Link to booking system

Hi all

There has been some confusion about the link to the online booking system for the studio. Please use the one below when booking shooting slots in the Stop Motion studios:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmuefWfC0purdFZpLWhGeXpzUnluMWZVLTRta01wZHc#gid=9

Thanks

Marinda x

The Johnny Cash project

Have a look at this amazing collaborative project. Each frame from the video is drawn by a different person. The project is still in progress, so you can contribute.

http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com/#

Be sure to watch what they have so far (actual music video starts around 02:50)

Free Animation Evening

Hey all  

There is an animation festival FOR FREE this weekend: Friday 14 October and Saturday 15 October. 

Please let the organizers know if you want to go so that they can register you. (see info in link below).   

PLEASE NOTE BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL (SCREENINGS AND WORKSHOPS)!

Contact Damien Meyrignac / 011 646 1169 / culture.jhb@alliance.org.za

FREE OF CHARGE   

http://animationsa.org/news-and-events/kunjanimation-festival

Sound Design

Greetings people.

I'm working on getting together a list of links to sound design resources. In the mean time, do yourself a favour and register at freesound.org. It is one of the better free sound libraries and it includes many good sound effects and ambience tracks. Everything in their library has been placed under the Creative Commons licence.

Also, feel free to e-mail me at blouhond {at} gmail. com if you have any questions.

Happy stop motioning!

:jozua

Tuesday 27th September class

Good morning my lovelies

Just to remind you that you need to present a minutes worth of footage in class next week.

Thus 27 September we want to see a minute's worth of well edited (and shot!) footage.

I would like to give you a progress mark on it. Thank you.

If the dog will be eating your homework on that day, please also come to class. It's your last formal class with us for the year. Would be nice to see your face.

Good luck with all the work. It's crunch-time and I'm sure you are all passionately at work.

Thank you and see you next week.

Marinda

Extension!!

Hi there

I know most of you are up to your eye balls in work and gauging from the pinic emails I received, Nina and I have decided to give you an extension.

• You MUST have 30 seconds worth of footage to show us by Tuesday 13 September. Today in 2 weeks time.

Those who have already presented their work, today, thank you. You have been marked on it.

All other Stop Mo students, present work on Tuesday 13 September. You will be marked on it as well and have 10% deducted from that mark. I have to do this in fairness to the students who did hand in work on time.

Other dates:

• Next week, 6 September, you have an AfterFX class with PJ Kotze. Please attend the class.
• 20 September, you will have a class on Sound for Stop Motion.
• 27 September!! We want to see ANOTHER 30 seconds worth of final footage. You will be marked on this again.

So all in all you will have 1 minutes worth of footage by the end of September.

Please put these dates in your diary, so that you can plan your work accordingly.

There will be no more formal classes after 27 September. After that we will allocate slots for you to show us more footage between end September and end November.

Good luck with all the work.

Best

Marinda

Tuesday class 30 August

Hi guys

Looking forward to seeing your 30 seconds worth of footage on Tuesday.

You will be marked on this. If you cannot make the class (with a valid excuse) and can't hand in the footage ON THAT DAY, then I'm going to have to give you zero.

See you Tuesday and have a great weekend. Good luck with all the work xx

The class that was and stuff for 23 and 31 August

Hello my lovelies

Just a reminder.Tuesday 23 August - Nina and I want to see 15 seconds of your film footage. Feedback will be given in class.

Tuesday 31 August - You need to present 30 seconds of FINAL footage to us and the class. YOU WILL BE MARKED ON THIS.

Please be present in both classes... I have forgotten what some of you look like.... We really can only help you/assist you/irritate you/inspire you if you come to class! See you next week.

That quote from last weeks class and the name of the book:

"Appreciation of yourself gives you the freedom to express who you are." -Brendan Nichols, from his book Your Soul Purpose,Avargo Press, 2000.

Have a great weekend.

M

The radness that is Stefan Nadelman

Guys, if you haven't checked out this animator yet, do so NOW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8eksPdM9e0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-yldqNkGfo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga0ohgZFVqc

Your welcome.

