Art 1601 :: section 01 :: Spring 2008

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Project 1 – By Matt Wenger

The whole idea for my video is that a dream is taking place. It’s a video about the random images that come to us while we sleep. It starts out with me waking up in bed, so you really don’t realize that most the video is a dream until the very end when I jump back to myself sleeping in bed. And then, the ending scene is the same as the beginning scene, but the second time around is reality. This last scene is important to understanding that what happens before was in fact a dream, because without this scene the video would just seem like a hallucination or some other sort of weird and twisted reality.
The first animation sequence is based off of two different dreams that I’ve had. One dream was about a UFO floating outside of my window, and the other dream had to do with a green bunny wearing a mask. So I decided to combine the two dreams together. I added snapshots of myself into the scene to make the scene more interesting. I try to hide from the UFO and that combination of the UFO floating and me hiding creates more interest in the scene.
The second animation sequence is Paris. I often dream of being in different places, so this animation scene addresses that capability of a dream and expresses the urge to travel. I added the flying parrot to create some movement in the scene, because otherwise it would have just been that shot of Paris, which may have gotten a little boring.
The third animation sequence was by far the most challenging of them all. This is the flooding water animation. This animation was hard because it’s really difficult to animate water and have it look smooth. Also, it was so challenging because it had the most layers in it to work with out of all the animations. The turtle and shark are just cropped out from other images and then I just changed the size of them to make them feel like they were swimming in this dense water that had flooded my building under.
The last animation is a mixture of a dream and what’s going on outside of my sleep in reality and how that outside reality affects my sleep. This is why I chose not to place the still images of myself into this scene, because it’s almost like I’m being taken out of my sleep. Also, adding myself would have distracted from the singer, so that’s another reason I chose not to include myself in this animation. So what’s happening is that reality is tainting the dream state and this is shown with the use of the song, “dream lover�. Because in reality, the alarm goes off to wake me up and that song comes on, so that’s how I get the image in my dream of this singer, Bobby Darin, singing as if I’m watching him perform on stage. For this animation, the most difficult part was trying to match up the singers movement with the song. Mostly it was a matter of matching his mouth movements up with the words of the song, and this took a very long time to get down and then once I was finally satisfied with it, when I exported the video, the timing was adjusted around a bit and so it doesn’t look as smooth as it first did. But I was happy with how it all turned out for the most part.

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My project was inspired by the idea of ghost figures that haunts every stage and theater, in this case, the "Barker Ghost" that a lot of the dance majors in the Barbara Barker building talks about. In this story, Renee, the dancer/choreographer comes into the building one night trying to choreograph but comes up with nothing, which is apparent in the blank notebook. Jin-Ming who plays the ghost, follows her and watches her wants to have some fun and takes Renee's notebook. The cat and mouse chase happens here, the dancer trying to get her notebook back from the mischievous ghost. At the end of a hallway, the ghost gives the dancer back the notebook and there's things written down on notebook which was blank before. In the perfect world I would've inserted a dance film at the end, but since I haven't had time to rehearse it with the dancers I decided not to include it... besides the fact that it wasn't a good version of the dance itself.

I came with some vague layout of my shooting sessions with the actors which I think time would've been much more efficient if I thought the project through previously and know the exact angle shots and picture proportion, etc because at the end I had to schedule three shooting sessions in total, which was really hard to coordinate with my schedules and their schedules considering they have previous commitments to other art projects. In the beginning where the shot starts at the outside of the building, eventually moving into the studio, I tried to setup the place and also the view of the person who was walking into the studio. The dropping of the mitten (which doesn't really look like it from the angle I took) allowed the ghost to enter and pick it up. I tried playing with the ghost's visibility and invisibility with angle switches. The cat and mouse scene in the lobby of the building was a great place to shoot since there are so many ways that I can show them running after/away from each other. It was a really time consuming project but in the process I've learned a lot about filming (and how important it is to plan ahead) and directing and communicating what I wanted with my collaborators.

Posted by lungx009 at 5:47 PM | Permalink

http://sparkfestival.org/

Posted by Katinka at 4:39 PM | Permalink

Learning To Love You More
http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com/hello/index.php

Be Kind REwind
http://www.bekindmovie.com/youtube.html

Artists:

Kara Hearn
http://www.karahearn.com/

Pierre Huyghe, The Third Memory (1999)
http://www.ubu.com/film/huyghe_memory.html

Pierre Huyghe, Remake (1995)
text taken from http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/03/28/salla_tykka_trilogy.html
"Huyghe's Remake is a video reproduction of Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), in which the actors attempt to perform the original actors' words and actions from memory."

"Huyghe's The Ellipsis (1998) shows three scenes on a singular elongated screen. Two scenes are taken from Wim Wender's The American Friend (1977). In the first scene, the main character, played by Bruno Ganz, phones someone from his apartment before leaving to meet that person. In the second scene, we see the main character in the corridor of an apartment building standing in front of a lift. Huyghe filmed and inserted a third scene, the ellipsis, which shows the sequence of how the main character leaves his apartment and arrives at the other apartment, tracing his walk out onto the street and across a bridge. Huyghe remade this scene with Ganz 20 years later. The purpose of Huyghe's intervention is supposedly to draw attention to Hollywood's foreclosing of real time by means of the illusions of montage."

Jeremy Deller, Battle of Orgreave
taken from http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/theworldasastage/jeremy_deller.shtm
"The miners' strike of 1984 – 5 was a landmark in the history of industrial relations in Britain. Beginning as a protest against the closure of 20 pits, it ended with the defeat of the National Union of Miners and the destruction of many mining communities. One of the most controversial episodes was the so-called 'Battle of Orgreave', a violent clash between police and striking miners at the Orgreave coking plant in South Yorkshire. Eighteen years later, artist Jeremy Deller staged a re-enactment of the battle. Former miners and policemen who were involved in the original battle took part, alongside members of historical re-enactment societies. The Battle of Orgreave Archive (An Injury to One is an Injury to All) (2004) shows the detailed preparations underlying the project, which brings together personal memories and scrupulous historical research."

Runa Islam, Tuin, 1998
http://hers.steirischerbst.at/htm/d_islam.htm
text taken from http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/runa_islam/
"Islam’s previous citations of canonical European directors have primarily been a means for an investigation of technical concerns: her 1998 film Tuin is a remake of a scene from Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Martha (1973), featuring a 360-degree turn of the camera."

