Week 9 - Flash Animaton Assignment

Flash was one frustrating program. Maybe it was due to my lack of experience, or maybe it was my lack of patience. My original familiarity with Flash had me skeptical of the quality of video I would be able to produce. With effort though, I feel I was able to create a good product, much to my surprise.

My final layout was actually not that far off from the original. Similar to what was mentioned in my blog, my vision consisted of two kittens watching the moon, and falling in love. The two cats begin to embrace each other, while the rest of the forest animals awkwardly watch. Just as the two cats are about to kiss, it is shown that the whole video was actually a dream sequence, from a sleeping man who is getting licked by a cat as he naps.

In my final version, when the cats are rolling over in the field in lust, I was worried the drawing was too graphic. I solved this issue by creating an animated dust cloud, to avoid any profanity. This actually worked out great. The change allowed my animation to appear more cartoonish and match my overall theme.

My initial goal was a video that was random and had shock value. From the beginning I chose I did not want to deal with a full text animation, or a video involving real-life pictures. I simply wanted cartoon animation. This was my second time using Flash, so I wanted a challenging concept that would not be impossible to finish. This was a great goal, as I was able to expand my knowledge of the techniques I had at my disposal.

The borderline offensive aspects of the film could have left me pursuing a more mature target audience. Teens and young adults are the least likely to be offended by this material. However by making the scene less offensive than it could have been, the scene now appeals to a wider audience, including older adults. Therefore, ages 13-45 feels like an appropriate age group for my project.

The biggest challenge I came across during this project, however, was input of music and sound. I am still not aware of how to edit lengths and volume in Flash. Therefore, I relied on Pro Tools to make original edits that ended exactly when they should in the video, and sounds with particular volume sets. I also had to convert all Pro Tools wav. files to mp3, because Flash would not read them properly. Although tedious, I spent my time with this issue simply because this semester was geared towards audio. A lackluster effort was not an option.

Overall, I learned a lot from completing this project. Although my original vision was not completely matched, I did succeed in greatly expanding my knowledge with this program and created a Flash document to the best of my abilities. The final version is entertaining to watch and successfully addresses my target audience. This project was a great learning experience and I was able to acquire skills, which will help me in future projects.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/517511

After attending my lab class, it felt great to have showcased my hard work. Seeing the animation on the big screen, in front of my peers, made all the problems I had in Flash feel worth it. I was proud of myself! What was also exciting, however, was the other animations my class came up with. Some projects were REALLY well made. You could swear they were professionally done. Even the low quality productions were entertaining to watch. This is why I love these show-and-tell labs, because they're always enjoyable.

Additional Sources
Petrou, Laurie. "Motion Graphics". Lecture. Ryerson University, Toronto. 13 Oct. 2009.
"YouTube - Two Cats In Love." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 22 Oct. 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7VMwsAsUI&feature=PlayList&p=6C233A0FC4F7A95A&index=9