Animation Can Be Powerful!

In the new Android commercial, the animation gives off a powerful message for anti-bullying. Through the years, animation has progressed so that it can evoke emotion even from the simplest of things. Oddly enough, it is simple to relate to these characters in the commercial, and it makes you attracted to the product as well. Here's the video to watch yourself and see how animation can provide messages just as well as real life actors.

Disney's New Cool App and Motion Capture

I stumbled upon this video and I think this is such a creative and awesome idea.

Disney has really created an amazing tool and I hope it becomes available to the public soon.

While exploring some more, I found out that using motion capture to track human motion has been mastered after years of work but the same cannot be said about animals.

Motion capture is quite literally means recording the movement of humans or objects to capture the motion.

I found an article about researchers at Bradford University who have used motion capture on animals to improve the biomechanical accuracy of animals in films and video games.

Previously, only a few markers were used on animals to capture motion; however, the researchers from Bradford University did it differently. Check out the article with the video of their work here.

In case you wanted to see what motion capture looks like with real actors, here's a fun video of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Lion King: Different Methods for different animators

The Lion King is probably my favorite Disney animated movie that isn't a Pixar movie. This is a movie that I grew up with (I was born in 1994, aka the year it was released, so I am as old as this movie (WOW)) and it is a beautiful story and fantastic animation! They really did a fantastic job of making each character, each animal, come to life!

I was searching online for some BTS of some animated movies, and I came across this one for the Lion King and their creative processes. I thought this was really cool to see the different methods that they used, from study real animals in the studio to study the voice actors movements and facial expressions to add emotion to the characters, or even just simply walking around impersonating how the animator thinks that particular character they are drawing would move and behave. It was also interesting how each character was designated to a single animator (or some times a pair). But come together in the end to make a masterpiece!

Definitely check out the Lion King BTS video here:

Blank Canvas...

Since we are all braining storming on our title sequence projects, I came across once again another video that is both a beautiful title sequence and inspirational. Blank Canvas is a show that features artists and their passions and dedication to their respectful craft. The color is phenomenal, and the graphics are great as well. The placement and timing of the video with respect to the audio is all well done, and is a lesson to all of us that a title sequence is much more than just an introduction. It is a representation of what the audience is about to witness, a representation of the show or film. A great title sequence makes way for a great show/film. 

             

                   Blank Canvas from Ayhan Cebe on Vimeo.

With respect to the title sequence,  Blank Canvas, with your knowledge of the film/ show that you all are thinking of erase the old title sequence and create a new one on a blank canvas. 

Till next time,
Krystal

Imagining the Invisible

I know this blog is supposed to be for discussion on the post-production side of things and how motion graphics and animation are done, but this week, after being inspired by our class projects, I'm going to focus on the actors and their performances in front of green screens. As an actor at heart, I loved the opportunity to film on the green screen this week in class. It was such a fun moment to really test the limits of one's imagination. Can you really visualize the world you will be putting yourself into?  I was curious to find out how a professional set would look if there was an intense amount of green screening going on. The first hit I found was the most recent Alice In Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton. First watch this video:

Can you imagine being on set and having to see ALL OF THAT you in your minds eye? Our little exercise in class looks like a walk in the park compared to this. Everything is planned out in every detail. Every second counts, just as we learned in our own smaller projects. I think, for actors, this is exactly what they would live for. Being able to envision the world around you, while it is difficult, can really make a character come alive. I specifically loved watching how Johnny Depp played his character within the world his mind had helped create. Even when directions or creature appearances were called out, the actors had to be able to adapt to the world they were seeing in their minds and react. Watch this video and see the transformation of some of these green screens into the actual world of Wonderland:

This is incredible to watch these scenes come alive. It must be so rewarding for an actor to watch the film and see that invisible world come alive around their character. On the flip side, think about all the time, sweat and hard work the post-production crew put in to making this world come alive. (And I'm stressed about a thirty second clip!) It would be quite the joint effort. As hard or maybe awkward as it was for us this week (or maybe, like me, you really enjoyed it!), for a lot of professional actors it is just part of the job. In the beginning of this interview with Rachel Weisz (an amazing actress), she talks about what it is like for her to act with a green screen, specifically for the film Oz the Great and Powerful.

For a well seasoned actress to call it "simple" or "easy" is expected. I would think that if you walked onto a green screen set for the first time, you would be very intimidated and excited by the prospect. I have definitely been inspired by the ability of actors to imagine the invisible. What a talent to be able to act in a world that you can only see in your mind!

By Amber Capogrossi