The last project hand-in before Christmas – an experimental animation. This was definitely going to be the project with the widest range of results from the animation group. Whether it be playing with sand, cutting up paper or just running around with a pirate ship, nobody really knew what to expect.

I’ll get this in early, because it pretty much sets the tone for how this project really went. It was very last minute, the whole thing including post-production was completely in an afternoon. Only the pirate ship itself was created before then, possibly even a whole month before (sitting in the garage). Although completing the project only a few days before deadline was not intentional, the cheap feel of the boat and the animation itself was something we had hoped to use. I think in that case, the spontaneity may even of worked in our favor…

At the earliest stage we had planned to include a lot more (in fact something completely different). The original idea was to take the ship almost straight down to the beach, and then have a battle with either an armed fortress or another ship, then have the original ship sink into the sand. By the time our ideal (last chance) animating day came around, no more props could be quickly prepared, nor a tested animatic. We just went with it and decided to have a little fun.

Some interesting things that we encountered along the way: Rain, battery life and dog shit. As you can imagine, cardboard doesn’t handle rain that well. We started to lose pieces of it quite early on. By the time we had taken the final photo on the beach, it could barely be held together. We also discovered that batteries drained very quickly, so we had to buy more. That is what sparked the idea for the actor-swap at the Spar shop. I think I used 10 AA batteries in total.

Also, Gareth managed to get dog shit all over the front of the boat. Didn’t mention that highlight in the Production Report though. You can watch the final animation below.

Final Thoughts

Overall I think we were quite relieved with the result, after panicking a lot before going out, thinking that we wouldn’t get enough footage for our audio clip. I think the frame rate works for the way we shot it, and the ship itself gave an amusing feel and was appropriate for our animation. It was quick, cheap and a lot of fun. Though it seems like me and Gareth are the only two who find it funny… if you did, at all, then leave a comment.