What a team!

oragami stop motion from Lizzy Gaskin on Vimeo.

Me and fellow media blogger had a crack at making a quick stop-motion of an Origami swan (Lizzy's poor spelling, not mine.)

It was fairly easy and quick to make. But the quality isn't great... Before working on my final piece I should experiment with things like frame rates.

Her Morning Elegance - Oren Lavie

Her Morning Elegance from Kenneth Chua on Vimeo.

This is an extremely successful example of a music video made using stop motion. It has over 10 million views on YouTube and a Grammy nomination. It is composed of 2096 still images that have been arranged to give the impression of a moving image.

As a music video it follows the common theme of following a daily routine. Towards the start you watch the light moving across the room giving some impression of the passage of time. You watch as the model completes some fairly mundane tasks; walking, riding the train, sleeping, spending time with a friend. Through the use of sleep-related items in the mise-en-scene (running over pillows, some pajamas flying past) these fairly typical actions take on a fair more interesting form. Mise-en-scene is key in establishing the actions themselves. The flashing lights imply the subway train. The models hair implies motion. The socks representing fish imply some fantastic underwater world.

As I have noticed in many of the films I have watched, stop-motion commonly features the idea of a whole world existing within our own. What I mean by this is that the entire action of the story takes place in a world that is contained in a bedroom. This is established by the use of floorboards beneath the bed and the props (books, shoes, papers) sitting beside it.

The editing is obviously key, as it is in any stop-motion. The shots are edited at a specific frame rate to imply a realistic motion in the its finished form. The fact that the shots at times are synchronised with the music, such as when the cello floats past as it is mentioned in the song and plays, also shows some conscious decisions which link the two media together.

I really like the video. The way it is contained in one room with objects that are seen every day makes it an interesting watch. Its inspiring also, to think that I could have a go at creating something like that myself. You can view the individual frames at http://www.hmegallery.com/, and from that you can see the kind of movements made between each frame. Stop-motion like this might just be the answer for me.

Initial Idea

My initial idea uses stop motion. I'm thinking of using the song 'Good Evening (Dream Big)' by Outasight. I like it's optimistic feel that I associate with the beginning of a new day. I think the idea of a Plasticine stop motion character would lend itself well to the song. I imagine the character having their own smaller, colourful world based around toys and homemade scenery. The main challenges I can see are making stop motion of a decent quality, within the time frame I'm working to. Wallace and Gromit animators aim to make 2 seconds of film per day! I'd hope to work a little quicker than that.

10 points about my audience...

1. Age 16-30
2. Likes music of a variety of genres.
3. Subscribes to pretty much every funny Youtube vlogger.
4. Loves nothing more than discovering a new band or artist.
5. Has a Starbucks loyalty card.
6. He's an arty type, but he likes people to know it.
7. Buys all his clothes from a vintage outlet.
8. Takes their camera everywhere.
9. Acts like they live in New York, even though don't.
10. Spends their evenings in a arty bar or music venue.

5 Things that...

... I will do this year, having learnt from last year

1. Be more experimental and ambitious with my ideas.
2. Listen to teachers advice on my coursework more closely, and take their comments to heart.
3. Make sure my shots have a greater variety and that I don't dwell on specific images.
4. Attempt something that isn't so sombre.
5. Make sure my blog documents my planning from beginning to start.

... I hope to avoid this year, that were issues last year.

1. I won't rely on actors. Although mine did a good job, it's easier to rely on myself.
2. Just using the school DV cameras.
3. Just using text to document on my blog.
4. Think that I'm the first person in the world to think of using black and white.
5. Research into people that are exclusively my own age.

Action Plan!

It's fairly clear I'm going to go ahead with the stop motion idea whatever brief I decide on. So, here's an action plan as to how I'm going to go about coming up with my final product...

1. I need to learn, fairly quickly, the skills behind stop motion. I already own a camera. It may be that I need to experiment with techniques before attempting my final piece.
2. I need to research example of stop motion within my chosen brief. For children's drama, this could be something like Wallace and Gromit, or Morph the popular childrens character. Several artists have uses stop-motion in their videos including Slipknot and Passion Pit amongst others.
3. I should attempt some basic stop motion before I start my final work. I could start with a very short piece of animation, to hone my skills further.
4. Then the final idea will need to be created and scripted before production begins.

Some bits of research!

I'm very interested in trying out some stop motion for my coursework. Still somewhere between The children's drama brief and the music video, so here are some examples of both that I found interesting...


Music Video


Passion Pit - Sleepyhead ⊱ JazZstePpa Remix ⊰ from Jazz steppa on Vimeo.


Children's Television




Both pieces seem to develop this idea of animated, smaller characters, having their own world within our own. You see Morph doing his magic show in amongst some life sized posessions, and the black toy moving across the desk.

I thought the music video became fairly abstract in parts, but it kind of works. Suits the style of music very well. There didn't seem to be a unifying narative as such but, then again, does it really need one? The simple movements alone seemed to provide amusment enough.

The children's show is centred around one loveable  character 'Morph', and the show follows him on some suitably adorable adventures. The challenge in this type of work is to create a character that children will enjoy watching in the same way they do Morph, Postman Pat or any other successful children's character for that matter.