Posted by Katinka at 6:46 PM | Permalink

For my stop-motion-animation project, I used the camera to tell a story of a young man who magically transfers from one place to another every time he clicks the TV remote controller. I have always been fascinated with humans and their interaction with time and space. Various technological advances have made our world a lot smaller than it use to be many years ago. So, for my project, I decided to take that notion a step forward and have my character jump from one place to one another at the click of a button. Through the use of moving pictures, the interaction between time and space is manipulated.

My short clip consists of three main different scenes. Two of them take place indoors and one is outdoors in day light. In order to make the transition from one scene to another more believable and realistic, I had to adjust my color balance and hold the same camera position. The fist scene begins with my subject walking in to his empty apartment. We follow his actions across the apartment space until he is situated on the couch in front of the TV. The shot where we see the making of the jelly sandwich is placed to in a way to prepare the audience for what is to come.

The first transformation happens in the couch shot. The subject picks up the remote control to flip the channel, but in stead of the TV channel clearly audible in the back ground changing, the entire apartment space changes. The completely different outside setting is meant to symbolize the significance of the transformation. There is a noticeable difference in the space and time of the day. The hard cold wind and snow on the ground blowing from one side to another is meant to give the scene a very secluded and surreal look. The pace of the action is manipulated by freezing frames and adding music so that certain shots can stand out more. Once more our subject points the remote directly towards the camera and clicks a button. That of course is used to help transfer the scene in to a different place.

The third and the last scene is the only one we are introduced to others characters. However, we soon discover it doesn’t last long. Once more in this scene, I tried to keep the same shot composition so that the illusion of the surrounding changing not the subject can be created. In this particular scene, sound plays an important role in creating the mood. The couple of laugh tracks added in the scene show our subject who appeared to be alone in earlier scenes, enjoying himself for the first time in the presence of a girl. When we get the shot of the remote traveling by itself, a sound of heavy heart beat is played in the sound track. That of course completely changes the mood of the scene. The scene that was filled with laughter and good conversation immediately flips to a darker atmosphere. At this moment, the audience should be anticipating for something bad to happen. A new figure is introduced to the scene. He picks up the remote and points it to our subject and his lovely companion. The same remote that got him to this happy place, is in the verge of taking it all away. That’s when the entire frame freezes. And the only thing we can hear is the heavy sound of a heart beat. The screen goes black leaving the audience to decide what is to happen to our subject and the girl.

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Posted by Tsinu Heramo at 6:00 PM | Permalink

The 5 Stages of Grief

My video, The 5 Stages of Grief, turned out pretty much the way I wanted it. As far as the story goes, it stuck pretty much on top of the proposal for the entire thing, though I did make a couple deviations for simplicity’s sake (takes place in one day, no extra characters, etc).

The majority of changes that took place between concept and final product are technical. One of the big changes I ended up having was a total lack of audio. After recording a rough set of sound effects and syncing them to the video, it became apparent that having a couple sounds was worse then none as they made the silence feel more obvious. I tried unsuccessfully to fill the void with a backing track; the music just didn’t fit the movie the way I had hoped.

The other idea that gave way rather quickly was the use of title cards that would have been printed with the main character’s dialogue. After seeing how much needed to be “said� throughout the piece, it seemed like too much to be constantly pausing for a title card. Instead, I went back and photoshopped thought bubbles for everything that the characters were thinking/saying. I think this was the best way to do the job without having to rely on audio to convey the message.

The process from beginning to end took about as long as I figured it would, but I ended up allocating my time differently than I had originally anticipated. For example, I thought I could do all the filming for the project in a couple hours. However, over the course of three separate shoots it took a total of about 6 hours… well over what I had planned. The editing took considerably less time than I thought, totaling two in class work days (coming in an hour and a half before class each time) in addition to about another 2 hours at home doing photoshop edits on the individual frames.

I would say that filming was the most difficult part of the project. Not only did it take the longest, but it required the most thought beforehand. I realized after I wrote my proposal that I had to sit down and write out each individual shot that I was going to take so that when my “actors� arrived we could get straight to shooting instead of having to sit on our hands. Besides filming, photoshopping the individual frames was the most time-intensive part of the project. I had over 100 frames that I had to hand adjust, including the “Hulk scene� and the “Mortal Kombat� scene.

Overall I’d say that the project went fairly well. Compared to previous experiences with stop motion, this one was a much more positive experience.

Posted by sabl0015 at 3:18 PM | Permalink

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My stop-motion animation changed a bit from the original idea I had when I started thinking about this project. I had no real source of inspiration or influence when I began working on ideas and a storyline, but I managed to pull together a small plot and work it into my final project.

My original idea was to merely show the struggle of one piece of paper as it tried to move like the rest of its brethren into the glass jar, but as I sat in front of the camera and physically began to shoot, I saw how I could make it a bit more fun and interesting with the props I used. I felt that I was able to portray the ambition of a larger group when trying to overcome an obstacle through creative problem solving. I was even able to incorporate my original idea at the end.

The lighting of the area I was shooting (my room, which has two large windows on adjacent walls) as well as the battery life of my camera influenced the lighting of the final shots I took. Throughout the shooting, I was forced to stop and recharge the battery quite a few times, and as the sun set and the night grew darker, I had to adjust the camera to get a similar lighting pattern throughout all the pictures I took. I feel the uneven shadows across all the images gives the animation somewhat of a messy feeling, and I was not able to capture the light and child-like feeling I had pictured in my mind when putting the idea together. Working with small bits of paper was harder than I expected, but with the help of trusty clear tape and a small pocket dictionary, I was able to not pull out all my hair by the end of the shooting. The sound was probably one of the things I had the least ideas on, but after a bit of thought I managed to come up with a few odd sounds and make it fit with my final project.

I used a repetition of images and home-made sound effects to make the animation a bit more playful than it was during my rough draft. A few tricks that I used in the final animation include the “run� of the star box after its thorough examination of the glass jar, and near the end, when I showed the slow pace of the final piece of paper with the quick appearance and disappearance of numerous other paper stars.

Posted by vangx570 at 2:46 PM | Permalink

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The idea for my project stemmed from wanting to represent the emotion of being overwhelmed by the everyday things in life, sometimes things that do not ultimately mean much. I initially came up with the idea of filming a fishbowl, stuffed one by one with pieces of filth and garbage until it overflowed, representing the idea of a mind stuffed so full that it can no longer accommodate more. Thankfully, the project grew into more than just two minutes of a glass bowl being stuffed with an assortment of discarded materials. Adding the little man to the film adds a human element and a storyline. I kept the idea of the fishbowl, instead drawing it in the background of the whiteboard and using paper for the moving objects. Over time, the film developed more into a comment not about an extraordinarily overwhelming situation, but the monotony of everyday life and how ironically overwhelming it can be to just passively have life happen to you, and how you can sometimes be powerless over your own priorities.

