combine sounds and pictures

Animation for The School of Life based on a short piece of writing by Alain de Botton.
Co-directed by Lara Lee & Hannah Jacobs
Narration by Alain de Botton

Animation for The School of Life based on a short piece of writing by Alain de Botton.Co-directed by Lara Lee & Hannah Jacobs
Narration by Anna Martine
Big help on sound design from Kerry Leatham

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These two videos directed by two same people, i like this way of talking something. One people keep talking and the work has some sounds. They are not too long, the time are around 2 minutes. The human’s voice are peaceful and the sounds are really good. Sometimes, even you do not draw anything. For example:

This part you can hear bird’s sound, but there is no birds in the pictures. With the birds’ sound, this helps this part be more like life and more interesting. There are many this kind of examples in their works. If I am a teacher, i must open a class for my student. I will ask my students to try to put different sounds on one pictures or one simple and short video. This also needs rich imagination. Use ears to make the pictures more rich. I think if you control this skill, you will good at create the atmosphere which you want to create and to make some normal actions to have a funny feeling. I will watch them again.  I found some advertisements are also use sounds very good, when i was waiting for the videos on the Youtube. But i don’t know its name and never see those advertisements again on the Youtube. Their sounds also have good imagination, and have a good and fast speed of the plot which they want to show. I think this is a good thing one good video should have———a good and fast speed. Because we are enjoying the fast speed of information now. So using the imagination of sounds can save time and  pictures of the film and at the same time it can give the audiences a enough room to imagine. I will strengthen this skill, i hope i can do better.

The process of film

This part is about the little boy is really anxious and frighten to the monster, he want to talk to his parents, but his father still drive the car peaceful. His mother doesn’t want to the little boy disturb the father’s driving, so she knocked on the little boy’s head, tried to make the little boy be quiet. The mother said :’Quiet!’ here.

 At first, i didn’t draw the speed lines and little stars here. But you know, my characters’ hands and legs are lines, so it will be difficult to find the mother knock the little boy’s head. After i gave my classmates to watch this part, they all have the same feeling with me. It is really difficult to find the hand. Amber gave me some advice————she thought i can make some speed lines. Just like this Gif. But after I Add the lines, it does not give a big improvement. So i added some little stars. It looks better, but still not clear. But it doesn’t matter. Becuse i will color the characters and i can color the lines and stars at the same time. After that, that will help audience to see the hand clear.

 I repeat the action of moving the face, I think this action is interesting and repeat it can add the funny feeling. And i want to the face be like this famous picture. Because i want to show the little is really scared. He really anxious.

To make the scenes change be more natural, i draw the lines change into the next scene. I really like this way of changing. I hope the audience will like it.

Originally, the lines change is not as good as you seen in the Gif. The lines only change into the next scene’s road———two lines. But i think the car and the tree should also be included into the change, so the final works is what you are watching now.

Do you remember ‘Mr Madila’?

I have a good and unforgettable impression with this animator after the Manchester Festival and i have many actions learning from his ‘ Mr Madila’ in my graduation film. But this time i begin to remember to research about him, that is because his weird head portrait on the ( vimeo.com) website.

It is really weird.

Right?

Then i find this work on his website. This work gives me a repressive feeling. I do not know why, maybe it comes from sad sound or maybe it comes from the clear , large open scenes which gives me feel lonely or maybe comes from the sad plot.

He uses the same color to be the background and scenes, i mean they just in different light degrees. This gives people a simple, clear feelings and at the same time, it can show the characters more clear. The elephant’s cloth keeps having a little shaking and has a different materials with other characters. This helps the film look more different. But i have to say some parts of transition of sounds are not perfect enough, sometimes the sound too loud suddenly. I even feel my hearts stop jumping. I think this will influence people to keep the sadness with this lonely elephant.

I like his drafts which i find on his facebook. His characters has a good and fluent changes of characters’ emotions. This gives me a lot inspirations. I find he likes to use some colorful lines or spots to move in the film, that looks really good.  Like some magic things, and gives the pictures more athletic. I will try this in my film. I hope it can also make my pictures look athletic.

