Actual Project: Rotoscoped Images

Here are the rotoscoped images that I have been creating for my project. I am really pleased with how they look and I believe once it is altogether in Flash it will work really well. One problem I have encountered is just how long it takes to rotoscope over each picture. Each image is taking me around an hour to an hour and a half to simply draw over. This is a long a lengthy process but it will be worth it in the end. 

The Snowman and The Snowdog

Tonight I have watched The Snowman and The Snowdog, the new sequel to The Snowman (1982). It followed the same generic simple style so would appeal straight to its original viewer ship. The film is set in the same house as before and uses the same snowman as the main character, there was also an inter-textual reference to the old film with the boy discovering a photo of the young boy from before with the snowman. Like the previous animation there is no speech throughout, just a piece of music and then one song. Yet again even the use of sound is the same as the previous animation which means your attention is fully focused on the narrative unfolding through the illustrations. Apparently there were concerns that the simple hand drawn style would be lost on the young high-tech audiences of today who are used to computer generated content.

The poster which advertised the program is completely in keeping with the original style with the same illustrations used too. I find it interesting how even The Snowman and The Snowdog has its own hashtag to connect it with the social network twitter. Seeing as my animation is based around social networks I find that this poster highlights the fact that social networking is now associated with pretty much anything. The Snowman and The Snowdog is a children's program, granted many adults will connect with it due to its prequel but it is primarily a children's story, is the hashtag targetting its older audience or are children that young involved too?

DailyMail Article: Raymond Briggs talking about The Snowman

Originally Raymond Briggs was completely against the idea of creating a sequel to The Snowman. 'I thought it was just cashing in on the success of the original, and that's why I was always so against it' Raymond Brigges. This shows how he produced his work without the constraints of economic gain, he did it for the love of the story and for the love of the painting. I believe this is reflected in his work, when someone produces something purely because it is something they are passionate about it tends to be reflective in the quality which has in turn led to success.

DailyMail: 'Animation draws one of Channel 4's biggest audiences of the year'

The article above from the next day shows that The Snowman and The Snowdog received a massive reception with 5.8 million sitting down to watch the half hour long animation. This shows that even though technology and animation techniques have been developed greatly since the first film, audiences are still satisfied with a simple, back to basics animation.

The film kept to the traditional ways of creating an animation, drawing it all by hand, which meant it took them a year to complete. The process required 77 artists, using 200,000 pieces of paper and 5,000 pencils. They worked at 12 frames per second, with each second taking 30 hours. These facts help highlight to me just how much time and effort I will be putting into my own animation over the next few months. Once May and the final deadline arrives it will all be worth it.

The Snowman

As it is Christmas time there have been many festive animations around to engross myself in and to reflect on. One famous animation is 'The Snowman' and this Christmas eve the highly anticipated sequel 'The Snowman and the Snow Dog' is to be aired.
The Snowman was created by Raymond Briggs in 1982 and as stated on the official website is has been"..shown every year since 1982, enchanting new generations time and time again...". It is therefore a powerful animation that many people can connect with. It has become part of a Christmas tradition for many families each year.

The Snowman reveals how an animation has the ability to become iconic, the story itself grips the audience but the illustration style also becomes familiar. Raymond Briggs both writes and illustrates his own stories, with The Snowman being originally created as a book before being adapted into an on-screen production. An interesting part of the film is that there are no sounds other than a song called "Walking in the Air" by Howard Blake. I like how the limited use of sound keeps the animation so simple and then creates more focus on the power of the image and how the story is told through the illustrations.

Naming My Project: When the Virtual Becomes Real

I have been trying to come up with a name that best suits my project and what its stands for. I need something that is short but sounds good. It needs to be something I am willing to have it displayed as for the degree show. Therefore considering the style that I have chosen to use for making my animation I believe the best name for it would be When the Virtual Becomes Real.

Social Networking in the News: Child Abuse

Today I found an article which highlights some of the scary dangers surrounding social networks. It has been discovered that gangs of child abusers have been using Facebook and other social networks to target children. The article quotes that the predators "trawl through 'menus' of potential victims and plan sickening sex parties.". The article even starts how it is now rare for any abuse case to not involve technology of some kind such as mobile phones. 

