FmP

Filming has taken its toll on the crew (adam and i) specially when its taking sometimes up to 12 hours just to get 400 hundred pictures. This can be either attributed to set disturbance or prepping time taking longer than anticipated. One of the hardest things about stop motion, is when you move your puppets/models you have to be sure your getting it right, because once you move them, you are committed to that move, if you want to go back and redo "a bit" you have to usually re-shoot the entire scene, as it is almost impossible to get the model/puppets back into exactly the same place as they were.
Another time saver, but not..is uploading and editing on the go, meaning less to upload on the start day of editing, but also some time saved. This was initially a good idea, however Final cut's ability to render at fast speeds(cough cough) meant there wasn't really much time saved, other than that of on the uploading of pictures, something i had to be very organised about, insuring all pictures went into the correctly labeled bins, making it easier to locate them, and put them in their correct order.
Working and living in a hot set is a nightmare, and the arrival of a kitten and two cats (cat sitting for a friend) has compromised the working environment, making it difficult to keep the set free of issues, such as camera/puppet, unwanted movements/disturbances.

Major Project

Last week was the final day of filming for Jo C's major project "Journey to expo", travelling to the excel in London for the big finale of Jo's project was very exciting, but I have to admit a little bit of me was dreading it, as cam op for the day, on hand held with the sony xd all day surrounded by thousands of people, some dressed in costume, some not, I opted for not, not only did I have to mange my own safety, but I had navigate the thousands of people in my way, and avoid trampling any costumes, seeing as most people had taken anything up to 6 months to make some of their outfits, avoid tripping over, and keep the camera safe. Hot and stuffy, rammed to the hilt with people, I loved it, the costumes were stunning, and the atmosphere was amazing, everyone was very co-operative, and willing to be on camera. In fact they were some of the nicest people I have come across. My previous filming on this project for the interviews with our contributors meant that I had a good idea of what to expect when they spoke to us again, the only surprise being Alice and Elle who I hadn't met until expo day who turned out to be my personal favourite people to work with, as they were great on camera visually as well as being great talkers.The major challenge of the day for me was trying to keep my shoulder from hurting, as I had my arm in an upright awkward position most of the day. Taking regular breaks helped, otherwise it was just a case of pushing through it and sleeping it off that night, overall a great experience and I was very happy to be a part of it, Jo was very well organised and I didn't have any issues or concerns when working with her..Looking forward to the next expo, as I will be attending, but not working, will be much more fun..

Major project

It's been a while since I last blogged but anyone who knows anything about stop motion will know just how time consuming it can be. My project will be part of a website that I'm launching called Stopping the Motion, the finished piece now titled Midnight Mischief will be as a final demo film to show what can be achieved. The site itself will be an informational site for young adults with an interest in making stop motion, providing useful tips and advice. 

Stop motion is becoming increasingly popular, with new evolving technologies making its appeal in the cinema more so. The birth of stop motion can be credited to Albert E. Smith and J.Stuart Blackton for The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1897), in which a toy circus of acrobats and animals comes to life. How ever the great pioneer of stop motion was Wladysaw Starewicz who animated The Beautiful Lukanida (1910), The Battle of the Stag Beetles(1910), The Ant and the Grasshopper (1911).

Above is an example of early stop motion, this piece is titled The Insects Christmas, it was made in 1913 by the Khanzhonkov Company, and although the person who uploaded it has made some minor changes with the text overlay, and sharpened the film, the actual content of the piece hasn't been changed and is a good example of what stop motion used to look like when compared to today's work, for example

Paranorman is an American 3d stop motion animation comedy horror film produced by Laika, distributed by Focus features and was released on August 17, 2012, when viewing this, it becomes very obvious just how far we have come since the birth of stop motion.

major project

Well as is per usual, i have had a disaster. The change in temperatures over the last week or so has meant that my clay models, despite being non air drying, have become brittle, and now flake apart like cheese strings every time you pose them into different positions. This has meant that the Twits idea is now completely out of question, however i have written a new script, "midnight mischief" still stop motion, using toys etc from my home and bringing them to life at night in my house. Although these problems with stop motion have set me back, they will give me a lot to write about in the report, i have learnt a lot about building skeletons for the models, posing clay models, what kind of clay you can and can't use,how long it takes to make just one model..etc etc etc   The pressures of stop motion do mean that it is important that if your doing this on your own, you keep it simple, as it will save you time and money, as well as looking better in the edit, complicated stop motion really is only possible with a big budget,lots of time, and lots of people. Although i was told i really should be researching the big boys of stop motion such as Nick Aardman etc, I found it more beneficial to research amateurs, because they are on the same budgets as myself, and same constraints with equipment.

I am also on Jo C's project as cam op, and we will be filming at the expo on Sunday, which as much as I'm looking forward to it, I am also concerned about filming around 50,000 people, seeing as I've never done this before, and the health and safety risks to myself could be a problem.. I'm pretty sure Jo C will make sure everything will be properly assessed before we film, but I am still nervous. It will also be a good test run of my cam op skills, as i will be on hand held, on the Sony-xd cam all day, which in itself will present quite a challenge. Sensible shoes, and plenty of water, and probably some chocolate will help.   Fingers crossed...

green screen workshop

Today we spent learning about how to set up for green screen, this included spending time in the studio, working with Kim Brooke setting up lighting, and the green screen itself. Everyone participated in camera operation and presenting in front of the camera. Once we had done this we then had to research an appropriate backdrop for the piece to camera that we were discussing. This is my final piece.

Major project. The Twits.

I have had to change tact, and i am now adapting Roald Dahl's The Twits into a stop motion piece.
For those who don't know the story, its a short story about a married couple who are awful to each other and everyone/thing around them. They keep a family of monkey's in their garden that they train to stand on their heads all of the time. The main plot features around the twits and their monkeys, and the roly poly bird. The twits like to eat bird pie by catching birds on their glue smeared tree, the monkeys try and warn the birds and fail, then the roly poly bird turns up, and with his help they manage to save the birds, free themselves, and get revenge on the twits.

 So far i have managed to source all of my materials, sculpt nearly all of the characters, transcribe the story into script form, sew costumes for the characters, although the monkeys don't need costumes. I just have a few things left to do and I'm ready. I have worked out i will need to take a minimum of 2700 pictures. thats 90 pictures per hour spread over 30 hours, this is at the frame rate 3 pictures per sec, of course i can double these numbers if i need to, making it up to 6 fps.. This is still viable, and within time frame we have been given, it will just require strict timetabling.

Major project. sculpting....

As you can see, when making the models for stop motion, you need to build a skeleton first on which to model the clay, so that they can be moved easily. I had to look for a tutorial on youtube to find the correct method for making the skeletons. Above we have Mr Twit, and Mrs Twit, and the Roly poly bird, i have since made the monkey's and clothes for Mr Twit. The body's for Mr and Mrs Twit don't have to be perfect as they will be disguised by their clothing, so i can get away with not being the best sculptor.