300 Word cut out animation Evaluation (Sue)

How to create a cut out animation:

Cut out animations are technique of animation using flat images, shapes, props and backgrounds to create the illusion of a moving picture which can be used to tell stories, has been used to make films and even television programs which are usually cut from materials like paper, fabrics, card and photographs to represent the scenes, characters and scenery which may or may not be of access or realistic scenarios.

3 examples of different animated films and television shows which use this technique:

·      South Park

·      Blue’s Clues

·      B.O.B – Nothing On You (Featuring Bruno Mars) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PTDv_szmL0)

·      Pigeon Street

·      Strange Frame (Feature film)

·      Nintendo’s Paper Mario

Strengths and weaknesses (What you can and can’t do):

Cut out animation has many advantages for example there are more capabilities and less boundaries as to where and what level you can take your animation.  This can mean your characters can be journeying through space or adventuring in a jungle, the possibilities are nearly if not fully endless in terms of what you can do with a cut out animation

Secondly, with a cut out animation you’ll need little to no budget at all as it’s very easily pulled off with junk materials like newspapers, cards and old fabric.

Thirdly, using cut out animation means you don’t necessarily have to draw characters again for every frame making it much lighter work.

Lastly, Cut out animation is less time consuming and easy to work with and around regardless of drawing skills or other abilities. It’s usable to anybody from children to adults.

However, It’s easy to ruin a scene if there are any sudden movements or nudges so a steady hand and stiff resting object is needed and the cut outs are static so if there is a lot of action from a character then more cut outs of this character/object will possibly be needed.

Evaluation:

I found cut out animations to be highly enjoyable and brought the imaginative spirits out of the group I worked with to produce my animation, it was easily made with newspapers and a white surface. However editing it was tricky and boring.

I’m most proud of the way my animation had a highly unrealistic story line and it’s subject content were things of near impossibility. It was fun and I was satisfied by how the end product looked and had a humorous trait to it’s story.

If I could improve anything in my animation I would improve the quality, add more sound affects to help detail the story and make it clearer for the audience as well as correct some of the minor movements which did make the animation appear to have an unsmooth jump at times.