Peer Review of a Fellow Groups Stop Motion Animation

I have chosen to review the Stop-Motion animation created by Toni Watts and Feba Philip called:

The Life Of A Student 

You can find the Link to their blog and video here ---> http://p095516tjw.blogspot.co.uk/

They used the medium of Cutouts to create their Stop-motion animation. I personally really enjoyed their animation. I found it ran smoothly, was really entertaining, humorous, very well drawn and put together, and all the other features like the sound lighting etc seemed to compliment it very well. The fact it was on a topic their target audience (University students) could relate to worked in their favour making it more enjoyable to watch.

I found the story ran through very well and kept my attention all the way through. It didnt feel like I was watching it for 2 minutes. All the cutouts were really well drawn which added to how realistic it looked; It was evident that they had put time into it. They used a music track through out the whole animation which complimented it all very well, and encouraged a smooth flow from scene to scene. So altogether it put across their message very well.

However... A couple of things I thought could have been better was, to use more frames to really highlight and show off the movements of their character; in turn making her look like she is more alive and less like a cutout. Also parts of the film were slightly jittery and were freezing up, which didn't really affect the quality of the animation, but could be something to consider. Apart from that, overall the animation worked well and was very enjoyable.

My Animation made through Stop-Motion Techniques

As part of my Educational futures module we were asked to create a two minute long animation made only with Stop-motion techniques. The objective was to deliver a certain message or moral through the 2 minutes and to show ability and convince the audience that the characters are alive and moving on their own.

Stop-Motion is a very tricky and time consuming way of creating an animation; although it can be a lot of fun and is very rewarding once watching the finished result of your work. Certainly a perfectionists nightmare! As so much can go wrong... even in the slight nudge of the camera their is a stress that follows, to get it back into the same position. Then there is the lighting, the characters, the stage and the background/setting as well as other things that have to remain the same from picture to picture; so use items that aren't likely to change on their own (unless of course it's part of the story for it to change).

I found when making this animation the easiest way was to do as much as I could in one run. Whenever I wanted to finish working on it for the day I made sure to finish the scene or get to a point where there was a fade-out or change of set so I could start afresh the next day; This helped to keep the continuity of the realism of the animation, and meant any slight changes over night didn't affect the animation.

Apart from these small details working on this animation turned out to be a very enjoyable process, even though very time consuming. However, this meant you could really invest your own creativity into it and really make it yours. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in animation.

So here is my animation called...

The Lion and the Monkey: (Hope you enjoy it!) Make sure you watch it in HD quality :). 

Stop-Motion Animation

Stop-motion animation is simply the act of creating a scene or character and taking lots of different photos of this scene or actor. However, in each different photo there should be a slight movement. For example, to move a character's hand you would take pictures of each different stage of the hand moving as opposed to just the start and finish result. Once you have taken all your pictures and created your story or scene, you then have to play all the different photos in quick succession of eachother or in a continuous flow (depending on whether you want a continuous animation or just a short scene). This then stimulates the brain and causes you to remember the last image and track the movement from that last image. Which in turn tricks you to believe that the image is actually moving. The more images you use the greater the animation should be, as there will be less gaps between each sequence and the movement should be smoother.

There are different methods or (in other words) different materials that one can use to create a stop-motion animation. Some examples of how one could create one is by using the method of:

 

Clay animation (or Claymation) - This (as you can probably work out) is using clay to create figurines or background sets to create an animation in the ways described above. 'Wallace and Gromit' is a prime example of how effective Claymation stop-motion can be.

Silhouette Animation - This is the use of character's or background's Silhouettes or shadows. One way you could do this is to use: a light, opaque card cut-outs and transparent paper and create an animation using the techniques described in the first paragraph of this post. 'The Magic Horse' is a prime example of how effective Silhouette stop-motion animation can be.

     

Puppet animation - This again is just a variation of materials used. This is the use of puppets to create a scene/story. The 'Fantastic Mr Fox' is a prime example of how effective Puppet made stop-motion animation can be.

 





These methods listed above are but a few of the many examples of creating a stop-motion animation. Effectively these are just the gateway in which one can step into and create an animation. MAAC (2013) states: "The limitless possibilities of using models and settings are dependent on the animator’s imagination. If your idea is good, then the medium is just a platform to give it a visual presentation." What the organisation MAAC is effectively stating here is: The creator has the control. There are countless ways or methods/mediums to use to create a successful and working animation, but how you do it, is completely down to your vision, inventive mind and imagination.

Some Advantages of Stop-Motion Animation: 

• Encourages Creativity.
• Encourages one to use their imagination.
• (In a simplified way), It could be implemented within learning inside schools as an activity. 
• Reasonably easy thing to do; although at the same time, can be extremely difficult to do well!! 
• Can be fun to create or watch.
• Creates Life.
• Attracts attention.

Some Disadvantages of Stop-Motion Animation

• Can take a long time to create, depending on the methods you use.
• Need the right equipment.
• It can distract from the main point of the activity or presentation etc.
• Can be hard to do well
• Can be costly if you want to do it well.

References:

Maya Acadamy of Advanced cinematics. (2013). Stop Motion Animation: Another Approach to Animation. Available: http://www.maacindia.com/blog/index.php/stop-motion-animation-another-approach-to-animation/. Last accessed 16/10/2014.