Paper Animation.

I have done and finished my paper animation scenes. I am pretty happy with how they turned out but things could have been better.

But let’s start from the beginning.

First:

I designed my characters and what they would do in the scene.

Secondly:

I then grabbed the camera and the copy stand to measure out how large my scene will be and therefore how big I can make the scene and characters.

Thirdly:

I designed and made my characters. I have two main scenes in my paper animation where I needed the same characters, Emily and the mermaid to be in a different position. When they swim down they are in an almost lying down position but when they are at the bottom of the sea they are in a standing position.

I designed the mermaid’s tail in a way that she could flick it from side to side like a fish. At first I had the base and the top of the tail separate so that I could just swap the end of the tail around every time she moved. But when I practised with this method it did not work as the cardboard was being bent from all the movement and the scales fell off. I ended up re-doing the tale and ended up with eight mermaid tails.

Original

Final

I also designed the Octopus to have two different sets of arms so that it would look like a realistic octopus. I ended up only using the one set and just moving it around as it would have been much too difficult.

Background image of ocean.

Sea creatures. (original and unfinished)

Fourthly:

I took to animating, the lab and equipment was booked, and I went in on the Saturday to keep out of the way of other people and this was the only time the lab doesn’t have classes. I placed a sigh on the door asking for people to knock before entry as I could not risk any stuff ups. I started at 9:30am and did not stop till 2pm. It was hard work but I enjoyed it.

I had a few technical difficulties such as the camera losing battery at one point so I had to redo the scene. Also a few times I wasn’t happy with a scene and re-did it. I then realised towards the end that for some reason the final images where being cropped far more then what they were supposed to be. This meant that some of my scene has been cut. Now it’s not that bad as everything still looks okay and everything you need to see to understand the scene can be seen. Though it frustrated me a good deal as it does not look as nice as it could have. But I really don’t want to re-do it all over again and I am limited to the amount of times I can book the lab as there are many other students at JMC who need the facilities and equipment.

There were many different versions of the main characters and much to change and move around. But in the end I am happy with the result.