This morning I have been reading articles on animation online. There are a lot of them. I tend to do this from time to time when I am stuck creatively. Not only do I think about stop motion constantly, I like to read about it.

One thing that I noticed that comes up from time to time is stop motion vs. what they call "real" animation.

This comparison puzzles me. Stop motion IS real animation. It is the same concept as drawn animation or CGI animation, only it is done with photographs instead of 1's and 0's or pen and paper. It's just a different medium for making objects appear to move on their own. I have already talked about my frustration with people who think stop motion is a medium for children. I wonder if that is what stems this attitude of exclusion. In my opinion it is way cooler than drawn animation. For one thing, I feel it is way more difficult. The same amount of work is put into each frame. When you are doing drawn animation, if you draw it in the picture it happens, no matter what. You can make anything happen. You don't have to follow the laws of physics.

When you make a stop motion animation, not only do you have to figure out how to defy physics with every shot, but you also have to make it look like you aren't. You not only have to build or find every piece of set, every prop, every piece of clothing, but you also have to figure out how to make them look like they are moving naturally. If your protagonist is kicking a ball, there is so much more that goes into it than just drawing the ball moving and the foot kicking. You have to make that ball suspend in the air long enough to take the shot, then you have to do it over and over again until you have your entire sequence. And the whole time you have to keep track of where the protagonist's foot is, how the grass is or isn't moving, what is in the background, where the lighting is, where all fingers and pieces of loose clothing of the animator is, all to make sure you get the perfect continuous flow.  Stop motion isn't just the art of drawing. It is carpentry, sewing, model making, physics, photography, storytelling, lighting, problem solving, science-ing.....it is an amalgam of crafting, science, technical, artsy mayhem.

I have always been a storyteller. As young as six years old I used to tell long winded ridiculous stories about things that weren't true to anyone who would listen. The more absurd the better. As an adult, I can think of nothing more fun than telling those absurd stories in a medium that challenges my mind and my skills. Not only do I get to solve the problems of how to make the little things work, I get to solve the problems of making it all work together to tell a complete story.

Stop motion is a very underrated craft. I wonder if the drawn animators have rejected it as legit because they are jealous. While they are stuck behind a desk, I get to work with my hands. While they are agonizing over color choices, I get to solve a physics problem. While they are using the same scenes and only moving one part of a picture, I get to live in my set. And the end result is the same.....a hopefully amusing and pretty animation for everyone to enjoy.

It warms my heart to see the influx of stop animation that has happened in the last few years. Coraline, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Mary & Max, Corpse Bride, The Nightmare Before Christmas....all exceptional movies done in this wonderful medium. This year, 2012, we have Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (I use the UK title cause I like it better), Paranorman, and Frankenweenie are the few I am aware of currently. There is a film festival in Montreal dedicated solely to stop motion. I am surprised at how many established film festivals are adding in categories for animation and stop motion. We are becoming more and more mainstream (be that good or bad).

Don't worry, drawn animators who have a chip on your shoulder about stop motion. There is room for all of us. :)

So I am currently working on getting some of my ideas written up for my next stop mo. I have about 5 ideas that I am going to flesh out and see what works the best. It kind of makes me feel like a real writer.

So today, being the easily distracted person that I am, I noticed that my mini roses are blooming. When I smashed my face a friend bought them for me as a get well present. It has really grown. It was about 3 inches tall when she gave it to me, and now it is about 12 inches. The blooms are so pretty - a dark, blood red. I had to try to capture them in photograph form. Due to my shortage of batteries for my camera I wasn't able to get many, but I was able to get one that I really like. It is of boring composition with the bloom in the center of the shot. But the bloom itself is sharp and the color comes through nicely.

One thing I have been struggling with this camera is color. It doesn't like to keep my settings consistently, so sometimes it is over saturated and sometimes all the colors look like one. I realize I can easily fix that in post. However, when making a stop motion video you are taking thousands of pictures for each minutes of video. That is a lot of work for something you should be able to do from the camera. Also, when you edit pictures individually it is harder to get conformity. Yeah you can try, keep the previous one open until you get the next one adjusted, blah blah blah. That is still a lot more work you are creating for yourself, with no guarantee of success. A lot more work amongst the ton of work you have already created for yourself by choosing stop motion.

Part of my issues may also be with lighting. I have read tons of books on the subject and read lots of blogs and online articles, but for some reason I am missing some key element to make it work right. I still get hotspots. When I am out photogging, my favorite kind of light is overcast. Not only is it the default lighting setting for Oregon, it makes my photos softer. If only I could recreate it in the studio (or my bedroom, whatever), with a regular consistency. Even outdoors it is regular. Clouds move. The sun makes a surprise appearance for a moment. I wonder if there is any reference material on it. Hmmm....

