VISUAL LITERACY FINAL PROJECT

 

Final Project: Stop-Motion Animation Movie

 

*A bit more information is in the description of the video (not much at all, really).*

 

 

Production Journal: Just click the link below to download the file

 

PRODUCTION JOURNAL

 

*If you have trouble download the file, I posted what I wrote below, but it is a lot easier to read off of a Word document than off of a blog post.  Also, if you don’t want to download the file (since it might just take up unwanted space), you can just read below.*

 

 

 

 

 

PRODUCTION JOURNAL

Pre-Production

My original goal was to simply create a movie.  Doing a movie with real people, however, seemed a bit too “clichéd” in my eyes.  A photo essay, honestly, seemed a bit too easy, and I wanted to challenge myself more.  I was thinking of ways to make a movie without using real people and the stereotypical “final project movie.”  When I was looking around for some inspiration, I came across two things that I was quite familiar with.  One was anime (this seems quite obvious seeing that I’m Japanese and anime is a staple in our culture) and the other was stop-motion animation.  It wasn’t so much that I was inspired by these two, but I remembered how interested I once was in them and how badly I wanted to make something similar to it at that time.  There was the maker “Pes” (http://www.eatpes.com/) which created amazing stop-motion videos.

I decided to combine anime and stop-motion (partly because they are basically the same thing), and create a story out of the adventure of a drawing.  Immediately, I came up with a “cycle of life” kind of plot, where the end connects to the beginning.  I decided on a drawing because drawings can have an infinite number of possibilities.  It means that they can do illogical and inhuman things and get away with it.  With this, I wanted to create a movie that people can simply just enjoy.  What I wanted to do with this is to just entertain my viewers and show them what a pencil and paper can really do.  People can predict the actions of other people, but it’s impossible to predict what a drawing is going to do.  I just wanted to show off the possibilities of a living drawing, and allow people to enjoy my movie without having to think about it so hard.

All I needed was a pencil, eraser, camera, tripod, and lots of paper.  I was planning to make a giant flipbook, and then take a picture of each page.  I had a basic idea of the plot, so that wasn’t a problem either.  The only difficulty (which sort of mixes in with the “production” section) was the amount of paper based on the time and drawing the drawings accordingly.  A good speed for the movie seemed to be 5 frames-per-second (fps), which meant roughly 600 drawings for a simple, 2-minute movie.  I had to think of how long each movement should be in order for it to not be too long or too short.

Production

The production wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but it definitely took longer than I thought it would be.  With drawing, shooting, and editing, everything took about 3-4 weeks to fully finish.  Drawing 600 pages, although it may be hard to believe, takes an enormous amount of time, and so does shooting 600 pictures on a digital camera.  Several times I had to stop for an hour to let the battery recharge.  Since I had the drawing “escape” the boundaries of a notebook, I also had to cut hundreds of pages so that I would be able to animate the drawing on a table.

There were a lot of things that did work and a lot of things that didn’t.  The plot overall basically worked.  Almost 90% of the story, after all was said and done, I was satisfied with.  There were parts, though, that I had trouble with.  One part was running.  I plan to have a person run away from an eraser in the movie, but it was too time-consuming and hard to draw.  I fixed this by having the comical spinning circle to make it seem like he was running quickly (the advantage of a drawing~).  Another part was the ending.  I was planning to end the movie exactly like the beginning, but I realized that I had several problems with that plan.  One was the notebook that I was using.  I had to go out and buy small notebooks for my drawings, but the fourth and final that I needed was sold out (or more like I bought the last ones, so there was none left).  I had to settle with a larger notebook, which meant that making the ending the same as the beginning would be unsmooth.  What I had to do was what I did in the movie.  I had him run away from the eraser once again, but I had the hand take a light switch and turn it off to show it was the end.  Although it wasn’t exactly what I had planned, I was satisfied with it.

There was another large problem that I encountered numerous times throughout shooting my movie.  What I was doing with every picture was: take a picture, rip out that page, flip to the next page, take a picture, rip it out, etc.  Sometimes, though, I forgot to add an eraser or something was in the way, and I had to retake that picture.  But that page was already ripped out, so I had to find a way around it.  When these occurred, I usually just placed two paged on top of each other, with the top being the page I needed to retake, carefully place them in the right position, and then retake the picture.  Of course, if you look closely at the movie, you can clearly see which ones I had to retake, but when the movie is running at 5 fps, you can barely notice one page that is slightly different from the others.  I also did that for when I came to the end of the notebook.  I had to place another blank, ripped-out page on the other side to cover up the back cover.

