Looking at Animation

Over the course of the past week, I have looked at many short animations all over the internet. During last weeks class, I was introduced to a website that I would certainly not have visited otherwise. I chose to look at the animation on the My Scene website very closely. Since I would never visit this site and sit through the animations under normal conditions, I figured that it would be wise to examine the animations and take note of what it is that makes them work.

After watching many of the animations one time through, it seemed that a lot of animation went into the clips to create a lot of action and movement. As I began to go through them a second and third time, I noticed individual shots that consisted of only the blinking of eyes or a zoom in or zoom out. I noticed that a simple scrolling of the background or quick color changes can also give a strong illusion of a lot of action. Many of the times when the characters did move, that same motion was recycled later on in the clip.

I am surprised to find that some of the scenes which seemed so complex are nothing more that an intricate combination of relatively simple affects. Creating such animations still seems very difficult but not so far out of reach. My animation skills are nowhere as developed as the animators who's work I have been admiring, but after a week of browsing, I certainly have a goal set for myself.