Raquel Martínez UP618108
BA (Hons) Animation
3rd Year
CT6MAJAN U22600
Major Project Animation - Part 1
Research Portfolio
My project for the first part of the Unit Major Project Animation is a WWF campaign. The main topic that I focus on this animation is Stopping the illegal wildlife trade, although I mostly use fur issues to represent it and convey the message. Even so, there can be found some hints into the environment, such as carpets, figures, paints, tables, etc, that supports the main issue to sort out.
After discussing the ideas to get the final plot and the Animatic, I decided that I would like to see the final result as a digital animation, but not without loosing the lovely style that traditional methods could offer. Therefore, I used a mixture of techniques, but keeping always in mind that they should not look very different to each other.
Firstly, the environment was created with 3D methods in Autodesk Maya. The problem to solve was that the animation was an overall 2D piece, so the environment –a living room –needed to look as 2D
made as well. This goal was
achieved by using Toon shaders in Autodesk Maya, and also fitting the thick black outlines to the polygons.
Secondly, the character animations took a long time to figure out and it ended up being a long process. Both characters, the girl (Mira) and the tiger (Rag), were first animated by hand. After checking some test lines, I cleaned the outlines by hand too. Finally, all the frames were scanned and they were ready to start working in Adobe Photoshop.
After discussing the ideas to get the final plot and the Animatic, I decided that I would like to see the final result as a digital animation, but not without loosing the lovely style that traditional methods could offer. Therefore, I used a mixture of techniques, but keeping always in mind that they should not look very different to each other.
Firstly, the environment was created with 3D methods in Autodesk Maya. The problem to solve was that the animation was an overall 2D piece, so the environment –a living room –needed to look as 2D
made as well. This goal was
achieved by using Toon shaders in Autodesk Maya, and also fitting the thick black outlines to the polygons.
Secondly, the character animations took a long time to figure out and it ended up being a long process. Both characters, the girl (Mira) and the tiger (Rag), were first animated by hand. After checking some test lines, I cleaned the outlines by hand too. Finally, all the frames were scanned and they were ready to start working in Adobe Photoshop.
Once again, the outlines needed to be clean, but this time in Photoshop. The problem that I faced was that of loosing a lot of time, as I had to redraw every single frame digitally. Moreover, the frames needed to be textured and coloured. Saving as much time as possible, the animations were done successfully in a good period of time. Apart from the hand-drawn frames, some other frames were made in Photoshop in order to provide the get ahead with the little animations.
The post-production was made in Adobe Flash and Adobe After Effects. It consisted in mixing everything together (characters and environments) and adding effects, shadows, and so on. All of this is shown in the ‘Making of’ video that I am submitting too.
As for the plot, I took the decision of making a campaign for WWF by telling a story, rather than “telling people what they should do”. It is a hard topic to talk about indeed, given that too many factors can influence. In particular, my own experience is that I have met people who wear fur clothes, or have any other kind of ornament made by wildlife resources, and the problem is that they do not realize what is happening, what are they actually wearing or showing. Why is that? As I said, there are too many factors, such as education, religion, business, etc. So I felt like doing a character that would have a moment of realization for the rest of her life, maybe it can be called a miracle,
As for the plot, I took the decision of making a campaign for WWF by telling a story, rather than “telling people what they should do”. It is a hard topic to talk about indeed, given that too many factors can influence. In particular, my own experience is that I have met people who wear fur clothes, or have any other kind of ornament made by wildlife resources, and the problem is that they do not realize what is happening, what are they actually wearing or showing. Why is that? As I said, there are too many factors, such as education, religion, business, etc. So I felt like doing a character that would have a moment of realization for the rest of her life, maybe it can be called a miracle,
animation with a fluid sense of realism.
Animating the characters were not as difficult as it could seem at the beginning, although I admit that the scenes where both characters were interacting together were a bit hard to
Animating the characters were not as difficult as it could seem at the beginning, although I admit that the scenes where both characters were interacting together were a bit hard to
and that can only happen when something really shocking goes on (in this case, a rag of a tiger becoming alive). It is a bit of a fantasy tale for a campaign, but I believe that all of those that are in the same position as the protagonist could identify the reflection of themselves.
Making of
