Our Motion is Stop

Rawsto-mo, or Raw Stop Motion, as some may call, it is a purely organic process of creating stop motion.  It involves little to no planning, can be done by almost anyone and is guaranteed to increase your quality of life.  The main purpose of animating organically(not like pesticide free, just like.. ya know.. do whatcha want and watch it grow sorta thing) is to come to a result you weren’t expecting.  This experimentation can lead to new discoveries and is quintessential for any serious artist.

This video was found the other day and lead to some of this type of experimentation.

I thought, why not try this with our work?  So guess what?

Click on the image to be taken to the slideshow.

Hey everyone! So we figure you all are here either to watch our progress, get inspired or learn about stop motion. We’ve mostly been posting inspiration and progress, so its due time to get some learning in!

Here is our very own step-by-step on how to make your very own stop motion!

Ingredients:

1) Webcam or digital camera with live view

2) Dragon stop motion or free stop motion program

3) Computer

4) Keyboard

5) Objects to animate

First find some objects which have interesting qualities worth animating. Scissors, staplers or string for example. You can animate chalk, clay or just about anything that will fit in front of the camera.

If you’re low on inspiration, check out all the stop motion videos on youtube

Set up your stop motion program and do some lighting tests. If you’re using a normal light bulb, make sure it’s not too dark. If you’re using a fluorescent light bulb, make sure to test at least 24 frames(photos) to make sure there’s no flickering. If there is, increase the time it takes for one photo(aka shutter speed, depending on your software, you may not be able to change this). Daylight might be your best option, but be weary of when the sun sets.

If you want to add voice to your piece, it’s easier to do this before animating. Plan out how many frames it’ll take for your character to say these things using a program like flash or an audio visualizer. Number out how many frames it takes to say each word and animate accordingly. Leave us a post if you need more help with this.

Start animating!
Relax and have fun. If its your first time, don’t worry if it looks odd. Here are some tips to help get the most out of your frames:

If the animation is too fast, add more frames, if it’s too slow, add less.

Ease your movement! Start each movement slow, then gradually speed up, then gradually slow down for a more realistic motion.

Buildup! Before a big action, make sure to have a smaller action in the opposite direction. This will give anticipation and pull the viewer’s eye to the correct part of the screen before your big movement.

Every action has a reaction! When completing a big movement, make sure to keep it going a bit further, then pull back to the final position. This will add an extra bit of realism.

Good luck and remember to experiment! Post your videos and we might add them to a future blog entry.

Hello, internet! It has been a while since we’ve talked.   So what have we been doing?  We recently finished shooting Poached, the first ever short film made by OMIS, and we are now trying to put it all together so we can show it off!  We’re looking starting the process of adding sound to the film, which includes both sound effects and music…Which reninds me: If you are a musician, and would like to have a try at scoring a short film, please leave a comment on this post, and we can make arrangements. We are also looking to start fundraising to pay for the post production and festival submission costs, and we will be starting a Kickstarter page within the next couple weeks.  Also, once we get our act together, we will have some pictures of the last shoot, and a teaser or two to give you an idea of what we’ve been doing.  Be on the lookout!

As we have learned over the course of our project, stop motion is a process that requires a great amount to preparation and patience.  JESS3, the agency that  made this ad for google, did a great job of showing just how much dedication is required to make something with stop motion, and also how fun the process can be.

On my way to class the other day, I noticed the independent games festival opening up and couldn’t help but think about how exciting it would be to create a game from nothing.   While programming isn’t my cup of tea, it shares similarities to animation.  The game that they shined light upon and gave the coveted, “Game of The Year” award was a tiny project by the Swedish Mojand studio.  Creating the game completely by himself, Notch created the game “Minecraft” and released an unfinished game to the masses.  The game quickily became a hit and within a short time, he was forced to quit his day job and start a company.

They are working on a feature film about Minecraft and I recommend watching the short version.

