Evaluation of Skittles Advert

Evaluation of Skittles Advert

Research Report

Research Report

Experimenting Animation

0891 - Dan Qureshi

Experimenting Animation

We started the project with a group, I then decided to produce some experimentations with different types of animation. As a group we used 5 different types of styles in total, all of the them are shown below.

Sand Art

The first activity we used sand animation, I personally believe we did a good job for a first go- considering we haven't used sand before. However even though we had a few camera shakes- we managed to produce the basic principles of animation and a finished video that conformed the persistence of vision, where one picture is shown every two frames. 

Pixilation

In the second activity we tested pixilation, this style is animation of real people, photographing every movement. I think that we did this style successfully- we did a great job to combine two sequences of animation and making it into one scene. In our first section we used me getting off a bench, then photograph all the movements I did and got a fluent animation. The shot conformed to the anticipation principle of animation as my hands went backwards behind my head after I stretched. Also in the video the group was able to produce a flying animation- this was carried out by using a layout of the floor tiles to make each shot equal. It showed the staging and timing principles of animation.

Small Objects

The next activity was small objects, we decided to choose small cars for the experiment. We were trying to fulfil the squash and stretch and secondary action principles. I think that it wasn't the most successful, but we understood what we had to do to improve our effort. But overall the finished video look like it had been done well.

Dough

In this activity we used dough, We realised that this was our most unsuccessful video due to a lack of ideas and execution. Our group struggled and  only managed to shoot about 10 frames, making this video very short. The objective of this activity was  to create an under water scene with sea creatures moving around.

Cut Out

The final activity we did was cut out. We managed to create a basic scene which had secondary action and follow through/overlap. I think that we produced a simple but successful video. 

Overall I believe that all the animations we produced were useful in helping us through the research stage of animation. We managed to make each video that had some sort of principles of animation and all followed the rule of the persistence of vision. 

Aardman Animations

Who are Aardman Animations?


Is a British animation studio based in Bristol, United Kingdom. The studio is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring Plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit. It entered the computer animation market with Flushed Away (2006).



What are they famous for?


Peter Lord and David Sproxton began their animation partnership in 1972, and registered the name Aardman Animations as a low budget project while at school. They moved to Bristol in 1976. They first provided animated sequences for the BBC series for deaf children Vision On. Their short film Creature Comforts (1989) was the first Aardam production to win an Oscar. Following this success, Aardman began the development of the adventures of Wallace and Gromit, a knitted tank top-wearing inventor and his intelligent but silent dog. Some of their films include A Grand Day Out (1989), The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995), the latter two winning Academy Awards.

Apart from their film production, which extended into feature films with Chicken Run (2000), the studio has released several books including illustrations of their most popular characters, Wallace and Gromit. Some of titles includeWallace & Gromit and the Lost Slipper (1997), Cracking Animation: The Aardman Book of 3-D Animation.(1998), The World of Wallace & Gromit (2004) and The Art of Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).

Tim Burton

Who is Tim Burton?

Tim Burton was born August 25, 1958 in Burbank, California. Burton grew up next door to the giant studios of the American film industry. His pleasure came from painting, drawing and films, especially the monster movies, Hammer horrors and the work of Ray Harryhausen.

In 1976 Burton enrolled at the animator’s breeding ground at California’s Institute of Arts, in his second year he entered into the Disney animation program and, two years later, he joined the ranks of Disney animators.






What is he famous for?

• In 1992, he directed 'Batman Returns', which was a lot darker than the original proving how much creative freedom he had gained. This was followed by 'Ed Wood' in 1994, which was a tribute to the 'worst director of all time' - Edward D Wood Jr. Despite the film failing to impress at the box-office, critics were full of praise for Burton.

• This was followed by 'Mars Attack' in 1996, which also failed to do well at the box-office but his next film proved to be a smash. 'Sleepy Hollow', which starred Depp, Christopher Walken and Christina Ricci, showed a return to the director's darker side in 1999 proving a success.

• In 2001, Burton remade the classic 'Planet of the Apes', on the set of which he met Helena Bonham Carter. He had divorced his first wife in 1991. The couple are now engaged and have two children together.

• Burton oscillates between Hollywood blockbusters and quieter, personal films not always rewarded with great box office success, but usually with critics' respect. After his parents died in quick succession, Burton made 'Big Fish', in 2003, the story of a man trying to reconnect with his dying father.

• 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' included Depp as Willy Wonka, and proved one of the most interesting blockbusters of 2005. That same year, he directed his first full-length stop-motion film 'The Corpse Bride', written for Bonham Carter who voiced Emily, with Depp providing the voice of the male lead.

• In 2006, Burton tried his hand at directing a music video. He directed the third single 'Bones' from the Killers' second album 'Sam's Town'.

• The director undertook another project with Depp and Carter in 2007, when he directed 'Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' - a musical take on the historical legend, which won numerous nominations for best director awards.

• On 5 March 2010, Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland' was released. Set 13 years after the Lewis Carroll original, it proved a success and saw Depp play the Mad Hatter.

• In 2012, Burton is expected to remake 'Frankenweenie' into a full-length stop-motion film and release 'Dark Shadows', based on the TV series. It stars Depp as Barnabas Collins.

The Brothers Quay

Who are "The Brothers Quay"? 

Stephen and Timothy Quay were born  June 17, 1947 and are American identical twin brothers better known as the Brothers Quay or Quay Brothers. They are influential stop-motion animators. They are also the recipients of the 1998 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design for their work on the play The Chairs.

What are they famous for?

The Brothers Quay have been working in collaboration since at least 1969, when they first moved to London from the United States, their stop-action films have introduced a generation of viewers to a lyrical darkness not often associated with animation. Influenced heavily by Central European writers and artists their work reflects the dark psychology resulting from a century of industrial warfare, surrealist art and dialectical politics. For example, they have especially been inspired by figures like the Polish killed by a German Nazi officer Bruno Schultz (1892 - 1942), on whose story Street of Crocodiles (1986) is based. As well as the German Dada painter Max Ernst (1891 - 1976), but also the influential multimedia Czech filmmaker and puppeteer Jan Švankmajer (1934 - ).

They have also worked in advertising for big names like Nikon or Coca-Cola, as well as in music, and example of their work there is the video clip for the famous British musician Peter Gabriel (1950) song Sledge Hammer (1986), which went as high as number 4 on the UK music charts and reached number 1 in the US, ironically knocking out Genesis’ “Invisible Touch”. The song itself dealt with sex and sexual relations. The inseparable filmmakers would also do work for MTV.

Jan Svankmajer (Developer)

Who is Jan Svankmajer? 

He was born in September 4, 1934 and is a Czech filmmaker  He is a self-labeled surrealist known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Terry Gilliam and the Brothers Quay. 




What is he famous for?

Svankmajer made his first film in 1964 and for over thirty years has made some of the most memorable and unique animated films ever made, gaining a reputation as one of the world's foremost animators, and influencing filmmakers from Tim Burton to The Brothers Quay. His brilliant use of claymation reached its apotheosis with the stunning 1982 film DIMENSIONS OF DIALOGUE. In 1987 Svankmajer completed his first feature film, ALICE, a characteristically witty and subversive adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, and with the ensuing feature films FAUST, CONSPIRATORS OF PLEASURE and his newest film LITTLE OTIK (OTESANEK) Svankmajer has moved further away from his roots in animation towards live-action filmmaking, though his vision remains as strikingly surreal and uncannily inventive as ever.