Create and justify a planned animation (P5, P6)

Learning Outcome 3: Be able to create a planned animation

P5: Create the content for the animation 

Backplates

This is the first backplate which will be seen in my animation, it is the background of most of my production and is quite simple yet effective as it easily suggests the characters Zoe and Hank are outside. I have not made any changes to this one.

This is the backplate for my food stalls, the pizza and burger ones, as instructed in the brief, inside the animation should include some food stands which will be depicted here. I have adapted from the plain brick wall adding these two places where my characters pass to get to the march.

This is a backplate in which half of the Leicester Square Station will be seen, this is because it indicates that this is where the march will take place without having to say it. Not only this, it is only half of the sign as the Lego characters will be walking below it. I have added the sign on top of the plain background. this will entertain my audience as it provides them with an animated version.

As seen above, this is another backplate which uses the full Leicester Square sign helping to tell the audience once again where the animation is set and where the final march will be. I have added the full Leicester Square logo onto the plain brick wall to do so. 

Moreover, this is another backplate which shows the live music band that is playing throughout the animation. I have used the plain brick wall background and added various music notes and instruments around alerting my viewers that there will be a band in the actual march.

Furthermore, this backplate has been slightly adapted, this is so that the background fits within the usual background colour scheme of brown, burgundy and black. By having the same colour throughout the audience knows that this is all relevant to the march that will be taking place. Also, the Prince Charles Cinema has been added as it is a requirement by the brief but also as it is a checkpoint in my animation.

This is where the march actually takes place, it uses a selection of other zombie-lovers who are also in the costumes, this is great as it really shows the purpose of the march. I have added various lego characters onto the plain brick wall background. 

Evidence of me setting up the equipment

Evidence of me collecting the voiceover

Voiceover

How do the materials follow the storyboard

The materials i've used like the characters, backplates, sound and animation style all follow my storyboard. To begin, the characters i used are LEGO and this is what i drew on my storyboard. Primarily, i drew them as 'human' characters who were dressed in normal everyday clothes and once they passed Leicester Square Station they transform into zombie attire. These were used in my animation as the LEGO characters were human before they passed the station. As soon as they passed the sign they both were then seen in zombie costumes. I slightly adapted their costumes by adding a couple of props in their hands, for example, throughout the animation when they are wearing their costumes by adding a club weapon and a warrior hat which furthers the idea about the Zombiefest in central London. I also added a few other characters, like a walking hotdog, chicken and pizza which reinforce the idea to the viewers that food stalls and options are available throughout the march. Moreover, the backplates follow my storyboard as i have created them on photoshop following the exact design. The brick wall is the base of the backgrounds throughout each one and i've continued this theme to use it in my animation. I have also included both styles of the Leicester Square Station as well as the Prince Charles Cinema. The food stalls and march are also the same as the ones used in my storyboard. However, the Prince Charles Cinema is slightly different as it doesn't have the brick wall behind, instead it has a solid colour which matches that of the wall. Also, there are other people in that backplate suggesting to the watchers that there are already zombie lovers who will and want to attend furthering the idea of this animation being really fun and gripping. Furthermore, the voiceovers follow that of the storyboard as i have used human voices and zombie ones too. Their voices are used across my animation which follows my storyboard. I have included a speech of the friends meeting as well as the zombie sounds and groans which are necessary when creating my zombie animation. 

Track progress in line with Gantt Chart

I am tracking my progress in line with my Gantt Chart as seen above. There is a key on the right side where all the tasks i have completed are green and the ones i still need to do are in blue. By having this key i am able to easily check and determine which tasks need to be completed within the certain deadline. Currently, i am ahead of schedule having completed some of the work, the recording a voiceover, early before the 4th April. I am completing tasks in good time which is great as i am meeting the deadlines which are written on my Gantt Chart. 

P6: Complete and edit the animation in line with the plan 

Log sheet

Offline edit

Storyboard and offline edit

This is the first draft of my animation, the offline edit. There are necessary changes i will need to make to make my animation suitable and engaging. Currently, when i uploaded all of my photos they automatically were set for ten seconds per scene which is obviously too long for the short stop-motion advert i was asked to create; as of right now, this draft is over an hour. Because of this, i will change the duration of the scenes to 0.4 seconds per frame which will change the length of the animation and make it just over a minute which will be much more engaging for my audience. Moreover, this offline edit perfectly fits what i drew for my storyboard using the same style of backgrounds and the same backplates. I have kept all the stalls and buildings, for food, the cinema and the band the same as well as using the exact same sign style for the Leicester Square Station. I noticed that i didn't use text in my storyboard as an outro which finishes my animation. I will use this so i can inform my audience of when and where the march will be and include any necessary details about the Zombiefest which i haven't said within the animation through the voiceover. I also will use a voiceover which has humans as well as them as zombies depicting exactly what they say and where they are going. To begin, they will be hear greeting each other and once they pass Leicester Square Station they will be zombies so making groaning noises to meet their character. Moreover, for the versions which i will edit later on i will add in some music so that my animation flows really well and this can fill some awkward silences. I need music so that also it engages my audience as throughout the animation i'll use some house music and towards the end when Zoe and Hank approach the march the music will change to horror. Lastly, i will include some transitions including between each backplates and when my animation begins and finishes to alert my audience of the different scenery and location that is available during the march. 

Version 2

Storyboard and version 2

This is the second draft of my animation and i have added some text at the end of the video. I haven't included text in my storyboard but i realised it was necessary as some information like the whereabouts and the time of the march wasn't spoken in my voiceover. I have used a Zombie style font from DaFont.com called Zombie.ttf to match the theme of the ZombieFest march. A still image is now at the end of the animation for a few seconds to alert the viewers and zombie lovers of some details which they need to know when coming to this march in Leicester Square Station.

Version 3

Storyboard and version 3

Looking back at my storyboard and the offline edit i realised that the house music i was originally going to use wasn't relevant or engaging for my audience and instead i used some Royalty Free, Zombie apocalypse - Intense Cinematic Dark Horror Music,which i screen-recorded off of SoundCloud to put onto my animation. Through using this background music i was able to further engage my audience as i used literal Zombie music. When my music overlapped with the voiceover i made it more quiet and when there was only music i raised the sound level to 12.0dB. The music also got louer when my characters, Zoe and Hank got closer to the march and the live music where they were dancing for a few seconds. As for my voiceover, i stuck to my storyboard using only dialogue which was listed on there, so i have Zoe and Hank greeting and Hank encouraging them to move on into the march as well as him later on in his zombie voice saying 'wow a cinema'. Because i stuck to my storyboard i managed to make all the scenes i planned come to life. I also included some moans and groans from the zombies which reinforces the whole idea of the march. 

Version 4

Storyboard and version 4

Above is my version 4 draft and in this one i added some transitions. The animation begins with a 'flip' transition where it flips into the first background of the brick wall. Throughout this animation all of the new backgrounds are transitioned into the next scene with a 'flip transition' which in a way takes the viewer there without them having to be in central London just yet. The other style of transition i used was called 'earthquake' and i used this when Zoe and Hank became zombies, this transition shakes the ground and adds some dust which reinforces the idea of them being supernatural monsters. Although these ones differ from the ones i had decided to use on my storyboard i am still using them to divide some of my scenes and to alert my audience when my human characters turn to zombie Hank and Zoe. 

Final version