2D and Stop Motion

While exploring different ways to incorporate different styles of animation into our pixilation, I had an idea that was similar to the Augdemented Reality videos, in the we could physically add cell animation into the pixielation as it is shot frame by frame. 

The John Lewis Christmas advert from a couple years ago did something very similar to that, in that they created a film by animating cell 2D animation and printing out the physical images and placing them on a stop motion set.

The style of animation used in this short is very stylised as they had a Disney animator to help, I was thinking for our film we could use more of a style used in Augdemented Reality, however, the concept is really clever. 

I believe this is the first time this style of animation, incorporating 2D and stop motion has been done before. It is a technique that adds a real sense of depth into the animation, and although we will be filming our pixielation on the floor so we wont get that 3D effect of the background, however, it might make for an interesting contrast of animation styles.

Video Research Pixilation

Sorry I'm Late

This is a pixilation, the reason we have looked at this video is because of the use of the bike. We were worried about how a bike would look lying flat on the floor, and whether or not it would be effective enough, or look like a fallen over bike. In this short it works really well as it genuinely looks like he is riding a bike. We began to suspect that perhaps it was filmed using a green screen, however, at the end it shows a short clip of how they made it, and it was all filmed in the pixielation method.

You and I

Here is another very similar pixielation we looked into, as they also use a bike, however, in this film instead of using a real one they make a fake frame using real tires, giving the impression of a bike. I feel this works really well, and perhaps if using a real bike doesn't work this is always something we can test out. I also like the using of everyday things creating exciting things, like the t-shirts as birds, and the sock representing a dragon, I think if we are to express the imagination of a child this is a technique we could also use. 

Amazon Kindle Commercial

Another pixilation from above, it is interesting to see how this style of animation has been used for main stream commercials, similar to the 1987 film The Way Things Go and the Honda Cog advert, as experimental films find these new techniques and as they can create such exciting visuals, commercial companies want to use them. This is also a useful short as the concept of it is to represent peoples imaginations as they read, similar to our concept of representing a child's imagination. Also it is interesting to see how they have used a bike, and the different ways of sitting on one. 

Bikes Make Life Better

Another member of the group had the idea to incorporate bike tricks like these, as the character reaches their 'teenage stage'. As we had the idea to change the bike into perhaps a horse on a stick when they are a child, showing how vivid their imagination is. However, as they reach the 'teenage stage' they lose this imagination but they haven't lost their fun and thrills in life. We realise this might be difficult to achieve, however, it is worth experimenting with.

Bike Pixilation idea

I am really excited at the prospect of animating a pixilation, as an animation student I spend lots of my time animating 2D digital, so the thought of animating something physically makes a nice change from what I usually do and gives me a chance to really experiment.

Our current idea is that we are going to have a person riding a bike, this will be in the form of a pixilation, the character will be lying on the floor as the pictures will be taken from the ceiling, allowing us to manipulate the floor as the background. We will use bright colours and exciting fabrics to represent the child like stages of life, and as the child grows up we will represent this by changing the fabrics to a more boring, dull colours.

After the meeting with Sarah I feel more positive about the idea, as she agreed that it is far less complicated than the previous idea and is more possible to achieve.
Our plan of action is currently:

to gather as many research videos as possible relating to the idea;

to then think of clever quirks we can add to our film, for example broccoli for trees when the character is a child;

to create some test shoots so we can test what works and what doesn't;

and finally to create a detailed animatic so when it comes to filming we know exactly what we are doing and when, so it can run as smoothly as possible.

Development and Progress

After meeting with the group we decided that although we all liked the idea and felt strongly about it, it was becoming too complicated and it would be difficult to get across the message across as we where trying to explain so many different things.

Instead we all decided what was our favourite part of the idea, and that was the idea of how a person loses the excitement they once had in their lives when they where a child.

We then had the idea to use something to represent how people progress through this cycle of life, and thought it would be interesting to snap back to a bicycle wheel. We all agreed we liked this concept of the bike, and thought what if we make the piece more metaphorical and had someone riding down a country lane with it heavily animated at the start to represent their childhood, and less animated towards the end to show how their life has become more boring and mundane as they get older.

We liked this idea and found some research videos

Ribena 

As we thought about what we wanted to animate, for example broccoli for trees, we thought perhaps we could use a collage style animation, like that used in this ribena advert. As they use existing images and animate movement onto them.

E4 Ident

Following on from that we discussed how we like the style of animation in the E4 idents, this is simply just stop motion, and to recreate this using a person on a bike it would require pixilation.