Facebook provides the perfect set up for these predators in that you can be whoever you want to be in the virtual world. When setting up a profile you can choose anything you like, setting up a fake account is simple and easy. This helps child abusers gain access to children, they can pretend to be one themselves in order to get closer to their victim.

This was another aspect of social networking that I had considered covering myself because of the seriousness of the issue. However after I read the story of Amanda I decided to focus on cyber-bullying instead. I do still find it fascinating how something as vast and powerful as the internet can be so dark and dangerous in many different ways.

The Smurf Movie

The Smurf Movie which was released in August 2011 is another media text that incorporates both real image and animated content. I thought this would be good to research as it is following a similar style to my project. The fact that the cartoon characters were going to be shown in the 'real' world made the film a lot more exciting and a lot more interesting than the typical animated film. The animated characters are portrayed to be completely normal within this real world which has worked really well.



The difference with this movie however is that it is all computer generated content. This has made the characters 3D and look more life like. For my animation I will have just 2D animation and I will combine it with stop motion photography instead of video footage.

Social Networking in the News: Does not joing Facebook make you a psychopath?

DailyMail Article: Is not joining Facebook a sign you're a psychopath?

When researching into social networks I came across an article which talks about how by not being on social networks such as Facebook may reflect that you are a psychopath. When applying for jobs nowadays many companies will research your social networks as things such as your profile picture, and things you have liked or groups you are part of can indicate what your character is really like. This means what you put on-line can now impact your future in terms of careers.This article also adds to our cultures obsession with social networks in the fact that if you are not part of this virtual world you are also penalised. It is seen as 'suspicious' if you do not have Facebook, you connote the signs of being a social recluse.
The article uses examples of psychopaths who have been absent from social networks.

'The German magazine Der Taggspiegel went so far as to point out that accused theatre shooter James Holmes and Norwegian mass murder Anders Behring Breivik have common ground in their lack of Facebook profiles.'

A main concern for employers is also that a persons profile contained so many 'red flags' that they had to remove the profile. It could also highlight the chance the person may be concealing their real identity by using a different name.

I think it is amazing the power social networking has and articles such as this one show how embedded this form of technology is in our society now. It is a way of gaining extended information on someone, on viewing their personal and private lives. Interviews are no longer the singular basis on you securing a job. Yet considering all of this people still seem to underestimate the power of the content they post on-line. Something that may seem like a joke could be there for everyone to see and could be used to judge your personality and nature.

When making my animation on cyber-bullying people talk about how children do not realise the impact of the things they post on-line when really none of our society seems to. People may say the safest bet is to stay clear of these social networks but then as this article confirms that also reflects badly.

Storyboard Changes

 After producing the first few shots from the storyboard I previously uploaded I have decided this is not strong enough to start the animation on. I have now drawn out some new scenes to come before in order to help set the scene better. The animation will then progress into what I have done after this new extended beginning.  The animation will now start with the girl walking home from school to show how she is in fact a school girl. She will be looking at her mobile phone reading a news article that is about how teenagers who do not use Your Book become social outcasts from their peers. She will then reach home then cut to the scenes I was originally going to start with to show her setting up her profile page.

Lizzie McGuire

After watching Lizzie McGuire when I was a child I suddenly realised that this would be a good text to look at because of its use of moving image with animation. The Disney Channel television series is about a teenage girl, following the struggles in her family life and  her school life. An animated character is used to depict her internal thoughts and ideas as they occur. The animated character also then acts as a narrator for the show helping create understanding of different choices Lizzie makes, it is also used to provide background knowledge to her reasoning too.

It is useful to look at texts such as this because my animation will be a combination of photography and animation. I thought it would be worthwhile for me to research into other people who have used this idea too. In Lizzie McGuire the animated character speaks directly to the audience which does work really well but I have decided I would like my character to suffer in silence with us as the audience acting as a fly on the wall. I do like that aesthetically the use of animation with real life image looks good as I had been worried that maybe the combination will clash and not work.

