FINAL GRADE UNIT 5 & UNIT 27

FINAL GRADE = DIstinction

Great work, you have really tried hard for this well done.


See individual blog posts for all feedback.

FINAL GRADE = Distinction

Well done here Kristie, you have listened to feedback and worked hard.


See individual blog posts for all feedback.

Pitch feedback and Justification of ideas

 We presented our animation ideas to our teacher and class members.

Visual effects editing guide

Visual effects editing guide

Our animation was mainly based around a hand and arm movement where different images appear will then appear into the opening and closing hand.
 We firstly had to ensure that when we were flipping our cards that contained a picture of someone who has been helped by the charity we had to make sure that the pictures where put back into the exact position otherwise the animation would look very unprofessional. We also had to make sure that we was taking a right amount of picture with the same amount of pictures in each shot otherwise again it wouldn't flow very well. We used IstopMotion to create this animation. We used this software as it allowed us to put together all the pictures that we took and the software allows us to play it back to see if it worked and was a professional well flowing animation. After this was done i imported the file into Final Cut Express where i would add fades, edit it to a sound track and to add text to the advert.

"Visual effects (commonly shortened to Visual F/X or VFX) are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or simply impossible to capture on film. Visual effects using computer generated imagery has recently become accessible to the Independent filmmaker with the introduction of affordable animation and compositing software."

Camera Test Shots Analysis

Camera Test Shots Analysis

For my camera test shots I decided to set up the camera in which I would be using to film my animation, I also set up lighting in which I would be using to light up my set. The reason in which I did a test shot for this was to make sure that all the positioning of the cameras, set and lighting was all correct and working to a professional standard, ready for us to film our animation.

In the picture above you are able to see the camera in which we would be using to film our animated advert for Teenage Cancer Trust. I set up the camera to the correct position into how it would be set for filming. I also tested the camera with the lighting to see how the picture would finally come out.

Here is a picture of how the camera angle is going to be set up. I tested a variety of different angles of the set to see if the lighting would effect or reflect in the lens, which would mean our images would not be very clear.

Here I decided to test the camera and quality I would get from the images I used. I decided to take a variety of picture to test how clear the pictures I am using in throughout the  animation would be with the layout I have set up.

Here are a variety of shots which we would use and that would appear in my final animation. These shots are close ups of the hand movements which are used through out our animation. We also used an overview shot for our Teenage Cancer Trust title so that it stood out. 

Consideration of camera

Consideration of camera

LONG SHOT
This is called a long shot. A long shot is a shot including objects at a distance. Long shots can be very intriguing and intresting shots. Long shots are used in film to stablish a scene and to also show a character in their surroundings. Long shots are very good to establish a location.

CLOSE UP
A close up shot tightly frames a person or an object. Close ups are used regularly with medium and long shots. Close ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene. Close ups are used in many different ways, they are used as cut away from a more distant shots to show detail, many films use it to show someone's emotion and facial expressions and in some cases to show intricate movements and gestures.

EXTREME CLOSE UP
This is an extreme close up. Extreme close ups are used to convey extreme detail. Films will use an extreme close up to make their films more entertaining and interesting to watch. Many documentaries use these shots like this to go into extreme detail to attract views and audience.

EXTREME LONG SHOT
This is an extreme long shot. An extreme long shot will be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away and is generally used as a scene setter and to establish a shot. As you can see in my shot to 
establish the scene of the hollywood sign, in some films they might 
used this to open a film. It normally shows an exterior, e.g. the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action e.g. in a war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, as it is meant to give a general impression rather than specific information.

We used a couple of these shots when filming our own animation, we used a close up shot at the beginning and the end of our animation that consisted of the camera zooms in on the Teenage Cancer Trust logo. We decided to use this shot as it   was vital that we made sure the logo looked powerful and stood out, we needed to make sure that it was also very clear to all our viewers. 
We also used a birds eye view angled over view shot to film the rest of our animation. We only used this shot throughout our animation as we were able to show and express the whole movement of the hand opening and closing and the images appearing. The reason we decided not to use a variety of different shots was because we felt that they didn't appeal to the way our animation ran. In our animation we wont be using any camera movements except a close up and a tilted birds eye view of the set, the reason we decided this was because our advert mainly focused on the hand opening and closing and these shots were the only ones which fitted well. 

Lighting task

When creating Wallace and Gromit animations they use artificial lighting called red head to light up the sets. Black screens are also used which allows the light to reflect off creating the shadows in that specific scene. The term red head camera means that there is a red light attached to the top of the camera, when the camera moves across the scene it continues with the same lighting otherwise the scene will be darker in some places and would make the animation look very unprofessional and the lighting wouldn't be continuous throughout the animation and it would also take away the affect.


Ardman use a variety of effect lighting within there scenes, such as a street lamp, they light these scenes with L.E.D's which stands for light emitting diode's, or they use tiny bulbs linked to a transformer. in some scene they use fibre optics or small torch bulbs. These techniques that ardman use are very effective and are very good at lighting small individual places in an animation for example a house or  car head lamp.

When creating our advert animation we used a interfit tungsten 3200 power lamp. 
The reason we chose to use this light was it was an easy and light object to move, the head of the light can be adjusted allowing us to be able to tilt and direct the light in the correct position allowing us to be able to light our set to exactly how we wanted it, the light is very bright meaning it will easily light up our whole set and there would be no need for any other lighting. 
Some possible issues that could arise during a lighting set up could be the light over heating, this can be very dangerous as if someone was to touch the light they could burn themselves. We also need to be careful with leads and cables in case anyone was to trip over and cause any injuries. 

Analysis of movement

Analysis of movement

Near enough all animated adverts will contain a variety of shots. These shots are used to create final animated advert. The different type of shot can determine the mood of your advert for example if an advert consist of a close up shot on someone's face which appears to be unhappy then this would show that the advert is going to fairly sad or emotional rather then if the person was smiling or laughing which would then show the mood of the advert is happy. This shows that you have to make sure you use the correct shot for your advert so that you have the correct mood.

The first shot we used in our animated advert was a close up on the Teenage Cancer Trust logo. The reason we used this shot was to portray and show to the audience that our advert is based around this charity. The close up shot looks a lot more effective at the begginging of our advert rather than having an ariel shot of the logo.

The second shot we used in our advert was a tilted birds eye view of the set. The reason we decided to use this shot was to capture everything going on in our set, and we also wanted to be able to see the whole hand/arm which was holding the images. We also used this shot to make our advert look more professional.



The third shot we used was a bird eyes view close up of a clenched fist. The reason we chose to have this shot was so that we were able to see the movements of the hand moving.

In Stop Motion  there are some standard camera movement terminology and descriptions used In live action cinematography and carried over into videography. When moving a camera when filming an animation you have to physically move the camera while shooting certain scenes, that means every time you move the camera you have to take a picture. Moving the camera is very much an artistic-creative decision. Too much camera movement is a distraction and sometimes used to show-off or impress. Camera movements also applicable to Stop Motion, however the difference is, you will be animating the camera movements frame by frame at the same time the puppets are animated. It doesn't matter what type of camera shot you are doing whether is was  pan or a tilt, every time you move the camera you have to take a picture. 

 PAN- left of right

TILT- up or down

 PEDESTAL- up or down

TRUCK- left or right