Animating to existing audio - I Met the Walrus (2006)

I have recently been discussing my graduation project with my tutors and one option is to enter the RSA Student Design Awards this year. To enter, I would need to animate a one minute audio excerpt from a lecture (provided by RSA). This would actually be somewhat of a challenge, as it takes away the control and timing of a scripted narration. I was concerned that matching imagery to somebody talking so fast would be, perhaps jarring, and actually quite difficult.

Ged showed me an animation related to this area - 'I Met the Walrus'. It is an award winning collaborative film, that animates the conversation/interview between John Lennon and a 14 year old boy in 1969. It is extremely good and flows well. I find it very inspiring, but can definitely see the sheer amount of work that went into it!

Animation style inspiration

I would like to use various media and imagery in my final film. This would provide the dual benefit of being visually interesting whilst giving me the ability to learn a variety of skills and programmes. Below are some pictures that I am using as inspiration during the initial stages of my pre-production.

A History of...

My original idea for my final film was to make a short documentary on the history of zombies. Attached is a video called 'A History of Evil'. I would like to create something similar in terms of the short 'mockumentary' style of filmmaking. I like the humour and way that the animation flows and links between objects and scenes, however, I am keen to use mixed media, colour and a variation of visual styles in my final film.

The Fat Cat - Mole Hill Animation

I found this winner of the Depict 90 Second Film category and really loved the music, style, political undertone and character design. What I find amazing is that it is stop motion using 'etched wax'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTAGUT0v8uo

Music video inspiration

This music video really caught my eye. I love the bold graphics and the mix of live action with animation (both traditionally and also projected on to actors). I am considering a similar process for my final film.

Animation Scriptwriting

I am currently reading Paul Wells's book 'Scriptwriting' which focuses mainly on the genre of Animation. He summarises the 'language' of animation via the categories below - which interestingly, are actually not dissimilar to John Halas's (Animal Farm) musings on the subject in the 1940's:

Metamorphosis - The ability to facilitate change from one form to another without edit.

Condensation - The maximum degree of suggestion in the minimum of imagery.

Anthropomorphism - The imposition of human traits on animals, objects and environments.

Fabrication - The physical and material creation of imaginary figures and spaces.

Penetration - The visualisation of unimaginable psychological/physical/technical 'interiors'.

Symbolic Association - The use of abstract visual signs and their related meanings.

Sound Illusion - The completely artificial construction of a soundtrack to support the intrinsic silence of animated forms.

Beagle Sketch

Rough sketch of my character design for a beagle for my final project