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.