Mind-map!

So I've been brainstorming some ideas about what sort of Stop Motion video I want to create, I've uploaded it for you to see, I have literally put down every idea I have, not in any detail but overall design ideas. Some ideas are contrasting, but of course i will eventually eliminate one or the other, nearer the time and once i have a strong clear idea to what i am creating. The words in pink, are the things i will be trying to ensure regardless of what i choose to do!

Click on the mind map to make it bigger!!!

My own Stop Motion

I have already created 2 stop motion videos as part of my college course; the first was an advert promoting an Apple MacBook Pro, and the second was a Music Video, for Bruno Mars Count on me. Both videos are similar yet different, i think that it is important  to include them at this stage of my research, so i can use them as a development and reflective stage in my project.

2D or 3D?

Okay so there are a variety of different options I have in regards to how I make my video, I have seen many stop motion animations which are 2D, however there are also many stop motion videos which are 3D. So i now need to consider for my final major project whether I am going to create a 3D animated piece or 2D.
Here are some examples of both, 2D and 3D animations:

The video above is an example of a 2D animation, its Drawn Stop Motion.

The video 'The Little Red Plane' is an example of a 3D animation, it's a short story, all created out of knitting.

Layering Sections-Turning 2D to 3D.

I think that it would be effective to possibly try to layer up the background, mid ground and foreground in a 2D stop motion video. I hope that it would allow me to create a 3D element, within a 2D world. For example if I were to create a static background on a piece of paper, and place a piece of transparent material (plastic or glass) on top then create a mid ground (characters & props) and again place the glass or plastic on top and then create things in the foreground (trees, flowers etc.) and then move the individual layers, however to give this effect there would ne3ed to be a gap between the transparent layer and each of the other layers to be able to create this effect, and the camera would have to look down and through each layer to establish a 3D effect. I have no idea whether it would be as effective as just creating one layer, however it was an idea that I felt may allow me to be original amongst the other work already out there.

Innovation-Angles!

I have been looking at a few different videos online to get a feel of what sort of thing is 'out there' already. I've noticed that when creating 3D videos people have become more innovative with their angles, trying to make the animation more realistic.

This video is called scacchi clay stop motion - chess clay stop motion  and was found on YouTube, it was created by Italian stop motion animator Riccardo Crocetta.

Throughout the video Crocetta uses a variety of shots, these include Ariel shots-looking over the game, low shots-allowing the viewer to feel as though they are in the game. High angled close ups, low angled close ups, medium shots and medium close ups. By including a variety of shots means it captures the attention of the viewer for longer, and also allows the viewer to be drawn in creating a realism of the overall video, and it also helps the viewer to 'forget' it is all animated.

Video taken from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXM3wrIhcwY

Stop Motion: Lighting

When preparing to create a video using stop motion, it is very important to plan how you are going to light it; when creating a stop motion film it is key to have effective lighting, to ensure the video looks to a good and professional standard.
However there are many issues surrounding lighting, so it is important that they are acknowledged, and identified.
As Stop Motion is a very time consuming process, it is not a good idea to rely on sunlight as the light source, and using natural lighting will actually cause nothing but problems. It's important to realise that for 1 second of footage, you are required to take 24 seperate photographs, each including character or object movement.
It can sometimes take hours to gain just a few seconds of footage and even oin an overcast or cloudy day the sunlight will change drasically, effecting the lighting during the video. The only way to create and accomplish a good quality Stop motion animation is with complete control over the lighting sources.

I think that the most effective lighting to use is the 3 point lighting system:

The Key Light: 
This is the main light. It is usually the strongest and has the most influence on the look of the scene. It is placed to one side of the camera/subject so that this side is well lit and the other side has some shadow.


The Fill Light:
This is the secondary light and is placed on the opposite side of the key light. It is used to fill the shadows created by the key. The fill will usually be softer and less bright than the key. To acheive this, you could move the light further away or use some spun. You might also want to set the fill light to more of a flood than the key.


