Target audience

From being a regular viewer of this channel and knowing what is broadcast on it it gives me a bit of knowledge that the target audience for my animation are teens to young adults ( 15-30). The reason why I say this because what they broadcast on this TV channel is more comedy and soaps aimed more for young adults. I'am a regular viewer of this channel and the only thing that I see that could attract older adults age 30+  would be the movies that they have sometimes everything else would be aimed for younger adults and teens. I asked a few older people like my mum and a few of her friends to sit down and watch some of the stuff that I record on my sky box and after and hour of flicking trough some programs that were broadcast on E4 they said non of the programs appeal to them, they are all age 40+ they said the programs were funny at times but that they did not grabbed their attention and they even though that some of the things that happened in the programs such as how I meet your mother and scrubs would be silly for them to even stop and watch for longer then 10 minutes the only program that they though was interesting to watch would be charmed this is a program about witches, it is quite old so maybe that is why is more interesting for older adults.
I also think that the channel is more aimed at young adults because all the other entries for the E String competition also look like they think they are this is because all their animations are fun and some make no sense but a young adult will get the sense of humor from that animation and older adult I don't think will find it as funny but maybe silly and stupid.
Taking that into account I will be aiming my animation to the more youthful teen and young adults.
  

Research into short animations logos

So for me to have an idea of how to create an animation using the E4 logo I been researching into animated logos that other professional have done to give me an idea of what I could come up with for my animation and what styles are more popular so I could maybe use some of this styles.

I been looking on You Tube for animated logos and I came across this video. 

After looking at this video I would say it would be helpful if I was just doing a Animated logo only project, as it has 100 different animated logos in this video and really good ones too.

But for what I have to do this is not really what I'm looking for because the animated logos are short and some do not really have a lot of animation elements going on. For what I have seen in this video animated logos are also very short. They are no longer then 5 seconds long so that is also not suitable for what I'm looking for because my animation has to be 10 seconds long.

So what I learned from watching this video is that I may want to look for short animations that use logos instead of animated logos. That may be a more relevant search for what I'm looking for.

Best movie studio Logos

So after the I learned that I needed to look more for short animations using logos I found this video on You Tube, it is very logo but it does have 58 of the best movie logos from the most well known studio companies in the world from Pixar, to Dream Works Animation, Universal, Metro Gold Mayer, Walt Disney, Gracie Films and Jerry Bruckheimer among a lot of other well know film production companies and animation production companies.

One thing  I learned from watching this clip is that their animated logos are more like film intro they are not short like a usual animated logo are an example, they are not short like the video I looked at before with the 100 animated logos, no this logo animations/ intros are about 10s or longer. Another thing I learned was that they are not as simple as the previews logos they have a lot more depth to the ideas that are trying to put across a lot more animated elements that a normal and short animated logo would have they tell a story and that catches your attention more then just a normal animated logo would. There are some amazing animated logos/ intros in this movie that got me saying wow some of this are.