However, we realised the difficulty of trying to create a pixilation piece with the use of a person on a bike, as it would mean they would have to balance the bike in order to take the photograph. 

Then we posed the idea of having the character on the bike lying on the floor so the pictures will be taken from the ceiling, that way we can play with fabrics and items on the floor to make the background. This is a common thing used in pixilations as it allows for an easier way to manipulate the background.

Sophie's World

As a group we decided it would be good for all of us to read the start of Sophie's World, so we could understand the inspiration behind the idea. I do see how it plays a massive part for the inspiration as Sophie seemed to find almost everything interesting, she enjoyed looking deeply into things other people find less interesting, like a child's interest compared to an adults. She found things enchanting, like the bush as the back of her garden, as she called it her secret garden, and was deeply intrigued by the letters she received in the mail. I feel it is this kind of excitement we are going to try and make the audience feel when they are viewing the world for the child's point of view.

Amelie

Today after discussing more ideas the film Amelie came to mind, in the sense that the main character finds excitement in things most adult wouldn't, similar to the message we are trying to send to the audience that children find excitement in things adults don't. This is most apparent in the scene 'Things Amelie likes' in which the narrator explains things Amelie enjoys, such as going to the cinema, but rather to watch other members of the audience than the film, the feeling of sinking he hands into a bag of seeds, and skipping stones. 

Although it doesn't directly relate to our idea, it gives us some ideas of to what the children in our film could find exciting. Also perhaps the idea that, through her actions, Amelie brings excitement to other peoples lives, for example, getting her father to travel the world by stealing his garden gnome and getting her air hostess friend to take pictures of the gnome in different locations around the world. Perhaps this is something we could incorporate into our film, as people commonly say that children bring excitement into their lives

Another thing that really sticks out from the film is how visually bright it is, it uses such beautiful colours causing it to have a playful atmosphere, and this is something that I feel we could also incorporate at the start of the film when it is in the child perspective. 

Aug(De)Mented Reality

When discussing ideas with the group this animator came to mind. The style of his animation is an abstract way of using the cel technique. This was a technique created by Earl Hurd who was an animator at Bray Productions, which is one of the very first animation companies in America. The technique was simply animating on clear film so the backgrounds would not have to be redrawn with each frame. Here we can see how this animator has used that technique, however, he has applied it to real life backgrounds. This adds another element to the piece as he also uses pixilation so he can move the objects in the background.

The reason this piece inspired me the most was because of how he uses uninteresting settings, such as industrial bins or a library, and by using animation makes them more exciting. I feel this is really similar to the idea of adding animation into live action from a child's point of view, and also opens up the prospect of a new animation technique that we may be able to try out

Change of Direction

Finally now we have established a set group of 6 of us, 3 film students and 3 animation students. So far I've notice that by having a mix of students from different courses, both sides bring together different ideas and a different way of looking at things, and although we have only met up twice so far I have a really positive feel about the direction the film will take.

The original idea is Cassie's and she was inspired by a book she read called Sophie's World, as a group we have all decided that it is important to read the opening of the book so we can all fully understand the inspiration behind the idea.

The basis of our idea is to show the audience life from a child's perspective, to show how excited and vibrant things are as a child, and we will do this by animating onto live action with vibrant colours and exciting visuals. As the child grows up into an adult, there will be less animation and the colours will become more dull. Another aspect of this film will be a map, although we yet to decide how we will in corporate this element, the idea is to have a map that a first is built up and colourful, and as the child grows older the map will become lower and less colourful. Also we where thinking about incorporating different countries into it, for example, places like China have a different art style to our own and we began to think about how we could incorporate this into the animation. Cassie and Imogene also mentioned the possibility of using archived footage, I really like this idea is it means if we did want to use different places around the world there is a chance we could use actual footage filmed from that part of the world, which is a really exciting prospect.

Iannis Xenakis

After the lecture on experimental sound it made me realise the possibilities you can explore, at first I thought sound would just be something to add on in post production, it made me realise the impact proper sound can have.

One piece that stuck in my mind was the work of Iannis Xenakis, and his use of synthesised sound, it wasn't like any traditional music I've heard before as it strayed from conventions and most people wouldn't refer to it as music as it lacked the uniform structure, and this is the reason that it intrigued me the most.

He was a trained architect, which means when he created music it was from a mathematical perspective rather than an artistic one, this caused patterns to be created through his music, but patterns that differed from the norm.

