus stop after a school day, crossing a field where the shadows overlap and hardly any light reflects in any object. Nonetheless the surface of the field creates illusory depths that suggest forms and shapes that do not correspond to what is really there. The degrees of darkness and the movement of the viewer composing the shapes and setting them in motion.
At this point all this entry does is announce the target of a visual research into empty imagery.