Why does the writer of the article believe Rio 2 is problematic in terms of its representations? The writer of the article 'Rio 2' has come across some problems due to the choice of the characters. The two main characters are voiced by white americans and the comedy characters are voiced by black actors, this is stereotyping the black accent to be funny.
Also the human characters in the film are supposed to be Brazilian, but they are lightly coloured which is unusual in brazil.
What are PEPs and why are they an issue for racial representation?
PEPs are -
entertainment contexts.
performance contexts.
problem contexts.
Dr Charles Da Costa studies and writes about racial stereotyping in animation.
Why does Da Costa believe we end up with stereotypes in animation?
Dr Charles Da Costa believes that animations end up with stereotypes because the creators care to much about getting the animation finished on time, also the budget might not be able to stretch.
What does Turbo say about social mobility?
The main character is voiced by a white American, and all the other character who aren't as good are voiced by ethnicities. This shows that the creators maybe thing whites are the best and therefore need to voice the best and the main character.
- Farmer drives into the forest on his tractor.
- Farmer gets out of his tractor a starts to cut down trees.
- while cutting down tress the farmer finds a group of mushrooms.
- 4 brown mushrooms and 1 red one.
- The farmer picks up the red mushrooms and eats it.
- The farmer starts tripping and feels sick.
- starts hallucinating.
1) Inspiration My animation is about a farmer, cutting down a forest behind his field, while cutting down the trees, the framers notices 5 larger mushrooms. To add humour to my short film the farmer will pick up the only red mushroom and eat it. This red mushroom is poisonous and turns the farmer crazy. I plan for my animation to look like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGkseGFQLh4
2) How i am going to do this? I plan to create my animation on After effects and Photoshop. I will be using PhotoShop to create the character, background and objects, i will then use After Effects to create movement. I will need my mac laptop as that has the software i need, such as After Effects and Photoshop. All my work will be created in college. 3) Who with? I plan to work with my friend Dayna. I think working with Dayna will make my animation a lot better then it would be if i was on my own, working in pairs helps when stuck on a certain task. Both of our ideas will be put together. 4) Whats it going to look like? My animation is going to be 2D computer animated. Bright colours to apply to children, simply drawing for the main characters and objects although were planing for the background to be more detailed. 5) Whats the structure? Scene 1
- The farmer driving along in his dark green truck. - He gets out of his truck and collects his axe and saw from the back of his truck. - The farmer walks up to a tree and starts cutting. - While cutting he notices a small group of mushrooms. - He then picks up the only red mushrooms and eats it. - The farmer then turns crazy and starts running around.
Age: 12 + Gender: All genders. Name: Aiden Age: 12 Average day: Walks to secondary school everyday which is in his local village. Very popular, funny and young confident boy. Aiden is a very cheeky boy, teachers will always keep an eye on Aiden making sure he's not up to something that would land him in trouble. Aiden will get home from school at 3:20. When home he will change his clothes get something to eat then go out with his friends around his village, playing football or down the skatepark. He will come home at 6 for his dinner, have a shower watch tv then play on his xbox before he goes to sleep. Hobbies and interests: Aiden is a very keen footballer, being captain for his school football team. He loves annoying his older brother and sister. Favourite game on xbox is 'Grand theft auto' as he can do what he wants without getting in trouble. Spending power: Aiden gets £5 a day to spend for his lunch in the co-op across the school, for his birthday and christmas he will get money. Typical media consumption: Aiden could sit and play on his xbox all day, this is normally the case on the weekends especially on sundays. at least 2 hours of tv a day. Aiden also has a iPad which he watches movies in bed to help him get to sleep, also Aiden will listen to music on the way to school and back. Why the animation will appeal to them: My animation will appeal to Aiden as he has a good sense of humour. This will make Aiden laugh, and bring him entertainment, Aiden will also tell his friends about the animation at school.
2) I started this project by doing research, i looked on the CBBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/shows.
I believe there is a current market place for my animation as there isn't many sort tv shows around to today. My animation will be 3 minutes each. The animation will appear on tv in-between shows. Most shows today last roughly 30-45 minutes. Mine will fit in nicely as it only last 3 minutes, this would help it broadcast as it can be played whenever twice or even three times a day. Depending on how succesful my animation is there will be more animated series like this in the future. Also merchandise is a thought i have in mind e.g;
- Tshirts
- Pencil Case's
- Dinner plates/cutlery
- Bags
- Toys
This will all help with advertisement.
3) My target audience is 12+ to girls and boys. As this is for young children i aiming to play this on CBBC around 6/7 clock on weekdays on weekends 12-1. I think playing the animation at 6/7 is a good time as all the viewers will be home at this time, most of them would be finishing there dinner so they have time to watch a bit of tv.
