‘Once upon a time’ is the quintessential opening for a classic romantic tale that fills the audience with dreams and ambitions. This is no less true for Disney’s 1950 Cinderella which “is an artistically coherent exploration of the connections between dreams and fulfilment, romance and reality” (Wood, 1996, p. 27), showcasing how a high-moral protagonist forced to serve in rags, conceals her true heart of nobility. Ultimately, her good-will nature becomes the engine of her ow

Image 1 - Family dinner scene , The Incredibles , 2004 Through the depiction of the Parr family arc in The Incredibles  (2004), the film transcends the action-packed family genre. By unraveling how the consequence of law-enforced concealment of superheroes becomes literal suppression of true self-identity, it “dramatises this lost, suppressed identity by juxtaposing it with depictions of everyday, humdrum, middle-class American life” (Herhuth, 2017, p. 124). Bob Parr (Mr. I

Animated figures like Mickey Mouse and Paddington Bear transcend beyond their narrative connection and origin to achieve immortal cultural identity. These icons are designed for longevity using a strategic, visually simple depiction - an intentional under-design that creates an "empty vessel" for audience recognition. Yılmaz et al. (2018) argues that successful transmedia, referring to multiple platforms, must allow the consumer to "find traces from themselves" (YIlmaz et al.

To initiate locomotion, we start with the fundamental walk cycle to grasp concepts such as timing, spacing, balance, weight, and production workflow. Mastering the walk cycle is one of the essential principles of animation, and executing it effectively is crucial for any animator. I am familiar with a walk cycle and the essential key poses involved. For this cycle, I'm using the Monty rig, which I have used before. It's a simple rig, enabling me to concentrate on the feet and

I will be exploring the process of bringing an inanimate object to life, focusing on one inspired by Pixar's famous character, Luxo Jr. For this task, I will utilise the freeware rig "Pixo Jr.," created by Armit Dehgawen and Alex Crouch from highend3d.com . This exercise will enable me to infuse rhythm and personality into a mechanical, lifeless object, while also gaining insight into the mechanics of this object based on real-world principles. To start, I create thumbnails f

In crafting this animation, I took into account all of these aspects and principles, emphasising pantomime, dialogue, body language, and...

In this unit, we have reached the end of the module and are set to apply all the theory we've learned by creating an animation with audio...

In this unit, we examine how to express narratives and emotions through body language to effectively convey a character's thoughts. We...

In this unit, we learned how to animate a dance scene with music. This enables us to coordinate a timed sequence to music, maintaining...

How Shrek  echoes themes of realism to render a unique style - Magic Realist elements, Social Commentary and the Uncanny Valley Shrek...

In this blog post, I examine various sources and critique their relevancy to my chosen essay subject: How Shrek echoes themes of realism...

In this unit, we revisit lip-sync to craft a longer dialogue scene, enhancing our ability to produce intricate and emotionally rich...

In this unit, we are exploring further on how to create a short dialogue short. This time adding more dialogue and refining subtle...

In this Unit, we are creating a dialogue shot using the theory and principles we have learnt so far, as well as understanding timings and...

In this unit, we are tasked with creating a dialogue scene featuring a character that lacks a mouth and has minimal facial features and...

In this unit, we are exploring the reaction shots of a human character and understanding the details and subtleties of human emotions. In...

In this unit, we learn how to create a reaction shot known as a "take" in the acting industry, where a character has a sudden reaction to...

In this unit, we are exploring the fundamentals of mime and pantomime acting. This is to help add life and spirit to our animations and...

Body Language To begin this new module, we dive into body language and the importance and impact it has on the audience. Body language...

In the final unit of this module, we explore the motion and characteristics of a jellyfish swimming. Animating this fascinating marine...