Federico+Bizzaro+Unit+3

This is my unit 3 work Animation __** Unit Title: How Am I Changing? **__ __** Investigation Stage: **__ Over the years I have changed physically in many ways, I have grown a lot taller from when I was a young child, with the height I also got a lot heavier from when I was younger. With these growths I have also gotten stronger and have a more developed muscle stature than when I was a child. I have also grown a different hairstyle from when I was small; my hair is a bit longer than before. Overall I am a very different size then when I was young.
 * What development and changes do people go through? **
 * Physical changes: **
 * Height
 * Weight
 * Hair
 * Muscle stature
 * Size
 * Mental c hanges : **

Also over the years of school that have passed I have developed a lot more mentally than when I was younger, I have a lot broader knowledge now than I had a couple of years ago. I also have a more understanding conscience and I am now able to understand if I made a mistake better than a couple of years ago. My reasoning has also developed because now I can handle something like: money where as a child I might have not been able to conserve it and might have used it all in a day. Finally my understanding of the world around us has also grown because now I can actually follow the news and understand more things that as a child I would not have been able to.
 * Knowledge
 * Conscience
 * Reasoning
 * Understanding
 * Lifestyle: **

Over the years another of the main things that has changed about me is also my lifestyle, the amount of homework is a bit more than when I was a child and will be increasing or the years as my lifestyle keeps changing. I also have a different amount of free time because of occupations like homework or sports that as a child I had less of. Mainly also now my interests have also changes, where before I would just play outside know I use more gadgets such as laptops and IPad's that as I child I did not have.
 * Amount of homework
 * Amount of free time
 * Interests
 * Gadgets

The problem is that we must create an animation to show the ways we have changed physically or mentally throughout the years. In this animation we must also be able to show how these changes have affected our awareness towards the environment and how they have affected us in the society. This is so because it will help to represent a person's life and the changes they go through. This will be made for teenagers mainly since they haven't lived their whole life yet and it can help show things that they might go through. The whole project with the creation stage will be due on the 8/3/13.
 * The problem: **


 * Design Specifications: **
 * The product must be able to represent the changes that I have gone through physically
 * It must be an animation made from Macromedia Flash
 * The product must have been appropriately made following my plan
 * Must have a background that moves
 * Must have at least 5 layers
 * Must be at least 15 seconds long
 * Must play at 12 frames per second

**__ History of Animation __** Animation is a recording of an imagine that goes through changes over time so that it shows motion, before films were invented animations were made through static art. Static art is when you draw several pictures that portray movement for example someone jumping, in the first picture there would be a person bending his knees ready to jump. Then the second picture they would be starting to lift of the ground, in the third one they would be in the air and in the fourth one they would be coming back down and then landing. This portrays movement because by looking at these pictures you can imagine how the person or thing would actually move. This was animation at its simplest stage and is nothing like to what we can have today. This is an example of what static art would look like. Before the motion picture was invented there were all sorts of machines that would be able to display a sort of animation. In 1650 there was the magic lantern, it was similar to the projectors that we have and use now a days. It had a translucent oil painting which would be the imagine you project, then a lens in front of that and an oil lamp inside which would make the light to display the picture. In these magic lanterns you would also be able to have moving parts which would make the imagine look like it was moving and create an animations. They had to be used in dark rooms so that you could actually see them nicely and they worked best. Later in 1824 during the Victorian era they invented the Thaumatrope, in it there is a circular piece of card with different drawings on each side. Then there is a piece of string attached on each side of it so that when you twirl the strings they make the imagine look like its moving which represents an animation. It is a very simple form of animation and now a days it is mainly used by children as a toy.
 * Tests for the product: **
 * To check this I can make sure that at the start of the animation I am a baby then get to normal size at the end
 * Make sure that I use the same program as written in the design specifications which is Flash MX
 * It must be 15 seconds long so I will have to make sure that it is by always checking its length and that there are 180 frames so that I don't do too much or too little
 * To make sure it has 5 layers I will check that there is a variety of different things so not just 5 stick men to make it have 5 good layers
 * I must make sure that the background changes as I get older so that it is counted as a moving background



In 1834 the Zoetrope was invented. The Zoe trope was a long a long cylinder that spun with many frames of animation printed on the inside of the cylinder. On the higher part of the cylinder there are vertical slits where the viewers can watch from, as the cylinder spins the material between the viewing slits spins in the opposite direction of the images so that it creates a moving effect of animation.



