My animation
For this assignment i have been asked to make a 15 second animation. The animation I am making will be used to show in the UK CineFest. I am going to make my animation using Adobe Flash player. I already have experience in this program as I have used it multiple times before for previous animations.
This is one of my old animations I created on Flash. This shows I have experience with making objects move and adding sound to it. This will be useful for when I make my new animation.
I have found a video on youtube which has inspired me for my own animation.
This is a video of a stickman trying to break down a door. I am not planning on using the same idea however I like the idea of using just a stickman on a plain background. I think keeping it simple like that is effective as this way you can just focus on what the character is doing rather than the little details. I also think just using a stickman will be a lot easier to make and will take up a lot less of my time which means that the quality of my animation will be better.
This is another animation i have found off Youtube. I think is is a good idea to base my animation off as it is still stickmen and it is a series of short animation sequences. I could use one of these shorts as my idea. An example of one of the shorts is some stickmen playing baseball.
This video has give me an idea to make an animation of a stickman playing with a ball. I am planning on making him throw a ball against a wall or something similar to that. The animation should be easy to do as it is a simple action. If I find this does not last long enough then I have another idea to make the man run. When he is running I will add in some obstacles. I could make this last the set time and it would not get boring.
This video has give me an idea to make an animation of a stickman playing with a ball. I am planning on making him throw a ball against a wall or something similar to that. The animation should be easy to do as it is a simple action. If I find this does not last long enough then I have another idea to make the man run. When he is running I will add in some obstacles. I could make this last the set time and it would not get boring.
This is how I have started my animation. I have used the line tool to create the line across the bottom of the screen. I had to increase the width of the line because it was to thin and it was not big enough to look like a floor. To do this I increased the stroke to 28.35. I also set the colour to black. I used the paint brush tool to create my stick figure. For this I set the colour to a light green and I left the stroke setting at 0.10.
To make the stick man move, I had to erase the stickman after each key frame and redraw it in a different position. To help me with this I turned on the onion skin tool so I could see what I had previously rubbed out. This was useful as I didn't have to guess where the stick man previously was and I could move it so it would look more fluent when I play it back.
I have finished making my animation. I changed my idea in the process of making it. My original idea was to have the man running and dodging obstacles however I found that when I was making it run, he was gradually getting smaller unintentionally. Rather than redoing the whole animation, I decided to just make this part of the animation and change my idea. In the final product, the stickman changes it's shape and moves around the screen in different styles.
My next step to add to the animation is to add sound effects. The sound effects I am going to try and find will be running and crawling effects.
I have went to Youtube to find appropriate sound effects to add to my animation.
From Youtube I found a good running sound effect. I am going to add this on to the part when he gradually gets smaller as he runs into that form. To do this i have had to convert the video to a sound file. I also had to convert that sound file from a mp3. to a wav. as this works better on Adobe Flash. I have had to create a new layer to put the sound on to. I have chosen the key frame that I want the sound to start. This keyframe is 33. The sound effect only lasts for around a second as this is the amount of time it is running for.
This is a screenshot of my animation after I have added in my sound. The sound is on the top layer. The library which is on the right shows my sound clip. It is labelled running sound 3. Now I have added in a sound effect I have finished my animation. I will have to export it and upload.
Now I have finished my animation, I am going to analyse it. I am pleased with the outcome of my animation, it is what I had expected it to look like. I did not add in any titles or backing music and there was only the one sound. These are all things I think I could add to improve my animation and I think I could have done this if I had managed my time better.
I have put my animation on a Padlet link and have asked my class to give me feedback on it. I am hoping to get what I did well and where I can improve from everyone else
This is a picture of my padlet link. It shows there have been multiple comments made on my animation.
http://padlet.com/danielappleton9/kpd4n7dp99ew
This is a link to my Padlet. From my feedback I can tell that most people are pleased with the animation and how it has been pulled off. Some of the comments state it is creative. The majority of the comments say I can improve by adding sound effects. Sound effects like crawling or bouncing for different parts of the animation.
This is a comment made on Padlet. It states what is good in my animation and what needs improving. I can tell the bigger problem pointed out in this is sound effects.
This screenshot shows my animation time line. It shows that there is only one sound in it that covers a few frames.
It is clear that to improve my animation I should add more sound effects. This would help because I only have the one sound effect and it is right at the start and so the rest of the animation is silent. I could find some more simple effects to add in through the production. I thought it was important to add in titles also however this was not a major problem brought up in my feedback so I know my main priority is sound effects.
I think I will try and add these sound effects in to my animation when I have the spare time however I am definitely pleased with what I already have and think if I do not get to change it then it won't be a major problem.
To make the stick man move, I had to erase the stickman after each key frame and redraw it in a different position. To help me with this I turned on the onion skin tool so I could see what I had previously rubbed out. This was useful as I didn't have to guess where the stick man previously was and I could move it so it would look more fluent when I play it back.
I have finished making my animation. I changed my idea in the process of making it. My original idea was to have the man running and dodging obstacles however I found that when I was making it run, he was gradually getting smaller unintentionally. Rather than redoing the whole animation, I decided to just make this part of the animation and change my idea. In the final product, the stickman changes it's shape and moves around the screen in different styles.
My next step to add to the animation is to add sound effects. The sound effects I am going to try and find will be running and crawling effects.
I have went to Youtube to find appropriate sound effects to add to my animation.
From Youtube I found a good running sound effect. I am going to add this on to the part when he gradually gets smaller as he runs into that form. To do this i have had to convert the video to a sound file. I also had to convert that sound file from a mp3. to a wav. as this works better on Adobe Flash. I have had to create a new layer to put the sound on to. I have chosen the key frame that I want the sound to start. This keyframe is 33. The sound effect only lasts for around a second as this is the amount of time it is running for.
This is a screenshot of my animation after I have added in my sound. The sound is on the top layer. The library which is on the right shows my sound clip. It is labelled running sound 3. Now I have added in a sound effect I have finished my animation. I will have to export it and upload.
Now I have finished my animation, I am going to analyse it. I am pleased with the outcome of my animation, it is what I had expected it to look like. I did not add in any titles or backing music and there was only the one sound. These are all things I think I could add to improve my animation and I think I could have done this if I had managed my time better.
I have put my animation on a Padlet link and have asked my class to give me feedback on it. I am hoping to get what I did well and where I can improve from everyone else
This is a picture of my padlet link. It shows there have been multiple comments made on my animation.
http://padlet.com/danielappleton9/kpd4n7dp99ew
This is a link to my Padlet. From my feedback I can tell that most people are pleased with the animation and how it has been pulled off. Some of the comments state it is creative. The majority of the comments say I can improve by adding sound effects. Sound effects like crawling or bouncing for different parts of the animation.
This is a comment made on Padlet. It states what is good in my animation and what needs improving. I can tell the bigger problem pointed out in this is sound effects.
This screenshot shows my animation time line. It shows that there is only one sound in it that covers a few frames.
It is clear that to improve my animation I should add more sound effects. This would help because I only have the one sound effect and it is right at the start and so the rest of the animation is silent. I could find some more simple effects to add in through the production. I thought it was important to add in titles also however this was not a major problem brought up in my feedback so I know my main priority is sound effects.
I think I will try and add these sound effects in to my animation when I have the spare time however I am definitely pleased with what I already have and think if I do not get to change it then it won't be a major problem.
