Hi my name is Cian O’Sullivan and I am writing an evaluation of the English Project 4O and 4B worked on in our module with Dr Sherwin from September to December ’19.
For English we took part in an animation project. We decided as a class we would work on a comic sketch. We studied visual texts and we developed characters and an original plot entitled The Broombridge Saga. We applied for funding from the NAPD under ‘Creative Engagement’ and we were successful. We used the funding to cover the expenses of a graphic designer for the day. This occurred on Thursday 12 December ‘19. We worked for the day with animator Liam Reilly. We started with story boards and focused on Scene 2 of our comic sketch. We studied The Twelve Principles of Animation as well as the evolution of animation. We watched original animations by Walt Disney and we could see that these looked quite flat and that perspective had to be added to make them look more realistic. Interestingly we learnt that there are five different layers to a background and that items in the back move slower than items to the front in an animative frame. We used Adobe Character Animation software and a webcam to trace face movement where we realised the relationship between speed and distance. Focusing on Scene 2 of our class written play, we noticed the trees in the background moving slower than the trees in the front and the train at consistent speed. While working on Story Boards, myself, Conor McDonnell, Elliott Murtagh, Tiernan Ridgeway, Killian Flanagan and Dennis McSweeney worked on voice over which was great fun! It was amazing to see the mouths of the characters move as we spoke the characters’ lines. We also learnt about camera angles such as long shots and close-ups and how to change a scene from daylight to night time. We learnt the art of drawing our characters’ bodies and how to make them move. It was very beneficial experience for us as a class because we got to work with professional motion capture, make our own sound effects and edit it all together as a final piece. Some of us want to work in the area of web design, sound engineering and computer science so getting the opportunity to learn about professional software like Adobe Character Animator, After Effects as well as Photoshop and other audio editing software in Transition Year was most beneficial.