Saturday 4 April 2009

Flash induction: workshop 2

Making character walk


Saturday 28 February 2009

some videos i found very inspiring

all men usually tell lies...



this is what i tend to find myself doing to avoiding the chores or the stuff i gotta do..

Sunday 22 February 2009

Adverts

i love this new advert and bet it was really fun to make


The one everyone seems to love again another amazing advert for diary milk

Friday 13 February 2009

Progress Evaluation

I have looked at existing motion graphics in the industry such as TV adverts, opening TV sequences, film titles, E4 stings, this has helped inform my design decisions in various ways it has helped with figuring out correct timings and appropriate information for frames, it has informed me how to keep viewers interested throughout and how to capture there interest in a subject. Looking at original E4 stings and idents has led me to use the structure and style in my related E4 animation. I have become more observant when it comes to any motion graphics to gain more knowledge of tricks and techniques that are possible.


I have had a wide range of ideas for this brief and have story boarded them all i have also tested them in after affects as well to show what did work and what wouldn't i then asked others what they thought to each of my tests in order to make correct decisions of which idea communicated best. i feel i could of developed them even more though if having more time i would of continued to develop each idea separately.

My aims were to communicate top ten best voice actors in a humorous cartoon way but also sticking to the E4 style to answer the brief, i think my audience would be anyone who was interested in cartoons and still is interested in them but not necessarily children as it would probably to complex of a topic to understand so an age range of 13 - 50

My finished resolution hasn't successfully communicated the message as i found out in my final presentation so due to the lack of time to make changes it had to stay the same, i don't feel it has met my aims and objectives completely but it is humorous and relates to the E4 style slightly.

I think my problem with the disappointing resolution is down to the fact that i hadn't fully understood my message and decided on a difficult subject to visualize i tried to overcome this by focussing on sound instead of image which is why the sequence doesn't flow throughout.

I have explored various ideas and tested them with others to hear different opinions and views from a distance before committing to a final idea.

I managed my time well around workshops and timetabled sessions and made the most of the specialist staff who were always available to help solve problems with after effects but not usually iweb i also found that i had more problems creating my iweb on the computers in college than on my own mac.

Wednesday 11 February 2009

Motion graphics: Evaluation and Review

What have you learned about your abilities as a designer?

I have learnt that i prefer creating final pieces on computer software to print pieces, this is because i feel that i can come up with the ideas but cant make/put together a practical resolution. Although i need alot more help and practice with the software as i am just becoming used to After effects, i think with a little more time and practice my skills will improve.
I have also learnt that when working with new software i find it difficult to work with a minimal amount of time and would of liked longer to keep developing and reworking my idea, i feel i would of produced more and had a better resolution. This is because after effects takes alot of time and patience and time is always needed for things to go wrong.
I feel i have a lot of patience in this area when problems do occur, i can usually correct them and carry on without panicking it also takes a lot of organization amongst files to keep everything in working order.
I have learn't not to rely on technology and that I web and after effects always cause problems and time needs to be planned out for this to happen.

What specific areas of interest have you identified and why do they interest you?

I am mainly interested in motion graphics although looking at my work i am slightly disappointed with how my final piece looks and would of really appreciated more time to make it up to standards as i really enjoy working on after effects and want to improve my skills. It has made me more observant with everyday motion graphics such as TV commercials and films i find myself paying attention to how things could of been created, and i will hopefully be completing my work experience in this area. I am not as interested in web design although this could be down to that fact that i didnt really like working with the iweb program as i was restricted with what i could do and found it very unreliable

What practical skills have you developed and how have you used them?

I have gained the knowledge of working in i web and how to put a basic website together, i have also gained the organizational skills to make sure everything will work correctly and to always back up my files. I have became slightly more confident with working in after effects and have put my skills to test with sound and animation in this program. I have also learnt additional things within this brief such as editing found video in i movie and reworking sound files in logic with help from a friend i feel that there was a lot more skills needed for this than just being able to use after effects and i found it very difficult all though i have successfully used my skills to the best i can. I now understand that story boarding an idea is a must before working on the software as it helps with visualizing what needs to happen on screen.

What personal skills have you developed and how have you used them?

