Why is 8 afraid of 7?

Here’s my 10 second counting leader!

Design Statement

“Food Chain Countdown” is a playful 10 second leader in the style of cut-out animation. Using felt cutouts, the story begins with the number 10 being dropped into the water and eaten by 9. Within a second, 8 comes along and swallows 9, 7 eats 8 and so on. As it counts down, each figure is swallowed by its succeeding number. At the end of the food chain, 0, which supposedly eats 1 turns over and floats to the surface of the water.

Complete with light, cheerful beats in the background and characters of different colours, the final result is a fun, lighthearted video with a humorous ending!

Credit Information
The Free Sound Project for the sound of the ‘crunch’ and the bubbling water.
Flashkit for the background music.

Project 1: Concept 2

Overview
A stop-motion animation about going for a drivers test. The scene begins with the first course of the test: a set of pylons is arranged to form the number 10 and the driver must drive in between the pylons. The counting down begins when the pylons are knocked over as the driver passes through the course. The next course is set up with pylons arranged in the form of the number 9. Again, the driver knocks over the pylons as it counts down to number 8. Each course is arranged in the form of a number while counting down. After the pylons in the form of 3 are knocked down, a blank screen appears for 2 seconds following the last frame: a check-mark beside the word “fail.” The whole animation will be in birds eye view. Each time the car begins to move, an engine sound will start until each course is finished.

Materials needed
-camera
-tripod
-good lighting
-a toy car
-orange clay (to make small pylons)
-a background (which will be the ground)

Considerations
-what the background should look like and what material to use
-the size of everything
-using the software to animate
-where and how the pictures will be taken.

Goals and Objectives
This is also a fun and quick animation that works as a counting leader. It is also not meant to be realistic as most cartoons/animations tend to be.

Audience
An older group of children (10 and up) who understand what a drivers test is even if they have not been through one. Anyone (young and old) who enjoy watching animations.

Link to the storyboard: car.pdf

Other rough concepts I’ve also considered:
1. Counting down with jell-o.
2. Spelling out the numbers while connecting each word with scrabble pieces.
3. Stacking and forming numbers with jenga pieces.

Project 1: Concept 1

Overview
A felt cut-out animation in stop motion. The story is a fish food chain. It starts with pollutants being dropped in the ocean in the form of the number 10. A small fish (in the form of number 9) swims by and eats one of them. Another (bigger) fish (in the form of the number 8 ) eats number 9. The countdown continues as each number is eaten until it reaches the number 3. After a blank out for 2 seconds, number 3 begins to flip over and float to the surface. The audio in the background will begin with underwater sounds (sounds of bubbles or echos heard from a distance). Every time a number is eaten, a “crunch” sound is heard. In the end when 3 floats to the surface there will be sounds of bubbles in the background.

Materials needed
-camera
-tripod
-felt of all sorts of colours
-scissors
-good lighting

Considerations
-what colours and colour combinations to use (that would depend on what colour felt I find).
-where and how the pictures will be taken.
-what the cutouts would look like.
-the size of everything.
-using the software.

Goals and Objectives
As my first take on stop-motion, I want to create a fun, playful animation in the form of a quick story that also works as a counting leader. The animation may not be completely realistic but it is not meant to be taken seriously.

Audience
This would appeal to elementary school children (who are learning how to count or understand the food chain). They might also enjoy watching animations. They could be an older audience who enjoy watching animations as well.

Link to the storyboard: fish.pdf

Stop Motion Music Videos

Some more stop motion animations. Here are some pretty cool music videos:

Stephen Malkmus’ Baby C’mon.

Guster’s One Man Wrecking Machine

Stop Motion Animation

Carlo Giovani. Commercial for Akatu.

To save myself from trying to find access to a camcorder, I tried to find interesting ways of using only photography before approaching video. I was inspired when I saw this video. It’s a stop motion animation using only paper. It’s so simple, yet it’s so detailed.

It’s a technique that I could use for Project 1. I’ve never done any stop motion before but it’s something I’ve wanted to try.

This one’s a little different. It’s more illustrative, but I was completely blown away when I saw it!

MK12

Here’s another team of designers/filmmakers who’ve created some amazing motion work. I recommend visiting their site at www.MK12.com. They’ve done all kinds of projects for commercials and films that might be inspirational.

You might find some of their older works on YouTube. Here’s one that they did for Stranger than Fiction. I particularly like this one because it’s the graphics that help emphasize the obsessive-compulsive character that he is.

MK12 also uses all kinds of techniques and approaches including photos, videos, illustrations and typography…so check them out.

Prologue Films Inc.

After a look through David Gelb’s “Inspiration” list of motion graphics websites, Prologue Films caught my attention when I discovered that they designed the title sequences to some of the movies I’ve seen. Sure enough, it was a lovely site for a team of designers, filmmakers and artists.

Not only have they done movie sequences, but their work also consists of a large number of TV openings, commercials and even a couple of video games. You’ll be sure to recognize one or two of them.

While their styles are as diverse as their clients, there wasn’t any one that I didn’t enjoy watching. My two favourites include the animations for Across the Universe and Curious George.

Since Across the Universe is set in the ’60s, the animations incorporate pscyhedelic themes of the period. Some of them really give you the feeling of watching moving surrealist paintings!

As for Curious George, the illustrations were exactly as I remembered them. I felt like I was flipping through the book again but seeing him animate for the first time.

You’ll be able to play most of them on their flash site www.prologuefilms.com