In this module I will be researching in to how to get myself into my chosen career.
Negotiated Production - http://negproductionanim.blogspot.co.uk/
This is the module where I will be finishing the pre-production and will be animating the scenes.
All blogs, show reels and information can be found on my website:
So I know how long each frame is going to be, I have recorded myself reading out the narration and speaking roles and put it over the top of the individual frames. This way I will know how long each frame will be on screen and will also be able to plan out my character movements in the future.
When I go back to university I will have to pitch my idea to the rest of the group and discuss why I want to make the animation and how I am going to make it.
I have started to make the presentation using Prezi.
I will keep updating as I continue to experiment more with the character designs, storyboards and the models.
A stop motion puppet needs to be designed for the purpose of the film and what it will be required to do. It needs to be strong enough to hold a pose between frames, and needs to withstand being touched and moved frequently.
Making sure that the puppet is the right size for use is the first thing to consider. Puppets that are too small will be hard to create detail and will be difficult to manoeuvre. Also puppets that are too tall will often be difficult to keep in position between frames and will also be costly as the set will have to be big to fit the puppet in the environment.
So designing the characters that are fit for purpose and work within the desired world created for them is the best place to start before making the puppet.
measuring for an armature I
made in my stop motion module.
Creating a wire skeleton to put the clay or silicone over will ensure the puppet will stay in position and will bend for the joint movement.
A quick armature I made as a practice.
In future models I will make the armature a lot
sturdier to withstand the frequent movement.
Padding out the skeleton with styrofoam will make the puppet lighter than if it was padded out with plasticine or clay.
Armature made for practicing sculpting
in my stop motion module.
After the skeleton has been padded out the clay or silicone can be added over the top to create a skin.
In places where there is going to be clothes, the padding wont necessarily won't need to be covered as this will be adding weight that isn't needed.
I have a demonstration link for silicone mold making here:
For the head most modern stop motion films will use face replacements.
This means the facial expression can be taken out and replaced with another one.
Rapid prototyping, or 3D printing is to create a 3D computer model and have it printed out as a physical replica. The technology behind rapid prototyping has many other uses and implications in itself, but in the film Coraline (2009) helped put it on the map for the use as an animation technique. The area of the film where it was used the most was the facial animation on certain main characters. The faces on characters like Wybie, Coraline's Mother, Other Mother, and Coraline herself consisted of thin replacement masks that we removed and replaced for each frame of the animation.
Priebe, K. A. and Selick, H. (2010) The Advanced Art of Stop-Motion Animation [With CDROM]. 1st edn. Boston, MA: Course Technology Cengage Learning.
I found this YouTube video by animateclay on how to make replacement heads, it's helpful in the way he shows how to mould the heads and where to position the cut-off point.
The Making Of The Sets And Replacement Faces Of ParaNorman
As there are only 3 speaking pirate characters, I will only make 3 moveable puppets. Making all 8 of the characters would be a big task for a small animation project. I can make the other characters out of clay if I have time to be stationary in the background of the scene.
Also for the monsters I will only make the parts that can be seen in the book. This will save time and materials when the whole character won't be seen.
It has been used by top stop motion companies such as Aardman and Laika.
I have found that it works similarly to iStop Motion, in that it allows the user to see the previous frame on the camera screen (onion skinning). And go back to previous frames to adjust the frame rate.
This software is further advanced because it allows the user to control the external lighting also the movement of the camera.
Just incase I was unable to use the original character designs from the book I looked at designing my own characters for the film.
First I looked at other pirate films for inspiration. Pirates Of The Caribbean
Pirates In An Adventure With Scientists
Peter Pan's Hook
Hook film
Once Upon A Time's Hook
As a first thought I liked the idea of having the captain and the crew all as mice.
I looked at other films that have had mice in them for inspiration. Cinderella
Dumbo
Stuart Little
Pinky And The Brain
Danger Mouse
Sketches of mice
As my film is going to be for children I want to make the character designs simple. This is will also make the modelling of the character easier and more suitable for stop motion.
Something similar to this, but depending on which character in the story I use this for, because for the Captain I want to use more triangle shapes to give him an edgy, scary feel. And for the rest of the crew circle body shapes to show they are more submissive and aren't as dangerous as the Captain.
