Histroy
Pixar, (however not called pixar at the time) was founded in 1979 as just an animation devision of lucasfilms graphical department, until steve jobs bought them in 1986 and named the group 'pixar' pixar then went on to create short films like 'luxo jr' luxo jr later won awards for being an amazing animation such as an academy award for best animation, it was the first animation to be nominated for an academy award. pixar then decided they wanted to create a feature length film, so under the new leadership of steve jobs they started to create small short films, like tin toy in 1988, tin toy was still groundbreaking for the time and was the first animated film to actually win an academy award adverts to fund their project, such adverts like:
these ads were very well known and even respected for being very well made and made them enough money to begin working on their first film, Toy Story, Toy Story came out in 1995 and took the world by storm being the first animated feature length film, it won a 'special achievement award' for being so technically impressive, it also was nominated for BAFTA's and won 8 annie awards.
after Toy Story pixar made films like bugs life, wall-e and 2 sequels to Toy Story, Toy Story 3 being the highest grossing film of all time
what do pixar make?
pixar are an animation company that make computer generated CGI animations. These animations were very realistic and friendly looking, but the animations are made in such a way that people forget that they're even watching animation and they watch it like any other film and appreciate it for it's characters and story.
technology used
pixar use RenderMan, a software that they made themselves to promote creativity and having full control what they want a thing on screen to do and how realistic they could make it, The software consists of a series of sliders that can move parts of a character like having hundreds of strings attached to them at once, giving the teams working on the animation much better of a way to do what they wanted with the project.
Saturday 21 June 2014
Wednesday 11 June 2014
Splargh Profile -done-
Name: splargh the alian
Age: roughly 306 earth years
Type - alian life form
Backstory: splargh was the king's son, but when he ordered an attack on earth, he was sent to scout but upon arrival he's decided to try and save everyone.
Personality: he likes to protect his friends, he likes to be able to chill out and relax but can also work hard if needed to.
Friends: he was good friends with the sparfball team goalkeeper before he left, now he is just friends with jayden and his friends.
Foes: the rest of his race coming to attack earth
Abilities and skills: a very capable engineer and a crack-shot with plasma weaponry.
Hobbies: he likes building small nuclear generators in his spare time.
Hopes and Dreams: he wants a peaceful galaxy and to save earth.
Catchphrase: 'Im gonna hit you so hard, you'll end up in the star system IE-304! yeah, that's pretty far away!' he also likes to shout "-unintelligible alien screams-" a lot, but it's not a fan favorite, not on this planet anyway.
The design choices i made for the character are very well suited for the type of show i feel, for example the black outline gives the character a friendly cartoony look to it, this will appeal to the younger audience that the show is aimed at.
The colours are chosen because because they are very friendly looking, the whites and purples i used are friendly colours.
the character has an outfit that shows his personality, the flared pants are for the comical relief that the character can bring, his leather jacket and sheriff badge make it clear that he is a good guy.
his body shape is very easy to spot with his head shape being particularly easy to identify, this means that even as a shadow you can see who it is.
the fact he wears a badge is entirely satire, this adds to the characters comical nature and jokey attitude.
Age: roughly 306 earth years
Type - alian life form
Backstory: splargh was the king's son, but when he ordered an attack on earth, he was sent to scout but upon arrival he's decided to try and save everyone.
Personality: he likes to protect his friends, he likes to be able to chill out and relax but can also work hard if needed to.
Friends: he was good friends with the sparfball team goalkeeper before he left, now he is just friends with jayden and his friends.
Foes: the rest of his race coming to attack earth
Abilities and skills: a very capable engineer and a crack-shot with plasma weaponry.
Hobbies: he likes building small nuclear generators in his spare time.
Hopes and Dreams: he wants a peaceful galaxy and to save earth.
Catchphrase: 'Im gonna hit you so hard, you'll end up in the star system IE-304! yeah, that's pretty far away!' he also likes to shout "-unintelligible alien screams-" a lot, but it's not a fan favorite, not on this planet anyway.
The design choices i made for the character are very well suited for the type of show i feel, for example the black outline gives the character a friendly cartoony look to it, this will appeal to the younger audience that the show is aimed at.
The colours are chosen because because they are very friendly looking, the whites and purples i used are friendly colours.
the character has an outfit that shows his personality, the flared pants are for the comical relief that the character can bring, his leather jacket and sheriff badge make it clear that he is a good guy.
his body shape is very easy to spot with his head shape being particularly easy to identify, this means that even as a shadow you can see who it is.
the fact he wears a badge is entirely satire, this adds to the characters comical nature and jokey attitude.
representation and ethics
why does the person who writes this article think that rio 2 is racist?
well, all the main characters are voiced by white americans and all the 'comic relief' roles are not.
PEPs: Problem Contexts, Entertainment Contexts and Performance Contexts. "Within PEPs, black people and other genotypes have to be associated with vexing circumstances," Dr Charles Da Costa states that people 'Strive to pacify, make others happy and be exceptional or extraordinary – far from 'normal'. Villainy, exoticism, jocularity and athleticism are common indicators of this malaise. Images of ethnicity do not need to be conveyed within the narrow scope of PEPs."
