Reading & Writing
This week, I read Chapters 5 and 6 in Liz Blazer’s Animated Storytelling: Simple Steps for Creating Animation & Motion Graphics as we prepared to create stop motion animation videos.
Chapter 5: Color Sense
Blazer opens the chapter with explaining color vocabulary, including hue, saturation, and value. Hue refers to the common color name like blue or green. Saturation is the intensity of a color, and value is the lightness or darkness of a color. This chapter explores the power of color in animation and motion graphics, emphasizing how color choices influence mood, storytelling, and audience perception. Blazer explains that color is more than just an aesthetic decision – it’s a psychological tool that can evoke emotions. She discusses the significance of color harmonies, contrast, and saturation in creating a compelling visual narrative. In the chapter, Blazer notes the difference between CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) and RGB (red, green, blue) color systems. CMYK is used for print materials and colors are created by mixing pigments on paper. On the other hand, motion uses RGB where light is used to mix color.
Blazer also walks through the steps to create color scripts, a technique used in animation to plan color palettes across an entire sequence. By mapping out color changes over time, artists can reinforce story beats and emotional shifts. Blazer offers the following tips when using color in an animation project: limit color palette, design for movement, use surprise color for punctuation so it stands out, use one thematic and one accent color, and make your own rules.
Chapter 6: Weird Science
In this chapter, Blazer encourages readers to experiment with animation and to not be afraid to try weird, creative rituals. Like Jimi Hendrix made his own weird science, Blazer suggests that animators should experiment, mess around, test limits, and do something new with an animation. This chapter delves into the technical and experimental side of animation, encouraging artists to push creative boundaries by incorporating unexpected elements. Blazer discusses the role of physics, movement, and timing in making animations feel believable yet imaginative. She highlights how exaggeration, squash and stretch, and secondary motion add depth to animated storytelling, making scenes more dynamic and engaging.
The chapter also emphasizes the importance of observation and curiosity in the animation process. Blazer encourages animators to study real-world physics and then bend those rules to create something new. She explores the connection between art and science, stating how technological advancements, such as motion capture and procedural animation, can improve traditional animation techniques. This chapter inspires readers to blend logic with creativity to create unique animations.
Research to Inform
To prepare for the creation of my own stop motion animation, I watched a series of videos that used different techniques to inspire my video.
1.) Paper Stop Motion Animation
I thought this was a very unique way to showcase stop motion. The creator cut out pieces of paper to create a scene and moved the pieces with their hands. When their hand touched the screen, a new element would appear.
2.) Fruit and Vegetable Stop Motion
This was a great example of a nonlinear story line where the fruits and vegetables would transform into other objects. For instance, the creator had a watermelon transform into a globe. Then, the seeds from the watermelon fell off to the ground which then morphed into an egg. I was personally struggling with coming up with an idea for nonlinear stop motion, and I thought this video was very helpful in thinking of an idea.
3.) Clay Stop Motion
This video utilized 2500 pictures, and the creator used clay to morph each object into the next. First, the craftsmanship of this video is impeccable, and I aspire to achieve this type of cleanliness and precision in my animations one day. It’s amazing how animators can think of these “out-of-the-box” ideas to create a storyline with just small pieces of clay. I also liked how the creator used sound effects to enhance the video and make it sound more realistic.
4.) Stop Motion with Drawings and Origami
In this video, the creators illustrated the idea of “where do ideas come from?” They used pieces of paper and drew elements on each page. I thought this was another create idea with a linear story line. They first introduced the question, answered with through different animations, and then finished with “The End.”
This is another clay animation, and I love how they illustrated a clay elephant coming to life. The sound effects were well placed and enhanced the story. They also used different hand motions to sculpt each part of the elephants. I also like how they created a still background that wasn’t just blank – the nature elements, including the mountains and the trees, help paint the picture of the scene. In my future stop motion animation video for next week, this might be a good idea. I want to strategically think about the background and how it can enhance the animation.
Create
Pre-Production Templates & Storyboards
For my two stop motion animation project ideas, I thought I would stick with the same theme of racing and running, similarly to what I created this week. Since Blazer suggested to choose a subject that you are very passionate about, I thought this would be a good topic for me.
When thinking of an idea for my linear storyline, I was inspired by three Hot Wheels cars I found in my basement when I was looking for materials for this week’s stop motion animation project. When I was younger, I was obsessed with all things cars, and I thought it would be a fun idea to create a stop motion animation of the three cars racing each other with car-related sound effects.
For my non-linear storyline (and if I’m honest, I think I prefer this one over the other one), I was inspired by looking at my running shoes. I thought, “what if I could create an animation with a shoelace?” I was thinking I would start with a shot of the shoelaces attached to the shoe, and then it would venture off the shoe, go through a series of animations, and then return to the shoe. This would follow the Book Ending storytelling strategy as discussed in Blazer’s book.
See the link above for my creative briefs and storyboards!
My First Stop Motion Animation – M&M Race
For my first-ever stop motion animation, I decided to create a race with two M&M’s. Since I am a runner, I was inspired to create something involving a race. When I was younger, I would always create obstacle courses in my backyard, so I was inspired to create a little obstacle course race for the M&M’s.
For this project, I used my Samsung Galaxy s20 and took 350 photos. I had a few issues with importing the files, and I had to rename each photo to import the images as an image sequence into Adobe Premiere Pro. I decided to take aerial shots for this project and taped down the marshmallows, popsicle sticks, and paper to the table so there would be no movement besides the M&M’s. This was a fun project to create, and I’m excited to create another stop motion animation video next week.
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