1. Spyglass- I loved this logo animation the reason for that is because of the way it starts 3D with the camera rotating around the camera then coming out and you can see the man holding that spyglass at this point everything still looks 3D but as the camera zooms out more the logo turns all black and also 2D the way they blended both 3D and 2D in the same animation and made it work so well the way they done that transition is so smooth that for a person that is not to experienced in the field would not even pick up on that, but the best part of this logo animation, is the way that they still kept the water in the background of the logo 3D when the rest of the logo is 2D and the water is still looks like is real water moving in the background. That was the reason why I liked that logo animation so much. This logo animation just taught me that I can think outside the box more then I though I could that combining 2D and 3D in the same animation if done properly it can work so well.
2. Twenty-One Laps Entertainment- In this logo animation what I liked about it was, the way that the lights are the main attraction of the animation and at the end the lights create the logo. This logo gave me an idea that I could do something similar for the E4 logo animation I'm going to create. 
3. Disney Nature-   The thing I liked about this logo animation was the way they modeled the mountains the attention to detail they paid to the mountains is incredible at first you think you actually looking at real mountains is only when they zoom out that you can see they are 3D models. What I learned from this logo animation is that no matter how small the animation is, the attention to detail will make your animation stand out to others.
4. Europa- In this logo animation i love the way that the water is modeled it seems so real and ino how hard water is to model in 3D. but the way that the waves are done the way it reacts to the movements of other things like the dolphins and the blue objects that it emerges from under water is incredible. the way that they created the transition from the blue object to the fairy is smooth and impressive. This animation as taught me that if i m going to do any transitions in my animations to aim to do them as smooth as possible to give it more of a realistic feeling.
5. Paramount 100 years- The thing that I loved about this animation is how realistic everything looks from the starts to the water to the mountains at the end. The movements within the logo animation are also so well animated smooth and realistic it does look like at first that the animation is real, specially when the starts touch the water in the river the way the water reacts to that movement is extremely well done. I learned from watching this logo animation that attention to detail is most important that studying what  movements you want and the reactions from the movements of the objects you are animating are very important when creating an animation this is what will engage the public to want to see your animation.
6. Universal 100th Anniversary- This logo animation really caught my attention this is because the way they stepped up the logo animation from the old one. The extras they put in this new logo animation make the logo so much more interesting and appealing. Some of this improvements are the lights on the globe that makes it look more realistic it almost seems like a real earth snapshot from space at night, also the new colors they are using on the font are much better and bright they are shiny and new, I like the new textures that they applied looks a lot more appealing that the old ones they catch your attention a lot more. From seeing the changes they made to this logo it taught me that texturing of the objects you use in your animation are very important too, the right textures and colors are what make a model stand out and look good is not just how well you model the objects if it does not have the right textures it does not look good.

Another thing I picked up from this video is that most animation logos started simple and in 2D form, but through out the years they have transformed into more complex ideas and they have evolved to 3D form, a good example of this in this video is at 6.55 with the Walt Disney logo animation the first animation you see is the first ever logo animation, this logo animations has a blue background with the castle being white to create a contrast that appears slowly to create the Walt Disney famous castle it is all in 2D form and not very exciting even though at that time I bet was a great animation, but after that you see the new logo animation of Walt Disney the one that is used now-a-days and from that we can see the change everything in the new logo is in 3D form and the background is no longer just a blue background it is all modeled to look like an enchanted castle from a fairy tale. It has a river and a field at each side. The most interesting thing is that the idea does not change much their are some extras in the animation like the beginning starts in the clouds and then it goes to the river to see the castle but the other animation movements are the same the arc still in the new logo animation and the sound track is mostly the same too, is just the 3D and the background that has changed really.

From this movie I have also noticed that most of the logo animation and instrumental sound tracks are also very relaxing almost just like a giggle, the sound tracks are not distracting so they don't take the attraction from the animation, another thing I noticed is that they don't really apply any sound effects to the animations for example when something touches the water their is no water sound like you would expect it to be in normal animation, their is only the sound track. Other things I have found is that most logo animations use a lot of the same elements clouds, water the universe is used in quite a few logo animation bright light and smoke is also used a lot for effects and to catch attention, so that is things for me to take into consideration when planning my animation.

research into other people animation for E4

So before I start to create my own ideas and develop them I need to look at animations that other people have already created for the this competition so that I don't end up with ideas that have been developed by other people, allows me to make my ideas as unique as possible.

By researching into existing animations it could also give me ideas on how to create my idea, like themes and animation styles what to use and also the quality that the animation has to be done in. 

All the entries for this competition are all on their website so I can look at them witch is quite useful for me, this is because it will take me less time this way instead of having to go to You Tube and research and not find much. 

The website is   http://estings.e4.com/watch

I been looking at some animations that I liked the concept and that caught my eye so I will be talking about each animation a bit and how I think they work and if I could use it as reference.

