OUAN404 - Visual Language: Observe, Explore and Consider

OUAN404 - Observe, Explore and Consider:

We have been encouraged to have an ongoing use of our sketchbooks throughout the year as drawing leisurely is a crucial part in discovering new styles, techniques, mark making and ideas. We are constantly involved and inspired in the world around us and the more we see and do, the more we need to draw and record all our thoughts and emotions from what we encounter on a daily basis.

Through using my sketchbook, computer, sticky notes and any other scrap of material I can get my pencil-covered paws on, I have been able to understand format a lot better over the course of year. Format was a very difficult part of animation for me to understand as although the concept is very simple, I could not get my head around the whole 16:9 format thingymajig! Eventually, after much practice in my sketchbook and using my laptop and Photoshop and so forth, I was able to grasp a better understanding and can now draw a rough 16:9 frame guide easily and quickly without having to measure out every inch/centimetre.

From being small, probably because of influence from childhood technology, I have been used to working 4:3. Obviously, times have changed and I still need to get with the whole widescreen concept. I not only now understand why it is a better format choice, I see why it works in technology as a whole. 16:9 allows you to see everything easily unlike 4:3 where the picture feels restricted and squashed. 16:9 gives a sense of freedom and in a sense helps you feel part of whatever you're watching.