20047028 Katie Lam – Page 5 – Katie Lam

First week of 2D Animation (Animation Tests)

First week was full of program learning and the 2d animation principles and then applying all of that knowledge to the final animation at the end in week two.

In the first week I used Adobe After Effects for the first time. It was not as difficult as I first perceived it to be when opening the program. The main functions I learned from this program consisted of four different ways to manipulate shapes, images and videos (Position, Opacity, Rotation and Scale). Linked to this post are the videos of these animation tests.

I learnt more on Adobe Photoshop such as how to get the timeline up to animate and to export sequences to add into and then edit in Adobe After Effects. After these lessons I can safely say I am more knowledgeable in both programs and feel more comfortable in starting to use these industry standards more frequently as well.

Ease in and out blocks

Creating an arc

Squash and stretch ball

Heavy Ball Animation

Light ball animation

Smoking Happiness (3 Panel Storyboard)

I struggled a decent amount with this rotation as it had a lot of aspects I was not that well trained in such as life drawing and observing living beings’ positions as well as their expressions. This rotation opened my eyes to the world a lot more than before. It pushed me out of my comfort zone by drawing live subjects and smaller details I feel more confident in this than beforehand.

I enjoyed the story and the mood-board aspects as I was more familiar with them however, I pushed my creativity further in those parts too. I was linking and creating ideas with my peers as well as creating stories in my storyboards with more emphasis on body language while conveying strong emotions without text. I improved immensely in these areas within this rotation.

This task was initially difficult as I didn’t gather as much scenery as I hoped to have, however I looked upon my sketches again coming up with this basic three panel storyboard with some colouring to it.

My first story idea was of this being that sits upon the lights and poles looking upon a city however that wasn’t much of a solid idea, so I decided to create a more sombre story with the bleak streets of London and the cigars on the floor.

My final story ended up being a person perched on the pole smoking a metaphor for happiness which brings colour to the frame. While The rest of the frame is black and white to emphasise the strength of the happiness drug. In the second frame she studies the drugs to make up her mind to let the happiness go. Letting herself embrace the greyness of the real world.

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