READING & WRITING
Now that you have completed your work, it is time to consider entering it in a festival! Before you rush to enter, there are a few key things to keep in mind.
In Liz Blazer’s Animated Storytelling, she breaks down all the steps you should take to enter your work into festivals.
First, you need to package your assets to make it easy for reviewers to access. Much like applying for jobs, festival judges do not have time to find all your materials, so you need to make it very easy for them. Your package should include: a title logo and still, a tagline, a director’s biography, and then a story write-up of the film.
Next – determine where you plan to show your work! Blazer recommends starting with smaller festivals and then working up to larger ones, like Sundance.
One thing I found interesting, is that Blazer said sometimes it is worth holding back from entering a festival. If you circulate your piece online, it could get more eyes than it would at a festival and you’ll also get better, more immediate feedback.
To do this, it’s important to create a network – which just means connecting with peers. This is a great way to get your name and your brand out there, which can help when entering festivals. You can use group platforms to tease out your work; but don’t give everything away at once! Make sure you save some surprises.
Reflection on my ICM 504 Journey
When I started this class I had no animation experience. I had played around in After Effects a few times, with templates, but that was it. Now, I feel fairly confident in AE and Adobe Animate and I don’t need templates! I actually had a pretty cool moment while editing my final project. I was uncertain about what to do in After Effects for one piece of it but rather than Googling it – I thought through the logistics of the situation which helped me determine why something wasn’t working.
As an added bonus, I really elevated my Illustrator skills in this class, particularly with our final assignment.
Moving forward, I would love to apply these skills to my current work! While I probably won’t be animating scenes like my final project, I could definitely animate the logo for the school where I work. Animation is something I have always wanted to learn, and I think it is something that shows up as a requirement in many of the jobs I apply for – so I was grateful for this experience!
RESEARCH TO INFORM
This week was all about Advanced Animation – so let’s take a look at a few examples.
Only Murders in the Building
This is my absolute favorite animation! I think this is such a unique opening sequence for a show and to be honest it is the only one that I never skip. I did have to do a lot of research to figure out the exact animation technique, but I think it definitely utilizes some 3D movement – maybe parallax. It also uses lighting as a transition from window to window and other cinematic elements.
Breaking Bad Intro
I also love this intro sequence. The first time I saw it, I couldn’t look away. I once painted my friend’s name in this style because he loved the show and I thought this was so cool. While I’m not sure that there are a lot of advanced techniques – specifically the ones listed in this week’s module, but I think the animators used visual effects to create the smoky, hazy background and chemical elements dissolving in and out.
Rotoscoping Example
I have heard the term ‘rotoscoping’ a few times during this course, but didn’t really understand what it was until I started researching. In this animation the artist recorded a video of the band and then converted that video into an 2D animation.
Create
The journey to my final project was an interesting one. I had several ideas that I actually storyboarded and once I went to execute them, I realized they were a little advanced for my skill level.
Finally, I landed (no pun intended) on this rocket launch sequence. Since my Illustrator skills are beginner/intermediate, I decided not to overcomplicate things by trying to create the mission controller’s full body and face; instead I did a silhouette. I created the rest of the scene in three separate AI files: the ground scene, the sky scene, and the control room/rocket.
I wanted to try the Ken Burns Effect in my animation, but I realized quickly that I wanted more depth for my piece. After researching, I learned parallax was probably a better technique to give my control room scene a dolly motion, with a slight 3D quality. To do this, I needed most of the elements to be on separate layers – which took A LONG TIME to organize.
One piece of this project that took me days to figure out was how to make sure the scene change stayed in the monitor only. At first, it was flying in from the bottom of the screen rather than the vector monitor. After a lot of trial and error and research, I figured out that I needed to do something called ‘track matte.’ I matted the scenes (stars and ground) to a duplicate layer of the monitor, which worked!
I also added light underneath the flames and smoke to give the rocket launch a slightly more realistic effect during the rocket launch.
WORKS CITED
Blazer, L. (2020). Animated storytelling: Simple steps for creating Animation & Motion Graphics. Peachpit Press.
Allison Lucas 