Revised Ident

The improved ident after today's feedback from the screening.

Improvement needed: There needs to be a better transition from the logo in the water to the main title as it just cross faded between the two with no real relation to the animation part of the ident.

Resolution: I made the logo in the water become the 'F' in the main title before it fades away to the real 'Falmouth' title. I also altered the camera so it zoomed in to the logo placing it already on the left hand side of the screen where the title would appear. I did additionally make the logo move itself slightly into position instead of the camera move doing it all for me but I did need to do this in order for the logo and the title to morph together.

Animation Ident

Here is the finished Ident including sound effects.

I found this to be one of the most enjoyable projects I've done so far, possibly because I had more freedom in terms of the content of the animation. The theme relates to the Cornwall area as well, being a fishing town and I could say the colour scheme fits too as I'm yet to see a perfect summer's day!
If I have time to re-work some improvements into the piece, I would say it needs splashes from the fish and the rod hitting the water. However the animation feels very theatrical as the water moves in layers and as entire pieces instead of singular waves so the inclusion of waves could possibly make it less like a theatre production. But I have seen productions where ripped up pieces of paper or cloth have been used to replicate splashes so if I have time I might follow the same technique and use singular shapes to portray this effect.
In terms of the animation, some sections are purposely meant to not have any overlap, such as when he's chasing his rod because I wanted more emphasis to be on the pauses to give a better suggestion of emotion. I wanted to depict that feeling we get when the faster certain events unfold the slower we process what's happening, hence his long pause after he's lost his rod as he's still thinking through what just happened.

sound effects courtesy of freesfx.co.uk

Ident Animatic

Below are the thumbnail sketches of the animatic. Most of the left page was actually taken out of the final animatic because it didn't fit into the 10 second block. However after putting everything together the ident wouldn't have needed the shots I had planned anyway. What I wanted to preserve more than anything was the timing, the most important pauses being when he's trying to hold on to the rod as he pulls back and the moment after he's lost his rod before he notices the dark shadow rising out of the water.

Pencil thumbnails- Frames 2-6 were taken out for the final animatic.

Final animatic (Or first draft of the animatic)

Ident Concepts

The purpose of an ident is to help the audience identify a brand or channel. For example the idents for E4 or channel 4 are there to remind you what channel you're watching.
My job is to create an ident for the university.

-It has to be between 6-10 seconds (average duration of an ident)
- No dialogue (As there's usually a narrator voicing over the ident about the upcoming programme)
- Usually is accompanied with sound or sound effects.

 I was originally inspired by the ending to an anime I was watching before I altered my thought process. Below is the original inspiration. (Anime: Zero no Tsukaima (The Familiar of Zero))

 

I liked it because it still incorporated my experimental style of cutouts and it had been set out like a stage production. Everything was simple and a style like this would be easy to reproduce into an animation. The only aspect that halted this idea was the fact that I felt I had to come up with a story that centred around two characters. However with 10 seconds as a maximum duration it's almost impossible to deliver a good storyline.

 

 

I've now ended up keeping even closer to the original silhouette style than I originally expected. It's monochromatic but I think shapes are better defined if one colour is used. It also has aspects of a story which revolves around a boy who's out fishing, hooks something but loses his rod. As he looks over the side of the boat he sees a shadow emerging from the waters depths revealing the university logo.

Inspirational picture that drove me away from a cutout theatre- simple shapes create a good impact.

 

 

Below are the concepts I've created so far. (Both done in Photoshop)

 

 

Long Shot- Establishing the setting. This will be the opening shot.

 

 

Boy looks over the boat to see the logo rising from the depths. The camera will tilt down and pan up from this shot so the logo looks as it should on the webpage.

 

It's a very simple design and shouldn't take too long to do. I plan to use either Flash or Toon Boom to create it because a) it's going to be 2D and b) I plan to create it in the same way I did the lip sync animation in Flash by splitting the body apart so I can create basic body movement.