stop motion apps

There's a lot of stopmotion apps available for your phone and ipad, so I thought I'd look into it to try and figure out which are the best.

These reviews are from "brickfilms.com" http://brickfilms.com/resources/software-2/stop-motion-apps/ and "make use of.com" http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/create-stop-motion-animations-5-fun-apps-iphone-android/

iStopmotion

At the premium end of the market is iStopMotion, with advanced controls for exposure and white balance lock, adjustable movie speeds and iCloud integration. It’s a joy to use for serious enthusiasts, but I’d say it’s a little too complicated for kids to use without supervision.
Though the main app is limited to the iPad there is a companion “remote camera” app for the iPhone; this lets you set up the iPhone as a static camera, while making adjustments to the scene and controlling from the iPad.
As well as manually controlling the shutter for stop motion movies, iStopMotion can also be set to an automatic mode enabling you to make beautiful timelapses of scenery or plantlife.

Pixstop

The National Film Board of Canada is proud to bring you PixStop—a versatile, intuitive app that makes it easier than ever to shoot and score your very own stop-motion animation film.
The PixStop app captures as many as 10,000 images to create mini masterpieces up to 13 minutes long.
Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

Frameographer

From StudioNeat – makers of the superb Glif iPhone camera stand adapter – Frameographer is outstanding in its simplicity. The interface is beautiful and uncluttered, yet it hides both time lapse and stop motion controls.


While the app lacks a white balance lock, focus and exposure are present; as is onion skinning. You can also add music from your iTunes library before publishing.
Frameographer operates entirely on a single iPhone device though; there is no remote camera so you’ll need to be careful not to move the phone while adjusting controls mid-movie. If you need to set up a specific angle, it makes previewing quite difficult, so bear that in mind.

 

StopMotion Recorder for iPhone

This is the only iPhone app in our round up to feature filters, so if you’re from the Instagram generation then I’m sure you’ll appreciate good old Sepia effect and more. Time lapse is at pre-set intervals up to 20 seconds, but otherwise the app is as functional as the others (and cheaper, too); there’s also a sound activated shutter option.

The app is missing the ability to add keyframes to an existing animation, and the interface is either “childlike” or hideously semi-skeumorphic, depending on your outlook; the font does it no favours. The latest version has some issues with the iPhone 4S apparently, so keep an eye on the
updates if you’d like this one.

 

Stopmotion Café 

Simple, powerful STOP-MOTION and TIME-LAPSE application, completely free! Capture sequences of images and create a movie. Pick the Images touching the screen or with time intervals, edit and create your movie to export to Camera Roll.
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (4th generation), iPad 2, iPad (3rd generation). Requires iOS 5.0 or later.

 

 

 

Lapse It

Though the name suggests this app only does time lapses, it actually has a stop motion (manual) mode too, so I’ve decided to include it as the best option for Android users, in my opinion. The interface looks superb, and there’s a host of advanced features in there such as rotation. The free version is fully functional but limited to low resolution; good for testing though.

Camera effects are also included for a little variety; and there are lots of output formats to please everyone.

Summary

As far as I can see, Android owners don’t have a huge choice when it comes to professional quality apps: Lapse It seems to be the best option. On the iPhone side, there’s quite a variety of apps depending on your exact needs: I’d say use the pricey iStopMotion if you have an iPad and need that remote shutter functionality; or for a more simplified experience on a single device you can’t go wrong with Frameographer

creating story

 “A story has someone who wants something badly and is having trouble getting it.” - Karl Iglesias

3 Primary elements for Story are character, character goal and conflict.

Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them

Everyone knows that stories are made up of 3 acts – the Beginning, the middle, and the end.  But you need to understand the importance of each act, especially the first.  Billy wilder said “If there is something wrong with the third act, it’s really in the first act”.  Act one is where you give your audience all the information they need to get behind the characters and the enter into the world your creating.

Think of it like this - Set it up, mess it up, tie it up

A story can be broken down further into several smaller steps, a formula.

Seven steps to a better story

• Once upon a time...
• And every day....
• Until one day...
• And because of this...
• And because of this...
• Until finally...
• And ever since that day...

Once upon a time and every day are your act 1.  The purpose of act 1 is to tell the audience everything they need to know to understand the story that is to follow.

Until one day – the inciting incident, the true beginning of your story.

And because of this – the second act. Time to explore what happens as a result of your first act.

And because of this – act 2 continues, everything should be cause and effect

Until finally – the beginning of act3, the start of the end

And ever since that day – something that lets your audience know what the life of the protagonist is like after the climax.

 

Questions to ask yourself when building a story

1. Who is your character?
2. What is your characters goal?
3. What is your inciting moment?
4. Does your conflict rise?
5. What does your character need to learn?
6. Does your ending relate to the beginning?
7. Is your audience entertained?

Good story is a combination of strong character combined with the appropriate choice of structure, conflict, emotion and reaction.







