Week 2

Our history and theory lecture covered film form and genre which will help massively when I come to create ideas for animated films, since we looked at sub-topics such as the classical Hollywood narrative components, film development in the USA and genre theory. Film development, I found, was quite an interesting topic since it covered various periods of the developments in film, not dissimilar to the movements in art (e.g. fauvism and neoclassism) The many varieties of these periods included german expressionist film, 1910-1920, which had a strong influence on the horror genre using techniques such as unresolved endings, and French impressionism, 1910-1920, which used close ups on the face to portray the characters feelings.

Viewing the history of film form in this way will give me a deeper understanding on the origins of a form, juxtaposed with the social and political history, which I will then be able to use to create something new and fresh.

In animation principles, we looked at squash and stretch and anticipation. Squash and stretch is the principle of how an object squashes, or how it stretches, and it helps to make animation more 'life-like' and 'solid', creating the illusion that the drawing has volume and dimension. Anticipation is the preparation for the action, for example, crouching before jumping and pulling your body back to run. When this principle is properly timed, anticipation can enable the viewer to better understand the movement, be it rapid or slow action, that is to follow and also creating the perception of weight or mass.

Using these principles and the previously looked at principle timing, we were given a task to create a small animation of a simple cube-like man jumping from a ledge:

I'm pleased with the way this animation turned out, as it's a very natural looking peice of animation it terms of the timing but it could do with a holding pose at the end of the jump. There is a lack of anticipation before the cubeman jumps which I will keep in mind to put more emphasis on in future animations. I also feel that the volume of the cube is increasing when it hits the floor, as well as too much squash and stretch.

In life drawing we started off by capturing poses in about 15-20 minutes, which I felt at ease with seeing as this is only the second life-drawing session I've had. I'm fairly pleased with what I'd produced but I still need plenty of practice.