Experimenting With Different Types Of Animation

I spoke to a professional animator Trevor Jarvis about animation. He told me how to make a basic animation using the software Flash. On top of that I also asked him how to make an opening title on the software live type. I practiced how to create a character animation, background animation and digital drawings. Learning how to make an animation was every important to me as it will help me and my group to create our opening title for our film.

Character animation: I created a character animation of a person doing an activity. My animation featured a boy tossing a ball up in the air a few time. I used the software flash to create this. I found that creating a character animation was very difficult. I used the same technique used to create a motion animation while creating our character animation.

Background animation: I learnt how to create a background animation. This is when the background of the animation moves from one side of the screen to the other. Thus this creates the illusion that the main object in the animation is moving from one side to another.

Digital Drawing: Digital drawing helped us to draw realistic pictures using the computers. We used the software flash to do this. To create a realistic picture using flash you must:

1. Get an image from google and save it in documents.

2. Then go to the flash App, click on file and then import image on to layer 1.

3. Lock layer 1.

4. Create a new layer (layer 2)

5. Zoom in to your image, then using the brush tool go over the black line of your imported picture.

Opening title: I used the software live type and experimented with the features of this software so that I can familiarise on how to use it. This activity was very important as I learnt what software our group will be using to create our opening title and the types of features the software has.

Plans for our opening tittle

Description of opening title:

The opening title starts with a gold screen. At the centre of the screen there is a white number one. A key enters the number one and unlocks the door. The door creaks opens outwards. Behind the door, is a black screen with the ‘Numero Uno’ logo? The ‘Numero Uno’ logo is in Edwardian script. The text is in white with a golden border. The screen fades to black.

The word ‘A one man War’ appears in the next screen. The text is in Bodoni SVTY and it appears on the screen as through someone in typing the words with a white line flashing after the typing. All the text is in white. There is also a white silhouette of a soldier on the right of ‘A one man War, ‘which is slightly bigger than the font. The white soldier moves his gun barrel towards the screen and shoots, the screen cracks and crumbles.

Below is preview of how we imagine our opening title will look like once it is made (this not the final copy). This was produced using Photoshop. The production name will appear first followed by the 'A one man war' opening title.

Actor Wanted Poster

This poster was made in order to advertise to people that a lead male actor is needed for our film. The poster shows a picture from a WWII poster. We used this image in our wanted poster as the male actor needed in our film will be portrayed as a solider. We replaced the words "your country need you" with "Our film need you" this hopefully will stand out and attract our target audience. The poster included details such as the age range of the actor needed and who to contact for the part.

What Is The Lead Room

To find out about what a lead room is and it's importance in a film. I talked to a professional cameraman named Yoshito Darmon. Lead room is the space showing the direction in which the subject is moving or looking at. It is basically the space in front of the subject. It shows the viewer’s where the subject is going, not where it has been. For example, a moving objects or subject such as cars require lead room. The space allows the viewers to see that the car is moving and where he is going.

This picture shows the direction of where the women is jogging.

I also researched on lead room in wikipedia.

Camera Settings: White Balance

What is white balance?

White balance is the process of adjusting the image and removing the unrealistic colour. It allows us to adjust the colours in our images as accurately as possible. When examining a picture taken by a camera, the image can sometimes come out in an orange or yellowish colour. This is because images have different sources of light which have a different ‘colour’ (or temperature).

Camera which has the white balance has to take into account the "colour temperature" of a light source, (refers to warmth or coolness of the white light). Our eyes can tell what is white under different light sources. However digital cameras normally have difficulty with auto white balance (AWB). Due to this difficulty the image comes out a blue, orange, or green colour. Those cameras which have a digital white balance can help avoid this problem and can improve the picture.

Incorrect white balance

Correct white balance

The source of this information was from: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/white-balance.htm