Problems with the soundtrack

I had previously decided on an opening sequence and base track (playing in the background throughout the film) but had not really started looking properly for sound effects. The first few sound effects that I needed, I found quite quickly, however the further into the film I went the harder it was to try and find sound effects that are suitable. This meant that I will have to spend more time than anticipated finding these, and if I can't find any suitable, I may have to create them myself.

Working with Nadia for help and feedback

For the past few weeks I have been visited in my lessons by a student (Nadia) who is currently completiting a course in Multimedia at college. Nadia was also an ex-sixth form student from my school so knew the course that I am doing well as she had already been though it herself. Nadia has offered me help and advice on the best ways to edit and create a suitable soundtrack for my short animation. She has also given me feedback on my work on things that I could improve on which has been really useful. Her help has really been useful to me as I have learnt so many new skills in how I can produce my animation and also the best ways to edit my work.

Paw print designs

For both my ancillary products I decided that they would feature a simple paw print design running across the page. I believed this would give the products a unique and also a recognisable feature for my short film. The design which I decided to use was print 3 as I thought this would best suit the genre of the products and film but also because it is the most cartoon- like and simple. Print 1 and 2 both would have worked well however are a little to detailed as they feature the nail prints as well as the pads of the feet. Print 4 however would not be appropriate as it has too many toes to have come from a dog. 

Ancillary Product Development- Film Poster

Creation of film poster

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Drawing almost complete!

I have now almost finished the drawing for my short animated film! I have now drawn 594 drawings and only have the end sequence left to complete. The film is looking quite good from what I have been editing in FinalCut, and I am very pleased with the progress. I have now moved onto creating the soundtrack for my animation. I spent an hour on this today and feel that it will be a longer process than first aniticipated as it takes a lot of searching to find a sound effect that will really work well.

Initial feedback video- first film draft (old narrative)

After putting together the first part of my initial rough cut, I showed the clip to a couple of members of my target audience. The first person I asked was Flynn, who is 7, and the second James who is 14. Both gave me useful feedback as to what I needed to improve on. The draft that I showed them did not include the re-written narrative, which meant that the storyline was not clear to them. Now that I have addressed this and added more sound effects I think I will receive a more positive reaction from feedback.

Name ideas for cat, puppy and film title

The characters within my short animated film need names which is why I created a few lists of possible names. As the cat character is very posh, tidy I tried to find names which sound 'posh' and innocent. The names for the puppy I wanted to be more cute and fun.

Potential Cat names:
Molly
Coco
Kitty
Millie
Angel
Bella
Cleo
Sadie
Chloe
Princess

Potential Puppy names:
Scout
Bear
Cody
Archie
Buddy
Barney
Charlie
Murphy
Bailey
Buster

Film name:

Coco & Buddy

An unwelcome surprise

A tale of 2 pets

It’s my home!

Welcome home

Welcome to the Robinson Family

After asking some of my target audience I decided on the names Coco and Buddy as I felt that had a nice ring to it and the names really suited the personalities of the pets. I also decided that these would also be suitable as the actual title of the film as it is short and memorable such as 'Tom and Jerry' and 'Rhoobarb and Custard'.

Shot Types used in my animation

shot types on Prezi

Just like live action films, animated films use a variety of shot types to portray different scenes and emotions. I have put together a presentation explaing why I have used certain shots within my animation.

track test 1 export

After working on the first part of my soundtrack I decided to create a short clip. The music playing in the first pasequence (photos on the wall) I created using the program SoundTrackPro, and the rest is from a copyright free source. I think the sound effects work really well and have been timed right.

Further expression testing

Mind map of ideas for a pampered cat

At first I was a little unsure as to what I could include in a sequence to show a pampered cat so I decided to make a small mind map for inspiration. I have tried to include activities that are usually carried out by humans however could also be carried out by an animal in a comical way.

Further Audience Research- reactions

As my animation will be for anyone from the age of about 6, I need to think how exactly I am going to engage with my audience. The is a major issue as it will need to be suitable for both children and adults. The reaction that I would like to achieve is that of laughter over the comic elements and in a way the sense of sympathy towards both the characters (the cat as it is being excluded, and the dog as the cat is being mean to it). With the added scenes and new narrative in place I am hoping that I will achieve this. My short story animation will also include a story behind it which will be picked up on by all of my audience. The scenes including the cat watching TV will be recognized by the adults as how TV influences its viewers actions.

