Brothers Quay

Stephen and Timothy Quay, identical twins, were born in Norristown, near Philadelphia, in 1947. After graduating in 1969 from the Philadelphia College of Art, where they studied illustration and graphics, they won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, London. 
At the School of Film and Television they made their first short films, and met Keith Griffiths, who first collaborated with them on Nocturna Artificialia (1979).
Working together at Koninck Studios, with Griffiths producing, the Quays have continued a steady production of surreal puppet animation films, also with design work for opera, theatre and ballet. To help finance their projects they have also worked on TV commercials, numerous music videos, including the Stille Nacht series, and Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer. 

The Quays are famous for their expert methods and their unusual sources of inspiration. Apart from their puppets, which look like old dolls abused by many generations of children, they construct their own sets, arrange the lighting, and operate the cameras. 
Music usually plays a major part in creating a bizarre, frightening atmosphere.

The twenty-minute Street of Crocodiles (1986), their first film definitely lifted the Quays beyond their supposed path. Further impressive films followed, among them The Comb, De Artificiali Perspectiva, and Institute Benjamenta(UK/Japan/Germany), inspired by the script of the Swiss novelist Robert Walser.







References:

• Buchan, Suzanne H., 'The Quay Brothers: Choreographed Chiaroscuro, Enigmatic and Sublime', Film Quarterly v. 51, n. 3, Spring 1998, pp. 2-15
• Greenaway, Peter, 'Street of Crocodiles', Sight and Sound, Summer 1986, pp. 182-183
• Hammond, Paul, 'In Quay Animation', Afterimage 13, Autumn 1987, pp.54-67
• Quay, Stephen and Timothy, 'Picked-up Pieces', Monthly Film Bulletin, June 1986, pp. 164-165
• Romney, Jonathan, 'The Same Dark Drift', Sight and Sound, March 1992, pp. 24-27
• Romney, Jonathan, 'Life's a Dream', Sight and Sound, August 1995, pp. 12-15
• Tomlinson, Lynne, 'Launching the Quays', Animation Journal v.9, 2001, pp.5-19

Tyrone Animation Experimentation

This is my groups video which is experimenting taking photos of a character, changing the mouth each time the character said something and then editing it all on final cut.

Creature Comforts

What is Creature Comforts?

Creature Comforts was originally a British plasticine animated short film about how animals feel about living in a zoo, featuring the voices of the British public "spoken" by the animals. It was created by Nick Park and Aardman Animations. 

Producing

The things animals say in Creature Comforts are unscripted and unrehearsed. There needs to be honesty and a sense of real life in what they say because the voice over are animals which they don't yet know so if they did, it could slightly be put on and all go wrong!
Unlike most other animation, the characters are created to fit the chosen voices  - not the other way round. All the animators, artists and the producer listen to the voices and decide together which animals fits the voice the best. 

It takes a long time to get from someone being interviewed to their words coming out of an animated animals mouth and there are all sorts of of things that affect which creature gets paired with which voice. 

The last stage before they are animated is making the mouths for the models. Modellers make a neutral mouth based on an 'a' shape and then lots of other mouths for the specific model are created through that mouth shape. Each creature takes between one and three weeks to make and they all start off the same - a lump of plasticine. 

The new series of Creature Comforts is shot completely digitally. The directors of photography make the most of the digital look as it would be too expensive and difficult to film. Once the sketches have been drawn they are sent to the builders and Andy (the director of Photography). They work together to decide which kind of lens to use, close up or far away, depending on the dimensions of the set. 

Primary Research for Dr.Pepper - Questionnaire Results

Below are the graphs representing the results from my questionnaire. I did not include questions: 7, 9 and 10 because there were too many open answers to include in a graph.

Focus Group

After I sent out my questionnaire, I gathered 3 people to create a focus group. I wanted to ask them what their thoughts were on the previous Dr Pepper adverts. This is the outcome:

1) What did you think of the adverts overall?

• "Funny and humorous"
• "Doesn't really give a positive message to the product"
• "The humour was very apparent"
• "Links into everyday life"

2) What did you think about the slogan which is 'Whats the worst that could happen'? 

• "Quite memorable because they repeat it quite a lot"
• "Betrays the comical effect of the entire advert"
• "Whenever they mention the slogan, it tends to be the worst then happens"

3) What else do you think makes the advert successful? 

• "Its always a teenager drinking it so it has a clear target audience"
• "Even the father has a very childish way of dealing with the situation"
• "The drink brings back the child side of the adult back"

4) Does the humour add effect to the advert and why do you think it does this? 

• "It does because if the humour was cut out, it wouldn't be very interesting"
• "I wouldn't enjoy it as much if there was no humour"

5) What do you think would have made the advert better?

• "There seemed to be quite negative connotations"
• "It puts you off the drink a little bit because you wouldn't want that to happen to you"

Primary Research for Dr.Pepper - Questionnaire

QUESTIONNAIRE

1) Have you tried Dr.Pepper before? (Circle one)

    YES          NO      

2) What did you think of the taste? 

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3) Would you buy the drink again? (Circle one) 

     

     YES          NO          MAYBE

4) Do you think the price is reasonable? (Circle one)

     YES          NO          OTHER

5) Would the advert for Dr.Pepper increase the chance of you buying the product? (Circle one)
      
     YES          NO          MAYBE

6) Have you watched any of the previous Dr.Pepper adverts? If so, did anything in the advert stand out for you and what was it? 

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7) What would make a good advert for the specific product?

