In-Depth Project Introductory Post

Stop Motion Animation

          Hello reader, and welcome to the first blog post about my in-depth project. Hopefully, I’ve made this clear and understandable. Thank you so much for stopping by!

What is Stop Motion Animation?

          For those not familiar with it, stop motion is a type of animation. Just like any other animation, many still images are played consecutively at a very high speed to create the illusion of movement. In most types of animation, those frames are drawings, or computer-generated imagery (CGI). In stop motion, each frame is a single photograph, taken of real objects. To create an animation, animators move objects ever so slightly, then take a picture. In a painstaking process, they repeat this again and again until all the pictures played back will form a video, a motion-picture.

Examples of Stop Motion Around You

Why have I Chosen This

          It’s quite simple. I have chosen stop motion because I love it. I have been creating my own animations since I was 8. I really like the mix between manipulating real objects and using a computer to create something, rather than just using a computer, or just creating objects. This way, I can do both. I have done a project like this before, but afterward I kind of discarded the hobby, and have forgotten most of what I’ve learned. By doing stop motion, I know this will be going to something I will be engaged in, and the project will really mean something to me.

My Plan to Improve

          Naturally then, this is my chance to improve, and as such, I need a plan. This plan will take place over the course of 5 months, starting in January. I have broken down the five months as follows:

January – Equipment

          The theme of January is equipment and materials. During January, I will figure out what equipment is helpful in stop motion, and how I can upgrade mine or acquire the equipment I need. This means cameras, lighting, character-making materials, and even workspace necessities like desks, shelves, and stationary.

February – Plot

March is story month. During March, I will be focusing on how to create a compelling story that lends itself well to the stop motion style but is engaging to the audience. I will learn strategies to generate ideas, and how to develop them. I’ll also learn how to properly storyboard my ideas before animating them. When I say plot, I don’t mean a novel, and I’m not always referring to full character arcs and novel form. The plot could be as simple as a punch line to a joke, so long as it generates an emotion in the audience, and gives my animation a backbone.

March – Animation

During February, I’ll be improving my animation. To do this, I plan to learn about the 12 main principles of animation. Basically, I’ll be learning about staging, ease-in ease-out, and other things that will make my animations more lifelike, interesting, and understandable.

April – Editing

In the penultimate month of my project, I will learn how to edit my videos. I will learn the software for editing videos that best suits me, and I will take tutorials to learn how to use them. I will learn how to anticipate beforehand how I can make a video that will lend itself well to certain effects or editing techniques.

May – Final Project

Finally, the final project. I will take everything I’ve learned and put it together to make one large, interesting, great quality, all-around spectacular stop motion video. Through challenging myself like this I’ll learn how to plan for something on a large scale, and how to be ambitious in a way that pays off. This will put my stop motion and time-management skills to the test.

During all of these months, I will be checking in with my mentor via video call every other week. I will also be posting a progress update on my blog every other week, so stay tuned. During the first four months, I will dedicate up to the tenth day to solely learning what I need to. After the tenth, I will work on a small stop motion project to learn in a more hands-on way and demonstrate what I’ve learned.

Pre-phase

During December, I did a few things to prepare myself for this project and to basically let myself know what it’s going to be like, and to get myself excited about it. My pre-phase mostly consisted of a series of animation tests I made using Hotwheels cars. I made six tests and made a quick storyboard to plan each of them. I tried to practice good animating habits and experimented with ways of improving lighting and reducing flicker. Another thing I did during the pre-phase was research and reach out to possible mentors.

Here is a link to my test-compilation video, which has details including behind-the-scenes and first takes.
| Hotwheels Showcase |

My Mentor

To aid me in this project, I have contacted Kevin from Brotherhood Workshop, and he has agreed to help me. Brotherhood Workshop is responsible for some spectacular brickfilms. His stop motion animations are usually creative and funny spin-offs of franchises like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, and the skill in them is evident. What’s more is that many of his films he was commissioned by Lego to make, to put on their website. Also, he makes numerous behind-the-scenes videos to explain how he made his animations, which means he has at least some experience giving advice and tips.

Here is a link to his channel | Brotherhood Workshop |

How to Help

There are a few ways you could help me in my stop motion endeavours. Firstly, you could alert me if you come across equipment you think I could use, especially deals or sales. Things like a DSLR Camera, desk lights, etc. Just keep your eyes out. This same idea can also go for useful learning resources and tutorials.

The biggest thing, however, that you can do to help me is to watch the videos I make. By watching my videos, you can give me much-appreciated feedback on what I’ve created. This could be what you liked about it, what you didn’t like, or anything really. It is also really, really, awesome seeing my work viewed and enjoyed by other people, and just this little bit of this encouragement can go a long way.

Here is a link to the Youtube channel where I post my videos | Studio.B45 |

 

Thanks so much for looking through this and learning about what I’m doing.

-Ben

One comment

  1. qmtk · January 7, 2021 at 3:13 pm ·

    Thanks for including the samples video as well as your own. This takes hours of dedication. I look forward to watching your progress.