New narrative

I found after creating the first part of my animation that the narrative was just not clear enough so have come up with a few scenes which I am going to add in which will hopefully create a better story. The new scenes that I am going to add are:

• An establishing sequence which will introduce the cat as the only household pet which 'rules the roost'. This will be done with a sequence of shots showing the cat being pampered in different ways eg. being offered food and it turning its nose up until it is something which it likes or having its nails painted or hair brushed.
• A long shot to show that cats need are priority with its bed placed next to the fire place in the living room.
• After the dogs journey to the house at night the cat wakes the next day to find that her bed has been moved over and shoved in a corner and the dogs bed in her place.
• The cats face will be angry at the sight of the dog being the owners new favourite pet- this will be shown in a close up shot.
• Now that the dog is the owners new best friend the cat tries to think of ways to get rid of him. The cat is watching TV on the owners lap on night and sees hammer throwing on the olympics so gets an idea when the dog follows her outside.
• The sequence of the cat watching the TV and getting an idea is repeated 2 more times afterwards which leads to scenes of the dog being taken out with the bins, and it running into a glass door.
• Each day the cat also moves its bed back to its original place, but the dogs bed always ends back up there.

First attempt

I am quite pleased with how my first attempt at how my actual finished product turned out. There are some issues with lighting in some scenes as not all the shots were filmed on the same day, even though the camera was set to the same settings there were some differences. I did work on some of these scenes and adjusted the contrast, brightness and colour hues to get them to about the same lighting. This was quite time consuming though as I had to edit each clip separately. The main issue was that the narrative is still not clear enough which is why I am going to re-think how I can achieve this.

Expressions development

After constructing the short animatic of expressions, I found that I still needed to work on really making the expressions 'big' and exaggerated.  The expression which I feel which needed the most work and that I will make use of in my animation, is the angry face. At the moment in my drawings only the cats eyes and mouth moves however for a more dramatic effect, I think more of its face needs to move. One of the things which I could add to the cats angry face is blood shot eyes and/or steam coming out of the cats ears as this is a very conventional cartoon feature. 

Facial expression testing

Another issue which became apparent whilst watching my first draft of my short animation was that the expressions of the cat during the close ups needed to be more animated and sometimes varied. To really engage with the viewer the cats expression needs to clearly show what it is feeling and what it might do next. I decided to make a short test sequence for a number of different expressions to see how I can get the cats face to move. I think some of the shots worked quite well, however others need a little more work to make them more exaggerated and cartoon-like.

First attempt at opening scene

After many hours and hundreds of drawings, I have finally finished the majority of the first half of my animated short story. I roughly put the first 40-50 seconds worth of clips into FinalCut and edited them a little (no soundtrack at this point). I then asked a friend who had not seen any of my work and did not know the narrative of the animation to watch what I had created. Their reaction was that they really liked the actions and they did laugh at the funny moments even though there was no sound. The only problem that they had was that they didn't know that the cat was already an existing pet and that the puppy was a new addition. For this reason I have decided that I will add a short sequence to the start of the story featuring a car arriving at the house at night and then a hand opening the car door to reveal a pet carrier. The story will then continue as I had originally story boarded it.

Filming issues

So far I have not had any issues with the actual filming of my animation until today. I had previously shot all of the sequences in the mornings at near enough the same time, and set up the rig to do the same today. However the camera seemed to be recording the image with a pinkish tint. This had not happened before and I was unsure as to what seemed to be the problem. I checked all of the camera settings and lighting and all seemed to be fine. I decided that there was not much point in filming the animation with the pink tint as it would not be of the same quality as the rest.

Colouring choices

After drawing out a sequence featuring the puppy, I found that the choice of colour I had chosen, would not be the best choice. I had originally wanted the puppy to be a scruffy light grey colour, however the pen that I had to use was too dark. This meant I had to choose a different colour which would also be appropriate. As I was already using a lot of brown, with the outside fence etc, the only colour that would look realistic was orange. The orange is much brighter, and happier than the grey which will be more appealing to my target audience and also fit in with the puppy's characteristics as being cheerful and happy.

Drawing, drawing, drawing!

I have now started the drawings for my final short animated story. These are, as anticipated very time consuming, as I am having to draw each movement and then colour it. I am only colouring the drawings in quite roughly though to give it more of a unique style like Roobarb and Custard, and also to save time. To make sure that my drawings remain organized and in the correct order I have allocated a plastic wallet to each shot number (taken from my story board) and am numbering each drawing for each shot.

Film review analysis

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Film poster research

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Production- Shots 31-33 with sound

I have now started the production of my actual short story animation. Just like filming, I can draw the animation in any order that I like. I started off by drawing out the scene of the weather changing, and the cat being stuck out in the rain. I think the rain worked really nicely. I only had a few drawings for the rain sequence, so I just looped them so that it rained for longer. I also sped up some of the animation to make it run more smoothly, making it look more effective.

I also added a small test soundtrack to this scene including some of the sounds which I think will be best suited to it. The first part of the sequence with the sun shining will have the sound of birds singing, however I have not yet bought this from itunes.

Running dog animatic

One of the most difficult aspects of making my animation is getting the movement of the characters just right. I have carried out a couple of tests of the movement of the cat, and decided that I needed to see how I can get the dog to move. I think this animatic worked really well as the movement is smooth, however I think that when I do the actual animation I will make sure that you can see all four legs.

