For the loop project I am planning on attempting stop motion animation. I have made a model out of plasticine that I am going to use. My idea is to make the model dance in a sequence that can be looped so it just continually dances. I have never done stop motion before so I’m guessing it will take several attempts to get it right. For the sound I am thinking about a simple techno track that will loop easily. I imagine this kind of loop would be seen in the context of an internet pop up or while a game is loading.
ANIMATING
Capturing the footage of the duck moving was a very long and tedious process. It took many attempts to get it right. I had a lot of trouble with the model and had to keep re structuring it so that it would stand up. The final model resulted in having very big feet which I think ended up looking better anyway.
The other problem with the model was that I had to work very quickly because the plasticine was melting under the lights. The duck had to have many trips to the fridge to re set.
Once I had finally captured the footage successfully I compiled it altogether using Quick Time. It ended up being about 80 shots all up for just a couple of seconds of movement.
The plan is now to import this footage into premier and loop the individual movements to make it dance.
AUDIO
Wanting the duck to dance in time with a soundtrack I decided to hunt for a good song before I started any more work on the movie. It didn’t take me long to decide on the perfect song; Crazy Duck (Main Mix) by Klubbhoppers.
I liked the idea of using a techno song because it would be easier to loop and also I think it is quite ironic with the repetitive nature of a loop.
The initial song was over 6 minutes long so I had to find a spot where I could cut it right back to about 20 seconds. I used Audacity to cut out a section that I wanted and to also alter the beats and the start and end of the section so that it would loop. I was extremely sick of the squeaky duck at this stage and pretty sure my flat mates weren’t real impressed with it either.
EDITING
Now that I have decided to use a techno sound track I want to make the footage appear as a film clip to the music. I have stylised the initial image of the duck so that it is now very bright against a black back ground. I am experimenting with different lighting effects, such as the strobe effect, to really enhance the dance club vibe. I am taking sections of my original footage and copying the sequences to make the duck dance. Most of the movements I have sped up to as much as 200% due to the very fast pace of the sound track.
DUCK SEASON
(NOW DECLARED OPEN!)
REFLECTION
I am very happy with how my loop has turned out. I like that it is very irritating as I think this is fitting to the nature of the loop. Watching something over and over eventually drives a person crazy. My loop creates this effect immediately. As annoying as the sound is though the image is really quite cute and something that you would want to watch.
The initial process of capturing the movement was quite a long a tedious process however when it came to putting it altogether in premier I had a lot of fun. I found using premier this time round was a much quicker process because I had a better understanding of how the program worked. This project gave me a good opportunity to experiment with special effects and lighting options within the program.
This project was diffidently my favourite of the three, I think this is because I had better knowledge of what I could actually achieve.
Considering it was my first attempt with stop motion I think the movements are reasonably smooth. There are however a few areas where I feel the movement it a bit rough but I think this is something that is only becoming evident to me because I have watched it so closely. Having a fast audio track meant I could really speed up the movie so any mistakes become hidden with the speed.
Overall I had a lot of fun creating this piece and I feel really happy with what I have achieved, especially when considering I had not even used a MAC before the start of the semester. I am really interested to continue with this subject next year and advance my skills even further.
