Production of final animation

The first program I used was iStopmotion with a stop motion camera. I first connected the camera to the USB in the computer, and then positioned it to where I wanted it to get the angle right for the animation.

To actually create the animation, I had to click the red button on the controls on the bottom of the window to record each step (below).

Each time I moved the objects in my animation, I had to make sure to click this button and to not get my hand in the frame, which would have made the animation look less interesting and professional. If I did accidentally get my hand in the shot, which I did several times, I would delete it by hovering the cursor over the timeline, clicking it and then right clicked and delete.

After I had finished recording my animation like this, I imported it into iMovie. Here, I dragged the video into the timeline and then imported the music, when the music was added, it looked like this:

Then, to add the titles, I clicked on the T symbol, which you can see underneath the video window.

I then selected a style from the menu that came up after I clicked that. Once I had chosen, I dragged the frame into the section of video I wanted it to be.

Once I had added all the titles I wanted, I finalised the project and exported it.

Responding to criticism

I am quite pleased with my finished animation, especially after changing my idea so much. I'm glad I stuck with this idea as I think it was simple yet effective and I think it's more interesting than the others I had, and it's more fun too, I think.

When I finished my animation, I asked some people to comment on it to give me feedback. Below are the things that people said, and my reactions to them.

This first comment compliments my video and it's story, and then adds that to improve it, I could add more characters and/or make the video longer. I agree with this in that the video was under a minute long and if made longer, it could have developed a bit with other characters, perhaps more turtles.

This comment, again, compliments my animation, specifically the music over the top of the animation. The fact that the music choice was a good one in this commenter's opinion is a relief because I wasn't quite sure whether it fitted well.

This comment also compliments the choice of soundtrack for the animation, as well as the animation itself.

After looking at these comments, I think that if i were to change anything, I would try to develop the story a bit more and possibly add one or two more characters, as the first comment says. Otherwise, I am happy with my animation.

Finished animation

This is my final animation. It is a model-based animation of two origami turtles. I made it by first making the first turtle, and then I animated it using a stop motion camera, and iStopMotion. I then edited it on iMovie, and added the music there, which is Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa by Vampire Weekend, which I thought fitted the video.

Changing my idea again

I didn't like the idea of a lyric video. I thought it seemed too difficult and I thought it wouldn't look very good. I decided to make a model-based animation of two origami turtles - and I won't change my idea after this one! This is the first turtle:

Final Idea - Lyrics video

Today I completed the lyrics and printed them out. Next week, I will be ready to animate. Below are pictures of the printed out lyrics. I just need to cut them out before animating now.

Changing my idea

I decided that my original idea for the model-based animation was, although good in theory, going to be difficult to execute well. I thought that it wouldn't be effective once finished, and it would also be time-consuming to make. To make things easier, and to ensure an interesting final animation, I decided that I would do a lyric video in a cut-out animation style. The song it will be for is The Phoenix by Fall Out Boy. As well as the lyrics, I will also use some accompanying images. Here is an example of the lyrics:

Props/set

Today, I created the set from my animation. I found a cardboard box and a piece of dark blue cloth to create the inside of a pocket. I stapled the cloth in places to the box to secure it in a certain way. I then tested my characters in the box to see the way I wanted them to be placed. Next week, I will start filming.

Exposure Sheets

Above are the exposure sheets and the video we made in today's lesson. The exposure sheets were made from the audio of someone saying "elephant." We had to figure the exposure sheets out using garage band. From this, we then created a video to go with it. Unfortunately, we did not have time to add the sound.

Planning my own animation - final idea

I've decided that my idea didn't have much of a story to it, so I have altered it so that the characters, Sisky, Suarez, Cherry, and Chewy, are trying to escape from my pocket, rather than just talking. It will be part pixilation and part model-based animation. I will use the inside of a box for the pocket from which the characters will escape. It will start with me putting the things into my pocket and then it will cut to the box where Suarez will say something like "That's it! I've had enough of that girl! We shouldn't be treated like her slaves! I say we escape from this hell hole!" to which Sisky will say something along the lines of "Y'know, Suarez, for once, I agree with you. I've been with her for years and the treatment never gets any better. I've been dropped, kicked, lost, and who knows what else! I say we hatch a plan..." and then Cherry will be cautious and say to the others that "things aren't that bad. I mean at least we're all together. Maybe we should just stay here." and then Chewy will speak up and get really annoyed with Cherry and say that he agrees with the others and that Cherry is an "idiot, should just shut up and go away, you are insane," etc. because he's dramatic. After they've decided that they're going to escape, they will plan it and then it will show them coming out of the pocket.

