Description:
Last week in Animation 101 we were shown how to set up the equipment needed to do a simple A-B stop motion by our tutor Joe and that for this animation it needed to run at 25fps which is the requirement in television. For our assignment we were asked to do an A-B stop motion those of us in the stop motion group would need to book out a stop motion camera kit needed for this task via SISO and do the stop motion on stop motion pro v8. The Maya tutorial group would need to do this task using Maya animation software, the finished product would need to be compressed via the use of Adobe media encoder into a viewable file to be used on an Vimeo account which we would set up later on the course to show off our work. We had till next Friday to do this task and we would be showing them later on that day.
Feelings:
I was feeling slightly nervous at the time as it had been some time since I'd used stop motion pro v8 and wondered if I still knew how to use the software. Plus we would be using professional cameras not just web cams and for me this was a completely different field of use. One other concern that I had was booking the equipment as this would be my first time using SISO to book the equipment let alone know how long I would be doing the animation itself a few minutes or longer I didn't know. I wasn't sure how to act but I decided to take the plunge as this course is about taking risks and getting outside our comfort zone. I therefore booked the camera which was a stop motion camera kit for early Monday morning as it seemed the best time for me to do it rather than on my days off.
Plus this would give me time to acquaint myself using the stop motion equipment.
Evaluation:
At the time I thought this was a good idea and that it would be the best way to kick start my stop motion awareness and it would seem that other students in the group had the same idea as me to come in early, which shows how well creative minds think alike. Through the process I followed a health and safety procedure guide provided in the studio as this contained information regarding using the software and the lighting in the class room. I did have a slight hindrance with the tripod and securing the camera into place but that was because I was unaware of a small button above the securement latch which made it open further allowing me to secure the camera into place. I was worried at first as given the tutorial I wasn't sure if the camera would work on the computer, thankfully though when setting up the stop motion pro software it was connected properly when I needed to select the camera that I would be using, as well as, the right settings for the picture size and focus.
Whilst doing the stop motion I remembered many things from both the exercise and personal experience of doing stop motion before, I felt very confident when doing the stop motion and though Joe advised to use a rule to make it straight it seemed to work well without as I was using onion skinning and not lifting the block from the table. Once played I could see the stop motion running smooth as silk no hiccups or anything just clean animation. This was a very good piece of animation and it showed me what I could do in the future on this course and personal time. The stop motion was then saved in an AVI document format similar to Quicktime player, but when I copied it to my memory stick I had some concerns as when I watched it back it seemed to hiccup at the end of it and would need to look into it further.
Analysis:
What helped me in setting up the equipment wasn't just the setting up guide but also what I remembered and recorded from the exercise lecture and could remember certain key attributes for doing the stop motion process. Having used stop motion pro many years ago I began to get reacquainted with the software and its capabilities of delivering a clean finish animation. One attribute was taking it slow as there are times when I go too fast and mess up my project something that I learned when doing a laser etched book cover in one of my book projects. One element of concern was compressing the film on media encoder as I was slightly un familiar with this software but help was at hand and that would be a guide on Blackboard to use the software one that I can use later on when converting the movie.
Conclusion
I don't feel that I could've done anything else in terms of the animation but, if it were possible I would possibly look and see if I could've used the encoder in the studio to convert the film rather then wait until I returned home to use the software on my mac computer.
Action Plan:
looking back on my work I would possibly seek supervision or advisement from Joe or Johnny or ask any further questions as far as encoding the stop motion film. In terms of booking the equipment I would possibly consider considering the project given to us and the time it would take to do the stop motion both in setting up and how long to book the equipment for rather than a very long length of time.
I would say I rather enjoyed the experience of doing this stop motion and it has had the effect of giving me back the motivation for stop motion animation and may consider doing further animation research and refine my skills. This puts me a few steps closer to the animation industry and as it was said in the animated film Ballerina "Never give up on your dreams" (Ballerina, December 12th 2016 animated film).
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