The CyberBullying Virus

"a new virus unlike any other, has infiltrated schools and social media, a pandemic quickly spreading around the world"

This is a video off of YouTube called The Cyber-Bullying Virus which takes a completely different approach to cyber-bullying. It focuses on the cyber-bully themselves, saying how they have become infected and risk infecting others. It says how the those from broken homes are more likely to 'contract this disease'. I like the way that it looks on cyber-bullying as an illness as that is almost what it is, the bullies become almost addicted to this sense of power that they have and how they can almost hide behind the social media to do it. This video shows how other people tend to jump on the band wagon, joining in. This helps them to feel part of the majority group but helps make someone more of the minority. It says how even the girls parents and teacher have no clue this girl is a victim to the virus and how it can infect the most unsuspecting of people.

The video also highlights the fact that it can reach you anywhere, at home or at school and through a variety of different mediums. I am also incorporating this aspect within my animation too as the girl will receive the abuse on both her phone and her computer.

It also refers to how it can take hours, days or weeks, before it eventually gets out of hand and causes serious damage to its victims. Those more prone to hate, anger and negative emotions are more likely to become a cyber-bully. The effects can be long term depression and in some cases suicide.

I was originally going to have  my main character end up committing suicide as a way to escape all her pain and suffering, and this is a option many teenager do resort to. I have decided then to have my character find a solution instead but I will still depict her considering suicide as this is always the other option too. I will have my character think of her family and the fact that she should not let the bullies win. This animation also takes this approach but from a different angle to mine, people start to stand up for Jane, the girl at the mercy of the bullies. The end of my own narrative is to have my character go through and block all the nasty people and report them for what they have done. This will then mean that they no longer have access to her profile which then removes the platform they relied on in order to carry out the bullying.

My Use of Sound

After taking all my research into other animations I have decided to keep my use of sound down to a minimum. The Snowman (1982), The Snowman and The Snowdog (2012), The Boy Who Wants to be a Lion (2010) and the Simon's Cat collection all refrain from using speech. I believe that because my animation is based on the virtual world this would be perfect for enhancing my narrative. Nowadays the use of physical communication is becoming a thing of the past. More than ever people are choosing text or instant messaging as their preferred form, therefore our world is slowly becoming one where speech is used less and less. Therefore an absence of speech within my animation will highlight our silent world. Also because it is cyber-bullying I am focusing on the power these written words have on a person, bullying that occurs in person is completely different.

I do however plan to use the compatible sounds such as keys being pressed and a mouse being clicked, also general computer noises. I will also reflect the main characters emotions through the sound too, when she cries this will be audible to the audience.I understand that a silent animation may become boring and awkward in effect so background music will be used though I will need to research into what would be acceptable and to have it change when different events occur. For example when the girl changes into an animated character I would like the music to reflect how this is a bad thing but also something fairly extraordinary as well.

Narrative Improvements

I have decided that the animation will start off with all of the animation as stop motion photography but the laptop and phone screens will be animated as these are the virtual technologies. Then when the cyber-bullying gets more and more upsetting, the main character, Rosie Shepherd will turn into an animated character. This is to represent how she has become immersed in this virtual world. The bullying may not be to her face but it is just as damaging. I think this will give my animation a more exciting edge but it will also enhance the themes and the issue the animation is addressing.

Here is the storyboard for the scene where she will become animated. It will happen as she is walking home, so she will be surrounded by nature and the outside world but she still cannot escape the pain the virtual world is causing her.

Storyboard

I have been creating my storyboards this week in order to make production easier and smoother. When drawing out my idea I have been able to grow in confidence with my project which has then led to more creative thoughts flowing.

Here is the beginning of my narrative.  This is where my main character sets up her social network profile page and adding all her school friends. These will be stop motion images of her typing but then the shots of the laptop scenes where she sets up the social network page will have the screen of the laptop animated and the process created on Adobe Flash.

Next Scene 

This is the next morning as the girl is being woken up by her phone alarm, as she turns it off she sees that a few people have accepted her friend request which makes her happy. She then gets ready and leaves for school. These scenes are all going to be stop motion photography, the iPhone screen will be animated to show the alarm and the friend requests. 

