To follow my what has become yearly tradition of forcing myself to do an animation for Valentine’s Day.. I’ll probably go back in and rework some things in this since Rome wasn’t built in a day (but this was) and I didn’t have the hang of the things I needed, but I think it came out alright anyway.. sleep. Happy Valentine’s Day…
I’m finally putting my new animation & motion software into use as I work on a short, simple Valentine’s Day animation. Of course, there’s always a glitch.. My software driver for the sound mixer (that brings the sound from the microphone to the computer) is a little old and discontinued (although it works perfectly well on my brother’s computer), does not work with my operating software on my new computer, so sound quality won’t be where I want it since I’m recording through the computer mic, but oh well.. I think it’ll turn out alright anyway. Here’s my previous valentine’s day themed animations from the previous two years. (I always feel like I’ve drank 5 pots of coffee when I’m making animations.. that’s how I know I like it so much — I get all excited.. hopefully I can make more time to make lots more.)
I threw these together to help myself along in the planning of my animation(s). For anybody that wants to use these, click on the images to download a printable PDF file. The storyboard is used to sketch out the images, plan the scenes and duration of each scene.. a sort of overview of the entire animation.
The exposure sheet is used to get into the nitty gritty and plot out actions along with dialogue and any other details. The numbers running down the sides are for each shot — I skipped in two’s because I usually shoot at 24 frames per second, shooting two identical frames in a row which breaks down to 12 movements for each second. In other words, for every second of animation that I make, I have to take 24 photos. There are 18 seconds on this sheet, so for a 5 minute animation, I’d basically use about 17 of these sheets (I won’t lie, I’m not that organized and will probably just scratch notes for certain instances rather than plot the whole thing in such detail).
Another great from the National Film Board of Canada – an Eskimo folk tale in stop motion animation, directed by Co Hoedeman.
A new 3/4 size Fender classical guitar has joined the family… and I borrowed a small mixer and mic from my brother, a sound engineer. I may be overly ambitious with my minimal abilities, but I’ve got nothing to lose. Trying to plot an animation & soundtrack in my head. I keep going back & forth on where to start first — the images or the music (whatever it is, it’ll be short). The Lawrence Arts Center’s Freestate Film Festival submission deadline is Mar. 1… thinking that might be a good deadline to get myself going (I said that last year too… but I’m well equipped now.)
Although I bought a merchandise unit (as mentioned before) that I had planned to modify into an animation table, I decided to order a 42 inch camera rostrum (also known as a copy stand) that I can use in conjunction with that unit. This basically holds the camera up so that it can shoot straight downward, and you can move the camera up and down with incremental measurements marked on the stand (good for zooming in and out in stop-motion animation). It will also double for photographing artwork that is too large for my scanner. Wins all around! The other unit will eventually hold this rostrum and have glass (or plexiglass) shelves that will sit between the camera and the lightbox for animations that are layered. And this saves me from having to build a piece to hold the camera. Now.. must invent more time to play.
I’ve been a fan of Monty Python for as long as I can remember and especially of the stop-motion animation work throughout their shows done by the one and only Terry Gilliam. (WARNING: There are some graphics in this video that are not suitable for children or work.. depending on where you work I guess).. If you’re at all interested in old-school stop motion animation techniques using cut-outs and are not offended by unclothed body parts and somewhat twisted humor (it’s really not as bad as I’ve made it sound, but.. I like to cover all my bases), check this video out.
I got my new Canon EOS 60D in the mail yesterday and I was surprised at how it dwarfs my Nikon D40.. Here they both are with the zoom lenses attached. I can’t wait to lug this thing out on some country roads for some wildlife (or at least some winter foliage) action. It’s been awhile.. I also can’t wait to get my animation rig set up. Computer with animation software should be in house by the end of the weekend, and I’m plotting out some sort of structure to animate on that will suspend the camera directly above my animation surface. I’ll probably start out with just a tripod above my lightbox since this is something that will have to be built.. but I’ve built one before (err, 9 years ago with wood and hot glue and aluminum foil…) and I’ll do it again, but hopefully it will be a little more sound this time.
Nerd speak to follow: In serious effort to do the thing I’ve really been longing to do, which is more and better animation (what originally got me into paper cutting), I’ve taken a slight plunge and am outfitting myself with some new equipment.. I’m putting aside my Nikon d40 for a Canon 60d which comes with live view (and will also be a step up in my photography endeavors — getting an extra lens that zooms to 300mm for some serious wildlife closeups). I was using an old digital camcorder from the 1990’s to shoot my animation, and the image quality just wasn’t near what I want it to be. With live view, I can integrate this DSLR camera into my animation setup for image capture on the spot, and I’ll be using Dragonframe, the same software used to create Paranorman, Frankenweenie, and hundreds of other amateur and professional stop-motion animations. Dragonframe is actually able to control the camera, giving me better results as far as the image capture alone goes. I’ve also decided to invest in a desktop iMac and use the Adobe Production Suite for my editing needs. This gives me access to After Effects, an amazing motion effects software, and easily works between Photoshop and Premiere for editing and sound addition. I’m also looking to set up a very basic, but good, sound recording gitup so I can make my own music (I’ve been working hard at the ukulele for a reason!). Of course, more paper cuttings to come as my art fairs come to an end for the year (and won’t start again til next April..), but also, new paper cut animations as well. It’s been a long time since I’ve worked with any software that’s not completely basic, but I’m looking forward to figuring it all out, because as I think I’ve said before, there’s no better feeling for me than what results from seeing my artwork come alive on a screen.
Between doing art related work, I decided to take a classical turn in my approach to learning the ukulele today, learning a uke version of Francisco Tarrega’s Study in E Minor (my proud, yet very rusty abbreviated version in the video with only one mistake at the end). Also working on a version of the traditional Japanese folk song Sakura Sakura.
One of my ultimate goals with this is to be able to do some animation and produce my own soundtrack for it, non-digitally. I think that would be awesome…. I haven’t done as much animation as I had hoped this year – not even scratched the surface, but I’m trying to reorganize my mind these days and focus in new directions. And the ukulele & animation is one of them.