Category: Rotation 1: Stop-motion (3/10-14/10/2022)

Mind-mapping & Storyboarding

When my partner and I were discussing ideas for the film’s protagonist, we decided to employ a mouse. We imagined the moon to be a massive chunk of cheese. The idea was that the mouse would go to the moon merely to have a large mouthful of it. We scrapped the idea after discovering that it has been utilised several times in various animated films.

We sought a fresh, unique notion because the term “copying” just did not exist in our vocabulary.
For the theme, A Trip to the Moon, we chose a rabbit as the primary character. We rapidly came up with the story of “Mid-Autumn Festival” while brainstorming our storyboard. It’s a popular event in Asian cultures, where the mythological “moon bunny” is said to be the moon goddess’s comforting companion far above. We subtly introduced the concept of “east meets west” in the form of animation as well.

Final Product- “Say Cheeeeese!”-(A Trip to the Moon)

A short animated stop-motion animation created in Dragon Frame about the mischievous adventures of a bunny that thinks the blue earth is a giant chunk of cheese. It goes out of her way to go from planet to planet, much like a space arcade game, until she reaches the moon. It eventually gets a taste of “cheese” with a pretty twisty conclusion! 🙂

Watching claymation in typical stop motion films all my life, having been introduced to different forms of stop motion astonished me!

For my first film- “In Good Shape”, my partner and I used shredded pieces of black paper as we ventured on to translate our creativity onto a 2D surface. We explored the wonders of Dragonframe and it progressively aided us in creating a video of quality.

With shredded paper, we were to make three solid shapes. I had to move the shredded pieces gradually with patience in each frame to transform one shape into another. My partner and I experimented with metamorphosis, starting our video with a tiny droplet of water followed by a big splash that evolved into a wave and then into other shapes. The idea behind this indicates that a small step could lead to something spectacularly astounding. Shapes are typically known to be hard or heavy to the naked eye, so we wanted to alter the laws of physics with the unlimited boundaries of animation. Our response was to add a wobbly jelly-like texture to the square. It squishes and stretches in exaggeration as it moves. We also wanted to experiment with dimensions. We ended the video with a repetition of the square shape turning into an empty room and back into a square. Our work emphasizes the spacial bondage between the objects and on/ off-screen space.

The theme of shapes may sound shallow and boring, but with the input of creativity, anything could have a fun side. Besides learning to have the patience to produce the film, I valued working alongside my teammate as we spontaneously threw brilliant ideas at each other. It was great to see the world from my partner’s point of view in a creative sense. Our difference in thinking exudes diversity as our worlds collide!