Inktober 2018 – Day 13

Inktober 2018 – Day 12

Independent Practice – Final Major Project: Bubble and Squeak Environment 3D Animation Experiment 1

This post is about an idea I had while doing some Bubble and Squeak Sketches which was why don’t I try creating as an experiment the interior or at least the setting of Paws and Prints for the narrative that I am working on. So loaded up Google Sketchup and started to draw out the setting for this narrative, I will admit that I had quite the bit of trouble with Bubble and Squeaks Tank and the stand it sits on due to me miss judging the height of the stand and the window proportioning the windows. I managed to fix that though, it was easy to manipulate the shapes sizes once they are a solid 3D Mass and I looked more closely at the height reference that is provided to you by the software. Next time I will need to look more into how I am manipulating the sizes of the 3D and 2D objects by look at the comparison more closely. Another problem that occurred while I was working on the set was the tap since this software is quite tricky to use when trying to make curved objects, but I managed to find a way around that problem by basing the tap on a more modern design.

I am overall happy with the outcome of this experiment when I was finished, I have manged to not only create a 3D version of my planned setting or in this case a close enough example but also that it might be a nice way to go for when I finally decide how I am going to the story of Bubble and Squeaks latest adventure to the world. Now that this has been a success I am going to see in another experiment if I can utilise image with another form of software later on, but that will be discussed like I said in another post. I admit that this method does create some interesting prospects for me, it depends on how I chose to utilise this method, for example I could decide to go down the road of use this in a 3D setting and animation although this might make the project a bit trickier and it doesn’t alight with my original aims even if they have been tweaked a few times since they were created, since my ideas have changed or evolved since their creation or certain aspects have.

Creative Context: Finished Project for Client

Here is the modified version of Bubble and Squeak for my client project:

As you can see I extended it’s left like I stated I would in the previous post when I was talking about modifying the animation so that it was more suitable for the target audience and for when it was going to be publicly displayed. I added the credits to give credit to those who provided  the sounds of the animation and those that animated the short film. I have also added an introduction to the animation, so that the target audience now know what the name of the characters are as well as title of the short film. The sounds all successfully work as well provided the motion to film as well as the actions of the characters.

From some of the animated films that I gathered, I created Bubble and Squeak to be a non vocal animation that utilizes simple sounds and the motions of the characters to tell the story of animation. This surprisingly worked and the story is actually easy to understand and follow. The sounds aren’t too annoying or irritating and fit in quite loud, although a few of the chosen sounds where a bit too loud.

Narrative Structure – Fiction Animation: Bubble and Squeak Animation Prototype V13

Here is the V13 Animated Prototype of Bubble and Squeak:

Now I know that this is another large leap in prototypes but the reason for this was a lot of problems occurred with the animating and I couldn’t so all the other mistakes most of them involving the body parts of the cat and the angles that Bubbles swam but I manged to fix them by altering the  angle sand looking at the movements for both theses animals in hope of fixing then which I successfully did. The main faults with this version of the animation is that at one point near the very end of what has been created so far, the bowling ball just stops and then suddenly floats in the air before it vanishes and it is just a white image. I will fix these faults by continuing the animation which is the main cause for all three of these mistakes. There is also another mistake with the bowling ball which is that it starts to spin the wrong way, I will look into that and fix it in the next animation.

Narrative Structure – Fiction Animation: Bubble and Squeak Animation Prototype V9

Here is the V9 Prototype of Bubble and Squeak:

As you can see there is only a small difference in this one compared to the V6 predecessor, which is that the building is now enlarge and slightly moved to make it look like the view is zooming in on the pet shops door as it opens. When I first attempted this various problems occurred that is the reason why there is a three version difference in the animation. The problems that arouse during this period was that the zoom in feature was going wrong, all the parts of the Cels for the buildings where snapping and half and where refusing to scale to the correct size. I fixed this by coping old versions of the cells and altered their properties in order to get close size matches with them for the required sizes so no more miss proportioning or snapping of cels occurred. As you can also see once I had fixed the fault in the animated zoom I started to create Bubble and Squeak and animate them in their tank and cage. I have successfully made the corrections I specified within final design blog post about fixing the proportions of Bubbles fins and the thickness of his joints making Bubbles look like an actual fish, meaning that the corrections have given birth to one of my most successful animated characters. When I animated him there were actually a few problems with him at first like he swam either too slow or two quickly they where easily fixed, one of the harder things that needed fixing was actually his tail movements due to the fact that the angle for it when swimming was tricking to recreate but thanks to my previous research on the natural body movements of fish I managed to get the angles on the fins correct making Bubble seem like he swam like a natural fish and because of a small trick I learnt involving reusing the cels instead of remaking I was able to so this easily.. I know that he doesn’t swim that far I will fix that in the next prototype. Squeaks on the other looks and acts like a mouse some what he was harder to animate then Bubbles especially his tail unfortunately while I did do the research on mouse body movements the animating of squeak was a bit harder then I thought.

