Project 3 Proposal and Statement

Topic: Rotoscoping or Frame by Frame Animation

Rotoscoping is an animation technique that uses actual footage, say of a person, and then traces over the images frame by frame. The technique was invented by Max Fleischer in 1915 for a production he called "Out of the Inkwell, The Tantalizing Fly." I really like the piece towards the end [3:15] where the clown slips from the paper into the inkwell. One of my ideas was to take a M.C. Escher's print and make the image go from a 2D flat image on paper to a 3D image where the subject starts walking out of and around the paper.

Walt Disney used rotoscoping in the first full-length feature cartoon "Seven White and the Seven Dwarfs" in 1937. The technique was used mostly for the study of human movement rather than actual tracing. In the mid-1990s Bob Sabiston developed a computer-assisted "interpolated rotoscoping." Bob Sabiston was employed by Richard Linklater to create full-length features, "Waking Life" (2001) and "A Scanner Darkly" (2006).

My inspiration for this project came from AIS instructor, Bryan Schaeffer. He gave our class a brief introduction into rotoscoping and each week showed us the work he was doing on a personal project using the technique. Unfortunately, we weren't able to explore the technique in-depth due to time constraints. Bryan's final piece was a multimedia short titled "Looking to a Promising 2012." Bryan used Photoshop to create the rotoscoping animation. Since we weren't able to explore the technique in-depth it's my intent to learn more about it through this project.

Client:
Let's Move, First Lady Michelle Obama campaign for a healthier America

Target Market:
Kindergarten through high school aged children and their parents, caregivers and techers.

Assets:

• "Move Your Body" song by Beyonce
• Movie clips of children playing or participating in an activity

Process:

• Write script
• Create storyboards
• Accumulate videos
• Splice videos together in AfterEffects
• Import into Photoshop and begin illustrating animations
• If time allows, put the whole thing together in Premiere Pro and sync with music

Links:

Snow White - short animation clip