Creating the soundtrack

The soundtrack to any animated film is very important. It's the sound effects which really make the film and add the cartoon qualities to it which makes them so unique compared to live action films. Most animations/ cartoons feature sound effects which are often very exaggerated and comical. These sounds could include things like the sound of a car screeching to a halt when a character stops.

When I started to search for suitable sound effects, I discovered that SoundtrackPro does not offer a large range of effects. Parts of my animation required the sound of birds singing. None of the effects on SoundtrackPro were right for this which meant that I had to get this sound from elsewhere. I found a large selection of bird sounds and other comical noises on itunes, which I am able to purchase for a small amount  as I have an itunes account. I also searched for CD's with sound effects on, however these are around £7.99 and don't include many tracks that I would find useful.

Running puppy test

After completing the bouncing ball test, I decided to test out the movement of on of the characters. I had already tested out the movements of the cat so I made a short sequence of the puppy running towards me. I think this worked quite well however I think that there may be a frame missing as the full sequence of the movement jumps a little and doesn't quite finish. I used a clip from Roobarb and Custard, to get the basic movement of the dog, as they had achieved it in only a few frames, giving it that unique style.

Ball test 2

The second animatic that I carried out with the bouncing ball, turned out much better than the first one. The ball moves much more smoothly and stays the same size. This is the effect that I would like to achieve in my animation.

Ball test 1

To try and improve on the movement of the characters I made a test animation of a ball bouncing. This test did not go as well as planned. The ball in the second part of the video moves far too slowly and changes shape quite obviously. Also when the ball hits the floor it sticks for too long, where it should bounce up again quickly. To improve on this I need to make the movements larger to make the ball appear to moves more quickly. I also need to make sure that when tracing though the ball, it remains the same shape and size. The video does appear to have a pinkish tint to it. This is because it was recorded without the light being switched on. It did not appear as pink as this until after I had exported it. I need to make sure that when I am recording my final piece that the light is on, to prevent the coloured tint.

Health and safety checks

Whilst carrying out the production of my animation, I need to make sure that the environment that I am working in is safe. One of the issues that I need to look out for is that the lamp used gets very hot very quickly. I need to make sure that I do not touch it when it is on, and that it needs to be left for at least 20 minutes to cool down completely. Another problem that I need to look out for is that there are a lot of wires connecting the camera to the computer, which need to be tucked under the desk so they can not be tripped over.

Colour test and opening sequence

When I coloured in the previous animation using coloured pencils I discovered that it was too faint for the camera to pick up, meaning that it looked almost like there was no colour. I went back to these drawings and coloured over the images in felt pen. This looked much brighter and bought the animation to life more. I also think that it adds a sort of style to the animation. I still don't think that the movement is quite right as the cats legs need to stretch out more. The other issue that came up from this animatic is that there may need to be more drawings per second or it needs to be sped up as it moves too slowly and not as smoothly as I would have liked.

How to set up the animation rig

Animation rig set up

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The process of setting up the equipment in order to create an animation, was something new to me which I learnt. I was shown how to set up the equipment by a technician, and decided it would be useful to create a presentation on how to set it up for future reference. This includes the functions of the camera, and briefly how to use the program istopmotion.

Story Board part 2

Story Board Part 1

Looking at the movement of the cat

As many of the scenes include the cat walking, I researched into how a cat moves. This should add a realistic twist to the animation. I found this video as it is a slowed down video of the cat moving, including text saying in which order the cats legs work. This will come in really useful when drawing out my animation.

Test opening sequence

Before I started drawing and recording for my actual short story, I carried out another test sequence of the opening scene. I think that the animation in general works really well, however the main issue is that the colour is quite faint. To solve this issue, I am going to re-colour the sequence using felt tip pens to hopefully gain a much brighter more noticeable colour. The other main issue of the sequence is the overall movement of the cat. As it is going to be a short story mainly aimed at children the movement needs to be more exaggerated and comical. To achieve this within the sequence I will try and make the cat wake up, and then really stretch out like you see in many cartoons.

Instructions for istopmotion

As at times I will be setting up the equipment etc on my own, I searched the internet for instructions on how to use istopmotion and get the document set up with the correct settings, and link up the camera. This site: Instructions for istopmotion is really useful and takes you through the process step by step including keyboard short cuts etc.

How to Use iStopMotion Animation

 I have not used the program istopmotion before by myself, and for this reason I needed to look into how to upload the images from the camera, and set up the document so that the frames are at the correct speed. Unfortunately I was also unable to get first hand advice which meant that I had to find out how to use the program using the internet. I found that this video was quite useful in showing how a short sequence is recorded.

Animatic- test sequence

Before I start to draw out and scan in my final animation, I had to test out the equipment and carry out some test footage to make sure that it works. I made a very short animatic of the cat character sitting, then standing and walking. This sequence was made using about 30 drawings. Once the images had been uploaded , I exported the file to a quicktime movie and imported it into final cut. Here I cut the animation and looped it so after the cat stands up, it carries on walking for longer. I chose to do this so that I had more to work with, as I am going to add a small soundtrack to it. The drawings in this animation appear to be moving quite slowly, however this is because of the way in which it was shot. It has been shot with    less frames per second than I had wanted which means that it moves slower.  When making my actual film, I will shoot it with more frames per second to get a faster movement.