Narrative Structure – Fiction Animation: Bubble and Squeak Prototype Animation V6

Here is the version 6 prototype Bubble and Squeak Animation:

As you can see this version of the prototype works a lot better then the previous shown version and last for four seconds. I have made the several specified changes that I mentioned in the last post on this blog about the prototypes such as the pet shop stays around much longer due to me increasing the length of time that the cel was used for and there are now other buildings next to the shop making the current environment feel like a actual street with actual buildings and shops. I have also added actual pets with motions to the pet shop like I stated before, they all work successfully and not faults appear to have occurred during this experiment and they can extended with the animate software. I have also started another animated segment for this animation with the door of the pert shop opening revealing the contents inside, there so far appear to be no faults what so ever with the door animation.

Narrative Structure – Fiction Animation: Bubble and Squeak Animation Prototype V3

Here is the one of the prototype animations, I have developed for the Bubble and Squeak Animation, I call it Bubble and Squeak Animation Prototype V3:

While it is only one second long this animation was mainly a test to see if the animation software was working as well as the cells for it had been successfully transferred over to Adobe Animate. Which it had without any disaster occurring when the project was started and edited into a digital video format with software such as Apple quick play. While the video may be very short, it still provides me with plenty of information to improve the next version of the prototype such as I need to lengthen the actual building locations time with the first scene because it isn’t long enough, one of the reasons why the animation is only a second long. This prototype also revealed to me that the shop didn’t look exactly right yet with it been in the wide open so In the next prototype I will add buildings to make the street that the pet shop is based on look more life like. The pet shop it self doesn’t exactly feel like well a pet shop, what is causing this is that apart from the name which is Paws and Prints nothing else at the moment seems to indicate that the shop is a place which sells pets. I have an idea to fix this in the next prototype though I will add a few pets to the shop window mainly fish and other aquatic creatures by modifying the left window of the shop to make it look like it is made out of various fish tank displaying these pets.

Narrative Structure – Fiction Animation: Bubble and Squeak – Inspiration

What inspired the actual idea of Bubble and Squeak was one day I was having my lunch and I heard someone ask for Bubble and Squeak nearby, I thought to myself how funny it would be to have a fish and mouse that are named after this very food the mouse been squeak and the fish been bubble, who are friends that get up to all sorts of mischief. This is what inspired the actual characters and their names.

What inspired the animation in development is actually several different animations, see below.

Tom and Jerry:

I chose these clip from the original Tom and Jerry series produced by Warner Bros Entertainment because of the interactions between all the animal characters, they will help me understand not only the common relationship between animated animal characters but also help give me ideas such as Bubble and Squeak flooding up the pet shop they live in by accident and them just messing around with the floating remains of the pet shop for a bit and  then maybe the door been open by the owner before all the water comes slushing out of it. This could offer a vast amounts of comedy to the audience to see what high junks the two animal friends get up to and the various angles that could be used for dramatic impetus makes it maybe the best choice of an short episode idea. Another idea I had was a cat gets to Bubbles and it’s up to Squeak to save the day with an overcomplicated plan involving a bowling ball and all the pet shop’s equipment. The idea could work but it may be too complicated but on the other hand it does offer lots of opportunity for dramatic impetus and the story like the previous idea draws people in to it.

Simon’s Cat:

I chose Simon’s Cat because I like the animation style that Simon Tofield came up with the animation not only because of it’s simplicity but also due to the fact that the simplicity allows the audience to focus on the actual story and the characters which is what makes the short animation so popular both on youtube and for some cat merchandise adverts. While the animated shorts does not contain any dramatic impetus due to the animation often only been a one angle focus, it does have a Dramatic Narrative which effectively draws in the characters and drives the story successfully, which allows the audience to focus on the characters immediately.

Narrative Structure – Non Fiction: Bullying: The Life of a Victim: Storyboard 3

I altered this Storyboard with sticky notes to show the corrections to the animations story:

As you can see most of my alterations have been done by sticky notes to save time from doing another story board. Most of the altercations are actually just to cover gaps within the animation such as the walk home near the end of the animation e.g. trying to avoid the bullies. The other moments are corrections such as angles of the camera and enlarging certain scene so they are easier to understand.