2D Animation

What is 2D animation?

2D animation is the movement/actions of an object on the 2D plane which utilises the X and Y axis. Some examples of 2D animation include video games for example, the original Mario is an excellent representation because there are animations for when Mario grows, shrinks, jumps, throws fireballs and dies. Another can be television, all of modern day cartoons utilise 2D animation to display and entertain people of the masses. An original animation came from the Zoetrope, a toy used by children to entertain themselves. 

L.O: To be able to examine the purposes and techniques of 2D animation used in the media industry - Amber at start of lesson

Green at the end of lesson

TV/Film

This animation is useful because it uses bright colours and simple colours to keep the audience interested and entertained. This style of animation differs from the others listed because the characters animations and shapes are entirely different and some are non-human like.

Video Games

The animation for the main character is simple and basic but this has been done because it keeps the game both simplistic and highly entertaining. This animation style differs from the others because none of the animations featured are human like and instead are more like a bit of meat being thrown around which is the sole idea of the game.

Music Video

This music video contains elements of both 2D and a 3D environment. The animation is unique, to the fact that all the characters have a similar structure and facial features, however it differs from the other animations because it shows completely dynamic human motions and features an the characters interacting with each other.

TV Ident

The animation style is unique for this animation because compared to the other listed, it only uses basic shapes. However, the use of basic shapes are effective because they create a 4 when combined and this ident was used to be background footage for tv announcements before a TV show starts.

Simulation

This animation is completely different to all the others because it is a simulation which has been create to show how a certain fluid would react within a game engine or in real world scenarios. 

Notes: Pixel Art style, interests younger audience with the bright colours and simple objectives, allows players to be creative, the use of shadows portrays the battle between the light and dark this can be seen from the user of darker colours towards the bottom of the screen and the light is situated higher up and is in a more direct view for the user. Detailed animation to immerse the player and to make the game flow dynamically. The sky has animation to represent the day and night cycle. Backgrounds constantly changing to represent the different walks of life, the world is destructible which allows players to do whatever they like, whether it be total destruction or creative placement of things to create their perfect world. The game utilizes a damage system to keep the game interesting and not boring and allows character development to occur.

Analysis:

The game utilizes unique animations for each character type, such as a slime blob will jump around the screen and the animation shows the bounce of the slimy/jelly like object. The game utilizes shadows and dark colours towards the bottom of the screen, this represents the battle being waged between the forces of good and evil, the main character uses bright colours to represent he is good and is protecting the land from invaders who seek to cause anyone harm. A day and night cycle has been introduced in the game to immerse the user and associate themselves within the game and take it more serious, such as the character may venture out in the daylight to avoid the monsters that prowl the night but they may rest in their house to avoid monsters, like people would in the modern day. The background of the scene is constantly changing showing night, day, swamp like areas, etc. and this is done to connect with the player to immerse them to think about what they see on a day to day life and how they can relate and how their life differates from the fictional world within the game.

Peer Assessment:

The first animation created and filmed was Humorous Phases of Funny Faces created by J. Stuart Blackton in 1906. The film/short-film is created as a stop motion film, meaning that the film consists of multiple images being taken consecutively after small changes have been made. The film reflects a 1900s mans look on society, it first starts off as a man trying to win over a woman and flirting with her, however the gentleman in the images starts smoking and makes the woman disappear, this shows that women were regarded less because they were seen as weak and should stay at home to look after the children and the house, and to cook and clean for them. The short film is a silent film as technology back then was not advanced enough back then to connect a voice track/audio onto a reel of film, this only became accomplishable later on in 1927.

More than 100 years have passed since the film made its debut and 2D animation has taken a huge leap forward, we are now able to create intricate characters with thousands of moving pieces and shadows and process them through a expansive scene, also, the 2D animations now include colour, audio, narrative interactions between the characters and hundreds of other things that Blackton would never think possible.

As you can see I started off with my base background, a bright blue to represent the sky. This colour symbolises relaxation and co-notates towards restoration and calming.

Next, I have added a darker blue to represent the sea and differ to the audience which is the sky and which is the sea. I have also added the beginnings of a beach like area.

Next, I added a simple feature which is the sun because in a scene like this it is vital to use the sun to represent vitality and relaxation at the beach.

I have next added wave like features onto the beach to make it seem more realistic to the audience

I have differentiated the colours of the wave to show the water overlapping each other and forming unique colours while still showing the presence of the wave crashing against the shore.

Finally I have added the wave being pulled back out to see to show the cycle of life repeating itself over and over.

For my animation, I chose to do a view of the seaside, as it comes with its complications and uses of techniques. I believe that the animation runs smoothly and can continuously loop forever. However, I am unhappy with how I have designed the sky, the sky remains completely stagnant and shows no animation, this could be improved by adding birds into the scene or making the clouds move and the shapes of them differ from each other completely.