Keeping on the stop motion theme

I'm looking into animation in general and finding it a lot more interesting then I though, also turns out a bunch of the Media Studies stuff I learnt in 5th year in High School is coming back to me a bit and is related to this a bit!

So Why Animation?

- Animation offers a different representation of expression and anables greater creative freedoms.

-It can offer different representation of 'reality' or create worlds goverened by their own codes and conventions that are totally different from the real world.

- It can achieve anything that can be imagined.

^This last statement isn't so true for me because I am looking into stop motion which is more difficult to create absolutley anything.

I also find that animation is a lot easier to work with and control. Last year I found that it also came much more naturally to me then anything I had done previously. Also surprisingly I managed to create something light hearted from it, which as many of you are probably aware i don't do like ever!!

Anyway I'll post some things on the animation process and pre-production tommorow.

Circuit Board City

Here's a quick stop motion I did just to remind myself how and to make myself smile :)

And here's the stop motion Video I did last year, sadly without sound 'cos I don't have the full file.

Claymation

It's pretty interesting how the rocket  in: A Grand Day Out was made from cardboard, tissue paper and split peas, makes me think that it might be a bit easier to make animation then I thought. And if you want the real stuff then here's he advice: 


Clay animation

Probably the most traditional and best known medium for stop motion animation is Clay animation or claymation. The good thing about clay animation is that you are only limited by your imagination. Clay is a very versatile medium. It can be moulded and shaped in to anything your imagination can come up with. It is sometimes broken into two different categories. Firstly, armature based models and secondly free form or shapeless or free form models. Armature based models involve some kind of skeletal structure covered with clay. These armatures are usually made of steel or wire. Whereas freeform stop motion animation does not use any internal skeletal structure.
What clay is best or would we recommend? Oil based Clay or Water Based Clay ? Well any clay will work but some are easier to work with for a number of reasons. However we recommend oil based clay. There are a number of brands available for claymation such as Van Aiken. The other kind is water based clay. Water based clay is  clay mixed with water. It is usually inexpensive but must be kept covered or it will dry out. Water based clay is easy to work when it has just the right amount of water, which is easy to manipulate. Its disadvantages are equal to its advantages; it is often hard to control especially if a project goes into many days, it sags and separates easy, and it can't be used with plastics, epoxies or polymers.
Oil based clay is clay mixed with oil or combinations of oils. Unlike water based clay it will not dry out, but it will oxidize over time and become difficult to work.  Some oil based clays like plastina contain sulphur and can't be used with silicone moulding compounds. Plastina can be sealed with a coating of sealer or shellac but any coating of this type will take away some of the character of the clay.  Warming or preheating oil based clay will soften it and make it easy to work.
Some notes on Sculpey and premo. Sculpey, Super Sculpey (Polymer based), Premo can be baked hard so they are good good for parts that will not need to flex such as torso and mouth / expression pieces that are use as replacement parts.When they are baked they it are no longer effected by heat of light. However Super Sculpey stays more workable until heated than the other two. Note also that Premo is shiny when moulded by hand. According to Premo's site and we concur.. "Premo! Sculpey quickly reaches a workable state with minimal conditioning and remains soft and pliable while offering extra resistance without crumbling. Hint: Conditioning of all polymer clays may be facilitated with the use of a pasta machine. Simply cut the block in half and feed each half through the largest setting. Repeat 10 times more and your clay should be conditioned. It is available in 32 colors, including a lustrous Gold and Silver, and a series of pearlescent colors. Its artists’ color palette is modeled after oil paint colors and designed to make color mixing a snap. Mix Premo! Sculpey with other polymer clay colors, powders or pigments for interesting colors and textural effects."

More stop motion stuff :)

Interview with Nick Park...twenty years of wallace and Gromit!! No way! :)

I love that his answer to one of the questions is that because he was a student and not really caring to much about the logic of things, it reminds me of myself.

Think I might download this: http://www.ikitmovie.com/ when I get on my laptop at home and see if it's any good.


How to...

OK      Step 1  -  Choose your preferred medium to animate..What I mean by this is...what do you want to animate. Well there are a number of choices. Brickfilms or legomation has gained a following over the last number of years. It is simple to do and you have a ready made set, characters etc. as part of you standard LEGO kit. Clay animation sometimes called claymation is the traditional stop motion animation method most people are familiar with. For example Wallace and Gromit, Morph etc. Whatever you choose there are some common process or methods used in all stop motion animation.

• Camera Choice
• Software
• Lighting Stop Motion Movies
• Audio
• Special Effects

• LegoBricks and Minifigures  (to make BrickFilms / sometimes called Legomation )

• Clay                                     ( Claymation )

• Stikfas                                 (Stikfamation )

• Any old Object!

Lighting...

Who knew that it was just as complicated as a photo-shoot or movie.