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8) If you do drink Dr.Pepper, how often do you drink it? 

• Everyday
• 2-6 times a week
• Every other week
• Once a month
• Only for certain occasions
• Never    

9) What do you think about the packaging of the Dr.Pepper bottle/can?

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10) Which drink do you prefer? (Circle one)

• Original Dr Pepper
• Diet Dr Pepper
• Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper
• Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper
• Berries and Cream Dr Pepper
• Diet Berries and Cream Dr Pepper
• Caffeine Free Dr Pepper
• Diet Caffeine Free Dr Pepper

Primary and Secondary Research for Dr.Pepper

http://www.slideshare.net/MillieMh/dr-pepper-powerpoint

Tim Burton

Tim Burton was born on August 25, 1958, in California. After majoring in animation at the California Institute of Arts, he worked as a Disney animator for less than a year before going out on his own. 
He became known for creating visually impressive films that blend themes of fantasy and horror, including Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Batman, and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
His earliest known film is The Island of Doctor Agor which was made in 1971, when Burton was just thirteen years old. It was an animated film shot with a group of his friends. Around the same time, the growing film-maker also made a short film called Houdini.

While at Disney in 1982, Burton made his award winning, six-minute black-and-white stop motion film named Vincent. Vincent was based on a poem written by the film-maker, and represents a young boy who fantasizes that he is his hero Vincent Price. 
You can watch Vincent here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD8uQzu0IL0

After creating his own production company, Burton directed the extravagant film Batman (1989). The film was the first film to sell $100 million in the first 10 days of release.

When watching films that Tim Burton has directed, you can automatically spot the techniques used and the unique style he portrays. Most of his films have a lot of tension and suspense and you can tell this from the choice of different angles. Many of his movies are distinctive in the way that they have been filmed, he often uses dark lighting to create a subdued atmosphere. Because its like this in more than one movie, we notice that this is a trademark of his and enjoys filming this way. The themes that are repeated in quite a lot of Tim Burton’s movies is that they are mainly creepy and have a dark feel to them.

Continuing with his interest in frightening themes, Burton directed the film transformation of the popular musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in 2007. The film reunited Burton with his close friends Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. All three received a lot of praise for their work on the film, including several Golden Globe nominations. In 2010, they reunited again in Tim Burton's adaptation of Lewis Carrol's Alice In Wonderland, where Depp played the role of The Mad Hatter and Carter, the Red Queen.



References: http://www.biography.com/people/tim-burton-9542431
http://www.timburtoncollective.com/earlymovies.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Burton#Early_career:_1980s

Animation Research Presentation

Joseph Plateau

• First person to demonstrate moving images
• His father wanted him to follow in his footsteps
• He proved the theory of Persistence of Vision in 1829
• He started the idea of animation film
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JeN3uk2ClE

William Horner

• He created the Zoetrope
• This helped him teach Maths
• Stole someone else's idea
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2TQrQs9o4E

Charles-Emile Reynaud

• He created the Praxinoscope
• He was a French science teacher
• His father was a horologer and medal engraver
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=426mqlB-kAY

Lumière Brothers

• Their father was a painter
• They both educated in France
• They were the earliest filmmakers in history

George Pal

• Born February 1908 in Hungary
• Moved to America
• Worked with/at Paramount Pictures
• In 1950, he made the film 'Destination Moon'
• 'The Time Machine' was one of his most famous films 
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxnDrs_Djnw

Willis O'Brien

• Born in 1886 in California
• Best known as the animator of the original King Kong
• His job was sculpting and illustrating
• He inspired a lot of people as a pioneer
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2PjgxnyyQo

Roy Harryhausen

• Like dinosaurs and everything in the fantasy world
• Worked with Willis O'Brien
• His favourite haunts as a child were museums, marionette shows, the ocean, local parks and movie houses.
• Born in 1920 
• Died in 2013
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9kmjW73-v4

Jan Švankmajer

• Born in 1934
• Inspired people for the movie Saw and other movies like that
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMTBW7MMTW4

Eadweard Muybridge

http://www.slideshare.net/MillieMh/eadweard-muybridge-research-presentation

Experimentation of Animation

Animation Experiments

Small Objects was mine and my groups first experiment so it was our first time photographing anything. You can tell this because throughout the short video you can see the hands of myself and Harry who was also in my group. As the cars come closer together, they start piling on top of each other and its very sudden with the movement meaning not very realistic. 

Play Dough was our second experiment where we created characters/monsters out of play dough and moved them closer together. While editing this video, I think I made the speed too fast and it goes too quickly. In the middle of the video the lighting of the pictures changes and this is because when I was taking the photos, the flash went off and so it makes it look slightly awry. There was quite big movements between each photo taken but it works quite well.

Cut Out was our third experiment and again when editing, I made the video a little too fast and so you can't see in detail what is happening. The group and I didn't make it clear what was happening/what we were aiming to achieve. Each individual image was taken at an unusual angle and not taken from birds eye view which also lets the video down slightly.

Sand was the hardest experiment for my group and I purely because we had a tough time trying to think of what to create with the sand provided and with the short amount of time we were given. We tried to show a pyramid being built then being knocked back down. The pattern created within the pyramid was not planned but I think it makes the pyramid more interesting than just a plain block.                    

    

Pixelation was our last experiment. I liked this experiment the most because it has more of a story to it and works well. I think it works well because we used the burst mode. The burst mode means that you carry on pressing the button to take a picture and it continuously takes photos.