STOP MOTION ANIMATION
STOP MOTION QUESTIONNAIRE
Evaluation
I created a questionnaire to find out what the target audience may think about my stop motion animation and what I could do to amend any minor problems to make it a better animation. I had the feedback about the camera and lighting, which I do agree with as I did not have much time to film, as I wanted to do pixilation but unfortunately because of some issues I had to think about a new concept, which gave me my final stop motion animation. This shows how I need to be more time consuming, to plan a head to make sure everything is done on time, also make a production log to keep all my work evident and have an understanding of the progress of my work. I think it's really important to start creating my soundtrack and ensure that it synchronized with the onscreen movement, this will make it much more entertaining for the viewers and ensure that the animation as a narrative. Another really important point which I agree with completely is the start of the animation was very unfocused, to amend this problem I have to ensure that the planning was done thoroughly so while filming this, it would be much easier to do.
A Look into the Development of Stop Motion Animation
I believe stop motion is somewhat a definition of a type of film or video technique to which enables viewers to view what can sometimes be described as objects with a mind of their own or some might call it magic? This effect is created by slightly moving this object inches at a time to get a general sense of movement in the video creation. This is usually created using a photographic camera that will take each frame, which then enables the viewers to have a sense of illusion of movement; when in post-production you then change the frame rate depending on how cleverly believable the footage looks.
When looking into ‘Stop Motion Techniques’ we see that there are many different ways the illusion is enhanced and creatively put together to perceive realism. Concerning these techniques; there are three different forms (or branches) that are used under the tree of stop motion. These are:
- Claymation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background,
is 'deformable'. It is similar to stop motion animation, except instead of using figures, you use clay sculptures.
- Pixilation is a live action that is shot frame by frame; with the use of actors and objects. Frames can be shot more than once.
- Stop Motion also known as 'stop action' it is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to
move on its own
- Cut-Out Animation is a technique for producing animations using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials
such as paper, stiff fabric, card and etc. This is one of the oldest forms of animation and probably the easiest to create.
Cutout animation is a process where by moveable parts of the figure are moved to create an illusion of an action.
Each form giving us a different way of telling audiences’ a story way before initial filmmaking with film reels and video cameras were fully developed. We see that the various techniques of stop motion were used as a source of entertainment to the society of approximately the 19th Century. Now when we see that stop motion is has had a vast development since films like ‘The Lost World’ by Willis O’Brien where we begin to notice the ‘Claymation’ technique on a film about dinosaurs. Claymation is one of four forms of stop motion animation to which I have currently been looking into; each animated piece, either character or background is ‘deformable’. Claymation is similar to the basic stop motion technique; except, instead of using solid figures, you use clay creations.
When looking into ‘Stop Motion Techniques’ we see that there are many different ways the illusion is enhanced and creatively put together to perceive realism. Concerning these techniques; there are three different forms (or branches) that are used under the tree of stop motion. These are:
- Claymation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background,
is 'deformable'. It is similar to stop motion animation, except instead of using figures, you use clay sculptures.
- Pixilation is a live action that is shot frame by frame; with the use of actors and objects. Frames can be shot more than once.
- Stop Motion also known as 'stop action' it is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to
move on its own
- Cut-Out Animation is a technique for producing animations using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials
such as paper, stiff fabric, card and etc. This is one of the oldest forms of animation and probably the easiest to create.
Cutout animation is a process where by moveable parts of the figure are moved to create an illusion of an action.
Each form giving us a different way of telling audiences’ a story way before initial filmmaking with film reels and video cameras were fully developed. We see that the various techniques of stop motion were used as a source of entertainment to the society of approximately the 19th Century. Now when we see that stop motion is has had a vast development since films like ‘The Lost World’ by Willis O’Brien where we begin to notice the ‘Claymation’ technique on a film about dinosaurs. Claymation is one of four forms of stop motion animation to which I have currently been looking into; each animated piece, either character or background is ‘deformable’. Claymation is similar to the basic stop motion technique; except, instead of using solid figures, you use clay creations.
Bagpuss and Wallace & Gromit
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Limited character movement in Bagpuss, the movements were minimum meaning the characters were ‘sliding’ in other words, lacks some sort of realism. For example; the mice had no moving body parts. Each programme would begin the same way: through a series of sepia photographs. The programme shifted from sepia to colour stop motion film, and various toys in the shop would also come to life. The programmes were made using stop-frame animation. On the other hand in Wallace and Gromit, there are more realistic character movements, a variety of facial expressions linking in with the character having emotions, with all lip-synced character. For example; Vicar has a very detailed facial expressions, background characters all move too. The Wallace and Gromit films are shot using the stop motion animation technique; this involved detailed storyboarding, set and plasticine model construction, the film is shot one frame at a time. The clay models were extremely detailed, as they would make up to 10 different ‘mouths’ and stick it on every time there is a reaction. The use of Claymation allows the models to be more expressive with certain parts of their face and/or body. In relation to the technology we can see how Bagpuss had limited set design and camera movement being limited because of budget and technology.
The Cameraman's Revenge
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This was one of Starewicz' first animated films, and stars very realistic animated beetles. Directed by the great pioneer of Russian animation Ladislas Starewitch,The Cameraman's Revenge tells a story of infidelity and hypocrisy in the insect world. A husband beetle takes trips to town for an amorous tryst with a dragonfly, but when his wife has an affair, the husband beetle takes his revenge by filming her with her lover, and showing the results in the local cinema. Starewicz started his career in 1911, making puppet films with dead animals - the mind boggles. From this he developed an array of techniques, which he most successfully employed in The Cameraman’s Revenge, a landmark film that offered a template for future animators. So real was the film to audiences that some reviewers thought Starewicz had trained insects to ‘perform’ for the camera. Even watching it today, The Cameraman’s Revenge is a delightful and surreal treat. Starewicz made dozens of films throughout his fifty-plus year career, sometimes mixing live action, stop-motion and animation.
Lotte Reiniger - The Adventures of Prince Achmed
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Lotte Reiniger herself is the prime genius behind all of her films. She had an astonishing facility with cutting, holding the scissors still in her right hand, and manipulating the paper at lightning speed with her left hand so that the cut always went in the right direction. This is a 1926 German animated fairytale film. The adventure of Prince Achmed has to be the longest, surviving animated feature film, this film features a silhouette animation technique invented by Reiniger. This involves manipulated cutouts made from cardboard and thin sheets of lead under a camera. If I had to compare this to another animation it would be Wayang shadow puppets, Reiniger used similar camera techniques but hers were animated frame by frame not manipulated in live action.