I'm posting this a week later than I expected. I did it. I did a whole... or most of... an animation in 5 days. It was suggested that I do a couple more 5 day animation challenges. The sound was much longer than the animation, and I had to loop sections to make it fit the music and it was pretty much a failure. Oh well.
Here is the short, soundless version. It's a sketch, and an experiment. I don't expect to win any film awards for this. But I think it's got some cool stuff going on.
Next, I'm going to play with some armatures that are not wire, make something bigger, possibly with natural materials, and use a found setting instead of building a set. I have some interesting ideas to play with. I'll post them when they are done! It was suggested by my mentor that I do a couple more 5 day animation challenges, and I agree that it would be more productive than going back and finishing this one
This is my first attempt ever at animation. The paper figures took about 10 minutes each to make. It's just a test, to work out how this animation thing works!
I decided to make another very fast, thrown together animation of about a minute or less. I gave myself a deadline of about a week. I know that deadline is insane for animating, and I like that it's insane, but the above 3 second animation took me about an hour to make and half of that was learning the software, so I think I can do it. It's like the animation version of gesture sketching. When you have a very short amount of time to finish something, you really hone in on what is important. Here is a sneak preview of the storyboard and sound:
This little animation is the first part of a longer story. The story has elements from mythology, like the ferryman that takes the dead across the river styx. The girl will have archetypal elements of Persephone and Orpheus, and the story will be somewhat inspired by the ancient myth of Ishtar's descent into the underworld. This scene might not make the cut, as it's a little unoriginal.
P.S.: sounddogs.com is awesome, and where I found all the sound and music for this piece. Next time I'd like to use at least some of my own sound.
Puppets, or dolls, soft sculpture, call them what you like, posed and photographed in the dark at night in a slightly eerie and possibly somewhat dangerous part of town. I haven't settled on how to make the puppets yet. Long exposure and the simulation in digital form of 1600 speed film lend a raw, grainy, mysterious texture. I'm not afraid to use photoshop for effects.
In person the figures are somewhat barbie and ken doll like, which has prompted me to continue to explore the possibilities of how to make them. Questions that haven't been answered yet are: Keep to 12" or go up to twice that, or even make them tiny? Realistic or not? Wire armatures or marionette style with strings and a scaffolding? Face or faceless? Should I worry about how they are in person? Should I make sets or props or only use what's in the world? What would happen if they were life sized? (That sounds like a huge job, but it's not as hard as you think. Sometimes smaller things are harder to make because the details get too small to work with.) And since when was I ever afraid of things taking a long time?
Oh, and I'm a few months into my graduate school experience. It's a pretty awesome and unique program. http://acd.pnca.edu