The process of film

I did some research on the monster and the fire. But in the beginning i drawing this close-up, i did not add the fire. I added the fire, because i thought the picture is too empty, i wanted to add some fire to make the animation be more rich. The fire is wildfire. It is accord with the plot very much.

Because i want to make the monster has a feeling of naughty, i make it to use its tongue. And after the tongue touching its face, its eye finally come out. And i add an action of roll its eye, i think it can make him more interesting and also a little bit terrible. This is my first time to draw the fire, i think not bad.

I did not make the monster’s hair look the same, i follow my feeling, draw different hair on each picture, so when the Gif moving, its hair looks so dynamic. I think it is better than the hair which has no changes.

Other people（ Seoro Oh）’s graduation film

I watched this short 2D film, when i was watching videos on my bed. I watched it on the (www.bilibili.com) website. It has been watched by twenty thousands people on this website. This website, you can watch people’s remarks on the screen when the videos be watched. I watched this film 3 times. One for myself to watch, two for me to read the remarks and watch it again, three for me to screenshot to write words on wordpress.

This film lasted for  3 minutes 50 seconds, i think it is the same time requirement for our graduation film. The animator named  Seoro Oh, I search this people on the google and find he is really amazing.

This film talks about the true feeling of this animator, he( after i watching his facebook, i can sure this people is ‘he’, not’she’) want to keep himself awake in the lesson in the afternoon. Yes, the plot is not complex, just simple. But many students have the same feelings with him, especially chinese students. In the high school, we are really tired. I find he comes from South Korean, i can understand, the same education way with China. Because this true, sincere, sympathetic feeling, this film have an unforgettable power and appealed to many audience and gave the thumbs-up, forwarded. And got awards. ( This photo comes from his facebook. )

This is all this short film got, amazing.

I really like the part of the head’s changing when the character want to sleep. His head changes many big and heave things to show the people’s head is shaking and he want to sleep but he try to be awake. This part is really good and the sound is also just right. For me. i like changing, and i also like this style, just colors no black lines. I will try some pieces in my film. 

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I really like his animation which put the feelings to be an animation, i think he is good at this. When i find his other works on the (vimeo.com) website, i find his another small work named Squeezing is also what i like.

His drawing works on the facebook, i think i should work more hard.

The process of film

This part i want to show the little boy and his parents have different view of world concretely. So i draw a monster. I want to use the appearing of monster to show the contrast. In the parents’ eyes it is a normal tree. But in the little boy’s eyes, it is a monster which only has one eye and a big tongue. Because i think tongue can add some feeling of naughty to the monster. Because i want to make the little boy’s world is not the real ‘terrible’, because the magic world should be interesting not terrible.

I gave three people different emotions, because i think i can use expressions to show the difference between the child and his parents. The child is anxious but his parents are happy and relax. His dad even sings a song.

 I  used this emotion to show the little close his eyes, because he doesn’t want to see the monster. He is really afraid of that.

I hope audience can understand what i what to show in the plot. I try to make my plot more clear.

The works by other students of our school on the YouTube (Begin to think about shadow)

Actually, i am writing my essay now, when i am know about James Millingston, I find he is also studied in the University of Central Lancashire.(2007-2010) So i begin to find his information on the Internet. I have to say his information really fewer than other speakers. But this is not this research’s point. When i watch his graduation work on the YouTube, I find Uclan Animation’s YouTube. Before this searching，I even don’t know we have our own studio website. And now i can watch other students works which i never watched before. There are three main parts of this website. One part is students’ works and the second part is staff’s works, the third part is other videos about some events I think.

I only see the students’ work. Because i think we are all students, maybe we are even classmates, learning is learn from others who are better than you. This is also a good way for me to learn about which part works is good works for students and whether i have got this level like them or not. Because this website has been appearing for many years. I can not write all of them, i have to pick up some of them to watch and some of them which i have somthing to talk here. Ithink this can help me work hard and learn many things.

