Finally after adding sound effects and adjusting the hues using RGB colour correctors I have finished my animation.
Aesthetically, I am very happy with it. I like the shading I have included on the astronaut and what the colour corrector has done in blending the shading, making it really smooth. In post-production I make the highlights light yellow, this adds a warm feeling to the animation and a slightly vintage sepia feel, as if it is undiscovered colour footage from an early (unrealistic) moon-landing, answering the reason why NASA never went back on the moon... I made the midtones a blue hue, this is a contrast to the yellow as the blue conjures a cold feel unlike the warming tones of the yellow, but within my animation they coexist nicely, these opposing colours create maximum contrast and maximum stability and create a nice blend and aesthetic in the shading. For my shadows I made a dark green mouldy colour to enhance the mouldy aspect of the alien and atmosphere of the moon where bacteria has evolved to bring rocks to life. I also added an omni lighting effect to present the inclusion of the sun, the light source in the animation, this in turn brings out a new complexion of colours in the galactic background, it exposes some light greens and dusky oranges, making it look like a more effective space scenery.
Animation wise I don't feel like I have pushed myself enough. I wanted to animate some more movement but my idea lacks greatly in animated movement, I focussed my storyboard in creating this air of tension, inspired by Hitchcock's theory in building cinematic tension. You don't see the alien till the very end, which is ambiguous.
In my animation, the alien is "The bomb" which Hitchcock discusses in this video. If the identity of the alien was revealed fast, the tension hasn't had time to build and it would be over too fast, you haven't reached out to the audience and made them "work", so I drag out the big reveal, making the audience work, making them think "what is this creature?! How big is it?! what does it look like?! Is it going to hurt him?!" This builds the tension. Further aiding this tension is the fact you see the astronauts back for the majority of the time, adding the sense that something is watching him, something is coming. I also included a zoom in scene, making the audience think that it is from the perspective of the alien (when in reality the shot composition is far too high) heightening the tension further as the alien moves in, as we assume 'to attack'. Also helping this tension build is the sound effects. When the alien darts past the camera we hear a high pitched SCREECH, like the sound of an astronauts radio which they use to communicate with the base back home. When the volume is up loud, it shocks you which is exactly what I wanted to achieve, yet again building this air of ambiguity as we think "what is it?". On the zoom in sequence the music heightens, builds, gets louder and louder, yet again building this tension. To create this scary feel, I recorded some clicking sound effects that I made myself, the clicks sound like little rocks tapping together, making it a perfect sound for my rock moonlings, it is also very sinister.
If I was to do it again, I would of gone out my way to capture more adventurous movements. From an animation perspective I have been very safe, however I decided early on the astronaut would possess quite inhumane movements, he would be mechanical and robotic because I thought the fact he was anonymous was quite inhumane in itself, but from an outsiders animation perspective it looks unadventurous and unintentional. This would in turn mean changing the story of my animation, which I would have done also to include more adventurous movements and show more of my animation skill which I feel I have unintentionally held back on and am quite sad now I have realised too late.
I feel I was greatly inspired by seeing a lot of the 2D animations at MAF, and wish I began planning my animation after such inspiration, but unfortunately it was too late to.
I feel I have learnt a lot in this module in terms of developing my own skills as an animator that I will 100% take forward into the next module. Focussing more on movement rather than aesthetic, rather than the other way round like I have in this module. I am happy with what I have done though, because now I have learnt and will now do better next time, after all this is like my 2nd ever proper animation, i'm developing and learning by the week in the world of animation.
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