I have learnt how to manage lots of different files in order to complete my i web and animation, which made me learn how to plan my time effectively for creating and testing constantly on other macs and asking others what works and doesn't with my final pieces. I have also learnt that i enjoy this type of design the most and have tried to use my knowledge of the softwares from the workshops and additional help to the best i can .

What areas do you feel you need to improve on?

I feel that this module wasn't long enough to learn how to use the software create an animation and a website as well as editing sound files. In order to improve on my animation and i web i needed more time to keep reworking and developing my ideas as it takes patience and cant be rushed, i will now continue to do this outside of the course. My animation isn't very successful at communicating the correct message and doesn't flow very well either if i had chance to do this again i wouldn't of picked such a difficult topic to visualize and probably should of stuck to my initial idea of top ten best villains.
I would also test out more colour ways for my website as others have suggested it although i wanted to stick to the illustrative style throughout and not just reflect original cartoon sites.

General Comments

Overall i have enjoyed this module but i'm disappointed with my final resolutions because this is what i really enjoy doing and i will definitely need to improve my skills in After effects to be able to proceed at developing my style in this field.


How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
(please indicate using an ‘x’)

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor

Attendance 5
Punctuality 5
Motivation 4
Commitment 3
Quantity of work produced 4
Quality of work produced 3
Contribution to the group 5

video inspiration for top 10 animation...



Wednesday 4 February 2009

Test videos for animation



this first test needs to be made alot quicker and i need to work on the old countdown, i will also need to add sound files to this...



This animation now needs to be improved and made longer to fit 30 secs



Heres my next improvement to my animation i have made it have made it fit 30 secs by making the start longer.



my idea didn't really reflect my top ten enough so i have changed the style of my animation and made it more of an introduction to the tv programme by using this sound track and it appearing as an awards evening..

Video Inspiration for TOP 10...







Monday 26 January 2009

Development of i web portfolio



Jump Design

I have found a company based in London that is specifically motion graphics i am really interested in this area and will hopefully be able to do my work experience with either this company or something along the same lines, they have done a lot of work for the BBC and ITV for well known opening TV show sequences, commercials and branding take a look at the website www.jumpdesign.co.uk

Some screen shots from the site



Tuesday 20 January 2009

Gifs for website

On my homepage for my iweb i wanted to have animated GIF files but iweb restricted me from doing this, i have made all the GIFs so this is how they would of looked... click to view full screen in order to see animation.


Here are some sounds i will be using on my site and in my opening sequence



Blank

Monday 19 January 2009

Website influence for i web portfolio

I think this website is really interesting because it keeps you hooked for a while just reading all of the random words that it comes out with just by pressing one of the titles it changes the sentences.. created by twisttori


I love the layout of this site and how all the little illustrations move could be an interesting idea for my character work also each link you click on makes a musical noise.




A random site with an attitude quite amusing but just plain and simple.



A very digital based website wouldn't really be appropriate for my theme but its an a different way of creating a site


I have looked at the most popular cartoon websites as that is the closest related topic to my theme, all three of these are pretty much the same similar layout and menus and all scroll downwards.






so i decided to look at other sites that interest me and why they do and if they are easy to use... kate morross is site is simple and straight to the point set out like a blog page


Eleanor bowleys site is more appropriate to her style it is a brand like i have to include and is all themed around her style of working, i like the layout of this site and how it doesnt fit the whole screen...




I web induction

Heres my first attempt at iweb



I really like the layout of the family guy story boards and think i could base my theme around this as it relates to what area i am interested in and also my subject


Saturday 17 January 2009

Friday 16 January 2009

Top 10 voice actors- final topic for e4 opening tv sequence

1.
Mel blanc



Melvin "Mel" Jerome Blank (May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) (later changed his name to Blanc) was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio and television commercials, Blanc is best known for his work with Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation (and later for Hanna-Barbera television productions) as the voice of such iconic characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, Barney Rubble, Mr. Spacely, and hundreds of others. Having earned the nickname “The Man of a Thousand Voices,” Blanc is regarded as one of the most gifted and influential persons in his field.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Blanc




