Here are some ideas of our pac-man animation:
Narrative Structure
Storylines
Pac-man is chasing the fruit around while coloured ghosts are chasing Pac-man around the board, another idea we have had is instead of Pac-man being chased by the ghosts we would have Pac-man chasing the ghosts because they are taking his fruit drops
Sets/Backgrounds
We are going to having a rectangle, square or circle board with blocks spread out to make a maze like structure for the character to move around and collect the fruit circles or squares , we are going to try a range of backgrounds, for example different colours and different shapes different layouts for example diagonal mazes straight mazes or curved. We are using plastercine to make Pac-man and the ghosts and using Lego for the layout and backgrounds.
Scenarios
Pac-man goes out to collect the fruit drops left by the four ghosts and while he is the four ghosts set out to stop him stealing their fruit drops, Pac-man has three lives to eat them all before its ‘game over’ along the way he can eat these special fruit drops that make the ghosts eatable and to stop them from eating him for 20 seconds.
Audio/Soundtrack
For the audio/soundtrack the best sort of music would be up tempo songs because of how fast the characters move or to make it feel more like a chase scene and more tense for the audience to watch to make it feel more exciting.
Audience Questionnaire
Audience Feedback Questionnaire
Male Female
12-16 17-21 22-30 31+
1. What do you think the narrative is?
2. Did you enjoy the narrative of our animation?
Yes No
3. Did you think the characters were detailed?
Yes No
4.
Yes No
5.
Yes No
6. How could it be improved?
7. Do you like our ident?
Yes No
8. Do you think the sounds and soundtrack suit our animation?
Yes No
9.
Everyday Every other day Weekly Never
10.
Yes No
Audience Questionnaire Answers
Gender:
Male 11
Female 1
Age:
12-16: 6
17-21: 6
What Do You Think the Narrative is?
The average answer is Pac man eating balls.
Did you enjoy the narrative of our animation?
Yes: 12
No: 0
Did you think the characters were detailed?
Yes: 12
No: 0
Did you enjoy the techniques used?
Yes: 12
No: 0
Do you think the techniques were used properly?
Yes: 11
No: 1
How could it be improved?
Make the ident longer: 6
More frames so it doesn’t jump: 6
Do you like our ident?
Yes: 12
No: 0
Do you think the sounds and soundtrack suit our animation?
Yes: 12
No: 0
How often do you watch other animations?
Every day: 1
Every other day: 2
Weekly: 3
Never: 6
Do you think this ident could be used for school?
Yes: 12
No: 0
Techniques, Genre, Audience
- Who is your Target Audience?
Our Target audience for our chosen project will be all ages; however we are mainly going to be aiming our project at students and members of staff in our school. This decision was based upon the fact that the ident is going to be played around school; therefore it would be pointless aiming it at anyone else. Due to the fact is has to appeal to a wide audience we must make sure that the content is very appropriate to be shown, this means that if we decide to use voices the language used must be very clean and appropriate, there must also be no rude gestures when creating and using the characters.
- How can you appeal to your Target Audience?
We are going to be appealing to our target audience by making our project fairly humorous, as the main age group for our project is going to be teenagers, we need to make our project appealing, and therefore we will make it humorous and professional so it does not look babyish.
- What Possible Formats could you use?
In Our Group project we have decided to use a mix of plastercine and Lego to create our final product, we discussed many different ideas which consisted Claymation, Lego, Fruit and Stationary combined formats, We will Create the main characters our of plastercine and the main backgrounds and areas out of Lego, this will also make our project unique.
- What promotional and positive words could sum up PHA Media Productions?
I believe park hall media productions is very unique do the fact that the main bulk of the projects are produced by students, this means that all of the work is created by very committed students.
- What is the USP of PHA Media productions?
I think the unique selling point of Park Hall Media productions is the age of all of the students that produce the outstanding work that is shown around the school, the majority of work is shown via the internet on the students blogs, there work is also shown via the T.Vs that are around the school. The students must make sure when creating there work that is up to a standard that can be shown in assembles, open days and meeting where parents will visit to see the progress of students.
- What Stop Motion Animation Techniques could you use to make your animation the most effective?
