DYNAMICS - DYNAMIC EXERCISES (AND WELLBEING)

This session, we were mostly running down what we're going to be handing in for our Dynamics submission.

Beforehand, we had a talk from animation graduate Millie Woodcock. She gave a talk about overworking ourselves, and how it's often glorified. A huge emphasis was placed on us managing our time correctly, and learning to take a break to do nothing!

"Doing nothing often leads to the very best something" ~ Winnie the Pooh

We work so we can live, not living so we can work. The biggest advice given was to take regular breaks from the computer / animation work! 5-10 minute intervals are healthy. Also, going outside is beneficial. 

("The Closest Feeling to Death That Isn't Death - dir. Jaiden Dittfach)

After the brief talk of wellbeing, we moved onto our Dynamic Exercise Task! The breakdown of the animation is

• Be 50-75 frames (around 3 seconds)
• Can be either digital or hand-drawn
• Only one shot, no cuts
• Black and White
• Simple

... and the animation should focus on one of these pairings

• Weight and Effort
• Speed and Acceleration
• Squash and Stretch
• Impact and Reaction

We're also recommended to use live action reference. It helps to understand movement and timing, in a more realistic way. Directors will often act out a scene to communicate what actions they want to the animators.

(Toy Story: Behind the Scenes - Pixar Animation Studios)

Animators will often use mirrors to convey facial expressions onto characters they're animating as well.

Once we got the brief, we started storyboarding. After some ideas, I eventually settled on a final mini-plot.

In it, we start with a stick man and a basketball hoop. The stickman looks up at the hoop, then smirks. He removes his head (in a cartoony sort of way), and aims; he's trying to score. He throws, aaaand... misses. His head bounces off the rim, and hits the floor. His face shows indifference, but his body overreacts and falls to it's knees, pounding it's fist on the floor.

I'm definitely going to go with pencil and paper drawing for this task. While I'm more experienced in digital animation, I've really grown to enjoy the "traditional" methods. It'd be an interesting challenge, not to mention somewhat enjoyable. In the session, I lined out my rough keyframes. I'm going to work on the task on days off and in spare time between lectures, but I'll try to work on it as much as possible.