Final piece of music for drip, slap, boing

I broke than the music into different parts so I can know what the different parts are. For example where the slow and fast beats are so I can decide the motion on them.

Here is the break down:

• about 4 and half seconds slow pace 
• then stops and there is 1 and half seconds of science
• this is repeated again 
• then there is 7 and half seconds of same slow beat music with a few harder beats
• then about 35 seconds of slow music at first then gets faster with harder beats as goes on
• the last 6 seconds goes like this stop, drum hard beat, stop, drum again, stop, then drum drum drum hard for a big finish 

Music for drip, slap, boing

After listening to many different classical music song I decided to go with Beethoven's Symphony Number 1. I'm not using defiantly the entire 10 minute song but part of it. I have created two 1 minute clips of the parts of the song I extend to use. I will either decided to use one of the two or I may mix the different parts and create a different new mix to use. Here are they below:

 

 

I decided to find the music first before actually storyboarding or figuring exactly how the plot is. I feel that this way is better because the music ends up guiding the movements. If I decided the movements first it would be very hard to actually then find a song that goes smoothly with the motion. 

Continuity Editing

Continuity editing is the predominant style of film editing and video editing in the post-production process of filmmaking of narrative films and television programs. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots.


Continuity editing can be divided into two categories: temporal continuity and spatial continuity. 
Temporal continuity is making sure that the time of the film or animation is flowing and spatial continuity is making sure it flows in space.


Good example of editing 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=badHUNl2HXU

Reference for taxonomy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eqSZSO_sSE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=JQ3xF2ha4oQ

Reference films drip, slap, boing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7e6tS2N28k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chNwmpqSa78&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtgkC5eevMI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc3sKCGO-H0&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_7fExoKFLA&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJvsTUpZsAw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja7cYRy3LFs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-a85ZbuTxM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKcQX03S3_o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ4ru5YYb3w&feature=related

Animation from Egypt

Bakar
This is an cartoon series and the most popular piece of animation we have in Egypt. Click here to watch the first episode. There have been some other series done but they were not good both in technique and content. Nobody really knows anything about them.

Back home animation is not that popular. Its in used sometimes in titles of shows. However lately there is a group of animators creating political animations. There work is either on youtube or Facebook. This is there most recent animation click here to see. This sort of animation has become popular after the political events that have taken place in Egypt. People now want change and inspiration.

Finalizing idea for Drip, Slap, Boing

So I already have a basic idea of what the movie is about. It will be related to classical music and plant growth. That has not changed. At first I was going to put characters make it the traditional cartoon where someone is playing music to his plants and kid with rock music ruins that for him. BORING I thought so I abounded that idea.

Then there was another one where the plants would be dancing against each other. I didn't feel that either. Why would they be doing that? I don't want the short animation to be lame funny. Maybe this idea needs to be thought of a bit more. Maybe then it would work out in the end. I don't know.

What I like lately is having humor to get across a certain message in life. I already mentioned that I was doing something like that for taxonomy. However, that changed. Yesterday I bought a book about drawing tress. This is its picture. It has a lot of drawing of trees in nature. This triggered an idea with the same music idea to make the movie about plants in a landscape growing to the classical music. The drip, boing, splat still means the same and it is the movement to the music. It is very typical to talk about saving the trees and so on.

So I advanced that idea and I want to do it in a humorous way about how man can create nature like forests, plants, landscapes so quickly. I don't know should I first explain the science behind the idea, or is it self explanatory in the movie. Again do I need to say something about that this doesn't happen in real life or is this also implied in the animation.

I will be using the book to help improve my tree drawing skills. Also I will be going out a lot and observing different types of trees and landscape. I will do this in 2D and I want it to look semi-realistic. I will still experiment with different materials. 

Taxonomy

This one seems much more broad what we can do the movie about. I watched a part of the The Pillow Book fo Sei Shonagon, which was said that it inspired the project. After watching that I got a few ideas on what i want to do the animation about. 


At first I was thinking like to portray different things in my life using black and white and color at different times. However, I didn't feel that this idea is something special and unique. Then something happened back in my country again. There was another clash between different religious groups. For a while I have been wanting to tell people that we are no different at the end of the day even if people may have different ideologies. 


This thought also reminded me of the Disney song Its a small world. I loved listening to it when I was younger. I won't be doing something similar to it at all but it triggered the idea that we are one world. 
Over the years I have traveled to many different countries. My idea is for this movie to portray some different cultures and then keep on simplifying everything until it shows that we are all the same everywhere through body, needs etc. 


