Period 6 -- Critical Analysis #14

2/15/2018

For today's critical analysis, you will complete a self-assessment of your stop motion project. Be sure to post your writing as a comment to your correct class period's blog post.

Pull up your stop motion video that you turned in yesterday (you may locate it in your Google Drive folder). Read through the questions below and think about them as you watch your video.

Once you have watched through your video, answer each question below in complete sentences. Write at least 1 paragraph per each question, 5 sentences minimum per paragraph.

Describe what your stop motion project is about. Be specific. What happens in the project? Is there a story being told? What was your intention or idea for your project? What do you want the audience to get from watching your video?
Name some areas where you were successful in creating/completing this project. Be sure to write in complete sentences.
Examples: I told a complete story in my final video.
I was able to manipulate my objects from shot to shot, creating a smooth animation.
Name some areas where you were unsuccessful in creating/completing your project. These can be areas where you see room for improvement. Be sure to write in complete sentences.
Examples: I wish that I had shot my images in a better lighting scenario.
I wish that I had included audio with my final video.
Finally, describe what you might do differently if you had more time to go back and work on your project. Would you go with a new idea? Would you reshoot some of your images with better lighting, in a different location, etc? Would you give yourself more time to complete your shooting? Be specific.

Your analysis will be graded on:

meeting minimum length requirements
depth of organization
evaluation and completion of assessment questions
grammar/punctuation

elizabeth wray

2/15/2018 12:12:07 pm

My project is about my new puppy, Conner. He is a black lab from Dallas, Texas. In my project, i am walking my dog down my driveway and letting him sniff around. The story that is being told is that it is his first walk down the driveway. He is overwhelmed with all the new smells, and the grass and flowers. /my intention is to bring entertainment to the viewer of what most people love, puppies. I want the audience to understand how puppies are cute animals, but sometimes they can be crazy.

There are areas in my project where i am proud of. Some include, the beginning, and the end, and some of the middle. Although i did not use a standard tripod like most of my peers, i decided to go with a more of a reality approach. I made the images to look like they are what the human eye would see. The images are not all straight and focused, but i believe that the human eye is not always focused and straight either. I am glad that i chose this approach for my stop motion project.

Some areas where i am not proud of are also in play. Since i used the continuous setting on my nikon camera, i did not pay attention to lighting changes and exposure. Since i did not pay attention, there are some areas that are very light and some areas that are very dark. If you wanted to, you could argue the fact that “Some people see spots when there is a glare, or the sun is in there eyes.” I think that is true, but i did not intend for bad exposures and lighting.

If i could re-do my project, there are some things that i would change, but very minimal. Some include the lighting/exposure, the blurriness of my images, and maybe a new location. I did try my best to change the lighting in camera raw, but some just did not look good either way. Next time, i will pay as much attention to the lighting as i can.

Payton Down

2/15/2018 12:15:12 pm

My stop motion project is about my dog and my friend going on a fun adventure. My friend (Julia) is walking my dog around the neighborhood and they both are just having a good time. My intention for the project was to bring happiness to people because dogs always make me happy. I want the audience to think it's a good video. There isn't one one thing they can take away but i hope they get happy vibes.
I had a good lighting senario, the lighting was perfect out when i went to go shoot. I also thought my idea was good to have my dog be the main subject. Although my story didn't follow what i originally wanted to do it was still a good turn out. I also liked how the music plus my dog makes a very happy scene and everyone in this world needs some happiness and i like that my video might bring that for some people. I thought it was mostly a success.
I wasn't successful in a couple of things. For example I thought it took me awhile to figure out the settings and what would look best for the stop motion project. I also thought i could of made it a little more clear to what the story was about. There isn't anything that happens in the end besides that the walk is over but i didn't really know what to shoot other than that. I had a brain storming problem when it came to my creativeness.
I might rethink my idea. I thought it could've used more of a story line but in that moment i thought it was smart to take my dog on a walk. I would reshoot some of the images just because, as i said before it was harder for me to figure out what shutter speed to use etc. so i would reshoot a couple frames. I would give myself some more time but also the problem was since i shot outside when it was cloudy perfect whether and then the night weekend wasn't the exact same weather and lighting i would have to reshoot the whole project. I thought overall the project turned out well.