The entire story took place on a whiteboard. This was particularly convenient when it came to the parts of the film where the woman and the little man needed to be slowly erased, which was used to signify something that has dissipated, faded or fallen into sleep. It also helped the process that it was unnecessary to draw a completely new picture for each frame or to erase or cover something more permanently. Overall, I would estimate that shooting the actual footage took approximately eight hours.

Editing took longer. I tried inserting different sound clips, but none of them quite worked. I tried using static throughout the piece to signify the mundane, or the continuous, but it sounded unnatural and forced. Then I tried inserting clips to, for example, go along with the appearance of the frying pan, or the newspaper unfolding, but this sounded cheesy. I ended up keeping the static at the very beginning and end, leaving it to fade out. This, I feel, effectively signified a continuum of events without being too distracting.

My first draft of this project ended up being thirty seconds long, and unable to replace and redraw everything to a tee, I had to reshoot the entire thing from scratch. Oh well. Such is life. In my finished product, two problems resulting from the shooting of my project remained after editing. At the beginning of my shooting, I was under the impression that the camera at my disposal at the time did not allow for the adjustment of white balance, so I left the setting on automatic and tried to make up for it with lamps to control the actual lighting environment. Of course, having shot this in pieces (about three or four) at different times of day over the course of a few days, there were variations among the lighting of the shots. Throughout the duration of the shooting, I also changed tri pods three times and took the camera off of the tri pod to charge it at least three times more, resulting in a handful of awkward semi-shifts when realigning the equipment just right did work out as swimmingly as I’d hoped. Some unwanted objects made appearances at the margins of my rough draft, but these little blemishes were easily remedied using Photoshop.

Posted by subi0007 at 2:34 PM | Permalink

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I knew I wanted my project to consist of people, rather than drawings, clay, or anything else than people, because I have no talent in those areas, and this did not seem like the appropriate place to start experimenting with different types of media. My idea is basically about a brother who has an annoying little sister, but like in real life, the little sister always wins. I knew I wanted it to be funny and sort of cute, rather than serious. The concept was just fun, and reminded me of cartoons. The “pots and pans� wakeup seem like a stunt a kid’s show would do. And parts of the movie were silly, like when the boy, after he was thrown, suddenly turned towards the wall. I felt the entire movie had a childish feel to it. The only problem, if it actually is a problem, with that is that the photography had that feel to it too. I am a very amateur photographer, and this is the first time I had to take pictures in a non recreational setting. But I think the not so good quality of the photographs just helped add to the air of childishness. The sound also worked with the entire theme of cartoon and childishness. The sounds are silly, and they, themselves sound like a child made them. Everything was a little over the top, and the best way I can describe my movie that it has an air cartoons and childhood.
I had to shoot my movie on two different days, because the movie was way shorter than I thought it was going to be. I didn’t realize how many pictures had to be taken in order to fulfill the length requirement. It was very tough on the characters to stand still while I, amateur that I am, had to fiddle around with the camera settings and location. The biggest problem I had was the lighting. I didn’t realize how difficult it was to control it, and I had the misfortune to be filming in front of two windows, so whenever either character moved, the light was change. I was able to keep it at a minimum except for certain parts where I just couldn’t do anything. It also didn’t help that it was getting kind of dark outside, so the light changed that way too. This can be seen clearly near the end of the movie. The only change I really had to make was to extend the story a little longer, but I was able to think of it quickly, and did not take that much longer to shoot.

Posted by Alina Cheng at 2:16 PM | Permalink

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My video initially started with the intent of being a play on the involvement of a narrator in storytelling. Since the narrator in a story is generally there to fill in background information or set the scene, I was trying to play with the idea of the narrator interacting with the physical characters. After a rushed series of last-minute changes, I chose a romantic movie as my setting, and shot my slides. I fit narrative audio to the images, and for the characters used a different form of communication (written text) to represent their speech. I did this to reinforce the normality of the narrator in a film coming across with words and the characters not being able to hear said words.
The twist to my video comes when one of the characters can “hear� the narrator. They play off each other, while the second character hears nothing and becomes increasingly confused by it. The narrator furthers his “involvement� in the acts taking place in the story by causing popcorn to jump, drinks to swap, and even causing characters to shift position. These are the “tricks� I incorporated into the video, alongside some transition effects and modifications to duration.
This video began with the idea as stated above, but with what I feel to have been a lack of planning in the areas that mattered, such as scripting the dialogues, and preparing audio samples or finding background music to fit. The music I use in the background is intended to fill in the gaps in speech of the narrator, because the two characters communicate without audio. I used a lot of fade-ins and fade-outs to transition between the “scenes� because it was simple and represented a lapse of time that otherwise may not be as obvious (based on image speed and audio playback).
I have many could-have and should-have feelings about this project, and have learned a few things about preparations needed before shooting begins. I found that with stop motion, unless I am trying to simulate video, far fewer images are used than are actually taken. This is useful because it helps you cut out bad shots. Also very important is to have a diverse plan before you do any shooting, including music to be used, if any, scripts to be used (verbally as well, even if in this case I didn’t need them right away) and a general degree of confidence in the fact that it can fit together when you splice and dice out the images. The less you “have� to change post-shooting, the more coherent your ideas will be coming out of the final version.
I also wasn’t sure about credits, but will list them here:
Video by Ken Shores
Jon played by Jon Clifton
Kate played by Carly Buchanan
Music by Andy Livingston

Posted by shor0090 at 6:42 AM | Permalink

Reality TV

My project turned out a bit differently than originally planned, but what anything goes exactly the way you planned it. My original idea was for the main character to make sort of pseudo magic in his apartment by imagining himself do it on TV. Presently, the concept is similar but I went about it in a different way. I had intended to make very craft homemade-y effects with snow and other things to create the illusion of winter inside his apartment. Now, I still use some of the same crafty effects but employed them in a bit more abstract way. I still used giant paper snowflakes, but instead of having it snow in the apartment, I decided that it would be about the formation of snow, hence the the weather report. To me the snow forming is equivalent to the main character's imagination kicking into overdrive and producing something intensely creative. And I think the dialogue leading up to the beginning of the blizzard lends itself to that notion. The poem is called "A Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes, and I think its final line "or does it explode" provides a fascinating image on its own, and I think lends itself nicely into the sequence of the main character's imagination going into overdrive. The whole idea of being creative is sort of a theme throughout, the initial sequence on the TV is his creativity starting to blossom, nothing to huge, just a little good old "force-like" magic. Once he realizes what he can do, he begins to think a bit more abstractly which I admit is how I think, start small, go bigger until you have no means to produce what is in your head. The shooting process for the TV sequences was a bit tedious. First I tool all the pictures of him on the couch moving things around separately, then I burnt those to a DVD and played them on the TV where I took a picture of each picture again. It was rather annoying but the most plausible way to shoot the sequence. I know the end of the animation is a little heavy, slightly impermeable and rather ambiguous , but that is the way I wanted it to end. The whole concept behind the animation is to be creative and use your imagination so I feel it would be not right to have an ending that doesn't allow the viewer to do either. "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or does it fester like a sore....and then run? Does it stink like rotten meat or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags there like a heavy load. Or does it explode?"

