Lizardo 4 is a stop-motion animation in progress created and directed by Sam Gainsborough. The Animation class, including myself, helped to make some of the background characters, designed particularly for scenes where there would be crowds, so there had to be a diverse group of people made.
First of all, we each made a sky to use as a backdrop for the outdoor scenes. The best and most suitable sky was chosen to be used for the production.
Then, we split ourselves into groups to take care of each of the different areas: constructing various-shaped armatures, molding the heads, hands and the feet, building the bodies, and making the clothes. For the heads, they had to be made in the style that Sam had designed for the main characters of the film. The bodies were made from polystyrene. For the clothes, they had to be tailored to specific proportions so they would fit each character's body structure comfortably. They had to be interesting yet typical to any ordinary group of people.
“PACMAN” by The Adventures of Duane & BrandO is an animated music video for a song by the same artists. The style is an example of pixilation animation, based on the classic arcade and videogame Pacman. It follows Pacman and his ghost enemies, Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde, and their constant conflict throughout their lives in a black, pixelated maze in a videogame.
The animation is jerky and rough, to recreate the same kind of animation the Pacman game had, creating a nostalgic feel for viewers who have played the game. The song it is animated to is a rap, sung from each characters point of view but chiefly from Pacman’s, and includes noises and sound effects taken from the game.
Because it is wholly about the Pacman game, the main target audience would tend to be older people who had played the game in their childhood; harsh language used in the rap confirms this observation.
Overall it is simple, fun, and captures the memory of the game very well whilst adding a Gangster twist to it.
“Baman Piderman” is a series of internet Flash cartoons by Alex Butera and Lindsay Small, which follows the lives of Baman and Piderman and many others who inhabit a white, empty landscape. Their adventures are often surreal, and the humour is endearing with underlying irony and sarcasm.
This particular episode of “Baman Piderman”, named “Hab Da Sleepover”, is about the antics of Baman and Piderman when Baman suggests they should have a sleepover. Piderman encounters his fears of both Pumpkin’s constant screaming and of monsters in the dark. Baman and Piderman face these monsters, with dubious consequences.
The animation of the characters is slick and supple whilst still giving a scrappy, hand-drawn feel (despite being made in Macromedia Flash on the computer) that is amplified by the constant “boiling” technique used. Despite the child-like appearance, the whimsical humour is most certainly aimed at teens and adults. It is random and charming in its own way, both in style, humour and plot (or lack of), and has received mixed feedback because of its completely bizarre ambience.
Adventure Time is a hand-drawn animation short, created by animator Pendleton Ward, which later on developed into a television series.It is about a young boy named Pen and his adventures with his talking dog, Jake.They chase Princess Bubblegum’s rainicorn into the IceKingdom, partake in battle with the Ice King, rescue Princess Bubblegum, and get transported back in time to Mars with Abraham Lincoln.
It is whimsical, wacky and surreal in both style of animation and plotline; the style is simple but extremely effective, and it is a very colourful piece of animation.It includes a modernised version of the bounce-and-stretch technique in the old pre-1950s animation (such as Steamboat Willie), of which I am very fond of; its style may have even been inspired by such animations.
It is uncertain who the true target audience is for: despite being appropriate for children of young ages, it is so quirky, random and fun that it could very easily appeal to teenagers and creative adults.
