Swaps and changes

Dan has introduced a new unit for Animation which helps identify any problems we may have during the year. So basically, he is making us think about all the types of issues we might have whilst using Adobe Maya. My original plan was to focus on my main specialism which is character animation, as in our short, there is a lot of facial animation, so i really need to get inside the character to understand everything they are going through. So i wrote down a list of all the types of emotions they will be going through. For example, the little girl Summer, starts off cold and lonely in the dark, but when her torch goes out, she starts to get a little scared and once a she hears thunder, then she is completely freaked out. So with this in mind, i have wrote down the type of facial expressions she would pull. Now its down to me to draw them out so that i can capture the key moments in the animation.

Once our group had a group discussion with Dan, he made me realize that this is not really a main concern for the animation. Dan told me that i really need to think about the thunder and lightning. I need to think about the lightning as if it was its own character as i need to animate the lighting. So, now its all about me researching into thunder, to understand the time difference between the sound of thunder to the actual light of lightning. At first i was a little confused and thought this would be a really complex thing to do. But this is what this whole unit is about, and i find this to be a great use. If our group can resolve all our problems now, then hopefully we shall have a lot less stress later on in the year.

Okay, so i have researched into lightning a bit. This is mainly through watching videos from you tube, which has actually been a great help. Not only do i have a better understanding of what a thunder storm is like, it has also made me realize the right type of sound i need as well as colour. When thinking of colour, you think its all gray and gloomy which is correct, but what about when it is at night?? I don't want the animation to seem too dark or that may scare our target audience which is around 5/16 year old. So at the moment i am thinking of having the night shown through purple as this is a warmer colour to blue as that could portray more depressing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8cMSyzFoLs

Above is a link to a really good resource video from you tube which will really help me to help capture the right timing and mood for our animation.