For my final project, I decided to animate one of my illustrations I made for my original character Daddy. The original image was made for my senior project where I am brainstorming, designing, and creating character concepts for a hypothetical fighting game I would like to make. Daddy is character number one, the grappler character, in this game. This animation illustrates this character's nature and story. Daddy come from a race of Macho Cats who live deep in the mountains for the sole purpose of wrestling. The mountain itself can be seen in the back right. Being outcasted for finding interests outside of wrestling, Daddy finds an orphaned human child, Suzu, to raise and take care of. Though usually in cat form (like a literal cat), he appears as Macho Cat when the human child is in danger. Suzu can be seen hiding behind Daddy's left arm when Habu's assassins attack (Another character in the world). I used Adobe After Effects to take apart the illustration and animate each separate layer such as the trees, smoke, muscles, lighting, and grass.
The animation process was very confusing and annoying at first since it was my first time using the program. However, after spending a few weeks just learning the program, I feel a lot more confidant with the program itself. The hardest part about animating this illustration was finding fixes to the illustration itself that I did not foresee. For example, when painting in photoshop, you only need to paint the area that you see. However once different layers begin to move the space you didn't paint just has a hollow void. I had to go back and fix these issues mid animation. After the animation was done, I render it into a video and brought it into Adobe Premiere. There I added sound effects from freesound.org which provide free sound clips free to use. The citations to the sounds I used will be linked bellow. I main kinds of sounds I looked for was standalone rainstorm sounds and different types of singular thunderclaps. it made me realize the huge variety even when looking at just "thunder" sound effects. I now see the value in having a massive archive for different sound effects for professional game companies and film studies. Even just one sound like a dog barking can change whether it is recorded indoors and recorded outdoors. There is so much variation.
My final work for this term in its entirety is some form of simulation of reality. On the surface level, I am reusing audio taken from the real world to replicate the same "effect" in a simulated world. Despite the world being that of fiction, it follows similar physical rules like how grass and trees move left to right with wind and smoke dissipating. There are all examples of this simulated world being a reflection of reality (11). Now looking into the created world, itself, lives a group of characters derived from real life archetypes and stereotypes. Daddy's hyper masculine physique being representative of a protector and a symbol of strength, and the evil ninjas attacking showing no face. I see a strong similarity to Jean Baudrillards analysis of Disneyworld. While immersed in the world, hopefully as a game in the future, people can forget they are playing the game and become one with the simulation they are "playing." The game no longer becomes a game, and the simulation becomes the hyper real world (25). To put it in other words it's the feeling that you get when playing a game or watching a movie and completely forget the passage of time. The simulating becomes the real world until you are pulled out by physical responsibility like using the bathroom.
Overall, I am very happy with the end product. I really enjoyed learning Adobe After Effects and loved being able to see my creations come to life. It is something that I would like to continue to do and improve upon in the future.
I really love the animation! Your characters are so unique and creative. The movement and sounds are just great. It's really impressive how you taught yourself how to use Adobe After Effects. Your work really paid off. Also nice connections to Baudrillard. What you created really becomes a simulation.
I really love the animation! Your characters are so unique and creative. The movement and sounds are just great. It's really impressive how you taught yourself how to use Adobe After Effects. Your work really paid off. Also nice connections to Baudrillard. What you created really becomes a simulation.
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