This animation entitled, "Daydreamin'", was my final project for computer art I at Allegheny College. The basic guidelines of the project were to create an animation set to music and the duration of the animation had to be at least thirty seconds (mine was over four minutes). We could do any type of animation and use any style at our disposal.
I created a cell animation by drawing each frame in Photoshop and then importing all the frames into Macromedia Director MX. Even thought you could animate certain vector objects within Director I still wanted to retain the detail that could be achieved in Photoshop and experience the discipline of old school animation, with onion skinning.
Once the frames were imported, I took each still frame and moved it to the timeline for all 1000+ imported images.
This project became a standard daily activity. I would complete my other class work first and then go to the computer art lab for four to six hours each night just to work on my animation. I was able to do this roughly five to seven days a week depending on the work load from the other classes. This took me an entire month to complete, which was all the time we were given for this project.
My theme for the project was to show a daydream that I had during my middle school years. I wanted the work to have a mystical effect and provide an escape to another world through the power of imagination. I choose to start and end the narration within the same classroom, with all the other students oblivious to the journey that just took place in the main character's mind. I ended the video by paying homage to the 1980's "Take on Me" music video. The music used for the art project was "Daydreamin'" by Michel'le. Hopefully they don't mind me using it for the purpose of art and the free use policies within.
The animation might seem a bit choppy running at roughly 6 frames a second but was quite remarkable for my experience at that time and the incredible time constraint I was under. If I had more time I could have produced a more fluid animation with more detailed renderings for the frames.
Daydreamin' was entered in the student show where it won a purchase award by the college. It is currently part of Allegheny's permanent art collection.