Lighting - 3 Point System A basic lighting setup for Stop Motion animation should include at least 2 lamps to light up your scene and reduce or avoid shadows. However you should ideally have up to 4 light sources or lamps. But don't be put off, 2 will work quiet well. If you are using 4 lamps then they are categorised as      A Back light -  to illuminate the subject from behind. A Background light - to illuminate the background of a shot. A Key light - the main light source illuminating your subject or scene. A Fill light - to illuminate or fill in shadows and reduce contrast. The use of four lights is called three-point lighting. But you said four lights or lamps..I know but the background light is not counted really as it does not illuminate your subject but more the backdrop to your characters or subject. The combination of the four lights placed in  the right position, with the correct intensity and with the right quality will create an excellent effect. Firstly the "Key Light" is the main light that you will use for your brickfilms. It important that your key light is not too hard or too soft. By this we mean too bright or too dull (soft). If your light is very bright you can tone it down with greaseproof paper (also known as cooking paper / wax paper). We will talk more about this in our "brickfilm lighting tutorial" in the tutorial section. Key Light This is the main light. It is usually the strongest and has the greatest influence on the look of the scene. It is placed to one side of the camera/subject at anything from 15 to 45 degrees so that this side is nicely lit and the other side has some shadow. Fill Light This is the secondary light and is placed on the opposite side of the key light. It is used to fill the shadows created by the key. The fill is usually be softer in tone and less bright than the key. To achieve this effect, you could move the light further away or use greaseproof paper. Back Light The back light is placed behind the subject and lights it from the rear. Rather than providing direct lighting (like the key and fill), its purpose is to provide definition and subtle highlights around the subject's outlines. This helps separate the subject from the background and provide a three-dimensional look. The fourth light will be called the background light and can be used to illuminate the background of the set. Daylight is an alternative to artificial lights. However, the problem with relying on sunlight is that the sun moves in the sky throughout the day. Shadows will move on your set following the path of the sun. Clouds and other objects in the path of your light will cause unexpected shadows that you may or may not notice until after you have finished shooting your footage. If you do shoot by sunlight, be sure to work in the middle of the day when the sun's position in the sky remains fairly "constant". There are problems that you will encounter when lighting brickfilms that you would not normally encounter when filming people or other larger subjects and they are caused by their small size and their high reflectivity. Even when using the 3 point lighting system described you still may get white spots on you characters or bricks because they are so shiny and reflective. However if you do encounter this then either move your lights back from the characters or use more greaseproof paper. Experimentation is the only way you will get it right in time as every bodies  setup will be invariably different. to be continued...

Teclópolis from CanCanClub

This is just the trailer but the full film is amazing!!! check it out. At this link: http://www.dragonstopmotion.com/blog/2010/12/teclopolis-from-cancanclub/

http://www.artsconnected.org/collection/97714/red-adventure?print=true


http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/spartacus_chetwynd.htm

Combat Paper Project

Standard Operating Procedure

Left behind

Stolen Youth

These images from Combat Paper Project make me sad but I love them because they are so honest and thought provoking. And above all real I suppose. I hate art that hasn't really come from anywhere that was just made. I don't really know how to describe what I'm trying to say. Maybe I'll just let the images do the talking.

Art Therapy

I think I may have mentioned in a previous post that after my tutorial with Jim I realised what I really want to do (and have for quite some time wanted) was to get into art therapy.
When asked what am I good at? by Jim, I shrugged out the answer: helping people..looking after people and to my surprise he said: Yes.
It never occured to me that my automatic reactions to defend and protect people might count as a skill. Let alone a skill I could use after uni' in a professional environment.

Anyways I'm looking into trying to find an art therapy placement..it's not going so well, if anyone knows where I should be looking (bar volunteer scotland) please let me know. Also after my trauma rant I've decided to look up artist that use trauma in their art in one way or another. I'll post some links.

Everyone who was in my 2nd year class probably know I've already used my trauma in 'my art' but perhaps it is possible for me to take it a step further.

http://www.screamingwoman.com/
This woman (Toni Quest) was in a head on car collision and used painting as a way to help her heal in the aftermath.


http://www.tlcinst.org/drawingintervention.html
I've only skim read the above artical about using drawing as intervention with child trauma cases but it's still pretty interesting.

http://www.combatpaper.org/about.html
This is really interesting, it's war veterans turning their uniform into paper and then art. It makes me want to do stuff with old broken cars.

Trauma rant

After I read one of Alison's wee rants on her blog the other day I decided to have a rant of my own:

It's in relation to what was discussed on the first day and what makes a good artist. One of the things everyone seemed overly keen on was that trauma can make a good artist. Well I would like to beg to differ...Life changing experiences can have a positive (helpfull) impact on creating art sure, but trauma and especially untreated trauma can actually have a very negative effect on a persons creative abilities. Trauma can have so many adverse effects to a person in all aspects of their life, the worst part is that usually a person suffering effects from untreated trauma (or PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) have no idea that they are and that can make understanding whats happening to them very difficult.

PTSD can lead to insomnia and emotional numbing for starters..now tell me how that would help and artist?
Other trauma effects can be hostiltiy, arguments and self isolation...again is there any way that can really help an artist?
Then ofcourse there's the obvious reactions of depression, hopelessness, excessive guilt and powerlessness.
Also decision making can be effected and so can memory.

