Video and Sound Production - Final Project
22.10.2023 - 28.11.2023 / Week 8 - Week 14
Chan Wan Qing / 0350928 / BA of Design
(HONS) in Creative Media
Video and Sound Production
Final Project
INDEX:
1. Final Project: Stop Motion
2. Reflection
FINAL PROJECT: STOP MOTION
Favourite Stop Motion Videos
During week 1, Mr Martin required us to choose 3 favourite stop motion videos to prepare us for this final project.
1. Western Spaghetti
The stop motion video of Western Spaghetti showcases inventive storytelling using stop-motion techniques. The transformation of food items into components of a spaghetti western is both humorous and visually impressive by creatively using various props.
2. Fresh Guacamole
The smoothness of the whole stop motion animation, especially movements contributes to the overall visual appeal, showcasing the artist's skill in frame-by-frame storytelling.
3. Submarine Sandwich
This is a stop-motion cooking film. It shows off its creativity by using different objects to represent different ingredients. Although this stop motion does not have a strong storyline, however, it's details on the props, frame-by-frame smoothness and creativity is able to capture viewers' attention on the video.
Idea Proposals
Idea 1:
Use cut leaves to create a stop motion to show the
relationship between human and the wood nature. The stop motion will show
mountains, trees, hiking shoe, human hiking and so on, transformed using
different colours of cut leaves. It encourages an appreciation of the
balance between resource utilization and environmental preservation.
Idea 2:
Use Legos to show a short story of a father and his son joyfully
receiving a special present, a delightful meal at McDonald's in Christmas. To
be shot like an advertisement. The storyline emphasises on creating lasting
memories between families and also taps into the emotional connection that
makes Christmas a season of love, sharing, and the simple pleasures found in
the celebration.
I chose idea 2 as there is a storyline, where I think it is better as the whole stop motion has to be 30 seconds.
Storyboard
Then, I started to think of the storyline and created a storyboard. There are 8 different scenes in total with different shots in my plan.
Shooting
Setting Up
As I used existing Legos that I built in the past for this project, I did not need to build and create the props. So, I started to set up the place using the Legos and also prepare the characters.
The characters and motorcycle are not from the same set, so I need to use double tape to stick them on the motorcycle so that they won't fall off from the motorcycle when I moved them.
During the shooting process, I tried to move the props slowly and carefully so that their place is more constant and looks smooth when they are edited into video. The scenes all have different shots based as the length of each scene is different. Some of the has over 60 shots, but some of them has only 9 shots.
Scene 4
The hardest part while shooting is to control the movement of the characters, as I have to adjust their body parts, and it is hard to remain the characters at the same place after I adjust their movements. So, I have to keep referring back to the previous shot so that their movements won't be awkward.
Editing
After completing the shooting for all the 8 scenes, I send the files into my laptop to do editing in Adobe After Effects. I divided the files according to each scene into different folder and imported them as a folder into After Effects.
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Scene 1
I edited each scene seperately in Adobe After Effects and exported them as video (.mp4) file so that I can move to Adobe Premiere Pro for further editing. For some of the scenes, I think that the speed is a little bit too fast. So, I planned to adjust the speed in Adobe Premiere Pro while editing the scenes into a stop motion video.
In Adobe Premiere Pro, I imported the 8 scenes and arrange them following the storyboard. Then, I adjusted the speed of some scenes so that they look smoother in the whole video. However, I realised that for some of the transitions between 2 scenes are too fast. So, I imported the images of the final shot of a scene to make the final shot of the scenes longer so that the scenes won't be too rush while transitioning into the next scene.
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Attempt 1
In the first attempt, the duration of the whole stop motion video is 29 seconds. I planned to shoot one more scene, where it shows the logo of McDonald's like their real advertisement using Legos.
Attempt 2 (BGM & Sound Effects)
After that, I also proceeded to find the background music, sound effects. I found the sound effects that is perfectly matched with the stop motion. However, I found that it is hard to find a background music as I could not find a music that match the timing of my stop motion because most of the background music is too long, like 1 or 2 minutes. So, I tried to edit the length of the music but some of the parts did not sound smooth.
Attempt 3 (Colour Correction)
I added a adjustment layer to adjust the colour of the video by controlling the tint, saturation, brightness, contrast and more.
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Attempt 4 (McD Logo)
I added a scene that shows McD's logo using Lego.
Final Stop Motion Video
Christmas in McDonald’s: A Merry Christmas between Family
This stop motion video will use Legos to show a short story of a father and his son joyfully receiving a special present: a delightful meal at McDonald's. The stop motion carefully crafted storyline captures the essence of family togetherness. As they unveil the surprise, the father and son share smiles of delight, embodying the joy of sharing moments together over a delicious McDonald's meal. This heartening advertisement not only emphasizes on creating lasting memories between families and also taps into the emotional connection that makes Christmas a season of love, sharing, and the simple pleasures found in the celebration.
REFLECTION
This project is a challenging but creatively rewarding experience for me. The meticulous planning and attention to detail required for each frame challenged my patience and precision. During the pre-shooting and shooting process, I need to carefully position and adjust each element and props so that the result comes out well as every subtle movement contributed to the overall narrative.. The project demanded not only technical skills but also a keen sense of storytelling as I used quite some time to come out with a complete storyline. I was fascinated and felt good when the inanimate objects come to life frame by frame, from images to videos, turning a simple concept into a visually engaging story through editing. Editing skills is also another very important factor in creating a stop motion video as I have to trim, lengthen the clips and also add sound effects and background music in order to enrich the storytelling of the stop motion. The iterative process of shooting, reviewing, and refining instilled a sense of perseverance and dedication. Despite some imperfections in the shoots, where this is where we learn, I found the project highly interesting and thoroughly enjoyed the entire video-making process.
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