Da Costa thinks that animation companies are usually just sellouts and try to gain money. totally not how business works, in my personal opinion if they were to just scrape anyone of the streets and pay them money to voice act in a film, that's awesome for them, yay for morals and such, but the millions of people that will see the film will be disappointed, just because in this situation a particular set of actors fit the roles more so than others does not mean that they chose them because of race, if you want a person of any gender or religion or ethnicity or race in your film for one reason or another it doesn't mean that they're discriminating against all the others, maybe it was better in context and so on.
What does Turbo say about social mobility?
In turbo the only humans are Mexicans who run a small shack selling tacos, this is a stereotype that has existed for a while but is not appropriate for a large company to be portraying, especially to a younger audience.
well, all the main characters are voiced by white americans and all the 'comic relief' roles are not.
PEPs: Problem Contexts, Entertainment Contexts and Performance Contexts. "Within PEPs, black people and other genotypes have to be associated with vexing circumstances," Dr Charles Da Costa states that people 'Strive to pacify, make others happy and be exceptional or extraordinary – far from 'normal'. Villainy, exoticism, jocularity and athleticism are common indicators of this malaise. Images of ethnicity do not need to be conveyed within the narrow scope of PEPs."
Da Costa thinks that animation companies are usually just sellouts and try to gain money. totally not how business works, in my personal opinion if they were to just scrape anyone of the streets and pay them money to voice act in a film, that's awesome for them, yay for morals and such, but the millions of people that will see the film will be disappointed, just because in this situation a particular set of actors fit the roles more so than others does not mean that they chose them because of race, if you want a person of any gender or religion or ethnicity or race in your film for one reason or another it doesn't mean that they're discriminating against all the others, maybe it was better in context and so on.
What does Turbo say about social mobility?
In turbo the only humans are Mexicans who run a small shack selling tacos, this is a stereotype that has existed for a while but is not appropriate for a large company to be portraying, especially to a younger audience.
Animation process write up -done-
south park starts their production with storyboards, this starts the domino effect that is the production of an episode, they then get a script and start making the script into a more refined storyboard, the characters and location backgrounds are then set in stone and the team move on to actual animation, lip synching and everything else, the sound and audio assets are brought in and the episode is finished, the episode making takes exactly a week and then the episode gets shipped out.
Dot began it's life as a promotion for nokia and their new microscope attachment for their phones, they used a nokia N8 to actually shoot the animation. they had different actions ready for the characters and dots. of course as the character is only 9mm tall it is impossible to really shape or change the model so it had to be made an unconventional way, they 3D printed it. The models were then hung on very thin wire and then painted. to make sure the model was how they wanted it, they would not move it at all during filming, they would only move the background as it was easier. the movement of the background was monitored by a computer so they could know exactly where it was.
peppa pig is made using a program called Cell2D this program gives the show the feel that it has, and allows the develpoers and animators to get what they want. peppa pig was first thought of in a very vague fashion, the storyboard had very large stokes on it so no detail at all could be made out but they animated the whole thing with this pink blob to then add details in later when the design had been finalized, a very roundabout way of working, but it continues to work for them to this day!
Dot began it's life as a promotion for nokia and their new microscope attachment for their phones, they used a nokia N8 to actually shoot the animation. they had different actions ready for the characters and dots. of course as the character is only 9mm tall it is impossible to really shape or change the model so it had to be made an unconventional way, they 3D printed it. The models were then hung on very thin wire and then painted. to make sure the model was how they wanted it, they would not move it at all during filming, they would only move the background as it was easier. the movement of the background was monitored by a computer so they could know exactly where it was.
peppa pig is made using a program called Cell2D this program gives the show the feel that it has, and allows the develpoers and animators to get what they want. peppa pig was first thought of in a very vague fashion, the storyboard had very large stokes on it so no detail at all could be made out but they animated the whole thing with this pink blob to then add details in later when the design had been finalized, a very roundabout way of working, but it continues to work for them to this day!
Tuesday 10 June 2014
Final design Choices
Here is my OC that i created.
The design choices i made for the character are very well suited for the type of show i feel, for example the black outline gives the character a friendly cartoony look to it, this will appeal to the younger audience that the show is aimed at.
The colours are chosen because because they are very friendly looking, the whites and purples i used are friendly colours.
the character has an outfit that shows his personality, the flared pants are for the comical relief that the character can bring, his leather jacket and sheriff badge make it clear that he is a good guy.
his body shape is very easy to spot with his head shape being particularly easy to identify, this means that even as a shadow you can see who it is.
The colours are chosen because because they are very friendly looking, the whites and purples i used are friendly colours.
the character has an outfit that shows his personality, the flared pants are for the comical relief that the character can bring, his leather jacket and sheriff badge make it clear that he is a good guy.
his body shape is very easy to spot with his head shape being particularly easy to identify, this means that even as a shadow you can see who it is.
