After seeing the brief I wanted to follow an idea of something simple surrounding

an interesting looking set. Since there were only two characters allowed, I had to
choose a simple and very visual idea because stop motion is very aesthetic. My
ideas involved doing a snow scene of people skiing or a race, the car chase
between a Police Officer and bank robber, a journey following a characters
adventures around the world visiting monuments.
I felt that a chase between a Police Officer and a robber would work well for the
brief and it was something that wasnt too difficult so I could probably do it well.
Comparison
I would compare my work to Ray Harryhausen who designed the King Kong
model in King Kong which is a drama like mine. My animation is similar because
his was made from metal armature with ball and socket joints that was built up
using foam and covered with rabbit fur and mine also used a metal structure to
move the joints between frames.
Like Harryhausen, I was responsible for the movement of models, preshaping
them with each movement. He would have moved the gorilla model very
frequently and shot one frame at a time to create the illusion of smooth
movement of King Kong in the 1933 film. He looked at stop frame to ensure that
the frames are captured with the correct amount of object movement so that the
playback of images creates the illusion of movement. Similarly I used a high

frame rate to ensure the movement was smooth and fast and moved my models
slightly between frames to that it looked realistic.
My work is different to Harryhausen because he was known for his realistic style
of models, whereas my models look quite unrealistic with not as much detail. My
attention to detail wasnt as intense because move the chest to look like they are
breathing which Harryhausen did.
Aardman animations create their characters out of clay, which is the material I
used for my characters. It is quite easy to animate because you can remould it
and change it from frame to frame to create the illusion of movement. However,
the rest of my set was made from card rather than all being made from clay like
Wallace and Gromit. I also didnt use techniques they have used when creating it,
such as the movement of their mouths as they talk, allowing the characters to
blink throughout the film and how their eyeballs move when they look around,
e.g. how Gromits ears move and how he often rolls his eyes to express his
attitude towards Wallace in the Wallace and Gromit films.
Aardman studios control this along with stop frame to ensure that the movement
is only very slight between each frame so that when it is played in a sequence
together it looks like a moving image. This is controlled along with the frame rate
so that it looks detailed enough and jumpy like it would be if the frame rate was
too low.
Task 3
I asked my classmates for feedback on my stop motion production. They told me
that they thought the genre was a crime drama, everyone thought that it met my
brief, two people thought my movement of models deserved a 3 out of 5 and two
people thought it deserved 5 out of 5. Everyone I asked said that the frame rate
worked well. When asked about my aesthetic qualities (props, models or sets),
two people said I deserved 4 out of 5 and two people voted for 5 out of 5.
Everyone asked thought that my narrative was clear, most people liked the
characters, style and creative qualities. Everyone I asked said they found it easy
to follow the narrative because the props and characters made it quite easy to
understand, even without dialogue.
When I asked people what I could improve on two people said I needed to steady
the camera, one person said I could add an 80s cop show soundtrack and one
person said that there was nothing I could improve on.
What worked well with my production was the models and props because they
helped to set the scene and I spent quite a long time working on them. I like the
combination of using clay and cardboard because it makes it more interesting to
watch and I feel it shows more skill because I can work with various materials.

What didnt work quite as well was the camera because I was told it looked
unsteady, this is because I wanted to use low angle close-ups so couldnt use a

tripod because it made the angle too high, therefore I had to balance it on
objects I found which proved really difficult because it wasnt set in position and
kept moving around. However, I also think this works because it adds to the
intense action shots, the jumpy camera makes it more fast-paced and dramatic.
It was unintentional but adds excitement and originality to my production.
Next time I might have used something more stable to photograph the animation
with so that it isnt quite as jumpy because although I like the effect, I think it is
slightly too much.
The technical qualities were quite good because my persistence of vision worked
well alongside the frame rates which were ten frames per second because the
stop motion appeared to be quite smooth and realistic looking. However, the
technical qualities that didnt work quite as well was the stability of the camera
because it is clear that it moved whilst I was shooting so this alters the
persistence of vision as the camera moved so it didnt blend into one continuous
movement.
The lighting worked quite well because it looks quite continuous lighting
throughout the whole production. This is because I used only aesthetic lighting to
shoot with and blocked out all natural light so it was consistent. I think my
movement of models was quite good because it is quite clear what my models
are doing in the shot and runs quite smoothly. I found making them walk quite
difficult because I didnt know how much to move the legs between shots and
how often to photograph it and I am happy that it looks relatively realistic.

In this part of the production it appears to be jumpy.

