Structure
Concept Art is a form of illustration used to convey an idea for use in animation, before it is put into the final product. Like most other animations, Monsters Inc. started with some concept art of the characters. The idea generation that takes place within this process is really important, as multiple drawings of each character are drawn in order, in turn leading to the creation of the final character. Once the final characters are established it makes it a lot easier to place them within a story and make it work so well. An example is the character Sully. Original first sketches show just how different initial ideas of his character were. For example he has 8 spider like eyes, and tentacles instead of legs, and he progresses into a much more bear like monster, completely different to the original drawings. |
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The next process after the concept art was the making of the storyboard and script. The storyboard contained several shots for each scene. These drawings were not incredibly detailed as they were just to give some idea as to what each scene should look like, for example they included some colour to help with the animation side of it, but not a great deal.
The next process was recording the audio for the film. Actors came in to record voices, and sound effects and music was created before the animation process began. The audio was a vital part of making the production as effective and believable as possible, because the animation alone would just not be effective. Therefore the producer and director spent a lot of time going between composers and actors in order to create the very best music and sound they could. A lot of time was spent explains scenes to actors so that they make a really convincing voiceover as they can act as they talk. After this stage was when the animation process began. |
Because the whole film is a 3D animation, a lot of the time was spent on the animation stage. Despite all the time spent on the animation, this wasn't the end process of the production. Once the animation was complete, all of the scenes had to be put together and the sound, voices, and music was added.
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The crew kept working on this until they were happy with it. When they were finally happy with it, another team started work on the initial 3D layout. This initial 3D layout still did not have much detail though, for example Sully's hair or facial expressions, this was because the first 3D design was just to establish how everything played out, worked, and looked in 3D.
The process after this is where the detail started being added. Another team of highly talented people were brought in to start adding expression to the characters faces and body language, and even the tiny details such as hair etc. were added at this stage. The last stage of the animation process is lighting and rendering the scenes. This is a very important process of 3D animation, because without it it really wouldn't look so realistic. Most people argue this is what makes Disney Pixar animations. |
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Pros of 3D animation:
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Cons of 3D animation:
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Structure
Because Morph was a stop motion/ claymation animation, concept was quite crucial in the pre production process. It allowed the creators to develop the character visually and experiment with it before actually making him. Drawing several versions of Morph allowed the whole team to know what they were expecting and made it easy for the sculptors to start forming Morph himself. |
It is important in claymation that the characters are deformable so that they can be altered accordingly for each frame. The character of Morph was sculpted from clay around a wire skeleton called an armature.
Once all of the models of the character were complete, then came the production process. The model of the character was arranged on the set and then photographed once before being slightly moved by hand to prepare it for the next shot. This process continued until the animator had all he needed for the programme. The whole idea of claymation is that when it is played back, the mind of the audience perceives a series of slightly changing images as an overall motion. In order to achieve this though Aardman animations had to ensure that the shooting environment for Morph was consistent to maintain the illusion. |
The next process after the concept art was the storyboard and scripting process. Because of the nature of this animation, the storyboard played a very important role in executing the short well. Therefore, because the animation was stop motion/claymation, scenes that involved a lot of movement where sometimes storyboard frame by frame as opposed to just in scenes. This meant that it was a lot easier for the crew to make a seamless animation because they knew where the character should be at each stage.
Unlike most other animations, Morph didn't actually include any dialogue from the character, therefore the script was mainly for the sake of the production team so that they knew what actions when and in what scene etc. The next process was physically creating the character himself. Claymation and stop motion is different to most other animations because of the sheer dedication it involves. There were several copies of Morph during the production process, each one displaying different facial expressions, and the build up to different expressions. The character was modelled on the concept art that was created at the very beginning of the production.
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Pros of stop-motion animation:
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Cons of stop-motion animation:
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Gillespie
A large, purple, dimwitted but peaceable friend of Morph's. |
The very small creatures
An array of small plasticine balls with eyes who travel in a swarm; the smallest of the group, Little Green, features prominently on his own in a number of episodes. |
Gobbledygook
A green, omnivorous alien child. |
The type of product
Monsters Inc. is a computer generated 3D animation created and released by the Disney Pixar franchise. The target audience I believe the target audience to consist of children between the ages of 3 and 12. The reason I think this is because it is a Disney Pixar animation and is BBFC rate 'U', therefore meaning it is suitable for all. Younger children could watch it, it's just a case of whether they'll understand it. There is absolutely no harsh language and the only violence included is that of a very mild comedic nature, which is obviously very fitting to this age group. |
The film is also very relatable to young children as it is common that they will fear something like a monster in their closet at night etc. The monsters in the movie are also very comedic, colourful, and interesting which proves very engaging for children of all ages.
I do believe though that another target audience demographic for this film could be parents. They would want to enjoy something with their child and could relate to the work aspect of Monsters Inc. and the struggles of caring for a child when you yourself have a full time job. Platform distributed on Obviously the film was first distributed in the Cinemas, but since then has been distributed through many platforms such as: VHS tapes, DVD, BluRay, Online e.g. YouTube, and it has even been aired on television. The length of the animation Monsters Inc. is 1hr and 32mins in length. I think this is the perfect length for this type of film, because it isn't too long that the children watching will disengage and loose interest, but it is long enough to ensure a good story/ plot can be told with a satisfying outcome for the audience. |
The type of product
The confused.com television advert is a 2D drawn animation featuring a character named Cara Confused who sings and dances to promote the insurance comparison company. Target audience Because this animation is promoting an insurance comparison website I believe the target audience to be anyone from the age of 17+. I understand this is a huge age range but pretty much everyone these days needs insurance for something. However, this being said, because of the advert being an animation, being colourful, and having a catchy song, it could be argued that children are also being target as a route to potential customers. |
mainly pre-school aged 6months-5 years at a push. I believe this to be the target audience because it is very easy to understand and enjoy because of the nature of the shows bright vibrant colours and characters. The fact that the characters don't even talk, they just make animal noises, shows further that it takes very little to understand it.
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Unit 10 D1 by Hannah on Scribd