2.
Frank Welker
Franklin W. Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an acclaimed American voice artist, whose work has appeared on numerous popular cartoons and animated features.
Welker has been referred to as a "voice acting god" (by John DiMaggio and Billy West in the DVD commentary for Futurama) in Hollywood for the sheer number of voices he has done—over 1,200—ranging from his work on Scooby-Doo to the present day. His voice acting credits include television shows and films such as Curious George, Aladdin, Pocahontas and computer games such as the Baldur's Gate series, and CarnEvil. Frank's ability goes beyond creating human voices and is often cast as animals and used for animal vocals, for example the animal-spirit Totoro and Catbus in the Disney 2005 re-dub of My Neighbor Totoro.
Welker starred in more live action movies during the 1990s. His work includes vocal effects for the character of Sil in Species, Goro in 1995's Mortal Kombat, the Devil in 1986's The Golden Child, and Malebolgia in 1997's Spawn. Welker also provided the voice (both speaking and non-speaking) of Nibbler in the cartoon TV series Futurama.
As of 2002, Welker is the voice of both Fred Jones and Scooby Doo. This includes the most recent What's New, Scooby-Doo?, and the series-based spinoff, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! Also, Welker starred in most of the 2000s Scooby-Doo projects as Fred Jones and Scooby-Doo. He also was Sasquatch in The Legend of Sasquatch. Welker's talent was also recognized in Disney's Stitch: Experiment 626, voicing the jealous and maniacal Experiment 6-2-1.
[edit]Transformers
In the 1980s, Welker voiced many recurring characters in the Transformers animated series. He voiced eight of the original 14 Decepticons: Megatron/Galvatron, Soundwave, Skywarp, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, and Ratbat. He also did voicework as the Autobots Mirage and Trailbreaker.




3.
June Foray (born September 18, 1917) is an American voice actress who has worked for most of the studios which produced animated films since the 1940s. In the 1940s, she began film work as well, including a few appearances acting in live-action movies, but mostly doing voiceovers for animated cartoons. At 4'11", Foray's diminutive stature somewhat limited her stage and on-camera acting career.
For Walt Disney, she played Lucifer the Cat in the feature film Cinderella and his Witch Hazel character; she also did a variety of voices in Walter Lantz's Woody Woodpecker cartoons. For Warner Brothers Cartoons, she was Granny (whom she has played, on and off, since 1943), owner of Tweety and Sylvester, and, memorably, a series of witches, including Witch Hazel, for Chuck Jones; plus, she served as the narrator of Really Scent.
She voice acted on The Smurfs as Jokey Smurf and Mother Nature, Ursula in George of the Jungle, and on How the Grinch Stole Christmas as Cindy Lou Who, asking "Santa" why he's taking their tree.



4.
Rob Paulson
Robert Fredrick Paulsen, III (born March 11, 1956) (sometimes credited as Rob Paulson or "Vocal Magic") is an American voice actor best known as the voice behind "Raphael" from the 1987 cartoon of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, "Yakko Warner" from Animaniacs and "Pinky" from Pinky and the Brain. His role as "Yakko" won him a Daytime Emmy Award for male vocal performance; he won a second one for his portrayal of "Pinky". In the 1999 animated movie Wakko's Wish, Paulsen provided the voices of "Dr. Otto Scratchansniff" and "Yakko Warner". He was also "Prince Eric" in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.



5.
Tress MacNeille (born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress best known for providing various voices on the animated series The Simpsons, Futurama, Rugrats, All Grown Up!, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs and some Disney movies.

Her most notable characters on The Simpsons include Agnes Skinner, Brandine Spuckler, and Lindsey Naegle, while her performance as Mom is her most notable Futurama role. Tress MacNeille became the voice of Daisy Duck in 1999.

MacNeille has also provided voices on numerous other television shows and cartoons such as Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and Tiny Toon Adventures, listed below, as well as dubbing work on English language anime translations. She was also the voice of Leon from Lilly the Witch.