Later in 1868 the flip book was invented. The flip book is a very simple method of portraying animation; it is usually a book with many pages though not bigger than a person's hand. On each page there must be drawn a different image of movement, for example on the first page there is a picture of a man running; then on the second page there would be the same man but one step forward and so on. Then you must flip through the pages quickly going through each of them so that the different images showed in motion will create a sense of movement which is a simple animation.

These were all of the simple animations which didn't include a lot of electronics. As computers were invented and become more advanced people started to create simple programs on them. Now people didn't need to use flip books or Zoetrope's to create animation, they could simply use their computer and programs on it to make better animations. Also since the motion picture was invented you are now able to create films or cartoons simply that are made out of total animation. These are now very popular and improvements like adding 3D are being made to them through the years.

Animation Software There are hundreds of different animation software's, going from free simple ones that can easily be downloaded to $3000 expert ones that if it's not your job to create animations then you wouldn't use it. One of the common ones is Flash MX; it is quite simple and can be downloaded easily. It is used to create 2D animations that you can draw or add images to animate. This program is good mainly because it's easy to use and is free. If you're looking for more advanced software and would pay then a very good one is Illusion Mage. Illusion Mage is a 3D animation program where you can re-create basically everything, starting from a human face to a building of any sort. The good thing about this program is that it isn't like the typical 3D animation program which is impossible to use and needs a lot of practice and time to learn. It is more simple and as good as the others though comes with a price, it costs over $3000 and if it's not for your job then you wouldn't spend that much money on it. Though I think that I'm going to just use Flash MX for my create stage since it's the animation program that I know how to use best and is very simple to use. Also since it is the program that we were taught I already know how to use it well which will give me an advantage for the rest of the unit.

Storyboarding  Story boarding is when you create a sense of motion in a story by making different panels of pictures that are linked to each other. For example a simple storyboard about swimming would look like this; the first panel would have the swimmer on the edge of the pool ready to jump in for the race. Then the next panel might have the swimmer just touching the water during his dive, then the next one would be him maybe in the middle of the pool and the last one would be of him touching the wall to finish the race. Storyboards can easily be longer or shorter depending on the topic or the task mainly. Usually storyboards are used to create the sense of motion without actually having any since they are just sets of pictures. Though when I create the story board for my design stage I will mainly be using paint to draw out the pictures and then putting then into Word in a table. Animation Skills There are many skills needed in animation, like in everything else there are better people for it and not so good people at creating animation. To be able to create good and well done animations you'll need these things: you must be very creative so that you are able to create well though and more advanced animation. You also need to have quite a good memory to remember all of the steps needed to create animations or will need to practice regularly so that you don't get rusty. Though the main thing is that you need computer skills, you could be very creative and have a good memory but not know how to use a computer nicely; this will make it very hard for you to create any sort of animations on computers then. Though you can still be able to create animations such as flip books etc.

References Wikipedia, "History of Animation", Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_animation, accessed on 14th January 2013.

Illusion Mage Review, "Illusion Mage User Review", available from: [], accessed 20th January 2013.

Wikipedia, "Freshly Cut Grass", Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Freshly_Cut_Grass_-_geograph.org.uk_-_181924.jpg, accessed on 14th January 2013.

Picky Wallpapers, "Download 1920-1080 Sunset Wallpaper", Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Freshly_Cut_Grass_-_geograph.org.uk_-_181924.jpg, accessed 14th January 2013.

Digital Products Review, "Illusion Mage Review", Available from: http://digitalgoods.maxupdates.tv/illusion-mage-review/, accessed on 23rd January 2013. Animations Walking stick man animation: media type="file" key="Looped Pic Movie.swf" width="330" height="330"

This is the moving text animation: media type="file" key="Moving Text Movie.swf" width="330" height="330"

This is the morphing picture animation: media type="file" key="Morphing imagine movie.swf" width="330" height="330"

Design Design 1:



Scene 1: This will be the start of the animation where the person is a baby; it will include a stickman drawing of the person. It will also include some text which will be talking about the age, the year it was and if the person was in school or not. In the picture it’ll have the stick drawing of a baby and also some pictures like the toys baby’s play with etc. The picture of the baby will then morph into the picture of the next age and scene two will come in.

