Cycle: Short Film and Exploration of Animation Techniques

Abstract

The goal of this project was to study animation and animation pre-production through the design and creation of a short film, with an emphasis on research and gaining familiarity with the process of animating over the total competion of the film. Each stage was completed in order to achieve technical and practical understanding of storyboarding, character and prop design, background design, rough animation, refined line and color, and video editing. A large amount of focus was given to learning animation workflow in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects, and to learning the fundamentals of traditional animation drawing. As a creative capstone in the completion of a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication with an Illustration emphasis, this Honors thesis facilitated a gaining of supplemental knowledge in a relevant and ever-growing field of the arts. Animation complements and enhances illustration scholarship through learning to create the illusion of dynamic motion in still images and the problem solving required to successfully combine the various elements necessary for animation production.