Monday 9 June 2014
How Does Your Animation Fit Into Current Trends? -done-
my animation fits into the current animation trends in a few ways,
the current popular shows for people of my target audience include shows like ben10 and teen titans, these shows are popular for a number of reasons that young boys really enjoy, for example the fact that ben10 focused on aliens really interested me as a kid and did all my friends, too, this is a trend that my animation follows as well as ben10. teen titans is a show where we see characters that we can relate to fighting monsters and looking super cool doing it, too, this is another trait that my animation will share, for example jayden the main character in my animation is very easy to relate to, due to his normal nature and therefore will hook in people easier.
my animation will also fit in to trends because of it's possibility to appeal to more of the family, because no matter how old you get you can still enjoy old cartoons as an adult, while kids are growing up fathers won't get to spend much time with their son as they'll be out a lot more and so on, so even being there to sit and watch a cartoon with them can really be a special time for the father and he might enjoy the show, too.
i would like to show my animation on 'cartoon network' on a early morning and early afternoon slot, this will appeal to my target audience as they wake up they will want something to watch, and if alpha space is on they'll want to watch it, just before going to school, the slot just after school would be a very good peak time, also for pretty much the same reason.
my animation and the characters can be easily linked to other animations and themes throughout the world today and in the past.
my main character jayden is a very normal boy with no real traits apart from caring for his friends and being a nice person. this is very similar to 'Tommy' in the popular animation 'RobotBoy'
the idea of aliens invading the earth has been in story after story for decades in books and movies alike, one great example of this is the film 'mars attacks' where earth is attacked by crazed aliens, from mars.
The idea of two partners working together in an adventure to protect from aliens is also a format that has been used many times over, here we see a good example of it slightly changed, in a slightly old cartoon called 'ozzy and drix' we follow the adventures of two crime fighters who defend the body of a human from 'aliens' attacking in the form of germs from the outside. similar to an alien invasion.
splargh himself is a character that looks like the main antagonist in a very old lucasarts game 'day of the tentacle'
this game was a large part of my childhood even though i was born a little after it became popular this game still brings a happy thought to my mind and it's easy to see how splargh got some inspiration from our friend here, the point im getting at is this game was very popular and spawned a fan made web series and is even well know today, the design of the characters are very simple yet memorable and unique.
the current popular shows for people of my target audience include shows like ben10 and teen titans, these shows are popular for a number of reasons that young boys really enjoy, for example the fact that ben10 focused on aliens really interested me as a kid and did all my friends, too, this is a trend that my animation follows as well as ben10. teen titans is a show where we see characters that we can relate to fighting monsters and looking super cool doing it, too, this is another trait that my animation will share, for example jayden the main character in my animation is very easy to relate to, due to his normal nature and therefore will hook in people easier.
my animation will also fit in to trends because of it's possibility to appeal to more of the family, because no matter how old you get you can still enjoy old cartoons as an adult, while kids are growing up fathers won't get to spend much time with their son as they'll be out a lot more and so on, so even being there to sit and watch a cartoon with them can really be a special time for the father and he might enjoy the show, too.
i would like to show my animation on 'cartoon network' on a early morning and early afternoon slot, this will appeal to my target audience as they wake up they will want something to watch, and if alpha space is on they'll want to watch it, just before going to school, the slot just after school would be a very good peak time, also for pretty much the same reason.
my animation and the characters can be easily linked to other animations and themes throughout the world today and in the past.
my main character jayden is a very normal boy with no real traits apart from caring for his friends and being a nice person. this is very similar to 'Tommy' in the popular animation 'RobotBoy'
 |
| -Tommy |
 |
| -A space ship from the film 'Mars Attacks!' - 1996 |
The idea of two partners working together in an adventure to protect from aliens is also a format that has been used many times over, here we see a good example of it slightly changed, in a slightly old cartoon called 'ozzy and drix' we follow the adventures of two crime fighters who defend the body of a human from 'aliens' attacking in the form of germs from the outside. similar to an alien invasion.
 |
| yup, that sure looks like an alien to me! |
splargh himself is a character that looks like the main antagonist in a very old lucasarts game 'day of the tentacle'
 |
| here we see 'purple' can you tell why? |
this game was a large part of my childhood even though i was born a little after it became popular this game still brings a happy thought to my mind and it's easy to see how splargh got some inspiration from our friend here, the point im getting at is this game was very popular and spawned a fan made web series and is even well know today, the design of the characters are very simple yet memorable and unique.
Animation Trends
Animation has seen many trends over the years and they are constantly shifting, recently we've seen many animations follow these trends:
Sequels, a sequel is always a good way to make a movie and pretty much assure it sticks, with an already established brand you know that people are going to see it, some good examples of these include, monsters inc2 and even Planes.
merchandising animated feature length films usually come with millions of dollars worth of merch that follow, for example you can buy pretty much every Disney character ever conceived and this solidifies a brand name and strengthens any future titles.
family movies a family movie is almost instantly going to do well, people want to take their families to see movies together, to have a day out, and more people going mean more ticket sales.
computer animated 3D disney and pixar pretty much own this type of animated film, with legendary titles under their belt working together or alone with films like toy story, tangled, frozen, ice age and many more very well known household family films, the style is solid and friendly and also very appealing to any audience.
established celebrities and stars for voice actors: celebrities appearing as stars in films has been happening for decades now and having one appear in an animation has the same effect, like tom hanks voicing woody in toy story and so on people will be drawn to a film just because a star is in it somehow.
Animation Flowchart -done-
Stage two: Concept design is to create the look of the animation and also decide some story elements that will go into the final piece.
