Tuesday 15 December 2015

Frequency Display

Here are just examples of each of these pieces of music in Adobe Audition, it shows the differences between each of there frequency displays. This is important for when I'm animating, as I can look at the frequency and tell exactly what the music does. When it starts, when it finishes. 


Max Richter - Ember

There's no real big change throughout this song.





Queen - We Will Rock You

This piece is very consistent throughout, it all looks very similar. The rhythm is constant throughout. 

                                         
                                           

    Richard Strauss - Also sparch zarathustra

This famous piece of music has very dramatic sections, whereas a lot of is very mellow and slow. It is able to be very powerful in the sections where there is instruments due to it being so sudden and full on.



                                      


Monday 14 December 2015

Experimenting With Sound

In this session we learnt about how we can use images that we've drawn, add it to photoshop to create a series and then add it to flash where we add a soundtrack. 


I felt like it worked incredibly well, It's a new technique I wasn't familiar with. I can see if I need to use it when I decide what I want to do.

Soundtrack Research

I know that I want to at this point in time create a animation with a lot of bass. So I researched songs that would fit what I wanted, I found that a lot of the bass I wanted was found in the intro. 

The Beatles - Come Together

This soundtrack has a great riff to it, it comes about stronger when they're aren't lyrics. 


Pink Floyd - Money

The first 20 - 30 seconds of this soundtrack is what I'm interested in, there seems to be a lot happening. But it's all very clear to hear, I can differentiate between each sound which would make it easier for me to animate.   


Queen & David Bowie - Under Pressure

This soundtrack has a nice simple iconic bass line, but maybe it's too simple? It's essentially all you can hear.I don't think this will be the deciding track.

Tuesday 8 December 2015

Storyboard Template

I wanted to keep myself on track and know what it is I'm doing, so I found the template that I will need to plan out my soundtrack project on.

Research into Animation with Soundtrack

Animating to music isn't new, many artists have experimented with this concept. Oskar Fischinger is one of them. Here are just a few example of his work. 


                                        Oskar Fischinger - Optical Poem (1938) (Film)


                                              Oskar Fischinger 'Black and Blue' 1963


                                               Oskar Fischinger 'Time Travel 2' 1949

Here are examples of both Len Lye and Norman Mclaren playing with the idea of sound with animation, 


Len Lye - Free Radicals (1958)


LenLye - Rainbow Dance

I personally think this is great, it tells a story using animation with sound, I find this idea very interesting. I feel like it could be something I look into rather than just reacting to music by using shapes etc. 


Norman Mclaren: Blinkity Blank (1955)

Unlike Rainbow dance this animation seems to just focus on how Norman Mclaren feels when he listens to the music. Which is what I feel I will do when I listen to the track I decide, but whether or not I decide to make that in to a story I will have to decide. 


Possible Audio Ideas

The first idea that came to mind was to create an animation to a soundtrack with a lot of bass, I'm a fan of daft punk and I thought that was would interesting due to their use of bass. I decided to look up just the bass for the song 'Around the World'.


Daft Punk - Around the World


Daft Punk - Around the world (Just Bass)

I wanted to get a feel for the bass, what could I do with it? What would it look like on flash? I wouldn't just use this audio due to there only being bass. 


I imagined I would be using this method on flash to show the bass guitar strings, it shows the vibration that occurs when the string is plucked. 

Audition - Experimenting


We had a quick tutorial on a programme called 'Audition', where we inserted tracks and got to grips with how to manipulate the soundtrack. This is because we will need a soundtrack for our animation, audition is one of the easier ways to produce one. 


Here is a basic look of what the software is like featuring both a multi-track, non-destructive mix/edit environment.

Flash - Experimenting


Our final sound project will be produced using flash, because of this I have been having tutorials about the basics of the software. Here are just a few examples of what I produced..

Vibrating String

Drawn Animation


Drawing Shapes 2


Bouncing Ball

Animated Graphic Symbol With Alpha



Animated Graphic Symbol

Tuesday 1 December 2015

Introduction to Sound

Animators often work with pre-recorded sound; films such as Disney’s Fantasia are famous for this particular area of expression. Animators can use sound stimuli and create literal narratives, or they can attempt to reflect the sound in an abstract and emotionally responsive manner.

You will be required to review relevant examples of this genre of animation practice and relevant practitioners including contemporary works. You will be given (or can choose) a 10 second piece of music in an appropriate digital format and asked to analyse the music in terms of rhythm or pattern, volume, instrumentation, timing and mood.

● Plan out how you will approach this project in relation to other concurrent projects
● Review key styles and methods of approach carried out by key professional animators working in this area
● Create a ‘dope’ sheet analysis, including the items mentioned above for the soundtrack
● Design an animated visual sequence to reflect the emotional and/or perceived narrative potential of the music
● Use Flash software to combine your musical and visual element Your animation will be constructed in appropriate 2D digital animation software such as Flash. Introductions to animation and sound analysis software will be timetabled.

In summary I will create an animated sequence to a set soundtrack

I MUST PRODUCE:
  • A digital 2D animated visual sequence - Of no more than 10 seconds with sound (QuickTime Movie with sound
  •  Research Portfolio - Reflecting on the results of the iterative process used to develop your character and narrative concepts
  •  Evaluation of 250 words - On the project and achieved outcomes
DUE : 15th of February