Post editing

After rendering all the scenes and putting together the final piece i felt that it wasn't working because i wanted more intensity in the scenes so a way i worked around this was to place multiple shots on screen and cutting back and forth to characters reactions which helped bring that across.
I also had in mind that i would like to try this method because this animation is aimed at a younger audience and i wanted the scenes in some way to emulate a comic book.

Changes

After developing the city environment i felt that it wasn't working and that it didn't help the animation become more of a joyful scene so i changed it so that when the ball flies into the city scene it explodes with colour and the city.
Parts of the cityscape are made of lines and i chose to do this after looking over South African art and as i stated before that a lot of the work have linear designs so i wanted to incorporate that into the scene. Also the whole environment of the city animates in and the reason for this was to try to bring a sense of the city is coming alive with football/people coming together and to show that South Africa is a vibrant country.

Assets

Below are objects that i will place into the city environment to add more colour, contrast and to make the city feel like a city.

A car below where i am also keeping to the low polygon design which helps the objects to attract various colours more boldly using the toon shading.

Design for city

For the city i am trying to incorporate South African design into the scene from all areas such as textiles, tribal and pottery. The most noticeable features I've seen from the designs i have looked at are -

• vibrant colours throughout, however there are more earth and neutral toned designs too
• symmetrical designs
• A lot of repetition in the design
• A large amount of linear design work
• bold, thick lined work

Below are some images i have come across that argue my point,

I have begun to deign the city and tried to introduce the design work into the city by the use of lighting in Maya.

Below are some images of the latest city designs i have done. I am trying to develop a effective colour palette that will compliment the city and the characters i have designed once they are brought into the scene.

I want the city to look vibrant and colourful however not too abstract, i still want the city to have a realistic look but also for it to look lively and also for it to incorporate South African designs throughout. I am trying to accomplish this by using the city objects to form a design throughout the city such as using the lighting from the lampposts to project designs on the wall as you can see from the trials below. I am also going to use billboards on the buildings to help bring the design together as i have in the earlier trials that you can see above.

From trying to develop a colour palette for the city i noticed that although from a distance the colours work well, when you go closer into the city you don't get the same effect as from above, so that is why i am now going for more earth tones for the city and then to incorporate the colour through the surrounding objects (cars, billboards, lampposts, windows...).

Animatic

This is the animatic i have made to help me in producing the final piece. This is the outline of what my animation will look like and i will follow for the timing of each scene. This animatic will also help the music producer to make the soundtrack for the animation so that he can get a feel of what the animation is saying at that point in the scene and throughout.

rigged characters

I have now rigged all the characters but still need to rig the faces but below are images of the types of poses and movements players will be making and i am also checking here for any problem

areas with the meshes but i am happy with these results.

Landscapes, buildings, settings

For my animation there are three main settings, the desert, the city and the Johannesburg stadium.


I have been working on these areas and still want to add some more detail on to the settings and also i have to create a lot more buildings. I've also gone with toon shades for the render on the settings and particularly like the way the strokes and tones chosen give a more detailed mountain look in the distance of the desert and using this technique can help me to get a more vibrant feel to the animation.

Toon test

I have been trying to test the toon shading on the characters and i now think i will apply this to the final piece, the character below is Gattuso and what i've thought about doing is changing the toon shades to a colour that represents the players nationality, so for example on this character he is Italian and they wear blue kits so i have changed the majority shade to a blue colour the reason i wanted to try this is to make each player more vibrant and look more individual because i want the animation colourful which is also another reason why i have added strokes to the characters which i still have to determine whether i am including the final piece.

Latest

Recently i have been modelling the characters and realized very quickly that seven was far too many too make so i decided cut out two of the characters and later in the animation process i may be able to include them by creating them in a 2D form which will also give me a chance to try some mixed media work in this piece.



Through the modelling process i realized many things such as the better you make the models the easier it will be later for you to texture them, also do not add too many/needless edges because this just over complicates the model.




So far i am happy with the models but would like more time to improve them on the texture side of things, on thing i found difficult whilst i was texturing the models was that the UV snapshot image in Photoshop was at times blurry for when creating the textures which was difficult to make accurate textures.





Players below are:





Top left - Ronaldo, top right - Rooney, bottom left - Rio Ferdinand, bottom right - Gattuso, i also have Messi's model to finish too and will put it up soon on the blog. Out of all the charcters i would like to make some changes mainly to Rio and Ronaldo's face but overall i am happy with the outcomes so far.