Frames per second in an animation

For my animated short story, due to a limited amount of time, I will only be able to have around 6-8 frames per second. However for different types of animation there are different amounts of frames. For standard quality TV animation there are 15 frames per second and for high quality TV animation or low quality cinematic animation there are 24 frames per second. High quality cinematic animations include anything from 30 frames per second. The more frames that there are per second, the better the quality of the animation and the smoother the movements. Animations which have a lower frame rate, can jump around a bit more and appear not to be as smooth. An example of this would be the animation Roobarb and Custard which was completed on around 8 frames per second. In contrast to this Walt Disney films can be anything from 30 frames per second.

Case Study- Joanna Quinn

Joanna Quinn, is a professional animator from Birmingham. She has always loved drawing and went on to complete a degree in graphic design which is the course which I am interested in. Through this course she was introduced many animated shorts including commercials for Charmin toilet paper and Whiskas cat food feature her distinctive drawing style of which her drawings are always rendered using pencil or pen. Her work is very stylized which makes it really original. I like the way in which she uses lots of detail in each drawing and even though this is very time consuming, I would like to achieve this in my animation. I also like the way that she uses colour to bring the characters to life. For more information about Joanna you can read her full interview/ case study by clicking the link- Interview.

Pitching ideas

After working out which brief we would like to carry out, we pitched our ideas to the rest of the class with a presentation. The pitch includes the genre of our film, examples and any other aspects which we could include.

Repertoire of genre elements

Settings and locations- The location of my animated short story will be within the house and garden of the pets owner. The mise en scene of the garden will be very stereotypical with a tree and a tall wooden fence around the edges. The house will also be relatively conventional, with simple rooms such as the kitchen and living room.

Characters- The narrative of my short film will feature two main protagonists (cat and puppy) which will be apparent from the beginning. There will also be a couple of stock characters, which will just be the legs of the owners (will be no dialogue).

Narrative structure- The narrative of my animation will convey a simple message about friendship which the audience can learn something from. The story line will be very simple, with the puppy trying to find different ways to get the cat to play with him.

Themes and ideologies- My theme will follow the codes and conventions as it will be a comedy cartoon, which will feature a message.

Iconography- My animation will include many iconic features. The narrative will include slap-stick comedy which is very conventional of short animated films aimed at children. It will also feature a happy ending where the cat will end up needing the puppy, but even after all the mean things that the cat has done to the puppy, he forgives the cat and helps her. A non-diegetic soundtrack will be played throughout which will help to re-enforce the characters actions and further narrate the film.

Styles- The style of my animation will be very similar to that of Roobarb and Custard, however will more colour and detailed. The lines of the animation will be less rough and therefore the animations movement more fluid. Only certain elements such as the characters and some objects will be in colour as I will have to hand colour each image which will be very time consuming.

Audience response- The response from the children who watch my animation will be of laughter from the comedy elements; however they will also hopefully learn something from the message/ moral of the story.

Target audience- The target audience for my short animated film will be children as they are the main viewers of cartoon programs and films.

Issues and problems

During the initial planning of my short animated film, I came across a few problems. I found that the Mac I was to use, did not have the program that I needed to colour in my drawings. This meant that I was faced with the decision as to whether or not I was going to have a black and white line drawing animation or colour in each image before animating it. This also meant that I will not be able to carry out the initial idea that I had of creating a full colour animation like Tom and Jerry. I would have to just use limited colour like that in Roobarb and Custard as it will be very time consuming for me to colour in every image. I will try however to still make the images as detailed like Tom and Jerry, to make it my own style so it will be sort of a hybrid between Tom and Jerry and Roobard and Custard.

Chosen character colour testing

colour characters, a photo by HarrietASmedia on Flickr.

After carrying out my initial drawings, I decided on my favourite for each charcter and did some colour testing. To view my comments on the drawing click on the image above.

Initial character ideas

cat and dog ideas, a photo by HarrietASmedia on Flickr.

The next step for me was to start to come up with some ideas as to what the characters could look like. I drew a couple of different styles of the characters, which will help me to decide which would be most appealing to my target audience. To view the tags with my comments, click on the image above.

Story Ideas

I started off with a few ideas for possible narratives for my short animation. I have chosen the 3 best, ideas which I believe have the biggest scope.

