25.1.10 - 31.1.10.

Monday - Today we were at the library, researching Andy Warhol and his work. We had to select up to five of his pieces that we liked and give an explanation as to why we like them and what makes them good.

Tuesday - Today we were introduced to our new lecturer, Brian, who was to replace Ewan. We also met Taylor, who has taken over from Laura. We looked at the anatomy of a magazine and how it is all put together. We had to look through a few magazines and choose a double-spread page which we were then to trace the main parts of and name all the different sections. In the afternoon, when we had Taylor, we looked at the different ways/styles to learn and created a piece to reflect our own personal style. We found this out by answering questions.

Thursday - Today was our last day of working on our animation projects and finishing them off which we did successfully.

Text Formatting.

Here are two websites which allow you to use text formatting. I am going to compare two - Tumblr and Blogger. Tumblr and Blogger are both similar in the way that both sites allow you to keep a daily blog.

Blogger : Blogger is a site which allows you to create a blog and is used by many people from all over the world. It is easy to use and contains several features which include changing the text size, making the text bold or italic, choosing the colour of the text, centering the text, setting it to one side etc, hyperlinks, changing the justification, use numbering/bullet points, quotations. You can also do a spell-check, import photos/videos and you can choose to remove any formatting.

Tumblr : Similar to Blogger, Tumblr also allows you to create a blog. Features of Tumblr are : making text bold, using italics, strike-though, bullet points/numbering, outdent/indent, inserting images, link/unlink and last but not least, spell-check.

Although they are both very similar, Blogger offers a wider range of options but Tumblr has a couple of features that Blogger doesn't have at this particular time which are strike-through and indent/outdent. Blogger all in all is the better blogging site as there are more features available.

Stirling Castle Documentary.

We are in the process of planning ideas for our documentary which is going to take place at Stirling Castle. Each of us have a part to play which requires us to talk about the history and different parts of Stirling Castle. My part is to talk about the filming of Burke and Hare which partly took place at Stirling Castle recently, and in which I am a supporting artist. I also have to talk about other films which in the past have been filmed at Stirling Castle also.

Links To Stirling Castle's Film History.

http://www.scotlandthemovie.com/movies/stircas.html

http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/770416

http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=stirling+castle

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054412/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1320239/

Tuesday 26th January.

Today we learned about the anatomy of a double-page layout of a magazine. I chose the 'Look' magazine and chose an article and traced over the page and named all the different parts of the page.

Fruitball Script.

Group Members.
- Jennifer Wark
- Michael Kelly
- James Kellie
- James Mawdsley
- Thomas Eccles
- Abii Tooth

This is the script for our animation.

The sun is shining in the sky, and Lorenzo and Al Fonzo were kicking the ball about the football pitch when Pierre came over and asked if he could join them.

Pierre : Hello Guys, mind if I join you?

Lorenza & Al Fonzo look at each other quickly and then turn to face Pierre.

Lorenzo : No, you cant play with us, you’re an orange, oranges don’t play with apples.

Al Fonzo : Yeah, you don’t fit in with us, go away and find someone else to play with.

Pierre looks in turn from Lorenzo to Al Fonzo and tears begin to fill his eyes.

Just then, George arrives on the scene and asks what’s going on.

George : Whats going on here guys?

Pierre : I came over to ask if I could play football with them and they told me I couldn’t because I’m not an apple.

George looks shocked and asked Lorenzo and Al Fonzo if this was true.

George : Is this true?

Lorenzo looked at Al Fonzo and then back to George.

Lorenzo : Yes, he cant play with us! He’s an orange. Oranges don’t play with apples.

George hesitates and keeps his eyes on Lorenzo.

George : Just because he doesn’t look like you guys doesn’t make him any different. He’s just the same as everyone else. We all have feelings and are all the same race.

Al Fonzo sighs and turns to Lorenzo.

Al Fonzo : Maybe he’s right, Pierre only looks different but on the inside he’s exactly the same as the rest of us. Appearance isn’t important and just because he’s an orange doesn’t mean he’s not like us.

Al Fonzo asks If he can have a minute with Lorenzo and Pierre and George agree.

They return after a few minutes.

Lorenzo : Look, Pierre, I just want to say on behalf of Al Fonzo and I that we are both sorry and we have decided to let you play football with us. We were being racist and that is not acceptable. We understand that you are just the same as everyone else and you did not deserve to be spoken to the way we were.

Al Fonzo : Yeah we’re both very sorry and would like you to be our friend. That is, if you can forgive us?