Messi below


















Now i will begin to rig the characters and hopefully have some walk cycles up soon.

maya modelling process

At the minute i am creating the models for the animation and because i am fairly new to the 3D process and i have to create SEVEN models and rig them i have decided to break the process down into parts for example i have begun with modelling all the faces first so that i don't forget anything and whilst i am in the flow creating face models i should be able to create them quicker and hopefully keep me on target for the rest off the project.

Character modeling

So i am currently in the modeling stage of the project and had many complications at the beginning but i am picking things up now but i wanted to have the final 3D models smoothed out but during the modeling process I've been experimenting with colour on the 3D models and when the models aren't smoothed and still with the block effect it picks up the surrounding colours and light more effectively which is a major factor for the animation and in certain areas of the model they have their own colour as for if the model was smoothed out it would have a gradient. Another reason i also want this style is because the Johannesburg football stadium (where the final will be held) will have a shell around the stadium which has i similar style so i would like to incorporate that into the style.

To the left is the blocked style which i think will work great to pick up different tones and shades, (green and yellow ambient lights)

Establishing shot

One area that i am having trouble with is deciding on what i want for my establishing shot. I know that i want it to show a desert or field but i am having trouble on where the camera should be, how many different shots should there be and how long should it be, so i will look at opening scenes for movies and see how they tackle this problem.

Mission Impossible 2-



For this movie they it looks as if they begin with a shot where a helicopter seems to be patrolling the canyon, flying past mountains which lets you see a large area of the the environment which in turn helps the viewer to get a better idea of where they are.
The camera then closes in on the main character who is climbing the mountain but still roaming the scenery capturing both the action and continuing to capture the establishing shots.

Storyboard examples

I've placed some examples of storyboards below to see how they are structured and give me examples of various styles of storyboarding.

This is a storyboard from the cartoon MIB The series, what i like about this storyboard is that it is clean, neat and you can tell easily what is meant for each frame.

The only thing i would do differently is have some annotation on whats happening and have some arrows to show movement.

This storyboard is from the Street Fighter - Chun Li movie. This is a little different to the example above in that it does have annotations, has the arrows, and i also like the layout especially the pan section because you can understand better what the scene is meant to look like.

Camera angles for football

As i have been looking into camera angles for superhero's, i now want to look into camera angles and shots for football adverts, films, cartoons and any other mediums that i think can benefit my animation.

Firstly seeing as there are so many football adverts i will look into them and see what types of angles and shots they tend to go for and try to pick out their strengths and weaknesses if any.

The Spark - Lionel Messi
Below is a new advert where one of the best players in the world (who will be in my animation) is the focal point and who is known for his speed and dribbling which is why i have chosen to look at this advert in particular.


What i have noticed from this sequence is -

• They will have the player running full speed then in slow-motion then back to full speed which i think works well because once the slow-motion section ends it does give you a sense speed, a burst of speed.
• They have lots of close ups of the legs, to show the control of the player.
• Also the camera angles cut quickly from one angle to another which gives you a sense of urgency, speed, agility of the player by how he evades these challenges from all angles. When the angles change they change from medium shots to close ups of legs to wide shots which i think works effectively.
• At some points they use a handheld camera which gives it a more realistic feeling, maybe to give the illusion that you are in there with them point of view shots.
• They show the player from many angles running past multiple players, dodging tackles, changing direction instantly.

Joga Bonito

Another group of adverts i want to look at are the Joga Bonito adverts because i want the animation to show the fun side of football and these adverts are all about showing that.

How i think the adverts show the fun side of football -

• It shows the friendship and togetherness between the players off pitch.
• Players working as a team and having fun, joking, laughing, celebrating...
• Players expressing themselves with the football, showboating...
• getting past your opponent with skill, flair...
• Play the way you want to, have fun...
• Determination

Nike: Take it to the next level

Going back to camera angles in football adverts this commercial uses the first person view (where you are the footballer) to give a realistic feel to the ad.





How i think this commercial communicates in an effective manner -

• Firstly the first person view gives the illusion that you are the footballer and part of the advert, game,
• The other players approach the camera which makes it more believable,
• The camera is hand held which gives you the movement of the player.
• The advert also shows the development of the player from playing for his local team to playing for his country
  

Camera angles for broadcast

I have looked at camera angles for broadcast so that i could apply these shots to the animation to give it a football match feel. Below is a link to highlights for a football match.