I have been contemplating my camera problem. Seriously, using an unreliable point n shoot that runs out of battery quickly has to be the least efficient way to make a stop mo. Due to the Canon point n shoots not allowing remote triggering or triggering from a computer, stabilization has been a bitch. Just when I think i have it I look back and see all my videos jumping around. They aren't shakey cam, but they aren't as smooth as I like. I also have problems with consistent color and focus, as it likes to auto focus even when that feature is turned off.

So what? Well, I have been thinking. I won the Douglas Adams animation contest sponsored by the Literary Platform. First prize is the new iPad. I have been researching it online, and it looks like the new iPad has a great camera on it. I don't know how much control it has, but the pictures would be better quality than what I get with the point n shoot. It might be easier to stabilize as well. The aperture also goes to f 2.4, where my point n shoot only gets f2.6. And as far as control goes, I wonder if there is an app that would give me that control? Everything I am reading about it touts it's auto features - autofocus, auto face recognition (which totally messes up a shot by focusing on what I don't want to focus on), auto white balance, auto exposure (which is a bitch when I want to overexpose for effect), and autofocus lock. I guess it may be too much to expect SLR control with a cheap built-in device. Most of the time they make those things to be idiot proof. Meaning you don't have to know how to take pictures to get good pictures. Still, I am excited about playing around with it to see what I can get. As I haven't had a working Mac in years, I am excited to check out the app store and see what is available to help me override auto-itis. I wonder if I can get remote trigger as well for it. Hmm....

It may be a week or so before I get the iPad, so I have time to plan and write and build to be ready for it.

Also, I hope it comes in black.

Um, you know that video contest, the one that I worked so hard on to get a video completed, and then shamelessly pandered for votes and views? Well, it has just been announced. The winners, I mean.

                               I WON!!!!

Holy freakin cow! I am SO excited! I rarely win anything, and I SO needed a win about now. And this time it is a literal win. The people running the contest have been really nice the last few weeks, with all my questions and demand for answers.

I am trying to think of something clever to say here, but I really cannot. I am just too excited!!! :)

This is just what I needed to feed the fear monster...poison for his fallacious logic. I have a lot of work ahead of me to become the animator I want to be, but this confirms that my sense of humor and need for a storyline aren't lost on others. I am headed in the right direction.


And it feels good!

EDIT: As promised, here is the winning video:

Well, that was a shambles. I was going to spend the afternoon shooting, but it turns out all my batteries are too low. I tried buying dollar store batteries. Even the new ones won't get more than one or two pictures before they die. SIGH. I guess you get what you pay for. When I get a job I need to buy a power adapter for my camera so I don't go through so many batteries. I spent hours setting it up, getting some audio together, building a picture frame, etc. It is too late to go get batteries tonight, so I guess I wait till tomorrow to do shooting.

Here is one of the few pictures I did get of my new set:

Suppose now I have time to work on it some more. This scene needs a plant or something. And I can make actual coffee cups instead of a beer stein and a goblet.

No matter what else is going on in my life, my mind is always on stop motion. What I can do to make an idea work, a short storyline idea, looking at the different elements of life and wondering how to make them work in stop motion - all always running around in the hamster wheel I call my brain. I see something in a tv show and think "How would I do  that and make it look natural?" Or "How could I make that in miniature and still allow the moving parts to move?". I suppose I am slightly mad. And also very frustrated. It is frustrating that I don't have the funds to try many of my ideas. It is frustrating that my camera is an inconsistent point n shoot. It is frustrating that I can't afford to pay someone to teach me how to light a scene properly. It is frustrating that I can't afford the proper materials for creating my own puppets. Or afford the waste that will come while I am learning how to make my own puppets. I just want to make movies. People say that money doesn't buy happiness.  Seriously, if I had the money to buy what I needed to do more stop motion I would be happy. Well, more like content.

On another note, I am looking into alternative video sites. I like You Tube, I guess. There is just so much there to wade through. And people can add random ads to your stuff without your permission and without paying you. That is frustrating to me. I am looking into Vimeo. I have been watching Vimeo videos for a while now. They seem to be better quality. It seems to me more of the videos available are done by people who are serious about making good content. The number one reason I hadn't gotten a Vimeo account is they did not support mobile devices, while You Tube does. Now it seems they do. I just watched a video on my android phone the other day. So now to figure out what the length limit is, what the upload limit is, and if I have to get a paid account if I go over a certain amount of videos. Of course, I could monetize You Tube, while I am not sure I could do that with Vimeo.