The Back Light:
The back light is placed behind the subject and lights it from the rear. Rather than providing direct lighting (like the key and fill), its purpose is to provide definition and subtle highlights around the subject's outlines. This helps separate the subject from the background and provide a three-dimensional look.


By using this idea, it ensures that the overall video will have consistent lighting, and this will also help to establish realism in the video.


http://www.mediacollege.com/lighting/three-point/

Tim Burton: He had to link some how!!

Okay so as most people are now aware I do have a slight obsession with the man himself Tim Burton, not that anybody should be surprised because his work is incredible and his animation stuff is fascinating! I have been studying his work, and come across his love for Stop Motion. From a young age Tim had this desire to animate his powerful imagination, but was never really a fan of digital animation. So he decided to play around with the art of Stop Motion, and it was then he really developed his passion and niche for it. He began creating shorts using claymation as the focus and whilst at disney in 1982 he made the short Vincent-based on the actor Vincent Price (whom Burton very much looked up to whilst growing up.)

Although after that Tim Burton never really got to do any more stop motion, as he focused on directing films such as Batman and Beetlejuice it was always on the back burner. Behind the scenes he was constantly writing The Nightmare Before Christmas, which in 1993 was turned into an amazing stop motion film. 

After that Burton continued to draw however it never came around again that he was able to create, or get a budget, to do another. However 12years down the line Burton releases The Corpse Bride (2005) which  is a movie of many firsts; it’s the first feature-length, stop-motion film edited using Apple Final Cut Pro, it’s the first feature shot using commercial digital SLR still photography cameras and it’s the first film to choose digital cameras over film cameras based on the image quality.

I swear though if you share the same love for Tim Burton as I do, and think the idea of Stop Motion is pretty awesome check out this link, its an article talking about how they made The Corpse Bride:

http://www.stopmotionworks.com/articles/cbrdstrpdbare.htm

Michael Bond-Paddington Bear!

It all began in 1956, Michael Bond was a camera man for the BBC, who began to write stories about a bear he had bought for his wife one Christmas that they had named Paddington.

Of Paddington himself Michael Bond says:
"The great advantage of having a bear as a central character is that he can combine the innocence of a child with the sophistication of an adult. Paddington is not the sort of bear that would ever go to the moon - he has his paws too firmly on the ground for that. He gets involved in everyday situations. He has a strong sense of right and wrong and doesn't take kindly to the red tape bureaucracy of the sillier rules and regulations with which we humans surround ourselves. As a bear he gets away with things. Paddington is humanised, but he couldn't possibly be 'human'. It just wouldn't work."
By 1958 Bonds Stories of Paddington bear was turned into a tv childrens programme created through the art of stop motion:

In 1965, after writing several Paddington titles Michael Bond retired from his job as a cameraman with the BBC, in order to write full time. The Paddington books have sold more than thirty-five million copies worldwide and have been translated into over forty languages.

Bond has also created other childrens Tv shows in the 1970's such as The Herbs, and featured the characters Dill the Dog, Sage the Owl and Parsley the Lion, the programme again was stop motion!

Oliver Postgate A creative genius

Children's TV programmes from the 1950s all the way through to the 80s were predominantly filled with stop motion animation.
Oliver Postgate who created shows such as Bagpuss (1974), The Clangers (1969-1974), Pingwings(1961-65) and The Pogles(1965). His love for stop motion allowed him to create over eight successful children's television programmes, his stories were creative and innovative and kept children from the 50's all the way through to the 80's captivated by his stories. The use of camera movement allowed the visuals to feel like a video, and took away from the stuttered movement of the animation.

