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So I decided to return to Flash and the Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories. I wanted to spend more time with Flash and I am really drawn to these stories, so I started again on a “The Rainbow Serpent.” (Or maybe I’ve been subconciously preparing for my second trip to Aus coming up!). I thought I wouldn’t have to spend as much time getting to know the environment of Flash and that I could get right to work; however this story ended up requiring more and more scenes and actions then the previous story so I spent even more time on this one. Flash also crashed on me 4 times, and I lost so much work each time.

This time I wrote the story (based on two versions I found online) first and and then had Sam read it which was fine, but then I really had to stick to that exact story in the animation. I used another track from the Aboriginal music which I thinks works really well with this one. I wanted the music to start first and then Sam’s voice to start after the title pages, but the class didn’t really like the stillness when that happened last time, and I didn’t have time to go back to it in the end, so I just started the voice at the same time. I’m sure I’ll fix this later.

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Well, I had never used Flash before so when my family had cleared the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I headed into school just to try to familiarize myself with the program. I thought I would just spend a couple hours. This turned into five and I found the whole thing somewhat difficult, but also loved this new form of storytelling! I spent the next several afternoons/evenings/late-into-the-night, in the lab (right in the middle of the the Applications group editing their hours of footage, and having group meetings). I found it frustrating that certain symbols–like my birds–I couldn’t open up, edit, and then change the name to make it a new symbol.

After doing most of the animation, I went home and re-wrote the story, based on the two versions I found on the internet. I searced on store iTunes for some Aboriginal music and Australian birds—and purchased a few songs. Later, I worked with these in Audacity, cutting some of the Aboriginal music track and then inserting two layers of bird music (also edited) at various points. I imported this in Flash and lay this as a base behind the whole animation.

I also checked out an M-Audio and recorded Sam reading the story. I had no idea he would have such a good storytime voice!! So I imported this track as well, but then found I had to adjust my animation quite a bit to match his voice. There are a few parts where I would have added a bit more animation, but I also kind of like the story just to move with Sam’s voice.