My Final Animation

Above are the original photographs I took and below are the photos after I have edited them in order to make my animation. I used iphoto to edit all of my photos instead of Adobe Photoshop as this is a much more officiant software to use when editing a large number of photos. This programme also allowed me to copy certain settings so that I was able to ensure all of my photographs still looked alike, something which is very important in stop motion.

I chose to have my images in black and white as I felt this had a much more metallic feel, another of my keys words that links very closely to this idea of my animation being robotic.

I have planned to start my animation with this first idea as I feel it will go well with the irregularity of notes and rhythm at the beginning of my music. In these few frames the actor remains in the same position facing forward, but moves suddenly to different positions on the screen seemingly randomly, much like the sudden changes in the music.

For this idea I will take photos of my model mid tuck jump in several different places. The model will continue to face to the right as he appears to float from the left to the right in the tuck jump position. In order to take these photos I will need to adjust the settings on my camera, so that I am able to take photos much more quickly but without lowering the quality.

This idea is very simple, my model remains in the same frontward facing position as he moves from one side of the screen to the other in only four movements. I have a very specific point in my music where I wish to put this clip, when four different notes follow one another in quick succession. 

This idea is slightly more complex that the last, with the model moving diagonally across the screen while also spinning. Between each photo the model must not only move in the correct direction but also spin slightly.

For this idea I will simply take several photos of my model hanging off of the goal post in varying positions. These will then be edited to show an interesting movement, perhaps going part way across and then back and then all the way across, or perhaps in a totally random order, depending on the music at certain parts.

This idea is much like the tuck jump one, meaning that I must capture my model mid jump. However in these frames my model will be facing forward with their arms outstretched and legs straight, much like the image of an angel.

For this idea my model will simply stand in the centre on the shot and slowly spin, although a very simple movement I believe that when used in stop motion it becomes much more interesting, especially when used at a high speed.

This idea is much like my opening idea, with the model remaining in the same position facing forward. however, instead of moving in a random way the model will follow a curvy path thats leads slowly closer to the front of the shot.

This idea is very different to the others and will have a very different feel to it, for this reason I feel it will be used as an opening to my animation before the music has begun. Instead of the camera being on a tripod it will be handheld and will follow the model as they appear to float along a path.

I plan to use this idea to end my video, as this will allow the audience to get a close up of the models face for the first time throughout my animation. My model starts at a distance away from the camera, in the centre of the screen facing forward and moving steadily towards the camera, ending on a close up of the face.

Storyboards

For my final animation I have decided to do a stop motion of a model moving in a robotic manner. Each box of the storyboard shows a different idea which I hope to capture using stop motion, I am unsure which order all these different ideas will be used in my final animation, it will depended on the length of the clips and how they can fit in time with the music.

Robotic

Robotic was one of my three initial words when I first heard my piece of music. After doing further research into my initial thought I decided that following this idea/theme would make for a successful final animation. Many ideas sprung from the word 'Robotic' including an animation of a hand draw robot or perhaps one of simple shapes and lines that move in a robotic manner. However, in the end I decided to use stop animation or give a human robotic qualities. I decided to do this as it helps the audience to connect to the music as they feel more involved, and I was also very inspired by many stop motion videos that I watched so I felt that this technique would interest me throughout the project.

Inspiration

This stop motion film has inspired me and helped me come up with an idea for my final video. At approximately 24 seconds someone moves around in very sudden movements which has given me the idea to use a character rather than objects. I will use the character in a way so that they represent the idea of a robot, I will do this by having them move in a certain way.

Inspiration

Cell Animation

This is a short animation which I created with my group Robin and Eve. We each very quickly designed a character that was simple to draw and we then had to create a storyboard using all three characters. My character is the cloud. 

Here are some of the rough sketches that led to the design of my character.

Further development of my character for my animation.