Posted by groth113 at 5:40 AM | Permalink

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Project 1 : Explanation of “Where the Heart is�

My idea for this project was to portray a traditional love story in a more abstract/conceptual way. I chose the fabric as a prop partially because I thought the fluidity of fabric would translate interestingly in stop motion, but mainly because I thought it would work well to symbolize a barrier between two people. We already interpret a hanging sheet of fabric (a curtain) as a barrier between two places, and the sheerness of fabric I used allows the viewer to see what is happening in both places simultaneously.

I tried to allow for different interpretations of this project. For example, it’s not clear why he appears suddenly out of nowhere, or whether he is really there or just a figment of her imagination. The concept of “homesickness� (the reason the characters leave each other) can be interpreted in different ways as well. I personally think of it as a wish to somehow get back the things that must be sacrificed in order to have a stable relationship with another person, or a wish for one's identity to be completely separate from the identity of this person. I wanted to raise questions about the barriers that exist/that we erect between ourselves and the people we love (whether we can truly break through these barriers, and—if we can break through them—whether we should) and let people answer them for themselves.

My intention was to use frame duration, as opposed to sound, to build tension and emotion in thi piece. I tried to edit the different sections so that each would feel different to the viewer and have a different emotional tone. I also flagged each section with text to clarify when we are entering a new phase of the story, and also to help viewers understand what is happening since there is no sound.

The first trick I did in this project was making him appear to come up through the floor. I photographed the opening sequence in reverse, starting with him underneath the fabric and then using those photos as a reference for making a him-like shape out of wadded up clothes and pillows (I put a sheet just beneath the fabric so you wouldn’t be able to see the wads). Then I gradually slipped the wads of clothes out from under the sheet until “he� was gone. Another trick was the characters passing back and forth through the fabric, which was done by taking a picture with the character on one side of the fabric and then having them come around to the other side and taking a picture there. For the part where I “jump through� the fabric, I strung the fabric between two chairs, zoomed in enough to get the chairs and my lower body out of the frame, then gradually crouched down until my head was underneath the fabric (and then my feet pop up for a second!).

It was more difficult working with the fabric than I at first imagined; I had it taped to the ceiling and it kept falling down, and it was super static-y so I had to keep picking pet hair off of it, etc. It was also really hard to throw the fabric up and get it positioned correctly in the frame above our heads. Then it turned out not to be so easy to get the people who were helping me to understand what I was trying to do and to be serious about it. That said though, I think the final product is fairly close to what I had envisioned and I am happy with the results overall.

Posted by lips0037 at 9:42 PM | Permalink

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400-500 words

Posted by adams572 at 5:41 PM | Permalink

Quick Start Guide
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Manual / Users Guide
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Posted by Katinka at 7:45 PM | Permalink

This is a must for everyone in class to go through
http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/video/finalcut/

Posted by Katinka at 4:57 PM | Permalink

My interests in automotives had leads me to do this first project about a typical guy who has a car that everyone wants. The story will start out with the guy sleeping and has a dream that someone had stolen his car out of his garage. All of a sudden he wakes up and goes outside to check if his car was still there. He opens the garage to find that his car is missing and is in shock. Then all of a sudden he wakes up only to find out that it was only a dream. This will repeat two more times and on the fourth time he wakes differently from the other three times. This will be the first trick to this story. I got this idea from watching The Twilight Zone television show a long time ago. On the fourth time he will wake up do to his alarm going off at 8:00 am in the morning. This time waking up was different, so he will think that he really woke up this time. After waking up he will still go check out if his car is still there. But when he checks out the garage, his car was missing. He will then run back inside to call the police but his brother told him that he moved the car to the front because he was going to clean the garage. This will be the second trick in this story. I chose this trick because my brother and I share a car so sometimes he will take the car out without me knowing.
I will use some sound in this project to show some feelings or how the guy felt when he was in shock. My house will be my set for this project, I will be the actor, and I will be using my car. I will probably have my brother or sister help be take pictures since I am the actor. I will use still photos to make this project. Hopefully I will have some emotional faces to go with the sounds too.

Posted by mouax121 at 3:58 PM | Permalink

cutout and scandpaint techniques
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claymation techniques
http://www.animateclay.com/index.php?name=Sections&req=listarticles&secid=3

choreographed "trick" : A Chairy Tale (1957) film by Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart
http://www.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/filmmakers/Norman-McLaren/film.php?id=11192&idfilm=11152

animated music videos by Arno Salters
http://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/salters/
http://www.arnosalters.com/

Flash Tutorial
http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/webdesign/flash

Posted by Katinka at 3:03 PM | Permalink

Creating and Publishing New Entries
http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/author/creating-entries.html

Adding categories to an entry
http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/author/adding-categories.html

Adding images or files to entries and pages
http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/author/adding-images-or-files.html

Posted by Katinka at 2:15 PM | Permalink

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subject to change

Posted by Katinka at 1:47 PM | Permalink

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Posted by Katinka at 1:19 PM | Permalink

http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/tutorials/

Final Cut Pro 6:
Overview of the Interface
Importing Footage
Editing
Export & Output

Optional:
Compositing & Keyframing
Filters & Color Correction

Posted by Katinka at 1:08 PM | Permalink

For my project I would like to play with the concept of theater ghosts. Theater and Dance majors always jokes around about theater ghosts, in this case the dance major building right next to Regis. Occasionally we have unknown things happen like mysterious bouquet of flowers placed in the lobby, or lights going off by itself (pretty sure there’s someone behind these but when no one claims these random happenings we just credit the Barker Ghost) but just to play with that idea, and to help with my senior projects, I want to play and see how I can adapt dance onto film. This may bleed into my senior project.
A story would be of a student rehearsing in a theater space, and gets stuck on ideas. Plays around with materials a bit but doesn’t get inspired, until the student starts hearing things. Eventually the “ghost� appears and through interaction, the student finds his inspiration, but then the ghost disappears. At the end, the student wakes up realizes that it was all a dream, but the ghost leaves proofs that everything was real. And hopefully that would translate on screen.
I really don’t know much special tricks, I will have to talk to others about that, but besides the camera and using stop-motion technique, I think I will have to choreograph a short phrase of dance since it… obviously relates to dance and what’s a dance without a dance. The Diffusion trick would be useful in making the ghost appear ethreal.

