READING & WRITING
Summary of Chapters Five (Color Sense) and Six (Weird Science) of Animated Storytelling by Liz Blazer
In Chapters Five and Six Blazer’s continues passing out her sage advice like a dapper, confident card dealer at the MGM Grand Vegasin Vegas. Like many of the buffet style eats at Sin City, her style is still signature in many ways: plenty to chew on, effective, and (mostly) digestible!
Spoiler Alert – Below are key, selected chapter learnings & insights from these two chapters. Below also contains
what was not so applicable or clear to me at this nascent stage of my animation and motion graphics journey.
Key, Selected Chapter Learnings & Insights
ü Chapter 5 – Color Sense– Hue – Refers to the common color like red, blue, and green.
ü Chapter 5 – Color Sense – Saturation – is the intensity or purity of a color.
ü Chapter 5 – Color Sense – Value – is the relative lightness or darkness of a color — basically how much light the color is exposed to determines its value.
ü Chapter 5 – Color
Sense– Having a technical and educated sense of things like hue, saturation, and value can help you create great pieces.
Pieces that can help you convey the right emotions which can add significant appeal to your work. The opposite is also true!
ü Chapter 5 – Color Sense– Pre-Color Script and Color Script. Google these terms or refer to the Ms. Blazer’s book. Note that they exist, but these concepts will not be my focus as they are good concepts, but not absolutely critical to my early projects.
ü Chapter 5 – Color Sense– The main thing I got reinforced in the color sense section, is Ms. Blazer’s recurring — if not my own recurring theme.
That theme is you need to be educated about the tools and concepts at your disposal —
in this case color – such that they smartly add to and not subtract from your end result!. Know that some times less is more. Reservedly save the spot color that Liz Blazer refers, for example, to for smart accenting and pop!
What Was Not So Applicable or Clear to This Newbie
ü Chapter 5 – Color Sense– As alluded to earlier Pre-Color Script and Color Script and good concepts, but not
110% absolutely applicable and critical to my early projects.
In terms of the world of color and usefulness I think a perhaps a better graphic is below
ü Chapter 5 – Color Sense– Make Your Own Rules — While I understand the merits of one of the last points in this chapter – Make Your Own Rules – I would suggest this mentality and approach
is best suited for creatives, particularly new ones, who first have some grounding in the basics of color theory, hue, saturation, tone and other technicalities that Ms. Blazer explains. Grasshopper it is ok to imitate the great masters, proven theory, before finding your own voice!
ü Chapter 6 – Weird Science– I love this chapter and virtually all of the points Liz Blazer makes!
ü Chapter 6 – Weird Science– I love Liz Balzer’s section on The Importance of Creating “Bad” Art …. of giving yourself permission to be inventive and essentially try wired artistic things.
I know in my crazy mind and workflow I start of by immediately reaching for high creative stars and usually compromise and have to reel myself into making something “doable.
I oft find myself balancing — beckoned by something called deliverables, schedules, competing priorities, distractions and the like ….. lol!! …… I need to “fail fast!!” then deliver!!
ü Chapter 6 – Weird Science– I especially love this art director’s section on “Make the Work You Want to Be Hired to Do”. My career fantasy is to be discovered based on one or more of my creative works or story telling abilities. It would be nice to find my tribe which I sometimes do in academic or work settings.
ü Chapter 6 – Weird Science– I especially also love the section on (the fact) that Personal Projects [Can] Pay Off in Unexpected Ways.
I love the fact that it can happen as the multiple prestigious screenings received by the example director and animator in the book, so aptly proved!
ü Chapter 6 – Weird
Science– One point in this chapter is to stretch yourself, experiment, and find your own weird science. This I usually have a hard time doing.
I usually spend time to get my inspiration, to put my twist on it —- and then go go go!
I learned that to be my very best that I need to create and make more time messing around, testing limits, and consciously experimenting!
RESEARCH TO INFORM
This week was both frustrating and exciting as I raced to initially just view but then to
very importantly actually understand the different types of stop motion animations.
From my key word research there are at least 10 different types of stop motion animations. So one of my first orders of business as I began to think about executing, delivering on one of my planned creative briefs/storyboards in the near future was to figure out which type of stop motion animations might I be comfortable with. Also, which type and would best lend itself with my abilities and my interests regarding my attempt at my first, upcoming stop motion creation.
One challenge that kind of initially spooked me was would I be able to tell a whole
story in 30 to 60 seconds max. I knew that I really don’t plan to go over 30
seconds down the line because of the immense time and effort it takes just to
produce around 10 seconds or so for a “test” stop motion artifact!
Generally, my “Research to Inform” activities and the specifically the 5 example stop
motion animations that I chose to expand on emerged towards one goal and one goal only: To help me to better understand cut out motion graphic techniques as I have decided to focus on that genre for my chosen character-based upcoming first stop motion animation!
Skim my takes below! … Have a look at the example animations!
Stop Motion Animation – 1 – “Great Quick History, Brief Tutorial, &,
Importantly, Great “Cut Out” Example.”
I love this video! — which only takes about 2 minutes! Why? All because it quickly gives great context followed by a great example of a cut out stop motion animation!.