Stage three: Storyboarding is used to create the first visual representation of what episodes will look like, artists will be working close with the director in this stage, the storyboard will usually change throughout production to allow for new ideas to come in to play.
Stage four: Production design and planning visuals, visual artists will start to create the look and feel of the animation by planning a style with models and drawings.
Stage Five: Audio recording, this consists of everything from voice acting to the rustle of a tree if need be.
Stage six: Building the models is a very important part of any animation, having a solid model assures that any movements done with the character are smooth and look natural, as even natural movement with a character that looks unnatural will look strange.
stage seven:layout planning is very important to an animation from a crew standpoint and from the producer of the animation, knowing when things are going to be completed and when to do them make an efficient team and efficiency is what you need when working in a large team to create a large project like an animation.
stage eight: the animation, the animation part of an animation will obviously be very important being as the animation needs to be animated, this comes very late in the scheme of things but will also take the longest, the animation is usually split up between a team to work together on.
stage nine: backgrounds and colouration, once you have a working animation you need to polish it and give it backgrounds, this includes castles, hills and holes and anything else of the sort, the animated characters also need to be coloured and brought to life.
stage ten: lighting, to make an animation look realistic (if that is the end goal) then lighting is what you need, realistic lighting is what can make the difference between a good and bad animation and is what makes an end goal look professional.
stage eleven: post production, this is where people polish the animation, putting all the small finishing touches to everything and making it all look as pretty as possible.
Friday 6 June 2014
Animation Storyline -done-
Series with 10 episodes per series.
each episode will be 13 minutes in length.
episode 1 we have the crash landing of splargh the alien on earth and his first meeting with jayden, also jayden getting his robotic hand-cannon. jayden will then begin to test his cannon out in the woods, training with splargh by his side, splargh will tell jayden only to use the cannon in dire events and as he says this jayden fires the cannon with all of it's power, knocking down a line of trees, jayden then quickly leaves (get it?) the area and the two head back to jaydens house, jayden expressing how shocked he was with the cannons power.
episode 2 we see the first evidence that the government are also looking for splargh, as agents turn up at jayden's home, he lies to them and they finally leave. jayden goes to tell splargh that they are looking for him and splargh says that they should be no real worry, and shows jayden that he should be fine, by using a morph devise to disguise himself as human.
episode 3 jayden goes back to school for the first time since splargh crashed, he cant leave him home because his mom doesn't know about him yet, so he brings him with him in his backpack, soon discovered by a few of his friends (benny, joshua and matthew) they all decide to have it as a secret between them
episode 4 the agents come to jaydens school and try to take splargh from them, they have a fight in the courtyard with jaydens friends helping, the agents finally win and take splargh from the kids
episode 5 jayden and his friends mount an assault on the warehouse splargh is being held in, they sneak in through the vents and rescue him without being spotted.
episode 6 after rescuing splargh from the warehouse the kids go back to jaydens house to find out that they took the translator from splargh that allows him to talk, they decide they have to go back to get it. they bike over to the warehouse and gather in front of it until they are suddenly attacked from behind.
episode 7 the kids wake up in the same warehouse that splargh was in before with agents swarming all over the place, out of the corner of his eye jayden spots splargh's translator, he glances over at his friends all being questioned. jaydens hand-cannon begins to glow as he fills with anger, a flash of light blasts out from his hand and knocks all the guards out, he cuts the bindings around him and frees his friends, grabs the translator and runs out of the warehouse, it is also shown that the commander of the agents has been watching them through the CCTV the whole time. they get the translator back to splargh and he thanks them for their kindness.
episode 8 the next day jayden wakes up and checks his phone to see an unknown text -meet me, 1pm. park.- he looks at the time -12:30- he jumps out of bed and gets dressed and runs to the park as he gets there, there is a beautiful red-haired girl standing in front of him, turns out it is one of his friends cousins, she says that if jayden ever puts her cousin in danger again there will be trouble but...he's not super concentrated on what she's saying, he is then talking to her cousin again and they discuss what happened benny -the friend- explains how annoying his cousin is, Jayden however cant stop thinking about her and just blindly agrees with what benny is saying.
episode 9 a helicopter lands outside jaydens house, glancing out his window we see a few men in suits walk out of the chopper, the agents walk to the door and ask where jayden is, his mom directs them upstairs and jayden readies his hand cannon at the door, the door opens and the men walk in, splargh jumps up from jaydens floor and runs to them, now speaking in the usual clicks from his planet, the group of 3 men start to morph back into their alien form, they look just like splargh, they tell jayden that they are from UFFA the (Universal Freedom For Aliens) and they want to help splargh and jayden evade the agents, jayden leaves the house with them and splargh and they get on the chopper to their headquaters
episode 10 (20 minute long special finale) they arrive at the HQ of the UFFA, the place is massive on an island of it's own, jayden and splargh are guided around the island and the facilities, including the weapons that the aliens have brought from their planet, after being shown all the way round the island the alarm sounds, the agents are attacking. jayden runs outside to see at least 20 helicopters heading towards the island, the members of the UFFA all gather outside, readying their weapons, jayden readies his hand-cannon and they wait. the helicopters get closer and announce their attack, the UFFA start their defense, shooting lazer cannons and static charges at the helicopters and one by one they begin to crash on the island and into the ocean surrounding it people begin parachuting onto the island, the UFFA hold them off and the agents finally surrender, getting picked back up in choppers and leaving. a mobile phone on one of the agents shows that his orders were to kill everyone on the island, and after talking to captain macnama the leader of the UFFA he and jayden decide that they need to wipe out the agents for good, before they attack the island again.