Rotoscoping

The first attempt I had at gaining the images for my stop motion went wrong as I did not have a tripod and I could not figure out how to set up the camera properly. The images I gained cannot be used for my project but I have decided to use them to practice rotoscoping on. I am really pleased with the outcome and this gives me even more confidence in my project when I see how this style is perfect for what I am doing. I love the way the images look, and I am pleased I chose to keep the animated sections to black and white because the girl stands out and it is obvious that she has been animated.

Planning: Location

 Originally I was planning on using my sisters bedroom as the location for the bedroom scenes of my animation. The picture on the left shows this bedroom. As part of my animation involves her sat on her bed looking out of her window I thought this would be perfect. The room was quite dark and it was also hard to fit the tripod in. Another problem would be keeping this room the same ready for if any retakes were needed. It was then that I decided to use my bedroom as I could keep everything the way it was on the day of shooting and there was a little bit more space to move with the tripod. The tripod is a highly important piece of equipment and after trialling out making a stop motion without it I know that it is an important element. Therefore the more space and the better lighting provided by my bedroom would make shooting easier and the quality of the pictures better too.

The third image is the one taken from my room and as you can see there is still a window behind the headboard too so this can be used in the narrative still just from a different angle.

Anti-Bullying: Bully (animation short)

I have been researching different animations that have been made on the topic of cyber-bullying but I thought it would also be worthwhile looking at anti-bullying animations too as this is still very close to cyber-bulliyng of course.

I came across Bully (2010) an animation short that is on YouTube. This animation depicts two boys at their schools desks doing some work, the small nerdy looking boy is seen to be working away while the bigger tougher boy is sat picking his nose. A bee flies round each of them with the small boy carrying on his work whereas the bigger boy kills the bee. He then looks over and sees how the small boy is doing loads of work so decides to throw a rubber at him to disturb him. When that doesn't stop the boy from working he progresses to throw a sharpener to knock over all the small boys pens. The small boy does not react, he simply picks all the pens up placing them back into the pot with a smile on his face. This just angers the bully further, he turns his attention to a football he deliberately plays with by the small boys face before dropping it onto the table.

The animation then uses a montage to show all the ways the bully then tries to disturb the boy. I like this idea of being able to reflect everything without having to go into detail for each time he does something. I could use this technique for in my animation, when the people are posting nasty things to my character I can end up with the comments just piling up in a montage of clips. This would show the extent of the problem and the amount then girl has to deal with in a stylistic way.

Eventually the bully manages to get the small boy away from his desk so that he can scribble all over the boys work. The small boy is then seen looking horrified, the bully has finally gone too far, a bell chimes a few times to enhance the doom felt by this boy, his facial expression turns to anger. The animation zooms into the small boys face then shows the bully laughing and mocking him. The next thing we see is a corridor with the sounds of someone being beaten up, the bully then appear flying out of a door. The small boy is then seen with a determined expression picking up a pencil and continuing his work.

I like the way that this animation narrative shows how bullies keep on as they want a better reaction from their victim but eventually the victim will be pushed to the limit and snap. This animation shows the victim snapping and getting his own back, he is therefore a very strong character. A problem with this animation is that not many victims are strong, it has been said that the only way to ditch a bully is to stand up to them but then this narrative is promoting violence. The way in which he succeeds is through beating up the bully, which is not a message we want to teach children really. This has helped with my research into different endings of bullying animations as for my own I originally thought of using suicide but I have decided that just is not an effective ending as it shows no solution to the issue at hand.

Planning Out My Narrative

People have been giving us loads of advice for making our process books, one of which is to always carry a notebook around with us to jot any ideas down. Thanks to technology I have been able to do this without actually intending to. The notes section on my iPhone has become a life saver in terms of writing down any thoughts I have about my project or reminders of what I need to make sure I have done. Below is an example of how I used my notes section to help plan out my narrative. I was on a train travelling home when in my head I started picturing how my animation would be without meaning to. I then knew if I didn't write any of my ideas down I would forget them.

