I have a few ideas floating about now. I am struggling to focus in on one and pin it down to a specific theme or style. I think what will help is deciding a method for animation. The two ideas for this I am considering at the moment are Flash and Cinema 4D. Obviously I wouldn't only use Flash or Cinema 4D however, they would be a pivotal piece of software and would dictate the style massively. And also I would only use the program to create the assets and do a little bit of animation. The majority of the movement and animation will be done using After Effects.
Cinema 4D:
This is a really, really powerful program used to animate films such as Ice Age and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, along with countless cinematic movie title sequences. It allows users to create and edit 3D objects. You can then apply complicated animation techniques and transformation principles. It deals with lighting and reflections in a very professional and convincing manor along with shadows, sub-surface scattering and even physics simulations. You can create anything from photo real images to completely over exaggerated cartoony simplified images. Here are some example images and renders from Cinema 4D that detail both:
As you can see you can render truly beautiful imagery. Whether simple or more complex it doesn't matter the lighting, reflections and the like will (providing you put the time and effort into it) all come out beautifully and make a very polished and pretty final image. It is an amazing tool with infinite possibilities. You do not have to go down the photo real route with the program and I probably will not. I envision through my use of the program either a far more simplistic rendering or or just fewer details. Perhaps a simple representations of objects being realistically lighted would create some interesting juxtaposition and cause interest. They will scale in, revolve and scale out to add visual significance/interest to add attention to a point. I think that I can successfully achieve this as I have already had copious practice in Cinema 4D and After Effects which gives me confidence in my abilities and allows me to create quite a vivid vision of what I can create.
This is an example of the type of animation I am looking to create using this program:
I don't wish to recreate the lettering and other such things more the look, feel and voice over style. Professional and reassuring yet calm and chatty. I think that the graphical style that the 3D images and the graphical style is really simplistic and geometric enough to be turned into letters yet it has underlying detail and precision. I think this is a great juxtaposition of simplicity and attention to detail and something I wish to emulate if possible.
Flash:
Flash is a great program for animation. I would go down a more light-hearted, humorous route with this art style. It is very cartoony and light-hearted in nature. I draw inspiration from sites like YouTube and Newgrounds for my use of Flash. It is a very exaggerated hyper real look that I pursue. I could obviously dial it down if my idea so required however, I would have to see where my ideas lead me. With Flash I would probably look to create a far more animated and alive story line with more movement and life. This would lend itself well to the advert but it may look very amateur and unsuitable. Cinema 4D and the like I think lend themselves more to the style of advert and the overarching message however, there are successful examples that state quite the opposite. Here are some examples of creations birthed through the use of Flash:
So as you can see the artwork that I draw inspiration from in Flash is very cartoony however, it is graphically accomplished. My favourite part of the Flash drawing style is the shading from the last image. Very blocky lines and fills where there should be shadow in a darker shade (but only slightly) to the tone it is shadowing is a very appealing technique I think. It deals with shadows in a very cartoony manor yet it looks great and if anything makes the figure or object look more natural. Flash is incredibly time consuming to animate however, I will only be doing the minimal amount possible of animation in Flash itself. I will be doing the majority of the animation and tweaks in After Effects as the brief dictates.
Here is an example of (what I believe to be) Flash animation that is very successful and what I would hope model my animation off:
This is a hugely popular animation in YouTube promoting safety around trains. It is a really colourful, playful, fun animation that has a great graphical style and tons of humour. It is partly the song and partly the animation, they go so well together. The animation itself is smooth, simple and basic. This is a fine example of a little goes a long way. The animations that are on display are simple tweens and pose to pose animation. If I want to go down the Flash route then I think I will try to emulate this style very closely.
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