each episode will be 13 minutes in length.
episode 1 we have the crash landing of splargh the alien on earth and his first meeting with jayden, also jayden getting his robotic hand-cannon. jayden will then begin to test his cannon out in the woods, training with splargh by his side, splargh will tell jayden only to use the cannon in dire events and as he says this jayden fires the cannon with all of it's power, knocking down a line of trees, jayden then quickly leaves (get it?) the area and the two head back to jaydens house, jayden expressing how shocked he was with the cannons power.
episode 2 we see the first evidence that the government are also looking for splargh, as agents turn up at jayden's home, he lies to them and they finally leave. jayden goes to tell splargh that they are looking for him and splargh says that they should be no real worry, and shows jayden that he should be fine, by using a morph devise to disguise himself as human.
episode 3 jayden goes back to school for the first time since splargh crashed, he cant leave him home because his mom doesn't know about him yet, so he brings him with him in his backpack, soon discovered by a few of his friends (benny, joshua and matthew) they all decide to have it as a secret between them
episode 4 the agents come to jaydens school and try to take splargh from them, they have a fight in the courtyard with jaydens friends helping, the agents finally win and take splargh from the kids
episode 5 jayden and his friends mount an assault on the warehouse splargh is being held in, they sneak in through the vents and rescue him without being spotted.
episode 6 after rescuing splargh from the warehouse the kids go back to jaydens house to find out that they took the translator from splargh that allows him to talk, they decide they have to go back to get it. they bike over to the warehouse and gather in front of it until they are suddenly attacked from behind.
episode 7 the kids wake up in the same warehouse that splargh was in before with agents swarming all over the place, out of the corner of his eye jayden spots splargh's translator, he glances over at his friends all being questioned. jaydens hand-cannon begins to glow as he fills with anger, a flash of light blasts out from his hand and knocks all the guards out, he cuts the bindings around him and frees his friends, grabs the translator and runs out of the warehouse, it is also shown that the commander of the agents has been watching them through the CCTV the whole time. they get the translator back to splargh and he thanks them for their kindness.
episode 8 the next day jayden wakes up and checks his phone to see an unknown text -meet me, 1pm. park.- he looks at the time -12:30- he jumps out of bed and gets dressed and runs to the park as he gets there, there is a beautiful red-haired girl standing in front of him, turns out it is one of his friends cousins, she says that if jayden ever puts her cousin in danger again there will be trouble but...he's not super concentrated on what she's saying, he is then talking to her cousin again and they discuss what happened benny -the friend- explains how annoying his cousin is, Jayden however cant stop thinking about her and just blindly agrees with what benny is saying.
episode 9 a helicopter lands outside jaydens house, glancing out his window we see a few men in suits walk out of the chopper, the agents walk to the door and ask where jayden is, his mom directs them upstairs and jayden readies his hand cannon at the door, the door opens and the men walk in, splargh jumps up from jaydens floor and runs to them, now speaking in the usual clicks from his planet, the group of 3 men start to morph back into their alien form, they look just like splargh, they tell jayden that they are from UFFA the (Universal Freedom For Aliens) and they want to help splargh and jayden evade the agents, jayden leaves the house with them and splargh and they get on the chopper to their headquaters
episode 10 (20 minute long special finale) they arrive at the HQ of the UFFA, the place is massive on an island of it's own, jayden and splargh are guided around the island and the facilities, including the weapons that the aliens have brought from their planet, after being shown all the way round the island the alarm sounds, the agents are attacking. jayden runs outside to see at least 20 helicopters heading towards the island, the members of the UFFA all gather outside, readying their weapons, jayden readies his hand-cannon and they wait. the helicopters get closer and announce their attack, the UFFA start their defense, shooting lazer cannons and static charges at the helicopters and one by one they begin to crash on the island and into the ocean surrounding it people begin parachuting onto the island, the UFFA hold them off and the agents finally surrender, getting picked back up in choppers and leaving. a mobile phone on one of the agents shows that his orders were to kill everyone on the island, and after talking to captain macnama the leader of the UFFA he and jayden decide that they need to wipe out the agents for good, before they attack the island again.
Thursday 5 June 2014
Trends In Animation
Most popular cartoons on cartoon network:
At #1 we have adventure time, a very good show for people of pretty much all ages, it appeals to a very specific audience and is a cartoon made similar to the way that cartoons used to (with lots of wildly placed adult themes that you wouldn't get as a child) so it appeals to children watching cartoons as they do, and a person such as myself, someone who grew up with older cartoons.
At #2 we have Regular show, this was voted as #1 with the male demographic in general.
