Stop-Motion Video Experiments
Frame by frame this project stole my heart. Oddly, I found it much more perplexing attempting to create gifs using Photoshop, here we have nearly the same principle minus the looping nature of things. In this project the goal was to create three videos by capturing one frame at a time, moving objects only slightly in between frames. In order to make it appear that objects are truly moving on their own, there are some key concepts involving momentum and elasticity that have to be grappled with. I found this project very fun. Using a program called "Stop Motion Studio" on my phone was enough to get the job done, and I was even able to erase my hand or props from the in-between frames!
Soul Retrieval - This was the actually the first video I made of the three, despite being I think the best. Had a nice time trying to make a thick atmosphere, my partner even helped to sew a small robe for the main character, who's caught climbing a mountain to retrieve a lost bit of technology before suddenly they are caught off guard by a local stalker. Fortunately they're able to escape, bailed out by their own ship after barely collecting the suit they'd left behind.
Bouncing Ball - Simple enough, the goal here was to create the illusion of squash and stretch that would occur if a ball were actually bouncing. I chose a tangerine for it's squashibility. Luckily I was able to fully erase my hand using a method where an extra frame is gathered in between each frame and I think it turned out pretty well! Unlike the first video, I wanted to try my hand at allowing the camera to move during frame collecting, which was very challenging to me without any special technology to hold the camera in place along the way.
Water Ripples, Floating Objects - This one did me in. My goal was to try and move the objects in a way that they would appear to "bob" up and down in the waters surface created by a simple blanket with a wave and turtle print. Towards the end I hoped to drop an object directly "into" the water from a different plane to disturb the scene entirely, which didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. This one was a challenge, but it became especially clear with this one that you need to have a plan, not just an idea.