Dates and 10sec sequence

Hi all

1. Your class with Nina on Wednesday morning is cancelled. She will reschedule with you asap.
2. 10 second sequence of footage needs to be handed in/shown in my (Marinda's) next class 16 August. !!!! ALSO, bring me some of your puppets and set to class. I can only help you if you give me stuff to work with. Thanks.
3. 30 seconds worth of footage to be handed in (and marked on) on 30 August.
4. Oppikoppi is cancelled. (kidding)

Email me with questions.

Marinda xx

Getting ready to shoot

Click here for a list of things the studio does and doesn't supply.

Click here to watch tutorials on how to use Dragon.

Dragon tips:

• If you have any image stabilization/vibration reduction function on your camera, TURN IT OFF. For some reason it makes the frames jump around a bit when using Dragon.
• If your camera does not show up automatically once it's connected to Dragon, the best way to find it is to go to the help menu at the top and click "camera test". At this point it will probably register your camera, but you might still need to set the capture and video source under the capture menu.
• Adjust your camera settings via the cinematography window (eye icon on top right) and lock them down to ensure that the settings don't change accidentally during shooting

Class on 19 July 2011 with Marinda

Class 1 - Physical, Emotional and Event rhythm

Hi there. Here are my notes from today’s class. Information taken from the book:

Pearman, Karen. Cutting Rhythms. Burlington, MA: Focal Press, 2009.

“The world’s external rhythms are a primary source of knowledge about rhythm in film, because they are the rhythms that frame our existence, expectations and knowledge of the movement of time and energy in life.

Editors need actively to perceive and shape the flow of time and energy through movement to shape a film’s rhythm.”

- Cutting Rhythms (p7)

“Movement is the visible and audible manifestation of energy and time...” – Cutting Rhythms (p10)

Mirror neurons cause the viewer to experience the movement he/she watches. - (p11 -12)

Breathing and blinking with actor is another method used by editors to manipulate the viewer’s experience. – (p20)

Three types of rhythm:

Physical Rhythm

“One experience the spectator has of movement is the sensory experience of physical movement – of purely visual and aural aspects of shaping of time, space and energy...Following along with the arcs and flows of movement is a kind of ride in and of itself, in which the contraction and expansion of dynamics in space, time and energy are a physical experience”

Emotional Rhythm

[May be] ...barely separable from the first...and have the same source, but is experienced differently.

The editor’s attention when cutting psychological exchanges is not so much on the motion of the images as on the “dance” of the emotions. The editor is still shaping the physical movement (that’s all she has to work with), but she shapes it with her focus on how it conveys emotion, not on how it conveys pattern or spectacle. The term used for the rhythms an editor shape from movement experienced as emotional movement is called Emotional Rhythm.

Event Rhythm

An event is the release of new information or change of direction for characters as they pursue their goals. Each significant change in the story or structure is an event. Some are big and have repercussions for the plot as a whole: others are minor and change the direction of the plot a bit”

These changes can happen in rapid succession or only appear once or twice in the whole film.

“It is what happens in a story as distinct from the emotional changes (which may, of course, be the source of the story changes) and image flow (which expresses and reveals the events).

“These three types of rhythm – Physical, Emotional and Event rhythm – are cumulative. The physical rhythm sets up a kinaesthetic empathy. The emotional rhythm relies on the physical, which is reframed as emotionally laden, to have its impact. And the event rhythm relies on both the movement of image and sound and the movement of emotion to communicate or convey its information.

All three strands of rhythm are ultimately just one strand of rhythm – that of the edited film – but making distinctions does have practical uses for the editing process.”

Emotional Rhythm

A: Throwing the energy ball

· All catch energy the way it was thrown

· Energy is invisible. No one here kept their eyes on the person who threw the ball. They followed the invisible ball to the next person.

This is exactly what an editor does to create emotional rhythm. She is catching your eye with the emotional energy and then throwing it to the next shot.

B: Questions you can ask:

1. Where is the optimal energy point for the throw?

2. How will it be caught?

3. What will the effect be?

Simpler way:

C : Every action has a reaction.

