Objects At Rest

explorations in audio and moving imagery

Category: Video

  • StopMo, Music and Music Videos

    I usually listen to music when animating. For the Vitruvius project I’ve been enjoying a mix of recent releases from bands such as Dungen, His Name is Alive, Simple Minds, Daniel Lanois and Wolf Parade.

    Speaking of Wolf Parade, I found the following music video of their song “Modern World” on YouTube. It looks to be stopmo and/or puppet animation. I like it, particularly the animated machine at the end of the clip.

    Michael Granberry at Red Hatchet Films is in production on a stopmo music video and the Vines animated video was making the rounds not too long ago.

    It would seem to be a good time for stopmotion animators and music videos.

  • Updated: Applied Flash-based Choreography

    I used the Flash pre-visualization test (see previous post) to assist with a very short test using my actual set and objects. I printed out the Flash movie as a series of small thumbnails on 8.5″ x 11″ paper. I then used the printed sheets of individual frames for visual reference when animating the objects, very similar to a storyboard.

    photo

    This is a small sample of the actual prints which take about 3 sheets of paper. I also wrote notes on the paper such as the tops of the objects and rotation heading so I could keep track of which way to move things with each shot. I discovered I needed to do that in the middle of shooting when I forgot which way something should be turning!

  • My First Stop Motion Tests: 2003 – 2004

    Prior to 2003 I had been working with Lightwave and 3D computer graphics as my medium for independent film projects. As it turns out those projects never left the pre-production phase because in 2003 I made a wooden ball-and-socket joint to see if it would simulate the function of a metal armature. The results worked well enough for me to develop a full character armature (which is what you in the test video). I had never done stopmotion animation before but found the armature was a pleasure to work with and the results were sufficient. Subsequently, I made the short film “Man Drawing a Reclining Woman” using this method for the two characters in the film.

    The wood is basswood, which is stronger than balsa but still very light, and the wooden beads have pre-drilled holes that can hold a section of square basswood or a dowel rod pretty well. For the joints and plates I used the open hole socket method and 4-40 bolts and nuts to sandwich the beads between the plates. Superglue and hot glue were used to hold various non-moving parts together.