I also had trouble arranging the cut out drawings to smoothly move on the table, but that I solved with careful placement.  On shots that were hard to tell with the naked eye, I: arranged the shot, took the shot, compared the shot to the picture before, went back and forth several times, and repeated it if I wasn’t happy with the movement.  Shooting the camera often gave me trouble too.  A lot of the pictures came out blurry because my camera couldn’t focus on such small drawings on large table.  No matter how hard I tried, it never went into focus, and I had to settle with what I had.

The last problem I faced was the music and sound effects.  I honestly was at a lost at what music I should have in the background, so I watched several other stop-motion videos for ideas.  I ended up “borrowing” a song from another video.  The other problem was the sound effects I wanted to incorporate.  It wasn’t as hard to place them in the movie, as it was to actually find them.  The iMovie software didn’t have a lot of the effects that I wanted, so I had to look online for placed that I allowed me to freely download effects.  Once I sound the site, though, I was able to get all the sound effects that I wanted.

Post-Production

Most of the solutions I encountered during the production, I was able to solve on the spot.  They weren’t extremely hard to figure out, and all it took was a couple minutes to sort everything out.  What I learned was how long it takes to create these videos.  I have even more respect for the people who make stop-motion movies well, and then some more at animators who create even smoother moving drawings.  Compared to them, my movie isn’t much, but I was still satisfied with my movie.  I thought everything overall was a success, and my only disappointment was that it wasn’t smooth (but that’s what comes with 5 fps).  My other disappointment was that some of the pictures didn’t come out as focused and sharp, but that was something I had to endure with my camera.

In the end, I was able to convey my original idea.  Aside from the ending, I think I was able to visually express my ideas on paper.  I think that is the good thing about drawings, that it can accurately take the form of ideas.  You can take an idea and put it straight onto a piece of paper without any changes during the transfer.

If I were to do things differently that would improve my overall project, I think I would make the frames-per-second even faster with more detailed drawings.  Sure it would take a lot longer, but it would make the movements smoother and easier on the eyes.  Some parts also seemed rushed, so I think it would allow it to slow those scenes down and make it clearer in expressing my ideas.

Overall, I really enjoyed my project.  I enjoyed thinking about this project, and I enjoyed making this project.  Although it was a challenge, I had a fun time drawing and shooting.  And especially at the end, seeing my drawings come to life was something that was extremely interesting to see.  It was a great experience for me to shoot this movie, and I would certainly consider doing it again.  Maybe next time I would make more of a mood piece rather than a story.  With a mood piece, you can have even more freedom, and you don’t have to have a specific beginning-middle-end plot.  Making simple movements that help lighten viewers up or calm them down would no doubt be interesting to make.

Photo Manipulation

I made two collages from my photo essay, and I didn’t know which to choose, so I decided to post both:

Collage 1:

Collage on Elm Street

For this collage, I decided to use the stores in the Elm Street photo I took, and in each big, open window, I put the rest of the pictures in the photo essay.  I applied some photo filters to make the pictures match the stores’ lights, and I also cropped the picture to make it an almost panoramic picture.

Collage 2:

iPad Home Screen

My second collage involved taking the iPad home screen (since I went to the Apple Store) and replacing seven of the icons with scenes from my photo essay.  The supposed name for the icon for each picture is now a caption for the picture.

 

Photo Essay and Critique

Photo Essay:

The story is about my trip to and from the Apple store in Bethesda for some cords and cases that I needed to buy for my iPhone.

 

Photo #1

I began my trip from Anderson Hall, where the AU shuttle bus always stops.  This is a photograph of the bicycles chained to fences in front of the clothes donation box.  It is next to the shuttle stop, under the dorm hall building.

Photo #2

This is the photo of the shuttle stop itself.  It took a while for the bus to get here, and an even longer time for it to leave the stop.

Photo #3

I finally got to the Apple store after a couple hours.  Choosing the right case and cord out of so many choices took a really, really long time.

Photo #4

When I left the store, it was already dark.  It really was a nightmare to get to the store and choose a product.

Photo #5

Walking through some of the streets in Bethesda to the metro station was a bit scary.  There are scenes like this, where everything around a door is dark, except for one lone light.

Photo #6

Eventually, I found myself back to the Tenleytown metro station.

Photo #7

Finally, tired and exhausted, I walk back down the stairs to my terrace-level dorm room.

Critique:

Photo #1:

I like the Photo #1 because I was able to frame the bicycles and donation box between the two brick columns that hold up the building.  I was able to frame it so that the emphasis of color goes to the color of the bicycles and the yellow of the box in between.  What I don’t like is how I wasn’t able to fully center the image.  It seems to be weighing a little more to the right, and it, in a way, throws off the balance of the picture.