The main camera angle used for broadcast is the sequence from the start of the video to 8 seconds in the video, this captures a large area of the pitch which could also be good for me so that i could show the landscape i create for the animation.
also from this video it also shows you angles from replays which i never thought about having replays in the animation but could be a way to go and the reply angles capture the action better as you see from the time 15 seconds in, to 20 seconds where you get a better shot of the goal.


Camera angles for 3D animated cartoon - Galactik Football

I have looked at this animation previously and now want to focus on the camera angles they use throughout their animation and i think the angles and shots used .



Shots that I've noticed and that i think work well -

• Lots of low camera angle shots
• Players run towards camera
• over the shoulder shots whilst player approaches their opponent
• Players run from behind the the camera (off screen) to on camera, running away from camera
• in certain areas they have a split screen shot where they show the footballer with the ball and on the other screen they have the opponents approaching her rapidly, which i think captures the intensity of the scene perfectly.
• Matrix style shots where the player is mid -air and the camera rotates around them
• Birds-eye view
• Depth of field where one player is close to camera with the ball and crosses it to the other side of pitch to the player where that side is blurry but gets more clearer as the ball reaches him.
• From the other video of Galactik football on the blog (football animated TV shows) there are scenes where the camera changes from the regular angles they have throughout to a more broadcast shot and the screen changes to a blue tint to show that which has a more realistic feel to it, shots at 1.25 - 1.28, 2.26 - 2.30, 2.34 - 2.36 , 3.57 - 3.58

Camera angles for superhero's

Now that i have almost completed my script i want to look at what type of shots and camera angles can work for my animation, because i am aiming my animation at a younger audience i want it to have a superhero style theme so i will be looking at those types of shots in cartoons, movies, illustrations and TV, i also will be looking at camera angles in football matches to give it more realistic feel and camera angles in cartoons and films.

Superhero shots

From all the different types of mediums that i have viewed superhero franchise's upon, to me the superhero always has a strong pose, they have shots where the camera angle is quite low to the superhero's face so maybe that they look bigger and it does look more dramatic.

Poses

Camera angles/shots

Another thing that is different in the superhero movies is that the camera angles are a lot more diverse than regular films due to the fact that the superhero's can fly, leap buildings and so on, so the camera angles have to be more creative in capturing those moments.

Luckily for me someone has made a montage of the first Incredible Hulk film that displays the way the camera angles are shot to cope with a superhero character which is below, i particularly want to look at the Hulk franchise because he has some of the physical attributes that i want some of the players in my animation to poses such as speed, strength, jumping distances (not to Hulks extent) and i want to see how the shots cope with that.

Link to Hulk clips - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JsDylEPNh0


Below is the trailer for the Silver Surfer movie, i decided to look at this to see how the camera angles cope with the speed of the superhero and to see if i can apply that method to my animation.

From what i have seen, the superhero approaches the camera from a distance and rapidly passes through the shot head on then the camera quickly changes angles to see him heading of in the distance.
Another thing i like is how the superhero Human Torch leaves a trail of flame behind him which i think can help to show the speed of the character, maybe i could incorporate this into my animation by adding glow trails/lines...




I also want to gain more knowledge on camera shots and angles and i have been looking around for examples and i came across a video that has helped me in realizing what other shots are possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwbsYgZ7d-8

I have also looked at a book called "How to draw comics the Marvel way" by Stan Lee and John Buscema and they give you a few examples on how camera angles can make a big difference to the scene, which i will post shortly.

Research into visual styles

I've recently been trying to figure out what i want for my animation in terms of visually, i already know it's going to be bright, toon shade, simple character designs but i wanted something that will help me to decide what the environment will look like, which in turn will help to fit the whole style together.

I came across an animation a few months ago called "Pivot" which i have posted below which i think could have a big impact on the style of my animation because from already what i stated about what i want for my animation this animation covers a lot of those points.
In visual terms i think this animation captures the mood of the sequence perfectly by the unusual block modelled scenes and characters which capture the light and shade tones perfectly, which is what i will need for my sequence because it will be bright as South Africa is Known as the Rainbow nation.
Also i want a style that is clean cut, superhero-ish style but the environment style in this sequence could also work well because from artworks, textiles... i have come across from South Africa they are very expressive which i think the style of the "Pivot" animation can project across.