The storyline of my sort animation, is about a old man who is the target for the local bullies on his estate. The teenagers knock and run on his door, egg his house just being annoying to the old man. each episode the teenagers cause trouble ending up with the old man scared, worried.
Derrick Hall (old man) pops down the his local post office at the same time every day to stick to his routine, to collect the newspaper 'Daily News'. Derrick is often frighten when he leaves his house as he doesn't know what is going to happen when he is not there.
In this episode it is just a normal day for derrick he gets up, has his daily fry up put his shoes on and goes to his post office for his newspaper. when derrick leaves his house he can see two teenagers standing at the bottom of his round, so he starts to walk faster. When derrick is back he notices his windows are covers in eggs, he has been egg. for derrick this is normal, when he gets in he gets a broom & a bucket filled with water to clean away the eggs.
My animation will last 3 minutes for each episode. There will be 10 episodes, in each episode the youths will do something to wing derrick up as they love the enjoyment of running around and love to see Derrick get angry.
Episode 1 - Eggs thrown at his house.
Episode 2 - Derrick confronts the youths, then eggs thrown at his.
Episode 3 - Derrick has learnt not to confront the youths, and finds his bedroom window has been smashed.
Episode 4 - Derrick speaks to the parents, but ends up arguing with them.
Episode 5 - Derrick gets revenge and secretly takes the youths football while there playing very loudly outside his house.
Episode 6 - The youths break into Derricks house, breaking all his valuables.
Episode 7 - Derrick calls the police but no actions taken as they have no proof thats it was the youths.
Episode 8 - Derrick sets traps around his house to stop the youths.
Episode 9 - The youths, try to mess up his garden diggy holes, picking up the flowers.
Episode 10 - Youths get trapped in derricks evil ideas.
story board.
Monday 28 April 2014
The total price i would have to pay for my animation to take place would be - £67,636.
According to IMDB the most popular tv series on cartoon network is 'Adventure Time with Finn and Jake' with a rating of 8.7 and 24,961 reviews. Adventure time with Finn & Jake is an American animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventure of Finn, a human boy and his best friend and adoptive brother and a dog with magic powers. i think this tv series is aimed at young children ages 5-10 the reason i think this is because it will make younger children laugh.
Ed, Edd and Eddy.
Ed, Edd and Eddy is a Canadian - American animated comedy television series created by Danny Antonucci. The series was designed to resemble classic cartoons from the 1940's to the 1970's, and revolves around three teenagers. the first episode premiered on Cartoon network on january 4, 1999. I think this tv series is aimed at teenagers around 13-16, i think this because the viewers around this age can relate to the characters.
The three most successful animated features in box office
2013. - Frozen - Monsters university- Turbo
2010. - Tangled - Despicable me - Toy story
Charlie the unicorn.
Charlie the Unicorn is a flash animated short film. directed, produced, animated and written by Jason Steele of independent film companyFilmCow. The sort film is about the life of charlie who is a unicorn, and two other unicorns who bring him on a magical adventure to the 'Candy Mountain'
Tv shows: Animated tv shows such as South park, Simpsons, Family Guy are mainly aimed at the teenage market. Most of the animated tv shows are there to entertain otherwise these programmes wouldn't be watched. Web series: Animated videos on the web are mainly for teenagers, such as the asdf movie, its adult comedy. A single episode on the web is called a webisode. Feature films: Feature films is a film also called a movie or motion picture. A feature films runs for 40 mins or longer, no less.
'Character design is a combination of physical traits and narrative.' 'The look of the character has to be informed by the personality and the context.' 'A face is the primary channel to to express emotion of a person.' - Colman. - (Hence the many big headed cartoon characters.) A lot can be said in the posture and body language
Solarski:
Hands are an effective way in expressing personality. How a character carries their weight also informs us about personality - particularly which body part they lead with.
Chest - confidence, strength, heroic (Pop eye on spinach) Pelvis - lazy, laid back, (Goofy, Shaggy) Head - implies intelligence Knees - cowardice
Power and dominance revolve around expanding:
Power - take space up and expand Weakness - making small, taking less space
Dr Heinz Doofenschmirtz, although he is the villain, is known to be quite cowardly and pathetic at points. (Leads with knees)
Pop eye, when on spinach, shows extreme strength, ambition and confidence. (Leads with chest)
Phineas is known for being intelligent and coming up with creative and original ideas. (Leads with head)
Goofy is known for being lazy, and slow (Leads with pelvis)
The BBFC is an in dependent, non-governmental body which has classified in cinema films, providing age rating such as U, PG and 12A. BBFC are a designated body which means they have the legal powers to rate films and even cut or reject work.
History.