D: Every action can be broken up into:

Prepare

Action

Recovery

4. Where should you cut to achieve your emotional rhythm?

E: Characters have objectives and actions.

OBJECTIVES – What the character REALLY WANTS.

ACTION – May I have a cup of tea? Stretching out hand.

What he is doing to GET what he really WANTS.

5. How will you reveal the character’s objectives via your editing?

Document your characters/puppets

Hi guys

Before you start shooting your Stop Mo films for this year, please document your wire armature characters or paper cut-outs, which ever the case may be.

With document I mean, take high-res photographs of them from different angles, in good light. Good photos. Or place them in the set and take pics then. As you wish.

We may want to do an exhibition next year of all your work, or simply have some lovely photos in the Shooting Studios, to inspire the students who come after you.

So take some pics pls. While you are at it. Take shots of your sets too. Its really a good idea to start doing this with all your Stop Mo work, in future too. It's good to document things, make notes etc. That's how you learn and inspire yourself for the next project.

Ok, off my soap-box.

Have a good break.

See you 18th. Cant wait x

Raindance Film Competition

And do I hear a collected sigh of relief as the Evaluations are at least over?

Thought you’ll have a bit of a break before you get going on your Stop Motion film?

NO! (with a French accent)

Check out this film competition below.

Films must be 40 SECONDS in length and the deadline is 8 August 2011.

It’s all about content though, unique storytelling ability.

So check it out and see if any of your work from last year would be suited.

http://raindance.tv/40secondsstraight

And don’t forget about the MOVING THINGS FESTIVAL!

We DEFINITELY want you guys to apply for that. The organisers are very keen to see work from TOW. (As we seem to be one of the few places in SA where you can learn Stop Mo and more importantly, you guys have done some GREAT work last year).

Hope you are all well.

Mx

Moving Things Film Festival

Hi guys and gals!

Know you are all extremely busy at the moment. Good luck with the work.

Please have a look at the film festival below. The organisers have been in touch with me and Nina personally and REALLY want to showcase the work that TOW does. That means YOU.

So look through stuff you did last year and send in some films for consideration. Many of you have done some truly amazing work. It needs exposure. Please apply.

"Moving Things Film Festival at Out the Box Festival

CALL FOR ENTRIES!

Out the Box Festival is calling for dynamic, creative stop-motion and

puppetry films for the MOVING THINGS FILM FESTIVAL, which will take

place from 3-11 September in Cape Town, South Africa.

Out The Box is South Africa's premier Puppetry and Visual Theatre

Festival, and this will be the third year of this unique film festival

and the sixth exciting year of Out the Box international festival.

Films will be screened at the Independent Labia Cinema on Orange

Street in Gardens, Cape Town. Moving Things 2011 will host a number of

workshops and master-classes with talented stop-motion animators.

If you are interested in submitting a film for Out the Box 2011,

please download and complete an application form from unimasouthafrica.org/downloads/Application%20Form.pdf and

send it to the Festival office.

Submit your application form via email to kraft.creative@gmail.com

Want more info? - Contact the festival office at + 27 21 462 5811 or

visit www.unimasouthafrica.org

Limitations? - Only your imagination!

A MAXIMUM OF FIVE FILMS per artist will be considered.

Deadline for submissions: 15 July 2011"

Evaluations - Marking criteria

Hello my lovelies

Ok, for Evaluations on June the 20^th and 21^st , we will be marking you according to the following criteria. Please see below:

PORTFOLIO		MARK
General impression	Overall impact of the presentation done by student.	10%
Design skills	Design and construction of characters and set	30%
Storyboarding	Shooting script and use of film language to communicate story	30%
Concept development	Level of intellectual & aesthetic expression (creative vision).	30%
Impression of SPECIFIC PROJECTS		MARK
Animatic		20%
Characters		25%
Set		25%
Storyboard		30%

Now please don’t fret. The above is to give you a clear indication on what we will be looking at and marking you on. BUT, please approach your evaluation session like a film PITCH. Neither Pluto nor Diek know anything about your film. Come and sell us your idea and your ability to make a huge success of this film. You all have UNIQUE and FANTASTIC concepts. Nina and I believe in you and are very excited about the rest of the year.