The first animation I looked at was titled E4- Esting London

http://youtu.be/yEpCkPqMieE 

This is a 3D animation the producer of this animation is called Lucien De Viva this animation was submitted to the E4 competition on the 11/07/2013. For the information that was giving the animator used 3 programs to create this animation ( Maya, Vray and After Effects) 

This was one of the entries in this competition that really got my eye the reason for that is because it was created in 3D. I really like the concept and the idea behind the animation how it keep it simple and concentrated on modeling only the big icons of London so when people watch this they can straight away relate it to London with the BIG BEN and the London Eye and everything, I also think it was clever the way he used only the purple and the white the same colors as the E4 logo so their was not to much fuss and also can be straight away recognized by the audience seeing this animation somewhere else that this is going to be E4 related I think its extremely clever the way he done it. At the begging of the animation it doesn't look like much is happening, is just a purple rectangle but then all the London icons start popping out of the rectangle to show that is London that his trying to represent at the begging of the animation, it doesn't look very complicated but just the birds itself are very hard to animate and he has so many thing doing so much stuff at the same time even though it looks simple it most of taken a lot of time to animate that just the begging the way he applied squash and stretch to the building when they spring up,a lot of though and work went into creating this but he done a great job because he makes it look so simple. The last half when the purple rectangle starts to spin and creates the E4 logo is very clever the way we blended both of the things together and created an very smooth transaction between making this London model disappear and the E4 logo come into the screen. The sound effects that he created for the animation are also very good and adequate to the animation itself. This is a really good animation and as an animator myself I can see he put a lot of work and though into creating this. This animation just gave me the idea that I can use any theme I want for my animation as  long as I apply the logo colors into the things that I'm modeling so it relates. Very clever.


The second animation I looked at was titled E4-Cocktail.
http://youtu.be/qNvk-_UvH7Y

This is another 3D animation the producer of this animation is called Piers Pollard this animation was submitted on 19/6/2013 on the E4 competition. For the information that was given by the producer of this animation he used Cinema 4D and Realflow I'am only familiar with one of this programs Cinema 4D I used it in previous projects at College, But I don't know what Realflow does so it could be something for me to look at.

This is another entry from this competition that got my eye the reason for this is the idea behind this animation. The reason for that is because I kinda was thinking to do something similar but using a straw and after you see the juice feeling in the logo so it is nice to see that my idea was a good one because it was used by someone else. In this animation he used Cinema 4D to create the E4 logo transparent shell and then he used particles to create the water effect,This animation is not just a 3D animation it is a  CG vfx animation this is because it has real life footage combined with 3D animated objects. So maybe that is why he used realflow to combined the two the real life footage and the 3D animation. I love the concept of this animation. The animation itself is not to complicated it takes time to get the right options for the water to look like that but it not to hard their is enough tutorial out on You Tube teaching us how to used particles on Cinema 4D so the animation part  is quite simple to make. I would say that the hardest and the most time consuming part of this animation as a hole would be the production part combining the two films together to create a convincing animation, that is what makes this animation so amazing and successful making people believe that the animated models could be in real life. I didn't learn much from this animation but the reason why I looked into it was because I had a similar idea to this. So now I know that I can not use that idea because it has been used already and I don't want the producer from this animation to accuse me of copying his idea, but over all this is a great animation.

The third animation i looked at was titled E4 Blood String.
http://youtu.be/RxK-K8-nSQM

This is yet another 3D animation the producer of this animation is called Peter Dahl-Collins this animation was submitted on 03/06/2013 on the E4 competition. For the information that was given by the producer of this animation he used Cinema 4D, After Effects and Final Cut Pro. I am very familiar with two of this programs Cinema 4D and Final Cut Pro as I used both numerous times to create animations for my projects. But I do not have much knowledge about After Effects I know is a program that is used quite a lot to create effects in animations specially for 3D animations, so it could be something for me to research in if I want any special effects for my animation.