Annie Mosis

2/15/2018 12:16:36 pm

In my stop motion video it about a car race. It consists of two 2 car going through different areas racing to the finish. My intentions on this project was to bring a little bit of happiness and humor to the watcher. I want the audience to get back some happiness from the whole video, and maybe make someone's day a little better. Overall I think I accomplished this task of bringing a little fun to someone day.
I believe I was successful in putting multiple picture down together and making a video easy to follow and creating a smooth animation. I also believe that I used good lighting. It may not be completely consistent the whole time but I thought it was good overall. I also believe that i kept the concept of my story interesting and changing the backgrounds up every now and then. I also think that I picked a good background song to emphasize the story being told.
I can see myself improving on the shakiness of the film by using the tripod everytime. I can also work on using consistent lighting throughout the whole film. I also wish to have made better title slides and using more sound effects. I could've also used more of my time wisely on this project. I am proud of my video I know I can improve on many spots of the video.
If I had more time I would have made sure I am able to have consistent lighting through the whole film. I would have also made sure that Jessica wasn't in some of the frames of the video. I would give myself more time to shoot to ensure that my photos could come out the best they could. Overall I am proud of my video and had tons of fun making this. Though not all of its perfect I think it went very well.

Claire Williams

2/15/2018 12:16:43 pm

My stop motion project is about meditation/yoga. In the story, the subject rolls out a yoga mat on the sidewalk and does a few poses with some difficulties. She does some things wrong and then decides to dance! She gets a little bit frustrated with her lack of yoga skills, but then decides to use her cheerleading skills instead! She does a cartwheel off of the mat as her happy ending to the story. I want the audience to just have a fun time watching this fun and light hearted video.

I think that I was overall successful in completing this project. The individual photographs had a good lighting scenario. The overall images also had a good use of vibrant colors. It was also just a cute and funny video for people to watch, which is what I was aiming for. I was also proud of the way that I was able to quickly adjust my set when we had to move and make minimal changes to still keep the storyline going.

Although I was proud of many parts of my project, there were still some areas where I was unsuccessful. One big problem during this process was the trouble that I had with Adobe Premiere. I feel like I didn’t know the program as well as I know Adobe Bridge. Now that the project is over, I am definitely more comfortable with it. However, it was still a little difficult at times to navigate around my problems in the software.

If I had the chance to redo this project, there are some things I might change. One would be to get to know the software we used for editing better before trying to put my whole project together on the program. I might also have added music to my video. I didn’t have very much time to get the whole thing together after my software issues, and because audio was optional I did not do it. I feel like if I added audio it could have made the project even better.

Lucas Prado

2/15/2018 12:22:09 pm

My stop motion project is about the fight between two ninjas. My main inspiration for this fight mostly draws from the lego Ninjago series that I watched a bit of as a kid, as well as just playing with legos in general. In it, they both fight by summoning various elements to attack each other. In it, one ninja has the power of earth and the other has the power of fire. They meet and fight each other, culminating in the earth ninja collapsing from being hit with fire. I didn’t have a real message to deliver on screen; just two lego ninjas fighting.

I was mostly successful in capturing fluid motion. There was even a point where I had so many frames that I could compress the images together to get even more fluidity. I had more than enough set pieces to do whatever I wanted, since I still had all of my legos from being a kid. Also, there is a definite story, with rising action and it does have an ending. Lastly, I was able to keep the camera in the same spot with relative ease, which makes the shots look better.

There were a few distinct technical difficulties, however. The most notable flaw in the final movie is a distinctive lighting change a few seconds in. Because I shot the scenes on different weekends using different lightings, the end result was noticeably different. Another difficulty was that Premiere just didn’t like me. I would often get error messages or accidental deletions, sometimes seemingly because Premiere merely didn’t like me. The last primary flaw that I had was losing my flash drive. While this didn’t directly affect the movie, it did cause problems when I was sorting and formatting the movie such as files in the wrong directory from me saving to the desktop. There were other minor flaws, such as a lack of some detail to the scene and there is one shot that has a bit of inconsistency to it.

If I had more time to go back and work on my project more, I would most likely redo my first shots so that they match the much better lighting of the later shots in the movie. I would also add more detail to the background. My background was little more than a grey lego piece and a few ruined cars, and in retrospect could have used much more. I would also have devoted more time to editing, converting, and sorting my files. Because I shot different scenes at different times, I couldn’t have simply imported all the files. What I would do if I could go back would be to sort all the files in bridge on one of the first work days instead of going straight into Premiere.

boyd meltzer link

2/15/2018 12:26:49 pm

My stop motion project is about two characters putting out a fire. First, the characters get into the fire truck. Then, they travel over to the burning and crumbling building. Then, one of the characters gets out, climbs the ladder attached to the truck with a hose, and puts out the fire. Then, the other character gets out, climbs the ladder, and flies away in the helicopter atop the building. My intention for the project was to bring inanimate figures to life in a way that tells a story and make it look pleasing to the eye in the process. I want the audience to be intrigued by the video. I want them to be able to experience an interesting stop motion video.

