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Animation Filming- Production/ Post- Production

Frame rate is one of the main things to consider when we start filming, i have been researching into certain things that i have been curious about for our film. After watching some tutorials i have learnt that most amateur animations are filmed in what is called ‘2’s this means that it is filmed for 12 Frames a second. Animations such as ‘A Nightmare Before Xmas’ operate at what is called ‘1’s this means that they are filmed for a full 24 frames and second. I think our best bet would be to operate in 12 frames as this will make the film longer and will still keep a smooth flowing film.

When planning our animation we had many ideas and shot plans for the camera to move in mid shot. After looking at some examples on the internet i have realized that this is avoided in filming in even the most well produced examples on youtube. Camera movement is most of the time kept simple and only changed on movement or to follow the story, taking this into consideration we are well aware that when we film it will be very hard to return to a shot and retake some of the images. So we will remember that it’s best to take more pictures than not enough, moving the camera to change camera angle and shot is the best movement to stick to.

Software

Istop motion would be the best software for us to work on as it has the capabilities for us to use onion skinning which would be a massive help when filming our animation. I have also looked into a program called ‘Frame Thief’ it’s a decent and recommended piece of software, but the charge is to excessive for our needs. Istopmotion is also something that is kept by a money issue, we can’t afford to obtain the program so we are having to settle with the software that was included with the Canon 500D i recently purchased.

Production Log 12.11.09

In today’s session i was looking at a film magazine called Filmstar, this was for 2 reasons. 1 being that it has a very relevant article to my case study for film and media, 2 it’s a very good example of something i can look at to get a good understand of how film magazines and posters look. I spent some time looking into the front cover and the review page just to get a good feel for what is needed and what they contain. I know have a fairly decent knowledge of the reviews and how they are set out. I’m more aware of what is needed and how important images are in the process of attracting the audience, much the same as a music magazine. They share very similar conventions and keep to the same limits. I shall look further into film review magazines to get a more wider and varied knowledge, i shall look into magazines such as empire as this is the leading film magazine.

Analyising Film Magazines and Reviews.

‘FILMSTAR’
Issue #5
Sourced from October 2009

Front Cover
Very simple, uncluttered with small text. Text is overlapped and given its own color to stand separate from the rest of the page. Blue in the most predominant colour, this is from the backing image which is a screen shot of the film ‘UP’. This straight away gives the viewer and reader the understanding that UP will be featured in the magazine as one of the main stories. The primary front is the magazine title, the Film title in the secondary, the 2 are in true contrasting colours so that they keep separate and avoid distraction form other titles. Small captions are placed to the bottom right of the image, questions and tag lines from inside the magazine. This is used to crew the reader in to reading it, as they might find something they’re interested in. Bar code and price are placed in the bottom left corner, I’m not sure if this is a convention with film magazines, it might just fit with the certain layout of the image and cover. Something which is noticeable on the page is the buzz word at the top certain of the page, white text on red makes it very bright and attracting to the sight line.

Review
The review page is mainly image based, using screen captures from the film to show examples of the quality of the animation and to help detail the story that is written. It acts as the main review and focus point of this magazine so the review is a double page spread which then continues later in the magazine to cover and 4 pages. Quotations are something that is noticed in these reviews it seems to be something that is a common factor in a review. It’s normally either a very unique or important quote that makes sense out of context so it can create an impact an opinions before the review is read. In terms of the written context, it’s quick to form opinions on what ever the article is on. The unusual thing about film reviews in the magazine i am reading is that it doesn’t rule out all possibilities or the opposing argument. It has a common theme of asking you a question about someones bad view, so the reader is left to answer for them selves and not have their opinion formed on them. When the review mentions a bad point or a comment made about the film it is soon to follow up with something positive about the film.

 

Catalogue Item: Magazine

‘FILMSTAR’

ISSUE #5
OCTOBER 09

Front cover contains coverage of ‘UP’ and the magazine also features, film reviews, interviews and added features.
A followed write up to be updated once i have read the article.