This animation caught my eye simply because of its title I didn't see that it was a 3D animation until I played the animation, it was not what I was expecting but it worked at the end, the beginning for me is a bit boring we have to wait quite a while before the E4 logo. Also for the beginning of this animation you wouldn't relate it to E4 it is only the familiar sound track that is provided by the E4 competition that gives it away. But saying that I like the way that the logo after gets stuck to what is suppose to be the camera screen, it was very clever and in very great timing with the sound track when it saying E4 the special sound effect that was applied by the animator was very good too, but for me that is the only thing that was OK about this animation. I don't find this animation exciting at all but I not gonna say it is not  well produced but is not like the other two animations I looked at above that have an wow factor about them this one is dull. So form this animation what I learn is to make sure my animation need to have something that will wow the public if not it just be over looked so maybe apply some exaggeration to any movement that i will have in my animation to attract my audience.

Conclusion

This animations are just a tiny example of the animations that have been submitted buy people this year to the E4 Strings competition their are lots more in lots of different styles produced by a lot of other program. There are so many entries that if I was to comment on each animation I would spend a few months doing it. So I chose to look at only 3 that would give me a feel of the quality of the animations that have been entered so I know what quality my animation will have to be produced and for my research I have found out that I can not slack the final animation will have to be in a very high quality all the animations that I have looked at are all very high quality well their are a few that are very box standard but apart from that I can tell al ot of work as gone into each animation entered.
I have also just noticed that the 3 animations that I chose to look at in detail were produced in 3D, I think this is because I'am more attracted to the 3D animation world, I love modeling stuff in 3D and I also think 3D is my strongest point. So from this research I have also found out that my animation will be produced in 3D because I find it my strongest point. But it all be finalized once I come up with all my ideas.

E4 competition brief

Guess what peoples? Our E Stings competition is BACK and open for bidniz!

It’s pretty simple really… we want you to chuck us your funnest, funniest, weirdy-est, mischievous-est, coolest, dumbest, cleverest, randomest, most nonsensical-est video stuff to go on the telly.

The Prizes

We’ll pick some of our favourites – let’s call them ‘finalists’, for now – and play them out on-air to make our lovely channel look even lovelier. And if being on the telly box isn’t enough, our judges will select a first prize winner who’ll take home a whopping £5000, and a runner up who’ll get £500.

Plus all the shortlisted finalists will be invited to a swanky little soiree in London where we’ll announce the winners.

The Judging Criteria

Judging of E Stings will be based on creativity and originality.

We want you to take our logo and create an original brand sting that has smacks of E4 attitude and can be played out on our telly-channel. It can be live action; it can be animated; it can be 2D, 3D, or 4D; it can be hi-fi, lo-fi, big-budget or no-budget. You get the idea – we’re pretty flexible.

The only rules we are forcing on you are…

• We can’t show anything explicit or violent in the daytime, but we might be able to after the watershed as long as it’s broadcastable. So – within reason – your idea can be quite naughty / irreverent / provocative and the like. Use your common sense though; anything too grim or sexually explicit won’t get shown at all.
• It HAS to be EXACTLY 10 seconds long. If it’s not 10 seconds long IT WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED BY THE JUDGES. Sorry, but we’re strict!
• You HAVE to use one of the 10-second audio beds supplied. Download the audio beds to choose from here (.zip 13.5MB)
• It HAS to have the E4 logo in it… but you probably could’ve guessed that. (Preferably, integrated into the idea rather than simply slapped on top of your piece at the end.) Here's an .eps version you can use (.eps 324KB)

Full T&Cs found here

Downloads

These are the bits and pieces you'll need to make your E Sting happen...

Download the E Stings audio sound beds here. You have to use one of these (.zip 13.5MB)
Download the E4 logo as a handy .eps file (.eps 324KB)

How to Enter

Here’s how you enter this year’s competition...

1. Download the E4 logo and the selection of 10-second audio beds
2. Make your E Sting (using the logo and one of the sound beds) – and make it good
3. Upload it to your own YouTube channel. PLEASE don’t use any annotations on it; we don’t want anything annotated, ta.
4. Click on the ‘Submit Your Entry’ tab up above
5. Register with C4 and sign in
6. Fill out your details, including a URL link to your Sting on YouTube
7. READ and kindly accept our terms and conditions
8. Hit submit and wait for the thank you message to pop up confirming we’ve received your E Sting
9. Pull up and pew, sit back and relax… your work here is done!

