Task 6: Secondary Action

Secondary Action:
- An action resulted directly from a primitive action

In this task, we were to explore the principle of secondary action in our animation; on top of that we had to include the previous taught principles in our animation. Moreover to illustrate development from staging and appeal to storyboarding and animating the story board. 

For this task, I decided to use my character created in task 2; Timpy. My initial idea was for a short battle scene, however I changed that idea to something more simple as I believed that my initial idea might be too ambitious for me to create at this stage. My finalised idea of this task is of Timpy's experience with food; the reaction of him after he eats a warm bowl of 'ramen'.

I started off create/designing backgrounds as I did not have to change anything with the character developed in task 2. The background(s) that I went with depicted a ramen stall, isolated in the night. 

Background 1

After that main background was set, I then created other backgrounds for the animation revolving on the first background; with a change of perspective and angles to fit the animations.

Background 2


Background 3


As the main goal was to depict Timpy's experience with eating 'ramen' I tackled this with a more abstract perspective in mind. To contrast the abstract visual, I included cut scenes of Timpy's experience with more humane actions in the ramen stall; picking up chopsticks and breaking them apart. 

Utilising the backgrounds and my character, I created the story board to guide me during the animation process. 

Storyboard

Through the animation process, I used the straight ahead technique to create my animation as it was easier for me to create a smoother animation compared to using the pose to pose technique. 

After animating, I decided to add some sounds to the animation. Other than using iMovie/GarageBand sound effects, I explored with medium that I had to recreate some sounds in the animation. 

Bowl to table contact 


To create the 'clink' sound between the bowl and the table, I used a mug filled with water to create the sound; the water adds a bit of weight to the 'clink' sound.

Timpy grabbing chopsticks


As I did not have any bamboo chopsticks to recreate the sound, I had to improvise that by using various markers and pencils. 

Chopsticks breaking apart (1)


To improvise on the 'snap' of the chopstick, it was a bit more difficult than the previous sounds as the 'snap' of the bamboo has a unique sound to it. I tried using rubber band and pencils; pulling them apart and realising it to create the snap sound, however that was too flat and was not ideal. 

Chopsticks breaking apart (2)


Then, I tried using this bubblewrap keychain to create the 'snap' sound as the initial 'pop' that the keychain creates has a snappy aspect to it which works better than the rubber band and pencils. 

Task 6 Animation


The outcome of the animation captures some aspects that was ideal to the plan, such as the monster giving Timpy his 'ramen' and the scene of Timpy grabbing and breaking the bamboo chopsticks apart. However I believe the initial zoom and the ending could be done better in terms of including more dynamic actions. The initial zoom of the first scene could be more smooth, and the ending part could have had Timpy inhaling and exhaling to express his sense of fulfilment.

Task 6 PDF: Secondary Action