I have decided the best way to start off my narrative would be with my character setting up her own social network page. I hope that this will help set the scene and will also show where the bullying has started from rather than just randomly occurring.

Technique Research: Nikon SLR Stop Motion

I have decided to incorporate stop motion images within my animation to reflect reality in its true form but still depicting movement. I plan to then animate the main character within these shots in some of the scenes to symbolise how she has become part of this virtual world. I have attempted to capture the stop motion shots this week but I struggled with setting the interval timer shooting settings and therefore failed. I ended up taking each shot myself which did not have the flow needed and I also had not considered using a tripod, which on reflection I will now for my next shoot.

The images above are all my initial attempts at creating a stop motion reel of photographs and as you can see  they do not exactly flow into one another. As I could not manage to set up the interval timer setting I had resorted to taking as many pictures as I could in the shortest space of time. At one point I was asking my model to act in slow motion so that the camera would pick up each change. This was a good trial for the location and also for how the scene would be set up but I knew these could not be used in my actual project.

As I have my own SLR, the Nikon D5000, I have chosen to research into how to set up my camera correctly in order to produce a stop motion project. The website below outlined exactly how I alter the settings specifically for my model. I need to go to the Interval Shooting Mode and set the amount of frames per second. The site also mentioned changing the Shutter Priority Mode of 0.8 seconds and set the image quality to JPEG Medium. Along with this it is also stated that it is preferable to use a tripod in order to maintain continuity.

Nikon D5000 Interval Shooting Mode Explanation

The images below are my second attempt at stop motion. This time I had researched into it properly and I had a tripod so these images are really successful and will be used for my final project.

Trial at Animating My Character

Seeing as I have now decided upon how I am going to make my character I thought I should try and animate her using Flash. I have decided that I want to make my character by rotoscoping over a photograph. As my drawings skills are not so great this works well for me and I also believe it looks the most effective too. I found this image quite easy and basic to animate. The thing I have to consider is that this was just one image whereas for my real project I am going to have to draw around each image before animating it like this so it will be time consuming but it will be worth it in the end.

The Boy Who Wants to be a Lion

I have recently been engrossing myself in the works uploaded on the website www.shortoftheweek.com. The website is a place where new work in a variety of media fields and from artists all over the world is uploaded every week. This week I stumbled across The Boy Who Wants to be a Lion (2010) by Alois Di Leo. The Boy Who Wants to be a Lion (2010) is an animated short film that is set in the 1960s based on a seven year old deaf boy called Max. He goes on a school trip to the zoo where he sees a lion for the first time. Suddenly his life begins to change forever as his feelings develop.

Alois Di Leo was born in Peru and grew up in Sao Paulo, he came to England to study at the National Film and Television School and this short film was his graduation project.It has gone on to win many prizes including the Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award for Animated Film at Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film.

I find Alois Di Leo's work inspiring, his use of theme and the style which he adopts throughout help to aid the animation in many ways. The Boy Who Wants to be a Lion (2010) is a simple drawn animation, this style is perfect because the film is set in the 1960s and animation would have been basic back then, none of this computer generated content. The colour scheme is kept to orange, yellow and brown hues which also works with the time it is set. Oswald Iten has spoken about how typically "the use of "golden" light is for romantic scenes" (Iten, 2009). Iten's thoughts can be applied to this animation because the narrative is based around a young boys fascination with lions.

The image above is a scene which caught my eye from The Boy Who Wants to be a Lion (2010). This has inspired me to consider the spatial arrangement in the scenes of my own animation. In order to show the mental turmoil my character faces I plan to create a collage of all the nasty comments which will be seen to fill her mind completely. this will be when I would like her to develop into an animated character. It will be as if the comments have literally imprinted on her brain.