Scene 2: This will be the second scene where there will be a picture of a toddler and the toys. Such as Lego’s or the toys story toys and any other toy that I might add in later. The pictures such as the Lego car will move around and the Woody picture will have an animation and the toddler will move his hands and head. Then the picture of the child will morph into the next picture in scene three.

Scene 3: This is the third scene were the person is now a teenager. The picture in the middle will always stay in the same place so that every time the images morph into the next scene they won’t change position. This scene will include a stickman teenager holding a PS3 remote showing that now he places video games, also a football to show that he does more sport and a party to show that he goes out more than before. Scene 4: In this scene the person is in his late twenties. At the moment he graduated from university and has found a job so he is very busy, this is why there is the graduation hat and the briefcase with the computer. The scene will have the usual morphing picture in the middle then it will have the stick man drawing talking on the phone a moving his briefcase around. Then there also be his computer on where he will have many work email notifications that he has to look at. Scene 5: This is the second last scene where the person is an old man now. This will have the usual morphing picture showing the man in his late twenties becoming an old man. Then there is a stickman picture showing the old man walking slowly with the walking stick, then there will be the newspaper opening and closing which shows that now the main activity that the old man does is reading. Then in the corner there is the Will representing that he knows he will die soon. Scene 6: This is the last slide where the man has passed away. The picture will morph into a coffin from the picture of the old man that was there before. On the slide there are also grave stones that will have a shadow that slightly moves to create a spooky effect.

Overall I liked this design and feel that it went well, I followed the task specifications. In my product I was able to represent the changes that person goes through over time, such as interests, physic and the overall change in lifestyle. It was a simple design and includes just pictures morphing to show the person getting older and the stickman growing in size and changing. Though I did not pic this as my final design because I found that it was one that would be too common and didn't seem to be the most creative I could make but I still found that it was a good idea. Now I moved on to the next idea and made the second design. Design 2:

Scene 1: In this scene there will be a drawing of a baby sleeping in a cradle. There will be a thought bubble coming from his head where it will show the things in his life and his thoughts. Since at this stage the person is only a baby its main thoughts are about toys, food and his mother. The baby won’t really move much but the images in the though bubble will be moving around and seem like they are alive. The design being like this represents what the life of the baby would be like by showing its thoughts.

Scene 2: In this scene the baby will grow and become a toddler or young child, as the baby grows the bed also gets bigger slightly. This scene will have the toddler sleeping and there will be the thought bubble coming from his head. It will mainly have toys because at that age children usually start to become more interested in the world around them and are more curious about toys. In this scene the pictures in the though bubble will be the ones that are going to move around in his thoughts.

Scene 3: In this scene the child has grown to be a teenager who is now in his last years of school. Here the bed has changed to a normal bed not like the one before and has become longer to fit the size of the teenager. At this point it shows how the interests in the though bubble have changed for example more sport and technology have come in. Also the party hat because it is more common for teens to go to parties than toddlers. Same as the other scenes the images in the though bubble will move around and be animated.

Scene 4: In this scene the teen will have grown to an older man in around his late thirties, now the person has grown from being a teenager and has very different interests. In the thought bubble there is the Ipad with notes representing that he’s is thinking of work more and the computer showing emails that he needs to read. His thoughts have now become mainly about work and about the past for example the graduation hat represent the days that he misses of his college years. The images in his thoughts will be moving around and will be the animation part of the scene.

Scene 5: In this scene the man has grown old and is starting to be close to the end of his days. In this scene the man thinks of his wife that might have passed away or how much he’ll miss her when he dies, it depend on what the viewer thinks for that. Then it also shows his Will showing that he is starting to think about the things he will pass down to his children and what he’ll give to who. Also the gravestone which shows that he understands that he is nearing death. The animated parts of this will be the images in the thoughts and the transitions of every scene.

Scene 6: This scene will include a picture of a gravestone representing that now he has passed away and from the grave there will be a though bubble. The thought bubble isn’t from him but is more to show his memories such as the baby toys and when he played sports etc. All of these things in his thoughts will move around and make movements that seem real.

