Slapstick Animation - Post-Production

I have completed the animation and added the title and sounds. The film is 27 seconds long, which is roughly what I predicted from the animatic. It is called 'Banana Split' because the banana splits the security guard's foot open and also escapes (or 'splits') from the prison it is trapped in.

What Went Well

• The changing volume of sound effects conveys space
• Sound effects emphasise the actions
• Nesting helped fudge the timing of frames collectively

Improvements

• Some drawings are slightly fuzzy on a larger scale
• Some of the sound effects are lower quality because of how they were recorded

Slapstick Animation

I have produced 20 seconds of animation and I am close to finishing. I have also produced most of the slapstick elements.

What Went Well

• The black solid colour works well as blood
• Squash and stretch works well for the blood and the banana
• Useful blocking out main movement, then filling in the middle frames

Improvements

• Slapstick actions are difficult to draw as they have to be more exaggerated
• The walk cycle and hopping is static

Coming Week

• Add final touches to film, change any timing problems and sync with sound effects

Slapstick Animation

I have drawn the first 6 seconds of the animation. I haven't reached the main slapstick scene yet but I am pleased with the speed that it is taking to make.

What Went Well

• Banana's walk flows well
• Photoshop layering onion effect helps with drawing new frames
• Premiere Pro sequence timeline is useful at adjusting timing

Improvements

• Framing needs to be resized
• Difficult getting guard's head to turn around

Coming Week

• Carry on drawing the rest of the animation and add sound effects

Final Draft Essay

I have finished editing the essay in the final draft, cutting out any parts that are not important or as related to the topic I am researching. I have also extended my practical response as I didn't think analysing the ambiguity of hands would be enough on their own. I therefore created new cover pages for each of 'Breakfast On The Grass', 'The Hand' and 'The Glass Harmonica'. I made them more specific to hands and also exaggerated the amount of oppression shown in them. I did this to clarify the films' intended messages and help illustrate their subversive natures to back up my argument.

Animatics

I have completed the animatic, which includes sound effects and simplified actions marked out by keyframes. I drew the keyframes on Photoshop and fudged the timing on Premiere Pro.

What Went Well

• It showed the film will fit within 30 seconds
• Sound effects help emphasise the actions

Improvements

• Keyframes are very rough so won't be used for the actual animation
• If I had more time, I would include colour and backgrounds

Coming Week

• Start the animation and fudge the timing to fit around the sound effects

Slapstick Animation - Pre-Production

For the animation, I have developed two characters and the storyboard, involving the specified slapstick elements, and created a pose sheet for the characters. 

What Went Well

• Turn-around means all angles of character’s appearance is thought about
• Pose sheet helped practice drawing the characters

Improvements

• Animation may overrun 30 seconds as there's a lot of action to fit in 

Coming Week

• Work out animatics (timing, sound)
• Consider time needed to make animation, whether I include background or colour

First Draft Essay

I have finished the first draft, focusing on the symbolism of hands in the process of subversion against the Soviet Union. I still want to include more triangulation in order to get a larger range of points of view across, exploring the different possibilities of the symbolism. The word count is also over the 2000 words, so I will cut out the unimportant parts of the essay. I have also included my practical response, which has helped convey the ambiguity of the language of hand poses.

Creative Response - Updated

I have decided to pick the idea of the ambiguity that hand gestures have for my creative response. All of the animations heavily featured hands and I believe they are particularly important at indirectly subverting the Soviet Union. I am going to pick out the most important gestures used in each film and explore their meanings, from both a positive and negative view. These interpretations will give deeper meaning to the films, as they would have helped the animators to convey their true hidden messages, while not being so obvious or being blocked by censorship.

Creative Response

Now that I have gathered the critical and theoretical research, I have started to think about my creative response. I have a few ideas that I could choose from as to what this could be. One of my ideas is to create my own background designs and switch the colour schemes on them, to test whether this affects the sense of the place. These backgrounds would also be claustrophobic as this is how they appear in the animations. Another idea is looking into the ambiguity of the language of hands and hand gestures. I will choose one idea as there is not enough space to develop both ideas.

Critical Research

I have researched different critics points of view on the animations. I can now triangulate these opinions to come to more evaluative results. The large number of critics I have found will also need to be reduced in size a lot. This exercise will help me evaluate which are the most useful and discard the others which are of less value. The information I have on the general symbols, like hands, will also back up my argument, by allowing me to read between the lines into what the objects represent on a more metaphorical level.

Showreel

For the showreel, I picked the projects I believed worked most successfully, exhibiting my knowledge of the 12 principles of animation. Particular highlights include the straight ahead, exaggeration and arc work. I liked the smooth movement of the stop-motion work (the arcing dog and the straight ahead walking figure). Equally, I was pleased with the jumpier TV Paint exaggeration work (the screaming nail), which added to its personality. While these were my favourites, there are still improvements that can be made. The stop-motion characters for instance didn't have armatures, and my turn around in the appeal project was not always consistently sized. With practice however, I hope to hone my skills when revisiting these principles in future projects.

Symbolism Research

I researched the symbolism of hands and colours, two symbols which commonly reappeared in the animations. From the secondary research, it became clearer the ways these animators subversively tried to paint a true picture of the situation in the Soviet Union at the time. Symbolism made this narration possible.

Positive Depiction of Hands 

• Generosity, protection, greeting, swearing honesty

Negative Depiction of Hands

• Weapon, arresting/trapping, saluting, demanding

I found this symbolism extends deeper, with the left and right hand holding separate qualities.

Right Hand

• Strength, power, rationality, logic, aggressive, good

Left Hand

• Weakness, death, decay, evil

Colours

The main colours used in the animations I watched includes black, grey, dark blue, contrasted with the subversive use of white and red. 

Black - power, formality, death, evil. Yet acts as a protective barrier.

Grey - emotionless, conservative, depression. Yet carries some goodness (from white).

Dark Green - ambition, greed, jealousy, money. Yet contributes to society.

Dark Blue - power, seriousness, repression, emotionless. Yet cool and collected.

White - purity, goodness, innocence. Yet symbolises surrender.

Red - energy, war, danger, power, desire. Yet indicates violence.