Posted by lungx009 at 12:52 AM | Permalink

I intend to try using a combination of photos, real life props and play-doe in my first project I am going for a sort of little comedy to start .I will have a mini wood model for my main focus. He will have tapped on him a series of photos that will be my face or he will have an absurd wig made of clay. I will also use a white backdrop for the background and a ball of play-doe as the antagonist.
I intend to open my story with the wood model looking bored with some facial expressions and or body language. Then enter a ball of clay/ play-doe that takes interest in the wood model. The ball of clay roles up to the wood guy and takes interest in him. The clay ball then starts poking and annoying the wood man who starts to become annoyed with it. He then kicks the clay thing and laughs only to realize that it is stuck on his foot. Clay ball attacks the guy’s head and the wood man freaks out (lots of exaggerated body language to show panic). The man throws the ball off his head only to realize in horror that the clay ball has his face or wig. Guy trys running at clay ball but is stuck on his wood model post. Ball laughs at him as he tries to chase the clay ball and guy falls on to it in the attempt. Finally the clay ball surrenders, (it will wave a mini white flag to show it’s defeat) and the guy gets his face back. It’s a joyous reunion and the scene fades black. The end.
Not sure about tricks I would want to use. Probably something to create an illusion of flight or motion through the air as the clay ball jumps, also think I would like to use some type of instant replacement as the clay ball switches from one figure to another like a transformation. I do know, however, that I want to use a suspension of time as one character acts out frustration like in old cartoons (an example would be the realization that you just ran over a cliff and have time to realize that you are going to fall). To do that I will use fishing rod line or metal rods to suspend the figures in air to give the affect that they are moving trough it or to keep the figure in an unreasonable pose such as falling forward.
I am uncertain about using sound effects, seeing as I am not familiar with the media just yet, so I’ll try and focus on the physical motion with adding sound through visual wording, much like in a Wile coyote cartoon or in the old Batman show. I would also like to use explanation points and body language for my characters to communicate which hopefully will cancel the need for sound.

Posted by bech0067 at 6:15 PM | Permalink

My stop-motion animation is going to focus on the manipulation of time and space by the camera. In the manner of a one man show, our subject is going to travel from one place to another in a way that is going to defy reality. Through the use of editing I will try to apply different tricks that are going to make those unrealistic scenarios believable.
My story begins with a guy walking into his empty Apartment. After checking what’s in the fridge he walks to the couch and takes a sit. He stares at the dark screen of the TV and looks for the remote to see what’s on. He looked too lazy to get up and fetch the remote, so in stead, he calls the remote with a finger motion. And funny enough, the remote starts crawling to the couch. After watching the sports channel for a while, he then picks up the remote once more and flips the channel to see what else is on. Only this time, when he presses the button on the remote, instead of the channel switching on the TV screen, the entire place changes and he finds himself in a different location.
He now finds himself outside sitting on a bench. To emphasize that the weather is cold and chilly he would rub his arms and shiver a little. On the right side of the bench lays a brown bag which would turn into a hot coffee cup when our subject puts his hands on it. He takes a sip and shows a face of satisfaction. After looking around for a bit, he picks up the remote one more time, points to the camera, and changes the channel once more. Which takes the scene to a different location one more time.

When this scene opens, he is sitting in a quite study room. This time there is a pretty girl sitting next to him. He turns to the right and gives her a flirtatious look. She too will turn to him and give him a quick smile. After exchanging a pleasant smile back and forth, he slides to her side. She then recognizes his advances and closes her books to give him her full attention. At that same moment, the remote that was laying next to him will start moving by itself. It slowly makes its way half way through the sidewalk before it gets stomped on by the foot of a stranger. Which will then picks up the remote takes a good look at it. At that moment, our main subject looks up as this new guy was staring at the remote with a curiosity. Upon realizing the guy was about to switch the channel just when he was starting to enjoy the show, he reacts to stop him from pressing on the button. Unfortunately, it was too late and brings our main subject back to his starting point. His quiet living room. He turns to the right and notices the remote beside him. He then picks it up and quickly tries to get back to the earlier moment. However, he founds out that moment of magic has already passed. With a look of disappointment and a cold smile, he turns the TV off and lays down on the couch.

Posted by Tsinu Heramo at 3:09 PM | Permalink

My project is inspired by a number of movies involving the guy chasing the girl after some kind of conflict. In addition, my love of music has also influenced it in a substantial way. The storyline starts with a man waking in bed to find that his lover has left him and left a note stating that she no longer would like to be with him. Grief-stricken and looking for solace, we see the man wake up and sit on the edge of the bed trying to think of some kind of solution.
The man is then struck by inspiration and the scene cuts to another room, presumably in the same house. We see guitars appear in his hand and he attempts to make a good sound with each. Each time the guitar creates some kind of cacophony to which the man expresses his distaste. Finally, he finds the “right� guitar and is able to create a sound that is pleasing. He then is seen recording and burning a CD.
The man is then shown leaving his house and appearing at another, the house of his former lover. In a scene reminiscent/inspired by Say Anything, we see him standing outside with a boombox blasting the song that he just created. His lover pops her head out and is touched by the effort he made. She invites him in and we see them fall asleep in the same kind of position that the man woke up. The scene fades out only to fade in showing that the woman has left again, implying that this is a routine for the couple.
The first “trick� will involve real-time motion as the man finds the “right� guitar and strums in a fluid motion. This use of real-time will show that this guitar is different from all others aside from its good melody. The second “trick� is the idea that this event/conflict is a daily occurrence for the couple, which leaves the viewer to make their own conclusion about the couple.
The project is my way of exploring the common guy gets the girl clique but with my own twist. I feel that many times Hollywood does not portray these relationships as real as possible, because the general public does not want to see this reality and be reminded of their relationship’s own shortcomings. Instead, they fantasize about a relationship as ideal as the one on film. The idea of a romance that is a cycle of hurt and love seems far more real to me than one of pure happiness.