I liked my second design more and found it more creative than the first, I followed the design requirements needed for it and made sure it represented how I person changes over time. I like the idea that the person's life was shown through their thoughts or dreams and how you could see the person changing but actually never see them awake. In the design it also shows the persons interests or activities through the thought bubble which could help show the things that were important to him at that age. Though I did not chose this as my final design because I found that since the stickman wouldn't be moving the only animations were the images in the thought bubble and they didn't really move a lot. It wouldn't include enough animation in it to get the higher grades in the creation stage. Design 3:

Scene 1: The first scene will show a baby who has just learnt how to walk so he is still holding his mother’s hand. There will be toys that he plays with moving with him to show the things he likes and does at this simple stage of life. At the moment he is still very dependent of his mother and needs her always around to move around. The animated parts will be the boy and his mother walking plus the toys that will follow them as they walk will be moving as they normally would.

Scene 2: Now the child has grown into a toddler from being a baby and can now walk freely around. Now his mother isn’t holding his hand anymore and is a little further back almost as if she can’t keep up. This shows how now already at a young age a toddler has become less dependent of his mother but she still needs to be close by to him. Also the toys have changed and have become things such as cars or Lego. The animation part of this will be the mother and child walking plus the moving images in the background of the scene.

Scene 3: In this scene the toddler has grown to become a teenager on his last years of school and has changed a lot. Now his mother is even further back in the picture and is not able to keep up with the speed that he is growing at. Also now he has fallen in love and has found a girlfriend making his mother become a smaller part of his life since he is now more independent. Around the walking people there will be footballs moving and a PlayStation pad showing the change in interest.

Scene 4: In his scene the teenager has grown to be a man in his late thirties and has definitely changed a lot. He has grown taller and has a mustache also he is now married. At the moment his mother has passed away and what he thought had been a small part of his life actually became a huge part. He is now completely independent and has a new family. His interests have also changed to things such as work and making sure to have enough money. The animations will be them walking and the images in the background.

Scene 5: This scene will include the man at an old age and is nearing death. Now the man is in his last years of life and has completely changed from how he was when he was younger, both physically and mentally. He has lived a full life and now he is accepting death. His wife has also passed away, at the moments his main thoughts are the Will and his new nephew. The animation will be the man slowly walking and the images in the background will be moving around.

Scene 6: Now the man has reached the end of his life and has passed away. Now there isn’t a person walking anymore but just the grave as the main part of the scene. In the background there will be the memories of his life and his past for example the time he spent with his wife and the time he was a great athlete.

This was my final design and I think it was my best; I followed the design requirements and made sure it would be able to represent the changes that a person goes through over time. I found that I came up with a creative idea; this was the idea of the mum being added to the animation. I liked this because I found that it also had a deeper feeling because it showed where you needed her you wouldn't want her around but when you thought you didn't need her you actually did and would lose a large part of your life. I also like the fact that it looks like one of those evolution charts except with a person growing up, this is so because they were all walking in the same direction and grew bigger over time. I chose this as my final design since I found it the most creative. Though when I make my final animations I will add in pieces from my other two such as the thought bubble or anything that I find useful to use later on when I am making it.

Plan
 * 1) We started off with a short exercise which was part of the investigation stage; we had to create three different animations on Flash MX. The first animation would have to be of a stick man walking at least four steps then jumping and stopping. The second animation we had to make was an animation where we had to create an animation showing a name or word which would have rotating characters, rotating word characters, changing of size characters and changing of color. Then the last animation would have to be of a morphing picture. These would be due on the 25/01/13 with the rest of the investigation though was finished in a single and a double lesson which we had on the 07/01/13, 08/01/13. Later on in the Investigation we had to look into animation, animation software, story boarding and animation skills. We had a double period and a 2 single periods to work on the rest of the plan which we had on the 14/01/13, 21/01/13 and 22/01/13. Anything that was not finished would then be homework.
 * 2) Now we moved onto the design stage of the unit, started off by drawing out at least three designs for our final animation. The designs would have to be shown through a story board and made to represent the changes that a person goes through over time. This took us almost all of the lessons that we were given and would be due the 15/02/13. To make the designs I used 3 singles and a double lesson, these were on 28/01/13, 04/02/13, 05/02/13 and 11/02/13. We also had to include the explanation of our storyboard and analysis of the storyboards we made for the final designs. The plan for the unit which would include steps that describe the resources and time would also be due in on the 15/02/13, to make it I used a double lesson on the 12/02/13 and worked on it at home.
 * 3) We then have to do the creation stage which would include making our whole animations following the design and plan. This is one of the main parts of the unit and is very important like the others; we must be able to create our final design according to how we made it on our design and plan and write any changes or modifications we made. I worked on this for 2 singles and three double lessons which were on the 18/02/13, 19/02/13, 25/02/13, 26/02/13 and 05/03/13. This would be due it on the 8/03/13.
 * 4) The final stage of our unit is the evaluation stage. In this stage we must look back at the whole unit and evaluate it against the criterion it must be evaluated against the design tests and the design specifications and any add-on must be noted. This stage concludes our unit and is due in on the 15/03/13 so I have a single on 11/03/13 and a double on 12/03/13 to work on it.

