APD-Week2-Time

Play and Time- Week2

 Theme

In response to the theme of "Time", I made a clip including 3D animation, 2D animation and filming. The clip depicts the breaking down of digestive biscuits into pieces that represent irreparable action and irreversible time. The animated clips themselves are looped animation, which fully reflected the theme of Time. Also, I attempted to execute the ‘playful’ theme by mixing similar clips with matching scenes and actions, and using the idea that “digestive” biscuits are digested.

Method

I made the 3D animation clips in Blender with the add-on called cell fracture. I created two kinds of shatters, one is more shattered than the other. When using the add-on, one should notice to create two types of texture: the cookie and its inside. The 2D clip was made in TVPaint, designed in lines to show the details of crumbles. I started with the key-frames, then filled in the in-betweens, and lastly looked for suitable sound effects. I also filmed a video as the material for the remix.

Context

In Week2, we learned about how time helps the work to enhance creative diversity. To be more specific, how loops can be used for production problem-solving solutions, as one of the tricks animators use to reduce the amount of work. Also, there are many other kinds of aspects of the application such as non-linear time, slowing time, limited time, dead time, and so on. Uyen showed many examples of work in class my favourite one is “2 pm pooing time”, which shows the really funny effects and at the same time and penetrates the theme of “Time”.

Miguel (2014) explains how a computer can do to practice in the form of Play that computers are effective tools for practicing this type of systems-centric thinking, and they therefore reward designing for this type of experience of the world. I see collaborating with computers can enhance the possibility of making unique works therefore it’s easier to fulfil the idea of a ‘loop’ for seamless production.

Luna(2015) mentioned the advantages of looped animation in her article that the mere-exposure effect, a psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them, says we tend to like things we've been exposed to before. I hope that by repeating the video or animation, the audience will feel more identified with the content. Also, by putting different image materials side by side, the audience can discover the similarities and differences. Through the presentation of multiple angles and media, the audience can understand the theme from the comparison.

Reflection

By producing different kinds of animation and clips and remixing them, I am able to show the crumbling status in various ways. I am most satisfied with the 3D clips because the same technique can also be used in other fracture objects in my studio project, such as the falling apart effects followed after the object moves. Also, the combination of 2D and 3D animation can be more investigated in the form of unrealistic rendering or grease pencil in Blender. And most important of all, this experiment on loop time is very beneficial to my future development. I can have more options when producing in the future.