I was able to manipulate the figures in a successful way. I was able to balance them and make the animation consistent. Additionally, I told a full story in my video, with a conflict and resolution. Additionally, I was able to build my set without purchase of external items, and I built the structures and vehicles featured in the video. I was also able to complete the project in a timely manner, not needing to worry about time constraints.

There was one glaring problem to face when shooting my video: the lack of a tripod. As a result of this, I had to create a homemade stabilization method. This did not work nearly as well as a tripod, and my video was shaky very often. I also wish that I had created a better set. Additionally, the lighting scenario that I used was not as good as it could have been because I shot the video at night and the lighting was artificial.

I liked my idea that I had for the video, and I would not change that. However, I would definitely like to use a tripod when improving my current video. I would take my video in the evening in natural sunlight. Also, I would create a better set. For instance, I would want to shoot on a table with a backdrop. My building that I built in the video was built out of spare Legos found around the house, so next time I would want to use an instructed set. Also, I would like to move my characters less each frame so my animation looks smoother.

Brandon Collins

2/15/2018 12:27:10 pm

My stop motion project was about Sic Parvis Magna, in english this means greatness from small beginnings. The main thing you see in my stop motion is a cat being drawn. I wanted to show how small parts of us are to make the whole or in other words us. Originally I was going to show the cat being drawn, the zoom in on the cats chest to show a single cell in the multicellular organism, then I would have zoomed out to show the heart, then finally zoom out again and show the cat again.This was going to be my plot for my stop motion project.
There were some area where I was successful. I was successful at a constant exposure setting, so the light did not change in the images were successful. Also the position my tripod was in was great. In some of the frames the edges were not distracting and remained constant. And the idea was great i had a clear idea on what i was going to do.
Drawing the cat line by line was inconsistent which made choppy images. Also when I was taking the images I wasn't paying attention so the edges got distracting cause the paper moved showing the wooden table top. My time management was not the best. I also had the worst luck when I needed a tripod I couldn't get one so that kinda set the plot further back . Lastly for time management I took my first batch of images at night which wasn't the best idea making me sleep deprived.
I would fix so much if I got more time, I wouldn't change the begging cause staying consistent with line to line is hard cause i’m not part robot. I would with enough time be able to finish the entire plot. I would not change the set up and exposure, but i would pay attention better with edges. Time management would have been better as well. But i would keep the same idea either way.

Naty Orquin

2/15/2018 12:29:54 pm

Describe what your stop motion project is about.
My stop motion project is a story about one dominio who is isolated from the others because he is “different” for not having dots on him. He is shunned from the rest of the group. Until another dominio realizes she is not as different from the no dot domino, since she only has dots on one half of her body. Other dominios start to realize that they are different too and join in. In the end they come together to become friends and learn to celebrate their differences.

Name some areas where you were successful in creating/completing this project.
By really emphasizing the isolation of the loner dominio by having all the other dominios circle around him helped create that idea that he was different. When the other dominios with only half dots joined in it helped identify the idea that even though they were different they had decided to come together celebrate their differences. I believe this entire video was a success because the message is clear, it flows, the audio fits in perfectly, and the transition from shot to shot looks good. I took my time shooting and planning out the video to the last detail. I really put extra detail into the editing to make sure everything in the video flowed.

Name some areas where you were unsuccessful in creating/completing your project.
Even though the lighting was consistent I wish I could have maybe centered things differently. I also feel like maybe I could have taken even more images to make the video flow even smoother. The frame of the video bothers me because it is not symmetrical. In some parts of the video there’s a lack to attention to detail. For example, the ribbon or the little gems that are missing.

Finally, describe what you might do differently if you had more time to go back and work on your project.
I would probably not change the project for a new idea because I really like the message behind it. However, maybe how the video is portrayed could change like instead of dominios we could have animals or something. I think I would reshoot the project to a more symmetrical frame. If I could got back I would dram on every dominio to show some type of facial expression to make help the message of the video more understandable. I think I had more than enough time, but not enough to go back and draw on each image again.

