Max Is Lost Production Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MKLuV0In3Q2bx4TLyeHtOxAwsL0dE8c4Z0FkyLGo5AI/edit?usp=sharing

The Link above shows my production schedule for the animation that I am going to make called Max Is Lost.

The Uses Of Web Animation

Animation has become a lot more advanced than it was a 100 years ago. With the creation of computers and the World Wide Web, we see animation everywhere we go; being it on television, animated adverts and even e-learning tools. There is no doubt that at some point while on the Internet you have seen one of the animated banners you can see on the right. The reason why you may recognise these kinds of banners is because they are interactive, moving and are trying to get your attention. There is no doubt that if you actually click on one of these that you will get a virus on your multimedia device.
The next kind of animation that most people see but do not actually realise is an animation is the loading screen. Whenever a program or application is loading even if it is on your computer, there will be a small circle next to your cursor which will spin around for as long as the application is loading to indicate to the user that it may take some time. Animated logos can be seen on many different multimedia's such as TV's, electronic banners and digital devices. For example, on the TV screens when they show adverts many of the logos that are shown have been animated in a certain way so that the audience who sees them will remember the logo when they see something similar such as the 'M' for McDonald's.
As well as TV adverts, there are also TV series that are entirely animated. These are mainly aimed at the children's TV channels such as Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Disney Channel. But as well as the main stream channels which show animated series, there are also smaller series that are made in other countries such as Japan and China.
Lastly there is the E-Learning tools. These kind of animations are very similar in the way of banners as they are supposed to be interacting to the user to try and keep their attention; but at the same time interactive. These kinds of tools are generally used for children who have smaller attention spans and tend to get bored very easily while learning. A typical example of this is a multiple choice question where you need to drag the answer to the correct question.

Different Kinds Of File Formats

SWF is an abbreviation for small web format which is an Adobe Flash file format which is typically used for multimedia, vector graphics and ActionScript. This is the most common file that is used when displaying animated vector graphics on the internet.

FLA  is an Adobe Flash movie or animation file which can still be edited if opened again. FLA files are very similar to Adobe Premiere files in the way that all of the objects that are in the movie are saved together.

GIF is short for Graphics Interchange Format which is a bitmap image that was created by CompuServe in 1987 and is now used worldwide and mainly seen on the World Wide Web due to its wild support and availability.

Legal and Ethical Implications of Max Is Lost

When creating an original anime series, the creator will need to be aware of copyright and what they are putting out on the Internet. This means that anything that they get from the Internet, they will need to get permission from the person who posted the object. The use of copy right is to make sure that when a person puts something on the Internet that no other person is allowed to use that and be able to get money using it. This is why companies such as Nike, Adidas, KFC etc have copyright on their logos so that no one else can copy them. There is however an exception to using copyright, which is that logos and other peoples pictures can be used if it is for educational purposes.

The next section that needs to be considered when making an original series is to think about the target audience and what is suitable for that age range. For example, it wouldn't be suitable for a young child to watch or play a game which has an age rating for an 18 year old, simply because it may contain sexual, violent and drug references which can affect them later in life. This is why when there are things in a clip that may be offensive to others, there is always a rating system to tell people what will be included. I believe that since the animation that I am going to create is mainly aimed for a younger audience that the age range will be for children aged 3+ to understand. I chose this age rating because there is no violence or content that will disturbing for them.
In order to get to where I currently am with the design for the animation, I took inspiration from many similar animations. Since my main character, Max is a mouse, I thought that the best example for me to use would be Jerry from the cartoon Tom & Jerry as you an see from the picture on the left. As I began drawing Jerry, I began to realise that there are different examples that I could use as a design. This includes Danger Mouse, Ratatouille and the movie Flushed Away. Using a combination of inspiration from Tom & Jerry and Flushed Away, I was finally able to choose the final design of my main character. The picture is an example of the storyboard which I have drawn to show all of the camera angles and explaining what is happening in each scene. To show this, I needed to draw camera movements arrows and normal movement arrows so that the animator knows what is going to happen in the scene.

The History Of Animation

The History Of Animation

In the link below I have made a timeline about the development of animation starting back from the year 1824.

http://timeglider.com/timeline/790640a845759867

Setting The Scene - Max Is Lost

Now my original setting for Max Is Lost is for Max to be a quiet mouse who is in a comfortable suburban home that is living in the lap of luxury with nothing to worry about. I can imagine that the house will be furnished with good furniture and will look slightly modern. In one of the scenes that I am planning to make, it will involve where Max is trying to get into the kitchen in order to get some food. I imagined the scene will look similar to the picture that can be seen on the right with the island in the middle which is exactly where the food will be and where the problem begins in the story.

Now as for the first scene where Max will be peering out of his hole as he smells the food, I believe that the next picture captures the scene almost down perfectly because the place looks clean and comfortable which is exactly the kind of environment that I wan to place Max in as he is a mouse that is 'living the good life'. Finally, the only other scene that I think needs to be discussed is the area where Max does get lost and is trying to find his way back home. After careful considerations of where he would be lost, I think that the best place would be somewhere such as the mean streets of New York late at night. I believe this is the best placement because this appeals to the audience with the fact that he is a small mouse who ends up getting lost in 'the big city' and has to find his way back home by himself.

Character Model Sheets

In order for the characters to be able to be planned and then put into animation, the characters will first need to be able to be drawn and shown at different angles. This will then allow the animators to be able to plan the foreground, background and even the colour of the characters.
While I am going to be doing this for my own character in Max Is Lost. So this means that I will have to hand draw my main character Max at different angles.

As you can see below this is a scene from the film Monsters Inc and the first part of the process is for the artist to storyboard what the scene will look like, after this it will then be put through the computer so that it can be edited. Another example that you can see on the right is from the Lion King and is the main person Simba. At the beginning of the film the artists will need to be able to draw Simba from every angle and get all of the emotions down. Below you will be able to see other character sheets from films such as Aladdin, Lady & The Tramp and Snow White.

Task 2 - Idea Generation