The Techniques we are going to use to make our animation effective is very slow movements between different shots, animation is all about precision and timing, therefore we are going to move the characters extremely slowly in-between shots which will create the motion of the characters moving, we also have very professional characters which are being developed. We have been researching different companies who create animation; we have decided to take influence from the creators of Wallace&Gromit, Nick Park Who creates Wallace and gromit is a very respected animator in the industry, therefore we have decided to use ideas from some of his work, which is making sure the characters look very professional when creating them from plastercine.
3 Basic Principles of animation used in our project
Squash and Stretch
The most important principle is "squash and stretch", the purpose of which is to give a sense of weight and flexibility to drawn objects. It can be applied to simple objects, like a bouncing ball, or more complex constructions, like the musculature of a human face. Taken to an extreme point, a figure stretched or squashed to an exaggerated degree can have a comical effect. In realistic animation, however, the most important aspect of this principle is the fact that an object's volume does not change when squashed or stretched. If the length of a ball is stretched vertically, its width (in three dimensions, also its depth) needs to contract correspondingly horizontally.
We are going to create perfectly rounded characters when creating our Pac man characters; this means that when we decide to move the characters, if by any chance the characters are slightly squashed or stretched it will still look a though the characters have the same volume.
Anticipation
Anticipation is used to create a tense atmosphere which prepares the audience for action or a major twist in a storyline, our group has decided that this is the most important thing when we create the motion, we have decided to do this by filming with a Birdseye view, this will show the different possible things that can happen, for example the audience will be able to see the possible problems that the main character will face when taking a certain route. This will create a tension when watching the video.
Staging
Staging is used to make the audience focus on the most important thing in the scene, to do this we are going to make the main characters out of bright colours; this will appeal to the audience’s eye when watching the stop motion animation, so as well as making sure the movement is very precise we will make the characters detailed and brightly coloured to create a professional look on the project.
3 Basic Principles of animation used in our project
Squash and Stretch
The most important principle is "squash and stretch", the purpose of which is to give a sense of weight and flexibility to drawn objects. It can be applied to simple objects, like a bouncing ball, or more complex constructions, like the musculature of a human face. Taken to an extreme point, a figure stretched or squashed to an exaggerated degree can have a comical effect. In realistic animation, however, the most important aspect of this principle is the fact that an object's volume does not change when squashed or stretched. If the length of a ball is stretched vertically, its width (in three dimensions, also its depth) needs to contract correspondingly horizontally.
We are going to create perfectly rounded characters when creating our Pac man characters; this means that when we decide to move the characters, if by any chance the characters are slightly squashed or stretched it will still look a though the characters have the same volume.
Anticipation
Anticipation is used to create a tense atmosphere which prepares the audience for action or a major twist in a storyline, our group has decided that this is the most important thing when we create the motion, we have decided to do this by filming with a Birdseye view, this will show the different possible things that can happen, for example the audience will be able to see the possible problems that the main character will face when taking a certain route. This will create a tension when watching the video.
Staging
Staging is used to make the audience focus on the most important thing in the scene, to do this we are going to make the main characters out of bright colours; this will appeal to the audience’s eye when watching the stop motion animation, so as well as making sure the movement is very precise we will make the characters detailed and brightly coloured to create a professional look on the project.
Ident/Channel | Length and format | Type of sound | Target audience | Setting/props Characters/Number of characters |
Channel 4 - Simpsons | 37 Seconds Cartoon character | Diegetic sounds – Voice over Non-diegetic sounds – character making noise | Teenage 14-21 | Cartoon house (simpsons) One Character - Homer |
BBC 1 | 24 Seconds Dog Display | Diegetic sounds – background music Non-diegetic sounds – dogs barking | Young - Adults | Field 10 Dogs |
CBBC | 12 Seconds Animation | Non-diegetic sound | 9-12 | Green Splats |
Sky 3 | 31 Seconds | Diegetic sound – background music | Teenage - Adult | No characters Car, gas station |
Ident/Channel | Length and format | Type of sound | Target audience | Setting/props Characters/Number of characters |
E4 | 21 Seconds | Diegetic sounds-voice over Non Diegetic sounds- Character making noise | Teenage/Adults | |
BBC Three | 22 Seconds | Diegetic sounds- voice over | Teenage/Adults | |
Cbeebies | 15 Seconds | Diegetic sounds- voice over Non Diegetic sounds- Character making noise | Young Children | Yellow Splats |
Five | 15 Seconds | Diegetic sounds | Adults | Ocean/Sharks |
