For this project, I decided that documenting every stage would not be as helpful, but I did want to be sure to highlight a couple of aspects that helped with the project's success:
First was the option of animating the facial expressions of the pumpkin, which was achieved, not surprisingly by a dry-erase marker. While I have not ventured into animation or stop-motion in the past, I knew that part of what would make the narrative successful involved creating a range of emotions and reactions to the events. While the dry erase marker was not a fool-proof method, and in fact was not easy to totally erase off of the pumpkins surface (!), it was crucial for making the narrative clear by creating a central character who could react to the actions happening around it.
The second tool needed was a rigged camera tripod that allowed the camera to stay in the same position for the majority of the film. After we had the chance to experiment with the projects in class, it became clear that keeping a consistent, locked frame is an important component of keeping the story-telling clear, except, of course, when camera motion helps to tell the story. I decided to break from this set frame as soon as the pumpkin is implied to knock the camera itself off of the counter, and the two tumble simultaneously to the ground. This sequence was not captured as clearly as the first half of the film, which is another nod to the successes of having a set, established frame via the help of a tripod set up.
Comments
Post a Comment