The Exhibition Installation

I have started considering how I would like my animation to be showcased at the degree show. I wanted to keep the style of the narrative and incorporate the theme in the display. At the exhibition location there is a dungeon room which is what has inspired my presentation. The image on the left depicts how I visualize the rooms appearance. I would like to have one wall as the screen for my animation and then the ceiling and each of the free walls will be covered in posts and comments from the cyber-bullies. The will then follow on with the psychological theme of the project and in turn it will reflect the inner turmoil faced by the main character. The dungeon room will mirror the dungeon of the girls mind. It will show the power such comments have on a persons life and the way they stick in the mind. When watching my animation the viewers will be able to understand how daunting these comments are because they are surrounded by them. It also reflects how even if there have been some good things going on in your life it is in our nature to focus on the negative parts. Therefore a nasty comment can do a lot more damage than a nice comment can good.


The installation of my project is therefore based around enriching the content and effect of the narrative but it also enhances the viewers experience. With this in mind I have also had another idea for the way in which my project will be exhibited, a tree. I recently attended a wedding which inspired me with the idea of placing a fake tree in the room which displays my animation. At the wedding guests were encouraged to leave messages to the couple about anything to do with them or the day.  My tree will be for the viewers to leave their comments and posts, helping the viewers to engage with the project. The comments can be on the project, on the subject of cyber bullying or just how that person is feeling at that time.





If my project can ideally be showcased in this way then I believe it will generate an enthusiastic response from the viewers.It will make my project so much more interesting and exciting.

My Character Development

The visual appearance of my character is highly important as it needs to be reflective of everything the character is seen to symbolise but it also sets the style of the animation. I decided to choose how I would portray and depict my main character before making any other decisions on how the rest of my animation will be designed and made.

The imade below shows a 2D hand drawing that I have produced to see if this is a style or technique that I could use throughout my project. I have decided that this drawing is very basic and I do not have the skills to draw my entire animation. Therefore this will not be the style I will use for my project.

This next image was produced using the shape tool and brush tool on Adobe Illustrator. I think this character looks to young for my project as I plan for my main character to be around 15/16 years old. I do feel this technique worked quite well for creating a character however. 

The two images below were produced by rotoscoping over an image on Adobe Photoshop. I found this technique worked really well and I think both images are very aesthetically pleasing. As you can see with the second image I attempted to incorporate colour as well though I do not feel that this was very effective. As I have also just decided to do the represent the struggle between the real world and the virtual world I think this technique for my character looks the most lifelike. I also think that if I am going to be using real image photographs with only the character animated then black and white seems the most striking. Therefore I think it would be best to use rotoscoping on PhotoShop to create my character and to also keep it simple with just black and white so that she stands out more in the animation.

My Techniques: Reality vs. the Virtual World

Since coming across the cinemagraphs produced by Beck and Burg I have been contemplating this idea of combining to aspects of the media. I find it fascinating how much our lives depend on the internet for information and as a way to communicate with anyone, anywhere, any time. It is because of this dependence that the distinctions between the virtual and the real are not so bold and defined any more.

This image is one I created on Adobe Photoshop as a test of combining the real world with the virtual world to see how effective it would look. I used a photo of the iconic London landscape as I liked how most people would be able to identify with this. The technique I used was called rotoscoping which is where I literally just drew on top of the photo to gain this effect. The reaction to this image is to do a double take because it all looks animated at first glance but when you really look at it just the sky and river have been animated. I love the effect this style has and how it works really well in terms of blurring the virtual world and reality.

This artistic and original approach is perfect for my project, this has helped to confirm this is the style I want to use. I will rotoscope a load of images in order to tell the story in more ways than one, the style and appearance of the animation will reinforce my narrative.

I then chose to animated this image further on Flash to see how it would turn out. The video is shown above. As you can see I did not scale the image down before making this animation before I animated the clouds to move. Looking back at it I now know for next time to scale the image down to the size of the stage first.

Intial Attempt at Social Network Animation

Since I have now decided on a logo I decided to try and have a go at creating an animation around it to try out for my main project. I chose to animate it as if you were opening up the website. I made each of the letters in the logo wobble to make it more exciting but I have decided it doesn't look effective enough. I think the colour scheme and style of the logo look really good and I feel these can be used for the real project.

