News Cast

Rhiannon and I put together this news report using software called Audacity.

We took it in turns to take on different characters.  After getting over the initial embarrassment, we both found this task really enjoyable and funny to do.  We had problems with the timing but with perserverance we got it right and the end result was great!

Evaluation of our work

Even though overall we were exceptionally proud and happy with our final stop motion animation, we did have a few problems along the way and also when watching our final piece realised some elements we wish we had changed, or do differently in future, they were;

> Lighting, due to the amount of time we spent filming and taking photos, the lighting throughout the day changed e.g. evenings darker than morning in the class room.  We tried to overcome this problem by blacking out one window using an A3 piece of card.  This did not solve the problem completely but it did minimize it.  When watching our film on the day of assessment the slight change in lighting conveniently occured when the sun was setting and moon was rising, I felt this ended up being extremely effective after all

>Moulding clay flowers, to make several flowers that were only slightly different to ensure a smooth flow of movement when creating our animation, we overcame this challenge by being patient and taking our time

If I was to re do this assignment I would aim to make my story line more complex, maybe more flowers growing at once or even a more detailed background.  I thoroughly enjoyed doing this project  

Our Final Piece

Our final piece of stop motion animation

After alot of hard work and time, our assignment is finally completely.  We are very proud of our work and overall happy with the end result

Filming

Filming Process Here we took it in turns to take photos, mould the clay flowers slightly step by step. Suprisingly the film is starting to come together, it looks alot better than expected. We had to overcome a few problems; . Moulding the flower gradually to make the growing process flow . The lighting of the film set overall, we had to block out the nearby window with black card . When the sun moved across the screen we needed to fix it in the sets sky, we decided to cellotape it on the side . The overall speed was a problem, we needed to fiddle with the speed to find a 'not too fast' and 'not too slow' speed which allowed it all to flow well and last 2 minutes

Design Process

Storyboard Before we started making our set and clay models we had to decide on a story. We deicded to write it step by step on our storyboard, the main idea was that it was to show a plant growing from the first point where seeds are planted, it included the following step by step; . Seeds are planted (By a hand) . Night time . Sun rises . Plant grows slowly . Watering can pours water (blue glitter) . Bees fly passed . Pollen (yellow clay) drops around the flower . Butterly flies past We are concerned that our might not last 2 minutes in total so we have decided if it does not last long enough we agreed that more flowers will grow around the original flower.

Design process of stop animation

At this point we realised we had underestimated how much work we had to do. After watching other groups taking pictures for their stop animation, it was obvious the most time consuming efforts were yet to come! We came up with the idea of a flower growing so we started with making our set and also making our flower and set out of clay and card. PROBLEM... as a group we are not the most creative bunch of people, we agreed to simplify our designs in home it would look more effective in the end result. Rhiannon was hard at work making the film set and I attempted to make some flower resembling objects out of clay along with a toadstool and some fluffy bees.

Importance of sound

“Sound effects play an important role in conveying action. Music helps express emotion.” Michael Geisler I agree with the above statement, when watching a film or animation it is effective to include the suited sounds to build emotion and suspense in regards to what is coming up. For example in horror movies, the observer is often scared with the music leading up to a scary scene and it gets them guessing what they are about to witness. Without the music or sound effects a scene is often left lacking an essential component. Many films have been made famous for their striking sound effects, such as; Jaws, James Bond. Regarding to soundtracks, certain music can trigger certain emotions within individuals e.g. heavy rock music could make someone feel angry or energetic. This contributes to many scenes of films to put us in the film and make it real to the person watching. )

Phenakistoscope

This was an early animation device that used the persistence of vision principle to create an illusion of motion. In 1832 Joseph Plateau created this device, it consists of two discs mounted on the same axis. The first disc had slots around the edge each one inch in measurment. When viewed in a mirror through the first disc's slots, the pictures on the second disc will appear to move. As a group we used the idea of a balloon rising into the sky, it was essential that all balloons were identical in size, colour and shape. Their position within each of their segments however did alter slightly to create the illusion. We had to also make sure each segment was exactly the same size.

Minion Flip Book

I thought this was cool :)

Thaumatrope

Today in class we made a thaumatrope using; card, scissors, string, pencils and a pin. The aim of creating this was to make it appear that the drawings on either side of the card were moving/changing in some way. I decided on a spider in a web for my design, the reason for this is that it was one of the easier options when trying to get both webs on each side exactly the same, if I had not done this the thaumatrope would not work. I also had to ensure the holes in which the string was threaded through were evenly punctured either side, this is essential to even out the weight of the card so it would be able to spin. Symmetry was essential for success in this task.