Pierre looks at George and to Al Fonzo.

Pierre : Well everyone deserves a second chance and if you two really want to be my friend then I think I could manage that.

Pierre smiles along with Al Fonzo, Lorenzo and George.

George looks at Al Fonzo and Lorenzo.

George : Now do you two understand that being racist is very offensive and can really hurt someone’s feelings?

Al Fonzo and Lorenzo look at each other.

Al Fonzo : Yes we understand and Pierre is not any different that anyone else in the world.

George : You’re right, he isn’t, everyone deserves to be treated equally and not differently because of appearance or race. Racism should be shown the red card.

Report

There have been many different types of animation throughout the years. An early example of animation is the Praxinoscope which was invented by a french scientist. This was a more complicated version of the zoetrope. It was used in the same way as a strip of images placed on the inside of a spinning cylinder but instead of looking at it through slits, it was viewed in a group of small, stationery mirrors around the inside of the cylinder, so that the animation will stay in place and give a better image and be of a better quality.

A Thaumatrope is another early example of animation. A Thaumatrope is a small circular disk or card which has two different pictures on each side which was hooked onto a piece of string or two pieces of string going through the centre. If you hold the string between the fingers and twirl it, the two images appear as one.

A few other examples of animation are the zoetrope, the magic lantern and the flip book.

These were also early types of animation.

Nowadays, animation is much more complicated than it used to be. CGI animation

The History Of Animation.

The Magic Lantern
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgHdX0mhyy4
A Thaumatrope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UVbL-sDGFA
A Zoetrope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3yarT_h2ws
A Praxinoscope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGqYRGnUnGs A Flip Book
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AslYxmU8xlc
Stop Motion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZkd0G_SZLk
CGI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoABLqn8rK0

Animation Techniques.

Drawn Animation

These are made by taking a drawn image and replacing it with another in a long sequence. The drawings are slightly different each time is is replaced, these drawings are put together in a row and are shown very quickly, producing a very effective animation.

Good Point? It looks great.

Bad Point? It takes a very long time to film from start to finish and is expensive, needing many animators to complete the work.

Examples :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-eI2WlKhvO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WNrx2jq184

Cut-Out Animation

This is done using cut out shapes and figures which get moved around or replaced with other cut-outs. Cut-Outs can be laid on drawings which can be used as backgrounds. Flat objects can be used in your animations.

Good Point
It is very quick and easy to do.
Bad Point
It is difficult to have more than one or two cut-outs moving at the same time. cut-out animation appears to move in a very stiff and awkward way.

Examples
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DQ0xGntRHw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKhBztN4GvQ

Model Animation Or Stop Motion Animation
This can be made by filming puppets or any form of 3D models, You could use materials such as plasticne, clay or wire or anything that can be bent and made into diffrent shapes. the models are put in position and filmed then are moved slightly and filmed again, the images are all put together and made move quickly to give the impression of your models moving.

Good Points
Models can be used over and over again and copies made of them to shoot diffrent scenes at the same time so that the filming takes less time!
Bad Points
This type of animation needs a lot of time and hard work!

Examples
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaYktLq3yDw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJlqQSMifqk

Computer Generated Imagery (CGI)
3D images can be scaned into the computer using digital photography or made within the computer itself, you can use clay models to make people and sets and once scanned into the computer as wire frame models whick are gradually bulit up into a three dimensional image witch can eventually be made into a film.
Good Point
Computers are becoming Cheaper and easier to use than traditional animation.

Examples
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB2gPZRsz0Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGIoRUlzE2Q

Video Sharing.

Youtube is a video sharing website. It allows you to create your own account and upload videos and to view videos. It also allows you to watch videos that other people have uploaded. Youtube has many different genres of videos you can view, from music videos to movie trailers etc. Most videos allow you to comment and rate them. You can also share videos from youtube on bebo, myspace, facebook and other social networking sites. When you create an account you can add any videos you particularly like into your favourites. You can also add people as friends and subscribe to their Youtube channels. The best thing about Youtube is that their is no signup costs and everything on it is completely free.

Aniboom is another video sharing website which focuses on uploading short animation films. Once you have created an account it allows you to create a portfolio of animations that you created. It also allows you to watch other peoples creations. Aniboom is a good website that is good to upload your animations to.

Layout Editing

BBC.
The BBC website allows you to move things around on the page and allows you to change what you would like to view such as worldwide news, uk news, scottish news etc.






IGoogle.
The IGoogle website is similar to the BBC website in that it allows you to move around some of the content.