Researching Techniques: James Beck and Kevin Burg

I came across the works of James Beck and Kevin Burg when I was researching work that had been done with animating photographs as this is a style I am considering using. Beck and Burg combined their creative skills together in order to produce their works, one of them was a photographer and the other a graphics designer. Together they created the first ever 'cinemagraphs', they merged living moments onto a photograph. These are extremely interesting and artistic productions. When you first look at them they seem like a stop motion video in that only a certain aspect of the photograph moves whereas the rest it still and unchanging.

As you can see from this image above the ladies scarf is the only thing moving, the rest is a still image. Beck and Burg use this technique to “evoke the right kind of emotions”(Deangdeelert, 2012). I find their work fascinating. Their work has an air of simplicity to it but at the same time amazes you with the technique used to carry it out. I like the idea of having parts of an image stationary while the rest moves, I would like to incorporate this notion within my project but with some aspects of the photograph rotoscoped and animated from there.

How to Develop a Character

Planning out your characters is extremely important to complete and enhance the narrative of a piece of work. By creating your main character, developing their visual style and their characteristics, you can then start to plan out the plot. I read the chapter 'Character Development Over Time' in Animated Performance by Nancy Beiman.

'An animated character develops a character arc through learning a life lesson', realising an error, overcoming and obstacle or discovering its own strength' (Beinman, 2010:218)
I am taking this fully into account when creating my own main character, Rosie Shepherd. My character will be a victim of cyber bullying which means there are a lot of obstacles that she will be faced with. Theses will help to shape her character and to pull the narrative along. I have been trying to determine how my story will end, what will be the final solution. After reading the news stories on Amanda and other teenagers who have suffered in the same way I thought I would end the story with the girl committing suicide to highlight how drastic the consequences are. However after some thought I decided this was too much of an easy end, it was not exciting in anyway and offers no solution or hope. Therefore taking into account Beiman's thoughts I have decided that Rosie will suddenly snap, having had enough of her treatment and then grow in strength. She will overcome the cyber-bullying by going through blocking them, changing privacy settings, removing the platform that the internet had created for the bullies.

Beinman refers to Superman as a character example within this chapter, describing how he was born invisible and fought criminals. The audience then find themselves able to relate more with a character if they are seen to be nothing out of the ordinary. Superman makes them believe that anybody can make a stand against criminals. In terms of my animation it will prove that anyone can become a victim but also that you can have the power to stop it too.

Research: The Social Network Movie

I decided that seeing as I am doing an animation on social networks it would be worthwhile having a look at the film The Social Network (2010). The Social Network is based around how Facebook was created and that battles it had as people got to grips with the site, including the reactions they had with the features. The image to the right is one of the promotional posters for the film. This statement conveys how even creating a ‘social community’ leads to negative effects on the social lives of many involved. "In a fury of blogging and programming, what begins in his [Mark Zuckerbergs] dorm room soon becomes a global social network and a revolution in communication."

I found a blog written by someone called Aaron who commented on the fact that the only parts of this poster which convey it is about Facebook is the blue bar down the side and then that fact it says "500 million friends". Just by seeing that statement everybody knows it is referring to Facebook and to on-line, virtual friends.

Link to Aaron's Blog on The Social Network

One of the main characters in the film is Mark, the actual inventor and programmer of the page. He's girlfriend makes an enlightening claim by pointing out that "the Internet's not written in pencil, Mark, it's written in ink"(The Social Network, 2010). The film therefore reveals how once something is posted or uploaded on-line there is no going back, you may be able to delete it but it will remain in archives stored forever. Anything placed on-line cannot just be erased. This raises concerns over privacy and security issues that we face when using the internet, many do not think about the harm they could be doing with what they post.

Laptop Design Trials

Below is an image of a laptop I drew using Adobe Illustrator. As I have not decided on how I will make my animation yet I thought it would be a good idea to have a go at making a laptop at least to see how effective it would look once animated. The laptop keyboard looks very wonky on reflection but this is something that I can change easily should I choose to use it. 

Underneath is an image of a laptop that I am considering using but just animating the screen of it with the webpages. I have yet to decide which style to use but I do like the look of the animated laptop I am just worried about how to completing animate the main character properly.