The BBFC was created in 1912, this was created by a group of members of the film industry, as they rather manage their own censorship instead of the national or local government to do it for the. This begin on the 1st January 1913. The object was to create a company which could make their own judgements that were acceptable nationally, for this to go ahead the BBFC needed to earn the trust of the Parliament, the press and the public. It wanted to make sure all the films, were checked on behalf of the whole country.
The current Council membership consist of….
Graham Lee, Steve Jaggs, Sonita Alleyne, Maggie Carver, Joanna Shaw and Jonathan Teckman.
Ratings.
The BBFC rate the films before they are released in the cinemas, today there are five different ratings for films.
- U
- PG
- 12A
- 15
- 18
The rating for U and PG is that anyone can go and see these films. PG is a rating so your parents or cares can think about weather this film is suitable for you, this is if you are younger then 8 or 9 years of age. The rating for 12A means your must be older then 12 to go and see them unless you have an adult with you.
Local councils who are still in charge of the cinemas around the whole country have grew to accept the BBFC's decisions, even though from this day for the films shown in our cinemas, the council still have to power to ignore the decisions made by the BBFC and can make or change different ratings for the films.
Legal.
The BBFC have no legal power, the films have to be submitted for classifications to the council who have the final say for the certificates. councils may impose their own conditions either raising or lowering the entry age, before the 1985 there were no legal rating on films releases.
Coraline.
BBFC guidelines for junior categories notes that PG have some scary moments, Coraline arrived at the BBFC with a PG rating as it is based around a children's book, and it is a stop motion animated film. At PG the BBFC guidelines allow some elements of horror as long as it meets the criteria which is there is not to many frightening scenes, and that they are not to intense. The film has to have a positive and reassuring outcome for the BBFC to consider it as a PG.
Not all parents agreed with the PG classification for Coraline, however some even wrote to the BBFC to complain that their children has been scared by the film. Some even had to leave to cinema.
A film with a PG rating is described by the BBFC -
‘General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children. Unaccompanied children of any age may watch. A PG film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. However, parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger or more sensitive children.’
For my character design i have been looking at a fat farmer. i had been looking at the outfits that farmers would wear and finding out the sterotyipcal personalities that farmers would have. While looking at the farmer have decided to change my idea, thought this project i know i will be changing my ideas a lot so i decided to write down every change i make.
Instead of an old farmer i will be designing an old man, this old man will have the same features as the farmer such as a round body with big arms and legs.
These are sketches i drew for ideas of my character, i decided to draw one fat and small and the other tall and thin this is just to experiment to help me decided what i prefer.
The feed back i got given was helpful, because i knew what worked well and what didn't, with the help of hannah who review'd my ideas.
For all my ideas the feedback i got back was all positive, i didn't get any negative criticism. The feedback is helpful as i know i can use any one of my three ideas and they will work.
Monday 24 March 2014
Sunday 16 March 2014
Dot animation process.
Dot is an stop frame animation advert to advertise Nokia new phone.
The new phones allows owners to capture images of microscopic footage. The reason behind the animation dot is to show the new piece of technology, the makes of the advert were Aardman. Aardman to the challenge of creating the worlds smallest stop frame animation. Firstly they made a small model called dot standing at only 9mm. She was made on a 3D printer and was then painted under a microscope. As dot was really small they made 3 different replacements for each pose incase she was to brake, there was 50 different poses. Each model of Dot was stuck to thin rod of wire, which abled the creators to move her around. Once the filming was all done in the post production meeting a black plate was used digitally to remove the wire from the frame. The set was a flat table, the phone was placed directly above the set. Roughly it would take one made a whole day to film only 4 seconds.
Peppa Pig
Peppa pig is a british preschool animated television series.
Peppa pig was created on a piece of software called CelAction 2D, this programme can produce dimensional animations. This programme is also very easy for animators to get used to and only takes a couple of weeks to learn how to use it. To create one episode takes roughly a week to make, with the help of 30 members. The creators start with storyboards to get an idea of what the episode will contain.
South Park
South Park started with storyboards, and design department which is were every idea, joke and character is captured. A script is wrote and the camera shots planned. The creators get an hour per page.
Once drawn the character a side, back and birds eye view image would have to be created. When the characters are designed they are sent of to be lipsinked, this makes the character look the same but makes there mouth moves to look like they are talking. other features of the characters are also moved such as arms, legs, head and body.
1. Idea, Brief, Treatment and Production planning.
This is the pre production phase, first you have one idea then have a written treatment to sell the project, write a script then pitch the concept, once this is all done you can start putting your crew together.
2. Concept Design.
Concept design normally starts during the pre production phase. This is the first stage of design, giving enough time to experiment with characters.
3. Storyboarding.
The director works closely with the artist who design the storyboard, this is so the director can visualise the script and tell the story. The storyboard will be revised and able to be changed if and when its needed. The easy the storyboard is, the easier the production process will be.