At #3 we have MAD, MAD was #1 in it's audience of males aged 6-11 at the time of it's popularity
Top Animations On Youtube
at #1 we have: Tootin' bathtub baby cousins. this...this made me really phisically angry to look at, the animation is shoddy at best, with no real effort put into it, the comedy comes through poorly implemented sound effects of passing gas and the *ehem* 'SONG' is literally ear torture...how this got popular i will never know...but i guess it may appeal to children and anyone with an IQ in the negatives.
at #2 we have La Casa De Mickey Mouse, this was an educational endeavor by disney on youtube, the animation is very professional -as you would expect- and is very child-friendly
at #3 we have The Gummy Bear Song...oh my goodness i remember this one, the gummy bear song is a song about...well..gummy bears, translated into may different languages over the years the video and song went viral, and hey, the kids loved it!
Now A General Statement About The Industry as a whole?
well, it appears that child-themed animations take a strong lead on youtube, maybe that's why the sheer annoying, poorly done, immature, armature videos of animation may take the lead over well thought out story driven animation series, like eddsworld or oneyng's cartoons.
At #1 we have adventure time, a very good show for people of pretty much all ages, it appeals to a very specific audience and is a cartoon made similar to the way that cartoons used to (with lots of wildly placed adult themes that you wouldn't get as a child) so it appeals to children watching cartoons as they do, and a person such as myself, someone who grew up with older cartoons.
At #2 we have Regular show, this was voted as #1 with the male demographic in general.
At #3 we have MAD, MAD was #1 in it's audience of males aged 6-11 at the time of it's popularity
Top Animations On Youtube
at #1 we have: Tootin' bathtub baby cousins. this...this made me really phisically angry to look at, the animation is shoddy at best, with no real effort put into it, the comedy comes through poorly implemented sound effects of passing gas and the *ehem* 'SONG' is literally ear torture...how this got popular i will never know...but i guess it may appeal to children and anyone with an IQ in the negatives.
at #2 we have La Casa De Mickey Mouse, this was an educational endeavor by disney on youtube, the animation is very professional -as you would expect- and is very child-friendly
at #3 we have The Gummy Bear Song...oh my goodness i remember this one, the gummy bear song is a song about...well..gummy bears, translated into may different languages over the years the video and song went viral, and hey, the kids loved it!
Now A General Statement About The Industry as a whole?
well, it appears that child-themed animations take a strong lead on youtube, maybe that's why the sheer annoying, poorly done, immature, armature videos of animation may take the lead over well thought out story driven animation series, like eddsworld or oneyng's cartoons.
Friday 2 May 2014
Tuesday 29 April 2014
scheduling
http://www.getharvest.com/blog/2011/11/teams-at-work-creating-a-south-park-episode-in-6-days/
http://www.kidzcoolit.com/reviews/the-brains-behind-peppa-pig-phil-davis-neville-astley-and-mark-baker-answer-some-kidz-random-questions.php
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6260000/newsid_6262500/6262584.stm
Friday 25 April 2014
Target Audience
Target Audience
Age: 12-15
Gender: Male
Similar Media Products: Ben 10, RobotBoy and Johnny Test.
Target Audience Profile
Toby: Aged 13
Toby's Average Day:
An average day for Toby consists of going to school to meet with his friends, when playing with them he might enjoy some running around and play fighting with them, he is currently doing a school project on the habitats of worms in the garden, he also enjoys watching the Tv with his Younger bother, Robby, when he gets home he will sometimes play some video games with his friends online and relax in front of the tv, and watch either Comedy Central or Top Gear. . Toby also plays in his school football team as a striker, most of his friends are also from the football club he is in.
Toby's interests:
Toby likes to play video games, he likes Sonic The Hedgehog and the Spiderman games and Minecraft, he also enjoys playing Pokemon with his friends. Toby likes to watch tv a lot too, he will watch 1-2 hours of Tv a day. Toby is also fascinated with looking at the stars.
Toby likes to watch my show because:
Toby likes the art style and the fight scenes the most, he also likes aliens. Toby can also relate himself to Jayden from the show because he is an average kid and enjoys thinking one day an alien could give him powers, too. Another reason is that Toby can talk about the show with his friends.
Age: 12-15
Gender: Male
Similar Media Products: Ben 10, RobotBoy and Johnny Test.
Target Audience Profile
Toby: Aged 13
Toby's Average Day:
An average day for Toby consists of going to school to meet with his friends, when playing with them he might enjoy some running around and play fighting with them, he is currently doing a school project on the habitats of worms in the garden, he also enjoys watching the Tv with his Younger bother, Robby, when he gets home he will sometimes play some video games with his friends online and relax in front of the tv, and watch either Comedy Central or Top Gear. . Toby also plays in his school football team as a striker, most of his friends are also from the football club he is in.
Toby's interests:
Toby likes to play video games, he likes Sonic The Hedgehog and the Spiderman games and Minecraft, he also enjoys playing Pokemon with his friends. Toby likes to watch tv a lot too, he will watch 1-2 hours of Tv a day. Toby is also fascinated with looking at the stars.
Toby likes to watch my show because:
Toby likes the art style and the fight scenes the most, he also likes aliens. Toby can also relate himself to Jayden from the show because he is an average kid and enjoys thinking one day an alien could give him powers, too. Another reason is that Toby can talk about the show with his friends.