For a great book on how to build story try "Invisible Ink"  by Brian Mcdonald.
Or check his Blog  http://invisibleinkblog.blogspot.co.uk/ 

animation exercise 2

This is a simple exercise I've taken from the "stopmotion pro" website.

Make a ball go crazy in this tutorial that explores the concept of "replacements". Replacment is basically substituting models between frames.  You can save a lot of time using this technique

 

Make 5 round balls all the same size. Deform 4 of the balls so they end up looking like this. 

The ball on the far left has been slightly squashed vertically, this will give you ball a bit of squash when it jumps around.

Leave one of the balls round, this will be the "normal" position of the ball between movements.  The remaining three balls should be made conical, this is the stretch to give your ball speed.

Use the round ball to start with, shoot a few frames of it stationary. Capture a frame of the ball in the new position.  You can then position the next replacement ball shape.

The image below shows one of the movements overlaying each other.  You can see the relative positions of each of the substitute shapes.

Note how the vertially squashed ball is used the frame before the "normal" ball.  This helps give the ball an elastic effect.

Go ahead and try your own timing, add extra shapes and slow the animation down.  Stretch the balls even further and really make it shoot about.

Tip: A few frames (5 -10) of the ball stationary will give your audience time to catch up

What makes a good short film

 

When you write a short film, think of it as if you’re telling a joke.  “a duck walks into a bar and orders a rum and coke.”  Just as all elements of a joke support the punch line, so should every element of your story support it’s structure – nothing is extraneous; every element leads to an inevitable, yet surprising, conclusion.

When you create a story, you must let the audience know the reality of your story.  “When a joke starts like that, no says its ridiculous, they accept it because its the first thing they are told.  You understand the reality of that world from the start.

Here are some rules to writing a good short film, I know creatives don’t like rules, in fact you’ll probably want to break them and that’s fine if you do, but you need to know them and understand first

Keep it simple

·         Simple single situations
·         One conflict that intensifies
·         A single memorable moment (an adrenaline moment)
·         Slices of life
·         Demonstrations of personality

 

Create conflict

Conflict = drama.  3 types of Conflict
 ·         Character vs character
 ·         Character vs enviroment
 ·         Character vs self

Story is king

Every production element in a film is purposefully designed for the good of the story.  It is through your story that your characters are revealed and that you communicate with your audience.  Without story all you have is technique.  An audience might forgive poor technique, but they will never forgive poor story.

 Know your concept, theme or meaning

This is not the premise or plot of the piece, it is the broader idea the underlying meaning. 

 Create memorable character

An audience loves a good character who intrigues or enchants them.

 Show, don’t tell

The golden rule. Always strive for the most visual way to tell your story.  Don’t have someone say “he’s a miserable old git” show he’s a miserable old git.

 Know your ending

If you write without destination you sure as hell won’t reach it

 Entertain and respect your audience

Intrigue your audience. Take them on a journey that exceeds their expectations and leave them somewhere that made their trip worthwhile. 









For more information along the same lines check out the book
"ideas for the animated short"                            

video tutorial

Here's a short behind the scenes film, from a series called "Raa Raa the noisy Lion" that I worked on.

animation exercise - bouncing ball

A good place to start with your animation is with a simple bouncing ball exercise.  You don't any puppets and it incorporates rhythms, weight, arcs and timing.

Point your camera downwards towards your desk or floor then use a coin and then follow the spacing on the diagram below to make it look like it's bouncing.  The ball should move slower at the top of the arc where momentum turns to gravity.

Try it several times each time try express different weights/types of ball by varying the spacing and the height

If you use plasticine or blu-tack you can include some squash and stretch as the ball impacts onto the ground.

Photography 101 - depth of field

If you’re going to use a DSLR you need to understand the relationship between aperture settings and shutter speeds. 

Aperture settings, known as f-stops, are found on the lens barrel of the older manual lenses, but if you use a modern electronic lens you’ll control it through the capture software.  The largest aperture (when the iris is open widest) is the smallest number - often around f/2.8, and the smallest aperture will be the largest number (say f/22).  Each change in f-stop setting halves/doubles the light reaching the camera sensor.

By changing the aperture setting on your lens you take control over the depth of field.  The smaller the aperture, the more you get in focus.  A wider aperture enables you to soften the background or foreground in your image. 

Each time you adjust the aperture setting you’ll need to adjust the shutter speed to compensate.  The larger the hole in the iris, the more light comes through - so your going to need a faster shutter speed and vice versa.

You should be able to control the shutter speed through the capture software.  The higher the number the faster the shutter speed – so 1/4 is a quarter of a second fast and 1/16 is a sixteenth of a second.  In normal photography a slow shutter speed would blur movement and fast one freeze action, but in stop-motion the camera’s locked down and the puppet will be still, so it’s not going to really matter.