Parker Brown

2/15/2018 12:32:20 pm

My stop motion project is about making chocolate milk. In the video I start off by putting a piece of toilet into a cup, and it turns into milk. I then hold a piece of chocolate in my hand, and it turns into chocolate powder. I finish the video off by stirring it up and showing the final result. My intention for this video was just to entertain the people watching it.

In some areas of my video I was able to get a really smooth result which is really what I was aiming for. I luckily was able to complete shooting the photos for it all in one day, so the lighting in the pictures were all the same. I was able to find objects that could be used for transforming into milk and chocolate. I took the pictures quick enough, so the chocolate in the milk didn’t get mixed in too much. I found a quick and easy way to shoot the photos by rapidly shooting the photos while I had another person do the actions in the video.

I was not able to shoot my photos the first time when everyone else was doing it, so I started a little late. When I was shooting, I accidentally moved the tripod a couple of times, so I had to start over. The person I had performing the actions in the video would not cooperate with me from time to time. I somewhat wish I had pu audio in my video, but I just couldn’t find the right music. There are a couple images in my video that I wish I could go back and delete because they make the video flow not as good as it could.

If I had more time to work on my project I might try harder to look for some good audio that could go in my video. I might try to go back to delete some images that make the video flow badly. If I had a lot of time I might have even decided to add something else to make with the chocolate milk. I might have gotten a different person to model for my video, so it would be less choppy. I might have spread the time out for when I shot the photos because I did them all in one day.

Jordan Bell

2/15/2018 12:33:49 pm

My project tells the story of three mean cat that take over a hotel. After more cats come to stay in the hotel, the other animals rebel against the cats and take the hotel back. This time, however, the other animals choose to share the hotel with the cats instead of excluding them. The intention of this project was for me to relive a part of my childhood while meeting the requirements of the project. I want the audience to reconnect with their childhood and to see that not every bad situation has to stay bad.

My final stop motion animation video went over the minimum time length, told a complete story and did not stop abruptly. The plot is clear and easy to follow. I took lots of pictures and created the effect of smooth actions. The reflective table that my set was on provided a cool effect that added to the theme of childhood and imagination. The background of my set was a neutral color and nothing distracting was on the wall.

The main aspect of this project that i was unsuccessful in was the quality of light that I shot with. Some scenes were more yellowish or slightly underexposed due to shooting later in the day and not using natural lighting. The second thing that I was unsuccessful in was the steadiness of my camera. On some, from image to image the camera shifted a little bit. In the beginning of my video (the first scene), the focus shifts a couple times and I would go back to make that consistent.

If I had more time to work on this project I would do one of two things. I would either stay with this idea and expand on it by adding more scenes. Or I would do a sort of series. I could make multiple videos that had different ideas but similar characters, sort of like a television show. If I had more time to go back and fix my project I would try to shoot most of it, or at least a whole scene, in the same consistent quality of light. The last thing I would try to fix would be in stabilizing the tripod better to eliminate camera shake.

Marissa Elizondo

2/21/2018 05:14:34 am

My stop motion project was about me painting a painting. I painted a half day and half night painting with a tree in the middle of both days. I thought this would be a creative idea and thought that no one would do something similar. This painting was very satisfying and therapeutic to paint. I hope that when people see my video they also get a satisfying vibe and that they enjoy my little painting.

I told a complete story in my video. I went from beginning to end. I think I also had good lighting and a good color scheme. I took a lot of pictures so my frames are pretty smooth and not choppy. I also went beyond the time minimum which I think is good. Another good thing I did was that I was very organized while doing this project so I was able to get everything I needed done in time for all the due dates.

For the first set of pictures we needed to turn in, I had trouble with the tripod. Because of this my images aren’t perfectly symmetrical. Also it I took me a long time to take these pictures because I tried my best to fix the images. Another thing that was unsuccessful was on some pictures you can see my phone. I was using the canon app on my phone to control the shutters and on some of the images you can see my phone.

Next time, I would like to do a completely different idea. The past video I made was very calm and I would like to make something more exciting. I would like to make a stop motion with people in it. I would also like to try the continuous shooting mode on my camera because i didn’t use it last time. I also think I would to incorporate ice cream in some sort because I love ice cream.

Comments are closed.

Period 6 -- Critical Analysis #14

Analyze

Archives

Categories

Home