Title Sequence Animation

For this new project, we have to choose a title sequence from a movie or television show to replicate in stop motion. I looked at a few openings of movies, including: The Lego Movie, Juno, Russell Howard’s Good News, and Catch Me If You Can. I found these all very interesting, and how much time it must’ve taken to plan, storyboard, and create. I also viewed the Monsters Inc opening, and found it very clever how the animation works with introducing us the world of Monstropolis, and also the credits of Pacific Rim, seeing how the graphics, colour and music come together.

The title sequence I have chosen is from the 2014 movie, Dinosaur Island. I found the sequence very cleverly made, as a watercolour effect has been used to show off some of the creatures in the movie. The music is very enigmatic, reflecting the mystery of the movie’s setting. I found it very effective, and had some ideas to put the sequence to stop motion. I plan to make the creatures move, using models I have at home, and use Final Cut Pro in order to help with the watercolour effect.

Stop Motion Test (Mr Mic)

Zoetrope Animation

This video shows how a Zoetrope works. To make it, I used an old bike wheel, black card, white card and a wooden base for the wheel to spin on. I worked in a group in order to make the Zoetrope. We came up with a design with smily face stickers and went about putting them in places that would make it seem as if they were moving. The design worked as can be seen above. We faced a few problems, including trying to piece the card together, coming up with a design, and making sure the card was the correct length. It took around two lessons (two weeks in between) to complete the Zoetrope. I think it was well worth the wait, as the animation flowed very well, and clearly shows the smily faces changing colour.

Animation Test Storyboard

Animation Test

Early Animation

Flip book:  I thought this one was very creativly done, and very impressed by the attention to detail, and how long it took to draw each image.

I found this example quite humourous, and very creativly done, with trying to get each creature in each stage of evolution.

Thaumatrope: Even though this is quite a simple illustration, it shows how a Thaumatrope works, and does make it seem as if the stick man is walking.Phenakistoscope: A very strange and bizzare example, but shows how a Phenakistoscope works.Zoetrope:  Shot by Eadweard Muybridge, this shows how a Zoetrope works, and how a horse moves, which proved very useful in understanding locomotion in animals.

Animation Techniques

Persistence of Vision: How the viewer perceives the still images shown. Similar to Stop-frame.

Stop-frame: (A.K.A Stop-motion) is an animation technique of moving a still image, and taking frames of each shot, appearing as if its moving on its own. Examples include the Ardman short films like Wallace and Gromit, many Ray Harryhausen movies and the television series Robot Chicken.

Frame Rates: Is the rate at which a imaging device produces a series of images/frames.

Traditional Animation: An animation technique where every shot is drawn by hand. Examples include many Disney movies like Snow White and Bambi, and some animated TV shows like Family Guy.

Digital techniques for animation: Essentially, this term refers to computer animated films, like Pixar’s Toy Story, DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek, and Blue Sky Studio’s Ice Age.

Application Software: Are systems which are designed to carry out operations for a specific application.