Another thing that is inspiring the idea is the meaning of the word taxonomy. In the dictionary it means the branch of science concerned with classification, esp. of organisms. When science group things its fine. What I want to show after seeing this definition is when humans classify other humans it is not the same. Again it is the idea that we should not classify humans because we are the same in the end. 


The method I can see this film being done in is stop motion using cute outs of characters out of cardboard and magazine photos. Even though I prefer to have hummer in my animation it is also I feel important to step aside for a moment and send the world a message. Each person has a duty to help the world in which ever way they can. Maybe when people see more work about being better in general that would inspire them to do the same. 


I still don't have an exact story line. I am taking one step at a time. 

Working on Drip, Slap, Boing

Here are some youtube films where I test time with: 

1. Pixar's Day and Night (checking sound with animation time and how movement flows) 
2. Plant 1 
3. Plant 2
4. Plant 3 (I like that its video with animation)
5. Plant 4 (the camera angles changing)
6. Dance (I like that is pauses in areas where the music doesn't have such a strong beat) 
7. Dance again (good motion to music) 

These are just a start as I work more I will reference more. 

I really want to do it using 3D but I still don't know how skilled I will be by then. Sp for the time being I am exploring colors and methods in 2D. 

Storyboard I am working on. Before I do that I will have to write a script. Soon I will have this. I just don't know should I include characters or just stick to having only plants. Another thing I still haven't decided on is the background, where will the film take place. Another decision will they be in pots or from the ground? 

I'm just writing down my line of thought so I know where my mind is going with it.  

Developing ideas more

I am scribbling some thoughts down for the idea I had for drip, splat boing here is what I came up with in terms of character. I have a sort of rough idea in my head what I want them to do but I need to start writing the basic stories in words to then break it up in storyboard form. This is not the final character in anyway but just a beginning to my thought process.

Isn't this interesting?

Here is a video about the relation of plants and music. Click here to view it.

I am thinking of using how classical music makes plants grow faster to make an animated short about it. This would will by 1-2 minute short for the words drip, slap, boing. When I was trying to come up with the ideas for these three words they were more as sounds and movement than the striking definitions they have at first. I still don't really know how the story will be exactly but here are what I need to do before actually beginning the process of making the animation. List of what I should do is not in order:

1. Create a written script
2. Model sheet for character (s) 
3. Storyboard 
4. Background 
5. Test for timing 

Brainstorming

I am currently trying to actually come up with an idea for the short movies and I have a few ideas in mind. With these pictures they don't seem much now and thats true. I am just doodling on photoshop and I am seeing ways I can add shading and all.

So far I came up with a bunch of random words that would hopefully lead to an actually idea. The good thing about writing random words is that they start to make you realize what you actually want to the story to focus on. I won't actually say what my idea is until I'm sure that this is the one. Soon I will reveal it. 

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas

I'm trying to get inspired by finding ways to get ideas for the two short movies I have to do.

I got a book from the library called Ideas for the Animation Short and the authors are Karen Sullivan, Gary Schumer and Kate Alexander. What I like about the book is that it is not talking about exactly how to come up with ideas but rather tips and guide lines. I think they will be usefully in the future. What I liked the most was this tip.

When you have nothing....

1.  Start with yourself
2. Ask why something is the way it is
3. Go into the world and watch
4. Create some innocent trouble to test a situation 
5. Read the newspaper
6. Look at art
7. Make an adaptation of another story
8. Parody a current story or event
9. Create a competition, play with situations
10. Combine unlike things together 

My favorite short film

Its my favorite because its simple, funny and to the point. Nothing more is needed to be said 

How to make tea

I drew this storyboard on photoshop using my wacom board. I think this is the best way for me because it allows me to repeat things, change size and test many colors quickly. One thing I still want to perfect is my drawing skill on my wacom board. I still find it hard to sometimes draw with it well because I can't directly see what my hand is drawing I have to see it on the screen. I prefer this method to the traditional pencil and paper. 

Draw, Draw, Draw

My undergraduate was more in communication studies and media art so I was in no way required to draw a lot. I took one drawing class for my minor and thats it. So I am not a taught drawer. For the most part I taught myself how to draw.

What I realized here during my drawing classes and through out my life that the more practice the better at drawing I will become. Drawing from a live model is especially hard for me because I never really had to draw one.

