https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-epic-of-moana

The Epic of Moana

An analysis of the hero's journey in Disney's new movie.

'And that was one of the first things I thought coming out of the new Disney movie, Moana, that it was a perfect example of an epic! Specifically, of the hero’s journey, one of the defining features of epic stories.'

'As is often the case with Disney heroes and heroines, Moana is not completely happy where she is, although she tries to be. '

'Moana feels this tug from the ocean, this call to leave the ordinary world behind and embark on the adventure she has been chosen for. '

' It is only through the encouragement of her grandmother, who plays the role of the mentor, that she decides to eventually accept the call and cross the threshold. '

'As she enters the special world, or the unknown, she learns the rules of the new world and goes through a series of tests as she strives towards her goal. '

'In these stories there is often help in the form of some sort of supernatural ally or assister. The aid doesn’t necessarily have to be magical, but is often supernatural of some kind. '

'A talisman is a special and often magical item that assists the hero on their quest.'

'Maui plays the role of the ally in Moana’s journey, helping her along the way, and saving her life, so that she couldn’t do it without him. '

'The hero in their journey progress through a series of tests or ordeals as they strive to complete their quest. These test the hero and make them stronger as they face enemies or other perils to prepare them for the final showdown'

the final showdown. It is the main obstacle, the last large threat the hero or heroes have to face. ' 

'

Observational drawing- Pret Cafe

Today I sat in the café Pret, and drew the scene that I could see. I wanted to practise perceptive, and constructing a scene. Also, I wanted to capture the atmosphere of cafes. I would like to draw from some other cafes, and at different time periods that may effect the atmosphere and business. 

One thing I would like to practise is trying to scale my drawings so they fit everything in. 

I also need to practise with other materials, so far I have mainly used finer liner. 

Observationall drawing; Haymarket, Fatface

Today I sat on the second level of Starbucks, drawing from the window. I attempted to draw the building of the shop 'FAT FACE' hoping to draw the street, building and the environment around it. So that I can further understand the relationship of the people with the city.

Drawing with fine liner, I started drawing from the rooftop going downwards,

however, Once again I have struggled with space and composition- I drew it too big that I did not get to fit the whole length of the building, nor mange to get the whole height. (Which I wanted to get the street setting.) The positive is I managed to get more detail of the building in a bigger scale, which will be useful when drawing the street. And I like the way the building looks in fine liner.

I need to practise my composting, and plan size as I tend to go off the page. 

For this drawing I used copic markers and spectrum noir pens, I did basic block colouring, but also added over lays of over colours to get the right tone. There is no shading other than the fine liner, to get a more bold comic like look. 

I would like to try using water colour and also experiment with dyes instead of using marker pens to colour in. 

 (Window view from Starbucks).

As I was unable to capture the street in my first drawing, I decided to do a page dedicated to people walking past- However this proved to be difficult. I only had one view from the window, so once some had walked past the window, they were gone from sight. A lot of people walked very fast, so I only have a few seconds to draw them before they were gone. I coloured in the parts of different people I did get, even though the lack of detail makes them look like abstract shapes. 

Stop Motion: lesson one, bouncy ball

Week 15
Today in our introductory to stop-motion, we animated a ball bouncing; using plasticine, an animation rig, and the programme Dragonframe.




Our object was to make the ball appear to be bouncing, in one spot (straight line). We used pre made rounded balls (made from plasticine) and also a oval, rugby shaped one. To give the effect of squash and stretch. This helps emphasise the bounce.
We attached the ball to a rig, and then stabilised it with pins stabbed into a board. (roughly it took 7 to stabilises the weight at different angles,). However we still occurred some problems, such as; at low pointing angles, the ball would slide off the rig, when positioning the ball at some angels, the rig would form back into anther position, from a previous shot. which made it a little more temperamental. To solve this, we had to hold the rig whilst also taking the photo, so the positioning  would not move. Which sometimes our fingers and tips were accidently caught in the frame- however this could be solved later in post-production; by using photo shop to rid of the fingers and rig (which I am yet to try).

First we took a 'clean' shot of the scene (so later in Photoshop or/and after effects we can use this as our background when wiping away the visual of the rig and any other anomalies).
and check the exposure of the frame, which was editable in the cinematography section of Dragonframe.

My first try was quickly done, only taking a few minutes.

#Test one


In this test, I feel there is a clear bounce, however this could have been further empathised. I feel that the bounce lacks elasticity, kinetic energy that it should have shown a stronger pull force from gravity. I could have achieved this by having less shots for the ball going down, so it was quicker paced. Also, I feel I needed to exaggerate more the squash and stretch.

#test two


I should have saved and exported this animation at a lower speed rate, or doubled the amount of frames, as it plays too quickly. I feel this animation was unsuccessful in the reasons that 1. it plays to fast, 2. the pace between falling and rising is even, which It shouldn't be. The fall should be quicker than the ball rising. To change this I should have added more frames to show empathise of the force of gravity. However What I did like about this animation, I further exaggerated the squash and stretch by creating a third model, one that is further stretched out that makes the illusion of a bounce. However this too, could have been improved by smoothing out the  plasticine. 
I also feel I should have repeated the action a few more times to give it a true loop and bounce. 

If I were to do this again, I would create a drawn out plan physically on paper and try to draw a diagram to follow on Dragonframe, which exact positioning of where I want the ball to be. (As, despite using the onion skin layer, and looking back at presivous frames, it was hard to remember presicoulsy where the ball was before hand to mirrior the action.

I also experimented with adding a character, getting squished by the ball.
#Test three


For this I used three different models, the first- the character, the second a smaller squished looking version and then lastly a completely flattered version. Once again, I feel I should have further empathised  the bounces, making them more exaggerated, longer and adding more bounces.
I would like to try this once again, this time with a plan and with a different model.

