The first try on 'Garbage' video.

 

Garbage video character moving without a costume. Just tried how the model works/walks before making bigger plans.

Working with the video.

Holy......I will never again forget to save...and save...and save!

Foley: all of the sound for my videoclip is self recorded on my laptop, hence the very low quality of

sound. I have my kids to thank for most of the characters speach.

Was almost done vidh editing my stop motion animation when it turned out that everything was gone.

It takes a lot of time and patiente to edit and add everything....sound, timeframe.

It is now nearly 5.45 in the evening and I think I am done.

 

 

Here it is!

 

Garbage!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The photo shoot.

I used Olympus  digital camera to shoot the frames. Dimensions width 4288 p, height 3216 p. Camera was set to Auto program with manually changeable settings.

 The setting up of the camera and fixing it to one place took some creativity. I had chosen soft board as a material for the ground, this way there was an option to push wire through it and wrap it around the camera. Some movement still occurred but not badly. Camera angle is facing almost from the ground, upwards. 

  I used distant ceiling lamp as well as more close up floor lamp for lighting the set. I was going for back alley in the dawn look.

  The characters would not balance well so I had to use needles in their feet to stick into the ground.

 Ground made by black tea glued with PVA. This made it possible for me to use needles sticking characters in place.

  I am stuck with using Adobe Premiere Pro as it is first time for me to actually fiddle with it. The order in which close ups fit into the video frames is, at least for me, complicated to figure out. I'll need some help tomorrow also figuring out how to edit the Folio for my clip.

Tools.

The tutors suggested how to solv the problem I had with changing the frame lengths in bulk. It is called batch processing. Makes it really handy and quick.
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/batch+processing

Got little glimpses of how to use manipulate the pictures and video today. Adobe Photoshop, Flash are  very useful.

I am still in the middle of creating the characters and set. Shooting will have to start tonight otherwise I am in a lot of hurry finishing up.

To make the characters come to life the facial expressions have to change according to what situations they are in.

I have been drawing some to show emotion. Found a interesting link About.com/animation, that talks about lip-syncing.

http://animation.about.com/od/flashanimationtutorials/a/animationphonem.htm





Found this handy tool to resize my photos all together.

http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-batch-resize-in-photoshop

Props.

I underestimated the work that goes into preparing for the actual stop motion animation clip. All we have to do is make 15 sec clip. Now after being up longer than I should of.... well there is lot more to do. 

My little dudes.

Try out for color and texture.

 The set.

Contextual studies.

I enjoyed watching cartoons as a child and still do. The ideas for kids programs now seam over the top complicated and tense. I like the simple ideas and values.

Nu Pogodi!

The firs episode for this cartoon came out 1969 from Soyuzmultfilm. Directors: Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin, Vladimir Tarasov, Aleksey Kotyonochkin.

There is this old cartoon 'Nu Pogodi' which means - 'Well, just you wait'. As my country used to be part of Soviet Union it is no wonder I know this cartoon very well. I like the style and simplicity of the story line. The kind of shannigans they get into have been taken from real life. The wolf is always smoking and rabbit has incredible luck at all times. The series has similarity's to Disney's 'Tom and Jerry' 

http://www.nupogodi.net/

Tom and Jerry

By William Hanna and Joseph Barbera 1940-1972 for MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer).

Of course 'Tom and Jerry' is one of my favorite cartoons. Characters move so smoothly and overall it is well executed animation with simple concepts.

Futurama

For couple of years the whole family of mine used to watch episode or two of 'Futurama' by Matt Goening and David X. Cohen, every evening. The series were created for the Fox Brodcasting Company.

I have taken for granted how much work has been put into there. The new series are bit more boring than the previous ones.

http://www.craveonline.com/tv/interviews/201471-david-x-cohen-on-futurama-season-7-and-beyond

   

Avatar

Avatar written and directed by James Cameron for 20th Century Fox, in 2009, is brilliant movie with story line that is captivating. The animation work done in it is breathe taking. I am a sucker for beautiful clear views. 

Ground worm.

And here we go again with the worms!

Well seams that I have lots to learn.

I can't upload it here so will try again tomorrow......well today!

 

 

Jehuuu!!! It worked :)

Only like 6 hours later.

 

 

 

I found it quite annoying to edit the length of the frames one by one in AVS video editor. I did not get the real program but just the preview for it so the end prodact has this nasty logo in the middle of it.

 

 



Last week.

I disagree strongly with viruses and all sorts of bugs and colds....

 Storyboard drawing is very  good way of figuring out the sequence how the characters should be moving.

It is harder than it looks really. I am sure I will still get stuck with some parts but for now the story makes kind of sense.

The finished storyboard

Facial expressions and body language.

Measurements and shapes of the characters.

I am using  wire to make the skeletons of my can characters. Play dough for feet.

The piece of paper...well that will be just a piece of paper.

As I want the eyes and mouth to move as well I have been drawing different expression facial parts. To make them look like moving I have to make many different versions of eyes and mouths. In the photographing process I'll just change them in different shoots.

Wire for arms and legs will make it easier to imitate the body movements. As for the set, I will use painted  paper background. The tree I have from last project. It is also made of wire and easier to manipulate than real branches. The bin will be shaped out of card or tinfoil as well as the sewer whole and lid.

Foley

After some very constructive criticism decided to go with the garbage scenario instead of the one with ground worms, though I would like to come back to the last one sometime later. 

I asked my kids for some assistance with the sounds for my animation. They were only too happy to help. I am not so sure about the quality of the sound recorded by my laptop. Seams to be a lot of background disturbance. It has been a lot of fun figuring out what characters do what kind of noises in certain situations.

Had to look over the storyboard as some scenes do not make sense and the same with the angles of the shots.

As to figuring out the location to the scene...one of those quiet cartoon back alleys in a dawn light feels suitable. Just a place for garbage to come alive.

Next thing to do would be making the characters.

Storyboard.

Have been drawing up storyboards for the scripts. It proves more complicated than I expected. Have to consider the angle of the shots and the mood of the set... color scheme.


I looked up, saw a cloud that had ground worms sliding down in wisps...

I stopped to think... what if the nature became alive when nobody is around and cleans the world of garbage...

First day.

The first ideas come fast...and then you start to think how to pull it off and over analyse. That's not all together a bad thing if it didn't rob you of all the confidence and creative thoughts.

First thing to do was to think up a script for your 15 second stop motion animation clip. From there one will start creating the storyboard.
I have a few ideas circling around. Lets see if they are sane enough to come to life.

1. I stopped to think about this dream I use to have when fever stressed my body and mind...
2. I looked up, saw a cloud that had ground worms sliding down in wisps...
3. I opened the door and witnessed the nature cleaning the world of garbage...