Test with really sketchy Frames

I never thought how cool an animation looks even if it's very sketchy. I think I am going to work like that from now on as it's a lot more helpful. Clearing up should be easier.

Testing scenes

I am glad this scene works. I had trouble with the turning so I had to record my self and then follow my own keyframes to do draw Wayne's ones. Now I am actually going to start animating my fridge! :D

Normal Walk Animation ( Take 2)

Redoing this bit but I am glad I went through it again as it looks so much better.

2nd Test! Wayne is moving! :D

I am excited to see him moving now and more motivated  to move on to the rest of the animation :)

Bowling Ball (with rolling)

1st test!! :D

This is quite a bad shot(condsidering the bad lighting and my hand appearing in  a frame) But it works! :D

The Animation Timeline: Bill Plympton (born in 1946)

FIG.1

Bill Plympton is an American animator and cartoonist best known for the Academy Award winning Your Face(1987).  With his unique style in character design and bizarre storytelling, Plympton was nominated for an Academy Award and is one of the most prolific independent animators working today.Coming from Portland. Oregon he credits Oregon's rainy climate for his drawing skills. In 1968 he moved to New York where he began a year of study at The School of Visual Arts. He later began illustrating for famous magazines like The New York Times, Vogue and Penthouse. Plympton's themes usually include the pathetic aspects of daily life and the attitudes of the politicians. "Describing his own work as 'like an animated David Lynch', Plympton combines the physical excesses of Tex Avery cartoons, the Dali-esque  incongruities of form, the sence of absence and present in the work of Magritte, the trip sensibility of Robert Crumb, and the independent off-centre pre-occupations of Jim Jarmusch."  (Patterson, 2000: 424) 

FIG.2

One of his famous animations is The Tune(1992)(FIG.2). This animated musical comedy tells the story of Del, a songwriter who is in desperate need of a song idea. His boss storms in and gives just 47 minutes to come up with a song otherwise he will loose his job and his lover, the boss's secretary. His fantastic experience during his trip to the town of Flooby Nooby  gave him the inspiration he was looking for. This unique animation with its ink and water colour texture, fully done by just Plymton himself has received wide-spread critical acclaim and named him as the fine artist cartoonist.

FIG.3

To conclude, Plympton is a truly independent artist and makes whatever films Bill  Plympton wants to make. He beholds the charm of how it is to make your own films and and proves how it is possible to produce your own work without boundaries, which is what makes his animations so spontaneous and exciting.


Bibliography
Patterson, Hannah(2000)Contemporary North American film directors: a Wallflower critical guide.London: WallfloweR 
Press

List of Illustrations

FIG.1: Bill Plympton At: http://www.epichuynh.com/2010_07_01_archive.html (accessed on 26/3/2011)
FIG.2: The Tune At: http://www.animationconversation.com/2010/06/ (accessed on 26/3/2011)
FIG.3: The Tune At: http://www.taringa.net/posts/tv-peliculas-series/2003996/The-Tune---Bill-Plympton.html (accessed on 26/3/2011)

Character Bible(Wayne and Francis)

The Animation Timeline: Jiri Barta (born in 1968)

FIG.1

Jiri Barta is a Czech stop motion animator famous for his use of wood carved characters and settings in his animations. He is one of the greatest inspiring personalities of both Czech and world animated film. His work has regularly taken Grand Prize at prestigious film festivals with The Pied Piper of Hamelin (FIG.2)(1985) which stands out as one of his greatest artworks. Mixing the aesthetic traditions of Gaudi, Poe, The Brothers Quay and Svankmajer, Jiri Barta has made wonderous creations which are far from the well known fairytales and expose a gothic sensation of fantasy and dreamlands. Like Svankmajer, his work leans towards the grotesque in his imagery.   

FIG.2

As mentioned one of his best known animations is The Pied Piper of Hamelin which is based on the well known fairy tale. The story takes place in a peculiar world, a world which looks like it burst out of the work of Expressionist and Cubist painters. The small town looks like no other, with crooked buildings made out of meticulously carved wood. The detail on each house is extraordinary; which makes it a great reason to observe the amount of effort which has been put into them. The town could somehow be considered as an outocome of the village in Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari(1920) which share the same idea of a town which has no logic in its layout or structure with a distorted perspective..  "This distinctly individual world bears little to no resemblance to any genuine location or time, and yet ties into varying myths and familiar lore, particularly connecting to Barta’s preoccupation with materialism and its consequences." (Jediny.2007)