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I really like this animation,  the character is really cute and it has many clothes. I can think about the animator work hard on this. Although it is not a happy ending but the plot is clear and have many surprising pictures which can show the plot clearly and not be boring at the same time. This point gives me a lot of inspirations. Especially, you can find one plot uses shadow to show that the rabbit is making a tool to get to the moon. The change of music is also comfortable, i can feel the rabbit’s motions changing by listening  to these music. Maybe this is  not the best stop-motion films i have watched, but it makes me want to try stop-motion works.

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This animation i have watched in the classroom. The teacher showed it for one time, the animator showed it for one time. I have to say, the first time i saw it, it really surprised me. Maybe because the music, it is really unforgettable. This style of animation looks like Chinese traditional shadow plays. And it suits for this crazy murder plot very much. I really like the story which has a feeling of dark fairy tales.

Most of shadow plays uses animal skin to be the materials and make the skin to be thinner and thinner  which can show the lights. And people will color them by special colors materials. At the same time, the characters will be carved superfluous parts. It looks like Chinese traditional paper-cutting. It requires maker have totally enough time and super patience.

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When the senior said our school has a machine which an cut pattern on the paper, i really want to try. But my 3 minutes film is not suitable for this style. This is senior’s PPT. I download it from the Uclan website.

It is really amazing.

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Bear and the Hare (the ppt mentioned which use paper cutting)

In fact,  if you do not tell me this is paper cutting, i will think it is a 2D animation. I still think about why they use this technology to shoot this animation. After i searching it on the internet, i find they want to create a totally different Christmas advertisement. As we can see from the above photo, they use this way of paper cutting to combine 2D and stop-motion. This is really beautiful. But i have to mention this 2 minutes advertisement costs 7 millions pounds.

The process of film

This part of my work i really like.

From the flower’s face transform to the family sitting in the car and the car run away.  The car’s exhaust become lines. Especially the flower’s oval face transform to car’s oval window.

I try many times on the speed. I want to give the audience the fast speed. However, the first try is fast not fluent. So i base on the original pictures, add some frames to make it look comfortable.

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This is not be include in the first try. At the beginning the car’s exhaust become lines and lines become next scene. But i want to add grandfather’s image, this family is going to visit the grandfather. So when the voice over introduce this plot, the grandfather’s image should appear.

The first idea, i plan to make the grandfather shank his hands then grasp ass. I want to give the grandfather a funny first image. when i am drawing it, i think about it again. I want to show the grandfather do some amazing things which can make people surprising. Because i am the write the script, i know the grandfather is a male wizard.

 

This plot wants to show the little boy sees the thing which is different with his parents. The above part is what the little boy seeing. The below part is what his parents seeing. i want to put characters head in front of lines. But the line size of my film is not thin and i don’t want to change it. So i use this way to draw. Simplify the characters’ head make them have enough room.

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Finally change the size of pictures and others

When the first time i gave the work to Mario, he said the size of my pictures should be changed. And i have mentioned this advice in the original article. In the beginning, i think it is a simple operation. But when i faced it, it wasted me much time.  

Sometimes zero to one is difficult, but when you know how to do it , it will be so easy.

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 Draw some clouds—I want to give the cloud an elegant image,  so i consider about chinese clouds’ pattern.

I think chinese cloud patterns have clear lines and round cloud body. The body of cloud looks like broccoli.

These are my reference pictures of clouds. People will give things different symbols. For example, the dove is a symbol of peace,  the rose is a symbol of love … In China,  the clouds pattern is the symbol of wealthy and lucky. People called them auspicious clouds. I hope they can give my film lucky.

 

 

 

 

 

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I add some grass and some butterflies. I try to make the pictures and their actions symmetrical. People like symmetrical things, maybe these things happen to be in keep with human’s aesthetics. Symmetrical  things can make people be peaceful. That is what i want in the beginning of my short film.

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Long time not update the process of my work, i forget something that i wanted to say when i was drawing . Now i have to see what i have done and use them to remind me.

