Task 3: Stop Motion

31/10/2023 - 10/12/2023 / Week 10 - Week 14
Reema Arif Hamza / 0362792
Video and Sound Production / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Task 3: Stop Motion

Content

Lectures

Week 10: We had class in the studio and grouped up to complete a stop motion demo shoot.
Week 11: Final Project Consultation
Week 12: Final Project Consultation
Week 13: Final Project Consultation
Week 14: Final Project Consultation

Instructions

Task 3: Stop Motion

Students are required to produce stop motion video on a given theme. Voice-over, sound effects, and music can be used, to tell a compelling story. Confine to no more than 2 characters/ locations and only 1 event in less than 15 shots.

Process

For the Final Project, we were tasked to write and produce a one-minute stop motion. In the proposal document, me and my group mate (Fariha) wrote down some ideas for our stop-motion. After receiving feedback from Mr.Martin we simplified our story to the second idea.

The story is about a guy named Johnny who is fishing outside. While he grills his fish he sees a lot of fire and throws water at his grill. Even though he puts it out he sees a lot of black smoke. It turns out a wildfire has started in the forest, he gets stuck and is unable to escape.

After finalizing our idea, Fariha drew a storyboard to present our story. We then bought materials and prepared to shoot our stop motion.

Fig. 1.1 Proposal, Week 10 (31/10/2023)

We took a whole day just to build our props and set. We accidentally got airdry clay, making it very hard to work with. We were able to create our character and fish out of the clay even though it dries fast. 

Fig. 1.2 Building Set, Week 11 (07/11/2023)

Fig. 1.3 Building Tiny Deck Chair, Week 11 (07/11/2023)

Fig. 1.4 Completed Set and Props, Week 11 (07/11/2023)

The next week, we set up our stop motion set and props. Moving our props and characters was very time-intensive because the other parts would fall when we moved our characters. It was also hard to make our character stand up or move because it had dried out. We made sure to move the water, clouds, and trees to make the background seem more alive. In the end, we only had around 120 frames so we set our speed at 2 fps. 

Fig. 1.4 Completed Set and Props, Week 12 (14/11/2023)

We finished shooting our stop motion and showed Mr.Martin the video above for feedback during Week 13. He said it was barely passable and recommended redoing it. He noted it should look more like a forest and the background looked like a room.

So we decided to reshoot our stop motion. Unfortunately in making the first stop motion our set was pretty much destroyed so we had to remake it.

Fig. 1.5 First Stopmotion, Week 12 (14/11/2023)

I built the set for our stop motion at home and brought it with me to the studio.  We would've worked on it together but we were on a time crunch. This time we shot our stop motion in the studio and used the light stand.

Fig. 1.6 Buying New Materials, Week 13 (21/11/2023)

Fig. 1.7 Using Lego for our character, Week 13 (21/11/2023)

Fig. 1.8 Second stop motion set, Week 13 (21/11/2023)

We changed our setting to a forest instead of a beach because it made more sense for our wildfire story. It took us the whole day to finish shooting the stop-motion, this time we managed to shoot around 220 frames allowing us to have a 4 fps stop-motion. It was a difficult process to shoot, the props kept falling over every time we moved our Lego figure. Shooting the second time around we were able to have a cleaner set up and smoother stop motion. 

Fig. 1.9 Final Stop Motion Shooting, Week 13 (21/11/2023)

I did some basic color grading for the stop motion on an adjustable layer. At first, we wanted to use the green background as a green screen and add a forest background. We were unable to do that however because of our green props (trees & grass). I tried to use the rotobrush on aftereffects but it still didn't work. In the end, we used the change color effect on premier pro to change the background to blue. 

Fig. 2.1 Basic Color Grading, Week 14 (28/11/2023)

Fig. 2.2 Color Grading before & after, Week 14 (28/11/2023)

Fig. 2.3 Change to color effect on background, Week 14 (28/11/2023)

Fig. 2.4 Adjusting Mask on background, Week 14 (28/11/2023)

Fig. 2.5 Adding Opening and Credit Scene, Week 14 (28/11/2023)

Fariha recorded a voiceover for the stop motion, and I edited the sound effects into the stop motion. After adjusting the volume levels and layering sounds, the stop motion was complete. 

Fig. 2.6 Adding Sound Effects, Week 14 (28/11/2023)

Fig. 2.7 Adding Ambient Soundtrack, Week 14 (28/11/2023)

Fig. 2.8 Adding more sound effects and adjusting sound levels, Week 14 (28/11/2023)

Fig. 2.9  Adding voiceover and using pitch shifter, Week 14 (28/11/2023)

Fig. 2.10 Adding green screen video effects, Week 14 (28/11/2023)

Final


Fig. 2.11 Final Project: Guy Grilled, Week 14 (28/11/2023)

Reflection

This project was very time-intensive and required a lot of work. It makes me appreciate the effort of people who make extremely long stop motions. It was hard to hear that our first stop motion didn't really work. Because it required a lot of effort on our part to build and shoot. 
But our final stop motion ended up being a lot better. we got better materials and objects to use and shot more frames providing smoother movement. 

If we had a chance to do this again, I would use a larger set and a printed background. I would also choose to use Lego to build the entire set. To conclude, I'm proud of the work we produced and really admire those who are able to commit so much in making full stop motion movies.


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