'Stop motion basic tips: Bouncing'

‘How to colour the fast way on tb paint’

So fSo far I have being struggling to keep up with my morph project, I have created one to many frames, where to many thing are moving at once, and the props I have used have significant details, not only is it taking me time to animate, but colouring is taking a lot of my time up. So I have begun to research into ways and techniques that I could possibly quicken colouring in on Tv paint.

Using references, from my previous drawing based of a video of a ballet dancer- I tried out different drawings of poses/in-betweens. I need to continue practising, as I do not favour any of them. However this has helped me construct how I would imagine it too look.

Ballet refference video

For reference, I am searching for footage of dancers, including live performances, documentaries, edited footage such as music videos.
To not only note poses, but have reference to action, speed/pace and flow of movement- which will help me later on in animating. It also helps my drawings look more alive, and understand different perceptive.

I attempted  to capture the movement, but the dancer is to quick to draw, (hence unfinished drawings that are unrealistic in shape) despite not being visually accurate, they show me the movement of the feet and their poses.

I tried to slow down the footage to get some more detailed movements.

I then tried stopping randomly to capture the full body in-between movement and poses, to truly capture the way the legs and body has to move to get to each pose and position.

Ballet dancer - 'How To Pirouette'

For reference, I attempted to capture movement and poses of a ballerina, however due to the quick edits and fast foot movement, I struggled to get detailed drawings. 

dance move, leg repetitively comes back to this position. 

Reparative pose, between above drawing and this one.  

Toes on pointe, pose

Positioning of feet

Positioning of feet

This has shown me a basic shape and form of the body that is used for twirls and basic footwork. 

Also shows different foot poses. 

Stopmotion test and introduction

In todays session we were introduced to stop motion animation, where we got to experiment. We used magnetic figures, a cannon camera and dragon frame programme- which was a programme we were already comfortable with, as we had previously used it for our 2d f12 paper animations. However the difference was we could not come back and redo each frame adding in-betweens unlike 2d drawn animation; everything was physical and in the 'moment'- not being able to go back to past frames.
Which means being observant about each frame and the importance of onion skin. Everything has to be figured out, especially with walk cycles. Normally you would focus on drawing different poses and then adding in between- but with stop motion you have to directly address the order of the poses and in-betweens.
Using magnets was tricky, as they were not always strong enough to hold an unstable pose, and if accidently moving magnets it can cause the figures to be unbalanced or move. The figures where stiff to move at times, especially harder to move one part with out affecting the other.  If I were to use this, I feel I would have to draw precise storyboards first for smooth production. I think for this sort of animation it would be very difficult to work on your own, with making sure the camera is in place, moving each camera and being able to take the snap. working in a group makes this work much quicker.
Overal I enjoyed using this, as it was much easier to work logic with something physical- and when the figures moved they had much personality and quirkiness.

Life Drawing;

In today's session we covered are paper in charcoal and used erasers to draw and create tones with. 

For the first drawing, we were only allowed to draw horizontal lines using an rubber, I found this difficult resting to draw curves for the sides- however the end product has created an interesting texture. 

For the next drawing, we had to once again use charcoal to cover the entire page, and use an eraser to draw with. This time we were allowed to make up marks and textures, but were not allowed to draw straight lines or blend. Which proved difficult. I struggled to get strong highlights, as it needed a lot of pressure and movement. The textures I tried was hatching, twisting my rubber, dots and finger prints. I think this would have looked much more effective if my eraser marks should up more clearer and whiter- making them more bold. Which I could have done if I had added more pressure. 

Folktales and Fairy Tales: Traditions and Texts from around the world

2nd edition
edited by Anne E. Duggan Ph.D., Donald Haase Ph.D., Helen J. Callow

ABC-CLIO, 12 Feb 2016 - Social Science - 1590 pages

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WXWACwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dq=why+is+animation+used+for+fairy+tales?&source=bl&ots=V_yckKFZZL&sig=rlVdevrICkeg2g_A4jDihSttITw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjezJGvltrYAhXCCewKHU8XCNY4ChDoAQgoMAA#v=onepage&q=why%20is%20animation%20used%20for%20fairy%20tales%3F&f=false

‘animated film, whether the popular hand-drawn or the computer-generated cartoon, claymation or puppet animation, has a long history of association with folk-loric and fairy tale forms. This may in part be attributed with the domination of the Walt Disney Company over animated film and its recurring reliance on fairy tale narrative.’ 43

‘The effect of Disney’s dominance and its recurring use of fairy tales has been to reconfigure the fairy tale in the twentieth century as exclusively, or at least preferably, a Disney product.’ 43

‘Rooted in more general parallels between the medium of animation and the fairytale Disney, while dominant, is certainly not the only producer of animated fairy-tale films. ‘ 43

‘While the popular narrative film of any sort has structural parallels with the shape and pattern of fairy tale, particularly in its utopian impulse, aspects of animation’s self-conscious constructedness and, in particular, it’s simplicity and stripped down texture to provide a visual echo of the classic sparseness and essentialism of folkloric forms.’ 43

‘Animation as a medium relies on action rather than dialogue and visual trickery far more than sound; this  roughly parallels the folklore tendency to rely on action rather than words and to externalize the meaning in plot.’ 43

‘’The infinite, magical possibilities and metamorphoses of animation’s unrealistic surface seem to predispose to intrinsically to magical narratives’ 43

‘Explicit fairy tale content in animated films is perhaps even stronger than the implicit; from its earliest days, the animated film has repeatedly generated new versions of familiar fairy tales.’ 44