The plot of my story have one piece of it— the little boy jump and he bump into the small flower, and the flower died because of this. The little boy sad. His tears fall down on the flower and he wants to use magic to make the flower relive. But it doesn’t work.

I add some details to make the plot to be more clear.

At the beginning, i want to add a magnifier. The flower is too small after i changing the size of the film. So the magnifier can make its emotions to be enlarged. But you can see from the above picture, the magnifier will cover the body of the small flower.

My classmate J gave me an advice— Maybe i can follow the route of some entertainment shows. Give an example, in the beginning, one people fall down, you see the whole process and then the next camera is the repeat of that process. But not the whole, only that people’s face.

So i add this—before the death, the flower’s emotions. happy —-shocked—death

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To show the little boy’s fault on the flower— he killed the flower. I add the process of the soul leave its body and the little boy doesn’t know, his head push the soul away.

I try to use the pictures language to tell the story. When the little boy use magic, he wants to make the flower relive. So i add what he thought by the way of  the bobble box.(the color is not finished)

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I add the scene—grass and clouds. When the little boy be pulled away by a hand, i want to the scene be pulled away together.

I enjoy the process of  changing and disappear.

 

 

 

 

 

Cube escape research

Cube escape is a series of puzzle games. The type of it is room escape. The first time i got to know it because Amber recommended it to me.

Me: I want to play room escape games, my favourite style is … is like Machinarium. Do you have any recommends?

Amber: Oh, it happens to have one series of these games. For example Cube escape. Do you played these games before?

…

After that, i began to touch this series, and fell in love with them.

The subject of it is memory. And this series has 11 games now. They are Samsara room, Cube Escape: The Lake, Cube Escape:Seasons, Cube Escape:Harvey’s Box, Cube Escape:Case 23, Cube Escape:The Mill, Rusty Lake Hotel, Cube Escape:Birthday, Cube Escape:Theatre, Rusty Lake: Roots, Cube Escape:Arles.

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why i want to do research on this game, because when i touch this game, i notice it’s scenes are characteristic.

It likes to use wallpapers, using repeating pattern give people a feeling of home and elegance. most of them only use 2 colors. One main color and a secondary color.

When i talk about my scenes will follow wallpaper’s style. Cecilia gave me an advice that maybe i should make my scenes look simpler,because my characters have rich colors. And the color of this game’s characters are simple. So i will choose some simple wallpapers to be my scenes.

I want to give the audience a feeling of home and peace. I think my characters give people a feeling of activity and fussy. The scenes can help the film to have a balance, creating an atmosphere of harmony.

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For the colors– I will choose warm and peaceful colors, and simple colors. From contrast to the characters’ colors. The colors must tend to grey and pink. For me, i like this kind of colors. This kind of colors i think gives people more clam and be suitable to the normal life.

Most of wallpapers of this series of games are designed with flowers and fruits. When i go to Maison de Victor Hugo and french royal rooms, i find they also have this kind of wallpapers.

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The birthplace of wallpaper is europe. In the late sixteen Century, hand drawn wallpaper appeared. In 1839, in the United Kingdom appeared printed wallpaper. Then it has extensive application in the industrial developed countries. Around 1880, Chinese wallpaper began to spread, but it usually be used  in the concession villa.

Some people think wallpaper looks like fashion clothes. I also think so, wallpaper can show the owner’s taste and give the dwellers a feeling of luxurious, warm, comfortable, healthy.

People always give some patterns different meanings, for example red rose represents love and sunflower represents optimism.

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when i write here, i am in the classroom and i turned to my classmate Amber, and talk to him i am do the research on the wallpaper. Amber give me a designer’s name William Morris, She said this people’s design of patterns help wallpaper a lot.

This is his introduction’s link—

http://www.arthappening.org/williammorris/artist.html

His paintings are really amazing!

When i look at these beautiful paintings,  i can feel much patience and time from them. people always said, cultural perplexity in agonized travel. I think everything that you try to make it meaningful and beautiful is also agonized travel. Pleasure is transient but suffering is long-term.  If you want to not only be a ghost on this world, you should follow this.