To some degree, this 20Time Project has been completed. Or better yet, chapter one of my introduction to stop motion animation is finished. Do I feel like an expert in the subject? Of course not. Nevertheless, I can say with a great deal of confidence that I know a lot more about stop motion animation than when I began and I have a few examples of my learning which can hopefully inspire others to try to learn the same. I have been able to answer most of my initial inquiries as well but, as I mention in this video, one good question only led me to many more. Creating these videos gave me a good idea of what it would take to make another one.
Now it's time to review my initial questions. 1. How does one write a compelling script for stop action animation? I learned that a compelling script can be made from minimalist materials. Music and motion has the ability to create and move an intriguing story along. 2. How can I manipulate lighting in order for the setting to look semi-realistic? Lighting, in my case, was about choosing the right time of day to shoot. While indoor lighting is consistent, that which comes in through windows is difficult to control. It's important to shoot within a short time frame before the sun continues its trip through the sky and changes the internal lighting. 3. What is the best way to create a small setting for the action? Painted cardboard and your child's toys create great props for a stop motion animation setting. 4. Is there an online community for these types of projects where I can get mentored? There are countless examples and tutorials on the internet explaining how to do these types of projects. The best community that I found where people were both sharing ideas and projects was at Stopmotioncentral.com 5. What is a reasonable time frame to complete this type of project? It's possible to shoot a scene in one day. In order to spend time editing and developing a story, one should plan on spending no less than one week to complete a short skit. 6. Is there an intersection between computer animation and stop action animation that I can adopt to make the project more efficient? There are a few different specialized software out there that will make this job much easier. However, I had already spent enough money on this project and therefore opted to stick with expensive software that I already had, Final Cut Pro X. I was able to do much of what I wanted with this but if I wanted to hone my skills even further, and was able to tether my camera, I might purchase more software. 7. What types of character figurines should I use or make? Figurines don't need to be completely pliable in order to express emotion or move a story along. My daughter's Matryoshka dolls served this purpose very well. I purchased a few additional figurines in order to move arms and legs but this is not necessary. Some artist have been able to create characters out of pieces of fruit. 8. Can I package this project so that my students can also complete similar projects? I started to build a website that would lead students through a project step-by-step. This was a good approach for teaching traditional animation. Stop motion animation requiring physical figurines in the real world is slightly more difficult to package. In this case, the concept is simple and the only way to learn is by trying it. 9. What types of stories are best told using this medium? In my projects I opted for shorts based on simple schticks, like dolls tripping. That is not to say that this is not a good medium for a feature length film. I just don't have the time or skill, yet, to make one. 10. Where should I publish my work? It's no surprise that Youtube became my go-to in regards to publishing. I haven't received too much feedback yet but I know that my projects do have the potential of reaching a wider audience. More importantly, I will be able find these in the future when I need to share them with my students in the hopes of them being inspired to try the same. 11. Would it be acceptable to allow my 10 year old daughter to assist me with this project or would it violate the rules of the class and child labor? Not sure about child labor laws but I was definitely grateful for the help my daughter provided me. It would have made my job much more difficult if I had to both position the characters and then run around and push the button on my camera. All-in-all, it was a great learning experience on many levels. Now I'm ready to put my learning in the 20 Time process to try and solve some real "wicked problems!"
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Even though I can say with a degree of confidence that I've learned quite a bit about stop-motion animation on my summer 20Time project, the greater realization that I've had is that once life start making other demands it becomes quite difficult to keep up with learning that feels like a hobby. Although I understand that this was an assignment, it was one of our choosing and one which was supposed to be fun. However, I have found myself overthinking this assignment more than any other. The questions that I asked initially only spawned more questions. The more I dug into the subject, the more I found, the more I realized that I would have to learn, the more equipment and software that I would need to buy. Essentially, my problem with my 20Time project was that it was too open ended. If you asked me to read a book and then write about it, I could know that the book ends on page 237 then I would be able to reflect on the reading in 300 words or a chapter-by-chapter QQCE. Assignments like these have definitive beginnings and definitive ends. 20 Time projects on the other hand, can continue infinitely. This is what is what has made this project so problematic for me.
But enough about the 20 Time process. Let me get more specific about what I learned this week in the short video that you see above. In this video I decided to take a similar approach to the one I did in the previous week with Ghost Ballet but I was de I started drafting this reflection last week but then left to go backpacking before I finished so this week I'll be posting two reflections.
