Author: Tilda Eyre

Week One

Link to padlet: https://padlet.com/artslondon/monochrome-g2pl9027uv651rd6

Monday

On the first day we were introduced to the monochrome brief and the concept of experimental animation.

Our first task was blind contour drawing with objects. We did a non dominant hand drawing, a drawing where we drew what we felt, and a drawing where we couldn’t look at the page.

I really enjoyed this way of drawing and I think the outcome is really effective. As a class we had a look at everybody’s and some points I thought were interesting is that the drawings looked like someone else drew them. The way that you could see marks in the drawings getting harder as people got more confident with blind drawing is something I found very interesting and an idea to revisit.

Using these rubbings we created our own pattern animation after watching Jonathan Hodgson’s animation, Rug.

Once having a go at pattern animation with created patterns, we then went out onto the campus to find patterns and objects to create more animated tests with.

Wednesday

On Wednesday our first task was to write uninterrupted for 3 minutes. This was a time to write down any ideas and let things flow naturally. I struggled with this at first but as time went on, I found this a very therapeutic task and found it gave me a lot of visual ideas.

We were then given photocopies of articles and images and using a square template we were to cut out sections from these images that we felt resonated with our project.

I found this a difficult task as we were so early on in the project, I didn’t feel my project had much of an identity at this point. So I just started using the images I had chosen to come up with themes and narratives.

We played around with changing the order of the images we chose, to create different narratives. The themes I gathered from my images was the idea of community and solidarity, transitioning from to the other.

What I enjoyed about this workshop and Monday’s session, was working with existing material. I liked seeing how much I could do with an existing drawing or image.

As a collective, we all wrote down as many what if, and how questions about the project. After reviewing everyones questions the ones that stuck out to me the most were:

What if the film only used text?

What if we reversed a sound recording?

How could the feeling of a colour be portrayed with black and white imagery?

On Thursday I wanted to build on the sessions from the week with my own test. I wanted to incorporate pattern animation and working with an existing material/object.

I was also intrigued by the question of ‘What if the film only used text?’ whilst a receipt can have other shapes and symbols it is mostly text, paired with them being monochrome, I thought it was an ideal material to use.

I did some quick shots just using my phone and compiled them together. I zoomed in as much as I could and thought it was interesting to see the grain and texture of the receipt and the text printed onto it.

I played with using the numbers and having them change whilst getting progressively faster. I created my own sound, using the receipt itself to make crinkling noises and used a roll of masking tape to create an interesting sound for the ending.

I found this test really helpful for my project as it pointed me to a direction I was intruigued by and willing to revisit later. I liked the way the imagery built up in pace and sound, creating an overwhelming and uncomfortable sense of urgency for the viewer.

Friday

On Friday we looked into Richard Serra’s verb list. We had to pick two of these and create tests with paper. I found this a nice change in direction from anything we’d done in the past week but I didn’t find the process or end result to be as exciting as our other ways of working.

Lazy, Boring, Ugly

On the first day of the project Chris set us a mini brief – to explore the term monochrome in a lazy, ugly or boring way, thinking about the approaches we have used in the past week.

At first I struggled with this concept and it really challenged my normal way of thinking. I decided after seeing how effective my receipt test was, I wanted to try using another found material.

After researching the artist Yoshinao Satoh and his film Papers I wanted to try using a newspaper for a test.

Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56EG957YinM

I really liked the fast paced nature of the animation and the way that things moved in a way that you would expect but it was still satisfying to watch as newspapers are never something you do see move.

A part that stood out to me especially, were the puzzle areas of the newspapers. I liked this idea as the puzzles in a newspaper start out blank, leaving you to fill them in, which is an idea I wanted to play with.

I did a few different tests using the sudoku puzzle as my canvas. I tried doing a time-lapse however the camera kept going out of focus so instead I tried a stop motion test, taking a phot every time I wrote down a number.

I thought this would fit the ‘boring’ theme as I don’t think watching someone else work out a sudoku puzzle is particularly exciting to watch however after making this test, I got feedback from people saying it was actually quite satisfying to watch. I also see that myself especially alongside the typewriter sounds I added.