4. Production design and visual development.
The production designer will develop the style of the production. They will also create the final design for the characters. Most of the design will be drawn, even if the final animation technique is different.
5. Recording the dialogue.
The producer and director will cast the voices and the director will be there for the recording session. The script will be voiced over all in one session if possible. However some producers like to work with the actors individually and assembling the dialogue.
6. building models and rigging.
When the design has been approved modellers will copy the drawings and start building models of the characters and enviroment. Riggers will create a moving skeleton or structure before the models can be animated this is done to provide working parts which allows the animator to move the model.
7. Layout and Animatics.
The purpose of the layouts is to stage every scene and camera set up. Layout are created based on the storybook and previous approved design material, such as Camera movements, Visual information about the back and character action.
8.Animation.
Animation starts when the layout is approved. The director and animator will assign scenes to animators who produce the images which create the illusion of movement, there can be just on animator depending on how big the project is.
9.Final background and colouring.
In 2D, the colour in the background ban be produced form the layout onwards, they reflect the production designs. In stop frame the set will have been made before the animation could even start. In 2D paper animation this is normally scanned and cleaned up on the computer before colouring using several software packages.
10.Light and compositing
A crucial stage in the creative process is the lighting. Compositing is applied to all techniques of animation. this is also the point at which visual elements are included in animation, background, and effects to the final image.
11. Post Production
The music will be recorded while the post production is happening. After this the sound effects are added to the final soundtrack. the digital picture and the soundtrack are then combine, then can be output to broadcast or onto a film
The History of Pixar. The company we know today was formed after Steve Jobs bought the computer graphics division of George Lucas's company 'Lucas film' in 1986, founding Pixar.
Prior to this, George Lucas's original idea behind his Lucasfilm computer division and graphics department was to create state- of - the - art computer technology for the film industry. The Vice President of Lucasfilm computer graphics group, Ed Catmull then became the chief technical officer at the newly formed Pixar where he was one of the key developers of the RenderMan rendering system used in films such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo.
In 1983 while working at Lucasfilm, Ed Catmull met up with an old friend John Lasseter, whilst they were both visiting a computer graphics conference in Longbeach, California. After this chance meeting and before the day was out, John Lasseter had agreed to work with Ed Catmull at Lucasfilm in the computer graphics group, which resulted in their first computer animated short film 'The adventures of Andre & Wally B' which was completed in 1984.
In 1986 after Steve Jobs purchased Lucasfilm computer graphics group from George Lucas, the company then employed a total of 44 people including Ed Catmull as Chief Technical Officer and John Lasseter as an Executive Producer, overseeing all of Pixars films and other projects.
Over the next three years Pixar went on to create short films, such as Red's Dream, Tin Toy and Knick Knack. Tin Toy went on to receive the first Academy award for a computer generated movie.
The next big step Pixar happened in 1991, when Disney and Pixar announced an agreement to make at least one computer generated movie. In 1995 the first computer generated movie was released, this was 'Toy Story'. In 1998 'A bugs life' was then made. In the year 2006 Pixar was bought by the Walt Disney Company.
As previously mentioned Pixar have made numerous short films. The Pixar we know today are known for big production blockbuster animated movies of the family and children movie genre such as, Toy story, Cars, Finding Nemo, Monsters inc and many more. These movies tend to be very uplifting, often making the viewer look back on their own happiest childhood memories and fantasies, often with wonderful characters that children and adults alike can relate to. My own personal favorite is The Toy Story trilogy because, it reminds me of the bonds between me and my toys as a child, some which i still have and others which are sadly long gone. Of how Andy grew up, went to school, then on to college as i have done.
In 1996 at the 68th academy awards Toy Story was presented the Academy Special Achievement Award for the best animated feature film, as a result of Pixar's development and techniques, making it possible for the first feature length computer animated film. Since then academy award winners have included Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Rattouille, WALL-E, Up, Toy Story 3, Brave and most recently Frozen.
In more recent times Pixar have branched into advertising, creating adverts such the new Sky Fibre Broadband television advert.
The style of Pixar animation tends to include very bold bright colours, everything we see on the screen is pleasing to the eye, from the characters, to the entire worlds created. This is done while trying to keep a real sense of reality and believability. The characters are often voiced by well known actors to emphasise this. The worlds created by Pixar such as landscapes, the oceans, lakes and rivers are all a result of Pixars advances in animation techniques. Pixars development of the rendering system Renderman has allowed animators to create realistic textures such as skin, hair and fur, light and shade, water with realistic reflection and movement, and given animators much more freedom than just a flat image. Renderman is now available buy as a tool for private animators for colleges/universities, advertising companies and also offered as lessons in rendering.