Pivot from Pivot on Vimeo.

Breaking down the BBC 2002 promo

I looked at the BBC World cup 2002 promo a little while ago and i now realise that my promo is going in the similar direction, so i will look at that promo again and break it down to see how they structured it and to see if anything can be of any benefit to me.


It looks as if the script of the animation is similar to many action/fighting films I've seen where the the narrator talks about there being a special tournament for the best fighters in the world and only the best are invited (similar to the world cup that it takes place every 4 years and only the best teams qualify).
Below is a movie from the 80's called Bloodsport which reinforces my point of view, the first 20 seconds of the clip are the most relevant.


There are other movies that take this similar approach for the promotional trailers such as Mortal kombat, Bruce Lee movies but i think the Bloodsport trailer above shows it the best.

Below i have tried to break down the BBC World cup 2002 promo to help me in my development of my script.

• The narrator sets up the story by telling you about the tournament (what it is, how often it is held, who can enter it, where it's held)
• During the narration at the beginning the sequences onscreen are quite sombre (Zidane sitting in changing room preparing for the battle/game, in the reflection of the players eyes are of historic moments in World cup history, the 4 men heading towards the launch room not talking)
• Once the launch button is pressed a flare is shot into the air where everyone knows that the tournament will now begin (Japan flag bottom corner, they were hosts)
• Players training see the flare and know the tournament has begun
• David Beckham in a recovery chamber with a metal foot because he broke his foot just before the tournament and he was England's big hope to lead them to victory
• Zidane places the World cup into a container showing that they are the winners of the previous World cup
• Players from different countries all head towards the football stadium with the football, while the footballers showboat and working as a team, whilst crowds watch them
• At the end tournament name first, then the broadcasters after
• Throughout the commentators commentate over the animation just as if they would in a football match

Drawings

I now have an idea of what style of character design i am going for (superhero-ish, strong lines) and i have placed an image of a footballer i quickly sketched which is Didier Drogba who plays for the Ivory Coast below to give you an idea of what i am going for, there are still changes to this sketch i will make later, i will place final character sheets of the footballers i am including in the animation soon.

































I have been working on character designs and I've finally got a style that i am going for, a more superhero-ish with exaggerated muscles which i really like. Player below is Cristiano Ronaldo but i still have a few things to work on.

Below is the final facial design for Lionel Messi which i struggled with at the beginning but I'm happy with the outcome.

I've managed to sketch a image of what Rio Ferdinand will look like for my animation... and i am pretty happy with this design but i think i will have to go back to the other drawings and add a little more detail into them because whilst i was drawing the image of Ferdinand it only came together once more detail was added and i think that will help the other designs a lot more, originally i wanted the designs very simple but i think the little touches, help the designs greatly.





































Below i have an image of Wayne Rooney that i think i am going to use for the final design. During the design process for Rooney i found it very difficult to get the style i wanted because he has very distinct features but as many drawings of him they exaggerate his features to make him look more cartoony/goofy than what i wanted which was to make him look heroic which i think i have achieved.

My script

So far i am gathering information on all the area's i think i need and want to cover, i have a few ideas on where i want to go with this, i also think i will try to look for similarities between the modern and historical South Africa and the similarities between football and South Africa, if there is any, i think this could be a starting point for the script.

Things i definitely want to cover so far for my animation:

Show the history of South Africa - rock paintings

Tribal scenes - Tribes - Zulu, Bushmen/San, desert and grass landscapes

Modern South Africa - I want to show more modern landscapes, cities, buildings, skyscrapers...

Simple 3D animation with toon render - bright colours

Over exaggerated movements - Superhero style cartoons


Possible things i could include - to help with scriptwriting process

South African Mythology - /Kaggen or Cagn who was the creator of the world and the people, takes human form and certain animal forms.

For one of my ideas i am thinking about having a narrator telling a story about a god or gods, some mythical creature or something along those lines but as he does the images on screen are of the footballers displaying those attributes that the story teller is saying as they pursue their goal. I don't want to compare footballers to gods but i do want to give them some sort of legendary or superhero feel for the animation and i think it would come down to the script writing and storyboarding process's of how the players will be portrayed.

Below i have added a video that has helped me a lot in the structuring of how to write a script and has given me some useful tips.