Although the characters are quite weird looking Cubist inspired figures with puzzling facial features, they appear to act like normal townsmen who feast on food, haggle over market places and frustrate with their veins popping out. One thing Jiri Barta succeeds in this film is to make his characters characters believable out of a totally made up world inspired by painters. The rest of the puppets differ from the protagonist which is The Pied Piper. He looks rather normal looking with softer features, unlike the rest with their over stretched chins and bodies. The wooden puppets also make a striking contrast with the realistic, fury rats that invade the town. There is also a great us of sound effects and music in the film which reflects the grotesque mood of the film. Jiri Barta chose not to give this film a dialogue but to make the villagers speak an alien language.  "The absence of understandable dialogue—a distinct feature of Barta's cinematic style—expresses the dehumanization of the townsfolk as well as the universality and continued topicality of the story. The townsfolk "speak" in a "language" that resembles the squeak of rats and foreshadows their future metamorphosis. The innocent characters, such as the piped piper, Agnes, and the old fisherman, remain significantly silent." (Kosulicova.2002)

FIG.3

In conclusion. Jiri Barta has been included in the list of the most inspiring nimators of the 20th century. His gothic and strange artwork is still being inspirational to modern animators and artists and will continue to be. His detailed artwork will still be admired and mybe some day will make artists give another go to materialised animation and leave the computer generated ones to the side.


Bibliography

Jedini, Jenny(2007) The Animation of Jiri Barta At: http://www.notcoming.com/features/jiribarta/  (accessed on 26/3/2011)
Kosulicova, Ivana (2002) The morality of horror At: http://www.kinoeye.org/02/01/kosulicova01_no2.php (accessed on 26/3/2011)
List of Illustrations

FIG.1: Jiri Barta At: http://mubi.com/lists/9789 (accessed on 26/3/2011)
FIG.2: Film Still At: http://gotankgo.blogspot.com/2010/04/krysar-pied-piper-of-hamelin-1985.html  (accessed on 26/3/2011)
FIG.3: Film Still At: http://www.filmwalrus.com/2008/05/review-of-pied-piper-of-hamelin-1985.html  (accessed on 26/3/2011)

Camera Exercise with Meg

My animation in an ordered board.

This is a small arrangement of my scenes and frames in case I get confused. So it's been worked out that me animation will last for about 54 seconds and my drawing will be around 648. Ugh..long long way to go.

W is Wayne and F. is Francis(the fridge)

SCENE	DICRIPTION	CAMERA MOVEMENT	DURATION	FRAMES
1	W. lights the candles.	static	2 sec.	12x2=24
2	W. holding the smoking match and smiling. He looks on the left at the clock.	Zooming out from the candles	3 sec.	12X3=36
3	The clock strikes 20:50.	Zooming into the clock.	2 sec.	12x2=24
4	W. is shocked at the time.	Zooming out from the clock and showing the kitchen.	2 sec.	12x2=24
5	W. fixes his bowtie.	Static	2 sec	12x2=24
6	W. runs into the other room to get the food. F. moves suspiciously.	Zooming out then static.	4 sec.	12x4=48
7	W. walks in and leaves a bowl of salad on the table. F. stands still.	Static.	2 sec.	12x2=24
8	W. walks out again. F. walks towards the table slurping.	Static	4 sec.	12x4=48
9	W. walks in and leaves the plate with the pasta. F. stands still again.	static	2 sec.	12x2=24
10	W. walks out. F. sticks his tongue out and grabs the salad bowl.	static	3 sec.	12X3=36
11	W. walks in and places the plates and crockery.	static	3 sec.	12X3=36
12	W. walks out. F. stick his tongue out again and eats whatever is on the table leaving a mess behind.	static	4 sec.	12x4=48
13	W. walks in carrying to wine glasses and a bottle of wine. He looks at the state of the table and shocked, he drops the glasses. He scratches his head and looks at the fridge which was covered in pasta sauce. H e approaches it.	static	6 sec.	12x6= 72
14	F. grabs the wine bottle from W. hands and swallows him with it.	static	2 sec	12x2= 24
15	W. fights to get out of F.	Static	3 sec	12x3=36
16	F. spits out W. He is naked holding a cake covering his parts.	static	2 sec.	12x2=24
17	W. is naked	Camera moving from W. legs to his face.	2 sec	12x2=24
18	W. is hocked as he hears the door opening.	Camera zooming rapidly in his shocked eyes.	1 sec	12x1=12
19	The girlfriend walks in the kitchen.	Zooming out from W. to the girlfriend's legs.	3 sec.	12x3= 36
20
21
22
23
24