Irritating insect 2

I did irritating insect again.
It looks much better compare to last one; the movement is smoother but still jerky. However the there is a story and the anticipation is clearer as well.
The only thing that I dissatisfy is that when the armature turned around, he feet was sliding, there should have some appropriate steps to show movement,but what I did was rotate the ankle and foots straight away. 
If I have more time, I will solve this problem and make him look more irritated. 

Pixilation Experiment in StopMotion Room

The problem We had from the last experiment is that the camera was not good enough, the position has been moved and the photos are caper too. Therefore, we decided to move into stop motion room because there is stop motion programme and we can use lighting and onion skin to improve the frames.

Here is a video https://vimeo.com/8734025  that inspired me to do something extremely simple but interesting. 

Today, We plan to do some little stories about eating and drinking coffee here. The position was fine, but we met a new problem, which is my facial expression could not match because I kept laughing during the film. Today's actor experience made me realise that be an actor is not as easy as it looks. However, Daniel did a very good job as he stayed calm and steady during the whole filming process and acted very well. I am glad that each member in my group has different skills and did a great corporation.  For instance, Daniel's always eager to act and Jungtong prefers to be a man behind the scene, operate the camera and editing. Our final pixilation video might not be great but I have been enjoying the filming process a lot, the experience also enhanced my leader skills and a better understanding of working in part of a group. 

InDesign Layout Planning

I have read some film magazines in the library and it inspired me of making my own layout plan.

Here are few simple examples that indicate myself where to put the images, quotes and text etc. 

Research of Actions and body movement 

Inborn Actions

Inborn Actions are primitive and instinctive. When we are born, our body already has information, mainly instinctive, that we use without knowing how or why. When a baby boy is born, he is brought to his mother’s breast to feed. The baby doesn’t know what is food, what is a mother, or even what are humans. He doesn’t have sight yet, but he knows that he has to suckle the breast to get food and live. Almost all baby actions are Inborn Actions. If you take, for example, a baby that is born blind and deaf, he/she will still laugh and smile even though the baby never saw or heard a smile.

Discovered Actions

Discovered Actions are developed as we discover our body and our environment. For example, when we cross our arms it helps to keep our body warm, can rest our arms or even protect us. Everywhere in the world people cross their arms, not always the same way, but for the same reasons. To salute, people show their palm, putting their defense down to show no threat to the people they are saluting to. A big part of human sexuality is also discovery.

Reference :

http://www.cgchannel.com/2010/06/tutorial-posing-and-body-language-part-1/ 

Magazine layout

Today, we have talked about layout of the magazine and some In Design skills.
I have learnt some basic knowledge with grids and columns. 

I decided to use three column grids to layout the essay, as one of the principle KISS (keep it simple, stupid), I think three columns can present the text easier than other style of grids.

Irritating insect_1

This is fist try of irritating insects. It was very difficult to manipulate.
The walk seems wired and when the armature tried to blow away the insect, the movement was too quick to see.
the good thing is that I have completed the entire story although it's satisfied.
next time, I will hold more frame to show the drama and observation scene, I will also focus on the feet when the armature attempted to swat the insect.

Planning of irritating insect

The video above is a reference that helps with animate the armature. I have chosen irritating insects as final stop motion exercise and I recorded myself as the references. 

Barsheet 

Experiement_Daily Life

On Monday, We started filming pixilation movie- Daily Life. I and Daniel brought some props and  Jung brought a decent camera from a friend. Everything was ready to go!

As the previous planning, Dannie was the actor, Jung was responsible for filming and I was the director that obligated to conduct the scene and problem-solving. 

Everything went well except the camera. Because of Jung's camera was too old, it paused for ages every ten minutes. What's more, the SD card also did not own enough storage for us to store the photos. Therefore, We had to constantly clean the SD card to ensure we have enough storage. This had resulted in a bad aftereffect that the post-production footage was wobbled, because of camera moved during the filming and actor did not stand in the accurate spot. The final movie looked deficient. I was dissatisfied with this consequence. 

We spent the whole day on filming, but obviously, the result was dissatisfied. From this experiment, we learned the following lessons:

• We need a professional camera and a good SD card, ensure it won't be an encumbrance

• We need to install the onion skin. It is a very useful feature that let us see a ghostly image of previous captured frame over the live video stream from the camera. It will help us to see exactly where the actor was standing previously at any time. 

• Last but not least, we have to think some interesting content. As Kristin advised, the purpose of the pixilation video is a surreal look at our real world. The laws of physics and the real world no longer apply since we're using animation, but since our environment and characters are real places it puts a unique twist on filmmaking.

Next time, I will consider setting the scene in Stop motion room; there has full equipment.

Stop Motion Experiment

We did another experiment that related to the food. This idea is inspired by Jan Svankmajer.

We transferred the skills from Animation 102 - the armature exercise to this making of module. The skills- timing and spacing has incorporated in here very well. 

Experiment of magician tricks video

I have done a vine mageic video about mouse changing.  This is to experiment with how to make a vine magic video. It was not that easy as I thought, because of the moving position, audiences can easily spot the differences. 

Research of Body Language

Here are some animation books that I found in the library. There might have relate information about body language.

• Animated Performance
• Acting for Animators
• The Illusion of Disney Life

I found one book has a useful information in a particular chapter: Movement and body language. In the <Acting for Animators> , it interprets how the acting influent the animators and how have they been using in the industry. 

In addition, I found some interesting paragraphs that can be used as a quotation in the essay. For instance, 'Movement is almost always a result of thinking and emotion, and a character animator really should have a strong understanding of the connections.' This quote not only can support my point of importance of body language that have made int he body of the essay, but also indicate to the reader that I have read and understand the research that is relevant to the topic.

Body Language by Allan Pease

How To Tell Lies Successfully 

In the book, Allan Pease has analysis the common gesture people would do when they are lying. The difficulty with lying is that the subconscious mind acts automatically and independently of our verbal lie, so our body language gives us away.

 This is why people who rarely tell lies are easily caught, regardless of how convincing they may sound. The moment they begin to lie, the body sends out contradictory signals, and these give us our feeling that they are not telling the truth. 

During the lie, the subconscious mind sends out nervous energy that appears as a gesture that can contradict what the person said. 

Some people whose jobs involve lying, such as politicians, lawyers, actors and television announcers, have refined their body gestures to the point where it is difficult to ‘see’ the lie, and people fall for it, hook, line and sinker. They refine their gestures in one of two ways. First, they practise what ‘feel’ like the right gestures when they tell the lie, but this is only successful when they have practised telling numerous lies over long periods of time. 

Second, they can eliminate most gestures so that they do’ not use any positive or negative gestures while lying, but this is also very difficult to do.