In terms of animation, Morph is far in excess of the level I can hope to achieve, but I think I can take some ideas from it and translate them to my own work. The use of a single protagonist in a simple humanoid form should make a realistic effect more achievable. The levels of animation in the music video are far more approachable. It seems to have been created fairly quickly, away from proffessional studios. I should look further into home-grown stop-motion of this style in the future...

Production Work

Some Ideas...

Music Video

I thought that it would be good to attempt a stoop motion film. This has been done by several youtube video makers and achieved successfully, often with a very simple set up. This would present a serious challenge when it comes to production and editting, but also a creative challenge that might inspire an interesting outcome. I aim for a mise-en-scene that is bright and upbeat. I think a dark, gritty film has become somewhat of a cliche.

Childrens Drama Opening

Strangely, I think a stop-motion film would also work well for a children's TV show, especially for a younger audience. Especially with a bright mise-en-scene. Possibly with little plastacine things moving around... Thinking about it, that idea could work for both.

Research and planning



• How did your research into genre contribute to your production work?


My research into films of an arthouse or film-noir style has a stong influence over my production work. The tendency towards minimalism and subtlety, and a strong focus on photographic style images were all as a result of specific research into these particular genre.

• How did your research into audience contribute to your production work?


My audience research led me to the idea that within an opening, less is more. People seemed to appreciate the idea that an opening is best kept simple and easy to understand, and expressed a serious distaste for films that brought in several confusing ideas early on. It also confirmed that people would respond well to black and white as a format, as long as it was used in the correct genre.


• How did your research into institutions responsible for the production and regulation of the media influence your production work?


By researching institutions, I realised that companies such as Paramount Vantage valued the quality of film above finantial gain. This encouraged me to persue an individual piece of cinema, giving the value of the film as a piece of art over that of comercial appeal.


• What pre-production planning techniques did you employ (scripting, storyboarding, shot-lists etc.)? How effective was your planning – how did it help you in the production phase?


I produced a story board early on. From this I was able to complete a shot list before heading out to get the footage. I think this was effective. I was able to gather all of the necessary shots in two nights of filming, with very few problems. Prior to filming, I took some location shots so that I could further visualise the final products and get a greater sense of its mise-en-scene.


• What did you learn from planning your first production that helped you to improve your planning for the second?


That knowing exactly what shots you need to take where and when can make filming a lot quicker and run smoothly.


• How did you use audience feedback to influence your production work while it was in progress?
 
Whilst editting the final footage, I thought about how the audience responded to my questions about pace within an openning sequence. Feedback from my classmates and teachers also helped me to edit my footage in order to establish the pace I desired.

Last Years Blogs - Let's 'ave a butchers!

Our homework for this week to compare last year's blogs to the mark scheme and work out what kind of mark we might give based on what we've read.

0123 Leeds

I think this blog deserved a very strong Level 4. It seems to satisfy almost every possible detail of the mark scheme. Idea's are documented at every stage. They are communicated clearly, they are well presented and there has been significant use of ICT throughout. I really liked the way that the blog seemed to form a diary, where the progress of the project was updated regularly and extensively. Planning is documented through use of scanned sheets and photographs. My one slight criticism might be that, in my mind, there seems to be too much text. Whilst photographs and other images feature, the blog is predominately text. The candidate is trying to communicate a very large amount of information and the lines and lines of text make it a daunting read. 

0227 Tooke 

Again, I felt that this was a very strong blog. I particularly liked the design; the appearance of the blog certainly gave of a much more approachable impression. The use of text was as concise as possible, whilst still documenting the significant steps in the production process.  The use of ICT was very impressive, especially in regards to the frequent use of embedded YouTube clips to better illustrate an idea, or an important piece of research. Speaking of research, it's all there.Communicated clearly, and detailed extensively. Plans for production are detailed sufficiently. Again, this blog would, most likely, gain a Level 4.

 

A2 Production Briefs - First thoughts

Today we were given our 5 options for our production.

My first thought was that the newspaper option was not for me. It doesn't really give me much option for creativity and print really isn't what I want the majority of my project to be made up of.

The two film options that seem the most appealing are the children's drama title sequence or the music video. I'm used to working in film, and with music being a serious interest for me, surely it would make sense to make a music video? However, the children's opening seems like it would be really enjoyable and I think that if I enjoyed a film it would make a better end result.

G325

G325 Critical Perspectives in Media


This is a written paper sat during the summer exams. It is synoptic in that it draws together all that will be learnt during the course.


Section A is entirely devoted to production work (G324) throughout AS and A2.


1. Research tasks carried out.

• Audience research in the form of a series of short interviews.
• Viewing similar examples of film openings and writing analysis on blog.

2. Planning activities.

• Storyboards.
• Location shots.
• Shot list.

3. Challenges which arose during post-production.

• How to strike up a balance between subtlety and interest.
• Maintaining video quality.
• How best to use the software to achieve the desired effect.

Assess the impact of the activities/tasks/challenges you have outlined above on the success (or otherwise) of your finished foundation portfolio.


Audience research and viewing professional examples allowed me to identify the key themes and conventions that appeal most to my target audience. Planning ensured that the whole production ran fairly smoothly and minimized the time spent filming during fading light. Whilst overcoming the challenges created problems, it also encouraged me to think creatively and often resulted in an overall better result.

• My previous piece lacked a sense of continuous narative. Whilst this is less applicable to the A2 task, I should aim to maintain interest.