This post is to announce a new monthly character animation
contest called Monkeyframers that is being developed by Lyubomir
Kovachev, Jacob “WeirdHat” Kafka, Chris Snoeren and myself. This
contest is heavily inspired by the 10 Second Club (and I mean
heavily!) but focuses on non-verbal action rather than dialog.
On the 14th of each month there will be a one day poll to
select the soundclip for the month. On the 15th of the month
the round will begin. Contestants will then have until the
15th of the following month to create a 320x240 character animation
based on the soundclip, which must not be modified. The
entries will then be rated by the group members based on 3 rating
scales from 1 to 10: “Originality” (does it stand out from
the rest?), “Personality” (does the character seem alive?),
and “Motion” (technical excellence of the animation) – these
categories might be replaced by something else if somebody
suggests something better before the first deadline.
Anyways, if you are interested in entering, our currently
“under development” website is here:
just joined and voted on sound clip. Hopefully I will have time to work on an entry for the first contest. (My wedding is in 3 weeks, so much to do, so little time).
If you want my opinion, NONE of those sounds were good on the basis that you can’t tell what’s happening. Also, some of them used vocals (i.e. the winning clip had someone say, “MAMA!”) and it said “it will use sounds rather than dialog.” Also, I didn’t particularly like the winning sound (I think that it sounds like it will get a LOT of construction sites).
But I’m going to enter anyways! (And if you come up with my idea, I’ll be both amazed and angry!)
In my opinion, that’s part of the appeal of the clips. Remember, one
of the rating categories that entries will be judged by is originality,
and this is where an interesting interpretation could make a
difference.
I said it would focus on non-verbal action rather than dialog. This
doesn’t mean that dialog is taboo, but if it is used it should support
other things that are going on in the sound clip. The focus should
be ther other things.
I didn’t vote for it either, but that’s the way it goes sometimes! 8)
Actually, I never thought about doing a construction site – good idea!
Great to hear – good luck and have fun!
Chris
P.S. I’l be amazed and angry too if your idea turns out to be
my idea!