Disney Pixars ‘Toy Story’ (1995)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114709/

Toy Story

The First feature length CGI animation ever to grace the cinema screens, directed by John Lassester.
Released 19th November 1995 USA, 22nd March 1996 UK.

Distribution
Buena Vista.

Production
John Lasseter – Director / Writer (story), Pete Docter – Writer (story), Andrew Stanton – Writer (story) (screenplay), Joe Ranft – Writer (story),

Budget– $30 Million

Gross

Worldwide- $360 Million
Domestic- $191 Million
Foreign- $170 Million
(as of 30th Oct)

Opening Weekend
Opening Weekend- $119, 000 US

The film was set to a wide release and was aired in nearly 2,600 theater’s

Personal note
Toy Story was the film to revolutionize animation forever, a dream that was taken from years in the progress of Lassester. He had originally took the idea Disney when he worked there, but they coudln’t afford to keep up with his ideas. This is where he moved to Lucas film, a company full of people who shared the similar dream, they all wished to one day use CGI to make a full length film using only CGI. Toy Story was where this is all began, when the dream became reality and CGI was used to create a feature length animation. For me this is obviously one of the most significant Pixar films, it’s the first and the start of their industry success. In terms of Gross, for profits we see these days this film might not seem a massive success, but considering it was over 10 years ago it the Worldwide gross is more than impressive. In the yearly overview and yearly charts the film reached first place in the film Charts, it had beaten Batman Forever to gain the number 1 spot that year.

Review

Toy Story

Forget ‘Snow White’ – it’s for losers. THIS is Disney’s finest hour-and-a-half. Not only does ‘Toy Story’ represent the birth of top quality wholly computer-generated cinema, it’s also one helluva funny ‘toon.

It takes a simple, familiar idea – that kiddies’ playthings spring to life when nobody’s peeking – and develops it into a wise-crack-packed adventure story to rival any adventure story. I’m yet to meet anyone – young or old – who doesn’t quite literally love this movie. And I’m pretty sure I don’t want to, either. For such people are clearly fools.

Tom Hanks provides the voice of Woody, the floppy cowboy doll who takes pride of place among the toy collection of a young sprog named Andy. But there’s trouble in paradise when Andy’s birthday produces a brand new toy – shiny laser-lighted space ranger Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen). Suddenly, jealousy reigns supreme in Andy’s toy chest.

What really gets under Woody’s Stetson is having to bite the bullet and work with Buzz as a team when the pair of them get lost in the big city, before ending up in the evil clutches of a local bully prone to performing Dr Phibes-style ops on innocent toys.

There are some cracking jokes along the way, more often than not related to Buzz’s insistence that he’s a REAL space ranger, and not just an action figure. In fact, this is worth buying just for the scene where the cold truth suddenly dawns on Buzz and he becomes ‘Mrs Nesbitt’. But there’s much, much more in here worthy of a guffaw or three. Whatever your age, this is an all-time classic that’s a must for your DVD collection.

It’s Got: Some marvellous support characters, most notably Mr Potato Head, Rex the dinosaur and Hamm the piggy bank.

It Needs: For all of those toy stores to have ordered more Buzz Lightyear dolls for Chrimbo ’95. There were a lot of miserable ankle-biters out there.

DVD Extras ‘Tin Toy’ (an animated short from Pixar), ‘The Making of Toy Story’, and a sneak trailer for ‘Monsters Inc.’ DVD Extras Rating: 6/10

Targets from 06.11.09- 12.11.09

-We need to collect the props for our room so that we can start building our set:

-Black cloth for background
– Table prefferably round
– Cutlery
– Fabric Napkins
– Extra props will be borrowed from home

We hope to borrow as much of the props as possible from college; however we will be buying things such as:

-Food
-Tea-light candlesTage

Prduction Log 05.11.09

Today i took my research into the next step, i have started looking at film posters and how they are used to attract and engage an audience. It has been interesting and a new step into the media industry for me, film posters are interesting in that they have such power in normally and average size. The examples i looked at used a few different techniques to attract it’s audience, The Dark Knight poster used the idea of fear to bring it’s audience together. The poster had a strong relation to terror which has a strong meaning in the US, it’s a strange and very controversial. One thing i shall remember when creating my poster is mode of address, I’ve always been under the impression that you should use a direct mode of address but when looking at posters and pictures with this in use you tend to get a very unnerving picture. I’ve learnt today that keeping an indirect mode of address for your primary image will avoid this, but with secondary subjects it will add more effect to use a direct stance.
Camera angle and stance can create massive connotations for the poster, If the subject leans in it can create the impression of anger and action. It’s very evoking and makes the subject look as though they are having a fight. A camera that is angled up will make the subject look bigger more powerful and important.

