Hanacaraka Stop Motion First Draft
I’m about halfway done with the first Methods of Motion Assignment: A stop-motion animation in the style of Lotte Reiniger’s Silhouette films.
We were supposed to shoot our principle shots for Methods of Motion by last Wednesday but I ran into several technical difficulties. I wanted to use a tota light with a soft box, but the ITP equipment room ran out of them. Also, I was using the Panasonic DVX with batteries because I couldn’t find an AC adapter, so the batteries kept running out. I ended up jerryrigging some clamp lights underneath a sheet of plastic with some paper on top. It created an interesting texture that I’m not sure I enjoy or not. One thing I do not enjoy, however, is the reflection of the fasteners, which could have been better controlled had I curtained off the rest of the lights in the room.
Another issue was the pole holding up the camera kept slipping, even though I taped them tight. While reviewing the final shots, I noticed the camera kept drifting downward, until at some point the Silhouette of the dowels I used to hold up the plastic ended up in the shot. I was also in such a rush that I didn’t realize the second camera had a dirty speck on the lens. Nevertheless, I managed to squeeze out 700 frames out of 14 hours of work.
The full, unedited clip without color correction and added anticipation moments is embedded below:
At this rate, it looks like it will take another 14 to edit the clip and another 7 for simple sound and music. So I don’t really have much excuse to slack off. But recently the IFC screened all the Oscar nominated shorts. Sadly Bill Plympton’s The Cow Who Wanted to Be A Hamburger didn’t make it past the short list. And although I’m usually fond of rooting for the underdog, Pixar’s entry was so charming and innovative it stole my heart. I wouldn’t complain if any of the other contenders win this year because they’re all so good, but my money’s definitely on Day & Night.