Planning my own animation - final idea

The idea that I have chosen for my animation is the stop-motion animation with found objects that I briefly explained in the last post. I will use four objects (phone, ipod, lip balm, and chewing gum) and bring them to life and have them talk to each other about what life is like for them.

CHARACTERS

IPOD - 

Name: Sisky Business.

Position in group: the boss. He is the oldest and he tells the others what they can and can't do/tells them to shut up a lot.

Personality: lazy, bossy, but kind and wise. He tries to treat everyone in the group equally.

PHONE - 

Name: Alex Suarez. Is sometimes referred to as just Suarez.

Position in group: thinks he's the boss, but he is the second in charge rather than the first.

Personality: egotistical, arrogant, energetic, but sweet. He is good friends with Sisky and is often trying to gain his approval. 

LIP BALM - 

Name: None. Is usually referred to as Cherry.

Position in group: one of the newest members. He replaced Vanilla - his sister - after she died. 

Personality: quiet, awkward, thoughtful, cautious. He tries to make Chewy feel better, he doesn't usually get on well with Alex.

CHEWING GUM - 

Name: None. Is usually referred to as Chewy.

Position in group - the lowest. Chewing gum is often replaced so the rest of the group tend not to get too attached when a new one comes along.

Personality: doubtful, paranoid, dramatic, but kind. Chewy is particularly kind to Cherry, but he doesn't like Alex, who ignores him, and is suspicious of Sisky.

BACKGROUNDS

I'm not yet sure what their background will be yet, but it will possibly just be the table, or it could be designed to look like the inside of a pocket with black cloth.

AUDIO

Character's voices will probably be voiced by me. 

Further Planning and Research

I know now that I definitely want to do a model based animation with objects rather than plasticine, but I'm still not sure exactly what I want to do. I think I might either do something with some teddies or dolls that I have at home.

I like the idea of using my Fall Out Boy dolls and doing a mini music video with them. However, they are rigid and it will be difficult to move. Although I do like this idea, I don't think I will be using it as it would be difficult to execute well

I think it's likely that I will do something involving teddies or other found objects that I have at home as they will be easier than dolls to animate and could be more interesting.

One idea is that I could use the things I usually have in my pockets, which are my phone, my ipod, chewing gum/mints, and lip balm. I think it would be interesting to personify them and have them talk about 'life inside Leah's pocket.'

Research

I have decided that I want to make a model-based animation, but I am unsure of what I would like it to be as the idea I had last week doesn't sound as fun or as interesting to me as it did at first. I will be researching some stop motion animation videos to inspire me.

This is a stop motion animation series called The Most Popular Girls in School. I like this because it uses barbies instead of plasticine models. I also like it because of the voices of the barbies which are really funny and make the animation more interesting.

I like this pixilation animation as it uses both a person and post-it notes and it looks really fun and interesting.

Planning my own animation

For my own animation, I think I will do a model-based animation with the models made out of plasticine. I think I'd like to do this as I like other model-based animations I've seen and I enjoyed creating the mini one I did earlier in the year. Also, I have an idea of the kind of thing I'd like to create for the animation.

IDEAS

My main idea is to recreate the Supernatural episode Mystery Spot. I think this will be fun as I could create a Dean model to kill many different times in many different ways. I also think I could add moose antlers to the Sam model to play on the fandom joke that he is a moose due to his height.

MODELS/CHARACTERS

I will only have two characters - Sam and Dean - and I will add moose antlers to Sam to add to the humour. Other models I will need include a gun, a car, a desk, a sausage, an axe, and a dog to kill dean and I will also need a little bed for them and a radio.

SCRIPT

The rough script will be similar to the one from supernatural. It will start with Heat of the Moment by Asia, which will then play every time sam wakes up again after Dean dies.

The full version of the script is here. I will cut it down so that the animation lasts about a minute.