Claymation

Clay animation or claymation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable" usually clay. Shooting a 30-minute movie requires making approximately 21,600 stops to change the figures for the frames; a full-length (90-minute) movie, 64,800—and possibly many more if some parts were shot with "singles" or "ones" (one frame exposed for each shot) (Wikipedia, 2014).

Benefits;

Fun

Motivating

Interesting

Modern

3D

If it can be imagined it can be made, anything is possible

Audience can relate more to the characters

Negatives;

Time consuming, creating characters

Highly sensitive process (slightest accidental indents on clay can ruin the process)

Cost- claymation is not necessarily an expensive process as the oil based clay is re useable and relatively cheap in comparison to other animation methods

Last Animation I Saw

Tangled... life changing film! This is a story of a girl with magical hair, it plays on the fairytale of Rapunzel and everytime the main character sings it makes people young and beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and would watch it again, the graphics were amazing and the music made the film very happy go lucky and easy to watch. My favourite part was the lizard named Pascal :) xx

Animation

Today I made an animation via Scratch, I found the whole experience very stressful as it requires a great amount of patience that I do not have as a person. I enjoyed deciding on my sprite and animations, my idea was to make her dance and for music to play after recieving a phone call. My idea did not translate into what I wanted it to as I found it hard to get each costume to flow smoothly into each other. I am however happy with my overall end result but will attempt to make it more challenging next time I use scratch

Games Day

Within this lesson we moved from station to station in groups trying out different games consoles including; Nintendo Wii, X box connect, I pads, Windows tablets. Nintendo Wii- with this console we played a dance fit game, this was enjoyable and straight forward but some members of the group did find it slightly embarrassing as they would have to dance in front of others. I could understand how it might be some pupils worst nightmare. Subjects which I might find it could be transferable too is P.E as it is active and gets pupils up and moving. It encourages healthy competition and motivates people to get involved to get involved as it has meaning and is fun

Santa Game

I have made a game leading up to Christmas where Santa has to collect presents and avoid being eaten by the Grinch. I found the game making process stressful at first but then I did find it enjoyable when I worked out what I was doing. I editted the backgrounds, art work, and uploaded pictures of the Grinch which I found online. My game is easy to play and also has purpose to children as it challenges them

The Dilemma

Opinon on gaming

My opinion on gaming... well I do not really have a strong opinion because gaming is not a personal hobby of mine. If I was to think deeply about the hobby I personally think there are a number of positive and negative points, MAINLY NEGATIVE! For people with no friends, relationships, close family it serves a purpose as it can be an extension of their personality and also a form of socialising, this is necessary for a sense of well being and belonging. People becoming passionate about the people they game against and can form new friendships. It can however allow people to lock themselves away in their bedrooms and have negative impacts on their social life, they become obsessed with online gaming and spend their spare time arguing or disgusing these games on their headphones. There is also nothing more unattractive to a girlfriend... it can result in a a breakdown of relationships and sex life. It is so immature and frustrating from an outsiders point of view, especially when people queue outside shops for the latest releases of the "best games". There are several other options for people to participate in including sports; these will contribute to good health and fitness whereas gaming can lead to obesity and fatique.

Final Piece

Model Attraction to Size Zero

Many people are not striving to be a skinny size zero, although some people in the world are naturally small built and slim more more celebrities are striving to achieve this uk size 4 through unhealthy means including; excessive exercise, coffee/diet coke drinking, smoking.
There has been alot of controversy around this in the press regarding the fashion industry due to several models dying because of their child like weight.  One example of this is Luisel Ramos who died of a heart attack in 2006 when she was due to be on the cat walk.  Ramos has been told to lose even more weight even though she was already at a very low weight, she has been only eating salads at the time of her death as she was striving to stay at a size zero, when she died she weighed only 97 pounds which was incredibly low for her 5'9" stature.

Died at the mere age of 22 years old due to her fight to be size 0

New Branch

From researching the different form of beauty throughout the world, it got me thinking more about what affects this has on children today.  This is where I decided to look into bullying and what is going on in the world today.  When I attented my comprehensive school- Pentrehafod, there were two girls who commited suicide, yes there were multiple reasons contributing to them doing this to themselves but when we were informed of thier suicide we were informed both girls were being bullied and had been suffering with depression.   This is one of the ways in which I found my sense of place within my project.  I then decided to add some true stories to my project to display the consequences of bullying.