Flash induction

Aww yiiis. We finally had a Flash induction. But it wasn't as informative as I hoped. We were introduced to the basic tools and motion tween. That's about it. Most people didn't like the programme but in defence of Flash it has more to it than that. Flash has masks like Photoshop. symbols that are really useful if you want to work quicker, also there are lots of commands you can use (though I'm not fully introduced to them, I hope to learn how to use them), also you can make buttons. Without the Motion Tween theres also Classic motion tween (let's you move things from point A to point B instead of drawing or moving it every single frame. Also there's Shape tween, which lets you turn one object into another. Actually I used the Shape tween to make this-

So overall, I would say the induction wasn't very useful, because it did not cover all he great assets Flash has.

Classical Elements: part two

Looking at my previously posted storyboard I realised that it is too long. So decided to round it up, because there was no way I could put all that in 20 seconds. So what I did was, I took out the middle part of the story and went straight to the point which is watering the flower. I'm really sad that I had to take out so much of the storyboard because I felt like it was a really good story.
Well anyway, I made a new storyboard and refined it a bit:

But there are still a few details I'm not sure about, for instance, if there should be any colour involved. However one thing I am sure about- the technique I'll use to make it- classic hand drawn pose-to-pose. I really liked it when we were trying it out back in the Animation skills module so I decided to pick that up and try to apply what we already learned.
After the storyboard was done, I went on making the animatic-

After receiving some feedback I decided to change the animatic a bit by extending the tween on the cloud while it reaches the flower and the zooming out shot when it water the flower. I'm also considering making the cloud grey, just so it could empty out like a cup while watering the flower and pop like a bubble when it's empty, because it might translate better the idea of the cloud sacrificing itself.

Classical Elements: part one

We were recently briefed with the new module called Animation:Process and Production. Basically the purpose of the module is to develop an understanding of the animation process and and practising it. We were given a task to create a short 2d narrative using one of the four classical elements- water, fire, wind and earth. We were introduced to the stages of creating an animated piece- pre-production, production and post production.
Shortly after the briefing we started researching and generating ideas. to be honest, ideas did not come easy to me so I decided to research all four elements. I chose water because I found a quote by Bruce Lee that really inspired me- “You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.” It really made me thing about the fact that water is so versatile in the sense that it adapts to anything. It can change shape, form, consistency, it can travel. In a way life constantly changes everything around you and all you can do is adapt, juts like water. If you do so you just might find your way and purpose. So I came with the idea of personifying water and making it go through a journey, adapting to to what ever comes in its way and in the end finding out what it's true purpose is- it's giving life.
So my next step was thinking of the processes water goes through for instance: water+heat=boil=steam=cloud+cold=snow=icicle+melt=puddle, so that was basically the basis for the narrative.

When the water is first poured in a cup its happy the way it is, but all of sudden a flame appears and makes the water boil and as a result steaming out of the cup and turning into a cloud. The cloud isn't happy with the changes but the it realises that it can travel around, what it could't do when it was in a cup. Ads the cloud travels, it gets cold and starts snowing, it ends up becoming an icicle that gets picked up by a kid. The kid starts licking the icicle and the icicle melts into a puddle. The puddle is angry with the kid so it turns back into a cloud and tries hit the kid with lightning.  The amused cloud continues to travel and discovers a wilted flower. The cloud then decides to sacrifice it self to flower by watering it and therefore giving life.

Here is a rough storyboard: