Head poping out of box

This is an animated gif file of a box lid opening with an object popping out of the box and then falling back in into the box with the box lid closing after.I orginally made this with the lid closing much slower but then I decided to make it close much faster to give the impression that it was slaming back down.

Part 2 of the storyboard of the Secret Agent, Martial Arts Expert and The Company

This is part 2 of the Storyboard of my story.

Scene 7 shows Ben explaining the situation that he is in to Ti Ching saying that The Company is going to start a war.

Scene 8 shows Ti Ching shocked saying that we have to stop them.

Scene 9 shows Ben and Ti Ching running to The Company HQ. They are both saying "Lets kick some ass!"

Scene 10 shows The Company officials realising that Ben and Ti are on their way to destroy The Company.

Scene 11 shows Ben and Ti heading towards the HQ of The Company and The Company thugs running out of the building to fight the duo off. The battle is witnessed by The Company officials.

Scene 12 shows Ben and Ti as the victors in this battle with the HQ of The Company in ruins.

Part 1 of the storyboard of Secret Agent, Martial Arts Experts and The Company

This is part 1 of the storyboard of my story.

Scene 1 shows Ben - the Secret Agent dreaming of peace in a world where the USA and USSR are enemies in the Cold War.

Scene 2 shows Ben on assignment in Paris where he learns of an organisation called The Company who are trying to pressure the USA and USSR to go to war against each other.

Scene 3 shows Ben thinking that without The Company there would be peace in the world.

Scene 4 shows Ben walking to the gym to meet Ti Ching - a martial arts expert who he believes can help him in his quest to bring down The Company and destroy it.

Scene 5 shows Ti Ching practising his moves in a gym.

Scene 6 shows Ben greeting Ti Ching.

Secret Agent character drawing

This is the main character (the secret agent) in my story. Views shown are front and right side.

Scene 2

This is a picture of how scene 2 will look like.

Story of the Secret Agent, Martial Art Expert and The Company

Theme: Epic slice of life
Main characters: Ben – Withdrawn Secret Agent
Ti Ching – Overworked Martial Arts Expert
Setting: Paris
Major Event: Dream

Preliminary Story

Ben is a Secret Agent in the Cold War and dreams of peace in the world. While on assignment in Paris, Ben learns that there is an organisation called ‘The Company’ which is pressuring the USA and USSR to go to war with each other. Ben thinks that without The Company there will be peace between the two nations.

So he enlists the help of Martial Arts Expert, Ti Ching, to take down The Company. They then team up and head to the HQ of The Company. The Company realises the threat to their grand plan and so send out there henchmen to stop the duo. The henchmen then get killed by Ben and Ti and the duo then destroy the HQ of The Company!



I may use this as one of my ideas for the animatic and might even develop it more.

Pros and Cons of Toonboom and Flash

Toonboom

Pros

- There is more workspace available to use than Flash.
- It has the familiar feel of traditional animation i.e. pen to paper.

Cons

- It takes some getting used to if you haven’t used the software before.
- You have to adjust some settings in Quicktime, which can be a minor annoyance when viewing your animations.


Flash

Pros

- Easier to adjust and get used to than Toonboom.
- Industry standard animation tool.

Cons

- Quite a big price tag attached to it.
- Some features are useless especially ones in later versions of Flash.

Basically Toonboom is more suited to tradition animation creation because users have to draw objects by themselves and the storyboard function looks the same as it would on paper.

Boy with balloon at bus stop scene

This is a scene which has been drawn in an animatic form from the storyboard seen below.

The scene is of a boy with his balloon at a bus stop and then being told that he can't bring the balloon onto the bus.

Deconstructing - The Red Balloon

Plot

This story is about a boy that finds a balloon and starts to play with it and treat it as a friend. This friendship goes through tough times as the boy is forced to leave his new friend outside the bus to school, the school and his house because balloons are not allowed inside these places.

Characters

The janitor, the boy's mother, schoolkids, the boy and the balloon.

Location

At his house, at school, in an alleyway and at the railway yard.

Dialogue

No dialogue apart from some inaudible conversations

Sound

There are different soundtracks for the different scenes, mainly used to emphasize different moods i.e. when the balloon is annoying the janitor in the story a mischievious soundtrack is played. You can also hear street sounds etc. i.e. sounds of a bus moving off.

Treatment

The colours in the film are washed out and most of the objects are greyed out with only limited colours shown. The red of the balloon and blue colours of the boy's clothes are the colours that stand out and the ones that are not washed out. This emphasizes the characters of the film.

If I were to direct this film again, I would place more emphasis on the characters involved in the action so that they stand out more from the other characters in the scene.

The Red Balloon Storyboard Part 3

This is the 3rd and final part of the storyboard.

The penultimate scene shows the boy and his balloon on a hill just above a railway yard.

Scene 10, the final one, shows the end credits.

The Red Balloon Storyboard Part 2

This is part 2 of 'The Red Balloon' storyboard.

Scene 5 shows the boy head back home later on in the day.

Scene 6 shows the boy with his mother. The mother upon seeing the balloon says that no balloons are allowed inside.

Scene 7 shows the mother throwing the balloon out of the window.

Scene 8 shows the boy and the balloon later on being chased by a group of schoolkids.

The Red Balloon Storyboard Part 1

This is part 1 of a storyboard that I have created of the events that happen in a film called 'The Red Balloon'

Scene 1 is of a boy noticing a balloon tied to a lamppost. He then unties it and makes it his new found friend.

Scene 2 is of the boy and the balloon making their way to school.

Scene 3 is where the boy is told that balloons are not allowed on the school bus so he walks instead.

Scene 4 is where the boy arrives at school late and is told by the janitor that balloons are not allowed inside.

Man being chased by Police

These are a few sketches showing a man being chased by the police, jumping into a car and then being chased again.

This idea carries on from the animation I made in 1st year - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbSbRu9wI5M. This will be part of an alternate ending where the robber keeps on running away from the policeman and uses different methods to get away from him i.e. steal a car.

Man punching other man

This is an animation of a man punching another man.

This scene is part of another idea of a story where a man is caught sleeping with another man's wife and so the other man punches him and beats him up etc etc.

Boat sailing across screen

This is a .gif file of an animation of a boat sailing across the screen.

Man taking hat off

This is a stick man taking off his hat and then putting it back on.

[Note this is a .gif file so you have to click on the picture to play it.]