Posted by gritt018 at 1:47 PM | Permalink

The following idea was inspired by a conversation with my mother and a fish tank in dire need of a cleaning. During my recent few days at home, it came to the attention of my mom that my sister had let her beta’s tank go for quite a bit longer than it should have. I wouldn’t have wanted to live in that water; the fish looked drained and bored and lethargic in its contaminated environment (he’s much happier in his now unclouded water). The conversation with my mother centered upon being generally overwhelmed. We talked about work and school, and the feeling of expending a lot of energy on something that ultimately doesn’t work out, only to be piled with another task of the same caliber.

So this is what I came up with. In front of a white background, there is a clear container, much like a fishbowl. It sits empty. I add a little clear water to begin, and then move to adding more things to the bowl. As time goes on, the things added to the bowl get progressively dirtier. I was thinking of starting by sprinkling in a few colored rocks, then moving on by the end to things like strips of old newspaper, clumps of hair or pieces of garbage. Periodically throughout the duration of the piece, I will hold up a small sign that says “full?� or “enough?� At the end I will add one last, very small item that will cause the container to overflow filthy water, and then I will force in one last dirty element to make the water gush from the receptacle. The last sign will say “full.� or “enough.� It will have no question mark after it.

I may not actually incorporate this, but I have thought of incorporating sounds periodically to evoke some game show imagery, but visuals will not correspond. This contrast will mostly play on the “Let’s see if we can fit more. Sure we can!� aspect of the piece, corresponding with external expectations of the real world, its effects on a person, and what happens when you “lose.� The placement of the items into the receptacle will be stop action and use a quick sequence of photographs. The parts incorporating the cards will simply be videotaped. I am still a little confused as to what kinds of “tricks� are expected of this project, but I believe the varied use of stop-action for the actual moving segments and regular video footage for the still parts will make it seem as if the placing of the items in the container is happening rapidly and over an extended period of time with few rest stops.

Posted by subi0007 at 8:33 AM | Permalink

For my stop motion animation project, I want to do a love story through a sort of fluid membrane—possibly the surface of water—which will be represented by a sheet of fabric. The story will involve two lovers living on opposite sides of the membrane and struggling to have a relationship with this barrier perpetually between them. Eventually they figure out that they can break through the membrane to be together, but one person is always unhappy because both characters want to live on their own side of the membrane; they want their lover to come live with them. In the end, it doesn’t work out; the fluid solidifies or dries up and they no longer have access to each other.

This will be a photo based project with live and hopefully willing subjects. My plan is to start with the formation of the membrane, with the fabric crumpled up into a ball and then gradually spreading out and rising off the ground until the male subject appears underneath the fabric. The female subject (me, probably) will be watching this happen and then the characters will try to interact through the barrier of the fabric; there will be loving gestures, etc. Finally the female subject will get fed up with the situation and attempt to jump through to the guy’s side, and she’ll make it, and they will be very happy together…for a while. Then she’ll get homesick for her side and try to drag her lover back through. As much as he wants to be with her, he just cannot find a way to be happy on her side of the membrane, so he goes back to his side. After this happens, the membrane will gradually begin to disappear, taking him with it. The female subject will be very sad.

One of the tricks will be making the male subject appear underneath the membrane/surface. I think I’ll start with the fabric lying flat on the ground and then start putting pillows under it until it starts to resemble a human body and then replace the pillow with the actual person so it looks like he’s coming up through the floor almost. The second trick will be “passing through the membrane,� making it look like the characters are going back and forth through the fabric. This will involve placing pictures of the subject behind the fabric and then in front of it together, and possibly some other things that I have yet to work out.

My intention is to experiment with how fluidity can be portrayed in a more non-fluid medium. Also I thought fabric might have a lot of stop motion potential because you can do so many things with it (wrap people in it, pin it to things, throw it up in the air, fold/crinkle it, etc.). One video that helped me think about how I might use fabric is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsFIkfaS8Zk

Posted by lips0037 at 6:23 AM | Permalink

The story structure for my stop-motion animation project is about a first year college student who attends the University of Minnesota. He is of African American descent who, is inspired by Greek life. He is especially interested in the stepping aspect of fraternities and sororities. He goes by the name M.V. Littlejon. The scene starts out with M.V. Littlejon walking the campus a couple weeks into his first semester. He happens to stumble upon this Greek sign that happens to appear in various places on campus.

Later that night he decides to take a walk up fraternity row to gain a little more knowledge about the signs he had seen earlier that day. At the very end of his journey he runs into the last fraternity house, which happens to be the only black fraternity house on campus. Throughout these first couple of scenes the shots I will be using long, stop animation shots. He decides to ring the doorbell and somebody comes to answer the door and his heart begins to race. At this point I will be using quicker, motion shots. He tells them that he’s interested in a showcase of stepping but short in the conversation he is informed that in order to do any stepping he has to be in the fraternity. He figures out how to join and decides to go with it.

Month later M.V. Littlejon is initiated into the fraternity and can now step. He hears about this contest from a national Greek step website where he submits a one-man showcase video of stepping to win $1,000. He uses the Icam on his MacBook laptop to film his stepping. This is where the first trick is used. M.V. Littlejon will seem to be a magician by the way he opens the computer and does all the camera positioning with his magical powers. The second trick is where he begins to do magical stepping. The fraternity he joined uses canes for stepping and twirling. At this point I’ll be using a mid shot to show how he makes his cane move without touching it.

After he is done stepping he edits his video, again using magical powers, and then submits his video. A couple weeks later he finds out that the judges have reviewed all of the submitted videos. He is very excited as he receives a call from one of the judges saying that he had the worst showcase of stepping and then wins no kind of money what so ever. He realizes that stepping was not his thing and he decides to quit stepping.

My influences for this theme were my fraternity brothers. They thought it would be a good idea for me to use this as a project since it seemed like something that hadn’t been done before. Some ideas for my project will be to actually take pictures on campus and use the college atmosphere to help bring out my theme. I will use background sounds (car, people talking, etc.) and actual dialogue. One of the props I will be using that will be detrimental to my trick will be a cane.