Here are steps I realized I should do to achieve a better drawing:

1. Look more at what you are drawing than on the paper
2. Don't start from the head a go down measurements will be wrong pinpoint the important parts first
3. Experiment with mediums mixing them may give a better image

 These two drawing on the left and right where from the first drawing lesson. I struggled with these badly.

I'm usually very slow at drawing and like to spend time on what I draw. It was very challenging to draw something new for me and in such a short time. 

As the week went on and I practice more I can't say drawing people has become easy but I'm getting there slowly. At least now I can sort of get the feel of the person's movement. 

These two drawing were done the week after the two drawings above. These were given more time to draw them in, however then there is still a lot of improvement from the quick sketches above.

I didn't put all of my old sketches but there are a lot that are much worse than those above. What I think I improved in greatly is proportionality. Also now I can better capture the pose of a person.

 No doubt I still have a lot more room to improve in. I'll observe more in order to draw more.

I will not post all my drawings in the future. I will select a few like I did now and write about what I have learnt. By the end of the class I will have a larger collection of drawings which I will form in a slide show and post it on the blog.

2D, Stop Motion, 3D

The only time of animation I tried before is the 2D animation, and I hadn't done a lot in it. All I did was a few walk cycles. Here is an example above of what I have done before. 2D for the most part is challenging for me because of the so many drawing that is involved init. Somethings in drawing I still struggle in. In addition, it is hard to get each drawing to be the same to make the animation run smoothly.

What makes the stop motion and 3D seem more appealing to me is how the many drawings in different positions will be eliminated. I wouldn't say that stop motion and 3D is easier than 2D for that reason, they are just challenging in a different way. Most probably I will work mainly with these mediums.

The Art of Humor

Isn't it the way to go?

After watching Max and Marry I began thinking differently about how to get a plot. However, when I watched The Corps Bride I have to say I realized while this style of movies may be great for some people to make I would rather watch a funny movie.

By funny I mean a plot where makes the audience for the most part of the movie laugh and escape realty. No doubt within any plot there has to be a mix of emotions felt by the audience or else they would get board half way. When humor is the main genera it gives people hope in life and moment to escape the harsh realties in life. And as they always say laughter is the best medicine.

Probably that is the direction I will take in the movies I make. 

Inspiration - Mary and Max

I just finished watching this movie for the first time. What I really liked about the plot of the story that it is a true story. It made me feel more of a connection with the characters. This made me think about how when coming up with a story it does not have to be always out of the box. It can simply be an experience someone has passed through. This triggered some self reflection.

Another thing I really liked about the animation is the tone and colors they decided to make it in. The gloomy browns and a few reds matches the sad story. I'm more used to seeing animations with bright color and all. This got me thinking that there are other options out there.

One thing I realized about myself in the end of the movie is that I am not a big fan of unhappy endings. It got me thinking would the story have the same impact if they had changed the ending to be more cheerful? Here I realized it should not always be about what I like and enjoy but rather what would best send the message I want to in the movie.

With these points in mind the way I am thinking about my short movies has changed. While thinking about my short film funny and unrealistic seemed like the option I always wanted to go this has opened my eye to self reflection and keeping the story real as a method of choosing a plot.

That's what the dictionary said they meant

DRIP

verb

•  let fall or be so wet as to shed small drops of liquid, fall in small drops •  cause or allow (a liquid) to fall in such a way • figurative display a copious amount or degree of a particular quality or thing : the women were dripping with gold and diamonds noun1 a small drop of a liquid •  the action or sound of liquid falling steadily in small drops 2 informal a weak and ineffectual person.3 Architecture a projection or groove on the underside of a cornice, windowsill, or molding that prevents rain from running down the wall below.
SLAPverb • hit against or into something with the sound of such an action • to hit something physically•  put or apply (something) somewhere quickly, carelessly, or forcefully : slap on a bit of makeup.nouna blow with the palm of the hand or a flat object • a sound made or as if made by such an action PHRASESslap in the face, slap on the back, slap someone on the back, slap on the wrist 
BOINGexclamation or representing the noise of a compressed spring suddenly released.

A link to short movies

Click here to watch short movies

Here is a link to a website with a lot of short movies. I'm finding it useful while researching ideas for my movies to see how much other people have managed to animate in such a short movie frame and how complicated the plot of the story is.

After watching a few I can say the simpler the idea the better. 

WELCOME TO MY BLOG

My name is Nadine El Kheshen and I come from Cairo, Egypt.

In this blog I will be sharing all my animation process and ideas hopefully daily.

I would really appreciate feed back and I hope you will like my work.