I think subconsciously I was making it something satisfying to watch as that’s how it feels to complete one of these puzzles.

This test, whilst not necessarily being ‘boring’, I think was a very successful test in pointing me in the direction I wanted to take for this project. I liked that you can see the lighting change with how long it was taking me to complete the puzzle, you can see the paper moving and creating dents where my hand had been resting, you can see an eraser moving periodically and I think overall it has a very handmade feel to it, which I enjoyed.

Week Two

Monday

This week was all about materiality and how could we push the limits of the material chosen.

A film we were shown that particularly stood out to me was Jane Aaron’s Travelling Light. I liked that it makes you believe it’s one thing at first and then it’s revealed that it’s actually another.

Our first task was about hand drawn animation and after being shown some films we were left to explore the process ourselves. We had to all start with the same square template and go from there. I tried out straight ahead animation as I feel it is the most organic.

The test I ended up with was okay, but it didn’t excite me very much, I liked the movement but maybe if it was a different material like ink, or clay it would feel more intriguing to me.

Wednesday

On Wednesday we continued with our hand drawn test, but Chris introduced an idea to fold our paper over and over to create six smaller frames out of one piece of paper, forcing us to change the scale in which we were drawing and see how that would effect the final animation. I found this addition to make the process much more exciting and satisfying as there were more challenges with this, forcing me to be creative.

I wanted to see what else I could do with this process and thinking back to this first day with the rubbings, I was inspired by all the different textures and wanted to see how that could look animated.

I drew out the square template in the centre of the paper for 24 frames and found as many textures around my room as I could.

Friday

Friday was our first session in the stop motion room, where we brought in our own materials we wanted to explore and creating our own tests.

After my sudoku test I was really interested in using the newspaper as inspiration, especially the puzzle sections. It got me thinking about printmaking and how I could use other methods of printmaking to animate, in this case I was looking into monotype.

I thought the crossword puzzle would be an interesting one to play with. The shape is similar to the sudoku (a square grid) however certain parts are blocked out which makes for a distinctive, iconic look.

I did some tests with a receipt as well and that turned out to be an interesting look, however for this specific animation, I was focused on the crossword.

I think the final test was successful, whilst the outcome is not what I thought it would look like, I ended up liking it more. That you could see where my hand was pressed on the ink when drawing gives it a very human feel that I liked.

As the ink dried fairly quickly, the drawings are rough and often unfinished, but this gave a more interesting movement for the animation.

I found this outcome interesting as these crossword shapes are something you see perfectly printed in the newspaper with its’ blocky shapes and uniform lines, so it was nice to see it in a messy unconventional way.

Week Three

Monday

Starting the week off with another session doing our own tests in the studio, Chris encouraged us to try using physical objects instead of 2d and hand drawn tests, the objects giving us it’s own limitations to work with.

I chose to use a pack of playing cards, taking out the red cards. I thought after looking at my previous tests and what was successful, the cards gave me a good opportunity to work with more pattern animation and also numbers, with the sudoku tests being my inspiration.

I managed to get two tests out of this session. I wasn’t massively happy with either of them and found it very difficult to get started. Every time I came up with any sort of idea I kept shooting it down as it felt too obvious. After speaking with Chris he told me that’s not necessarily a bad thing and to just run with it.

He mentioned that just doing the ‘obvious’ thing can lead to other interesting ideas.

In a couple of our sessions recently he has spoken about the approach of making first and thinking later, and thinking through making. That whilst making our tests we are making loads of creative choices that we can then reflect on later. I found this extremely helpful in moving forward with the project.

Wednesday

Today we went on a walk as a group. We got set up with some sound recorders and went out on our route. We would stop at intervals and read extracts of texts and some poetry. The aim for the walk was to slow down, reflect and just be in ‘receive’ mode, to let ideas come to us and to let our minds wander and question.

I found this a bit strange at first, but it turned out to be rather therapeutic. I found that I did get a few ideas by just letting my thoughts wander.

