» FIRST POST! My animation - "Tales From Nanumea"

Hi guys,

I recently came here via this thread, but have been kindly guided by @Tom to the rest of the forum. This seems like an awesome place!

So I just thought I'd share one of my animated shorts, that I did a couple years ago. It's based on a self-published series of mine, called Tales From Nanumea, that I'm currently looking for help with to continue. It's actually for a good/social cause and has room for growth and scalability, but I won't bore you with the my dreams (unless you want to know hehe).

Here it is: https://vimeo.com/7886882

Toonboom, eh? Looks like you've got your eye on those professional tools.

...let us know about your dreams; don't hold details about yourself back. In fact, spill more of them. Inspiration sources, your history as an animator, etc. It'll help us know more about your style as a whole, for when looking at an animator, it's important to see the mind behind the canvas as well.

...My first attempt to pinpoint your origins: Your character designs look inspired by Lilo and Stitch. That animation style and quality looks akin to that of a Newgrounds animator.

...this was a couple years ago; what have you been doing as an artist since then?

I watched the first episode so far. I'm not really into this sort of low-budget animation. It's an ugly medium to some people. Your story was okay, but it wasn't an original plot or anything. The part where Teffolahar uses hooks, was pretty funny. That he's using hooks. And they're these weird, ivory, glowing hooks. It's pretty weird. Pretty cool. Haha.

My advice is that you switch to silhouetted characters, instead of using outlines and details. It's frugal and can be good-looking. Here're some silhouetted flash animations:

Oh, I clearly started by watching the wrong thing. The video that you posted a direct link to is way better. There's a lot that could be said about it.

When he is instructed to chant, by his ancestors, hahaha, the voice was really comical.

Shaking the camera is lame. Some people really like seeing cameras shake, and like shaking their cameras. I think that camerashaking is lame.

I didn't even notice the foreshadowing on the coral-monster at first. Cool. Good writing on that part, keep it up.

Like you, I enjoy animating tough guys with round heads. It's hard to make characters that stand out. Where could your character designs be improved... Maybe the villain and the main character could have had really opposing body-structures. Like, they were both big, intimidating, realistic men. Maybe one of them could have been shaped like a palmtree, or both of them could have had distinctive, identical bone-structure for their skulls.

Are you in Adam Phillip's SFX class? I saw the thankyou at the end.

Thanks guys.

@Creativename - the first episode was done back in 2009 and was my first real attempt at a short film (check www.talesfromnanumea.com for more details about the project). The stories are not my own - they are cultural one from Tuvalu. The stories makes more sense to the people of Tuvalu, but I'm now aiming to make the episodes a bit more "global-friendly". So I agree with you about the plot being 'okay'. That's the nature of indigenous stories - they usually only make sense with an understanding of the cultural context. I'm trying to get around that these days, but still preserve the essence of the culture/stories.

I have learned that I need to utilize a bit more comedy in my pieces as well, to balance things out. I'm typically inclined to action scenes (as you may see with the subsequent episodes).

The last (third) episode, "The Defeat of Tulaapoupou", was my first attempt with Toon Boom. My goal was to practice more action-oriented animation. Each episode had a different style, as I used that to test out which styles I liked best.

Re; the silhouettes. That's a very specific design choice and is quite subjective. I also see it as a trend (even in games). I love shadow puppetry, though, but have yet to try it out. Perhaps I may in the next episode!

@Hitorio - In regards to my dreams, I'll save that for another post

You're definitely right about the Lilo & Stitch inspiration. That's exactly what I was going for. Chris Sanders is awesome, and it was sort of like my nod to him (if he ever sees it lol). What's typically associated with a Newgrounds Animator? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Lol. I haven't kept up with Newgrounds since Adam Phillips and the Bitey series. I actually still keep in touch with him on Facebook and am undergoing his 2D FX course.

Since my last animated short, I went the "safe" route and got a job as a Front End Web Developer. Did that for about a year or two but my heart just wasn't in it. I love the web but I love animation more. It gets me fired up a lot more. So I decided to quit on 11/11/11 and have been pursuing my dreams ever since. I've made some awesome contacts and am slowly building my empire lol. I'm in it for the long run and have no intentions of stopping.

I recently bought "Drawn to Life" by Walt Stanchfield. Have you guys got it at home?

You probs hear it a lot, but that's great of you to follow your dream. I'm proud of you.

I don't know "Drawn to Life," I haven't heard of it.