Although I can't find an example of his synthetic music, these pieces still show this disjointed patterns throughout his work. It was Iannis Xenakis and Rudolf Pfenninger that where of the first to use these synthesised sounds and at that time it was a complete revolution, and because of their findings it made way for a new genre of music called electroacoustic. 

Electroacoustic music incorporates electrical sound production into compositional practise, it is a new genre of music and I feel like it is a unconventional style of music, and at times can be uncomfortable to listen too, and perhaps this is something work experimenting with in our film. My next step will be to research films that use electroacoustic music and the effect it gives.

What I plan to research

So far we have formed a small group and are currently looking for 2 more members to make a full group, the idea we initially have is to create and old fashioned style horror movie similar to ones like Godzilla and experiment with the different element of it, and perhapes make it more uncomfortable for the viewer to watch by using experimental techniques than a normal horror.

List of initial ideas
B- Movie Low budget scifi horror

Set in the 50’s
Black and white

2D animation/Stop motion/pixilation

Filmed on Lomokino camera

Some kind of monster terrorising civilians
      Aliens
Creature from the sea
Godzilla like creature
Science experiment gone wrong
Frankenstein like creature 
Something adapted by nuclear waste
Zombies

Todorov’s Narrative Theory
1 EQUILIBRIUM- happy start to the story
2 DISRUPTION- A problem disrupts the happiness at the start
3 REALISATION- everyone realises what the disruption was, and sees its chaos
4 RESTORES ORDER- The characters attempt to repair the damage 
 sometimes double twist
5 EQUILIBRIUM AGAIN- the problem is resolved and everyone is happy again.

Propp’s Character Theory
The villain (struggles against the hero)
The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)
The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)
The false hero (perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil)
The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)
The hero [AKA victim/seeker/paladin/winner, reacts to the donor, weds the princess

Product Design Ideas

Built up old 50’s America, possibly areas like San Francisco or New York City, because of the large body of water and iconic structures. (San Fran Bridge and NYC Statue of Liberty.)

Camera Tricks Ideas

First seen in Hitchcock’s Vertigo, it is commonly used in B-Movies, for example Jaws. A shot that zooms forwards on the subject while zooming out at the same time.

Dutch Tilt

A shot where the camera is tilted on its side, as can be seen in Bride of Frankenstein, in the beginning of the laboratory scene

High Angle Shot

Particularly useful in the damsel in distress scenes- see Hitchcock’s Shadow of a doubt

PoV shot

A way to see through the killers eyes. See Halloween

Films to research
SEE GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM FILMS eg. Nosferatu

The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari- for product design ideas (also German exp)

Jaws

Mars Attacks!

Godzilla- original

King Kong- original

Hobgoblins

Goosebumps The Movie - for a modern comparison

Frankenstein- 1931

Bride of Frankenstein 

Shadow of a doubt

Halloween 1978

My thought on films shown in the first lecture

The Incredible Story of Doctor Lomotnik

Link here

This short inspired me the most, perhaps it was the general story of it that intrigued me. It was a playful take on classic horror movies, particularly reminiscent of German Expressionism films. It was filmed using the Lomokino camera, being from the animation side I had never really considered using different types of camera and the effects they can give, so perhaps this is something I can look into experimenting with. I really like its black and white grainy effect as it already sets the tone and mood of the piece. It has opened my eyes in a sense that you can experiment with every aspect of the film and not just the content, and is something I plan to research further.

Tim MacMillan- Animal Tragic

Link here

It's an experimental documentary that uses the Bullet time technique. Bullet time was a technique invented by Harold Edgerton who was an engineer. It was then made famous by its use in The Matrix. Although it is not something that I plan to use in my film  it made me realise that you don't need to film a piece traditionally for it to be engaging. The shot appeared as thought it was a series of still images, however, the movement of the camera around the objects made for unique angles and shots that normally you wouldn't be able to see, which made it intriguing to watch. Perhaps I could look further into this to think about shooting the film from different angles, this is something I plan to also research further.

John Smith- Om

Link here

I found this film quite interesting as I noticed I seem to have a different reaction to other members in the audience, and it caused me to wonder what the film makers intention was when making this. It is a short satire piece that most people seemed to find amusing, and although I did really enjoy the twist in the short for some reason it made me feel quite uncomfortable. Perhaps it was becasue I felt almost cheated because I thought I was viewing something else at first, however, because of this the film stuck in my mind. Perhaps this is something I will also look in further, how film makers deceive their audience, and the effect this can have on their opinion of the film.