I don’t have to hypothesize how it was made … I am actually ably shown the basics! I chose it not only because it is short, but because it was the very first time I was exposed to a type of stop
motion animation that I think I can actually try to imitate to advance the character-based animations that I have dutifully plotted out in my recent pre-production work!!
Know this: I was almost desperately trying to understand the stop motion landscape and then finalize on one candidate approach!
http://Stop Motion Tutorial: Cutout Animation (youtube.com)
Stop Motion Animation – 2 – “Not Another Word.”
Sinc e I am planning to soon try my hand at creating a character- based “cut out” animation I’m into, well, studying characters. I like this stop motion
animation because it gives me the opportunity to study not one, not two, but three
characters! ….. how they move and interact with their environment and one another. …. Also how scenes transition etc.
I was particularly hoping and tuned into to seeing how emotions, if any, were
expressed via their faces – especially happiness or sadness, but this wasn’t to
be! I will have to rely on other “cut out” character-based animations or stop motion face and mouth tutorials and I think I have found the latter.
Stop Motion Animation – 3 – “This is the story of a girl and her huge imagination.”
As previously alluded to above I was hoping, because of an upcoming stop motion project, to see how emotions, if any, were expressed in one of my character-based samples herein….. especially happiness or sadness.
That, again, is why I am choosing all character based stop motion animations
for this Research to Inform section.
Eureka! .. Some luck! Judging by the title I thought I may have had a chance here to meet said objective…and I did! Through patience observation towards the end I saw
how Polly’s tiny face expressed both happiness then quickly sadness!
Stop Motion Animation – 4 – “The Animation of Man”
I had to choose this animation because about two thirds of the way in a paper cut out dancing character emerges not too unlike one that I describe in my Pre-production materials within this posting!!. The mood and music at this point of the animation was uncannily similar to what I had envisioned!! Brief but informative this animation let me know what the real-world possibilities might be!!
Stop Motion Animation – 5 – “We Cut Corners Pirate’s Life”
I choose this final piece for at least three reasons. One as it distinctly and
intentionally employs color. Two here again like the Stop Motion Animation – 4 – “The Animation of Man” animation above, something uncanny happened: Luky for me, this animation addresses something that I had expressly pondered in one of my pre-production briefs herein: Going from black and white to all of a sudden, in my case to full color in the last frames(s), Wizard of Oz style!!!
Third this “otherworldly” piece in my mind helped me recognize a “good” example of how a non-linear approach might manifest. Now I was looking for the piece’s title, its “spaced
out” music, or the words of its song and/or its visuals to help me figure
out some type of storyline — what is going on.
Also, what specific non-linear technique is being employed, but nothing within the piece has helped me so far. Maybe if I watched it, say another 10 times, with Liz Blazer’s book
in hand, I could begin to make heads or tails out of it! I guess its mystery
is part of my attraction to it!
CREATE
KP Pre-Production Summary STOP Motion Animation 1 — Story Rationale, Format, & Challenges —- “1001” – Keep Your Grind Until the Light Comes On
Since I work for an electric utility (where Thomas Edison and Lewis Latimore (Edison’s assistant) are featured prominently in the lobby) right now I thought this short stop
motion piece might be useful as a creative and different way of my company paying
homage to the singularly best known, and most prolific inventor and innovators in our industry and the world.
I chose a linear format for this one because I thought the story of the invention/advancement of the light bulb lent itself to the classic story process of a beginning, middle, and end
format culminating with, of course a working light bulb. I wanted practice with
this classic approach!
I think my inexperience with hands on conceptualization and storyboarding might not translate as well as I would like into a reasonably smooth end result, might be my biggest challenge. I am also relatively new to the associated Adobe Creative Suite tools that I will need to get this done and that poses some risk. Finally, time management versus creative desire is always
a classic risk that is not foreign to many people, including myself.
Let me say now that I’m leaning more towards this story to execute as I think it is
more straight-forward and predictable piece
KP Pre-Production Summary STOP Motion Animation 2 — Story Rationale, Format, & Challenges —“Pay Da Bill!” I thought it would be fun and challenging to create a totally different, nonlinear piece that is still related to the fact that I work for an electric utility. That is why I chose to do this crazy bit the aim of which is to build up and build, using the Countdown technique, until there is a final surprise event that happens to my know-it-all character in the end!
Even more so than with my other option I think this more involved story has more upside for engagement but is also has more production risk for some of the same reasons as my linear “1001”- Keep on Your Grind Until the Light Comes On production candidate
Namely, again I think my inexperience with hands on conceptualization and storyboarding might not translate as well as I would like into a reasonably smooth end result, might be my biggest challenge. I am also relatively new to the associated Adobe Creative Suite tools that I will need to get this done and that poses some risk.
Finally, again time management versus creative desire is always a classic risk that is not foreign
to many people, including myself.
Let me reinforce that I’m leaning more towards the first Edison story, not this more
intentionally comedic one to execute as I think it is more straight-forward and
predictable piece.
My first stop motion animation is embedded below!
Have a “look see!”
