Year2 Assignment1: Inspiration & thoughts part 1

i have been compiling my thoughts on what i could animate and possible sources of inspiration in my note book while i wait to get my sketch book. so im going to post all of these and try find video and image examples of them. you will find alot of the ideas link together so im trying to put them in some form of order.

• Retro games
• Dominos
• Pinball
• patterns
• Illusions
• kaleidoscopes
• Shoaling/swarm/flock
• Water
• ripples
• Drops
• underwater
• microscopic stuff
• subatomic particles
• Bubbles & Balloons
• Speakers and sand experiment
  

Retro games

i thought of retro games because of the shapes and simple colour pallets that they have.

when i think of retro games i was thinking not only computer games but also toys and board games.

Dominos


the American express adverts which are on the tunes in London make me think that i could animate dominos in a similar style

click image for larger version.

Pinball


this would be a very easy idea to reduce to simple graphic elements and would allow me to use a large amount of the principles.

i have also thought of some music that i could use for a animation on pinball. the track samples noised from the windows pinball game

patterns

a friend of mine is studying surface design at LCC and dose a lot about patterns she has a large collection of pattern books and i have been looking through them for inspiration as to the textures i could use for objects and backgrounds.

Optical Illusions

when thinking of patterns i through of optical illusions as something that i can animate quite simply that would have a strong visual impact. the main one that i thought of was one where you move 2 ringed circles over each other and it looks as if they are moving

this could be used to give the appearance of complex animation but without having to do as much work. it would also be nice to then reveal the process by which it was done.

kaleidoscope

the strong colours and interesting patterns you get in kaleidoscopes made me think that i would something that i could possible use to create interesting effects during part of my animations.

Shoaling/swarm/flock

i am a big fan of shapes which appear in nature. one of the most dynamic is that of mass group movement such as shoals swarms and flocks. im my animation i was thinking that i would animate a swam to create a tranquil scene that was visually interesting to watch.

this would probably take a long time to animate but i could overlay some video of flocks moving and then follow there movement.

while watching videos of flocks i thought of doing some documentary style of camera movement to make it appear more real. the idea i was thinking of was to the the camera following the movement and react late to a sudden change in direction.

Coalition of the Willing

i thought of Coalition of the Willing is an animated video about climate change created by knife party. it was animated by a large collaboration of people and studios and contains some great examples of animation. while at Offf i saw a presentation of this and how it was put together which was really inspiring.

the first 20 seconds could be a response to the brief. section 13 which starts at 5:39 is a good example of animated swarms as is the end of section 30 at 12:20.

what i really like from this film is the massive variety of styles and textures. it makes me think that using interesting textures is a important detail to give me animations a really visually stunning appearance.

section 10 starting at 4:36 shows good examples of how i can transition between multiple ideas.

section 13 starting at 5:57 would be another good response to the brief. although the animation is a little advanced for what we are expected to do.

im going to continue this post in a second part as its getting really long!