Thursday 24 April 2014
Costs Of My Animation
https://phaven-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/files/document_part/asset/1141685/QHZlaDRNXXrMGqMnSaotP6UEalY/animation200501.pdf
https://www.voices.com/resources/rates
https://www.voices.com/resources/rates
Wednesday 9 April 2014
Tuesday 8 April 2014
REGULATORY BODIES - BBFC AND CORALINE CASE STUDY -done-
The BBFC is the British board of film classification, it's their job to rate films to make sure they are appropriate for certain audiences, and giving them ratings accordingly, like an adult film needs to be classified as such to avoid minors going to see it ect. The BBFC is a completely independent company and has been since they were set up in 1912, the funding for the BBFC comes solely from their own merit and the amount is charges for it's services, they receive no governmental funding or subsidies from the film industry its self.
The BBFC use a kind of rating category they created, these consist of different letters to correspond to films, they are as follows:
U: a U film is a "Universal" film, implying that it is suitable for all viewers aged 4 and above, this includes children films and such, in a U film there are very strict guidelines in regards to violence and sexual references, for example a character in a U film can carry a weapon, but no focus should be had on the weapon, fight scenes are allowed, but nothing brutal or bloody. the rules are strict to make sure that no children feel upset during the viewing, but as quoted from their webpage
"However, it is impossible to predict what might upset a particular child, especially at this lower end of the category range."
PG: a PG film stands for 'parental guidance' and is used to classify films that would be suitable for people aged 8 and up, these films can have slightly more adult themes than a U film, they can tackle more real world problems like bullying, racism and bereavement, violence can be slightly more intense too, with small amounts of blood but no emphasis on it or the wound in much detail.
12 and 12A: 12 films are films that are not usually suitable for children under 12, however 12A means a child under 12 CAN see it, but only accompanied by an adult. a 12 or 12A film may have uses of stronger curse words like 'F***' depending on how the word is used, if a swear is used in an aggressive way then the film is more likely to be rated higher. themes of films are allowed to be much darker in a 12/12A than in a PG or U, a 12 or 12A film may have sexual scenes / nudity but only for a very slight amount of time and not full frontal, the context in witch these are used will also play a part, for example comedic effect will lessen the seriousness of any nudity and may be granted some leniency.
15: a 15 film can consist of very frequent uses of stronger terms, 'F***' can be used often and even some stronger terms like 'C***" can be used a few times depending on who is saying it, and in what context, drug taking is also allowed to be a theme in a 15 rated film however not promote it and strong sexual references and nudity. Violence is also allowed with a degree of leniency in a 15 film, with gore allowed as long as it's not sadistic.
18: 18 films are the second highest aged rating in film, an 18 film can consist of any one or several of these themes, very strong violence, frequent strong language , strong portrayals of sexual activities scenes of sexual violence strong horror, sex, and even discriminatory language and behaviour, the language in an 18 is pretty much unlimited and people are given free reign with how much cursing goes on.
R18: R18 is used to categorise works of extreme sexual nature, fetish and other pornographic films, for example an R18 film can only be purchased by someone 18 or over and in a licensed sex shop or have their own place on a webpage where you must verify your age before continuing.
Coraline Case Study:
Coraline is a film rated PG by the BBFC, Coraline is a horror film aimed at a younger audience, as younger viewers also demand a variety in media consumption it is inevitable that horror would come to children as well.
the BBFC say that children do enjoy horror just as much as anyone else, however the violence must be kept to a minimum (of course) the horror must not utilize the use of sound too much in a scary scene as they could be too scary, they also say that any horror must be quickly resolved, for example a person can't be kidnapped for a long period of time, if they were, for example, taken by a spirit in a scary situation they would have to be returned and safe in a short period of time to avoid it being too scary for a child.
the scare may also depend on how the main character reacts to the event, coraline is shown to be strong, even in the scary situations, this will have a domino effect making watchers feel stronger with her, making the scare less intense.
coraline is also in a fantasy setting, meaning that the watchers can slightly distance themselves from the scare as it isn't set in real life, this will help lower the rating of the film and bring it down to the PG that it ended up at. the BBFC said that 'The film contains mild threat' meaning that the threat is safe for children to watch and not feel too much panic in the situation and make it appropriate for them to view.
The BBFC use a kind of rating category they created, these consist of different letters to correspond to films, they are as follows:
U: a U film is a "Universal" film, implying that it is suitable for all viewers aged 4 and above, this includes children films and such, in a U film there are very strict guidelines in regards to violence and sexual references, for example a character in a U film can carry a weapon, but no focus should be had on the weapon, fight scenes are allowed, but nothing brutal or bloody. the rules are strict to make sure that no children feel upset during the viewing, but as quoted from their webpage
"However, it is impossible to predict what might upset a particular child, especially at this lower end of the category range."
PG: a PG film stands for 'parental guidance' and is used to classify films that would be suitable for people aged 8 and up, these films can have slightly more adult themes than a U film, they can tackle more real world problems like bullying, racism and bereavement, violence can be slightly more intense too, with small amounts of blood but no emphasis on it or the wound in much detail.
12 and 12A: 12 films are films that are not usually suitable for children under 12, however 12A means a child under 12 CAN see it, but only accompanied by an adult. a 12 or 12A film may have uses of stronger curse words like 'F***' depending on how the word is used, if a swear is used in an aggressive way then the film is more likely to be rated higher. themes of films are allowed to be much darker in a 12/12A than in a PG or U, a 12 or 12A film may have sexual scenes / nudity but only for a very slight amount of time and not full frontal, the context in witch these are used will also play a part, for example comedic effect will lessen the seriousness of any nudity and may be granted some leniency.
