The Locations

I had to take pictures of a student house so that we could use the various rooms as reference for the backgrounds. These pictures were then drawn by Bianne and used as the backgrounds in our Animated Film. Bianne said, ' the rooms dont have to be messy or tidy, curtains can be open or closed it really doesnt matter. And we need about three pictures of each room from different angles'.

I found a house for me to take the photographs. Good friends I was with in Pope last year allowed me to take pics of rooms in their house. I asked my Director:

How many pictures of each location do u want me to take?

I have got my own Digital Camera, is that okay for me to take the pics with?

Do the rooms have to be messy or tidy?

Should the pictures be dark or light?

Should curtains be open or closed in the rooms?

Why exactly do we need pictures of different rooms in a house?

Short Stop Motion Animation Films

'stop animation'

Stop Motion Animation Practice Sessions

On the 22nd February 2010, Bianne, Adam and I practiced with Stop Motion Animation.

We did this exercise because we wanted to get to grips with the software and we wanted to get a more concrete idea of what styles of animation we could do for our short film. We experimented with the Software, 'IStopMotion' on an Apple Laptop. We used a 'Copy Stand' to make a brief animation. A 'Copy Stand' consisted of: Flat surface, projected lighting with a video cam corder above it. This experiment unleashed a lot of important questions and the answers would prove very valuable for when we make our actual Animated Film:

What did you learn? One of the most important lessons that I learned was the fact that making a 'Stop Motion' Animation took longer than some people originally thought.

What did you think of your test film? I thought that the test film went reasonably well. There was Team Work, Dedication, Confidence.

What surprised you?

How long did it take? 4 Second Film, took about 20 minutes to make, but that included preparing the film.

How might it affect your project? Timing is going to affect our project. Time Planning is crucial!

What are the implications for your film 'The House'? How has this affected how you plan to make the actual Animated Film?

What else do you need to know or explore to realise the film?

March 2010 Film Group Meetings

Bianne, Adam and I decided to turn Rosie Harris's Script called 'The House' into an animated film. We were told to construct lists of: Props, Locations, and Characters.

The Characters are: The actual House, Heather, Candice, Mr Green but he does not speak, Candice's parent, Heather's parent. However, when it came to actually making the Animated Film, we did not use parents for simplicity.

We cast April as Candice and Bianne as Heather. I was also in the cast list as the Narrator. However, I did not actually appear in the finished film, but my voice was used to help assemble the edit.

The Locations we used were: The Bathroom, The Living Room, The Kitchen, Candice's Room, Heather's Room, Outside the House.

The Props that we used were: Mobile Phones (Real), Shower Curtain (Real and a fake one), A Drink (Real), A Television (Real and also a fake one), A Rat (drawn), Some Slugs (Drawn), Box of Tea (a real one and also a drawn one), Worms (drawn).

There are different methods of 'Stop Motion' Animation such as Drawing, which is Ideal, easier, can be done quicker. Cardboard Cutout which takes a much longer time. Computer Animation which is very complicated and requires a lot of complex training.

The Procedure that we followed was: 6 Frames per second, Between 5 and 8 minutes, 1880 Frames for a 5 minute film.