Stacy Renee (The Boondocks)
Multiple female voices on the short-lived animated series Dilbert, including the secretary Carol.
Hydia (My Little Pony 'n Friends)
Hoodsey Bishop (As Told by Ginger)
Dot Warner (Animaniacs)
Hello Nurse (Animaniacs)
Wicked Witch of the West (The Wizard of Oz TV Series)
Lady Bane, Marzipan (Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears)
Marita the Hippo (Animaniacs)
Humphrey the Hippo (The Critic)
Babs Bunny (Tiny Toon Adventures)
Rhubella Rat (Tiny Toon Adventures)
Pepper Mills, Toast, Susanna Susquahanna (Histeria!)
Charlotte Pickles (Rugrats and All Grown Up!)
Pookie (Hey Arnold!)
Chip (Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers)
Gadget Hackwrench (Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers)
Anastasia Tremaine (Cinderella II: Dreams Come True and Cinderella III: A Twist in Time)
Daisy Duck in recent Disney productions, including Mickey Mouse Works, Disney's House of Mouse, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Mickey's Once and Twice Upon a Christmas, The Three Musketeers, Mickey's Magical Christmas, Mickey's House of Villains as well as the Kingdom Hearts series.
Jain (Fallout)
Girl (Kids' CBC)
Mrs. Hippopotamus (The New Woody Woodpecker Show 1999-2003)
Tandi (Fallout 2)
Suzi (Full Throttle)
Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun (Toonstruck)
Mother Penguin and Baby Penguin (The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea)
Bonnie (Experiment 149) (Lilo & Stitch: The Series)
Gigi (a.k.a. Yapper, Experiment 007) (Lilo & Stitch: The Series)
Topper, Experiment 025 (Lilo & Stitch: The Series)
Merla (Voltron)
Deputy Mayor Callie Briggs (SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron)
Colleen (Road Rovers)
Mama Flyer (The Land Before Time series)
Mama Swimmer (The Land Before Time series)
Osono (Kiki's Delivery Service)
Boss's Wife (Castle in the Sky)
Bertha/Lunchlady Irma/Miss Lemon (Recess)
Housewife (The Animatrix)
Merryweather (Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams)
Mrs. Peenan (The Mask: The Animated Series)
Hama (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Jean-Pierre Orleans (El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera)
Obaba (NausicaƤ of the Valley of the Wind)
Shige Yamano (My Neighbors the Yamadas)
Fang (Dave the Barbarian)
Okiyo (English dub of the anime Pom Poko)
Antonia Chillingsworth (The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury)



6.
Jim Cummings
James Jonah "Jim" Cummings (born November 3, 1952)[1] is a two-time Annie Award-nominated American voice actor.
Cummings' first opportunity as a voice actor came in 1983, when the failing health of longtime Winnie the Pooh voice actor Sterling Holloway prompted an open call for Holloway's replacement for the animated feature, Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore. While Hal Smith (best known as "Otis Campbell" in The Andy Griffith Show) took over for that particular project, Cummings proved to be an uncanny substitute for Holloway in the subsequent TV show, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. He also changed Pooh's voice by giving him more depth and an English accent.



7.
Jess Q. Harnell (born December 23, 1963 in Teaneck, New Jersey, U.S.), is an American voice actor, best known for voicing Wakko Warner on Animaniacs and Hunter on Road Rovers.He also voices Joe Tabootie on the Nickelodeon show ChalkZone, Crash Bandicoot in Crash Tag Team Racing, Crash of the Titans, and Crash: Mind over Mutant, Spyro the Dragon in Spyro: A Hero's Tail and Spyro: Shadow Legacy, Jerry in Totally Spies and Doctor Finklestein in The Nightmare Before Christmas's video game spin-offs, as well as in the Kingdom Hearts series replacing the late William Hickey who voiced him in the film. He also voiced Captain Hero on Comedy Central's animated comedy Drawn Together and He also does the voices of Wooton Bassett and Bennett Charles on the radio drama Adventures in Odyssey, as well as Br'er Rabbit on the Disney TV show House of Mouse as well as in the Disney attraction, Splash Mountain (both at Disneyland and Walt Disney World)



8.
Peter Cullen
Peter Cullen, born in 1944 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada,[1] is a voice actor who is best known for providing the voices for Optimus Prime and Ironhide, in the original Transformers series and the narrator in both American Voltron series (he would subsequently reprise the role of Optimus Prime in the 2007 live action Michael Bay feature film Transformers). In addition, he has played Coran and King Alfor in the Lion Voltron series, the transforming spaceship/robot Ramrod in the 1980s anime series Saber Rider And The Star Sheriffs, Commander James Hawkins in the Vehicle Voltron series, Eeyore in Winnie-the-Pooh
In the 1980s and the 1990s, Cullen appeared on a number of television shows, including My Little Pony, Pound Puppies as Captain Slaughter, Filmation's Ghostbusters, The Smurfs, Dungeons & Dragons as Venger, Snorks, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Tom and Jerry Kids Show, DuckTales, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Challenge of the GoBots, Rude Dog and the Dweebs as Herman, Rainbow Brite as Murky Dismal, The Biskitts as Scratch, Robotix, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers as the original voice of Monterey Jack, Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, The Little Engine That Could as Pete, the powerful freight engine, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, The Jetsons and Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light. He also had a voice part in Gremlins as a gremlin and in both the first season of the Original Knight Rider Series and the first season of the 2008 Knight Rider Series as KARR