Well, grounds for contemplation.
I leave you with a random act of photogging:

Oh my have I ever fallen down on my RL-RPG. A mild bout with depression has caused me to stop writing anything. Somethings are still happening, but lots of it is not. I am not giving up, though. I still haven't found the task manager app that will work for me. At least one that is free. There may be some out there that you have to pay for, but until employment happens that isn't going to happen. Wow, I keep using that word. Negative points for redundancy. :)

So it is just 10 short days until the winner of the Douglas Adams Video Contest is announced. I wish it were over already. I hate limbo states, and this is the limbo-est. Not that it matters either way, I just want to know. I notice that although votes no longer count, they are still taking them. My video goes between #1 and #2. And I am not voting for myself, nor have I tweeted or posted the link since the list was published. I guess that means some people out there like it. :)

So now I am aching for another project. I have had to concentrate on getting bill money, so I haven't done much. It is killing me. I am still housesitting so I don't have my sets and guys and other stuff. I am considering developing a little show to pitch to those that have You Tube channels. You know, like Felicia Day's Geek & Sundry, Chris Hardwick's Nerdist, Kevin Smith's S.I.T. I could create my own You Tube channel, but if I could get it successfully on one of those I would get a wider audience. And mine wouldn't be a CHANNEL channel, just a regular one like most people have. It would be really fun. Maybe I will set a goal for myself to have developed a set of characters and a premise by the end of the day today. If I make this, even if I don't get it on one of the famous people's channels, I can create my own or pitch it to another site like Cracked or something. Producing something might also help me kick my butt out of the depression I have settled into. Let me tell you, it is hard to stay positive when every single job you apply for is a rejection and you have NO way to pay your bills cause you are out of savings and have nothing left to sell. I have managed to raise $50 of the $500 I need. Go me.

Now I feel the need to go rest my head on a wall Charlie Brown style and yell.

Wow. Again it has been too long. I did finish my camera stand, but I still don't feel it is sturdy enough. I am currently housesitting and don't have access to my stuff, but when I get back I will take another look at it and see what I can do to stabilize it. Here is the final, though not really so final, product:

I attempted to stabilize it further by adding extra pieces to the sides and back. I am considering gluing magnets to the inside corners to make it even more stable. I think I will rebuild it with a tad more width and bigger pieces to hold the sides. I guess it still needs some work.

Also, the spring has come, which means much photogging is being done. I leave you with a sample of what I have been working on.

I am back playing with my stop mo today. I had a specific idea I wanted to test out, then realized I really need to make myself a camera stand I can put in the set if I am going to continue to use the cookie tin for anchoring my guys. So I built several types, and came up with one that I like. It is still in progress, but I will post pics when it is done.

So the idea I wanted to try was getting the guy to jump on the couch. I have a specific reason for that move, which I will reveal at a later date. So intstead if doing the jumping repeatedly, while testing camera holder designs I made him just jump onto the couch once. I also played around the the idea of a chest bump. I think it turned out ok, except next time I will find a way for them to go up a bit before they part. I think that would make it look more like a bump. It isn't bad, it just looks more like they are rubbing chests together, which is not the kind of film I am going for.

So here is the result of the last test. Remember I am just rushing through it, to get an idea. There are several of the actions I would have added more frames to, to make them less jerky, if it were meant to be a final product. Also, as the camera is still moving a bit due to the instability of the cardboard, it isn't exactly perfect. Does look a tad shakey cam though.

I was also paying more attention to the camera and the action than I was the set and props. Watching it again I am seeing magical moving inanimate objects (that aren't supposed to be moving on their own).

Ok...back to construction.

Why is this so hard?  SIGH

I have been asked to write a 50-ish word blurb about myself to be posted on the Douglas Adams Video Contest site. This should be easy, right? I mean, I know about myself. I made the video. So why is is so hard to talk about myself?

I guess part of the problem is not knowing what to put in, and what to leave out. I can do this for anyone else. I have done it for other people. But when it comes to myself, maybe there is just too much information. I am never sure quite what should be included and what is TMI.

I am leaning toward a humorous approach. That would be right in line with a Douglas Adams event. Argh. This deadline is looming and nothing is coming. Ok...this may be apropos. Mr. Adams was known for missing deadlines and needing his editor to sit on him until he produced pages for his books. One of my favorite quotes of his is "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

I also have to come up with a picture, which is harder than you might think. I haven't had my picture taken professionally since 1995. I know this is going to shock you, but generally I don't take pictures of myself. I have several pictures that friends have taken, but they aren't exactly flattering. I mean. they aren't bad, but they aren't exactly the type you'd put up on a website next to a blurb about yourself.

Enough procrastination. I mainly wrote this post to get myself in the mindset to write this thing. I think I am ready. I shall get to it.