Experimenting

Experimenting how to create Metamorphosis with cut outs.

 

This is an experiment we did to get an idea of how to create the motion and change that we want. We are happy with the outcome and will re-create this for the wind killing Annabel Lee. We will try make the wind twirl around Annabel Lee more and she will turn to Black/White as she dies. By doing this small experiment we now have a fair idea on how the shapes need to be cut out. The black shape is acting as a placement holder for Annabel Lee in this clip.

 

Experimenting with Metamorphosis and Killing Annabel Lee

Here are some brainstorming ideas of how we could use metamorphosis to kill Annabel Lee. We want the wind to change form into abstract shapes and some how twirl, twist, swipe or wrap around Annabel Lee to chill her to death.

 

   

Kill 1 = The side swipe

Kill 2 = The arm stretch

Kill 3 = The twirl

Background Development

Here are some initial backgrounds we have created for some of our scenes. The blue background will be used to represent when Annabel Lee is alive and the bland grey background will be used when she dies as it is a sad event. The colours are quite washed out because we are looking at creating a saturated animation as the poem is a dark and tragic love story and we didn't want the background to be too over bearing for our characters

First Annabel Lee Coloured Cut-Out!

Today we scanned our pencil drawings of Annabel Lee onto the computer and edited it using Photoshop. We made the outline of her darker and added the colours to her dress and hair that we wanted. We also reflected the bottom of the dress and her arms so they were symmetrical and identical. The printed images colour came out out a lot darker than it did on screen so we will have to saturate the image a lot more so that the colours aren't printed so dark.

After we printed her out on A3 card, we used a scalpel to cut Annabel Lee out. After cutting her out with the separate limbs and hands we used a needle and thread to join the parts of her limbs together. The needle was too thick and ended up ripping the cardboard slightly and also the thread was black and probably too thin so next time we attempt a cut out we will use a much thinner needle and thicker white thread.

Cutout

Here are the characters that have been cut out with paper. After using paper and finding it quite difficult to move the characters we have decided to use thicker card to cut out or characters from and to make them larger so they aren't so fiddly, otherwise the limbs are quite small and hard to control

Experimenting with Cut-Out

We trialed some of our character designs with cut-out animation. The doves cut out worked well and we are pleased with the outcome, however the character's limbs looked very disjointed and still. It was difficult to move the character's arms and hands as the parts were just to small and delicate.

If we decide to make our project using the cut-out animation method, we will have to make the characters larger. This will make the parts easier to move and work with. Also, we can tread the limbs together to keep them connected but still allows the freedom to move.

Below is the out-come of this experiment.