Short Stories by Yuriy Norshteyn

Yuriy Norshteyn is a Russian animator born in 1941. He has directed 20 short stories created through stop motion, Norshteyn directed his first film in 1968 and made a series of short films notable for their attention to atmosphere and fine detail. Norshteyn uses a special technique in his animation, involving multiple glass planes to give his animation a three dimentional look. The camera is placed at the top looking down on a series of glass planes about a meter deep. The individual glass planes can move horizontally as well as toward and away from the camera to give the effect of a character moving closer or further away. In 1979 it was said his short film 'Tale of Tales' was the best animated video of all time. Here I have included some of his videos:

Stop Motion Techniques & Ideas By Will Kalif

I have found a website called: http://www.stopmotioncentral.com where I have come across this 'tutorial' of how to create two dimentional creations and how to create three dimentional creations. I have posted this so i can easily refer back to it, and also to share what i've been looking into:

"Two Dimensional Ideas Working in two dimensions gives you a lot of creative and inexpensive options. You can simply draw pictures on paper and erase then redraw them to show the motions you want to make. An alternative to erasing is to draw series of pictures on separate sheets of paper and photograph them individually. This can give you extraordinary results but is very challenging to make sure the images stay cleanly tracked without slippage which would make it very jerky and shaky. An excellent way to draw pictures is to use a dry erase board if you want to get some great looking animations and if you have some skill in drawing. Three Dimensional Animation Start is with clay or play-doh-if you don’t have any of these materials you can easily make some out of flour, salt and water. Another very simply yet very expressive technique is to use wire. You can easily shape it into figures and objects. It holds its shape well yet is easy to manipulate into simulations of motion.  Just about any three-dimensional object can be used in interesting ways. You can draw small eyes, noses, and mouths then attach them to any object and come up with an interesting anthropomorphic little project. You can even carve potatoes or apples and get some great videos. Some final tips If you really want to make your animations special you should move the camera as you take your series of pictures. You can do this by either zooming in or out or panning from side to side. This moving of the camera is the single best way to make your animations stand out. Just about anything in your every day world can be transformed into something extraordinary with a little bit of animation magic and a little bit of creativity." By Will Kalif

Drawn StopMotion

During my visit to the animation station I met a girl who was creating a short story using stop motion; she had created the story through hundreds of drawings each drawing altering the movement each time. I saw all her work and she had over 300 drawings, although the video was only half complete she showed it to me and it was incredible. I've looked on YouTube to find other people who do drawn stop motion to show an example of her work. This type of stop motion is creative and looks really effective, and would be something I’d definitely consider as my final major project.

iStopMotion

I've been doing some research into how people create such amazing stop motion Videos, and i have come across a programme for apple called 'iStopMotion'. I found an institute locally called the 'animation station' that had the programme and was lucky enough to have a look at how it works and what sort of videos people achieve with it. I was really impressed with the features and i feel that this programme is necessary for what i want to create, it shows the image taken on the screen translucent, therefore you can see how much you need to move the object next time. This will enable me to create a piece of stop motion that is to a professional standard. Below I have added a picture as an example:

PES, awesome stop motion creations!!

Okay so I've found this company/group of people who call themselves 'Pes', they make the coolest videos, mixing up a bit of stop motion and a bit of video to make short films that are totally random! They're recognised in America and have made adverts for the Washington lottery, Bacardi and Nike. Here i have included the link to their website, and 2 of their videos. http://www.eatpes.com/

This video is called 'Western Spaghetti' and was the 2009 Sundance Film Festival Winner!

This is an advert they made for 'Orange Telecom'

I think that their style is very creative and innovative, if i were to create something of this standard it would definitely challenge the skills I already have!

Angela and Ithyle

I've found this amazing video all created through stop motion animation. I think its absolutely incredible, the video is clearly inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and i think that it's a great interpretation of this. However the video also shows many other elements that aren't so obviously tied in with the Alice in wonderland theme, however it all links to the song 'lost things' played in time with the video. Here i have linked the website which has an insight into the works of Angela and Ithyle; http://www.angelaandithyle.com/

If i were to create anything like this it would take extensive planning and practice to get it to this quality, however i love the whole style and aesthetics of the piece, and would be very proud if i could produce a piece of work that was only half of this standard!

Using real people rather than objects?

