S.M.P.T.E. Leader Countdown Project

S.M.P.T.E. Leader Countdown Project from Tien Nguyen on Vimeo.

For this project I was assigned to create an animated countdown that could be used as leader into a film.  The countdown counts down from 8-2 with two seconds of black at the end, and each number has to be on the screen for exactly one second.  How we colored the animation was up completely up to us, so I went with a pencil-like look.

The required Principles of Animation for this project were:

1. Timing and Spacing
2. Creating Keyframes
3. Creating at least a few in-betweens for each number

 The optional Principle of Animation I chose to include was Squash and Stretch.

Definitions
-Timing and Spacing:  Spacing actions to define the weight and size of objects and the personality of the characters.  (In my own words: Give meaning to an object or character's movement and weight with the right timing and spacing of frames.)

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiepAURagwSoCuhPDLII9aKcwe0N6aQH_uTzwObyF5UajyDV9HYUfMEe7bTWKhvdpTdG4sBuv3eDhcpOwg2wS-XTPUubuL6mJV9Rpa9swxzAxDWK5uwGs4KTHjkVBcCv98It-VQyHuKafI/s1600/timing-and-spacing.png

)

-Keyframes: A drawing that defines the starting and ending points of any smooth transition.  (In my own words: The drawing at the beginning and end of an action.)
-In-Betweens: Frames between two images to give the appearance that the first image evolves smoothly into the second image. (In my own words: Drawings between the keyframes which creates the illusion of motion.)

(http://www.utdallas.edu/atec/midori/Handouts/history_files/key_n_inbetween.jpg)

-Squash and Stretch: Defining the rigidity and mass of an object by distorting its shape during an action.  (In my own words: Squashing and stretching an object or character to exaggerate it''s movement.)

(https://elliswylam.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/pb_squash_anim_02.gif)

To start my project, I began with drawing thumbnails of ideas of what I wanted to do.  A lot of ideas flowed through my mind as I was sketching but I knew that I wanted to have the numbers morph into each other because I figured that would be a good way to show Squash and Stretch.  (The stretching can really be seen when the number 4 transformed into the 3, and the squashing can be seen when the number 3 transformed into the 2).  After I finished my thumbnails I used Abobe Photoshop to animate my ideas.  I started with drawing the keyframes of each number.  All the numbers lasted on the screen for three frames before it morphed into another number (except for number 2 which lasted five frames).  Next, I drew the breakdown pose for each number, and from on then I drew the inbetween frames which shows how the numbers morphed into each other.

This project also came with a lot of challenges and successes.  This was my very first animation project and I never animated anything before in my life.  That alone made things difficult because it required me to think about how things should move or act, which I've never done before.  And because I've never animated something before, I didn't really know how much time I should plan ahead to animate.  I've found out that I should takes about 4-5 hours for me to do a good second of animation.  I also found out that some of the breakdowns I originally drew weren't actually the right ones and sometimes I had to shift them a little when I drew the inbetweens in.  But overall, I think I was very successful of getting my ideas from my thumbnails into an animated form.  I didn't think I that I would be able to do it, but I did and I'm really proud of myself and I like how it turned out.