Posted by adams572 at 6:02 AM | Permalink

I plan to make my video about a dream that seems real, where reality and dream states are interlocked. The beginning will start with me waking up in the morning and walking out into my living room. I'll continue to do a so-called "morning routine", making coffee and starting breakfast in my kitchen. Then I'll walk back out in the living room to sit down at my computer desk and glance out the window to see that something isn't right. The traffic and people outside will all be going backwards. I'll wipe my eyes in disbelief and look again and still see traffic and all moving backwards. I'll start to freak out and in doing so close the window shades.
This leads to the middle of the video, where most of the tricks will come in. I plan to use tricks by creating some computer animations. I'll have a shot of my window sill and then lay that over the animations I create to make it seem as if these dream-like images are really going on outside of my apartment window. I'll open the window shades back up and see something different, say, a giant stepping on buildings and destroying Minneapolis. Then, I'll close the blinds again and open them back up to see a UFO floating outside the window. Then the next time I open the blinds back up I'll see that there is a flood and the building is sinking. I'm still working through figuring out what else I might have happen and working tricks into it. For one of them, I know i want to try and incorporate some stop-motion affect to one of the views out of the window. In which case, it would probably be me floating around, so i would take a series of photos and crop myself out and then put them together in a way that it appears as if I'm floating outside of the window.
Then the end of the video will have me waking up again. I'll transfer back to me lying in bed, by transitioning from closing the blinds for good and zooming up on myself. So once I wake up, I'll repeat the beginning again, except this time it will be normal with no unnatural things going on. The end is suppose to show how everything that happened before then was just a dream I was having.
I was inspired with this idea for the video after watching the Science of Sleep. The movie changes from reality and the dreaming states of the main character really well throughout the whole movie. Also, using the window and outside things going on that could only happen if someone was imagining them in my video, was inspired by the movie also. There are scenes where the main character is in a room creating things and it represents his inner thoughts and then there are two windows that he looks out of that represent his eyes, and he is looking at the outside world.

Posted by wenge026 at 4:53 AM | Permalink

Ashley Kreidler
Project 1 Proposal

For my first project I want to create a stop-motion animation dedicated to the art of collage. I want to create a surreal world in which characters, ideas, and external surroundings have the unthwarted ability to interact and mingle with each other. My story will consist of a person lost in a large city, who is trying to find their way to familiar territory. I imagine there will be numerous “tricks� in my animation, including those which defy the rules of time, space, and worldly interactions. For example, I intend to use the collage format to create a “world inside of a world�. This meaning that the outside, or “real� world could therefore penetrate the inside, or “surreal� story taking place. More specifically, the visual world in which the story is taking place will put into context by a revealing a portion of the larger “outside� world. This could be done by showing the story taking place inside a person’s head or by revealing the person’s hand that created the story. The second “trick� that I plan on making will rely on the audience’s preconceived ideas of how objects and space interact with each other. An example of this would be to make noise seen by the viewer, or by showing a character’s thoughts emerge from their head.
Some of the challenges I expect to face will be balancing the composition of shots, especially in a collage format. That is to say that I expect to encounter difficultly creating an atmosphere that can be recognized as something familiar without making things looked cluttered or unrecognizable. I have found some inspiration in the collage animations by Terry Gilliam, such as “The Miracle of Flight� and “Killer Cars,� and also by the filmmaker Virgilio Villoresi, whose airy collage animations defy the relationships between space and time.
The story I want to portray will be based on a young person who becomes lost in a large city. The audience will follow him as he tries to find his way back “home�. Through a series of obstacles the character will finally find their way back to the familiar space just to realize that they will be haunted by their journey even when they return to their reality. This will be shown at the end by the character questioning whether the events in the animation actually took place, or if they were just a figment of his imagination.

Terry Gillaim:
Miracle of Flight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az5HglZBoso
Killer Cars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TpH79Q7dh4

Virgilio Villoresi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkIj2txbHBE&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vlnjJ_tmVnU&feature=related

Posted by krei0073 at 4:13 AM | Permalink

“Five Stages: The Kübler-Ross model"

Plot: A girl finds her boyfriend cheating on her and the relationship ends. She goes through the five stages of grief defined in the Kübler-Ross model (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance). She gets revenge on her ex-boyfriend after completing the five stages.

************************************************************************
Introduction "5 Stages: The Kübler-Ross model"

Include opening credits, title slides.

Scene 1 – The Situation

The story begins with protagonist "Elise" as she kisses her boyfriend "Dave" goodbye and promises to see him later for their date (they say goodbye in front of Dave’s house). Elise goes home to bake a cake for the dinner date that she’s preparing. As she starts baking, she realizes she has no eggs. She drives to Dave's house to borrow a few, and after knocking with no reply enters his house. Unable to find Dave, she walks upstairs into his room and finds him cheating with another woman. He says their relationship is through and she leaves crying.

Scene 2 – The Five Stages

The story now follows Elise over the course of a day as she deals with the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

Scene 3 – The Solution

After carrying on in her day with great difficulty and finally reaching the acceptance stage, Elise runs into her now-ex-boyfriend and his “new girlfriend� in some chance passing. After a small amount of dialogue, Elise and her boyfriend square off in a “Mortal Kombat� variety fight scene with Elise the victor.

***********************************************************************

How I Intend to Film:

I will be using live actors and a crappy Nikon digital camera to create stop-motion via photography. The majority of the stills will be captured indoors in one of two houses (Elise’s and Dan’s). I’m thinking that the movie will probably run on average 10 frames per second with some exceptions. The story will follow the main character Elise for most of the time with a couple scenes involving Dan, Dan’s “mistress�, and a couple of Elise’s friends. Depending on how well it works, I may decide use a sepia tone for the movie to replicate the “classic film� feel. The sound will consist of overdubbing, including the aforementioned sound bytes from Mortal Kombat as well as homemade sound effects and an ambient soundtrack (if having background music is acceptable, that is).

The Tricks:

One of the first time-based tricks that I plan to use is a “Hulk� scene. During the anger stage, the main character will be changed frame by frame to look like the Hulk. This includes several simple things like slowly tear/tattering the arms on the shirt and maybe some slow-enveloping green face paint? Trick #2 will be altering the frame rate at the end of the movie to emulate the motion of the video game as well as a change in costumes between frames. Trick #3 will utilize quick changes in frame rate appropriate for sound effects. For example, when Elise knocks on the door, a close-up of her hand will alternate between two frames: one of her fist hitting the door and one of it retracting (the “door hitting� frame would last about a half second and be synced to the door-knocking sound.

Posted by sabl0015 at 3:28 AM | Permalink

The storyline for my first project deals with being yourself. The clip will start with a shot of a small pack of star paper (paper that is used to fold paper stars). The pack of star paper will be facing a glass bottle or jar that is lying down so that the top of the jar is near the ground. One by one or a few at a time, pieces of paper will quickly slide out of the pack, fold itself into a star, wiggle to get into the shape of a star, and jump through the top of the jar and rest at the physical bottom of the jar opposite the opening.