Creativename wrote:

When he is instructed to chant, by his ancestors, hahaha, the voice was really comical.

Lol, I agree! There's a lot that could have been improved in that (I was totally disappointed by the soundtrack from my sound guy, but I had a deadline). I'm now working with someone who I feel has a better feel for the type of work I'm doing. It's similar to the music in Avatar:Legend of Korra/Last Airbender.

Creativename wrote:

Shaking the camera is lame. Some people really like seeing cameras shake, and like shaking their cameras. I think that camerashaking is lame.

I was so testing this out in Toon Boom after seeing Adam Phillips' work. Lesson learned in making sure effects are used purposefully, not just because it's cool.

Creativename wrote:

I didn't even notice the foreshadowing on the coral-monster at first. Cool. Good writing on that part, keep it up.

Thanks.

Creativename wrote:

Like you, I enjoy animating tough guys with round heads. It's hard to make characters that stand out. Where could your character designs be improved... Maybe the villain and the main character could have had really opposing body-structures. Like, they were both big, intimidating, realistic men. Maybe one of them could have been shaped like a palmtree, or both of them could have had distinctive, identical bone-structure for their skulls.

You know, that's funny. I actually DID have Lapi as a skinny guy. But my advisor at the time didn't like it. Another lesson learned. Check this page out for some of my initial character designs.

Creativename wrote:

Are you in Adam Phillip's SFX class? I saw the thankyou at the end.

Yes! Are you?

Creativename wrote:

You probs hear it a lot, but that's great of you to follow your dream. I'm proud of you.

I don't know "Drawn to Life," I haven't heard of it.

Thanks man. I'll post up another post later on about all that (it's a story in itself).

As for "Drawn To Life" - look it up. It's an essential for animators. There was Walt Disney, but behind-the-scenes, there was Walt Stanchfield. Golden men like Glen Keane and John Lasseter all took classes with Stanchfield. The book is like a Holy text, seriously lol. PACKED with really vital info for animators that I haven't seen anywhere else. It doesn't come cheap too.

There's also "The Animator's Suvival Kit" which I also recommend.

I'm looking up a little about Don Hahn, who wrote "Drawn to Life." He worked on lots of big disney stuff, like The Emperor's New Groove and The Lion King. I like those sorts of movies, but I certainly wouldn't expect their creators to be amongst the most insightful animators or entertainers. What could Don Hahn know? Traditional animation techniques that he didn't invent, I bet, and probably nothing else.

I'm sure he's very skilled, but it seems that he has never worked on an innovative movie. I don't think I'll read "Drawn to Life."

"The Animator's Survival Kit" was written by Richard Williams, and I don't know if you're a big fan of his, but he's an interesting guy. He's incredibly skilled and hard working, but he has these tastes and makes these decisions, and even though he could be called a genius, his cartoons can be pretty boring. I never read his book, but I hear it get recommended a whole lot.

I am immediately discrediting Don Hahn as severely as I can, haha, but I am a fan of that Chris Sanders, who did lots of work for Lilo and Stitch. Your recent work obvs has that Lilo look. Chris Sanders is pretty great, and he makes movies that feel more important and more scholarly to me, than Don Hahn's movies. Here's a cool story by Chris Sanders:
http://thebigbearaircraftcompany.blogspot.com/

I'm not in Adam's class. It looks great, but I've never even applied the techniques that he gives away for free.

More like Tales of Neumonia

I saw you have a sponsors page and I wonder, what are those companies sponsoring you with? How did you get your sponsors, too, ? Last, do you have a way or a plan to profit off of advertisements? I don't know business.

Creativename wrote:

I saw you have a sponsors page and I wonder, what are those companies sponsoring you with? How did you get your sponsors, too?

They're sponsoring with their names, resources or software. Footscray Community Arts Centre has allowed me to use their facilities if I ever decide to do a screening, and they also refer my work to others. InterAction has also opened up doors to opportunities I wouldn't otherwise have had. And Toon Boom have provided me with licensing to use their software for the duration of the project, without paying the thousands of dollars to buy their official software (so long as I keep their logo in prominent positions wherever I show the project, which is fine by me because I love their software).

Creativename wrote:

Last, do you have a way or a plan to profit off of advertisements? I don't know business.

