Ryan Woodward: Thought of You

This short animation wasn't something I found myself, in fact I wasn't even researching any animations when I came across this beautiful piece of work. But it IS a beautiful piece of work. In particular I really love the way that movement is dealt with in this animation. I find that it flows very smoothly, which is something that I really want to be able to achieve in my work. I also really like the success of the exaggeration within the movements. 

Not only do I love the flow of this animation I also really like the overall aesthetic, particularly the way he hasn't spent too much time on making his drawings neat by erasing the lines that cross over. Overall, I feel that this is a beautiful little piece of work and it demonstrates good use of the 12 principles of animation well and is a good example of the effectiveness of simple mark making. 

Copyright ©

Copyright is something I have never really paid attention to as it seems like a very confusing, complicated legal system. However, after hearing about what it protects and how it works it doesn't seem all that difficult until you get into the serious stuff, such as claiming copyright infringement and so on.

So on a basic level, in the UK copyright is automatic (you don't actually ave to do anything for your work to be copyrighted), which I didn't know and it's pretty sweet that I don't have to worry about it that much, however, we have been advised to place the little copyright logo in the corner of all our work, just so we can prove it is our work, as this can be tricky due to copyright being an automatic thing.

In terms of who owns the copyright to a piece of work is all dependent on the situation and whether the person creating the work is working on a contract or being paid or not. For example if you create a drawing, a piece of music, literary, etc then the creator automatically owns the copyright to that piece of work. However, if it's a film then the principle director and/ or the producer own the copyright if it's a joint effort. If you work for a company then they own the copyright to any work you create for them. You can also buy and sell the copyrights to a piece of work but for it to be effective it must be transferred legally.

You still with me?

The duration of a copyright is actually quite impressive. For artistic works the copyright duration lasts your entire life plus an additional 70 years once you've passed away. For music and sound recordings it is only 70 years from the recording date.

When wanting to use other people's work for your own (bear with me this is when I begin to get confused too) you have to ask permission to use it, as they own the copyright to that piece of work. In all circumstances it is probably best to ask permission to use the work, which can be done by contacting the owner or organisation of the work. However, if it is being used for educational purposes permission may not be needed but YOU SHOULD ASK ANYWAY.

So far I understand that copyright is a really useful law that helps to protect your work from being used by others. However it is still confusing as there are many different types of copyright now available. The most common alternative is Creative Commons. This is a non-profit organisation that provides a legal framework to share and remix legally. There are many different types of copyright under this organisation that allow you to control how people share and use your work. And again this is a really useful form of copyright, as it allows you to share your work without losing the acknowledgement of creating it in the first place.

Overall, copyright is a confusing business and it still baffles me a little but I am confident that I know where I stand when it comes to copyrighting my work and how to go about protecting my work correctly.

Waking Sleeping Beauty

In last weeks PPP session we watched a documentary on the downfall and the rise of Disney animation called Waking Sleeping Beauty. First thing, if you're an animator or are thinking of pursuing animation at all then WATCH THIS! It's amazing. I really loved the way it went through how difficult animation can be but at the same just how equally amazing it can be. It highlighted just how tough it is too although surprisingly this just wanted me to be an animator even more.

The documentary follows Disney through their first big animation, their not so successful animations to their rise again. Obviously growing up with Disney films as a child it came as a big shock to me that Disney were once a failing company that dragged themselves through the mud to be where they are today but I really enjoyed seeing behind the scenes of their great animations that I grew up. As often with most animations the actual animators get no real deserving credit for their work and the effort they put into creating what they do is very rarely appreciated by an audience, and it was really nice to see the hard work, effort and hours that are put into each animation. This has increased my appreciation for the time an effort even the shortest animation takes to create greatly and it has made me think about the time and effort I need to put into my work if I want it to be to the best of my ability.

Overall, a really bog eye opener to the industry of animation that I feel greatly fortunate to have seen,as I feel that it will help me to appreciate my work more and put more effort into each piece of work I do.