2D Animation - Generation of Ideas

For my own 2D animation I want to do something simple but which draws humour from its simplicity. The main issue I will be tackling will be how to convey a narrative structure and tell some sort of story. Some potential options are:

• Speech bubbles or speech running along the bottom of the screen.
• No dialogue, but explain narrative through titles.
• Have a narrator voice track overlaid onto the animation.

I think the most realistic option for me is to have the narrative told through titles. In exploring how I could incorporate humour, I came up with the idea of building up to something big with the titles and then having a huge anti climax/something the audience would not expect when it comes to the actual animation sequence. I could also use soundtrack changes to add to this effect. Perhaps have something atmospheric playing during the titles and then something with far lighter, more jokey connotations for the animation. 

Next I had a look at some simple flash animations on YouTube to give me some ideas for what kind of motion to use etc.

I remembered how to use motion tweens in order to get an object to move from point A to point B on flash, so decided that for my actual sequence I could show a car driving across several roads fairly easily. 

I first created a new file in Flash CS6, and selected "Action Script 3.0". I ensured that my stage size was set to the appropriate setting (550 by 400 pixels).

I got an image of a car which looked appropriate and then found a background I liked, again sticking with the simple "cartoony" theme.

 Then, I located and imported my chosen car graphic file into library. I clicked on the "modify" option and selected "convert to symbol", before saving the car as a graphic.

I created my titles using the text tool within Flash. I stuck with a simple white text on black background. I broke the titles up into several separate small chunks of writing, with a key frame every couple of seconds (24 frames), so as to build up slowly to the reveal. I added a soundtrack to the title sequence of the animation, choosing to use Hans Zimmer's "Inception Theme" due to its atmospheric and suspenseful droning qualities. I edited the sound clip to size using Adobe Audition, as it only needed to be as long as the title sequence (16 seconds).

Next, I selected the frame after my final title and added my background. I set a keyframe and placed the car off left of the animation stage. I then dragged it to the opposite right hand side of the stage and selected another keyframe, about 24 frames later. I used a motion tween for this to it appears as though the car is driving. I repeated this process for every little section of road, so the impression is given that the car in driving across all of the roads, back and forth.

I added in Bert Kaempfert's "Swinging Safari" for this part of the animation as it is lighthearted and jovial, with major chords. Again, I used Audition to edit the sound clip to the correct length.

Finally, I added my end credits and exported the file as a .mov file.