Year 2 Begins, first brief. AF201 Animation.

Climate Change Awareness Animation

AF201 Animation Learning Outcomes

· Present contextual research with annotations that demonstrate a basic knowledge of commercial applications of animation practices.

· Produce sketchbook/s and deliver a verbal presentation to peers that demonstrate an understanding of general animation principles and an ability to apply them to practical outcomes. Produce a short animated sequence that demonstrates competence with identified animation techniques.


The Brief

We have been commissioned to produce a short (20 – 30 seconds) animation which promotes a message of engagement in activities which will limit CO2 emissions as part of a public information campaign.

The themes you need to consider are as follows:

• The General Message: This needs to express the seriousness of the message that time is running out, but be optimistic that we still have an opportunity to shape our future. The message about the consequences of no action on global warming can be scary but your film should be designed to motivate to action. 

• Food: The food chain contributes significantly to climate change and food is essential for life. Actions you can take to make the food supply more sustainable include growing your own veg, buying local and eating seasonally. 
• Transport: Flying gives you a huge carbon footprint, so your film can encourage holidaying closer to home. There’s really no excuse for driving a car round towns like Eastbourne or Brighton where catching the bus is cheap and easy, cycling is good for your fitness and walking slows life down to a liveable pace and creates a sense of community. 

• Consumption/Lifestyle: We live in a throw away culture in which we buy new stuff and bin our old stuff without a thought. Your aim is to get viewers of your film to question this acquisitiveness, to ask questions like ‘do I really need to upgrade that phone’? You also want to promote a message of ‘reduce and recycle’, to promote mending, sharing, swapping and buying second hand. Look at services like Freecycle and Furniture Now for inspiration. 

Summary

I need to undertake research into

1. The principles of animation

2. Examples of existing animations which are used to convey information or are designed to persuade

I will follow a design process, from initial idea generation (e.g. brainstorms, rough and thumbnail sketches), through to storyboarding and mocking-up artwork, generating a script and an animatic. I will pitch my ideas, storyboards, art direction and animatic on Monday 14th October in the classes in the morning. The animatic must feature a sound track, so any music tracks, sound effects or voice over recordings will have been prepared to build my animatic against.

I will produce the artwork in any combination of Photoshop or Illustrator, which I will import into After Effects to animate. I will be using the core, foundational techniques in After Effects (e.g. transform properties, keyframing, easing, layers, pre-comping) so I will not use After Effects plug-ins to create my animated sequences. My blog should contain entries on how you create your artwork and animations.

I will show my finished animation in crit on Monday 4th November. I should write up a review of this crit, the feedback you were offered and your response to it, including changes you make, in your blog.