What I did…..

Today, and since last class, I have really been trying to get all of the work I will be doing in illustrator our of the way. This includes illustrating complex scenes and objects that will get transformed in Flash, typing out all the credits and spell checking names (there is no spell check in Adobe Illustrator) and staying consistent in a visual style.

One scene I have really been focusing on is the end of the animation right before coming to the title of the movie. This was not in my story board because I was intimated by the design aspect of it. So, I have included a screen shot of the most basic part of the scene for reference, but my goal in this animation is to make it look like someone is advancing toward the Tri-Wizard trophy in the maze, having two hands grab the trophy (which is actually a port key if you are familiar with the movie/book) and have the trophy spin into a transition to the final title scene. The handle of the trophy is actually the inside of the “P” in Potter. It’s a lot harder to explain in writing than visually so hopefully some of this makes sense.

Why I did it….

By designing everything in advance in Illustrator I am really saving myself a ton of time in Flash. The more work I put in on the front-end of this project in terms of planning, creating images and vectors for my animation in Illustrator, and working through kinks of transitioning, the less time I will spend on the back-end of this project during the actual animation. Right now my biggest concern is keeping my animation in Flash organized with labels and layers (I will post pictures in future blog posts to show just how crazy it can get) which can get really confusing during the animation. Two things I have really had to watch during this project is time management and organization. If I let one or the other go, this project can take a turn for the worse.