As for advertisements, I don't particularly utilize them yet (may not even do so). I get money from physical DVD sales and also look towards crowd-funding. I also have plans in the works to build another business (animation related) that may funnel money into my indigenous/cultural animations. A lot of business will be moving on to the web in the near future, so it's really important for people to be aware of this and take the leap now (if it's in your path to do so). I say that because it my not be in everyone's best interest to get into building an online business, but being aware of it may help you see if it's for you or not.

I'll be interviewing two key people in the next few days, about the future of animation and the web, and will let you know once I've posted those interviews.

Creativename wrote:

http://thebigbearaircraftcompany.blogspot.com/

I see 'cha mean; this is one of those lesson-yielding tales of fundamental strength.

siosism wrote:

What's typically associated with a Newgrounds Animator? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Lol.

...depends on what kind of product you want to produce. What's your desired skill level? What's the essence of the stuff that you want to produce?
...if your goal is that of a professional-tier animator, then the anim you showed us is well below that.
...if your goal is to stay around that level and just make quick toons in which the strength exists in its concept rather than visual calibur, then that's good.

Creativename wrote:

Shaking the camera is lame. Some people really like seeing cameras shake, and like shaking their cameras. I think that camerashaking is lame.

...I believe the opposite. I wonder if you got a bad impression from it by seeing it being done in a shitty animation or something. I love camera tremors when applies to actual high quality visuals. ...do you dislike cam tremors in general or just in 2D animation?
The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum
Pretty much any modern 3D action sequence
^Dislike?

============

Siosim, your presence here is powerful. I'm looking forward to our next developments.

I'm going with creativename on this one. I don't like shaky cameras unless the purpose is the be disorienting and confusing. I'm a huge fan of Stanley Kubric so I guess that's where that comes from. He always had beautifully framed and well planned out shots which were either still or camera track, except for during disorienting moments, like when Alex is killing the lady with the penis statue in Clockwork Orange.

Also Siosism you're cool ok bye back to lurking!

Hitorio wrote:

...I believe the opposite. I wonder if you got a bad impression from it by seeing it being done in a shitty animation or something. I love camera tremors when applies to actual high quality visuals. ...do you dislike cam tremors in general or just in 2D animation?
The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum
Pretty much any modern 3D action sequence
^Dislike?

Always, always, I never like camera shaking. And that style of movies where the cameraman is all unprofessional-like and wobbles the camera, I also don't like those. That's huge that you like it.

And Siosm, I also like Kubrick. I don't remember camerashaking in that scene, but maybe that's because I was too disoriented.

Creativename wrote:

And Siosm, I also like Kubrick. I don't remember camerashaking in that scene, but maybe that's because I was too disoriented.

I am no Siosism, and yeah it does. It's pretty much the only time it wobbles the whole movie I think:

Okay, good point.

In that scene, the camera's hoppity and it undulates. I guess maybe during an earthquake, a camera could rumble or jostle.

Dang, it's true then, there are some shakes that are useful.

...okay. You mentioned Cowboy Bebop fight scenes being technically good. Did you dislike the camera tremors there? For some reason - and also for your "there are some shakes than can be useful [after all]," I think that you're somehow not thinking of all of the scenes in which they would benefit the animation.
...camera tremors in kinetically intense scenes enhance the viewing experience, like with many fight scenes in modern anime. I feel that you're parochially imagining camera tremors being applied unto regular, everyday, Disney-esque shots, which is why you draw the negative reaction. If that's not the case, then how the hell could you dislike camera tremors on cuts like this?!

4:16 to 4:40,
2:20 - 2:26

Oh fine, we'll talk more about camerashaking..

The clip that Malfunism linked to was really too perfect, and I have to admit that the hoppity camera really adds to the scene. And the scene even practically eases into having a shaky camera. It's a really well thought-out scene, like Kubrick's always are.

In the scene that Hitorio links to, the shaking is kind of subtle, and it's there to make an actiony scene more dynamic and actiony. I think it's a silly fluff at best. The shaking in that scene doesn't relate to how I feel or how I want to feel.

What I was really thinking of earlier is how when I normally notice a camera shake, it's waay too shaky and lasts too long, or else it's used as a budgeting technique and I think that camerashaking for the sake of frugality is really ruinous.

Creativename wrote:

Okay, good point.

In that scene, the camera's hoppity and it undulates. I guess maybe during an earthquake, a camera could rumble or jostle.

Dang, it's true then, there are some shakes that are useful.

Yeah, that was what I was trying to go for with my camera shake in "The Defeat of Tulaapoupou"! Earthquake/rumble sort of thing...