One of my main recurring thoughts I was having throughout the walk, was how much it felt like Alice in Wonderland. One moment we were walking past these massively tall buildings that make you feel absolutely tiny, the next we’re turning down a cobbled street where the cars are from 1950, the small buildings make you feel like a giant and you almost forget you’re in London.

I took these photos as I feel they connected with my project and the tests I had recently done. The uniform shapes and lines felt similar to the compositions I have been working with.

When we walked past this, I found it quite interesting as it looked rather out of place. The bright colours and straight grid sat next to the dull wonky pavement and brick walls, felt very appealing and fit in with my ideas about Alice in Wonderland and feeling misplaced.

After we returned from the walk, Chris asked us to reflect on our thoughts and feelings from the walk, and to listen back to the recordings we had gathered and create a pyschogeographic map of the walk, on how we experienced it.

I had some off cuts from my mono prints and used them to collage my map together.

I took my idea of feeling too small and too big in the city and ran with it. I wanted to try and make it somewhat uniform as that’s what the walk felt like, seeing a lot of very clearly planned and thought out buildings and pavements.

Friday

To end the week we were continuing making our own tests exploring any more materials we could.

As a lot of my work so far had been found materials and objects, I wanted to try somethings different. So I used paint of perspex.

I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with it at first and had no clear idea or plan for this test, so just used Chris’ idea of thinking through making and just began working.

I zoomed in really far and found that the texture of the brushstrokes made a interesting composition that reminded me of the barcodes from my work with the receipt.

I feel as though this test has potential and is something I want to explore further.

The sound of silence

At the beginning of the week, Chris set us another mini ‘brief’, for us to create a test exploring the sound of silence. He showed us a couple artists giving their interpretations of it, I found Bill Viola’s interview particularly absorbing.

I recorded me and my friends playing a card game as not only did I feel it connected to my previous tests but I felt that even though the act of placing the cards down is quiet, what those cards can mean, is loud.

I wanted to revisit the newspaper and the square template and played with composition.

Though it is a fairly simple test, I think it was quite effective. I edited my original recording and duplicated the sound of the cards being shuffled towards the end whilst the visuals got quicker to create this overwhelming pace which I am happy with the end result.

Week Four

Monday

Going into the production section of the project, I didn’t have a massively clear idea yet about what my final film would look like however because I had built up lots of tests to reflect back on, I felt confident in the process of creating my film.

As I had explore a few different materials I wanted to make a decision on what to move forward with. I chose to further explore the receipts and to experiment with incorporating the paint into the piece.

Monday was mainly spent playing around with the camera and trying to zoom in as far as I possibly could. I had a bit of trouble as when the camera zoomed in all the way, it struggled to focus properly. I also played with using the push in mask on dragon frame and this was very useful to get even closer, past what the camera could do.

I found when exporting it came out slightly grainy, which I actually thought worked well. It had a slightly hazy feel and you could really see the texture of the receipt. However I had to be careful as there were a few moments where midway through the test the camera would lose focus and I would struggle to get it back to its original state.

Wednesday

Now I familiarised myself with the camera setup I was happy with, on Wednesday I was able to just jump straight in and get on with some more shots.

I wanted to have another go focusing on the barcode elements of receipts. As I had gathered lots of different receipts I noticed how they have different sizes, lengths and width of the bars; so I wanted to try and play with that.

For this test I wanted to be mindful of the cropping, to see how it would look if the composition was all lines and there was no context of the rest of the receipt. I also found that a lot of the receipts had creases and folds in the barcodes, and instead of flattening it out, I wanted to see how that would add any extra movement to the shot.

I found this to be extremely effective and I really like the added element and wanted to embrace this for the future shots.

Another test I did was using the whole of the receipt. I used loads of different receipts and, similar to my previous tests, wanted to create an overwhelming build up of visuals. My idea was to find blank parts of the receipts and slowly start revealing more and more of the receipt, random numbers, symbols, then letters to words. I thought it would be interesting to play with the idea of the audience not knowing what they’re looking at until it is slowly revealed.

