Post-production

To begin with I uploaded my photos to the computer and opened them in iPhoto so I could make a contact sheet with it for 20 photos a page. I opened them in Microsoft Word and crossed out images that I was not going to use in my final video.

It took me around 2 hours to edit the video I found it reasonable easy enough to do I opened up my video in Final Cut and slot in the photos. I then got rid of any photos that were not needed and rearranged the order so that it flowed in the way that I wanted to do.

I used all sound effects from Final Cut it was quite hard trying to get the right music and to slot in the right places but I think that it went really well and that it works well. I put in some background music for the overall theme, which is quite moving and enjoying and invites the audience in. I also put in some sound effects of movements of the stop motion to give it more effect. 

Production

This is one of the photos within the stop motion video

12,14,18th March 

I started taking my photos on my IPad as this was original idea I found it quite difficult to do as it made the video look to fake and not flow as well I thought I would change it back to whiteboard because I think this way it appeals more to the audience.

It took over a few days to take my photo, as I wanted the lighting to be consistent. Some of my photos are not in the right order but I enabled this when it came to editing as I rearranged them round so it flowed well.

All together it took me around 4 hours to do my photos this includes colouring in some letters and drawing them and taking the photos. It was quite time consuming but I took around 220 photos with about 50 photos that I didn’t use because they includes some of the background or some kind of mistakes.

I didn’t find it too hard to do but it would have been a lot easier if I had a cameraman or a drawer because getting in the right place to take the photo and draw it is quite consuming but I felt that I succeeded well enough in the end.

I had to add some photos when I were drawings as I didn’t have enough footage from the photos to make a video between 15 and 30 seconds but I used some information from my previous ideas and then developed on this which I thought made it look a lot better. 

Storyboard/dope sheet

Before and after my pitch to the client I had begun with creating my storyboards. After my pitch I based it on the same idea but just adjusted my storyboards so that it'd make more sense and flow better. As I realised from the beginning my idea didn't make complete sense and could confuse a viewer, which is not what you want when you are trying to make it appeal to them. Each shot I described the beginning of the movement like for example at the beginning with a small circle then I showed the end shot of where I wanted to get to in the next frames.

I did 9 shots and each shot shows two photos from beginning to end. I put in which shot types, duration, and sound.  I also wrote about what will happen from what shot to another. I got my worked signed off on 14^th March so that I could get on with taking my photos. 

Presentation and pitch

After looking at the pro and cons sheet I could see that both of the ideas were very similar so either idea could be as successful as each other.

I decided to go in the end with My Life idea because I thought drawing would go quite successful and be able to adapt a situation to a real life situation so that the target audience would be able to relate to this product.

I then created a presentation on PowerPoint with several different slides that would sell my idea to the client. I spoke about the initial idea and what I was going to do, the soundtrack, the theme, the pros and cons this is to tell the client that they are good aspects but something may be bad and get in the way. Also I wrote about my target audience for the product, the props I would need it make it this may be for the set or because I'm doing hand drawn animation I need to make sure I have the materials: pen, paper, rubber. I worked out how long the duration will be with the amount of seconds and the frame rate to work out the number of shots I will take.

I think my presentation did not go as well as I would have hoped. I got a bit confused in areas and my idea didn’t come across as I hoped. I felt that I could make it better, which my client agreed on.

The client questioned me on some things such as what the transition in time will be so I didn’t make it clear enough it will be a dream. From this I made sure my client understood what it meant about the bubble coming from the girl’s head to show it is in her thoughts something she wants to come. It would be quite hard to show an envelope opening and this could be quite time consuming and bore the viewer. He questioned the changes of age of the character I know that it is the same character at the same age but just her seeing herself in this life.

The client asked us to make sure the idea is something that people watch it so I had to think about different ideas to why a person will watch it. I had to make sure the audience will get the message of SELF DEVELOPMENT as to begin with I didn’t think this was very much noticeable. 

Pros and cons

From this I created pros and cons that help me understand all together what were the good and bad points and which would be more successful and produce a better stop motion.

My Life

Pros	Cons
Simple and easy enough to make	May not show the audience the meaning of the video it should
I have the props I need
Relates to a real life situation
Engage the audience

Pencils

Pros	Cons
Comedy element	Could be hard working with the props
Would remember the story because of the characters	Might get bored
Have all the props ready
Easy to understand

Two Ideas (Expanded)

First Idea

Start to second idea

I carried out several ideas and expanded on these two theme: the two ideas I expanded on were the pencil idea in the theme of respect and my life idea which was for self- development.

On these mindmaps I found out more information and did a thorough mind map of things that were important to these particular ideas. For example I wrote the synopsis of the idea, the props that were needed, characters, sound effects, genre and target audience.

My first idea I came up with was the pencil idea. The idea of this was that they were two pencils: one of them was bigger than the other. The smaller one gave the bigger one advice and didn’t listen and it tells that you should listen and respect your elders or other people. This genre of the stop motion would be a comedy because it uses two everyday objects and manipulates them into a conversation I thought this idea was good to use because it would make the audience remember. The target audience for this particular stop motion was aimed at teenagers because it is telling an important message about respecting people such as elders, teachers, family etc.  I also talked about the sound effects such as sketching sounds to add impact. The characters I drew out and made them known which were which and wrote a bit of a description about them.

The second idea was called my life. The story of this particular idea was a clock that each number represented each stage of life. At each number you achieve a different goal even when it is hard. The target audience was aimed at the same age group at young adults and teenagers because it is telling people to reach for their full potential. I also listed the props that I was going to use such as whiteboard, pen, cloth and maybe a clock. The main character in this was a drawn character as this was whiteboard animation and it will be a girl that will go through this development of life. 

Research/Mindmap

28^th February

Yesterday, I carried out some research into the themes: Consistency, Self-Development, Purpose, Responsibility and Respect.

 I found out more about these different themes and then tried developing several ideas for them then so that it would encourage and inspire others to promote a positive ethos. I also thought about the ideas to suit the target audience: staff and students as this is a main element of the brief. 

In the several different ideas that I came up with I had to think about the type of animation I would use these are a few of the ones I had in mind in using in some of the ideas: Wooden Man, Human, Objects: stationary and also clay. Some uses of the animation I thought were easier to make an idea up with more than others especially to compliment these themes.

Now, I think I want to develop some of these ideas further and I might also try add some more information to some of the mind map so I have as many possibilities as I can think of.