I am very happy with my final video. This project gave me some new knowledge not only about the stop frame animation but about the importance of materials and editing as well.
However, I still see some things I would like to improve.
I used 500 pictures for this video (a bit more then my last one) and yet I still fell that I could have used some more. After putting them all together I noticed that some parts of the video could have been better and smoother with more frames in there. Unfortunately I can't just shoot those pictures that I need. I would need to start the whole clay building from the beginning.
I could have checked the quality of the pictures better. After uploading my pictures into the computer I noticed that some of them were not focused (the clay figures were blurred while the background was in a very good quality). I had to edit each of them with photoshop and yet they still did not look so good.
Furthermore, after editing this video I decided that it would have been better if I was shooting these photos with some extra space around them. Now my photos did not need any cropping - the platform fit in the shot perfectly. But if I would have had bigger pictures after uploading them all in Adobe Premier I could have zoomed them in for the exact frame size. Now my video has these two black strips on the sides and I could have avoided this.
All in all, I am happy with the results and I will definitely try to create more stop frame animation videos in the future.
This was my first idea for the puppet project. I was inspired by Bran's Green Dream scene from The Game of Thrones.
Here is the video:
I thought this scene would look particularly good if done with shadow puppets. I had a specific music video in mind by Little Dragons:
I enjoyed the way they made the forest. All these layers of fabric made it look as if everything is in a fog.
The Bear Fight:
This idea was inspired by The Games of Thrones again, specifically The Bear And The Maiden scene.
I thought it would be nice to concentrate on the bears and Brienne's relationship with no interruptions; to show the power game between them and how it moves from bear to Brienne and then bear again. I imagined it as a wave: the power and their both physical forms would grow from nothing and then go down again.
The idea with clay was inspired by a small part of Lithuanian singers music video that I've seen years ago. After thinking about the Bear Fight scene the memory of the music video just popped back into my head.
The specific part I was inspired by - 1:28 - 1:38
My video is going to be a stop frame animation. I am going to take a picture after every change I do to the clay and then add all photos into one video.
Study of the scene
I went through the whole video and collected all of these screen captures. Again, I concentrated on the bear and Brienne.
Just studying the colours of this particular capture, because my video is going to show the whole fight from the inside of the 'cage/arena'. I will need to make a proper stage for my clay work. I believe I will paint the fence on a card and try to get something similar to the original one (picture below). For the ground I thought about using a real sand but because I am working with clay the sand would stick to it and everything would be too messy. So I will try to get some large sheets of sanding paper. I already tried to buy some but the only ones I found are sold in a small square sheets.
The Play Doh
I always have some clay at home just because I might get inspired to create something. But the only clay I can get from shops is air drying. This little scene that I want to create is going to take me awhile because stop frame animation is time consuming and air drying clay is not a good choice for it. So I bought some play doh just for practice and this is a short video I made using it :
The bear in the video is really close to my camera so I tried to move my play doh as far as the platform I created lets me, this is what I got :
It is still too close and as I will need to fit two figures into the shot I decided to change my set and at the same time improve it a bit. In the picture above you can see that my platform is very simple - white material on the ground and brown paper as the arena wall/fence. I already had some problems with the brown paper - it is very light and falls down easily. I can't have that because I will leave my platform while shooting the final video and come back to it even after days passed by; I can't have any changes in the next picture - everything has to look the same.
Making A New Set
I started to make my platform a bit more secure. The most important part was to secure the wall to the base. I used a simple plywood and covered it with brown material for rougher texture:
I used PVA glue and just soaked the material with it to create not such a smooth surface. As you can see my plywood had some holes in it but as I am planning to paint the wall in grey (or even paint the fence on it) with acrylics, it won't matter at the end.
I bended the plywood and marked it on the base. Then I glued some smaller wood pieces on the base so the wall would go into these slots.
I knew that these small pieces of wood wont hold my wall in place perfectly, but I needed some sort of force to keep the plywood bended while I nail it stronger to the base:
This is how the whole set looks like at the moment:
What to improve more:
1. Create the ground. I will use a per mache to hide the wood and nails and to create the impression of uneven dirt.
2. Paint the wall. In grey at first just to see how it would look like and then decide if it need more detail to it ( aka fence).
New Clay
I noticed that the pay doh was not holding its weight property. When I made the little video that creature I build had 4 legs to hold itself from the ground and yet it was slowly sinking down. So I got some porcelain clay from my university and it is perfect for this project: it is heavy (it holds itself nicely even when you build something tall), I have a huge amount of it (I noticed the lack of play doh even for that small creature video) and porcelain clay does not dry in air.
This is how the bag looks like:
Experiment to see if this clay holds its weight better then the play doh:
Cheeking the cameras angle
1.
2.
3.
4.
The first one seems to be too close, I took this one with my camera on the platform.
The last one seems to be taken from too high up.
I like the second and the third ones the most.
Improving the platform
Making the ground with paper mache:
It hide the nails and wooden pieces perfectly and created the uneven edge between the ground and the wall that looks more realistic.
Painting the wall in grey:
I used acrylic paint for the wall and the ground too:
I used some hair spray for the ground to make it harder. The wall still needs a few more coats and then my set will be finished.
