Video & Sound Production - Final Project

30.3.21 - 7.6.21 (Week 1 - Week 15)

Sajiya Mir (0340836)

Video & Sound Production

Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Final Project

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Instructions

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Week 1: Inspiration

Mr. Martin recommended that we watch a couple of short stop motion animations to help us get inspiration for our final project. Here are the motion animations that I enjoyed the most out of all the ones I saw.

Fig.1.0 Fresh Guacamole by PES

New Guacamole by PES is the first; I believe everybody has seen this short film at least once in their lives. I recall how fascinating it was for me when I first saw it and how curious I was about how it was made. The curiosity remains, and I hope to address it through this module finally. There isn't a boring moment in the animation due to its intricate details and different camera angles. Plus, the use of inedible objects to create 'food' is such a unique idea, yet it ties back into our childhood memories of playing house and making fake food. The colors are another thing that makes this animation so good. The use of warm lighting and vibrant colors draws you in. Finally, the perfectly matched sound brings the whole effect together; for example, cutting the dice but giving it the sound of cutting onions is what makes the illusion believable. 

Fig.1.1 Negative Space by Tiny Inventions

I chose Negative Space because of all the animations I saw; it evoked the most emotion. It's a simple story about packing bags; we heard about the characters' backstories and the feelings he experiences. This allows us to interact with the character as we go to the funeral, where we see his father at the end, and we understand why the only thing he can think of in his moment of grief is the empty space. The lighting creates a variety of moods that depict the characters' emotional journey. The voice-over, combined with the subtle sounds of cars and zippers, ties the whole story together.

Fig.1.2  硬币 The coin by Siqi Song

Another animation with excellent metaphorical storytelling is the coin. The use of wool was a change from the norm clay animations, and it gave the story a softer feel. This is yet another animation with a voice-over that explains the character's background. As the plot nears its conclusion, the music for this animation changes. The music shifts from light to heavier and darker. The tone of the story shifts as a result of this.

Fig.1.3  Van Goghs dinner by Clicker

Out of all the animations I choose, this is my favorite. This animation had such a simple concept of preparing and eating dinner, but the fact that we saw it through the eyes of one of the greatest painters of all time, Vincent Van Gogh, made it so incredible. Making the entire set look like one of his paintings gave the animation such a distinct look. There is no music in this animation, just the sounds of cooking and tableware, but the quiet sets the tone. It's a straightforward idea with excellent execution.

Week 9: Proposal 

This week we came up with our proposal for the final project. We presented Mr. Martin with our Story and visual references as well as the shot list. 

Fig.1.4 Final Project Proposal

Fig.1.4 Final Project Proposal (2)

Week 10:  Trial Shoot 

Once we got our proposal approved I started with my trial shoot. As at this stage I hadn't made all the elements I made paper cut-outs of all the characters and elements I wanted to use. 

Fig.1.5 Trial Shoot

Week 11: Making the assets 

This week I worked on making all the assets I will be using in the video. I started with making the main character, which was the seahorse. This I made using plastic bottles, old CDs, and buttons. I started with a cut-out of the body with a cardboard box and added the plastic bottle spikes. Then I covered the body with cut out CD and finally added the buttons as eyes and few jewels to decorate. 

Fig.1.5 Seahorse construction 

I also made jellyfishes and fishes. The jellyfish I made using old Cds, string, and plastic bags. As for the fishes, I made them using plastic bottles and paper. The last thing I made was coral reefs from paper and plastic. 

Fig.1.6 Jellyfishes and fish 

Week 12: Shooting

I finished filming all of the scenes this week. I started with the scene's composition and positioned the seahorse in the center, then placed the paper cutout coral around it.  Lastly,  Each time I took a shot, I moved the seahorse and corals slightly. To provide the illusion of the seahorse swimming, the corals moved right while the seahorse moved left. When I was finished, I quickly created a sequence and assembled the first half of the images.

Fig.1.7 Video draft 1 

Week 14: Editing 

After that, I began editing the video. I looked for aquatic sound effects but found that the majority of them sounded too scary and didn't fit my mood. So I went looking for river and stream sounds, which were much more appropriate for the atmosphere I was trying to create.  Since there weren't any fish swimming sounds, I opted to use people swimming instead. Lastly, I found the music I wanted to use and put that in. 

Fig.1.8 Video draft 2 

For my PSA, I decided on "Let us not stifle their future and do something while there is still time. #Save our oceans." I added this using the new text layer. The adjustment layer was also applied to express the shift in the mood as the seahorse entered the polluted water and caught up in the plastics. Finally, I finished everything by adding transitions between clips and adding some finishing touches. I exported it once I was satisfied with everything.

Week 15: Final

Fig.1.9 Final Stop Motion

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Feedback 

Week 9:  

The proposal seems fine; make sure to do a trial shoot and find a better camera, so the quality isn't affected. 

Week 14:  

The video looks nice, just try to align the ending sequence and the stating of the next sequence so that it looks like the seahorse is moving in one continuous motion. 

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Reflection 

Experience: This project was significantly more difficult because it required more work than the other project, but the process was made much easier because we planned everything out before filming. All of the sound effect exercises we did helped in making this project more convincing. I would have loved to improve the plot more if we could have made the video longer, but overall, I was pleased with the outcome.

Observations: With this project, the movement of the characters was one of the important things. Before I started filming, I watch more underwater stop motion animations to see how they depict fishes swimming. That's where I got the idea of moving the character and the background in opposite directions to show movement. Another aspect I had to pay attention to was the movement of the character itself. I tried not to make the movements too big and paid close attention to the starting and ending frames so that they aligned and showed a continuous movement.

Findings: One finding I made through this project was that various sounds are mixed to create a unique sound. For example, to convey underwater, I used the sound of rivers and streams. For example, I used the sound of rivers and streams to depict underwater. I also used a 'splat of food' sound effect to express the jellyfish bumping into the seahorse because we don't actually know what that sounds like. We can only assume.