The Judges

So who’ve you gotta impress this time? The 2013 judging panel will be made up of some E4 creative people, online humans and marketing types. Plus this year we are joined by a VFX genius, Markcus Dryden, from the rather prestigious, award-winning, top-notch post-production house Envy.

FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions about this year’s E Stings...

Q: Can I use any music I like?

A: No, please choose from one of the downloadable soundbeds to accompany your E Sting. You MUST use one of these soundbeds.

Q: Can I remix or edit the soundbeds?

Research into Animation competitions

I have been researching Google for any animation competition that I can enter to use for my FMP. I came across lots of competition but their was just one small problem most of the competition deadlines reached or about were closing soon. Here is some examples of competitions I looked at :

1. Red Kit Animation "Hidden Stories"

This competition was asking to create a short animated film  of 1-3 minutes long, based on either real or imagined back-story to an object of my choice, but it had to be based on one of the Edinburgh Museums and Galleries, including the Museum Store.

This competition would be great to do because it had lots of helpful things to research and was very open for me to develop my creative skills but the deadline was last April, also the required animation length was too long, i would not be able to create it in the time limit i had for my university project deadline so my search continued...

Here is the website of this competition explaining more http://www.redkiteworkshops.co.uk/competition.html

    2. YTTalk

This competition was advertised on Facebook. The competition was to create an animation of two Characters (penguins) for a Music Video. They were not fussed about what style the animation was done could of been Hand Drawn, 2-D, CG, 3-D anything as long as it was about the two characters animated to the exact script and sound tracks provided by the client.

This competition wasn't as open as the first one because their was a lot more restrictions on what I could and could not do, the only thing I had freedom on choice was the style I would use to create the animation. But never the less it is a good competition to use as my project because by having a ready made script kills time used developing different ideas, instead i just have to research into a variety of styles that I could produce this animation.
The only two things that made me not take this competition on board was the fact of timing again they were asking for a 2 minute animation and that would require a lot more time that I do not have and the deadline was also in April 2013.

Here is the website of this competition explaining more about it http://yttalk.com/threads/animation-competition-2013.27511/


    3. Clock Makers "Picturing Time"

The competition was to create an animation or design or illustration of the understanding of time, horology or related subjects. the submission date 29th july 2013.

This competition did not really do it for me, it was interesting and it had a great subject but the submission date was very close, the style of the animation did not really apply to me because they did not allow 3-D animation substitution, therefore the restrictions and short deadline made this competition unattractive.

To see more information on this competition http://www.clockmakers.org/horology/clockmakers-picturing-time-competition-2013/



     4. E4 Channel " E Strings"

The competition was to take their logo and create an animation full of character to go on their channel in between program breaks. It could be done in any animation style CG, 2D, 3D or stop motion anything at all, only restriction were that it had to be 10 seconds only no more no less, and we had to used one of the tracks that they supply.

This competition was great for me I could be as creative as I wanted to be and do an amazing animation in any style. The restrictions were also reasonable and the timing of this animation was perfect because it fits my University Final Major Project deadline. The entry date was still on so that was the competition I chose to enter.

To see more on this competition http://estings.e4.com/competition

So for my Final Major Project I chose to create a 10 second animation for E4 E strings.

New FMP explaining how it started

For my new Final University Major Project I was required to search for a brand new client or competition that I could enter as it was a client based project.

After a few days of research I chose to enter an animation competition that I found online, the reason for my decision to choose a competition is because of the time constraints, i would not be able to have time to find new client and hold all necessary meetings to discuss the project and ideas on what to create. Therefore by me entering a competition I already know what I am working toward and this is because the brief that I need to meet is already set up by the creators of the competition so this would save me a lot of time that is very important right now.
Another reason that I chose to go with a competition is because even though the brief is already set most competitions are very open to different styles of animation they do not concentrate only on 3D or 2D or Stop-motion they are very open to all animation styles as long as we meet their small requirements such as timing, sound choice and what objects that have to be used, they don't mind what style you choose to use, so this gives me the opportunity to be experimental and open to anything so I can be creative.