Andrew U’s Time-based Blog

What have you learned and how do you think it relates your design eduction? Are there things you learned that were useful? Is there anything you wished you learned about that wasn’t covered?

Through this course I’ve learned a lot more about dealing with sound and it’s affect on a piece. Although one element alone may be fine, when combining them, the result may be disastrous. I also saw different ways of simple animation that could be used to create something very unique. Instead of flashy graphics, using simple graphics in an interesting way could be much more effective. Thinking abstractly has always been a challenge, so trying to recreate math in non-math forms is still difficult. The story and flow of the animation is also crucial, building upon from the start and staying consistent within a narrative.

What is your concept of the role that time-based communication as it plays within the design field? How is it different/same from other design specialties?

I think that time-based communication can be extremely effective in design in order to deliver a complicated message. As well as offer something more than static work, bring the viewer through a story, constantly affecting their emotions and thoughts. Although this is similar to other design work, the control and timing of elements is limited within frame numbers.

MOV file
SWF file

Design Statement
Adventure Man and the Deadly Ciphers is a 3-minute video based on the topic of security and cryptography. The issue with cryptography is that although technology is able to create encryptions that are almost unbreakable without immense amounts of computer power, if personal security is lacking, the encryption becomes that much more easier to break. If the wrong people acquire the right information, the encryption becomes useless and whatever it was protecting would then be vulnerable to manipulation.

Using Indiana Jones as the base of the animation, we take a satirical view on the topic in order to create interest to many varying ages. In addition, having a stick-man graphic style adds to the interest of a larger audience and allows the content to come through while not being distracted by intricate movements a different style would incur.

Credit Information
Andrew U & Robin Ozolins
FA/YSDN3009M
David Gelb
York/Sheridan Joint Program in Design
andrewu©2008 & robinozolins©2008

Process Work
v1 Script
v1 Full Audio (50mb)

v2 Script
v2 Audio
v2 Line 1
v2 Lines 2-5

v3 Script
Character Profile

Animation Tests
Post chase, pre-line 1
+ audio cues, lines 1 & 2
+ lines 3, 4, beginning of 5 (20 seconds)
+ lines 5 & 6 (31 seconds)
+ line 7(1/3) (40 seconds)
+ line 7 (53 seconds)
+ line 8 (64 seconds)
+ line 9 & 10 (72 seconds)
+ line 11 & 12 (84 seconds)
Intro/Title + beginning of line 13 (117 seconds)
Complete Animation with some audio

Creative Brief
title:
Adventure Man and the Deadly Ciphers

overview:
Stick-man style animation used in a parody to Indiana Jones in order to bring across the message of Cryptography and the issues involved with it. Although the topic may be boring or too technical, using this style allows several different audiences to be interested with and learn from the animation with fun and some humor.

goals & objectives:
To create a fun and humorous animation while also conveying an opinion about a topic, cryptography.

audience:
Generally targeted towards a younger audience, but can also appeal to an older, to which the original movies attracted.

key message:
To protect your passwords. Personal security is just as important as the encryption used.

content planning:
Since it is created within a stick-man style, we chose Flash in order to animate because of the multiple pieces needed as well as the ease of control compared to AfterEffects. Also because the stick-man graphic style is composed mainly of 2-Dimensional movements rather than 3. The actionscript commands also helped in quickly moving pieces of the character when needed.

Resources
Videos
Links
About
Books

sounds and music have yet to be added to this version… whee.

complete - swf.

we decided to animate in flash because of the style we are animating in, cartoon/stick-figure. this style was chosen because of the satirical storyline as well as our stance on the subject.

cryptography, explained in simple terms as well as mathematical terms for electronic technology. it is our stance that encryption is great, useful, and almost impossible to crack. UNLESS the user leaves holes and is inattentive to their own security and privacy.

no sound yet, no fore/mid/background details, only the movement of elements that are interacted with as well as the character. a total of roughly 16 lines, about 12 have been animated. sound has been applied to renders march 15th and on.

Newest to Oldest…
intro/title + beginning of line 13 (117 seconds)
+ line 11 & 12 (84 seconds)
+ line 9 & 10 (72 seconds)
+ line 8 (64 seconds)
+ line 7 (53 seconds)
+ line 7(1/3) (40 seconds)
+ lines 5 & 6 (31 seconds)
+ lines 3, 4, beginning of 5 (20 seconds)
+ audio cues, lines 1 & 2
Post chase, pre-line 1

Side, back, front profile of character.

script + imagery rewritten under the cut
Read the rest of this entry »

Audio has been recorded.
Audio Storyboard has been skipped due to time frame.
GradShow website + Workshop hasn’t allowed us to work a lot on Time-based…
Animation has begun with litera/simple graphics, will replace when new and better ideas are made.

Edited script under the cut.
25 Lines, script + accompanying imagery

Completed Animations (draft)
Audio
Line 1
Lines 2-5
Read the rest of this entry »

start
intro to encryption (1:00)
- a small history
- examples from past
- explanation of an example
transition into ‘computer security/encryption’ (0:20)
- start with information
- personal info, credit card #, social security #, emails, etc…
tutorial/example (1:30)
- provide pre-determined message to decode
- while explaining, decrypt the message on-screen
- end with final msg?
credits (0:10)

Cryptography.

w/ Robin
Creating and decoding encrypted messages…

Enigma Machine applet

Computer Encryption

Final MOV h264
Design Statement
10 Second Flip is a countdown leader that is focused on drawn and flip-book animated numbers. With flip-book style, stop-motion animation, the elements become choppy and sketchy which gives it an interesting look and feel. The colours were chosen because they were simple, solid, and bright, to draw attention and target the piece towards a younger audience. To add to the fun and humorous style of the video, a comical sound effect was added into the bounces and interactions of the numbers. The effect is used repetitively in louder, quieter, faster, and slower variations depending on the movement of the element, and used louder as the counter sound for each second, leading to the loudest at the one second mark.

The numbers are placed on several different undefined planes, but they can be easily distinguished through the hints in the animation using scale and placement in the video. Elements enter the frame from the top, bottom, and right sides and usually exits to the left. The quick scenes flow into each other, the next number enters the frame before the second mark and the preceding number is led out by the animated interaction. To stay within the style throughout the video, the text and credits is also drawn by hand and animated similar to the numbers, looping five frames each.

Credit Information
Andrew U
FA/YSDN3009M
David Gelb
York/Sheridan Joint Program in Design
andrewu©2008

Sound
http://www.soundsnap.com/node/7323

Process Work & Images
Storyboards
Scene Plans
Animated Numbers
Animated Credits

Finalized Creative Brief
title:
10 Second Flip

overview:
Drawn numbers are brought to life through a flip-book style animation that allows for choppy movement and a sketchy feeling. With random animation, bright colouring, and simple sound effects, the video is given a sense of fun and humor.

goals & objectives:
To create a fun and humorous video in a drawn animated flip-book style.

audience:
Generally targeted towards a younger audience, but can also appeal to an older.

key message:
To have fun with numbers, flip-book animation, and interesting quick scenarios.

content planning:
Draw 5 frames of each element, scan, and PhotoShop them to a basic black and white. Using the 5 frame animation as a looped base, use AfterEffects to animate the numbers. The sound should be a simple, yet interesting addition to the piece.