Week 11...Intro to Adobe Flash

We spent our class time Monday working with Adobe Flash. I have never used Flash in the past, and I am a bit reluctant to learn about it sheerly due to how complicated it seems. We looked at a few of the tools that the program has to offer, and we spent a good amount of time going over formatting our Flash files. I learned that it is very important to get your file size and format correct before you do anything else, because if you wait to make your canvas larger it will result in a big blank space rather than an animation that has expanded to the confines of your canvas.

On Thursday we looked at various examples of Flash animations. I was really surprised how well many of them turned out. I particular enjoyed the one that showed a creature almost like a dragon turning red and the way that the leaves of the trees in the animation turned pink. This example played with movement and it had a impressive hand drawn quality. The artist took an approach that set his work apart. Another work that was really impressive reminded me of a pinball machine. I was amazed by the amount of planning that the project required. Every aspect of the animation fit together seamlessly, and it kept the audience interested. I really loved how it felt like the viewer was panning the scene with a camera.

In addition, I also enjoyed the fact that many people included text in there animations. I recognized, however, that sometimes the exclusion of words made for a more interesting animation. The example that we looked at in class have got me thinking about my own design. I didn't realize that creating a story line was the way to go with this assignment until I saw the projects we looked at in class. I think that I am going to exclude words and leave it up to the audience to interpret my narrative as they wish.