Applied 2: An Intro to Stop Motion

For the second half of the day we had a small induction for stop motion and dragon frame. This was really useful for me because this exact module I am working on is using stop motion, and I don't really have much experience with it. Therefore it was really good to go over the key elements of what to expect and what not to do.

I learnt that there is a lot of planning that is involved in stop motion, a lot more than what you would expect for computer animation. I did go into this project with knowledge that there would be a lot more to consider, for example modelling characters and building a set, however there is even more than to what meets the eye. For starters, once we have our models and set, we will have to do some shot test framing, lining up everything on camera and with a laptop, to make sure that what we have looks best on a widescreen. We have to check for creases, cracks, proportions, depth of field and lighting, so that when do start to animate, we have already considered the overall look instead of realising it looks awful after capturing 150 frames.

In terms of the actual animating process, we were given a good few tips to help us with the production. Sara told us that many people have different animating 'rhythms', in other words giving each character a certain personality and life. I think that this is so creative and lovely to have each model act a certain way, perhaps to emphasise a voice even further. I am not sure how I will enforce this upon my own characters because I have no experience, but I am defintely going to be considering it as I think that will bring the animation up a level. 

Another important factor we were told to think about is focus. Sara said don't try and make everything in the shot happen all at once, keep the audience's attention to a minimum unless for a certain effect. If the scene is too chaotic, this can be distracting and really take away from the message and story so the audience won't have a clear view or understanding. This was really important for me to hear, as I kept thinking of other things to move in the background of our scenes, and now I feel like it would be too much of a distraction.

Overall I received some great and very useful tips that I am going to try and apply to our animation. Sara also told me that it is a case of trial and error, so if anything it will be a huge learning curve to experience.