Now heres where project planning comes in, and you realize, ah i wish id thought this far ahead, but its a learning experience none the less, you remember not to do it that way the next time.
Thinking i was smart making all the animation scenes in short scenes instead of long uneditable scenes, i left myself not much room for transitions. of course i went back to flash and made a few extra long start or end frames, giving room for transitions.
I stuck mainly with fade in and out, though transitions arent normally liked in movies above amateur level (otherwise you end up with something similar to scooby doo) the most commonly used transition in practice would probably be dissolve, but fade in and fade out suited this eerie dream like animation, i think it ended up looking the part once it was all put together.
a big problem i came across was the black screen, and timing it that it would only last for the certain blank narration parts, this was tricky due to the fact the software wouldnt allow me to use a blank screen, unless it was a jpeg, and nobody likes added a jpeg to a movie, especially since they arent as easy as youd think to scale down or up in time, the software thinks it knows best and jumps ahead or back a full second or two, which can completely throw off an animation. so timing the blackness was actually one of the most time consuming parts of this editing process.
The little things make the big things work, after all the chilling emotive design of this project doesnt just lay with the words narrated, or how they are narrated or eve just the animation and transitions, to make it come to life, the noises, subtle and obvious ones, all have to be included. this was my first real experience in sound effects, as it had more than background music.
There are countless music editing softwares available, the one is used and also my personal favourite due to its simplicity is garage band. it allows me to add several sound effects, and over lap them (simple yet not all sound editing programes do it) and it allows me to mess about with the noise level, ie i can make things seem further in the distant or quieter, and even fade in or out. this of course was used alot in my 'the book thief' animation, mainly with the screams and sobs.
The first thing included other than the already discussed narration, was the eerie background music, though i had gathered the sound effects and back ups, the music was the last to be chosen but the first to be included.
I ended up using this particular one as the tempo changes but not drastically, it is repetitive and works with my animation. The big seller for me was actually the fact it gave me chills at the start, i had several background music options that worked with the animation, but this one haunted me from the very start, so it was an easy choice.
It took a bit of experimenting and listening to the full animaton more times than im happy with, but eventually i gt the narration and sound effects to work together, nether overbearing, and the narration quiet but not lost, and the eerie music heard but not a focus.
Now this would normally be the height of my music/sound editing process, but this animation requires sound effects to come to life.
I worked from the start to the end, as i already had the sound effects and back ups gathered. Though all the sounds gathered were suitable for the action, they didnt all suit the final project, picking and choosing as i went along, some suited with the narration and background noise, others did not.
The first sound effect heard is the typing, i was adamant that i wanted a type writer/keyboard noise behind the 'small fact' titles, i designed the way the type animated due to this idea, so since i was lacking in a type writer, and any type noises i found on the internet werent suitable (too loud, too fast, too slow) i recorded it myself. This of course is not easy when you live with about ten people and in the middle of a city, background noise/static is always going to happen. Once i silenced almost everything else, my own breathing and small movements were the most difficult to cancel out. Im pretty sure divers dont have to practice holding their breath that long, again and again until the recordings correct.
I did this for all three red titles, typing the actual words out, however they dragged on a bit too much in the end.
The next bi g sound effect heard was meant to be a shine but a shine/gleam/chime didnt suit the animation, it was too high pitched for the solemness.
So in the end i used a woosh noise, when he is disappearing with the standard lifeless blue soul and the light over his shoulder blinds the screen.
Next the cracking noise, i tried so many online options, even resorted to crinkling household items, then it hit me, i was wearing a wrist brace at the time, due to the amount of work over the course of that month id started to injury my wrist, and with the next semester right around the corner i couldnt loose the ability to write draw or animate, so i got a wrist brace, its basically what youd wear if say you sprained your wrist, and if youve ever seen or had one, youd know the crackling noise that is normally a complete nuisance... except in this case, where it was perfect.
The scream i bought from an online sound effects website, for next to nothing, it came with several other screams that i found perfect for this part, but this one sounded best when made to drown out in the distance.
I think it worked well because it is a bit scary and unexpected. catches you off guard. i had plan to use many other sound effects but in the end i took them out as it was too many, every second or so was another sound effect and the actual effect was lost by the end of it all.
One of the most striking moments you see death, is one of the big full person glimpses, and its very bold and lonesome looking as he turns and abandons the screen.
This was such a powerful scene i kept its sound effect. a long swoosh similar to the shining light over the shoulder scene. it emphasise how quick and how gone he is.
hopefully making the viewer feel an emptiness, and abandoned.
One of the hardest sound effects to actually decide on was the distant crying of survivors, it was a disgusted and mournful scene through narration and animation,it was a fine line between too much and not enough.
I was stuck on whether it was an actual mournful cry, a small sob or even a crowd of crys and sobs.
Its one of the sound effects that took so much time and effort yet im just not happy with it in the end, i feel it is missing something im just not seeing/hearing, yet no matter who i asked, i never got any helpful feedback, nobody else seemed to see/hear the problem i had. Its defiantly a scene im not a hundred percent pleased with.
The beaten lungs is the last big sound effect you hear in this animation, it seemed too important to not include. Once all the sound effects had been included i deleted more than half as it was too much. sound effects i deleted were small things like marching of Nazis, heavy breathing every so often, shines, a swoosh of the perpetual survivor, a sound for each of the things described in the second last scene, like the scribble of writing (words) and a girl laugh in the distance (girl) marching (fanatical Germans) an accordion in the distance (accordionist) jewish fist fighter (a punch and a grunt) In the end though they seemed nesscary, there was just too much and lost its effect.
Sounds i wish i had included now that i look back on it all would be especially the waxy yellows and cloud spat blues scene. a gooey noise for the wax, a drip and puffy noise for cloud spat blue, and maybe a smokey noise or crumbling noise for the murky darknesses. One more noise i wasnt happy with and believe another coinciding noise wouldve benefited would have been the beaten lungs noise, though there were alot of noises in that scene i believe a sickly breathing/beating noise for the lungs wouldve been appropriate, however i could never find one that made sense, this is one of the biggest disappointments about this animation, even though nobody else seems to notice.
All in all i think it was a success. i started out to create a short story (lifes ups and downs, based on the oh the places youll go by dr suess) but changed it to making a teaser promo for the book for this project and it turned out alot better than id expected, and the project brought on more challenges and experiences than id expected as well. I can definitely see myself getting more and more enthused by animation and want to continue to get better. so take a wee look at the final project 'The Book Thief' linked in the next post and maybe give me some feedback, all feedback/suggestions/likes/dislikes are welcome, as it will help me become a better animator. Thankyou all for reading this far, and i hope this project/blog has come of some little use to you on your on projects/animation journeys.
Next semester is 3D Animation and Moving Image, so if any of that interests you, follow on reading, the link will also be in the final post.
BYE
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