Finsihed FMP film

Finshed FMP stop motion animation film..
I am pleased with the final result, and it has also made me think into more ways it portrays procrastination. As viewers will stand and watch my film, it is then maing them procrastinate as they are standing there rather then getting along with something more important. Also, as the stop motion is stopping and starting the whole way through, this again reflects procrastination, as when you procrastinate, you stop and start different tasks.

Video so far

I have converted 425 pictures into black and white and put them together into a short film to have a sneak preview of what the end result will look like. Here it is so far..



I am pleased with the result so far, as the influence from Muybridge can be seen clearly, and I feel the ideas of charlie chaplin's humorous facial expressions are portrayed well.


procrastination: artists been looking at..

Close up filming techniques

Close up filming techniques adds importance to a scene of a film and highlights a character's emotions or intentions. I have tried to incorporate close up filming techniques into my stop motion to make it feel more realistic as a film and for the audience to relate to - and also to relate to Muybridge's work showing different perspectives. I believe adding this range of perspective and filming techniques makes my film successful in portraying a professional production, with an interesting amount of camera angles to engage viewers.

Music

"Showings of silent films almost always featured live music, starting with the pianist at the first public projection of movies by the Lumière Brothers on December 28, 1895 in Paris.From the beginning, music was recognized as essential, contributing to the atmosphere and giving the audience vital emotional cues. (Musicians sometimes played on film sets during shooting for similar reasons.) Small town and neighbourhood movie theatres usually had a pianist. Beginning in the mid-1910s, large city theatres tended to have organists or ensembles of musicians."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNseEVlaCl4&feature=related

Photographing

So far I have taken over 600 pictures! and the film is still not complete, or converted into black and white. However, although it is taking quite a long time, and me and my dad are getting quite impatient with each other, it is looking good!

Beginning of stop motion!

I have planned out my film and have started to photograph it. Considering Charlie chaplin's facial expressions I have planned several shots of close ups of my characters face, and also from this have planned camera angles and viewing the film from different perspectives. This also relates back to Muybridge's work as he photographed his models from different angles.

Charlie chaplin and Jan Švankmajer

The comedy in Charlie Chaplin films is reflected obviously through facial expressions and the music - however when the same idea of eating objects in Jan Švankmajer's films is shown it is not considered humorous. I am hoping to link both of their ideas of funny facial expressions with clam serious music, and Švankmajer's stop motion animation techniques.

Films

I have found this short film on procrastination and I consider it a huge influence. It is humorous and really gives the right effect I want my movie to reflect. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P785j15Tzk

I have also started to watch a few scenes from old Charlie Chaplin films and also Laurel and Hardy. I feel I can use the black and white filming techniques to relate back to Muybridge, and make my film look like it should be serious but actually has the opposite effect.
http://www.charliechaplin.com/films
http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/

Procrastination

I have collected in quite a few of my short questionnaires now and I am beginning to plan out a story board for my film. So far the most common things to do when procrastinating are to listen to music and to clean. To make a cup of tea and to prepare and eat food. I have made a small bar graph to show the most common activities to perform whilst procrastinating.

Stop Motion Animation

I have looked at the progression and evolution of the moving image, by researching and making nineteenth-century "philosophical toys" such as the thaumatrop, zoopraxiscope and phenakistoscop. I feel I have developed a much deeper understanding of how influential Muybridge was, and how stop motion animation evolved. I am now able to move onto the next crucial part oif my project, by researching into stop motion animation techniques and artists. One of which includes Jan Švankmajer, a surrealist artist and filmmaker who specialises in stop motion animation.

Silent Student Film

I came across this whilst searching for old fashioned films. It really picks up the important aspects of old filming – trying to envoke emotion and humour with no sound or words, amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dI4xwd07nQ&feature=player_embedded

Magic Lantern Shows

I have still been looking into the early inventions of moving image, and was suggested to look into magic lantern shows. I've found an interesting video on youtube (click here) and I am coming to understand the evolution of moving image and the creation of stop motion animations.

Thaumatrope

Experimenting with different ways of moving image...
I have started to experiment with ways of which people first ever attmepted motion in images, and understanding their progression towards stop motion animation.

Laurel and Hardy

Suggestion to watch as my film can relate to the genre. Contribution to film research.

Today - Procrastinating

Seeing as we all procrastinate from time to time, for my research I thought it would be a good contribution towards my studies to keep track of how I personally procrastinate. So far, after being awake for nearly 5 hours, I have watched an unhealthy amount of come dine with me. That then motivated me to further distract myself from my FMP by then cooking a tasty meal - which after much deliberation turned out to be an egg and bacon sandwich. I contemplated completing some sketch book work, but decided I could start work on that later after work or even tomorrow morning... so had a long relaxing shower, and then dried my hair and painted my nails. After smelling nice from showering and using my new body moisturizing cream, my mum came home from work so we sat down and had a cup of tea. I then thought back about how I've wasted my day, and therefore sat down at my computer and put it to good use by recording all of it on here to help contribute towards my research. Now I just need to print off my questionnaires to hand out and see how other people procrastinate.

Moving Image

I've found this really cool website where someone has taken Muybridge's work a little bit further. Would be brilliant to do but very bery difficult to execute!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Eadweard-Muybridge-Experiment/

Procrastination blog

I have started another blog into the definitions and meanings of procrastination to add to my research. i feel this is helping towards my understanding of the subject, and to be able to produce a realistic film which is understandable and of which people can relate to. Procrastination Blog

Questionnaire

I have decided to construct a questionnaire to gather information about how people procrastinate. This way I can have a lot of information gathered to produce a realistic and humorous storyline for my film that people can relate to.

1.) The definition of procrastinate means 'putting off or delaying or defering an action to a later time'. Have you done this before?

2.) When you have something important to do and you distract yourself, what is the first thing you think of to do?

3.) When procrastinating, do you start doing something else and return to your important task, or continue with your new distractive task until it is finished?

4.) What is the most common thing you do when procrastinating, to distract you from an important dreaded task?

Muybridge's photographs

I have started a folder of which I have collected various images and information about Eadweard Muybridge. I have collected these certain pieces as I am developing more and more understand towards Muybridge and his work, and it is helping me visualize my final outcome and the quality of each photograph. I really love his style, as it may seem outdated and some what simple, yet the images are so powerful individually, let alone when put in a continuous sequence. The outcomes of his work are original and unique as they were the very first, and having a stop motion film all in black and white will add a sense of originality to my final piece, and show a strong influence from the man who first ever invented motion in photography.

Initial research

So far I have been researching into the work of Eadweard Muybridge, known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion, using multiple camera to capture motion, and his zoopraxiscope - a device for projecting motion pictures. Muybridge displayed his work on the zoopraxiscope, which he invented in 1879. The zoopraxiscope projected a series of images in successive phases of movement. The horse in motion can be watched here













In 1878, Muybridge answered the debated question of whether all four of a horse's hooves leave the floor when galloping. He managed to successfully photograph a horse in fast motion through a series of photos














Above is a phenakistoscope disc, probably the fist to Muybridge's research, or even made to be handed out and advertise his invention.

I believe that this is an important starting point, as Muybridge was the first to experiment with motion in film. The research I have gathered so far is helping me understand his style and purpose, and is influencing me to begin to think of the final outcome. I think so far with this research I have decided to produce my final film in black and white, as his work was produced without colour.