Photo #2:

I like how I was able to capture the different colors of the two posters and the blue newspaper holder.  Each has a different, vibrant color of its own, and I was even able to frame the red poster with the butterfly within the frame of the shuttle stop.  I don’t like how it is on an angle, though.  Looking back at it now, I wish I had taken it from a more straight-forward angle so that I could see the rectangle of the frame better.  Then again, I wouldn’t be able to see the light blue of the poster if I took it that way.  I do wish, however, that I took the picture earlier in the day, when the colors would be more vibrant and bright.

Photo #3:

Again, I like the different colors of all the cases and boxes that were on display at the Apple store, and I especially like how the Apple employee in the back, with his bright blue shirt, fills that empty space.  What I dislike is the angle.  I wanted to take it (like Photo #2) on a more straight-forward angle, but this time the limited space in the store prohibited me to do so.  If i had taken the picture like that, other objects would be in the way, and cropping the picture wouldn’t make it any better.

Photo #4:

I enjoy looking at this picture because of the different colors of the lights from the stores in the background.  And even though the lights are bright, you are still able to see the “Elm Street” sign in the foreground.  I still wish that there were more colors other than white in the picture, and I wanted to fill that empty sky at the top, or add something a little bigger on the left side of the picture, since the two poles dominated the right side.  The description “it was a nightmare” was supposed to be a play on “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, by the way.  I did like that.  I thought that was quite clever.

Photo #5:

With Photo #5, I was able to capture the eerie side of the night life with the single light source over the door, but the picture isn’t as vibrantly colored as the other pictures.  I wanted more than the color green in the photo, and I also don’t really like the reflection of the light in the wall next to it.  It makes it seem like there are two light sources in the picture.  I do feel like I was able to recreate Eggleston’s style well in the picture, however.

Photo #6:

I like this photograph for its subtle framing of the “Tenleytown-AU” sign in the background.  The column that shows all the stops of the train, the ceiling (which is really the underside of the floor of the second floor), and the platform helps to frame the sign well, I think.  What I don’t like is how the colors are a bit dry and washed-up, and not as colorful.  The subway is dark, and when I tried using flash, the background was pitch black.  Despite the problems taking the picture, I like how there is a connection throughout the entire photo, from the red dots on the column matching the red lights on the platform, to the words “Tenleytown-AU” matching the words on the column.

Photo #7:

Photo #7 adds emphasis on the red on the pipes, but frames the small blue sign in the middle so that you can focus on that as well.  I think this picture also captures the style of Eggleston better than some of my other photos, because the white background also emphasizes the bright colors of the red and blue.  I just don’t like how it seems all “crunched” into the picture, since Eggleston’s photos are more large-scale.  Even his picture of the red ceiling looks like it has more room, but because I took it from the stairs in my dorm hall, I didn’t have as much space as I usually do to take a picture.  It ended up being a bit tight-fitted and too close-up.

On Emulating Eggleston:

I found emulating Eggleston’s style of photography to be quite difficult.  It was harder than I thought it would be.  His use of color, framing, and balance throughout the picture was something that I found to be a lot more difficult that I expected.  I definitely wasn’t difficult to take the picture, but it wasn’t easy to have it match up to Eggleston’s style.  My digital camera is obviously different from his, which makes our pictures come out differently, but the framing and balance was still hard to emulate in his style, even with modern technology.

On Improvement:

Since Eggleston is known for being able to see the complexity and beauty in the ordinary world around him, I refrained from using Photoshop to enhance my pictures.  I wanted to capture them in their regular image and states, rather than changing their colors artificially.  Some improvements that I could make are to better capture those vibrant colors.  A lot of those colors seems to get washed up and dry when I take them on my camera, so perhaps I can take them from a different angle, or use different settings on my camera.  That I can even be able to better balance my pictures, or change the framing of the object.  I may even be able to add some fill to open space.

Newfound Appreciation?

Although I found it a lot more difficult to take good pictures than I expected, it didn’t necessarily make me appreciate artists more.  I knew professional photographers before, and some of my friends are into photography, so I already knew how difficult it was to take pictures.  I already had a high appreciation for photographers, and this never really raised the bar to a higher level.  I didn’t surprise me, either, that it was harder to take than I had expected, and it certainly didn’t take me by surprise that some of my pictures were horrible.  It’s not like I don’t appreciate these artists and photographers, but there really isn’t any new appreciation from this.