1. •A character, goes out for the day on a visit to the local zoo. Whilst there, it meets a number of the animals. The character would meet a giraffe which could lean down towards it, an elephant which squirts water, penguins which slide across the ice and at the end could be watching the tropical fish tank, which then a shark could swim across and frigthen the character which then goes home. The genre of this would be adventure, with some comical elements. The main character from this story could go on different adventures which would mean that there would be scope for there to be more than one episode/ story.
2. •A bird learning to fly. The first time it tries it falls, so it comes up with different ways of trying to fly eg with a parachute made from a leaf. The bird could also hold on to a helicopter seed pod, which then spins the bird all the way to the ground, which it then becomes very dizzy. This story would be very comical and the characters (3 chicks) presented in such a way that they have their own personalities, eg one could be very lazy and fat, whereas another could be thin and 'geeky'.
Owner of a cat buys a puppy. The puppy would be scruffy, yet cute and would be stereotypically very energetic and playful. It would take a liking to the cat which is just not interested and gets annoyed by the puppy keeping pestering it. The cat on the other hand would be the opposite to the puppy, as it would be very posh, dainty and clever which is the stereotype of a pet cat. The puppy will always try to be friends and play with the cat, however with the cat not being interested, it trys to get away from it. For instance, the cat could entice the puppy outside through the cat flap then block it so it can't get back in. At the end of the story, the cat would finally accept the puppy as a friend.
After dicussing the ideas with some friends, I decided that I would take forward the 3rd idea (highlighted) of the story with the cat and dog, as I belive this would be the most appealing and successful.

Target Audience

The target audience for my short animation, will be children from the age of 6. The narrative of the film will carry some sort of message to do with friendship between the two characters. The genre of my animation will be comedy so will probably include some 'slap stick' within it as this is the style of comedy that appeals to the younger audience. If my animation were to be shown on the TV then it would be aired at the end of the childrens programs session, just before the adult programs start. This would mean that my target audience would already be tuned in, but also adults may end up watching it, as it is on just before their program. As my film will also be reasonably traditional and conventional, it may also appeal to the older audience just like animated programs such as 'The Simpsons' do. The audience response for my short film will be that the children who watch it will and laugh as well as also learn something from the morale/ message of the narrative.

Production, Distribution and Exhibition

Production-
The production of any type of animated short film is a very time consuming process. Animations used to only be completely hand drawn, meaning that each and every movement had to be drawn out, resulting in hundreds, often thousands of drawings. Most animations that are produced now tend to be more 3D and are made using special computer programs. This is still a very time consuming process though and is much more expensive. Financially, animated films can be expensive to make due to the amount of time they take to produce, and also the programs that they use to edit.

Distribution-
Many animated short film/ programs that are seen on TV are made by small independent companies. They are often just shown on TV however the more popular ones are now being released on DVD and are available to buy on sites such as i-tunes, along with a range of ancillary products. Short animated films are often produced by large film conglomerates such as Pixar and Disney. These are often distributed as an extra on a DVD with a relevant feature film. Some are also distributed to cinemas and are shown after or during the end credits of the film.

Exhibition-
Cartoons/ animations considered to only be for children however some appeal to adults as well. When cartoons such as Tom and Jerry were and Looney Tunes were on they appealed to a wide target audience as the were broadcast at a time which was suitable to most people. These cartoons were often shown at the end of the time when children's programs were shown, just before it changed to adult programs for instance the news. This meant that adults would often tune in just as the cartoon was on so that they didn't miss the start of their program. However the cartoons that were shown at this time were more appealing to adults as many had the combination of perhaps an every day task that working people carry out and also comical elements to appeal to the younger audience.

Mood board of images

To get an idea as to the different characters and themes of animation, I created a mood board with a range of images. The styles of animation have changed greatly over the years from the original black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons to the comic book style of the Simpsons. Audiences have also changed as animations such as Family Guy are directed at adults and contain adult content, whereas animations are more stereotypically aimed at children. The use of colour has also changed from the more washed out colouring like that used in the Snowman to bold solid colours used in Looney Tunes. The overall shapes and images used within animation have also changed from being reasonably simple to slightly more detailed.

Genre

The genres of short films can be similar to those used in normal feature length films. However the most popular genre is comedy. This probably because it is very easy to make a short film funny as there is less time to fill with the rest of the story. Many short films are included alongside feature length films, such as Pixar made a short narrative to accompany the film 'UP' (Pixar short). This means that a lot of the short films produced today are aimed at the younger audience, perhaps whose attention span is shorter.

Short films are becoming more and more popular in portraying important social messages such as don't recycling or road safety (stop, look, listen hedgehogs). Genres can however differ from comedy and social messages to things like horror, however these are less known and are mainly shown at specialist places such as film festivals (specifically for short films).

Why is genre important?
In relation to audience, genre is important in helping them to decided on whether they will like the film. By the audience identifying the genre of a film, its a way of them seeing whether its their sort of film. One way that genre is expressed is through the actors/ actresses that star in the film. For instance if you liked Hugh Grant, and saw that he was in a new film, you would assume that it would be of the genre romantic comedy, as this is tha main style that he acts in. This is useful for the institution or industry producing the films.

For the film industry, genre also helps in the marketing of films. If genres have recognisable visual motifs, they can be used as advertising to give an idication of what sort of film is. Making films in genres makes it easier to plan production. Certain sorts of sets and costumes could be used time and time again. A studio could invest in certain types of actors if it is specialised in a particular genre.