Their story really hits upon some of the things we’re going through; the excitement of doing something you enjoy, and, when people start to notice, the increased expectations.  The questions about whether it’s our luck or awareness that puts us at just the right moment to be doing what we’re doing.  Maybe we’re not making a game, but we’re making something new and exciting, and in this day, with originality being stretched to its thinnest, its refreshing to be apart of something creative that represents who we really are.

In more related news, we have(maybe) all of our footage shot and a mega rough edit(clocking in at around 3:30minutes).  We have a few musicians on board, which is extremely exciting.  Expect a more specific update in the near future(sorry, best I can do!).

I think its safe to say that our short film will be called Poached, and it will be  just under 4 minutes long!  We have a couple small parts of animation to finish and then the film will be off to post production, which is really exciting.  The goal will be for us to finish this film with enough time to enter it into festivals for 2011.  So far, it seems very possible.

Being at the tail end of the animation experience, it’s kind of crazy to look back and see how far the group has come, and what we’ve learned along the way.  Most of us started with an extremely limited idea of what we were doing, and things slowly came together.  I can say without question that some of the things we did throughout this process were more time, space, energy and money consuming than they should have been.  I’m fine with that… the most valuable part of what we’ve accomplished has been realizing what we could have done to make this process easier, and I think it can only get better from here.  Here’s a video of how a stop motion happens professionally.  Watching this, I am a little humbled, and really excited for what is possible.  Until next time!

Our last set is done!  Now comes the week long gauntlet of animation, and then we will be done with our first animated short!  Here’s some pictures of the set building.

So we have a good chunk of the team back in the studio working away. The goal is to get everything animated by the end of next week, and we might just get done as new help has arrived and good ol’ Nicole is stopping by this weekend. We also have had the pleasure of talking with the legendary Tom Gasek about our project. We’re getting pretty excited.

Kirsten with her beloved paper tree(is that an oxymoron?).

The opening shot set minus a mountain or two and maybe the sky.

Dave’s Bird Skeleton Factory is open for business.

We had an urge to stagger.

Recycling has nothing to do with transportation.

So, there is officially snow in Rochester!  For a while I thought it wouldn’t happen.  I guess its time to stay holed up in the studio, where the temperature is almost always 90 degrees unless we open up all the windows.  We’re gonna be in there a lot soon, as we’re gearing up to animate the last stretch of the short!  It seems that our slim and sexy head animator, David Szmit, is gonna have a reunion with Rochester sometime after New Year’s, and he’ll be helping my sorry cuss out with some sexy stopping.  So, your gonna have to wait a little longer for the short.  but don’t worry, its gonna be well worth it.

In other news, we had a successful open house the other day!  Thank you to everyone who came out.  For those of you not fortunate enough, we had part of the animation playing, a installation piece by one of our own, Kirsten Thorson, and our next 90% completed set on display.  Looking forward to the next one.

On top of that, we’ve been having tuesday night movie nights at our studio, and everyone is welcome to join us!  This past week we watched Phoenomena (not to be confused with john travolta and Phoenomenon), a cussin’ awesome italian horror movie.  First of all it’s Jennifer Connelly’s second movie, who’s acting is well worth seeing.  The Soundtrack was done by a mix of Andi Sex Gang, the Goblin, Motorhead and Iron Maiden. To top it all off, the costume design was done by Giorgio Armani.  It’s mind blowing.

To hold everyone over until the next post, here’s a test of el pájaro.  Enjoy!

El Pájaro: Test from Our Motion Is Stop on Vimeo.

Hi.

So a good chunk of us have moved.

Some to other cities.

Some to other states.

Some to other countries.

But we’re all still apart of this(mostly).

The Rochester crew is working on finishing up the first and last shots as well as beginning the audio with some help from a newcomer in California.

All of the post work has been completed.

And most importantly.

We.

Have.

Footage to show!

David is searching for work and has decided to include some of the parts he worked on in his demo reel.