So I've considered using real people already in my FMP instead of just animating objects, so I looked on YouTube and found this video:

I really like this video, I think its creative and innovative however if i were to make a video similar to this i dont think it would necessarily show a lot of skill whilst shooting and also afterwards whilst editing. I want to create someything that challenges the skills i already have, and show off what i can really do!

Creative Block

So over the last week I've really been trying hard to think of something really creative and unique to begin looking at in relation to my FMP, and to be truly honest I've literally had a creative block! I've been trawling the Internet to try and find something that will give me that sudden surge of inspiration and again come across nothing. Therefore i will just be chilling out because i think I'm just trying far to hard. I am going to put up everything Ive looked at over the last week now and maybe somewhere i will find something inspirational that i believe i can develop!

Stop Motion: Development of ideas

I've begun to think about what I want to create for my FMP, and after watching the 'change' video I feel really inspired to do something exciting and fast paced as that. I have a drawing mannequin which i feel would work perfectly for this style of work therefore I have started to build up some drawings and rough ideas for what i could eventually do.
I have created a very short video of a starter idea which I plan to develop further, I believe that to include video in my FMP i need to find direct links to what I am animating.

Here the video demonstrates the type of thing i plan to do, i have drawn out an example of the wooden mannequin moving his arm up and down, in the same time i am doing this it would be interesting to get a real person to do the same movements and mash the two visuals together. I could have a person dancing and animate the mannequin to do the same thing, and then put the two together to see how it works! Of course to do this for my FMP will take a lot of planning and development and these ideas i've stated here are only preliminary.

Stop Motion: Creative & Innovative

After sleeping on it I've decided that an installation and exhibition isn't the route i want to take. I really liked the puppet show video and it reminded me a lot of the animation technique: Stop Motion. I love stop motion and really want to build and develop the skills I already own! Therefore i have looked into really creative stop motions videos and have found this amazing video on YouTube:

I think this video is creative and innovative, and i would love to be able to create something like this for my FMP. However it would be really beneficial for me and my portfolio if i could include some sort of video footage as well!

Ideas for my FMP

I have completed A Levels in performing arts, art and media so i think it would be beneficial to try and incorporate all of these elements in my FMP. I've been considering creating a video incorporating a circus theme, I've been thinking about creating the video on a slower shutter speed to allow the video to be slightly confusing; and to be able to create an uncomfortable atmosphere through the audience, as they would have felt whist watch a true old fashioned freak show.

It would be really cool if i would be able to stop the video at some point and have live actors coming from the screen to complete the second half the video, live and interacting with the audience! However I'm not sure if an installation/exhibition is exactly what i want to do!

I have been looking at all sorts of areas of the Circus, and Carnivals, and I have found a lot of puppet shows, heres a video I found on YouTube:

I really like the style of this video as there is a creepy element to it, i'm just not sure exactly how i could encorporate it into my ideas for my FMP......

Old and New

I have explored the internet and found many examples of what used to be considered as a circus/freak show, and what we could consider to be one nowadays. I've found two videos online where you can see a direct comparison of the difference from a 1940's freak show(top), to one from 2010(Bottom)!

After viewing both videos there is a clear developement of freak shows from then to now, in the 1940s its clear that people with physical disformities were still classed as freaks and exhibited as 'freaks' of the world. However freakshows that are seen today are more like circus type acts-sword swallowing, fire eating ect. So they are more of an entertainment show with normal people showing their talents to an audience.

Freak show time line

I have researched and put together a timeline that shows where the idea of the freak show began, to the most recent types of freak shows we see today (please click on the picture to enlarge):

Where it all begins!!

Okay so when it comes to the beginning of a new project I like to start where I left off, therefore to start with I want to begin looking at the Freak show, and the wonders of the Circus!

I want to look into where they originated from and how they have developed into what we see in carnivals nowadays!

I will explore the expression: "freak" and find out who were classed as a freak in those days, compared to people considered "freaks" in this day and age! It would be interesting if I could recreate something that allowed people to understand what it was like to either witness and true freak show or to be a part of one!