Don’t fret, make sure you have all of the above and come in on that Monday and Tuesday knowing that YOU ARE THE SOLUTION J Remember? Like I explained in class.

It’s a joy to work with you guys and you are doing great. Good luck with the other (slightly-more- boring –than-Stop-Mo) subjects J

Marinda x

Building flexible heads with latex

Please book a time slot to see Nina and me on next Tuesday 07 June:

Hi there

So.... evaluations are approaching fast... Please book a slot sooner rather than later.

This is your last chance to see us before formal evaluations. It’s not compulsory to see us, but it may help. We are seeing each student individually, 20 minutes each. Please don’t be late.

TIME on Tuesday 07 June:	Student Name:
10:10 – 10:30 am
10:30 – 10:50 am
10:50 – 11:10am
11:10 – 11:30 am
11:30 – 11: 50am
11:50am – 12:10pm
12:10 – 12:30pm
12:30 – 12:50 pm
12:50 – 1:10pm	Narochelle
1:10 – 1:30 pm	Liani
1:30 – 1:50pm	Celeste
1:50 – 2:10 pm
2:10 – 2:30pm	Elani
2:30 – 2:50 pm
2:50 – 3:10pm	Madeli
3:10- 3:30pm	Anri

Bring to your time slot whatever you wish to discuss with us, want help/input on etc.

IF YOU CANNOT MAKE UR TIME SLOT, PLEASE let us know as far in advance as possible.

Hope you are all very well x

M

Ryan Woodward

http://ryanwoodwardart.com/short-films/

Flat 4 Animation Evening (Thursday 2 June)

See below for invite, or visit their Facebook page for more info.

After a two month break animation is back at FLaT 4 Studio 

2nd June •THURSDAY • 8pm.

We'll be screening A TOWN CALLED PANIC by Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar.

A whacky full-length fliek which "is like a very lo-fi Toy Story with the vibe of a live-action Terry Gilliam cartoon and the addled craziness of SpongeBob Squarepants".. it's funny and refreshing in a 'barking mad sort of a way'...at least one fit of giggles is guaranteed." 
                                                    - Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian

There'll be food for sale from the kitchen (most likely a meat-based minestrone soup if the weather continues in this vein) and the movie is free. Please inform Artemis (flat4studio@gmail.com) of your attendance.

See you next Thursday!

Dates for Formal Evaluations and a time slot

Hi there my lovelies.

Dates for Formal Evaluations:

20 June : Those students who DO NOT have Video as a major. You will be allocated a 30 minute timeslot on 20 June. Exact times to be announced.

21 June: Students who have Video as a major. You will be allocated a 45 minute timeslot on 21 June. Exact times to be announced. Your Stop Motion presentation will be done in conjunction with your Video presentation. In other words, you have one 45 minute slot to present both Stop Mo and Video material.

Please book a time slot to see Nina and me on next Tuesday 31 May:

Please find below a chart with the time slot you will see me on Tuesday 31May. There are no more formal classes until your evaluation. We are seeing each student individually, 20 minutes each. Please don’t be late.

TIME on Tuesday 31 May:	Student Name:
10:10 – 10:30 am
10:30 – 10:50 am
10:50 – 11:10am
11:10 – 11:30 am
11:30 – 11: 50am
11:50am – 12:10pm
12:10 – 12:30pm
12:30 – 12:50 pm
12:50 – 1:10pm
1:10 – 1:30 pm
1:30 – 1:50pm		Liani
1:50 – 2:10 pm
2:10 – 2:30pm
2:30 – 2:50 pm
2:50 – 3:10pm
3:10- 3:30pm		Anri

Bring to your time slot whatever you wish to discuss with us, want help/input on etc.

IF YOU CANNOT MAKE UR TIME SLOT, PLEASE let us know as far in advance as possible. We really value our own time too. Just not pitching up is really frustrating.

Good luck with all the work guys. You are doing super for Stop Mo. Thanx x

M