Codes and Conventions of short films

Just like feature length films, short films also have many conventions. These are quite similar to those of a feature film. The main convention would be that short films only tend to have one or two main characters. This is because there is not enough time to introduce a whole cast, meaning it would become too busy and confusing having lots of characters. The storylines are often very simple and can be anything from simple everyday tasks (bus journey, shopping) to a story about friendship or an adventure. The majority of short films include a soundtrack or sound effects rather than dialogue. Again, in a short film, there would only be a limited amount of dialogue which is why producers find that music illustrates the film better. By having no dialogue, it means that many short films are and can be shown in different countries as they can be understood by everyone. The most conventional genre of a short film would be comedy as it is very easy to make a short film funny, as you would not need to worry about filling out space, or having a strong story behind it. Other genres are also used such as romance, however most short films do tend to have some sort of comical element to them. Some short films are also produced to show social messages such as the high way code (Stop, Look, Listen). Short films last anything up to 5 minutes long.

Animated Short Film

I really like this short film, as I find the simple concept really appealing and the actual animation is quite good. It is a bit shorter than most short films, and it does not really show a full story which is not conventional. However the story is about an everyday task carried out by a cat (which is also the only character- conventional), which is a conventional feature of short film genre. Again, the film features no dialogue, but features music and sound effects. Through looking at different short animated films, I have found that they work better with a soundtrack/ effects rather than dialogue as the story can be told easier and helps create a comedy element to it.

Animated short film

This animated short film is quite conventional. The genre is almost sort of romance however it does have a comedy element to it as its target audience is still children/ young people. The film features no dialogue and the story is told completely by the characters and the music. The music plays consistently throughout, changing during scenes to make the story understandable and easy to follow. The plot of the film is very simple with the male cat falling in love with the girl and trying to win her over, with it ending happily. The whole film lasts just under 4 minutes including all of the credits etc.  I really like the simple concept of this story, and believe that it works really well.

Pixar Short film

The genre of this short story is comedy/ adventure with the same target audience as the film (this short film was produced by Pixar as an extra to accompany the film 'UP'). The animation, although it appears detailed and colourful is actually very simple. The mouths of the characters do not move when they are speaking meaning that you are just watching a still image. In my opinion this is not as effective as if their mouths were moving as sometimes it gets confusing as to which character is actually speaking. The movement in the characters is also quite limited. The story does however feature a range of quite effective sound effects which help make up for the lack of movement from the characters. The short film does feature some conventional features though. The film is based around 2- 3 main characters, with a simple problem/ storyline that becomes solved at the end. Many sound effects are also used to accompany the dialogue (dialogue is not a conventional feature).

The Snowman

The short film The Snowman, features many conventions. The film includes just two main characters (the boy and the snowman) with a simple storyline. The film features no dialogue, just music and sound effects which bring the animation to life. This is very conventional of short stories. The storyline also has many comical elements to it which is also a conventional feature. I really like the way in which the story is told purely through the characters movements and music.

Watership Down

The film Watership Down (released in 1978) was one of the first successful British animated films. It is feature length with a adventure genre. Its characters featured voices, music and sound effects were added. The film was a huge success, and in later years the characters were recreated and brought back in a series of short animated stories. I really like the way that it is coloured realistically and is not just aimed at children as there are very few bright colours used. I would not be able to create something like this as it is very detailed, however I would like to make my animation suitable for all ages.

Roobarb and Custard

The animation Roobarb and Custard is the simplest animation out of all of the one I have chosen to look at. It was really popular when it was aired on the TV as the character was so likable, meaning the producers were able to make a successful string of episodes/ adventures. The animation is very simple, being just a line drawing with some selected elements in colour. I really like the way in which the piece has been put together as you can really see how it has been animated as sometimes the lines don’t quite meet up so it’s a bit wobbly or the colouring is slightly different but I believe that this adds originality and character to the piece. The story is told through a narration which explains all of Roobarb’s movements etc. Some sound effects have also been added for a more interesting piece I think that it would be possible for me to make something similar to this as it is very simple, yet effective.

History and background of short films

At first I was not too sure exactly what you would class as a short film or what they include. I searched the internet and found some very interesting facts about how short films have developed. I also found out that Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks, included a short film alongside their main releases. These companies use these short films to gain an interest in perhaps a new feature length film that is coming out, or to just gain the attention of their audience. In institutions, time equals money and animation (especially hand drawn) takes a very long time, which is why the companies made a number of short films alongside their main feature films.

The style of animation has very much changed starting with the very simple black and white drawings such as the original mickey mouse cartoons (Mickey Mouse Original) to the obviously hand drawn basic animation such as Roobarb and Custard. Full colour cartoon became very popular with the creation of Looney Tunes, leading to many short films being made. I think that I would like to produce an animation which doesn't look like it has been hand drawn, with the possibilty of adding colour afterwards if I have enough time. I would create an animation more along the style lines of this animation about cats (Cats).

