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To analyse Judy Hopps’ movement and animalistic behaviour for my essay on anthropomorphism, I looked at some of the iconic scenes. One of them is the Police Academy Training scene, where Hopps goes through an intensive bootcamp-like training in various harsh environments. Over the course, Hopps fails each training section as the instructor’s voice keeps getting louder, saying “You’re dead,” followed by a bunny nickname. As she keeps working harder, she begins to excel at each course. Using her surroundings, she is able to climb over an ice wall using her classmates’ heads and beat a rhinoceros in boxing by using his own strength against him. 

Another example is when she goes on her first task to give out 200 car tickets in the city. Here, she uses her abilities to help with her task, including her hearing, agility, and lower body strength to jump to hard-to-reach places. All of these correspond to her as an anthropomorphic bunny, but other than having human qualities, Hopps also kept her bunny qualities that makes her unique and appealing to the audience. 

Here, one of her ears is perked because she heard the parking timer expired, which helped her identify which car needs a ticket. Her ear twitches based on the direction of the beeping sound, which helps her identify 200 tickets before noon.

In this shot, Hopps improvised using her surroundings by jumping onto her cart and using the street pole to reach the top of the giraffe’s windshield. Here, she demonstrated agility, strength and improvisation as part of her training from the police academy. Moreover, this also highlights her bunny qualities as well, since the idea of rabbits is that they can jump really high and are quick on their feet.

Reference:

200 Tickets video -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmErP_6NBCs

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Character Research

In researching other medias that uses anthropomorphism to make social commentary, I looked at Animal Farm (1954), a novel by George Orwell. There is also an adapted animated film based on the novel, which I tried to compare to the 2016 film Zootopia. I think this a good example of how anthropomorphism is used to make a social statement, both animated and in written form. The animals are all given human like qualities, especially in this scene when Boxer, the horse is carted away to an ‘animal clinic’. Once the animals discovered Boxer is actually going to the ‘knackers’ to become animal glue, the animals are all shocked and tried to get help, but to no avail. The sense of emotion shown by these animals can be taken into account. The overall novel is also an allegorical critic on Stalin and the Soviet era.

Another example is Aesop’s Fables. After some research, I noticed that many of his work are quite well known in children fairytales/stories. A famous example would be ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’. Most of the short stories have animal characters, with a short plot, but a strong moral punchline in the end. The stories have some sort of moral purpose to help educate young readers upon what to do and what not to do. In this case, the moral of the Hare and the Tortoise is that “slow and steady wins the race” and that you can become more successful if you take things slow and consistent rather than quick and carelessly. The hare was confident in their abilities to win the race, so they went to take a nap, only to wake up and lost the race to a tortoise. Aesop’s fables is one of the earliest examples of anthropomorphism in literature, which is something I can explore in my essay.

Overall, both these examples uses anthropomorphism to discuss certain moral lessons or critique on ideologies. These can be related back to Zootopia, as the film also uses anthropomorphism to discuss bias and prejudice through prey and predator animals.

References:

Animal Farm novel - George Orwell 

Aesop’s Fables -> http://solisinvicti.com/books/FairyTales/Aesop-Townsend.pdf 

Film -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_r_z66yQoI

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The Art of Zootopia (Art book) by Jessica Julius

For my essay, I browsed through the art book for Zootopia for more director’s input on their design of Zootopia and Judy Hopps in particular. The book was very useful, as it provides insight on the world of Zootopia and the creation of the vibrant city. I have gathered some scans of the few pages I think would be highly useful for my essay.

Here are some scans of the concept art of Judy Hopps. Based on the designs itself, her overall face shape is much more rounder and softer. This may suggest  how they took the concept of bunny that is ‘cute’ and spun it into a character. Even though her job is a Police Officer, the initial designs still made her look rather simple. After some more development and the art director adding some muscle mass to her legs and arms to showcase her strength as a bunny officer, her appearance becomes much more dynamic. I also noticed that her ears play a large part in her design, as they help express her emotions physically to the audience. Her ears is part of her whole character as a bunny, which I found interesting. I could perhaps mention this in my essay when discussing her design.

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Character Research

Everything I know about Judy Hopps

Protagonist of Zootopia

Female Bunny (Anthropomorphism)

Carrot Farmer -> Zootopia Police Officer

Fiercely optimistic and independent

Dream goal to become a police officer since she was young

Received doubts/mockings due to her species 

Became friends with Nick Wilde -> Fox

Very determined -> uses her opposers as a motivation

Small and rounded, yet muscular and strong

Grey fur, purple eyes (Royalty, Determination)

Things I need to research on

Her design (semiotics/shape theory)

Chosen reason for bunny as the protagonist (or fox for comparison)

Anthropomorphism in general

Examples of anthropomorphism in other medias

Social Commentary issues through movie themes?

Movement (comparison to actual bunnies?)