9.
Stan Freeburg

Stanley Victor Freberg (b. August 7, 1926, Los Angeles, California) is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director.
Freberg was employed as a voice actor in animation shortly after graduating from Alhambra High School. He began at Warner Brothers in 1944 by taking the advice of his uncle, stage magician Raymond Freberg ("Conray the Magician"), who advised him to take a bus into Los Angeles and have the driver let him off "in central Los Angeles," whereupon Freberg was to walk into the first building he saw and ask for an audition. As he describes in his autobiography, It Only Hurts When I Laugh (Times Books, 1988), he did this, getting off the bus when he sees a sign that says "talent agency," walking in, and immediately finding work at Warner Brothers.[2]
His first cartoon voice work was in Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears (1944) as Junyer Bear, followed by Roughly Squeaking (1946) as Bertie; and in 1947, he was heard in It's a Grand Old Nag (Charlie Horse), The Goofy Gophers (Tosh), and One Meat Brawl (Grover Groundhog and Walter Winchell). He often found himself paired off with Mel Blanc while at Warner Brothers, where the two men performed such pairs as the Goofy Gophers Hubie & Bertie and Spike the Bulldog & Chester the Terrier.[3] He was also the voice of Junyer Bear in Chuck Jones's Looney Tunes cartoon What's Brewin', Bruin? (1948), featuring Jones's version of The Three Bears. Another was the voice of Pete Puma in the 1952 cartoon Rabbit's Kin, in which he did an impression of Frank Fontaine's "Crazy Guggenheim" voice.
Freberg's first credit as a voice actor in a Looney Tunes cartoon was in Three Little Bops (1957). His work as a voice actor for Walt Disney Productions included the role of Beaver in Lady and the Tramp (1955). He succeeded Kent Rogers as the voice of Beaky Buzzard during production of The Bashful Buzzard after Rogers was killed in World War II. Freberg also provided the voice of Sam, the orange cat paired with Sylvester in the Oscar-winning Mouse and Garden (1960). He voiced Cage E. Coyote, the father of Wile E. Coyote, in the 2000 short Little Go Beep.




10.
Michael Patrick Bell (born July 30, 1938) is an American actor and voice actor. He is most commonly credited in video games, animated movies, and television series.
Bell is a mainstay of 1970s and 1980s animation. In the '70s he voiced the title character of The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show as well as Ernie Devlin of Devlin and Super Friend's Zan the Wonder Twin. In the '80s he voiced Duke on G.I. Joe, Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk, and several characters in The Transformers such as Prowl, Swoop, First Aid, and Sideswipe. For The Smurfs he provided the voices of Lazy, Grouchy, and Handy Smurf along with the human Johan. Bell also voiced Lance and Sven on Voltron and returned to voice Lance in Voltron: The Third Dimension.
Outside of animation, Bell played the voice of the Young Man in A&M Records' Story of Halloween Horror album in 1977 and provided '70s commercial voiceovers for Parkay Margarine and Mug Root Beer. Bell also provided the overdubbing of Peter Criss’ dialogue in the band KISS’ TV movie KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park.
[edit]Animation voice work
Bell's animation work continues to this day. In 1985 he gave his voice to Ribo in The Little Troll Prince. He voiced Quackerjack from Disney's Darkwing Duck in the 1990s as well as Ezekiel Rage in The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. In the Rugrats and All Grown Up! series of the '1990s and 2000s he voiced parents Drew Pickles, Chas Finster, and Boris Kerpackter


For the opening sequence i will be using these characters taken from the list of voices the actors have done...
















Wednesday 14 January 2009

Christmas Research Brief: 100 best...

I have made a sketch book of 100 best cartoon villains with a description about each of which cartoon they're from who created them and who voiced them in the show. Here are a few pages from the sketchbook as i cant put them all on here i will show the sketchbook in my crit