Cranky Sees the Light

I have finally started working towards my final film! On Thursday I started experimenting with Cranky and his inner workings. For his top layer, I used a scan of a fabric I printed with a wave design in adhesive and gold foil, and altered its colours and contrasts using Photoshop. I liked the idea of using curling waves as his 'skin,' giving a suggestion of his camouflage tactics in sea.

When it came to animating Cranky, I used a solid silhouette for a base layer, and this acted as a parent layer that I attached the subsequent layers to. I added two layers for his inner workings, both of which were animated in their own compositions to create the movement I wanted. This involved sorting each moving element, such as the cogs and wheels, onto their own individuals layers and giving them rotational movement. These were saved in RGB+Alpha, giving them their transparent areas, and brought into the final composition. I was then able to add his top layer and finally, a spotlight.

I wanted to use the spotlight to illuminate Cranky's inner workings gradually, and altered the opacity of the top layer of skin to create the dark contrast. I think this has been a very successful experiment, but I want to adjust various elements to make it perfect. I would like to add more movement to his inner layers, and I will also narrow the beam of the spotlight to show a smaller area as the light moves around. The light is meant to be coming from a lantern Cranky has swallowed, so the movement should be more jerky as it rattles around inside him. I may experiment with this idea, as I rather like the smooth movement the light has at the moment. I may adjust my story to better suit the most effective outcome of these trials.