Experimental Animation Production Report

Experimental Animation Production Report
After the Easter break I decided to start on my experimental animation project. This is the first time I have ever done experimental animation. That is why I decided to go with a technique that I would feel most comfortable with and that is namely pixilation.

To begin with, I started doing some tests. The first test involved some coins.

I placed the camera just near my desk. Then I slowly started to introduce the coins in the frame. I started to move the coins in different ways and at the same time, tried to capture every important move as a separate frame. The first few tries did not work out quite as I expected, because there were not enough frames to make the movement more fluid. So I started to do the movements slower and was able to capture more pictures.
For the next test I used a handkerchief.

This time I wanted to try making some waves by deforming the cloth. I think the hardest part about this test was making sure the waves stay consistent and don’t spread unnaturally. In the end it did not work out as I expected but still the effect I achieved is better than nothing.
For the third test I used paperclips.

I decided to make them move in a slightly chaotic way and I was able to achieve some nice effects. I do feel quite happy with this one because, I made some nice shapes with the clips. Also I was able to make a snake-like form by attaching the paperclips to each other.

After finishing the three tests I had to start working on the final piece of animation. For this one I had to use a specific soundtrack. I was thinking of making something similar to the previous videos, but when I started to listen to the soundtrack more thoroughly I decided something else. I made a decision to make an animation about a drawing. The soundtrack sounded very soothing, so it seemed natural to make a simple piece of animation.

At first I was thinking about drawing on film. However the frame of the film was too small to draw detail. This is why I got some toilet rows. At first it seemed like a crazy idea, but when I thought about it more it seemed good enough. I wanted the paper to behave just like film. But it didn’t work out. So I decided to make some footage of a spinning toilet row. Then I made it loop and placed it just on top of the frame on which I was going to draw. After that I decided to draw very slowly and also take a picture every time there was more progress. I also captured my hands on the first frames and made the animation as if I started the drawing and then it finishes by itself. I repeated the same with the painting. In the end I had the raw tiffs. So I imported them into After Effects and made them into a sequence. After that I added the soundtrack .In the end I added an old movie effect and tinted the footage. Then I applied a mask so that when the painting part comes the tint would be removed. I enjoyed doing this piece of animation. The final result, however was not satisfying. I guess it could have been a lot better. But still as my first time It worked.