Nat Hobson

I had been very eager to start learning Adobe Flash. I have had some very basic previous experience with the program, specifically rotoscoping. However, this was a chance to produce a full animation. 

Our requirements were simple, pick any fact that represents an imbalance of some sort and make a 20-30 second animation that represents this. After some in depth talk in our tutorials, it became obvious that the approach that would work best would be to not literally show the fact but rather, show it in a less literal way. One thing I was certain on was that I wanted to go for a cut-out style, based around static images. This meant that the important part of my animation would be the camera control and movement within that animation.

The fact I settled on was that year on year, Michael Jordan earns more money from Nike than their entire Malaysian workforce combined. I storyboarded a range of ideas and started work on the one I thought would be the strongest. However, after completing the basic animation I decided the idea was in fact not strong enough for my final piece. My final, submitted piece was in fact my second go at the animation based around a totally different idea to my first one. This is how it ended up…

Flash Animation (click to view)

I’m actually very please with the final result considering this is my first attempt at a real flash animation in a program I was previously totally uncomfortable with. I think the sound track I chose to accompany the animation works well, and the lyrics tie into the theme of the animation. I’m particularly pleased with the use of the camera, which is almost entirely controlled through actionscript (v.2). I’m very much looking forward to tackling another animation project, especially web design orientated.