To find out more about how animation has developed over the years visist- Development of animation

Short films are anything that last under 40 minutes including the titles and credits. There is a separate category for really short films called Short Shorts, which are up to 3 minutes long. This is the sort of length that I will be making my short animated film.

For more information about the background of short film you can visit:
Short film hisory

Choice of Brief

For this year's project I have decided that I would like to create my own short film. I wasn't really looking forward to doing the preliminary filming for this project as I had never filmed before however I really enjoyed it and it was not a difficult as I had first imagined. For my short film, I decided that I wanted to try something different and create a hand drawn cartoon. I didn't know much about these so the next few posts are some research that I have carried out.

The Blair Witch Project- Remake Trailer.mov

This is the final finished version of our Blair Witch Project remake trailer. I am really happy with how it turned out as this is the first trailer I have made using the progam Final Cut Express.

Filming Issues

We decided that the location we would film the woods scene in would be Spiceball Park so arranged a day for filming. The day we filmed was quite overcast, which at the time was worrying as we did not want it to rain, however in the end it played to our strengths as it meant that we didn't have any issues with sunlight or shadows. We found a location in the park which was perfect for our filming however it was very close to a main road. We tried filming here as the traffic didn't seem too loud, however the camera really picked it up. This meant that we could not really here any of the dialogue and the sound was very fuzzy. 

As this location was not working, we had to come up with plan B which we had not planned to do. We decided we needed to move to a different location further in from the road. We found a suitable place which was much larger than before and also darker as the trees were much more dense. As the footage from the previous location was so bad we decided to re-shoot all of what we had done. The footage filmed here turned out really well and filming took place without any further problems. 

Practice with a green screen

During Ace Week (activities week at school) me and another student were asked to make a video for use in a democracy activity the following week. We had to create a news broadcast about North Korea testing a nuclear weapon. This involved us setting up the green screen and filming in front of it. Once we had filmed in front of the green screen, we had to import the footage into Final Cut Express, then take out the green background and replace it with an image of the BBC logo. This at first was quite time consuming however once we knew what we were doing, it was much easier. We had to use the Chroma Keyer to get rid of the green before replacing the background with an image.

During the week we also learnt how to record and edit a voice over using a microphone and the program Audacity. This was a really useful process to learn as I may need to use it in my work next year. As the subject of the video was Korea, it was impossible for us to get our own footage. To get some footage we found the clips which we wanted on YouTube, and used the program Screenflow to record it. This meant that we could then go on to crop it and it would appear as a normal video. I had not used Screenflow very much before so found this activity really useful.

test footage.mov

Before we filmed the final footage we needed to see how dark we could make the videos we took. This meant going out and taking some test footage that we could work with. After playing around with colours and filters we produced the video above. It was not as dark as we would have hoped but it did look like night time. The main issue we had was the fact that the sky remained the lightest area which we needed to be the darkest. This was an issue which we addressed in our final filming.

Location scouting

For the outside scenes in the trailer we needed to search for the right location. One of the places that we looked at was a small area of trees down the road from my house. This location was not brilliant as there were not many trees and was a bit too green. The trees were also too close together, however it was a good location for testing out the model wicker man and different shots. Some images of these locations are shown below.

Prop Testing

One of the props used in the Blair Witch Project trailer is a wicker/ stick man which is seen to be hanging from a tree. I tried making one of these using sticks tied together with green string. We did encounter problems however with the model we made as it was quite large and therefore we had to film it from further away, again meaning that we had to try and place it high up in trees which was just not possible. Taking this into account we decided to carry on filming with this model just to get an idea as to what it looked like. All of the images we took of this model was in the same location which did not really have the right type of trees (this was not a major problem as you would not be able to tell this unless looking closely). The lighting and positioning of the trees were also not quite right which is something we need to consider when doing the actual filming. Another issue that arised was that it was quite hard to see the stick man against the trees and leaves in the background. We tried solving this by placing it more in clearings so the figure is against more of a plain background.

Storyboard with Script

Props, casting and locations

The presentation below shows the ideas we have had for a cast list, locations and props in order to recreate the Blair Witch Project trailer.

View more presentations from harrietASmedia

Shot List

The presentation below shows the shot list for the Blair Witch Project and which shots are in each scene.

View more presentations from harrietASmedia

Storyboarding- breaking down the trailer

Before we get started in re-creating the trailer, we need to find out the different pieces of film needed and the times of each clip. The storyboard below shows a break down of screen shots of the trailer, indicating when the location changes and what the characters are doing etc.

Blair Witch Project Trailer

The Blair Witch Project is a very conventional trailer due to many reasons. Its genre is made clear to the viewers through the use of a atmospheric sound track.

We thought that the trailer for The Blair Witch Project would be a good trailer to try and copy. The pieces of footage could easily be filmed using the cameras provided at school and the locations surrounding the area in which we live. The footage that we get can be edited using the program Final Cut Express. The sound in the trailer would also be easy to replicate as the majority could be reconstructed using Sound Track Pro program. The titles could also be easily re-created.