After a few papers have folded into stars, the main character of my project will appear. It will move a little slower than the rest. When it first appears, it starts scrunching at the end, as if to make a ball instead, but when a few pieces of paper pass it while folding into star shapes, it unrolls itself and struggles to fold itself into a star. When the part where it has to pop to become a star comes, it can’t do it and just wiggles. While it struggles to pop into a star-form, more stars pass it already folded, and near the entrance of the jar pop into the star forms and jump in. When many stars have already passed the struggling one, it gives up, unrolls itself, crumples into a small ball, and jumps into the jar.

One trick I will be using will be used at the end, before the piece of paper gives up and scrunches itself into a ball. I will make some stars suddenly appear in the jar, giving the illusion of time passing quickly for the struggling piece of paper. The second trick will be at the very end, after the ball is in the jar, when the last piece of paper in the pack quickly runs while folding itself to the jar, and the jar lifts itself upright.

As of right now, I am unsure whether or not I will be using sound. I want to use it to lighten the atmosphere and give the animation more life, but I am not sure how well my home-made sounds will turn out.

Posted by vangx570 at 12:52 AM | Permalink

Recently, I have become interested in how "reality TV" has become so popular in our culture and what "reality TV" would be like if it were actual reality.

I plan on using a combination of still photos to show the audience my version of reality television. It begins with a regular guy on a couch, bored, and finally deciding to watch television. When he turns on the TV, it is the on "The Reality Channel," but the show is simply just him watching TV. Realizing how boring real reality television is he decides to make it more interesting by imagining his reality as something a bit more exciting. With this newfound imagination, our character realizes that your reality can be much more fun than one you watch on TV, no matter how boring you think your life is.
In the imagination sequences numerous tricks will be used, it imagination, anything can happen. Things can float, people can appear out of nowhere, so anything goes really.
Currently there is no plan for any real dialogue in the film other than a few random quizzical noises, however I plan on having several homemade sound effects because I really want to reiterate the theme that your brain can make anything it wants to if you try. The organic, homemade sounds are something everyone can relate to because who hasn't made a buzzing noise and pretended to yield a lightsaber.
I am really influenced by people like Michel Gondry who find very practical ways to make effects rather than relying on computers. I think it forces people to think more creatively, and I hope this animation will leave this message with people. Be creative, think outside the box, because life in a box is boring.
Although I work mostly with video, and have actually visited some similar thematic material with that medium, I do have a background in photography and working with very high quality commercial cameras. So I am left with the challenge of using a simple point and shoot to fully realize what I envision. It won't necessarily be easy, but the challenge is what makes it worth it, and again I am forcing myself to think outside the box.

Posted by groth113 at 10:39 PM | Permalink

The story outline for my stop-motion animation project is that of two characters on a date. They are at an establishment of fine dining, just beginning a romantic meal, perhaps the second or third “date.� The video will begin with shots of the outside of the building, and narration cluing the views in to the scene. The third, key character will be the narrator. As their drinks arrive, the camera will join them in the restaurant, and the narration will continue. The characters will communicate with one another through subtitles or “moving mouths� followed by a screen relaying the text. The narration will also continue, and it will become quickly apparent that the male character is able to hear the narrator. The story will continue through the typical motions of the meal while the man is listening, and eventually arguing with the narrator, whom the girl has no perception of. The man, realizing this, will try to cover up and ignore the narrator, and then the narrator will begin “teleporting� objects, emptying glasses, and disrupting the evening, and the man will try to cover this up, explain it away, apologize, etc. The ending will be a ruined date, perhaps a drink-soaked man, with the man trudging off home. As the woman exits the restaurant, she very clearly, quickly and quietly thanks the voice, “I owe you one,� “again next week?�(Or something similar). Throughout the animation it is presumed, and defiantly the source of most of the humor, that she does not understand what’s going on.
Influences for this are several internet animations on youtube, one of the primary videos being “Dr Tran.� I’m fairly certain this has been done to some extent before, but I haven’t seen this idea specifically played out on video. I expect there to be several “small� tricks, such as moving food and drinks, emptied or swapped glasses, etc. Also “forcibly moved hands or body language� that surprises the man as much as the woman, and probably gets him slapped. Many of the tricks will involve props, but I plan on mostly using props directly from the set, i.e. should the “romantic fine dining� take place at a McDonalds, we’ll order some food and use that.
I’ve played around a lot with photography, and for me it might be harder not to “notice a better way to take shots� and go back than to do a decent setup of the shots. I also know that I’ll have to find a place to take the images, and am considering either fast food or occupying an after-hours place (near starbucks?) in CMU.

Posted by shor0090 at 7:57 PM | Permalink

My stop motion animation project is going to be about revenge, but in a humorous, childlike way. I will start by “floating� over a bed, sleeping, when suddenly, my little sister comes, shakes me awake, and then runs away giggling. I become very angry, and I will “teleport� downstairs and chase my sister around for awhile. After I corner her, I’ll “magically� change her drink to empty, make her sweat shirt disappear (of course she’ll be wearing something underneath), and lastly, put her hair in a weird hairdo.
The tricks I will incorporate is the floating over the bed, which I will do by jumping up on the bed in a certain pose, then snapping a shot at the right time. I’ll do multiple of these and the little variances will make it seem as if I were floating. The second trick I will do is the teleportation. I’ll show a shot of me in my bedroom, the next shot will be an empty bedroom. After that, a shot of the downstairs will be taken, with the next one with me in it. I want to add a third trick, which is the “revenge for waking me up.� For these shots, the change from the full glass of soda to an empty one is a process in which I will show a photo of her with an empty class after the previous shots in which she had a full one. The same will be done with the sweatshirt and hair. It will be as if I point and these things happen.
I will include sounds. It’ll add more to the project in the sense that it will be more interesting and humorous. The sounds will be recorded, by me, and perhaps my costar too. I will shoot the photos at my house, which makes the most sense. I don’t need any props except for the soda and the sweatshirt. As for style and technique, I will most likely keep it simple, as I am inexperienced with photography. However, I will try to manually set up the settings of the camera so that the images will be consistent in lighting and color.
I am sure many people have experienced the annoyances of having a younger sibling, and the fact that kids experience similar exasperations made me want to do this plot. I added humor to express that although they are annoying, all is forgiven and forgotten, and having a sibling is fun.
Doing any type of photography other than for recreation purposes is new for me, so it will be fun to do a project that involves taking so many. I will explore how the different settings on the camera (of which I previously had always ignored) changes the photograph. Not only is the camera a new experience, but the program we will be using (of which I have never used before) on the computer will be fun to play with.

Posted by Alina Cheng at 12:58 AM | Permalink