So you think you can animate?

 It's a process.

    As stated in my previous blog, lately I have been researching, trying new things, and overall writing my new story. Let's just say it's been a bit of a lot. So let me explain some details.

Animation Stage: 

    I know this is supposed to be more of a "post-production" stage but recently I have been researching and experimenting with the different types of platforms, and different ideas that I want to use so I create the perfect way to represent my blob world. 

At first, I wanted to try Adobe Animate since it's one of the most modern animation platforms in the industry, but since I realized how difficult and scary the program is for a beginner like me, I decided to go with something simpler: FlipaClip. I found this app on the App Store on Iphone that I had downloaded a while back when I first wanted to try out animation and lately I have just been looking over it again, setting the different settings, animations, and built in tools I can use to create my animation and make it come to life. 

    This was the first rough draft for my animations within FlipaClip, I started by just drawing out the blobs using the pen tool and figuring out colors, body shapes, and the way I wanted them to look. I also started trying an animation of them walking in a straight line one coming after another but selecting one copying and pasting him at the edge of the screen. At first it wasn't the greatest but today in class I was trying a completely new version of the whole animation. This time though, I started playing with the background a little more, adding more texture to the scene and overall, I believe it looks even better than the first one. 

    I believe the first video looks a lot better than the second one and overall, just matches the blob world a lot better than the original rough draft. I'm still learning a lot about animation that I never knew but I'm excited to start learning a new skill that can be very beneficial in the future. 

Script and Research

This past weekend I watched the Pixar animated film "Soul" directed by Pete Docter. I love this film so much because of the message of the film and the overall way they did everything, the animations, the music, and the storytelling. I have been taking many notes about it but the main thing I noticed was that Joe Gardner (protaganist) and 22 are very different from each other. In a way, I feel that my characters should also have those characteristics since my film is revolved around the idea of appreciating life and embracing the good in it. So far I have only written the beginning, where Bobby gets transfered to the human world up until he meets Julia. I want to make Bobby this terrified little boy who has no idea how to navigate himself around the world (I mean obvisouly, he's not from there), doesn't know what the most simple things in life are. I want him to be curious but also terrified of eveyrthing around him but as the film goes on he kind of learns to calm down and just appreciate things. I'm not exactly sure how I want Julia to be but I do know I want her to be advanterous, and outgoing but also with hidden trauma behind her strength. 

    I will soon be uploading the first draft of the script but this week my main goal is to figure out a name for the film and start creating a social media page for the film. I also want to keep working on my animations and develop how they will look on screen.