Barry Time and Project Proposal

In this image Barry is explaining the best ways to create the puppets. Different methods and techniques to create the armature and skin. 

Here I have the character sheet with basic outline of the character I would like to create, and below the the character sheet with basic colours for my puppet that I may have depending on how I decide to make the puppet.

The next step was to create the armature inside, where would the joints be? how long would the armature's limbs be? Where are the focus points? I had to mark these out, which I later marked out in orange to show the difference.

On the right side is me placing the armature within the puppet and what I feel it would look like. I'm not sure how the spin is going to work, for this I feel like I am going to need some advice.

Character Design in 3D

In creating my character sheet I found it hard to imagine how she would look from many different angles, so I decided to quickly make her on z-brush. To give me a good idea of what she might look like before I draw her.

Quick Character Designs

Not particularly clear, but my ideas is to essentially have a very malnourished woman with very long unwashed black hair. She'll have her spin on show and possibly have pin holes to show her drug abuse. I followed the idea of the generic side effects that come with abuse. I would like to see a face a bit, but it's not essential. She would show most of her emotions through her movement.

Quick Ideas for our character design

Me and Ali both want to create an animation based on a dark subject for example; bullying, suicide, drug abuse, alcoholism, self harm. (As cheery and that sounds)

We were discussing it and feel like maybe it would be interesting to focus on substance abuse, we've decided to keep it 'substance abuse' instead of anything too specific when it comes to character design, we know we want to create someone malnourished and skinny, whether it be a creature or human we can decide. But we will start making our puppet in a few days time.

DEFINITION: Substance abuse, also known as a drug abuse, is a patterned use of a drug which the user consumes, with methods which are harmful to themselves or others. It's also a form of substance-related disorder.

COMMON SIDE EFFECTS:

• Mood swings
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Irritability
• Hyperactivity
• Agitation
• Troubles in relationships
• Decreased motivation
• Intoxicated
• Need of Money
• Stealing 
• Sudden changes in friends,hangouts,hobbies
• Blackouts
• Deteriorating physical appearance
• Inattention to personal grooming
• Loss of self control
• Worsening of medical conditions
• Physical dependent on drugs
• Infections
• changes in sleep appetite
• Bloodshot eyes
• Pupils smaller or wider than usual
• Lethargy
• Worsening of mental illness
• Paranoia 
• Hallucinations
• Fearfulness 
• Aggressiveness 

The ones highlighted in orange I feel will help me with the characters physical appearance, the red highlights are to help me with the characters movements and characteristic. 

Stop Animation Experimentation

Here we worked with ball and socket puppets, which I found to be exteremly hard to animate with. They refused to stay in place, and the pins we put to keep them in place felt like they were pointless. Apart from the fingers that seemed to be made with wire the rest just wanted to do it's own thing. I animated the character on the right, I feel like Ali's character on the left has a very human walk about it which I really think works, where as mine has a robot feel, I did this because I felt like it didn't have a personality that was visible. I'm pretty happy with how it came out, I know I need to work on getting a nice walk cycle down. 

We next had a play with the wire puppets which were a breath of fresh air from the previous ball and socket puppets. They actually stayed in the positions we wanted the to. The pins also helped to keep them in place, we just made up a narrative as we went along with these two. But essentially we're both sitting down and the mouse puppet decides to take the yellow puppet away, but he is unsuccessful when he is kicked to the floor in a get away. I animated the one on the left, and again I feel like I need improve the way I animate in terms of not moving it so erratically, I feel like my movements aren't as successful as Ali with making him looked scared. The next time I would animate in smaller movements.

Here we just had some free time so we decided to make our characters twerk (definition: to dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving hip movements and a low, squatting dance.)

Stop Motion in Motion

Here is just an example of what stop motion can do, it's incredibly realistic with no actors involved. The most interesting thing about this movie is the choice to not edit out the line on puppet that show the replacement faces. This was a choice, possibly to show how unique it is that is stop motion, if those lines weren't there you might think that they weren't puppets. 

Experimenting with After Effects

Game of Cups

I had my first over try on After Effects, I had all of the components ready made to make this animation. But I had to put it all together, I felt like it was a fairly easy programme to get to grips with. Hopefully I'll feel the same when it comes to editing my final stop frame animation. 

Introduction to Stop Motion

I will demonstrate the craft of stop motion, through a series of demonstrations and exercises designed to build upon my current understanding of animation.

I will be introduced into the technical and creative process of the stopmotion filming with the guidence of industry professionals.

THIS MUST INCLUDE: 

• STUDY PROPOSAL 
• WALK CYCLE EXERCISE - With pre-defined armature 
• MODEL DESIGNS - Character sheet and construction sheet
• MODEL PHOTOGRAPHS - Create a biped stop motion character
• MODEL ANIMATION - Walk cycle with a double take
• RESEARCH PORTFOLIO - Showcasing your research and development within the project
• EVALUATION - Of 250 words on the project and achieved outcomes