A Norman Sneak - I think a demo reel should catch the audience's attention straight away so I want to start my reel with something that does just that. I think having a character sneaking onto the screen is eye catching because you want to know why they are doing that and where they're going. I've decided to use a Norman rig for this part of my demo reel because I'm really confident with his controls and know his constraints very well. I got the idea for a sneaking animation from one of my childhood favourites - The Pink Panther cartoons. Here's the episode I found particularly inspiring ...
The Pink Panther - "Pink Pyjamas" - DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, 1964
A Dinosaur catching a U.F.O in mid air - Animations that are a little different to what we expect certain characters and creatures to perform is something I find particularly interesting. Things that are borderline strange but intriguing is an area I wish to explore during this term. I began thinking about two characters or objects that have nothing in common and thought about bringing them together in the same scene. When I was searching for free rigs to download for my demo reel yesterday, I found a fully modelled and rigged T - Rex skeleton. Exploring ideas and concepts for objects or other characters that this terrifying and powerful creature could interact with was difficult to start off with since there is endless possibilities! I turned to video games as a source of inspiration because I find them to be a goldmine when it comes to inspiration. I didn't have to look far when I remembered a very old childhood classic - War of the Monsters. A masterpiece of gaming, it explored the idea of monsters tearing our world apart and battling each other in the process. The cheesy sci-fi movie motif that came with the game play sparked my imagination to get my T - Rex to interact with something not from his world - but from the future ... a U.F.O! Here's a link to a game play sample ...
War of the Monsters Gameplay Sample
I also find cheesy sci-fi horror movie posters really inspiring. Here's two examples of what sparked the idea ...
A ball bouncing around the screen - I want to include some animation pieces that are quick yet give a lot off. This is when I thought about concentrating on a select few of the principles of animation. I began finding a rig that was simple enough so I could do just that. That's when I found the fox ball rig - a simple ball with a tail that's textured to look like a cat toy based around on the colours of a common fox. The main feature of the rig that attracted me to it so much was the tail and thinking of how I would make it fluid enough to make it look almost alive, and not a toy. I then remembered one of my favourite Disney films, Bolt, and the first scene when Penny first meets Bolt in a pet shop. The realism of the animation of the dog really amazed me and ever since then ...
Disney's 2008 "Bolt" Opening Scene
A pair of floating eyes noticing a delicious cake - Although I'm a fan of semi-realistic animation, I love snappy and over exaggerated stuff too. This is why I have chosen a challenge where I have only the eyes to animate and nothing else. The challenge is to make all the characteristics shine through just two eyes. Hanna-Barbera's Wacky Races series really inspired me to look into over-exaggerated animations, especially the snappy style it adopted ...
Wacky Races Intro
A robot performing Shakespeare - I'm interested in animating a rig perform a Shakespeare quote because I think the poses and movements that come with performing Shakespeare in plays is unique and is different to what I usually animate. I got the idea from "Blackadder Back & Forth", in particular one of the scenes set in the Elizabethan era ...
Paul Weiland's 1999 "Blackadder Back & Forth"
A robot climbing a huge staircase and reaching his prize - One of the greatest sources of inspiration for animation performances can come from films. One of my all time favourite films is the Indiana Jones' films. I got the idea for this piece of animation from the Raiders of the Lost Ark film. I like the concept of searching for something and finally reaching it, and the feeling of accomplishment that comes with it. This is what I want to achieve in this piece of animation ...
Steven Spielberg's 1981 "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark" Golden Idol Scene
I was also heavily inspired by the London 2012 Olympics last year, especially the country wide support for our team and the pride that followed it ...