Now you might see why flippant remarks like: why couldn't I have had a trauma, might piss me off.

The after effects of anything trauamtic are without a doubt life changing, they shape who you are in one way or another - treated or untreated.

It's sad that trauam doesn't really make a great artist because if it did I would be fucking amazing. As it stands I'm stuck trying to remember how to function like an average person. This is no self pitying post, it's a bit angry I'll grant you, but mostly it's just informative and if you want to know more check out the links below:
http://www.ross-cohen.com/pdf/Emotional_Trauma.pdf


http://www.millspsychology.ca/Trauma.html

http://www.redbubble.com/people/monocotylidono/art/2738242-4-chain-reaction-by-ray-smith-milton-keynes


http://www.sfartscommission.org/gallery/2010/chain-reaction-11/

So sadly after last night today was not a day for research, going to uni, or even making it to the ski slope - despite the fact I have my new BigFoot's to try out. So I've failed again today. I've failed to do any work, leave the flat, go to snosports and meet my friend for a drink.
I'll make it to work so I guess on the upside I should be able to get out the movies Jim told me to watch. I wish I could function like an average person. I wish I didn't need a baby tortoise to make me get up in the morning.
Hopefully I'll be able to think of some group film idea later..unfortunately I don't have access to YouTube anymore cos we've exceeded our bandwinth. But tommorow I'll get my ass into uni.

Also can't believe how I forgot about this song!!

LINK>>>>>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLUX0y4EptA

It's so empowering :) Listen to it, if you can't get going on a day.

Tutorial one.

What a sureal day.
But on the upside I now know I am definitley interested in art therapy (I forgot again) and I've looked up volunteer scotland and there are loads of things...in fact too many. I'm going to go into the VSA tommorow and speak to them if I can. :)

I also found out that I like some of Fischli and Weiss's stuff. -

The way things go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXrRC3pfLnE

and

When attitudes become form: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRu9yIpc1Kc

Things the pieces made me think:

- Creation destruction of things
- Creepy
- moments when the line almost fails
- tedious
- explosive

I remembered about the video I did in first year, with my flick photo's and things. I wish I knew where it was.

Tom told me to look up Roman Signer.

And Jim told me to look up Michael Haneke he did the films - hidden and The White Ribbon.
He also told me to look at Ken Loach.

Today I still wasn't quite here. But after the tutorial and after skating and playing basketball with my mates tonight, I feel like tommorow I might be here :)

Research almost begins.

It seems Lucy Mackenzie is a Mc not a Mac..and she's a painter!! And exhibiting in the Saatchi gallery. I'm surprised.
To be honest if I was going to look at painters I would look at Norman Rockwell. His stuffs brilliant and he's done political stuff as well like Rosie the Riveter:

Link>>>>>http://www.rosietheriveter.org/painting.htm<<<<<I don't know why it's invisible but if you roll your mouse over it, it appears.

Tutorial

I'm interested in installation....I forgot about them, I forgot about the MoMa cars in Seattle and the installation I wanted to do last year. I forget everything. I hate it.

I need to research:

Lucy Mackenzie, Becca Lepescombe, Martin Creed, Fischn and Weiss, Paul McCarthy (SMAK), Daria Martin and Spartacus Chetwynd (thats not her given name, she changed it)

They do stuff a bit like I did last semester, with costume and performance and things.
I'm still not sure whether  I want to do similar stuff to last semester or whether I should do more personal things, like last year.

My Insurance case has ended. Well sort of. I have to wait for the final documentation and my murder money to come through.
I don't think I could redo anything about that again though..
I like documentaries though.

The irony of leaving that tutorial and seeing a poster that read:
Feeling Low?
Not enjoying what you used to?
Difficulties getting up in the morning?
The student Counselling Service is offering 3 sessions on self-help, self-awareness training on:
Depression

I had to laugh. The timing was exquisite.

I hope I didn't scare Joanne Tatham too much, I feel sorry for her having to deal with me first thing. At least I was on time..


I feel a bit better now I just saw Enda :) it's always good when you best friend comes back to the country eh.
It just sucks that my flatmates leaving the country. I really don't know what I'm going to do without her.

2nd Post

Yeah I know the post titles aren't very interesting yet..

I woke up today and felt better then last night so i reckon thats an improvement.. I got into uni half an hour early...thats just unheard of! And i'm about to go have that tutorial with that researcher person...I hope she doesn't ask me what my interests are I really don't have much interest in anything much at all at the moment.

*shifts out of mac lab and off to tutorial*

1st Post.

My heart sank when I saw that we have to do a blog this semester. Especially as it has to be read. I don't like the blog idea simply because I will end up saying what I think, the majority of it won't be about art and it'll piss people off. I think I do that enough as it is.

I turned up today, I didn't realise I was late but must have been. But lets face it i wasn't really there. I never really am.