The appeal of her character (design/animalistic qualities)

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This is my final dynamic animation of a tennis serve. I tried to convey a sense of motion by adding some speed lines to the arms and racquet. I think the overall motion and proportions are fluid, and the speed lines also helped in conveying a sense of speed, acceleration and power. For improvement, I could have cleaned up the lines a bit more, as they are still shaky and jagged. I could have also exaggerated the extremes a bit more, especially at the part when the person throws the ball in the air. This can be done by examining professional tennis players and step by step guides on Youtube for better references. Overall, I am quite proud of this animation.

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Essay Plan/Structure

Topic Question(s): How does Judy Hopps from Zootopia appeal to the audience through anthropomorphism?

How does anthropomorphism appeal to the audience and how is it used as a story-telling device?

How does anthropomorphism represent the social themes in Zootopia through the character of Judy Hopps? 

Intro: 

Introduce topic question naturally. 

Paragraph 1:

Introduce Judy Hopps from Zootopia

Archetypes/Hero’s Journey discussion

Conform to stereotypes? Subvert to animal expectations (Bunny = Cute, Fox = Sly)

Visual Analysis -> Semiotics/Shape Language/Neoteny/Appeal

Paragraph 2:

Movement analysis of Judy Hopps

What parts of the ‘animal’ side is kept in her character, which part if added (human-like)

Microexpressions -> nose twitches, ear droop, thumping foot

Relate to anthropomorphism -> how it used as humour and emotional appeal

Paragraph 3:

Uses of anthropomorphism in other examples

Used as a story-telling device for social commentary

Animal Farm (1954) -> Social satire; The societal tendency toward CLASS stratification, irony, critique of the Russian Revolution and Soviet communism.

Alpha and Omega (2010) -> Social class differences, arranged marriages, etc

Conclusion:

Appeals to audience (young and old)

Anthropomorphism can be used as both for appeal and as a storytelling device (used as a platform)

References:

Video clips from director interviews

Artbook of Zootopia

Animal Farm (1954) - George Orwell; film & novel

Aesop’s Fables -> Moral Purpose

The Animated Bestiary (Paul Wells) -> Anthropomorphism 

Zootopia (2016) -> Image and scene references

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Dynamic Animation Exerciser - Storyboard

This is a scan of my three ideas draw on a storyboard that would convey one of the animation principles. These includes lifting a heavy ball, pitching a baseball and getting jump scared. At first, I chose to do the baseball pitch, because it allowed some sort of squash and stretch and speed and acceleration, as the whole body is arched and positioned for the full throw. However, I felt that it didn't capture the full strength of the body. After some consideration, I chose to do a tennis serve instead. One of the reasons is because I play tennis myself, so I somewhat understand the dynamics and body structure of how the serve goes. Moreover, I also have many primary sources to reference and look at for my animation, because my family and I would record our plays and rewatch them to see what could be improved on. 

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Based on the previous iteration, I decided to add some highlights to the character walk cycle as I thought it still wasn’t as ‘eye-catching’ enough. It still looked slightly dull previously due to the colour palette chosen, so I added some light cyan blue to highlight the curves and structure of the character. Moreover, it also gives a sort of ‘supernatural’ atmosphere to the character through the colours. 

I was partially inspired by several animated characters who have also used a light blue colour to illustrate power and the ‘unknown’. These includes Undyne from Undertale and Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls. The luminous glow from the soft blue emits a feeling of something powerful and otherworldly, something I want to produce through my character. I think this would work much more better if the background was a darker shade of colour rather than white, as the white does not bring out the glow in colour. Overall, this is something I could possibly improve on when continuing developing my character.

Reference:

Undyne fanart - http://andatsea.tumblr.com/tagged/fanart/page/2

Bill Cipher - Screenshot from episode

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This is one of my final iterations of my character walk cycle. I added some cell shading and details to make the character have more depth and dimension. I think I could further improve my coloring technique, as so far, it is still very messy and unorganized. I could perhaps use the bucket tool for easier filling, as well as other shading techniques. Another thing I noticed is that the gloves of the character is constantly changing in size throughout the animation, which I found difficult to maintain. Overall, I think I could add more guidelines to keep my character’s body proportions the same throughout. 

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Here are some of the finalised character model and expression sheets for my character, Oslac. Inspired by psychopomps, which are beings who help guide the souls to the afterlife or other transitions in life. The term originates from the Greek words “pompos (conductor or guide) and psyche (breath, life, soul, or mind).”  When the words “guide” and “souls” come into mind, my first initial reaction would be to think of the Grim Reaper. The thought of the Grim Reaper immediately brings some sort of negative connotation to mind, and media often depicts them as evil and cunning. So I wondered what a well-known character would be they were quirky, scared and curious. I really like how this turned out. Through this, I developed my drawing and shading skills on Photoshop, something I am still not used to. 

References:

Strong, L. (2016). Psychopomp - What is a Psychopomp?. [online] Psychopomps.org. Available at: http://www.psychopomps.org/what-is-a-psychopomp.html [Accessed 13 Nov. 2017].

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For my character, I continued to create speed poses (expressions). I put him in different poses that matches his personality. What I found difficult was how much I can stretch his body shape to express his feelings before it gets ‘too much’. So far, the character is a curious, timid but friendly being who help guide lost souls to the Other Side. Although a servant, he still goes out his way to help others, even if it means getting in some sort of trouble. I tried to convey his shy personality, even though he is a tall and lanky figure.

