Stop-Motion Animation Evaluation April 2013

ARD407 Ideas and Concepts and ARD409 Creative Media Production (Stop Motion Assignment)

 

For this assignment; I was required to produce a stop motion video lasting several seconds, using an model character, Dragon-Frame Software and so on. The idea of Stop-Motion is to capture your models movements with ease and fluidity. Using expression was also required as this gave our character's unique personality traits.

The first task was completing character design sheets for our characters and I also added a colour board which explored the models textures, skin tones and fabrics. I really enjoy the development process, however; I would still like to include some elements of fine art. After the designs were completed ,we moved onto making the model frames for the characters. However; I was very disappointed with this stage. Instead of us making the armatures for the models, the tutor wouldn't really let us make them. I can only suggest that he felt he was doing us a favour. As we were first years, we didn't have the knowledge to make them and lacked the confidence. But for us, it was frustrating. Not only with the tutor but our divisional leader in Art and Design wanted a model from each of us (there were 6/7 people including me in my class.) While the tutor was making the framework, I diverted my attention to my animation sequence. What setting would be appropriate? How long should the film be? How far should I move the body-parts of my character? etc... At this point, I thought that everything was in-place etc. Sadly, Glandula Fever meant I was sick for 6-7 weeks. Thankfully, there was an Easter break during these weeks, so all I missed were 2 or 3 assignments.

So what did I do during the time I was sick? I couldn't just lie there and do nothing. It was a great opportunity to get my sketchbook work out of the way and further plan my animations and an assessment coming up in May. This is what I got done:

• Completed all sketchbook work
• Completed CRB Check for work experience
• Applied for a loan/grant for my Second year at university
• Started Game Reviews for Game Trailer Assignment
• Sorting out a house for my university accommodation for 2nd year
• Updated my blog
• And something else!

    
   When I returned to university, my first priority was getting the film work done. All in all; I believe the process was going well. But during those 3 days of filming; I was hit by numerous problems. The main issues were the lighting, software, camera and the model. During these 16 seconds of footage, some of you may have noticed that the lighting varies. I tried on numerous occasions to rectify this problem by altering the settings etc but to no avail. The next issue was that I couldn't connect the camera, software and MAC. I know the movement of my character isn't perfect, this because that the model's feet didn't have magnets so flexibility was sacrificed. I improvised by placing sticks, pins or small stones at/under certain parts of the feet.

My tutor wanted to see the eyes of my character instead and showed signs of not liking my character in shades. However; I completely disagreed. Through careful consideration, I wanted to answer the brief in a different way from my peers. I wanted to answer the requirements by experimenting as I noticed that many animations only focus on expression through eyes. I realised that I could still have shades for my character. So ... I thought. To create a realistic character, I can focus on placing expressions through the mouth, eyebrows and the shades themselves. In affect, I am using the more difficult areas of expression.

Overall, I have really enjoyed this assignment.

By using Stop-motion techniques, my admiration for animators who within this sector has been very insightful and I hope I can work on Stop-motion again for my 2nd year. However; I believe that if it wasn't for technical issues, the animation would have been done in just 2 days. If I was to make changes to this animation, I would have added magnets to my character's feet and added sound effects. It would have been brilliant to add sound and it would have improved my grade. However; I have no experience in working in sound. But it's my intention to learn more about this when I return to university after the summer months. At first I thought I would be awful at animation but as it turns out... I have displayed some form of skill in traditional animation and stop-motion. And at the same time, I have really enjoyed working with these technique and I believe my confidence is growing. A great brief!