Video Progress
I had a few issues while filming this video. One of them was the sword - the original idea was to make the sword appear slowly/build up the same way the clay figure emerged from a small piece of clay. But it just kept falling down because the clay is very heavy. The heaviness is good for a big sculptures. It keeps them secured on the ground even when the upper part of the sculpture is bended forward (as seen in my experiment previously). For this video I used a toothpick for the sword but I know how to fix this problem in my future video. I will use a toothpick to keep the straight shape of the sword but I will cover it in clay so it would look like it is emerging out of the hand.
The other problem I had was the platform, the paper mache base. As I mentioned before the clay is very heavy but it is also wet. The platform is made mainly from a newspaper and after I took the last picture for the stop frame animation video this is how my set looked like:
This is also an easy fix. I will repaint the the platform with acrylic paint and add a few layers of UHU glue then paint with the acrylics again. This will harden the platform and maybe reduce the damage that is done during the shooting.
Unedited video
I started to shoot another video with more pictures in it and more action. In my previous video I made 93 pictures. In this one I took 320. This video is unedited. I put it together just for the presentation I am doing at the university so I would not need to explain my progress in words.
I can see the improvement with every new stop frame animation I am making and I am very pleased with this one. However, in the Game of Thrones episode the Bear Fight is much more darker. The atmosphere feels colder, more grey. So I want to edit my pictures and change that :
The original:
Edited image:
I will go through all 320 pictures and change that.
I am using Adobe Premier editing program and even though I know how to use it I am not a professional with it. You might see how the quality of this video improved from the one before. It is all because I am reading more about Adobe Premier and gaining new skills with it.
Green Screen
I am thinking of using some green screen effects for my video to make it more dramatic. I am considering rain, dust or fog at the moment.
I decided not to use dust and fog/smoke, because it looks too pretty and I need my video to look dark and cold. And so I will use rain:
You can barely see the rain here on an even background, but I tried other green screen rain footages and the rain there was too strong, it distracted the viewer from my clay figures.
Game of Thrones has a lot of good music. I found many instrumental compositions which I think would suit best for my clay animation. The only problem I have is that I wanted the music to suit the scene. I wanted to use something from that episode, but the only music in that scene was with lyrics. And quite cheerful ones witch does not suit me at all.
I tried to find a cover but these were not suitable for me again:
After my first tutorial we came to a conclusion to create my own sounds. For example, a sounds of squashing clay or ripping paper. The sounds would be quiet and slow at the beginning and when the bear grows up and roars it would increase and become almost frantic. As my original plan was to create a silent clay animation I did not accounted time for sound making.
And thus, after my second tutorial, we talked about using simple instrumental sounds (violin, cello etc.) I had this song in mind while thinking about the instrumentals:
I am still not sure if I will use it or any different song or sounds. I will try to link music to my video after I edit my final footage.
This module is designed to draw attention to your ability to take control of your creative thinking and processing. It gives you the opportunity to create a subject /s and activate ‘it’ to your specifications. This, in turn, will inform the autonomy that you will have over your work during level 6.
Brief:
For this module you must examine a scene from one of the following and respond using the broad platform of Puppetry to recreate a scene from:
Any current news, TV, film, media event eg.
BAFTA Awards
Current News Events
The Walking Dead
Game of Thrones
Period Drama - Downton Abbey / Selfridges / Call the Midwife
It is important that you spend time getting to know your media context and scene and research into the original text if appropriate, examine textures, language, sound, movement, film etc.
Pay close attention to the activity of the characters, the role of the surrounding scenery, interactions, external influences, mechanisms, animal / human mannerisms.
Following this research you must design and make a professionally constructed puppet, or a group of puppets that represent the text and/or scene.
Your puppet does not have to have human form. It could be animal or abstract. Your research could be about the structural mechanisms and alternative aspects as well as direct links to films / series.
Main Objectives:
1.Begin by understanding how broad the idea of Puppetry can be.
2.Respond to specified text/ scenes from specific programmes.
3.Establish a way forwards by loosely sketching the notion of what you might want to aim for.
4.Do not waste any time so start to construct early prototypes and use the workshops to perfect skills.
5.Create professionally finished puppet/s and consider the context of your work.
6.Activate Your Puppet -film/record/perform your outcome placing your puppet/s in context in relation to your research. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to work on this part.
Depending on how your work develops the aim here is to show how your puppet would come to life / interact/ perform etc. This could be through sketching and drawing.
More Module Details:
There is scope for collaboration but you are expected to each make one or more puppets and to clearly establish your roles within the collaboration.
It is important to evidence your work, the source of your idea and the eventual activation of your puppet via a BLOG or CAGD with emphasis on the relationship your piece has to the original programme choice.
You must aim to create a regular dialogue between your work and your Blog/ CAGD posts to keep the process fluid.
You are expected to independently research techniques on how to fabricate your puppet/s and you may not want to follow conventional routes.
There are many conventional puppet workshops on Utube.
You will address techniques as they relate to the specific form, function and context of your work. Workshops are integrated in the Module but also available for you throughout the project by negotiation with technicians.
You are encouraged to incorporate alternative materials, techniques and thinking.