South African Mythology

I decided to look at two tribes from South Africa which are The Bushman/San and the Zulu people. I have decided to look into the mythology of these tribes to gain a better knowledge and understanding of the culture which will also will help me to generate ideas and help me in my scriptwriting process.

The Bushmen/San

San creator Kaggen/Cagn is a trickster who features in many of their myths and takes many forms such as human, mantis, eland, hare, caterpillar but usually takes the form of the Mantis.
In many of the myth's Cagn is portrayed as foolish, wise, helpful and playful.
Cagn is the god who created the world and all the people in it.

San Shamanism
For the San, the natural and supernatural worlds are entwined, and the San rock paintingstestify to the importance of the shamanism in the San culture. The San say that Cagn dreamt the world into being and the San shamans can enter a similar dream state to exercise their powers, such as rain making, healing and hunting magic. When in this state the shaman is said to have died; his or her heart is said to have become a star.
One of the main sources of San mythology was the /Xam shaman /Kabbo, who's name translates as "Dream" and who is said to have derived his powers from Cagn. San shamans are said to be able to shape shift particularly into the form of a Lion.

/Kaggen's Eland

Things you may need to to know for the myth below;

Eland - Taurotragus (Antelope)

Kwammang-a - A rainbow

/Ni-opwa - the Ichneumon

Making an Eland
Kwammang-a, the Rainbow, lost a piece of his shoe. His father in law Cagn, the mantis, found it and soaked it in a pool of water. It turned into the first eland. and trilled to it to come to him and called it Kwammang-a's shoe-piece. Cagn rubbed the eland with honeycomb to make it shine, and fed it on honey until it was full-sized. When he saw how beautiful it was Cagn sang for joy.
The death of the Eland
Kwammang-a and his son /Ni-opwa the Ichneumon wondered what Cagn was doing with all the honey, so /Ni-opwa spied on his grandfather and saw the eland. Kwammang-a lay in wait for it and killed it while it drank from the pool. When Cagn arrived to see Kwammang-a cutting up the eland, he wept.
The coming of night
Cagn took the eland's gall-bladder and pierced it with a stick. Darkness poured out covering the world. So that there might be some light Cagn tossed his own shoe into the sky and it became the moon.
The myth's legacy
To this day the eland is the most spiritually charged of animals appearing in four key rituals of the Bushman - a boy's first kill, a girls puberty, marriage and the trance dance, in which the San shamans attempt to take on the potency of the eland.

The origin of Death

In the San mythology the moon walks across the sky like the shoe he once was, when the moon is full, the sun pierces him in the back with his knife, so that he decay's on ly leaving his backbone.

Then following the promise of the creator Cagn, the moon is slowly reborn, until once again he feels truly alive again. Until he was annoyed by the hare, the moon wantd the animal-people of the San creation time to enjoy the same privilage.

The time before death

Just as the moon always rose after his death, he wanted the people to return after their deaths. The moon wished for the people as he did, for allowing them to be reborn would bring them joy.

The danger of despair

A human in the form of a hare was greiving for his dead mother. "My mother is dead and will never come back," he lamented. The moon said "Don't cry she will come back." "No," said the hair "she is dead and will never return." Because the hare would not agree with him, the moon flew into a rage, he struck the hare, leaving a scar on his lip, and cursed him. The angry moon declared "As for men they shall die and never return," and with his words began death.

The information above was taken from the book 'Mythology by Philip Wilkinson & Neil Philip'

I also have looked into information on the internet on these myths however very much how these myths have various versions from over the years so do the facts on these myths on the internet which makes it difficult to get a clear vision but i have tried to pick out points where most of the sources tend to agree and i will go from there for developing a script.

Shamans

Shamans are intermediaries between the human and spirit world. Arising from many ancient cultures around the planet, they use altered states of consciousness to enter supernatural realms.Shamans are intermediaries between the human and spirit world. Arising from many ancient cultures around the planet, they use altered states of consciousness to enter supernatural realms.

Communicate with the spirit world, with its good and evil spirits
Understand the roles of spirits in our lives and in human society
Treat sickness caused by evil spirits
Employ trance induction techniques to go on vision quests
Leave their body on demand to enter the supernatural world
Evoke animal images as spirit guides, omens and message bearers
Tell the future, scry, throw runes and perform other divination

Shamanism is based on the idea that the physical world is permeated by invisible spirits which affect our lives. It operates outside of religion, with most shamans working alone or with an apprentice.
One interesting function of shamanism is the ability to communicate with spirits in lucid dreams. A lucid dreamer who does this is known as a psychopomp. As a ferrier of souls, they help spirits cross over from within the dreamtime (aka the dream environment).

