creativeoverflow.net's 25 Most Amazing Animations!

I was just looking around the internet the other day on a break between classes and stumbled upon this! It is a list of 25 pretty impressive animations and from all over the world! A lot of them myself and probably most people in the class have not seen before.

These are some examples of some of the work presented on this site! Unfortunately, most of the videos are on Vimeo and they will not let me post into this blog.

But here is one of the videos I am able to share! Everyone should definitely check out this site and all the cool examples of After Effects!

RWBY "RED" Trailer

RWBY is a new animated web series by Roosterteeth. This is the first trailer promoting the series and has received positive acclaim on the web. The aesthetic at first glance appears to be in the 2D anime style but in reality is rendered in three dimensions giving it a videogame-like quality. Roosterteeth is best known for their decade old machinima series Red vs. Blue and has since then become more and more action oriented in their productions. Also, GUN SCYTHES.

Actionscript.cl

While I was working on my original post for this blog entry I ended up finding this website that intrigued me so much I decided to write about it instead. Blog post is a little late as a result but I really wanted to look into it more. The site is www.actionscript.cl, an experimental Flash animation website.

It's essentially a collection of 38 different Flash animation techniques. The site is mainly in Spanish (it seems to originate from Chile) but there are snips of English here and there. The animations cover a broad range of techniques, anything from curves to fractals. Many of them are customizable and all of them are interactive. My favorite is #36 (Nematobit), an animation of some tiny worms squiggling about. I really liked these animations because they reminded me of some of the animations we worked with in Processing (particularly #16). I also really liked these animations because they are great resources and I could come up with tons of ways I could use them myself. It appears that these animations are done with an older version of Flash but I'm sure the ActionScripts used could be referenced or reformatted to work in newer versions of Flash or other programs. 

I couldn't find any direct links to the ActionScript code used for the animations but some of the buttons linked to books that the animation descriptions often referred to. It seems that each animation is based off of the ActionScripts in these books:

Fresh Flash: New Design Ideas In Macromedia Flash MX

Macromedia Flash MX Components Most Wanted: Ready Made Drag 'n' Drop Design Solutions

Flash MX Web Video Creativity

Flash Math Creativity

Supernatural Opening

Something that is unique about the show Supernatural, is that every season they change the graphics of their opening theme and they match it to the running plot of that season. The show is about two brothers who dedicated their lives to hunting down demons and monsters, and the atmosphere of the show is captured in just a few seconds of their opener. I'm sure very similar aspects of these can be achieved using after effects, but some of them are things we have talked about or gone over. Season 3 is set over fog and clouds, which we have done very basics forms of with the smoke. Another one that involved particles could be season 7 where the name of the show emerges from black material that dissipates into smaller pieces. Similar to season 5, where there is a red liquid that looks like many of the examples from Video Copilots riot gear expansion. It is also really similar to the end credits of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

We're definitely seeing a lot more opening credits that rely heavily on motion graphics rather then rolling text over live action. Especially the opening for Chuck, shown below.

This is a really interesting article on fanboy.com that chronicles animated opening sequences in television from the 50's through the 70's (it also mentions how Saul Bass played a large part in this television revolution that brought animation to the audiences at home). It says that in the late 1970's, credits began to switch back to live action or just straight animation.

An article in smashing magazine showcases many of the impressive animated credits that have been playing in the last couple of years. Everything from the minimalist title of Lost, to the pop-up book in United States of Tara. While live action seems to work better with comedy, dramas are better paired with animation because it can create a certain mood for the audience and prepare them better for the show without getting distracted.