Video and Sound Production - Final Project: Stop Motion


25/4/2022 - 4/7/2022 / Week 5 - Week 15
Loke Yeanne Tung / 0343853
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Video and Sound Production / Final Project: Stop Motion (30%)



INSTRUCTIONS


Final Project: Stop Motion (30%)

01
Inspirations and Rationales

Fig. 1.1 "Negative Space" by Tiny Inventions

Type: Object-motion

This short film depicts a father-and-son relationship through the art of packing a
suitcase. I assume the characters were purposely designed this way so viewers can
remember their unproportionate head to body ratio. The way the animators used
objects can create ocean wave is pretty exquisite. The set design was super detailed
and intricate which made me want to make mine like that too.



Fig. 1.2 "Good Intentions" by Anna Mantzaris

Type: Puppet animation

The entire animation is so smooth and the level of detail is outstanding. The film
was allowed to captivate the viewer's attention by using suitable shot sizes. The overall
film was color corrected to a cooler tone as it is used to create the tone of darkness.
It resembles the mood, dread and setting of the scene.


Fig. 1.3 "Second to None" by Vincent Gallagher

Type: Cutout animation

This is about a dog waiting patiently for its owner to come back from her trip. I
love how the story was told using as little scene change as possible. We could
understand the storyline by seeing how the creator made the season change using
different props without changing any angle of the scene.


02
W10 - Stop Motion Test Shoot
We were allowed back on campus and we were separated into 2 groups to do the test shoots.

Group members:
Yeanne Tung (me) - assistant director
Jodiann Yeoh - director
Britney & Kimberly - camera operator(s)
Chze Huang & Devina - lighting operator(s)

Fig. 2 Claymation test shoot, Week 11 (11/6/2022)


03
Proposal

Fig. 3.1 1st proposal and shot list draft, Week 14 (5/7/2022)

I actually did a short short test shoot on how I wanted the socks to move (refer to Fig.
3.2), but that was it. I did not do any other test shoots which was a bad idea. This is
why doing test shoot is so important.

To be super honest, I realized it was super hard to execute out what I had in mind
even after planning out the document as I'm having a time crunch (due to bad time
management) and it's super rushing for me to film the rest as I'm dealing with
objects and objects are not easily controlled which Mr Martin have warned me about it
but I disregarded his opinion (I should've listened). I didn't want to waste anymore time
so I quickly moved onto another proposal idea (refer to Fig. 3.3).


Fig. 3.2 Shoot test shoot - sock movement, Week 14 (5/7/2022)


Fig. 3.3 Final project proposal and storyboard, Week 14 (5/7/2022)


04
Final Outcome

Fig. 4 "Don't Text and Drive" - MP4, Week 14 (5/7/2022)



REFLECTION

Experience
I started this project super late and I regret it, I didn't manage my time well enough for the whole execution of this project. We were taught shot sizes and color correction this module, however I didn't manage to execute it into the final project due to time constraints.

Observation
I observed that during the execution of the filming, it was hard to keep the paper cutouts in place when moving onto another frame. I filmed the entire thing around the afternoon where the lighting was slightly more consistent than in the morning and at night. Was a bit risky to film in the morning as a lot of sunlight shines through my room and the lighting may change during the course of filming. Of course I thought about filming at night, where artificial lighting comes into place. However, I don't have a light stand so I could only rely on my room's artificially. Also, the reason for not filming at night it's because the lighting in my room cast shadows on my cutouts which is not easy to control.

Findings
I found how important a test shoot is, to check if the filming execution was feasible or not. I've learnt that lighting is essential as it greatly affects the images of the camera can record. I'm so disappointed at the end product this time, this whole project could've been 10 times better if I started off early.

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