Thoughts on my animation

Football intro and promo conclusion so far
From looking at the other football intros and promos you can see that they always include the best footballers and moments of all time and in the case of the animated promo for the BBC (Japan and South Korea) and the intros for recent World cups for TV shows they include only the best footballers in the world at that time.

Also you can see that on many of the intros for football TV shows for English broadcast they like to place a few more moments of English players and the moments within the sequence.

So after noting the above i have looked at all the teams in this years World Cup and looked through the squads to see which players are instantly recognisable (superstars) that most people in England would know too.

There are more players that would be recognisable but i have chosen these players below because i believe they are more recognisable and if the animation i make was to be broadcast in other countries (hypothetically) i would hope that the they would be recognisable there too.

Highlighted in yellow are the players I will most likely be including in the animation because they are superstars, also in some cases i will be including English players because the animation is for English TV and in i will also be looking to include a few South African footballers.

South Africa -S. Pienaar, A. Mokoena, B.McCarthy
Mexico - Marquez, Salcido, Ochoa,
Uruguay - Forlan, Luis Suarez
France - Anelka, Ribery, Henry, Gallas, Evra, L.Diarra
Argentina - Messi, Tevez, S. Aguero, Mascherano
Nigeria - Martins, Obi Mikel, Yobo, Yakubu
South Korea - Park Ji Sung
Greece - Samaras, Kyrgiakos
England - Rooney, Beckham, R.Ferdinand, Terry, Gerrard, Lampard
USA - Dempsey, L.Donavon, T.Howard, Beasley
Algeria - Belhadj, Karim Ziani
Slovenia - Robert Koren, Novakovic
Germany - Ballack, Klose, Schweinsteiger, Mertesacker, Lahm
Australia - Kewell, T.Cahill, Schwarzwe, Lucas Neill
Serbia - Vidic, Kezman, Zigic, Kuzmanovic, Ivanovic
Ghana - Essien, Mensah, Muntari
Netherlands - Robben, V.Persie, De jong, Babel, Van Der Vaart, Sneijder, Heitinga
Denmark - Bendtner, Agger, Poulsen
Japan - Nakamura
Cameroon - Eto'o, Kameni, Emana, Geremi, J.Makoun
Italy - Buffon, Del Piero, De Rossi, Chiellini, Luca Toni
Paraguay - Santa Cruz, O. Cardoza
New Zealand - Ryan Nelson
Slovakia - Skrtel, Hamsik
Brazil - Kaka, Ronaldinho, Lucio, Maicon, Robinho, Daniel Alves, Marcelo, Pato
North Korea - Pak Nam-Chol
Ivory Coast - Drogba, Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure, Zokora, Eboue
Portugal - C.Ronaldo, Carvalho, Simao, Quaresma
Spain - Casillas, Torres, Villa, Ruyol, Sergio, Ramos, Fabregas, Xavi, Iniesta
Switzerland - Senderos, Frei, Gelson Fernandez, Barnetta
Honduras - Palacios
Chile - Luis Jimenez, Marias Fernandez

Style of animation

From looking at trends in animation from the cartoon networks you can see some key points such as the animations use bright colours (to keep the child's attention), the characters are over exaggerated in their movements and expressions and the adventures the characters get up to are over the top. I've also noticed that with more 3D animations being made the style of rendering is becoming simpilar for cartoons, such as for the Ironman animated series it looks as if they use a toon render giving it harder lines, flat colours and only having one colour for shading which to me resembles flash animation slightly (only in the rendering purpose).

Script direction

Through my research i came across many websites and forums based here and abroad but i was especially glad to have come across the forums about South Africa where people from South Africa spoke about the stereotypes many people have and how people forget it has modern cities and it is a developing country. I definately think that is a valid view and to be honest at the start of this project i probably would have not thought about this and would have headed for the more obvious route also because i am aiming this at a younger audience i think it would be a great way of educating kids on South Africa and also it could help to re-educate older people too. So taking this into consideration i now am going to think about incorporating more modern cities of South Africa throughout the animation but i do also want to include some historical sides of South Africa too.

Football adverts and virals

I will also be looking at commercials and virals to see how they promote their product and see if their method can be applied or modified to my project in any way, this will also help me to gain more information on newer trends in football that can be applied later throughout the animation.


