futuristic flipbook - whiteboard animation

In addition to pinhole photography, we also sampled whiteboard animation in Induction week. Again, very simple by nature: a pen, a whiteboard and some random ideas.

The criteria set was to get a box to move from the left side to the right side of a tree. Simple. Yet, with the added option of "be as freeform as you want" meant a plethora of humourous additions.

This being my first opportunity of the year to work in a team, we took it in turns to draw, take the individual snaps and throw in ideas on the progression of our box story. The idea we started off with was by no means the one we ended up with, such is the nature of group work and coming up with things on the spot - possibly one of the best way to make the most off the wall, zany creations.

For our animation, I really like the comedy in the form of the bird, which collides with the exploding rocket and falls to the ground as a cooked roast! Ending our sketch was a last spur of the minute, Rocky Horror Show plant monster and this is funny too, especially when you realise that our story started off with one box and one tree! The stills we were drawing linked together and flowed nicely, 1frame is 1/12th of a second. 2 hours in itself is a long time yet it flew by: we were having fun, trying something everybody was relatively new to, and we kept the ball rolling by having to come up with new content all the time as the story went on.


The detail we were putting into our ideas and then the subsequent drawings was impressive, but the time it was taking meant it was a downside. 1/12th of a second works well for the fact that small mistakes are not noticeable, yet this then proves a downside when intricate drawings with thought and effort put in, too go a miss in the blink of an eye.

Points fed in by myself and the other teammates sometimes fell to deaf ears, perhaps for the better, yet on the other hand it does make you think of how different you as an individual would like it to turn out, in comparison to how it eventually turned out from a group's effort.

When watching back and viewing other's works, it was clear to see that a tree and box story in origin had so much potential! The ideas were really witty, and constant, showing that group work has the ability to bring out alot of ideas! Even if they're not very strong, peers can help build on them and progress onwards from there. Nuclear wars, flying houses, spiders, Mrs. Pacman, all in no way connected, yet all making their way into the box and tree story! - such is the nature of Multimedia: the huge opportunity and potential of what can be produced. You seriously can make so much from so very little. In fact, it's one of the main reasons I signed up.