ANIMATIE p10 (5)

After some research I finally discovered the 'Puppet pin' tool in After Effects. It answers a long time question of me concerning the making of some 2D animations. The latest example is the Dutch short 'It is not funny, it is art', in which the animation is mainly done by deforming the shapes in an organic and quick way. I think the 'puppet pin' tool is used for that.



I also put the storyboard and new character designs I made. The story is an endeavor to poke fun with Bing/Jose couple. I am still not so happy with the character designs. Not much of style in them. Have to try more.

ANIMATIE p10 de vormgever (4)

Onderzoek en ontwikkeling (4)

I tried lip sync of one sentence in after effects (with photoshop). The conclusion is: it is workable, but difficult. Must find a balance between nice forms and fluent animation. Below is the animated one sentence. He said: No, my work for Spain is in Spain.



Here I put down the content of the whole conversation, recorded during a visit of friends couple (see my previous article). Abreviationa are: Jose(the husband) - J; Bing(the wife) - B; me - Y.

Y:Why did you come back this time for one week? Is it about your work from Spain, or...?
J:No, my work from Spain is in Spain.
Y:...Okay, so...
J:I came back because of them, you know.
B:Because of what?
J:Because of them. Because of my wife and my daughter. Because of the 'can you come? we don't have dinner?'
Y:Ha! That's why. They need you...
B:To cut the meat!
Y:You are so important.
B:The man who cut the meat!
Y:To cut the meat and get the bread.
B:He, for us, is the man who cut the meat. You know? Otherwise we don't have meat to eat.
Y:Ah, really tough.
B:Ja.
J:No you have some meat but not cut.
B:we don't like. I like small pieces of meat.
Y:How do you like your new job in Spain?
J:Well, the new job is just writing the thesis. Ja, I do like, and not only that, I feel... why so many?
B:We only have the cheapest onion for our guest. We have no money. No money, no food. And I am tearing.
Y:I am so disappointed. I am eating the cheapest onion.
J:Not only the cheapest onion...
Y:Thanks to you. I have never tasted it.
J:Did you notice? The population of ducks has decreased dramatically this week.
Y:The population of what?
J:Ducks.
Y:Oh ja, I didn't see any ducks. Because of the financial crisis?
J:No, no no. Because I came on Sunday. I came this week.
B:Don't joke with the poor ducks....Oh, my eyes!
Y:And the sheeps?
J:The sheeps still there.
Y:Ducks first.
J:They have owners.
B:Do you agree people are onions...people are like onions.
Y:I like onions.
B:ah?
Y:Onions?
B:has many layers.
Y:How are you going to cook it?

In the film I will put in subtitles to make it easier to follow.

The dialogue, as most of the talks we held in daily life, is rather random and obscure by the first sight. Therefore I will put into images and movements that kind of annotate the dialogue. So everything will make sense to the audeince in an absurd and exagerated way. Pseudo south park or the simpsons.

Not trying too hard to be funny, the design of the characters will have a simple, matter-of-facts style, as show in below.

I plan to settle the design of the characters and the backdrops by this week. I will start animation and work further on the sound by the next week. The animation will take about at least 4 weeks, I think. With rendering , postprocessing it will be about another 1 or 2 weeks.

ANIMATIE p10 de vormgever (3)

Onderzoek en ontwikkeling (4)

I made some more recording, this time with somewhat better quality.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/5214763623c595a1/

Again this was a visit paied to my old friends, the Gabrriels. The couple are fond of witty comments, and that day they were in a playful mood. We managed to joke about things with our limited English and enjoyed it.

In one aspect I noticed how deeply we are all influenced by mass culture. Many of the dialogues held there can be fit into a typical American sitcom. I think this might be an interesting approach - with a caricature visual style and exagerated movement and facial expression I can make a small episode of sitcom out these dialogues.

In another hand, i do get a glimpse of their particular personalities and relationship with eachother. The light way of talking about things is a defense for them, to fend off many difficulties they are currently experiencing at the moment: financially and culturally. I want to reveal that in the animation to the audiences.

Below is a test animation inAfter Effect.