It took hours upon hours to design the set with my wife and daughter and it's still not complete. It took 230 painstakingly taken photographs. It took plenty of research and web inspiration. And then end result? A shaky 26 second stop motion video parodying Tchaikovsky's and The Nutcracker's Act II: III. Divertissement: VI. Mother Gigogne. My instincts tell me to wait until I've made a more polished product before sharing my videos. Yet my evolving thoughts on education remind me that "done is better than perfect" and that it's crucial to share the sloppy process as well as an eventual polished (I hope) finished product. So this week for my 20Time project I continued to seek inspiration from others who have also created stop motion animation. I saw dancing fruit and clay which inspired me to take on dancing as well. I learned that although there are workarounds with any program, Final Cut Pro might not be the best program to use due to its lack of an "onion skin" feature. I also continued to learn more about lighting and how it's key to have proper and consistent lighting so that your setting and action look good but also so to be able to use a faster shutter speed. When you're taking 230 or more photos or more, a split second in shutter speed can really make a difference in the cumulative amount of time in a project. My final lesson this week was to not use stop motion photography when I'm not filming movement. In the upcoming week I will try to reshoot this ballet so that it captures more action and does so more steadily. I will also combing photography with film when the setting and action calls for it. And we will continue to develop the setting so that it is more immersive in the story I would like to tell.
It’s pretty incredible when research can be turned immediately into action. What I mean by this is that this week, as I was reading about animation on Wikipedia, I could not help thinking, “Can I reproduce some of these old-school animations?” Stop-motion animation is an old art form, with a first instance being recorded all the way back to 1898 ("Stop motion"). If this type of animation could be created more than a century ago, then surely I could create similar projects using my digital camera, MacBook Pro, and Final Cut Pro X. I saw the bouncy ball and running horse and knew that I had to do the same. I enjoyed reading about different forms of animation and watching old animations which provided a historical context for my learning. But if I really wanted to learn, I had to go from the passive to the active by just going out and making something. Here’s what I accomplished. This week I learned how to put together a sequence of images on Final Cut Pro. I was able to animate eight to twelve images into an infinite loop animation or one which lasted 2-3 seconds. I made a horse run, a ball bounce, and a pacman eat red dots. These projects were all done using two-dimensional cartoon images created on a computer and strung together. I have been creating images that move at 10 frames per second. I have found that this frame rate can create a fluid or choppy sense of motion all depending on the quality of the animation. I have also taken a stab at analog animations. I drew a ball bouncing and firework scene on 8-12 different sheets of paper and using different colored markers. The pictures sequenced together in this case were pretty bad. The frame moved shakily from side to side, the lighting was horrible, and the images strung together looked far from fluid and very amateur to say the least. Finally, I began to package my learning in a way that would be accessible to my students so they can see my own learning processes. I created a website for them where they would be able to emulate and tweak my projects and also be able aske their own further inquiry questions. All throughout this process my daughter has been testing my projects or working alongside me. It has been an engaging process to say the least. In the upcoming week, I will continue playing with lighting and further moving from the digital and into the analog in regards to physical objects in the physical world being manipulated so that they become digitally animated. Inquiry Questions addressed this week: 2. How can I manipulate lighting in order for the setting to look semi-realistic? 3. What is the best way to create a small setting for the action? 6. Is there an intersection between computer animation and stop action animation that I can adopt to make the project more efficient? 8. Can I package this project so that my students can also complete similar projects? 11. Would it be acceptable to allow my 10 year old daughter to assist me with this project? Resources. Animation. (2015, July 8). Retrieved July 14, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animation Final Cut Pro X Stop Motion Tutorial. (2014, April 1). Retrieved July 14, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9sPdXPozAs Stop motion. (2015, July 2). Retrieved July 14, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_motion I am a believer in the importance of showcasing one's work in order to reach that authentic audience and also to hopefully inspire other's work. This week I'm the one who needs inspiring, at least in regards to this project. I want see what's possible with stop motion animation in order to spark my own creativity. The following video has done this for me and more. I have spent the last week or so in Philadelphia attending ISTE and another conference. I have tons of fun and learned so many different things! Unfortunately, I have had trouble keeping up with the MA program deadlines from both 600 and 680. This video speaks to how overwhelmed I am by deadlines, technological possibilities, and my stop motion 20time project. So week one 2otime research and prep was spent largely just watching videos like the one above. It's actually pretty cool to be able to watch a lot of different stop motion animation videos and call this research!
I have also started to brainstorm story ideas and even started putting together a set and other props. I'm not sure where this story is heading but I'm definitely looking forward to continuing my "research" and putting this together this learning experience in a way that will hopefully be fun for me and informative for my students. |
AuthorI would like to share my reflections on my own learning processes and 2otime journey ArchivesCategories |