Frank Ribery - The Pink Panther - Pink Vapours



This is a animation that brings together several things to promote their product which is a pair of pink football boots. Obviously the first main thing is that they are promoting a PINK pair of football boots, they then base the animation on a cartoon named 'The Pink Panther' which has a French officer as one of the main characters (Inspector Clouseau) and finally the advert uses a very well known French footballer Frank Ribery. I've also noticed that they use Frank Ribery's footballing number number 7 where ever they can for example on the licence plate of the car and several times at the casino and in one scenes where the slot machine reels are spinning to reveal the objects 3 of the pink football boots appear as if to say 'you've got the boots and your a winner', so you can see subtle promoting is there that you might not normally notice.

I think this advert is for French TV and is different to many other English football adverts i have seen, this advert uses live footage and animation throughout, and uses humour also to promote the boots by using Frank Ribery as the Pink Panther. This animation is defiantly aimed at football fans because they are selling football boots and because they use a footballer also to promote the product, however with that being case i do think this model of promoting works well even if i am trying to promote the World cup to a younger audience that might not know so much about football and i think this because of the style of animation (cel-animated), humour throughout, a famous footballer and it is also lighthearted but i do also think this appeals to an older audience too because of the same reasons.

So to summarise i think this advert has a lot of positives that i could consider when developing my animation.



Differences between commercials for broadcast and virals for the Internet

I also want to look into making a viral if i have time to spare after i complete the animation and i wanted to look at the differences between promoting on TV and the Internet. From my years and years of watching TV and surfing the net i think i have some knowledge of the differences between the two however in the virals campaign case they are more of a recent type of promotional tool and i will look into the differences.

I wanted to pick a product not necessarily football that is being promoted and see the differences between the products broadcast for TV piece and the viral campaign piece.

I came across a viral campaign that i quite liked so i then looked for their commercial piece which are both below and the product being advertised is the HTC mobile phone.

Commercial for broadcast on TV



Viral piece for the Internet




I think both of these pieces work great and have a different way of promoting the phone where the commercial goes for a more heart felt approach showing how you can use the phone in everyday situations, which works great with the narrator talking over each scene in a monotone and there being a up tempo soundtrack, which is the first time i have come across something like that but it does remind me of the Apple commercial. I think the combination of the scenes being very well played out, the tone of the narrator, the dialogue and the soundtrack all are very strong and i wouldn't consider there to be one weak piece.

The viral however goes for a more humorous style where they play on the name of the phone 'Touch' where also the phone is the man's surrogate girlfriend.

You can see that the virals are a little more riskier with how they promote, i also think the commercial is aimed at a more maturer audience whereas the viral is aimed at teenagers and young professionals, more Internet orientated people.


I've placed the Apple - Think Different advert below, just in case you wanted to see it...

Football games

Over the years football games have developed not only through technology but through trends and styles of those years. Where as there are games that dedicate themselves to giving the most realistic look and game play to them there are other games that go for a more unconventional look and game play, for example there have been numerous football games where they base the game around famous computer game characters such as Mario strikers charged football which is a 3D game.

I've looked at this game in particular because i believe this game covers a wide variety of demographics such as children who would like this game because of the characters, worlds, magic amongst other things to the older generation game players who have followed Mario for years would like this game just because of the Mario franchise but of course they would have some interest in football.


Mario strikers charged football





Another game that i think could have a positive influence on the style of my animation is the FIFA Street games which is not very realistic in the way the game looks or plays to the normal game.

This game is based around playing on the streets, 4 players versus 4 players, also this game focus's around players performing tricks which you wouldn't really see to that extent in the World Cup or any other football tournament.

I think this game would appeal to wide age group from around 5 - 30 mainly because apart from the game play it looks very different (a more humorous look on the characters), playing in a different environment and unrealistic style of play. This game is a success because they have continued to make more games like this and in total to date they have three FIFA Street games.

I think the style of FIFA street will influence my project a lot because i want to design the characters in a different way (not so realistic) also because of the over exaggeration of the movements, i think this gives you more room to be more creative in the scriptwriting area.
Also another thing FIFA street did was to create short clips of footballers doing tricks on the street which was to help promote the game, this could be another way for me to help promote the FIFA World Cup 2010 tournament, possibly i could create some short virals...

FIFA Street Intro