Plan for Design:


 * 1) To start off with my final animation I will first draw out the main character/person. This will include him walking on the screen and when he starts growing and so on.
 * 2) The second thing that I'll work on will be the background of the whole animation. This is so because now that I have made the main character the rest of the animation can be made around him. The background will be moving or morphing with the person and changing as he grows.
 * 3) The next step will be to draw on the mother that walks with the person as he walks. I will also draw the mother moving away slowly.
 * 4) After this I'll move on to the second last part of the animation. This part will only be the thought bubble coming from the person as he walks.
 * 5) The last part that I will work on is the part that goes in the thought bubble. This part will be showing the persons thoughts and likes etc.

The change that I will do to the overall design is that I'll add in the thought bubble from my second design. I'll use the third design but with the thought bubble from the second one.

__ Creation __

media type="file" key="Final Movie of Animation 2.swf" width="363" height="363"

In my final animation I didn't include some things that were put in my design and plan. For example the mother and the changing toys as the person grew older. I didn't include the mother because it would have taken me over the deadline since she had to step in coordination with the child walking and I found that difficult to make to Flash MX. I also didn't include the toys because on Flash MX you have to draw using the mouse and I wasn't able to make them. Though if I could have been drawn on a touch pad or an external touch screen straight into Flash MX then it would have been a lot easier but that technology wasn't available. I think that I could have also made the growth changes a little smoother instead of just going from a baby to toddler, maybe he could have grown little by little until he was that height and so on. Plus the background was only the sun moving, I could have included a picture or more colorful background instead. Overall I found that everything went well and that if I were to do it again I know what I could have added or improved. Evaluation Most of my tests were mainly based on my opinion so they weren't the hardest to do. To start off with I made sure that in the start of the animation I was a baby and then grew older by just including that as I made the animation and remembering not to skip certain ages that might have been important. I was given the choice of using Scratch but I found it a bit difficult and decided to just continue with Flash MX by which I was following my design specifications. To make sure that my animation would be 15 seconds long I calculated how many frames that would be by doing 12 multiplied by 15 which equaled 180. Just to make sure I went a bit over 180 to about 190-200 frames so that it would definitely be 15 seconds. I had many layers already and didn't have to worry about having not enough layers anyway. Instead for the background I found it difficult to make it completely change so I just added the moving sun and moon which would move around the making a moving background.

I had design specifications for my overall product and have now analyzed my product against them. In my animation I was able to represent the physical changes that people go through over time, I did this by showing a person that started off as a baby then growing older and older through their life. Though I think next time it would have been better if I had added on more than one person to show more of the social life. My animation was created on Flash MX and it was the program that I found best to use. I did follow some of my plan but I didn't use it as a step to step guide of what I should be doing and when I should be doing it. I think that for next time I could really improve on my plan and make a better, more helpful plan. The background did move but only the moon, the sun and the ground slightly. I made it 15 seconds long by having more than 180 frames meaning that it did fit my design specifications. I followed most of my design specifications though think that I could have improved my plan and made sure that there were also social changes visible in my animation.


 * __ Design Stage __ ||  __ Score __  ||
 * Investigation ||  4  ||
 * Design ||  4  ||
 * Plan ||  1  ||
 * Creation ||   ||
 * Evaluation ||   ||

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