I feel that this test was very successful and I was pleased with the outcome.

Whilst I don’t think my initial intention worked as I wanted – I should’ve made the build up even slower if I wanted there to be a ‘reveal’, however I still think this test revealed something interesting that I wanted to build on.

Friday

To end the week, I wanted to revisit animating with paint. I wanted to see how it would look transitioning from receipt to paint and vice versa.

This time I was set up at the multiplane, so I spent some time fiddling around with the lighting and camera to see what worked well. I ended up using a Lightbox and putting the perspex over the top and so the light was coming from beneath the paint.

I did a few short tests expanding from my original one. My main focus was looking into the texture of the brushstrokes and how I could manipulate them. In one test I started to use cotton buds for a variation of line and this made an interesting composition.

Whilst I think I came across some interesting imagery with these tests, I don’t feel they work well with the overall film. I put the receipt tests and paint tests onto a timeline so see how they transition from one to another and it was not as seamless as I had wanted.

I decided to just stick solely to working with the receipts. `However had I have a longer project, I think I would revisit the paint and mixed process element.

Week Five

Monday

Going into the final week of the project I had a much clearer vision of my final film. To resolve the issue of the camera going out of focus, I photocopied the receipts and enlarged them.

The only downside to this, was that I lost some of the original texture from using the actual receipts, but decided that it was better to do this.

A lot of my shots so far were focusing on the barcodes and the numbers, so I wanted to try and look at the words in the receipts and see what I could do with them. The main words that are repeated on multiple receipts are, total, please, change, balance, and card. The words that stuck out to me were please and change. Paired together I think they create a powerful message.

I also did some lighting changes, I realised through my tests from week 4, I wanted my final film to have a cold and gritty feel so I made amendments to the lighting.

I wanted to have these two words pop up in the midst of fast movement, almost to catch the viewer of guard and break the fourth wall. As it goes on I wanted these words to have more and more screen time until it is the only thing to look at.

Tuesday

I decided to come in on Tuesday to continue working as we wouldn’t have Fridays session to work.

All the shots I had done so far were really close up and whilst it was still obvious the material I am working with, I wanted to explore some shots zooming out.

I did some replacement animation with the receipts on the multilane set up. I experimented with the lighting and found that a really low light from one side worked really effectively as it displayed all the crinkles and folds in the receipt and created some beautiful harsh shadows.

Originally I had the black foam background directly underneath the receipt but soon realised my mistake and that I needed to move it to the second layer of the multilane as when the receipts were moving, the background was moving alongside them.

I was pleasantly surprised by this test and really like how it looks as though they’re floating in a void.

Wednesday

I came in early for the session as I knew I had a lot to get done, so first thing I did was put all my clips so far onto the timeline to see where I was at and where I needed to fill in the gaps.

I found that my shots were working really well so far and I really loved the mix of closeup and wide shots. I started experimenting with intercutting clips together and really got a sense of what this film should look like.

As an experiment earlier in the week, I tried photocopying a receipt onto another receipt and the printer messed up and it printed it diagonally with big blocks of black ink covering areas. At first I discarded this as a fail and was going to put it inside my sketchbook, but then thought it would be interesting to animate with.

Prompted by this discovery, I wanted to try photocopying onto clear acetate and animate the acetate moving on top of the original receipt.

This was also extremely effective and if I had more time for this project, it is definitely something I would explore even further as I feel it has a lot of potential.

I spent the rest of the session playing around on the timeline and figuring out worked well and what didn’t.

Thursday

As my animation itself was finished, I dedicated this day to sound. I was already thinking about sound throughout the whole production process, so the weekend prior I went to lidl and recorded the soundscape.

I started by just putting the sound alongside the visuals and see what stuck out to me. I immediately picked up on certain sounds like paper bags crinkling, basket handles being slammed, beeping, trolley carts, and the instructions from the self checkouts.

I spent the whole day testing and playing with the sound. Chopping up certain sounds and different beeps. As my intention for the film was to get more intense as it went on, I followed that with the sound.

