Welcome to Wallace & Gromit’s Activity Pack INNOVATION & Ani mation 12-16 years Case studies from Aardman Animations plus a range of activities to bring the worlds of innovation and Intellectual Property to life! For parents, teachers and club leaders or for young people to use independently. Time to get cracking! © Aardman Animations Ltd. 2 01 0 ww w.crackingideas.com INnovation &ANIMATION Innovative ideas surround us in everyday life. Every idea has its origin in the creativity of one person. Their creativity – a product for the home, a piece of machinery, a software programme, a song, an animated character, a brand name – is protected by their Intellectual Property (IP) rights. These rights identify the creator as the owner of the idea and enable them to earn money from it so they can continue to innovate. This resource introduces young people age 12-16 to the world This resource is inspired by the animation industry and by of innovation and the four types of Intellectual Property (IP): the diverse and exciting output of Aardman Animations, Patent, Trade Mark, Design and Copyright. Each area is a business which started very small in 1972 and is now covered separately, although a product may be covered by all one of the most famous animation studios in the world. four elements - a new type of bicycle could be covered by a Case studies bring the world of IP to life and a range of Patent for the mechanism, by a Trade Mark for a logo, by activities encourages enquiry about the process of innovation Copyright for the assembly instructions and by a Design for and how IP supports the process. its shape and style. ebsite is g Ideas w Th f Crackin World o rce is inks: See esou iculum L r Curr on at ls. tory less imed for detai introduc a -minute ource to s : Free 90 this res 2-16 Session tion with 1 ovation conjunc World of The Inn e used in on. See s. Can b innovati or 12-16 ocess of plan f e and pr he natur explore t site. s and eas web her note acking Id ok, teac Cr ource bo source to dable res th this re downloa ction wi d IP. it: Free in conjun rprise an Think K be used ring ente ns. Can ies cove esign & sson pla ase stud s and D le etailed c ss Studie ted for stigate d t Busine be adap inve rimarily a can also Aimed p 4-16s it n ogy for 1 educatio Technol .gov.uk/ ww.ipo deas 2-14s. w acking I 1 and Cr rt allenges n suppo reka Ch ource ca Eu : This res tives on petition ese initia Com eas for th e. g and id s websit plannin king Idea d of Crac the Worl ww w.crackingideas.com © Aardman Animations Ltd. 2 01 0 patents over Patents protect the technical side of a product Disc Wh – what makes it work? Patents are granted to at information must an inve inventions that are novel and include a ntor supply to the IPO for i t to decide whether or technical step forward. In real life you have to not to gr ant a patent? Look at PATEN keep your invention secret until you file a TS on the Intellectual Proper patent application. If people don’t protect their ty Office (IPO) website www.ipo.go inventions using a patent, other people may v.uk use, make or sell it without their permission . Rotoscoping In the 1990s, digital rotoscoping was invented and patents At Aardman Animations… granted. It is now used for special effects in film and television Post Production: Edit Suite to combine moving images from different sources such In the edit suite, the Editor and as live action and CGI his assistants work closely with (‘Computer Generated the director. A Matter of Loaf Imagery’). The Rotoscope and Death was made up of a (or ‘Roto’) Artist is an entry total of around 700 shots that level job: it is an essential were logged and edited as part of the post-production soon as they were filmed. process in stop-motion At the same time the CGI animation, assisting in team worked on visual ‘compositing’ where all the effects for around 300 various visual elements are Ed shots including rig removal it suite 0 patent combined. They use and adding CGI elements Original 191 Rotoscope software to trace the including smoke from tyres drawing for areas of motion where and flour in the bakery. The visual effects were an inserted element approved by the director or worked on further before they would be obscured, as well as other tasks were edited into the working edit. After the picture edit is such as ‘de-rigging’, digitally removing the wires and rigs complete, the final step is to add the sound – music, supporting models. sound effects and dialogue. Explore ore The role of the Rotoscope Artist Expl fe easier In early 2008, Aardman advertised for a Rotoscope Inventions to make working li or: Artist/De-rigger (CGI). The job was described ‘an exciting Wallace is an enthusiastic invent puts a opportunity for an aspiring Compositor to work with us on In A Matter of Loaf and Death he e to power a new half hour special of Wallace & Gromit.’ The duties windmill on the roof of their hous ntion that included ‘de-rigging’ and it required ‘a solid working the bakery mill. Research an inve knowledge of Adobe After Effects and/or Eyeon Fusion has made working life easier: and Photoshop.’ Candidates sent in a CV and a showreel. describe it and how it Research this job: What was the half hour special? works. Has it progressed or What is the software – what does it do? improved – how does it What is a showreel? operate now? What do you think will be the next step in innovation for your chosen invention? A Matt er of and Loaf ww w.crackingideas.com Deat © Aa h rdman Animat ions Lt d. 2010 trade marks Trade marks are a badge of origin or a brand name – what sets its products or services apart from its competitors? Trade marks can be words, a logo, or both . When a trade mark is ‘registered’ the owner can use the ® symbol next to it. If people register their trade mark, they can stop other people using it without their permission – maybe to put on something which is inferior to their own products that could damage the reputation of their brand. Discover It used to be a harder job to create ‘life like’ camera movements What are in stop frame animation. Breaking the movement of the camera the criteria for a trade mark? D into 24 single frames (to create a second of moving film) meant o the trade marks for Aardman the camera crew had to do some maths - measuring each and Wallace & Gromit fit the cr move with tape, string and marker pens. The results could look iteria? Look at TRADE MARK jerky and unnatural. The development of Motion Control (or S on the IPO website ‘moco’) transformed animation by using a computer to control www.ipo.gov.uk the camera’s movement. A pioneering motion control camera system is the ‘Milo’ ®. ‘Milo’ ® is a registered trade mark owned by Mark Roberts. This is a robotic crane controlled by Mark Roberts’ ‘Flair’ software that moves the camera: the computer does the maths, breaking down a movement into single frames and creating animation with a sense of real, life like movement. At Aardman Animations… Production: On Set The production studio at Aardman is a huge space where Explore equipment is kept and where animation sets are built. It also houses directors, animators, cinematographers, Cinematographer lighting and camera crews, each taking their turns to bring Tristan Oliver: the model sets and characters to life. A TV series might “When I am planning the need 15-20 sets which stay in the studio for months, camera shots for stop motion whereas a feature film could require 30 sets in total, animation, I always aim to several of which will be being worked on at a time before create a world which looks real they’re taken down to make way for the next ones. even though everything on the Visit the Aardman website Studio Tour: Production screen is constructed. I light and Technology to explore all the equipment used and frame the models sets and Production Studio to see the animators at work. Tristan Oliver characters in a naturalistic way and, to further enhance the reality, I move the camera across the frame in a way that creates a sense of what appears to be Explore real time. Motion control, and the Mark Roberts Milo ® rig, has Familiar trade marks liberated this process by giving us the freedom to construct at home Find five trade marks on products highly complicated camera moves: we can programme tilts, rch the or at school. Choose one to resea pans, rolls, jibs, tracks, focus and zooms separately to over its journey of one logo text or image create a fluid move through space on any path, at made lifetime. What changes have been almost any speed, which once programmed can be and why? What elements remain repeated infinitely.” entity? consistent and provide a strong id ww w.crackingideas.com Design Design protects the appearance of a product – Discover new what gives it eye appeal? Designs must be What is the ‘Locarno’ system fo and look different to already known designs.