The aesthetic qualities were quite successful because the final production
actually looks quite smooth with the exception of a few jumpy scenes of the car
driving. I like the variations of angles I used when taking photographs which
makes it more exciting to watch.
The props and models are aesthetically pleasing and the shots run quite
smoothly. To improve my production, I could increase the frame rate so might it
even more smooth so that it looks realistic and improves the aesthetic qualities.
Another element of my production that didnt work quite so well was the sound
effect of the car engine and the taxi because the sound effect sounds too fast for
the movement, however, I couldnt find a sound clip that was any slower but
wasnt too slow. If I did it again, I might record a car moving myself so get a more
realistic sound effect rather than researching for one that fits my production.
Alternatively, I could have made the cars move more quickly so that it matches
the sound.
I think creatively, it could have been slightly better because my idea was quite
basic, however, I think that worked for me because it was easier to do well. The

narrative wasnt particularly creative because it is something that has been done
before but I thought it fit with my theme really well. Although the narrative
wasnt that creative, the final look was quite creative since I designed the set
myself and the overall look and style looks quite creative because I feel I have
made the most of stop motion, using different techniques, scenes (like the car
chase, walking scenes, car crash and the jail scene) and used different materials.
I would say these elements of my production make it more creative.
Overall, I would say my production was really successful and I am very pleased
with the outcome. It is what I planned to create so I am confident that I have met
my own aim. I feel what I did particularly well was meeting everything that was
set to me in the brief, including no more than two characters, having the video
lasting about one minute and thirty seconds and the genre being a drama. I am
confident that I can follow a brief well and am really pleased with my set design
and characters which made the whole production better and more interactive to
the audience. I feel I followed the brief to a professional standard and if I had a
client I was producing it for, they would be happy with the final outcome.
The positive feedback I received told me that other people liked it and agreed
that I met my brief well. However, they didnt like the way I filmed the cars
moving and didnt believe that it worked with the car movement and dramatic
sound effects. This tells me that it is something I should probably change about
my project to make that section smoother to watch.

Task 4
My action plan to improve my animation would be that I could add mouths to my
characters to show their expressions more and even add dialogue with the
mouths moving to show them talking. This would give the viewers more of an
idea about what they are talking about and what is happening in the story. In
addition to this I could re-shoot the part of my animation where the car is driving
down the road with something to rest the camera on so that the final result is
less jumpy. I plan to record the sound of a car driving at a similar pace to my
animation so that the result is more realistic and the sound effect doesnt sound
as though it is moving faster than it actually is.
Task 5
After producing my animation I feel I am relatively suited to the industry because
the feedback I received from my end production was mostly positive and
successful. I really enjoyed the project, especially designing the characters and
set and editing it in the end.
Parts I didnt enjoy as much were photographing the animation because it was a
very tedious process and everything kept going wrong. For example my models
kept falling over and I would lose where I placed them last and since the frames
must look the same with only slight movement, they might have been

discontinuous so I would have to start again. Eventually I found that sticking wire
through the model and cardboard and wrapping wire around their neck and
holding it was an efficient and successful method. Another problem I faced was
keeping the camera in the same position without the use of a tripod which didnt
work at some points which explains why the outcome looked jumpy at points.
Another part I didnt enjoy as much was the time it took to create it. I really
wanted to get it finished and was surprised at how long it took, for example, it
probably look me seven hours to shoot an animation that only lasted about one
minute and thirty seconds when edited.

In this image you can see the wire I used to

stand up the models.
I feel that the majority of my feedback was positive and I am quite a patient
person so I might be quite suited to the industry. I also believe that I met my
brief quite well and if I was actually working for a client as a job, they would be
satisfied that I met the criteria of the production. My animation told the story of
Malcolms journey robbing the bank then the brief said I had to tell a story, my
animation genre was drama and that was one of the genre options, I aimed my
production at all ages and genders and I feel as though anyone would watch it
because it is appropriate for everyone and I negotiated the brief to one minute
and thirty seconds and the final video was about that duration.
My ability to follow a brief makes me suitable for the industry along with the
positive feedback I received from my peers.

Task 7
For my brief I was required to make a thirty second film in either a comedy,
horror or drama with no more than two characters than appeals to all ages and
genders. This is for a competition brief for a film festival of all amateur
filmmakers who are under 25 years old. I met this target audience by having a
simple idea that children could watch as well as adults, I made the storyline very
simple and something that children could easily follow as well as older people. It
wasnt particularly centred towards one gender and suited both, however there
was a dominance of male characters from the police man being male and the
robber which might suggest that it is targeted to males. To improve this I could
have made the Policeman female instead. What I found most difficult was
producing something that appeals to all ages and genders because it is a
completely open target audience and older ages obviously like different things to
younger audiences but I think I made it appropriate for younger ages whilst
making something older people might watch too. I think it definitely appeals less

to older people who might want to watch something more exciting but I designed
it as well as I could to follow my brief.
I met my deadline quite well because I think I was well prepared for it having
made the final changes earlier so that I was ready for the final submission.
Despite being slightly late to get the footage because taking the photographs
proved to be a more difficult task than I had anticipated because it was very
precise and fragile to move. Once I got the footage taken I found the editing
quite quick work so I got it completed by the deadline of March 11 th.
I regulated my production to OFCOM standards by ensuring there were no bad
words, violence, gore or frightening scenes so that there would be no issues with
it being shown since my brief required me to target all ages.
I negotiated the duration of the brief from thirty seconds to one minute and thirty
seconds because I felt I could do a lot more with more time and that thirty
seconds wasnt long enough to do what I wanted with it. I spoke to my client to
negotiate so that I got my point across and I think I communicated my ideas well
and was quite clear with what I wanted to produce. I handled the negotiations
professionally and formally.
If I actually submitted my stop motion production I feel the client would be
pleased because although it isnt the best production, I would say that I followed
the brief very well and I am confident that it meets the criteria.
Everyone who I asked whether I met my brief said that I did meet it as
demonstrated through my screenshot below, therefore I think I have successfully
met my brief through my stop motion production.