After deciding to change my original method of drawing each frame onto a stone slab and photographing it due to lack of time, I needed to find some relevant research on my new method. 2D cutout animation. Though it was actually quite difficult to find relevant and existing forms of this, I was able to find some that either reflected my intended design look, or shared the same creation techniques.
The first is by an independant animator known as FilmCow on Yotube. He uses a similar technique to the one I am attempting, by creating cut out pieces on a design software such as Illustrator or Photoshop, and animates them using After Effects. This cut out animation has been created digitally, as can be seen by the vectors that don't pixilate in the image when enlarged.
The second example is a series of adverts, created by Loose Moose Productions. The animations advertise Flora Buttery and use traditional cut out animation, as opposed to my technique by creating the characters digitally. The character in this animation are drawn by hand on paper, cut out, and then animated by hand using stop-motion animation. More textures can be added this way, by using watercolours and shading. Because the first option was created using a vector programme, natyural shading is much harder to achieve.
The next example is a children's animated cartoon called Charlie and Lola. Though the style is quite young and child-like, my animation style will be kept simple so that I can work more efficiently towards my deadline. Though my style appears to be aimed a young audience, the theme behind the story is quite sad, and there contains some very mild gore, or bloody scenes. Charlie and Lola interested me as an animation, because of the use of real textiles and fabrics in their work. I like to work with crafts, and this idea seemed very appealing to me.
The final example is South Park, an adult themed animated series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. I felt that rather than the animation style of this series relating to my project, I felt that the adult theme, (despite the initial first glance) was more like what I was intending to accomplish. First impressions of the show may seem childlike and simple, but when watched the show involves adult sexual references, foul language and offensive material. Though my film will not be adult to this extent, the moral of the story will be quite brutal and death will be included, it will not be shown, but suggested through montage.
