Amy Nelson Unit 23- Stop Motion Animation

Editors are usually involved in the planning stages of a stop motion animated film, compared to a life action film because they're is a lot of pre planning that goes on before the film is even in motion to be filmed. Animated films are storyboarded to every last shot, movement and angle, so its vital the editors are included in with the pre production, not just the post production. Live action films are shot scene by scene and animated films are filmed shot by shot. Animated shots all cost money, so its vital to keep cost down that each shot is perfect, so shots are not wasted. the editor collaborates with the director, and works out in detail the shots within each sequence, so that imminently very few shots are undertaken , that are not featured in the finale film.  An editor works along side the director and producer, where they produce a script and storyboard. After when they feel the storyboards and the scripts perfect and are ready for 'reels', and ani...

Above I have embedded two featurettes of the SMA film Coraline, which give me a better insight to the audio production for the animated film. Having 250 people working on the character Coraline only, the producer Henry took exactly what was written in the book, brought it alight.  before filming started, they recorded the voices of the characters first so that they knew what the mouth position should be like. One of the directors also said 'Often the harder shots are the ones that don't have dialogue, because yo have to create the emotion and tension with filming and just the positioning of the characters'. This just show how much the Audio and the sound track is vital to a film.

some top tips for building and lighting a set, which stop motion animators at Aardman proceeded with are:- using lanterns on smaller sets, which are called 'profile' lamps. They used Profile lamps so that they could lit a smaller set space. Profile lamps projected a very controlled beam rom quite a distance on a specific space on set, so that it stood out. LED lights are being used more in the SMA film industry, for the same purpose. Depended on the type of camera animators use, it depends on the type of lighting you will need. Cameras have various settings, including the 'Tungsten effect', which gives a very blue lighting effect. Good lighting is key when filming a SMA, as it can bring a character to life. Light gives a character its shape, and gives it a readable shadows, and depend on the chacteristics of the characters can be controlled through the amount of light that is exposed. Often Lamps are placed to the side of the camera, and a little higher than the charact...

The first SMA example I have chosen that fulfils the requirements of Educating, entertaining and informing, is Postman Pat. Postman Pat is a children's stop motion animation television series, which  was first produced by Woodland Animations. The target audience for the series is Nursery and primary school children, who are aged 3-8. The programme is about the adventures of Pat Clifton, a postman in the fictional village of Greendale. Educating the viewers on what a job of a postman is about, and what he has to do, and the challenges he comes across. Postman Pat has a pet cat, who is very mysterious, which is very entertaining. It informs the audience, and how challenges occur, and how Postman Pat finds away to resolve them. The character is loved by everyone is the village, as he is very kind, and this a trait that young children are taught be from a young age. The second SMA example I have chosen is the family film, James and the Giant Peach. This film is a featu...

Claymation  Claymation is  a method of film animation using adjustable clay figures. The use of stop motion photography is how film/video is filmed. Claymation is a time consuming animation, although the overall look of a Claymation video/film can be very effective. Claymation is extremely popular, and is used be very famous production company's, such as Aardman. Award winning films such as Wallace and Grommet, and Chicken run, all use Claymation. Found objects  Found Object animation is a form of stop motion animation, which involves the animated movements of any non-drawn or printed objects such as toys, blocks, dolls, and many more. This can be a brilliant way of animation for any beginners, or productions that are on a budget. usually found object animation, you don't see the characters move independently, so see their arms or legs moving. this stands out massively compared to Claymation, where the models can be moved to what ever position.  T...

Armature ' Armature, in sculpture, a skeleton or framework used by an artist to support a figure being modelled in soft plastic material. An armature can be made from any material that is damp-resistant and rigid enough to hold such plastic materials as moist clay and plaster, which are applied to and shaped around it.'- https://www.britannica.com/topic/armature-modeling in the video above you can see how armature models are made for films such as Chicken run. Armature models are metal models, with bending rivets in which allow the model to move. on top of the metal is the characters body, skin, clothing and face. Armature is an extremely effective way of making a stop motion model, and is used by professional SM animated all over the world.  Sculpting Sculpting is a technique used by model makings to manipulate clay or platinise into shape or style. The materials have to be soft enough to be shaped and need to be hard enough to withhold the shape. Sculpting is a e...

3D printing stop motion animation has had a huge impact on stop motion. 3D printing allows character delevepment to be a lot quicker, be more advance and more precise. Not only being cheaper, but saving production company's money, as hireling character designers to physically make the characters. I have looked at a number of articles and videos that are to do this topic- The Video above discuses how 3D stop motion printing has had a huge impact of the animation industry.  Stop motion animation has been a booming industry for many years, and now the latest gadget within the industry is 3d Printing. Stop motion models were traditionally made with clay, and were hand sculpted down to every last detail. it takes months to designed and make the clay models, and designers are roughly paid £25-£50 an hour. 3D printing can create an accrete design of a characters expression in minutes, which just cant compare to the time it takes a clay designer. the 3D printers can also print...

FPS means 'frames per second', which means the amount of shots which are taken within a second of film. different styles stop motion videos have a variety of fps. the most common fps are, 12fps, 24fps or 25fps.  Most Claymation and stop-motion animation is done at 24 fps or even a staggering 30fps. An example of 12fps video is just below- You can see in the video that two females are walking round the kitchen, at a quick pace. the result of this is dew to the small amount of fps, which was 12. 12fps is a very small amount of frames, as a result of this the video didn't run that smoothly. the human eye can see up to 30 frames per second, so its inevitable it wouldn't run smoothly. in the video above, is an example of a 24fps. In the video you can see a persons walking across the carpet, this video was simple shot to do an experimentation of 24fps. the video runs a lot more faster than the first video, and it is also a lot more smoother. In the video above i...

3 different types of stop motion Nightmare before Christmas- Puppet Animation This short video is an example of Puppet Animation, which is ' Puppet animation is a development of stop-motion animation , rather than using objects in different frames puppets were introduced due to their human like quality's so directors can move the puppet freely and more easily to show different movements. It works by taking pictures and moving the puppet in different frames.'- http://ryanchandler1995.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/puppet-animation.html  The narrative development of the Nightmare before Christmas was based on the Story and characters by Tim Burton, who was also the producer of the film. it was originally a poem which was written by Burton in 1982. In 1990 he made a development deal with Disney. at first the music was produced, followed by the script, which is an unusual way of which not many films have been produced like this. When creating the film a team of over 100 a...

My production and post production evidence is all in the video  above.  i have explained all the procurers and processes i went through in order to film and make my video the best it could be.

Examples of different types of stop motion animation Animation has evolved massively over the years, becoming more and more popular with all ages. The different Animations  are from hand-drawn to 3D. Film Animation is a competitive career choice, and only the best with come out on top. The industry is demanding a good understanding of the art and how much time and effort goes into it, technical skills and a creative style, that will make you stand out from the rest. In this day in age technology is huge, and this is a huge part of animation, although it can be master in many different ways. However, traditional stop motion is less expensive and time-consuming to produce than the current computer animation. 'One such medium of animation is stop-motion animation. It is the term used to describe the form of animation that is created by physically manipulating real world objects and photographing them, one frame at a time, to create the illusion of movement when the seri...