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.

WBL..the final edit

I have finally finished the commission, the edit was tricky, due to the voice over not being long enough. After speaking with the client about this we decided we had 2 choices, either make the film shorter slightly, or add more V/O. The client decided he didn't want more V/O as he felt he had enough on there and thought more V/O would spoil it, so we agreed to a slightly shorter film.  This was i feel the wiser choice, as i felt the film was a little long for a fitness demo vid anyway. i have shown the finished piece to my client and he is happy with the end result. Upon reflection i feel there were some things i could have done better during this commission, one, make sure i do better recces, as i encountered several problems at the second location, ie, the location of the power source for my lighting, and also the confined space i was working in. Also although i was relatively organised with my time and shooting schedule, i feel i could have been more organised, because there were times when i found it difficult getting all of my contributors together in the same place at the same time.
I feel i have learnt more about the fitness industry and how it has progressed, and how marketing , branding and advertising have a big impact on this industry, now more than ever since the London olympics.  I have enjoyed working on this commission, but to be honest it has been a lot to take on by myself, on top of my major project. Managing myself and time has been a whole new challenge in itself. I have discovered I'am still torn between editing and camera operation as a career path because i thoroughly enjoy both so much, so in that respect it was nice to be able to do both for the commission.

Major project- research

Must see's for research purposes only, of course...

Major project-changes

So far i have managed to get together all of my materials required for a stop motion project, this includes..
Sculpey clay (very expensive)
Cardboard
Paints and brushes
Camera 1100 d cannon
Bendy metal (for skeletons of models)
Set space

As you see there is a fair bit required and this is just for a basic set up, if i was doing anything more complicated, ie a Nick Aardman style piece, i would need a lot more materials, and larger quantities of the materials i already have.
There has been a change to the stories i was planning on scripting due to technical issues as well as visual problems. So this afternoon i am raiding my daughter's book collection to look for short stories that will fill the criteria.
The website i am putting together to host this project, is being done through weebly.com as it is relatively easy to use and is a basic template for website building, i did however take a couple days out to learn some HTML5 code so that i could understand the basic principles behind building a website from scratch. I found this helpful, but unfortunately i don't have time to learn HTML5 or construct a site from scratch.
I am planning a trip to the cinema soon to watch ParaNorman as part of my research on stop motion, just to see how far it has come along since its birth, and what can be achieved now with the latest technologies.

WBL- editing

The edit is going well, however after getting the voice-over last night from Lance, i have discovered that there is a minor problem. Either we need   at 3 mins there are to big a gaps between V/O. Meaning the visuals look lonely, despite the backing track. The backing track has also been changed, as it wasn't really setting the right tone for the piece. I have changed it for Katy Perry's wide awake, the instrumental version. This flows much more nicely than Kelly Rowland's Motivation and sets a more upbeat tone to the visuals. I am far happier with this, and so is Lance.  For Lance to understand what i am trying to achieve i had to show him the motivational fitness video by @adamwontlose, as this is the style i am aiming for as it appeals to the younger generation, and also is very glossy and gripping, and at 3:30 mins long it has to be. I am having further discussions with Lance later today re the edit and duration of the piece.