Stop Motion Lesson Notes for assignment 1

What genre is the animation and what generic conventions (things you expect to see) can you pull out?
What do you notice about the movement of the figures body?
What do you notice about the movement of the figures face and facial expression?
What comments can you make about the use of sound?

1.  Lee hardcastles claymation is aimed at an teenage/young adult audience due to the blood and gore etc, and people with an interest in claymation and with a sense of humour. The genre of the animation is clearly crime/action. As we can see animated cats in swat uniform with guns who are the hero's. There is also villainous characters which are defined by facial expressions and there actions in each scene.  Also we can see this by the amount of typical action props used for example guns,knives,explosives. There is also fake blood which is a typical makeup effect used within the action genre.

2.  There was unnatural walking, the characters looked as if they were shuffling. This is because they had no model legs. This made the animation funny and entertaining. This has broken the principles of animation. Characters who were shot flew backwards. This used the principle of gravity to his advantage. This was also used towards the end of the video where a cat fell from the building. This creates a sense of realism which sticks to the action genre. We know then video is not real, but keeps realism to keep it entertaining.

3. Characters were sweating/crying which reveals emotion and fear. The audience now know the characters are in danger. This also follows the principle of gravity and realism.

4. We can also define the genre by the non diagetic soundtrack used, there is fast paced music creating a tense atmosphere. There is also a lot sound effects of gunshots,explosions and violent noise that can be heard within the animation. There is also dialogue of screaming and fear. These points all prove the animation is of action/crime genre.

What different styles of stopmotion have we seen? 

We have seen animation,claymation,2d animation.

What two principles of animation have we learnt about?

The principles of arcs and gravity.

When it was hard to identify a genre, what word did we use? 

Surrealism

What is the final deadline for assignment 1?

19th september.

How long does your section of stop motion have to be?

30 seconds

What differences can you see in the two animations?

At 43 seconds in the King Kong vs T rex you can see king kongs arm movements are jerky and there aren't steady. If you look 31 seconds into creature comforts the dog's body movements are more smooth and steady. This is obviously due to stop motion becoming more advanced over time.

What similarities are there in the two animations?

Both creature comforts and t rex are both animal characters. This may be to create humour or a sense of surrealism. Creature comforts (20 seconds) and King Kong vs T rex (40 seconds) Both videos are also shot from the same point of view.


Can you tell if over time there has been a development in the skills and techniques of animation?

Yeah, as said before the body movement of characters has improved, also stop motion nowadays is in colour as King Kong vs t rex was in black and white. Also the sound has improved. Dialogue is now more synchronised and easy to understand. Also more realistic, If you look at creature comforts 40 seconds in the dialogue is crisp and clear. Where as 10 seconds into king kong vs t rex, the t rex's growling/screech sounds more like a cat and isn't very clear. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG_EU8X2l2o - Cravendale

In the cravendale video, at 16 seconds the cow starts walking on two feet. This shows the principles of arcs are being used, although it is surreal that a cow is walking on two feet. Although the cow uses arcs, the other characters (32 seconds) do not follow this principle. They shuffle instead of bending their knees to walk. 10 seconds into the video you can spot secondary actions, for example guards holding swords and at 23 seconds a dragon is breathing fire in the background. There are also examples of gravity (25 seconds) you can see the characters pouring milk into the dragons mouth and it falls downwards (follows principle of gravity)