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Life Drawing - 9/11/17

Today’s session involved using charcoal and an eraser to create highlights of the figure. Continuing on the idea that objects do not consist of ‘lines’, but rather light and dark contrast, this exercise helped me understand where the light hits the model, and where the dark shadows are. Although it was a really messy exercise, it was very interesting to actually smudge out the light patches. 

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Weekly Summary 7

11/11/17

This week we had some tutorials with my tutor, where they gave us feedback on our storyboards for the animation and essay topics. I found this incredibly useful, because we get to share our ideas and receive feedback from both classmates and teachers. It also helped in finalising some of my ideas and topic questions for the essay. Initially I was still concerned that my research question was too broad, but after some discussion, I believe the question is a good balance, because I get to analyse the character movement and design of Judy Hopps, while also exploring the history of anthropomorphism and how it has been effectively used as a social commentary in earlier literature and animations, including Animal Farm (1954). Overall, I am more confident in my question and essay, as I think I have a good array of resources and references to research from.

We had to storyboard some of our ideas for the dynamic animation exercise, where we have to demonstrate the movement to either speed & acceleration, weight & effort, stretch & squash, and impact reaction. In the beginning I wasn’t sure what to do, so I continued to do some more research on what sort of dynamic animation exercise I want to animate. In the end, I chose to do a tennis serve, because it shows power, strength and speed. From this, I looked at some real life references, including videos of me and my family playing tennis back home. Combined with secondary references from online videos, I think it immensely helped my understanding in the body structure and posing of a tennis serve.

We also finished off our character designs and walk cycles on TVpaint. I took a lot of the research from our dynamic exercises and applied it in my character’s walk cycle. This vastly helped in providing realism and fluidity to my character, as well as some sort of personality. Moreover, I also found that the colouring process was quite challenging and time-consuming. I overcame this by quickly filling in the sections with the appropriate colour, before going back later to polish it off. This not only saves time, but also allows me to draw other details to the character’ movement.

Lastly, we also did life drawings in tonal shade. We had to smudge charcoal all over the canvas before using an eraser to fill in highlights of the model. I found the activity very useful and fun, as it allowed me to understand how tonal shades work.

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Dynamics - Research

As part of the research to help with my animation exercise where I have to convey the action of one of the 12 principles of animation, I analysed some of the footage of my father serving in a tennis game. As an avid player of tennis, I can first-handedly experience and understand the posture when serving and playing. Moreover, I usually slow down the clip and analyse each frame before drafting it out. 

Here I also looked at secondary sources of the tennis serve. This shows each step’s movement. I noticed that there is a lot of arcs at the waist and hips, most likely to create momentum and power for the serve, which is followed by a follow through afterwards. 

Ref:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/08/28/sports/tennis/the-serve-creating-racket-speed.html

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I finalised the outline and also started adding details to my character. This includes the small poncho, gloves, boots and bandages. In order to work quickly and efficiently, I scribbled in the colours in their designated areas to see how it looks as whole. This makes it easier to spot mistakes later on when I go back. I really like the base colours on the character, as the light colours contrast his demeanour as a soft and timid character. To develop this animation further, I could add cell shading to emphasise the movement and layers of the character.

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This video shows my rough draft of my character walking. I tried to keep the character’s movement loose and relaxed. I also used a different colour for the arms to illustrate the extremes of the arch when it swings. Once I finish drafting out the key frames and adding in-betweens to make the walk cycle more fluid, I can start outlining the character and add details.

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Weekly Summary 6

5/11/17

This week I mainly focused on the the development of my character designs through different programs. I have used TVPaint, Photoshop and Animate CC as a way to produce different animations and artwork. I have experimented with different colour palettes that might be appropriate for my character. So far, I have decided to go with a neutral earthly palette with a bright colour to emphasis the character’s more curious/positive attitude. Through producing a lot of speed poses and expression sheets for my character, I think it immensely helped in the design and understanding of my character.

We also animated some more walk cycles, but from the front and with a certain attitude/emotion. I found it quite challenging to animate the foot’s movement from the front, and it took quite some time to finish polishing it to make it look right. However, the exercise allowed me to become more familiar to the keyframes (contact, down, passing point, up). It was very useful, as this can help me in the future with other animations that follow this principle.  I could also bring my work further by using references, including videos of actors who are portraying that sense of emotion through their walk cycles. This can certainly help improve my animation’s fluidity and believability by observing these qualities. 

I also researched more upon my chosen character for the upcoming essay. After much consideration, I decided to choose Judy Hopps from Zootopia instead because I found the themes of social issues and the idea of anthropomorphism as a storytelling device is very interesting. Moreover, I also watched some videos about the film itself, and it strikes me that the topic is still valid and a concern today, which is something I really want to discuss and write about as well. The sudden change in character means I am falling behind, as I have to scrap my previous research on Wall-E. However, my research question is still similar: How does anthropomorphism play a role in appealing to the audience, as well as a device for representing social themes. For this, I could do some further research on anthropomorphism and any examples of how it has been used to tell a story and provide social commentary.