Animation Sequences

This is the first version of the animated sequence that I did. It was hard to try and get the timings right on the scenes. I didn't want each scene to be too long and lose the interest of the viewer but I was also conscious of going too quickly for people to understand the story. This was hard for me to judge because I know the story so well so I asked people to watch it for me and from their feedback I realised it was much too quick.

In this video I have slowed down the timings between the scenes so the story is clearer. I also added music which I made myself. This was a bit of a challenge for me because although I am somewhat musical I have never really written a piece of music.

Making the Music

I had a very clear idea of what I wanted the music to sound like and this is why I didn't want to use a piece of music which already existed and was royalty free. I knew what I wanted it to sound like and I knew I would probably have great difficulty trying to find something I liked that would fit with the animation.

I wanted my track to evoke feeling but to not be too intrusive. To just be in the background so that the viewer isn't even really too aware that it is there perhaps. I have been watching a lot of children's animated movies recently to understand story telling for children better and I noticed that a lot of the time during significant moments there is music but it's very much in the background and just being used to add to the emotion of the scene.

I was very inspired by a piece of music I knew called Francoeur- Lucille which is from the soundtrack to an animated movie called 'A Monster in Paris'. It's one of my favourite films and it has a brilliant soundtrack. The song in question is very soft and simple and that's exactly what I wanted mine to be like in terms of feeling.


(The following video is just a video I made to show what the song sounds like using the track from my copy of the soundtrack.)

I made my song using Garage Band, I was going to use Logic Pro but I tried to do some things with it and it seemed very complicated so I tried Garage Band instead and it was a lot more straightforward. Because I was making a very simple track Garage Band was fine for what I needed, Logic Pro is probably a lot better in terms of things you can do with it but I didn't really need anything complicated. I made my track in garage band by using simple synth strings in the background and a simple piano melody over the top. The piano melody was made using some of the preset loops and editing/changing them to fit what I had envisioned.

I was pleased with the end result and I achieved something very similar to what I had planned in my head. I'm also happy that I got to use Garage Band and had the experience of devising a soundtrack even if it was very simplistic. This is now something I feel like I could build on in the future.


Finished Animation:

This is the final version of my animation. I ended up extending the timings even more so I had to go back and extend my piece of music a little further to fit the animation as it is now 45 seconds instead of 30. I am happy with it now though and the timings are a lot better, the tempo of the animation allows the viewer to really take in what is happening, and as this animation sets the scene for the rest of the narrative and explains the situation, it's very important that the viewer understands what is happening.