Thursday, April 25, 2013

Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a) “I, Pilar I. Perrault, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
(b) My main inspiration to do this project came from an animation class I took at Pasadena’s Art Center, College of Art and Design, when I was in the 7th grade.  In the class, students were required to create a storyline, which they drew into a storyboard, before they could even animated their characters on the computer (we used a program called Adobe Flash).
  Years later, during what is now senior project, I borrowed a book from the library called Ideas for the Animated Short to read up on storyboarding, which I had chosen for my last answer.  The book reminded me of the class I took, so I decided to make a storyboard pitch for a 3-5 minute animation involving some of my characters. I thought it would be a suitable component because it meshed right in with one of the answers to my EQ.
(c)
Location Date Hours What I did Total Hours
School/Home
 3/12/2013 4 hours
20 minutes Did a series quick, rough sketches to get an idea of what I wanted to do for the storyboard. After settling on an idea, began drawing the characters in the panels. Filled up most panels. Need to ink the pages. 4 hours
20 minutes
Home 3/13/2013 3 hours
20 minutes Realized the storyboards I had been working on were heavily flawed. Scrapped my original idea. Started over, this time by working on a script for the scenario. 7 hours
40 minutes
Home 3/25/2013 3 hours
30 minutes Finally finished the script after a painful writer’s block. Roughly sketched a few panels, trying to get a feel for how the poses for each shot would look. After determining whether or not the shot was satisfactory, drew in the detail for each of the rough sketches. 11 hours
10 minutes
Home 3/29/2013 3 hours
10 minutes Looked over the sketches and decided to add in some more in addition to the ones I hadn’t started yet. Now have all the panels needed for the entire animated short, but they are all in serious need of some detail, as the majority of panels are still sketchy. 14 hours
20 minutes
Home 4/3/2013 3 hours
15 minutes Finished up the rest of the sketches for the storyboard and the storyline script is finally complete. May need to type it onto computer (right now it is in a notebook). Started to outline the sketches in ink. Finished 5 pages. 19 hours
35 minutes
Home 4/9/2013 2 hours
15 minutes Inked 10 more pages, but still have many to go. Need to clean up all of the sketchy lines on the pages.  21 hours
50 minutes
Home 4/14/2013 3 hours
10 minutes Finally inked all of the storyboard pages. Erased all pencils lines as well. Began to type storyline onto computer from notebook. 25 hours
Home 4/21/2013 3 hours
30 minutes Typed entire script onto computer, changing some details from the original text along the way. With changes in the script can changes to the panels; I had to redraw at least 7 scenes for them to match the script! 28 hours
30 minutes
Home 4/23/2013 4 hours
 Pages and script have been matched and glued together. Finishing up storyboard by gluing them onto poster to present. Decorated board. 32 hours
30 minutes
(d) I created a storyboard featuring two of my own characters in an animated short that was meant to be from 3 to 5 minutes long. I called it Food Fight.
INTERPRETIVE
   I have created a storyboard using my own character designs. It required much illustration and story structure skills, as I drew all the pictures and wrote the script myself.  I also wrote character bios for those that appeared in the storyline and then attached everything to the posterboards.  The most significant parts of this project were the sketches and the script because they are what tell the story.  Many times, I had to redraw sketches because the drawings were inadequate or they did not match the script. 
APPLIED
  This component supported my third answer, which centers around the storyboarding process of animation. The storyboarding process involves putting characters in panels that tell a story, somewhat like a comic book, but they often contain notes about different actions and camera shots. The point of the storyboard is to pitch an idea for a storyline concerning the characters so they can be animated. Every animated movie and cartoon series goes through this process. This project helped me with answering my EQ because it provided more than simply reading a book on storyboarding.  It was an actual hands-on project where I had to come up with a storyline and draw characters in panels to depict what is going on, similar to what a real storyboard artist might do.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Exit Interview Question Answers

1) My EQ is: What is the most important aspect of designing a character for an animated feature?  I picked my first answer, the 3P’s (Powers, Personality, and Physical Appearance), as my best answer.  The reason I chose this answer over the others is because it describes all the necessary traits of the character that bring the story to life in an animated feature.

2) My process for arriving at my answer was actually quite interesting.  It came from my favorite anime, Pokémon.  Before senior project even started, I was thinking of the classic Marvel and D.C. superheroes such as Batman and Spiderman (I had watched many superhero movies over the summer) and what Pokémon would best suit each hero.  I did not want to simply stick to the way a Pokémon looked or what powers they had that were closest to the hero’s.  To make a successful connection, I realized I would have to consider the powers, physical appearance, and personality of a Pokémon that would best match up with and benefit the superheroes in battle against the villains. Basically, combining my dad’s era of cartoons with my generation of cartoons inspired what I now call the “3P’s” of character design.

3) Coming up with my 3rd answer to my EQ proved to be a somewhat challenging process.  I had two answers already; the 3P’s and model sheets/concept art.
     I later recollected an animation class I had taken at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena when I was in the 6th grade. The instructor had us create a storyboard before we could begin the animation process on Adobe Flash.  Since storyboarding was an important process for animation, I decided to use it for my 3rd answer.

4) My first primary source was taking a class at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, which gave me great insight and knowledge of character design. My second source was the fabulous opportunity to speak with a true animator with Disney Animation Studios.  She explained in detail the “whys and reasons” many characters are depicted as they are.

5) At this time I do not have a product to share.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Science Questions

Questions
1. What has made this experiment meaningful to your senior project?
A: By researching the data related to my senior project, I now have a better understanding of potential earnings to make a more sound financial decision as to whether to pursue 2D animation for television or go into 3D animation for feature films; either with the hope of utilizing my own character designs.
2. What is the important part of scientific process, and why?
A: The most important part of the scientific process is testing your ideas in order to interpret the data that you gathered so to determine potential outcomes or results and lead to further discussion with peers.
3. What is the correlation between the information you acquired and modern industry applications/society’s needs?
A: Although I focused primarily on cartoon animation, the correlation between cartoon animation for entertainment and animation for educational purposes supports society’s needs. The animated cartoon “School House Rock- How a Bill Becomes Law” illustrates the modern industry use of animation.