I found this process extremely enjoyable, much more than I anticipated. I found it really fun to assign certain visuals, to sounds. When the numbers go up, I chopped up the beeping noise to make it really fast and match the speed of the visuals.

Overall I am extremely happy with how the sound turned out and it completely changed my view on the final film.

I would definitely be willing to explore sound as a primary inspiration for a future project.

Shared Plates (Out Of Your Head)

All moving image material on Padlet:

https://padlet.com/artslondon/production-principles-unit-sgkzu5t70zqa8klq

Out of your head was the most recent project where we had to work in groups to create a 30 second animation. This is a very open brief with a lot of freedom giving us the opportunity to explore what interested us following the rotations.

Me and my group were all on the same page since day one about what we wanted to create. We all had an interest in stop motion experimental animation. All of us were very open to all ideas and communicated very well.

On the first session of this project, we were discussing our chosen words from the word cloud and possible starting points and themes when we came across the words connection and community. When I thought of these words, my mind did not start coming up with a fictional story, with fictional characters in a fictional world.

Instead I thought of real-life people with stories to tell with their own voice.

We initially planned to go out and interview people that own corner shops; the idea being that we interview people who see many faces in and out all day but don’t necessarily get spoken to by their customers. However, we faced our first issue – a lot of people were not comfortable with their voice being recorded.

Then we found Hannah and her Ethiopian restaurant, Habesha. She was very willing and open to talk to us and showed a lot of interest in the project, it was refreshing to have such an honest conversation with a stranger.

We conducted another successful interview with a bartender in a nearby pub however in the end we decided to go with Hannah’s interview as the recording offered more opportunity for freedom with the visuals.

We soon began editing the audio down to 30 seconds as this would be our starting point for the rest of the project and we needed it as soon as possible. We had multiple drafts and versions of the audio before picking one to move forward with.

Our next stage was research, research, research! We needed to get into the headspace and world of our film as we weren’t creating anything new, it was all out there, but we had to find it.

So we decided to head back to Habesha to actually eat some Ethiopian food and talk to Hannah a bit more and understand who she was and her background.

Hannah was very happy to see us again and ended up sitting and chatting with us for 4 hours. She even gave us free traditional Ethiopian coffee.

Now we had a better understanding of who Hannah was and actually trying her food, we could now start thinking about creating some tests that could capsulate that environment and feeling.

We did some tests in a variety of materials. My particular favourite was the spoon and oil pastel, as it looks as if it’s the spice used to create the food – there was a certain feeling attached to these tests, we were trying to hold onto that sense of connection and community.

We got some great feedback from the tutors, the main takeaway being that we should not just be illustrating the words spoken in the audio; that the audience can hear what’s being said, they don’t need to see it too so we should try and expand our ideas further.

Chris also gave us a great piece of advice specifically about the pixelation test we made, that we animated what could’ve just been a live action video – if we are to use pixelation it should be something you couldn’t just film normally and would only exist in the stop motion world. This made us start thinking about how we could challenge and push ourselves more with these tests and opened our minds to more possibilities.

After our tests, we were feeling a bit lost in the project, we decided to create a storyboard to help put our visual ideas onto paper.

We split up the audio into different key sections and we all created a section of the storyboard individually and then bring it all together and create a rough animatic.

We were enjoying creating these visuals and ideas we wanted to explore, however we realised we were moving away from the more abstract visuals we initially wanted, and after watching our storyboard put together on the timeline, it became less exciting. The visuals we had were fine, but I knew there was more potential.

We decided to park the idea of the storyboard and continue doing material tests as we realised that was the most effective way for us to create new visual ideas – we could always revisit the storyboard now we had it.

These were our first tests with lentils and we saw how great it fit with our film and knew we needed to explore it further.

We got green lit before winter break and over the holidays I did some more material tests so we would feel more prepared when we came back.

When we came back after Christmas, we immediately began shooting for our final film. The next three weeks were spent completely in the stop motion room. As a group we were great at working together and communicating feedback respectfully to each other.

