Video and Sound Production - Final Project: Stop Motion

  April 22, 2024 - (Week 9 - Week 14)

linchenyi/0367008

BA (Hons) Video and Sound Production/Bachelor of Design in Creative Media 

 INTRODUCE

LECTURE

Week 10｜stop motion animation 

Slideshow:

Stop motion trial shooting: 

Prepare all materials below for week 10 shooting. For the paper cut, please have all the characters, props ready for the shooting. 

Each group has ⅘ members, and only attend ONE hour class time: VSP APL24 final proejct trial shoot

Clay: The Cost of the Call 1st scene: 00:04-00:13

Paper cut: Adopt Don't Shop 2nd scene: 00:19-00:43

week 10 stop motion animation filmed with mobile phone

week 10 stop motion camera shooting

link：

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15PotSvDmp-DYYv4pdOEZHpZC9dysxVRS?usp=drive_link

Week 11｜Stop-motion editing workflow 

Please download week 10 stop motion footages (phone & dslr) into your harddrive for editing.

Editing software: Premiere Pro, After Effects.

Stop-motion Editing Brief: Stop Motion Editing Brief

Slideshow:

Final Project: Stop Motion Animation

After the first week of class we were asked to watch stop motion short films and share your 3 favorites under the final project section of the blog.

Fig 1.1 Bench-stop motion animated short film,week1

Stop Motion Short Film 1 : Bench

"Bench" is a famous stop-motion animation short film, where every frame is filled with meticulous craftsmanship and unique beauty, immersing the audience in it. It presents a boy spending a day on a park bench, showing the changes in his inner world and his emotional journey.

In "Bench", no text dialogue is used, and through images and music, the audience can feel the loneliness, longing and inner changes of the protagonist. Here are the main features and highlights of this stop-motion animation:

Emotional expression: Although there is no dialogue, we can experience the changes in the emotions the protagonist gives us through the expressions and movements of the protagonist as he presses the clay and shoots them frame by frame. , from loneliness to longing, excitement and joy, and finally back to peace. Plus just the right music.

Fig 1.2 Stop-Motion Animated Short Film "Archie" | Archie and his pet dog go on a long journey,week1

Stop Motion Short Film 2 : Archie

The craft of making stop-motion animation short films (felt) will add a unique charm and visual impact to the story. Each frame is handmade and photographed, full of meticulous craftsmanship and unique beauty, telling the story of a boy, Archie, and his pet dog as they embark on a long journey together. The acting and sound design create a sense of realism, and the variety of facial expressions brings the characters to life. There’s also a lot of detail put into the set design. Props are important in showing the character's lifestyle.

In this short film, we follow Archie and his dog through a series of adventures and challenges. They may encounter various difficulties, but their mutual support and friendship will help them overcome them.

Fig 1.3Negative Space | Oscar Nominated Stop-Motion Animation | Short of the Week,week1

Stop Motion Short 3 : Negative Space

It doesn’t look like stop-motion animation at all, but more like a very smooth video animation. Through seamless transitions, the audience can smoothly switch between scenes, which enhances the coherence of the overall story and the comfort of viewing. This technique makes the story more attractive and immersive, and the smoothness of the connection between the pictures can also increase the audience's sensitivity to the emotional changes of the characters.

Color changes, on the other hand, are an expressive technique that can convey the protagonist's emotional state without saying anything. By adjusting the tone and color of the scene, the director can intuitively show the protagonist's inner changes,

The use of the suitcase and its contents as a metaphor is also very clever. These key elements are not only objects in the story, but also symbols that carry the protagonist’s thoughts and emotions about the father-son relationship.

Week 9 | Stop Motion Animation

Filming Stop Motion Animation

1. Pre-production: Prepare storyboards, record each shot, collect sound clips, prepare materials, build puppets and backgrounds

2. Filming:

Filming with phone camera: Filming with Stop Motion Animation App

- Mount phone on tripod

- Use manual exposure and focus

- Film in daylight, but with artificial lighting

- Choose JPEG L/Fine

Aspect ratio: 16:9

Editing Stop Motion Animation

- Can be edited (cut) in Adobe Premiere Pro or Adobe After Effects

- Resolution size: 1920 x 1080

Proposal of the Wonderful Octopus Ball House:

Fig 1.1 Final Project Proposal - PDF, Week 11

In week 12, we bought the Legos for the Takoyaki house and spent a few hours slowly building it, which was a time-killing but fun process.

Fig 1.2 The process of building a ball house, week 12

Fig 1.3 The process of building a ball house, week 12

Fig 1.3 The process of building a ball house, week 12

Stop-motion animation shooting

Try #1

We adjusted the camera to the appropriate position and shot according to the storyboard of the project proposal.

Fig 2.1 Trying to shoot, adjusting the camera position, week 12

Official

After adjustment, we found that some of the pictures were not smooth enough and were a little blurry. This might be caused by the shaking of the camera position. For these parts, we re-shot them. For local shooting, local lighting processing will make it clearer.

Fig 2.2 Official shooting, week 13

Stop Motion Editing

Before I started editing, I organized the clips into one video, making sure they were in the same place to avoid losing files. Then I added the clips to the edit, making sure the frame size was 1920 x 1080 pixels.

Fig 3.1 Clip synthesis, color correction, week 13

Next, I nested the clips from different shots and recombined them into a video after color correcting some of the clips. I started adding effect sound effects to each small clip, and background ambient street noise (simulating a street shop).

Fig3.2 Adding clip effects, week 13

Fig 3.3 Adding clip effects, week 13

We are constantly trying to tweak the footsteps to make them more consistent.

Fig 3.4 Adding clip effects, week 13

Final stop motion video：“The Amazing Takoyaki House” 

Fig 4.1 Final project “The Amazing Takoyaki House” video, Week 14

FEEDBACK

Week 11

In week 11, after we shared the concept and sketches with Mr. Martin, he suggested that we enhance our creativity and add details to the storyline.

REFLECTION

During the various stages of this stop motion project, we struggled to keep the position of the objects and the camera consistent, which resulted in different positioning of the objects in the clips. However, through editing, adjusting the clip speed and duration, and adding sound effects, the video content was more coherent, and we managed to solve these problems, making the final result more interesting. But we found this project very interesting and enjoyed the entire video production process. We are happy with the final result.