15: a 15 film can consist of very frequent uses of stronger terms, 'F***' can be used often and even some stronger terms like 'C***" can be used a few times depending on who is saying it, and in what context, drug taking is also allowed to be a theme in a 15 rated film however not promote it and strong sexual references and nudity. Violence is also allowed with a degree of leniency in a 15 film, with gore allowed as long as it's not sadistic.
18: 18 films are the second highest aged rating in film, an 18 film can consist of any one or several of these themes, very strong violence, frequent strong language , strong portrayals of sexual activities scenes of sexual violence strong horror, sex, and even discriminatory language and behaviour, the language in an 18 is pretty much unlimited and people are given free reign with how much cursing goes on.
R18: R18 is used to categorise works of extreme sexual nature, fetish and other pornographic films, for example an R18 film can only be purchased by someone 18 or over and in a licensed sex shop or have their own place on a webpage where you must verify your age before continuing.
Coraline Case Study:
Coraline is a film rated PG by the BBFC, Coraline is a horror film aimed at a younger audience, as younger viewers also demand a variety in media consumption it is inevitable that horror would come to children as well.
the BBFC say that children do enjoy horror just as much as anyone else, however the violence must be kept to a minimum (of course) the horror must not utilize the use of sound too much in a scary scene as they could be too scary, they also say that any horror must be quickly resolved, for example a person can't be kidnapped for a long period of time, if they were, for example, taken by a spirit in a scary situation they would have to be returned and safe in a short period of time to avoid it being too scary for a child.
the scare may also depend on how the main character reacts to the event, coraline is shown to be strong, even in the scary situations, this will have a domino effect making watchers feel stronger with her, making the scare less intense.
coraline is also in a fantasy setting, meaning that the watchers can slightly distance themselves from the scare as it isn't set in real life, this will help lower the rating of the film and bring it down to the PG that it ended up at. the BBFC said that 'The film contains mild threat' meaning that the threat is safe for children to watch and not feel too much panic in the situation and make it appropriate for them to view.
Friday 28 March 2014
Tuesday 25 March 2014
character development
Flargh the alien
keywords:
clumsy, stupid, friendly, kind, heroic, honest, adventurous, deserter.
personality:
He always puts himself forwards in dangerous situations and cares about others more than himself, he's kind hearted and playful.
visuals:
keywords:
clumsy, stupid, friendly, kind, heroic, honest, adventurous, deserter.
personality:
He always puts himself forwards in dangerous situations and cares about others more than himself, he's kind hearted and playful.
visuals:
Animation Idea Feedback
i have chosen to do the 'alpha space' cartoon idea, because i feel it is the most developed in my mind, i have a clear idea of what i want it to be and i feel it can work well, the feedback also thought it would be good.
here we see a doodle sheet that i used to jot ideas down and make some characters, using the shapes that they're based on and how that represents them.
Tuesday 18 March 2014
Character design
Character design is a combo of physical and narrative traits. like their role in a story. you think about personality before designing what they look like, the looks should reflect what they're like and their role in a story, like a hero will dress in friendly clothes, no reds or blacks as predominant colours in an outfit, the 'baddy' will often look very much like a bad guy, in the same way in a western you wouldn't see a man dressed in causal 2014 street wear.
Pelvis: lady, dumb, dopey, shaggy eg- shaggy from Scooby Doo
'A face is the primary channel to express emotion of a person' - Colman
this is a reason behind the many large headed cartoon characters we see, they need a large surface if you will to show emotions predominantly enough for anyone to see.
'A lot can be said in posture and body language' - also Colman
Solarski -
'Hands are effective ways of expressing personality'
'how a character carries their weight also informs us about personality - particularly which body part part they lead with'
leading with:
Chest: confident, proud, heroic eg- Johnny Bravo
Pelvis: lady, dumb, dopey, shaggy eg- shaggy from Scooby Doo
head: intelligence
knees: coward
Power - take up more space
weak - take up less space
like nature, peacocks etc
Monday 17 March 2014
cartoon character research -AMENDED-
this is catbug. catbug has a round body shape that makes him easily identifiable his light black outline makes him look friendly with some sketchy mistakes in the outline, his eyes are very simple and and so is his head, with the same small sketchy mistake at the neck, he is primary colours making him child friendly and engaging to view and his mouth is always smiling.
here we have garfield, everyone's favorite orange cat, his design is very curvy in shape, giving him a friendly look and feel, garfield also has a very lazy looking stance, due to the fact he leads with his pelvis, similar to shaggy in scooby doo. the colors used in the design are all very basic, with orange being a simple color to appeal to children, garfield's large head and eyes indicate also that the character is designed for kids as he has a large face to show emotions easier so a child can pick them up easier.
here is robotboy, from the show, robotboy, robotboy has a mixture of design elements put into him, first of all he is made using one of the primary colors, blue, this makes him very child friendly, he also has rounded element to him, showing him as friendly, but his head also includes the two rectangular shapes that shows his strength as a character, his black outline is not as thick as some of the others indicating that he is for a slightly older audience than the other characters i had shown earlier.
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