We began to introduce spices into our work as we wanted some variety in material other than lentils. The spices helped add to the atmosphere we were trying to create.

Pixelation was a feature wanted to include, as it’s something we thought was strong in the tests. So I created this sequence using a reference of the coffee pot from our visit to Habesha. After getting some feedback from Chris, we were told that although the animation was great, the image was getting slightly lost as the spice was a similar colour to the background.

Despite time running out, we reshot the sequence with different colours and saw an immediate difference.

The last week of the project was spent editing and figuring out transitions so that each sequence would flow nicely to one another as it would be easier for the audience to follow along.

Even though Hannah’s interview was our main audio, we knew early on we wanted to create foley for our film to help create the space and world that our film is in. We compiled a list of all the sounds we wanted, and all of us had a go at creating them, so we would have a range of options to choose from.

I massively enjoyed this project from start to finish. I really loved this method of storytelling – using real people and their voice. I’m proud of the work that me and my group have created and enjoyed how much experimenting we did with materials.

The final product obviously has flaws that with a bit more time, I would correct, such as the frame size of our dragon frame clips. We were all exporting out of dragon frame with the wrong setting, causing there to be black lines on the sides of the film. As well as this I feel as a group we could’ve been more organised with our time, as we submitted our film quite close to the deadline and if anything went wring whilst exporting, we may have missed the deadline. Obviously as stop motion animators, it is difficult to do any animating at home outside the studio but I think we should have sorted out our priorities where we could have done some more research and brainstorming work at home, to maximise our animating time.

Making Character

All moving image material on Padlet:

https://padlet.com/artslondon/production-principles-unit-sgkzu5t70zqa8klq

This rotation built on from Breaking Character, taking our character designs and learning how to create a short motion test in photoshop.

I began by revisiting my motion plan and after looking at the feedback I received from Breaking Character, made some more character sketches with some more dynamic poses. I started thinking and planning what simple movement I could create that still communicated my three words, endearing, sentimental and forgotten.

I started planning what movement I was going to create.

Mariana introduced us to animating in photoshop, which was fairly easy to navigate. I began with the key frames of my animation, which I struggled with at first as it was unfamiliar to me.

The next week was spent tweaking and creating in betweens. I found this whole process extremely tedious and difficult and took a lot of getting used to. There were a lot of drafts and parts that were scrapped and redone over and over again.

During the middle of the second week, I got some feedback from Mariana which was very useful. She gave me some really useful tips on how to make the movement look more alive specifically with the turn, which was the weakest part. I also realised the timing needed a lot of work and the audience needed more time on certain shots, to catch up with what they were seeing.

Overall, I learned a lot in this rotation and has definitely peaked my interest in digital animation and I’d be keen to learn more.

Breaking Character

Breaking Character was an introduction into character design. I hadn’t done much character design prior to this rotation so I was really looking forward to stepping outside my comfort zone and trying something new.

On the first day we were introduced to the different elements of design such as contrast, balance, colour and movement. We then began creating a story and building a world where our character would come from. My story was about a childhood teddy that got forgotten over the years.

Observational studies of my own childhood teddy.

Our next session was all about taking a more mixed media approach to character design. Using a more wide range of materials and instead of trying to draw a physical being, we were trying to capture the essence of our character. We had to pick three different words to describe our character – we had to use these to refer back to when designing. My three words were endearing, sentimental and forgotten.

Using scrap bolts, screws and wood to create faces.

Trying to capture the essence of my character using collage and paint.

In between the sessions, I worked on finalising my character design.

At the end of the first week, Jess gave us an introduction into photoshop and how we could create character sheets and turnarounds on it. It was super useful for me as someone who doesn’t have much experience with digital drawing.

The second week of the rotation was focused on the 12 principles of animation and motion plans and how we could apply these to our own characters. This was super helpful to learn and helped me understand and visualise how my character might move.

I created my motion plan writing out all the principles that would apply to my character, trying to be as specific as possible.

Ending the rotation with feedback from my design.