I feel i have made a good start to my research and shall follow it up with more extensive in look when i come to making the the poster.

Research Into Film Posters



The Dark Knight was one of the most renowned films From 2008, From looking at the poster it’s easy to see that the image is completely focused on the image. The picture featured in the poster is what is used to sell, this is the main attraction and is recognizable to most people who see the poster. The name with the Batman logo behind it is also another main symbol for the poster, it’s very iconic and will be acknowledged worldwide. The 3 things caught at first glance are the image, the title and the date. This is what the creator and production team are aiming to achieve, it;s a well known fact that the viewer of this poster will only see it for a maximum of 3 seconds, so they need to be able to get the audience to know the important parts in that time.
The image creates a massive impression for the target audience its is very different to previous Batman posters, there is a sense of evil and darkness. This obviously suits the film title and the theme of the film, but this will not be known by an audience unknown to the story and concepts of the movie. A low angle medium shot creates a mass of imposing power felt towards the Batman character, the stance also represents anger and power. The clenched fists and the angled down head puts the audiences view point of his enemy how is seen lower and not as strong as him. The fire in the building has some very dark connotations and to a certain audience, specifically the American audience it will have a large connotation of terror. A tall building burning will have a strong representation to 9/11 and may cause some distress for some people. The reason i feel this was used is to bring home the idea of a ‘saviour’. Batman has always been one of the most realistic super heroes and it’s as though the producers are playing of this fact, it’s as though they want him to seem more real and idealistic. They have reflected this by using a direct link to an major terrorist attack which is recognized worldwide, so people will relate the disaster to the poster and see the character as a savior to a real event.
When you take a longer glance at the poster, the actors names are the second most predominant thing on the poster, stars and their representation are something that can sell a film, so this will be another thing the producers with want the audience to notice.
When it comes to making my poster i know have a starting line and a decent outline to what is most important, i shall focus mainly on getting an image fit for the poster. This picture will have to be challenging and a good relation to the theme of the film. We are looking for romance as our theme so this will definitely need to be reflected in our poster. Star names and release dates aren’t decided but they will be included in our poster as this is a standard feature of a poster. The one thing I’ve noticed with this poster is it’s impact, it’s a very powerful image and carries a very powerful message, this will get it noticed and it did. The film has made over $1 Billion dollars and is most of the most successful films of all time.

This is another example of a film poster. The main content here being, Image, title and then date. The image creates a representation for the film very easily, so again another example of the primary image and the impact it has on viewer and the impression you get on the film.

This poster has a strong denotation of strength power and anger, there’s a strong interaction with the audience in the image, The main character is leaning in and engaging the audience. The other two characters are using a direct mood of address interacting the audience with the film and the poster. For the technical details in the film poster the image is obviously the main attraction, the secondary thing is a change between the slogan and the film title. The credits on the poster aren’t exactly key or important, you can tell this by their font size and cramped nature. I shall be creating my own film poster and will remember the details such as cinematography and mise en scene of the poster, taking into account the layout when ordering my page.

Time Managment

So far as we’ve progressed with our project well, i have taken a fair amount of time into consideration for the research. I think i might have spent a little to much on this part of the project but i have always thought that the more you understand about the area you are studying and the medium you are creating the better it will be.
We are looking into progressing further into our creation soon, we need to set up the room and get out setting and location sorted. Props are also something we need to continue to work with. At the minute time management isn’t brilliant we were held back by the lack of equipment but now we this we shall be continuing with production.