Mock-Up

My plan for my exam is to produce a anti-bullying animation which explores the bullying experience of a young girl. Previously I have written out the narrative I plan to use and now I will record someone speaking that narrative and then draw the animation accordingly. Below is a vocal clip of a young girl speaking the words of my narrative:
Please note, this does work however it is slow to start up so please bare with it and it will eventually load and you should hear the sound. If it fails to upload or you don't see a grey bar on the screen click this URL and find located on the side of the screen the same bar: https://archive.org/details/REC005_201404


Now I have my vocals I needed to draw up the animation. I used Photoshop to produce the animation. Below is the animation. I based the drawings on what I drew in my storyboard.

Below is my animation, if it fails to work please click this link and you will be able to view it online: https://vimeo.com/92021798

Mock Up from Amy Taylor on Vimeo.


Using Photoshop I produced this animation. I started off by inserting the audio files and then drew on different layers the drawing for each section. To begin with I used basic rulers and straight lines to produce

[1]

the animation [1], however, I felt this was too rigid and began using a graphic tablet to physically draw sections of the animation. Once I started to create the animation I felt I wanted to add colour. Previously with my experiments the use of black and white worked well to create a simple animation. However, through my research I found a little bit of colour worked well.

[2]

[3]

Therefore, I used colour for certain sections and felt this helped evoke a strong mood. The use of blue added to the idea of depression and the fact blue and yellow are very opposite colours mirrored the feelings of the victim [2]. I liked the use of colour and wanted to further this by using the colour red as the animation progressed to show the danger of the situation. Finally to finish the animation I developed the use of the colour black [3] as I wanted to show how bad the situation had got towards the end. The dark colour mirrored the darkness of the situation.

Through doing this animation I aimed to create something emotional which made people think about how bad bullying can be. From my previous animation I felt the use of rough sketches was good but didn't show off my technical ability therefore in this new animation I wanted to show off my drawing skills. Within this animation I hoped to draw the viewer in - hence why I made it slightly longer than previously - so that they could explore this persons story and try to understand what they experienced.

I feel the positives about this animation is the fact that it is meaningful. I have based it slightly on truth which helps add emotion to the piece as well as drawing you in. Also the fact that in the beginning the girl is already lonely as she has moved house meant it introduced the viewer to the idea of loneliness a persistent theme throughout. I feel the narrative is the best part of the animation but also the drawings - in places - are a lot better which helps add to it. Also the fact they have been hand drawn adds to the meaningfulness behind the narrative.

There were some problems which did occur however, when producing the animation. The software I chose to use (Photoshop CS6) may not have been the best choice. It was difficult to render the video and ensure it ran smoothly. Also I feel in places the animation jolts slightly and it needs to be far more smoother, this could of been due to the length of each frame being different or the frames developing too quickly. Another point is the use of colour. I feel this could of been developed more, possibly added colour to the background or the parts of the animation e.g. in the beginning could of made the house roof red. In addition to this in parts the drawings weren't very good i.e. the school bus. Finally, I feel the length could of been extended. If the animation was longer it may take the viewer on more of a journey and allow them to be drawn in more. From my research the animation To This Day was approximately 7 minutes long and is very emotional. I could adopt this idea into my own work.

From my mock-up I found a few errors which I want to try and rectify before my final exam. The drawings weren't great as I drew them free hand. However, what I could do is draw the animation by hand and then scan each section into the computer and draw over each section in Photoshop. That way its more meaningful as its based on true drawings.
Colour is something else I could experiment with. Using certain colours to evoke certain moods e.g. black to reflect darkness and blue to reflect depression. Colour could develop to reflect the developing moods of the victim.
I also want to look into using a new software. Photoshop doesn't create as refined animation as I could get from another software. This is something more I could look into when creating my final piece.