Animatics

All moving image material on Padlet:

https://padlet.com/artslondon/production-principles-unit-sgkzu5t70zqa8klq

In the animatics rotation, we learned where stories begin. Thumbnail sketches, storyboards, simple movement and sound. All of these elements put together give an idea of what a story may look like visually on the screen.

The first week of the rotation was focusing on understanding what an animatic is, and all the components involved. After choosing a prompt, we began creating thumbnail sketches on post it notes to start a storyboard.

Here is my first drafted storyboard.

At the end of the first week we had a session learning premier pro. Although I already had experience in premier, it was still extremely useful as there was still much for me to learn.

I put my sketches onto the timeline and began playing with movement and timing – this gave me a much greater understanding of where certain parts of the story weren’t communicated very well soo I could focus on that next.

Starting off the second week with some feedback from Izzy and the rest of the group was valuable as I could get an outsiders’ perspective and see where the weak areas were and what I should be focusing on.

The second week consisted of tweaking, adjusting and finding sound that fit with my visuals.

Overall, I didn’t massively enjoy this rotation. My storyboarding skills are weak, and whilst I appreciate this is an area I should work on to improve; I have found that this traditional way of storytelling, is not for me. This rotation did however, introduce me to the concept of an animatic as I had been previously unaware – and showed me how useful it can be compared to just a storyboard, how you can tell the story with key elements. If I were to re-do this rotation, I would try and create more dynamic sketches with a larger range of perspectives and angles to avoid it looking so flat and all the shots looking

Stop motion

All moving image material on Padlet:

https://padlet.com/artslondon/production-principles-unit-sgkzu5t70zqa8klq

Unlike the other rotations, the stop motion rotation was less narrative based and more about questioning and playing with material. I found this rotation the most exciting for me as it gave us freedom to play around and break the rules of traditional storytelling.

We began the first week by investigating the material (cardboard) and its limitations.

We played around to try and create faces out of the cardboard, trying to think outside the box, think about how it doesn’t have to be 2d, and think about the material’s potential.

We then got put into groups to create a cardboard puppet that we would later animate. In my group of three (Me, Santhi and Victoria) we immediately began creating our puppet with Victoria working on the head, Santhi working on the legs and me on the body and arms.

We spent the rest of the first making motion tests whilst learning how to use dragon frame. It was exciting to play around with equipment and see how we can use lighting to create a more dynamic scene.

Chris the introduced us to the concepts of replacement and displacement animation. As our tests so far had been displacement animation, moving the puppet little by little, we had the opportunity to have a go at replacement animation.

In our teams we had to transition from three shapes to create a loop (circle, square, triangle) using paper. Instead of changing the existing material to form the shape i.e crumpling it into a ball, we had to cut out transitional shapes with more paper and then photograph them to see the transition.

At the beginning of the second week we got given the brief for the animation we were going to make with our puppet. We were to keep exploring how we could use the material and to focus on the idea of metamorphosis. How could we change and transition our puppet in a 30 second animation?

We reflected on our tests from the first week to see what worked and what didn’t and what could be pushed further. We all agreed that we liked different parts of the puppet interacting in an unconventional way – the floating disconnected arms being our point of interest.

After brainstorming a few ideas we had, we thought it would be best to just begin animating and see where it would take us.

Shots from the final animation.

This rotation has been the most exciting to me by far. I have really enjoyed a more experimental approach to animation and thinking primarily about the material that we were working with.

Although I have some experience in stop motion prior to this rotation, I have learned so much; the main component being learning dragon frame. It was fairly simple to get used to but made shooting our animations really easy.

Learning the difference between replacement and displacement animation was extremely interesting and although we did displacement here, I am intrigued to explore other options in future projects.

Creating the sound effects for the animation was something I enjoyed as I could make them match perfectly to the clips we had and I think that overall made a much more successful outcome.

It was nice to work with physical material in this rotation and really feel and see what we were working with, instead of everything being on a screen – for me this meant the ideas flowed a lot easier as I could feel the material in my hands and really see what I was looking at.