Codes and Conventions of film trailers

There are many conventions to film trailers. Most film trailers include most of these conventions in order to be successful. Some of the most recognisable conventions are shown below:

• Consistant one liners- helps the audience engage with the characters
• Range of dramatic camera angles and movement
• Titles which introduce events/ characters/ information about the film
• Music to create an atmosphere or help tell a story
• Montage editing- so the viewer gets a taste of the whole
• Voice overs to tell the story
• Stars of the film showcased to appeal to a wider audience

Types and purpose of film trailers

The purpose of a film trailer is for the production company to try and sell/ promote their film to an audience. It is a very important feature in the marketing stages of film production.

There are 3 types of film trailers. A teaser, a theatrical and a TV spot.

A teaser trailer is a very short trailer (30-60 seconds long) which is usually released a long time before the actual film is due to be released to tease the audience. They are only usually made for big budget productions. The film Paranormal Activity made excellent use of teaser trailers and made huge profits from the film.

A theatrical trailer is a much longer trailer (2-4 minutes long) and offer the viewer a much bigger insight into the film. They usually outline the story/ concept of the film and can be viewed on TV, online, internet or even in cinemas before films of a similar rating/ genre. They often include voice overs which introduce the film to the audience.

A TV spot is a trailer which is a short cut of a trailer which is shown on TV. Producers have to pay for this and air time is very expensive. They are designed to make a big impact on an audience in a short space of time.

Top 5 film trailers 5

This trailer accompanies one of my favourite films. I really like how the producer has used a variety of shots and camera angles to show the characters in different situations. The inclusion of very famous actors/ actresses (Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler) also makes the film appeal to a large target audience as people who are fans of those will want to see the film along with others. The trailer is conventional in terms that it includes titles throughout briefly describing the story. A variety of shots are cut together with quite fast paced editing making the film appear action packed and exciting.

Top 5 film trailers 4

I chose this trailer as being one of my favourites as I really like the way that the producers have bought together both animation and live action. The trailer starts completely in animations, which moves onto live action when the rabbit travels away. The interactions between the characters is also really quite charming which would appeal to a wide target audience of both children, families and adults alike. The range of high angle shots show the rabbit to be less important/ looked upon by the man which changes throughout the film as he gains the mans friendship. The sound track is very up beat and happy which again makes it more appealing to its target audience. The story line to the film is very original and fun combining animals with people. The film is about the adventures of the easter bunny, for which reason the film was released around easter time making it more appropriate and enabling the production company to gain more profits. This is a convention of a trailer as many films are released at certain times e.g. Horror films around Halloween.

Top 5 film trailers 3

This is one of my favourite trailers to one of my favourite films. I really like the way it has a voice over from the main character as it makes it much more unique and helps the audience engage with the character more. The comedy element really appeals to the audience as it makes them want to go an see the whole film. The trailer features many recognisable aspects that were used in the original film, such as the voice over which also helps the viewer engage with the character. As it is a follow up to a previous film, people are already aware of what the character is like. The trailer is effective as it features a variety of different shots and camera angles, with a range of locations, connoting that it is a larger budget film, which is more likely to appeal to a larger audience. The sound track consists of well known songs, rather than a specially made soundtrack which makes it more unique but also is more appealing to the films target audience.

Top 5 film trailers- Number 2

This trailer has a really unique twist. It features footage from the film along with footage showing the reaction of the cinema audience. This means that it very much subverts the conventional film trailer. This is effective in the way in which you can decide whether or not you want to go and see the film based on the reactions of those watching it. It also helps build up an atmosphere of the film being really scary. The text on the screen also narrates the trailer in a similar way in which the actual film is narrated. The way in which the trailer has been edited also links in with its genre as there are lots of cuts suggesting that it is a horror which. The sound track of the trailer is however conventional as it features lots of loud sounds and incidental music which helps build up the spooky atmosphere.

My top 5 film trailers- Number 1

This has to be my favourite film trailer at the moment. This trailer really appeals to me as I am already a huge fan of the previous Pirates of the Caribbean films. I believe that this trailer is really unique as the actual trailer is introduced by the main character in his costume. This helps the reader engage in the trailer as it feels like they are being spoken to directly. This is very much a subvertion of a conventional film trailer. I also like how the music is really recognizable from its use in the other films. The trailer has also been put together using quite fast editing making it look exciting which matches the genre of the film in being action adventure. It does however still have some conventional features such as the fact that it introduces the characters and the storyline so the viewer knows what the film is about. The shots and clips from the film have been chosen to include lots of action and important and humorous lines from the characters to help make the viewer want to go and see the film.

Introduction to preliminary task

This year we are required to make film trailers so for our preliminary task, we have to find a well-known film trailer and recreate it as closely as possible. Here on this blog will be my progress throughout this project.