We the Kings is an American rock band from Bradenton, Florida. Their self-titled full-length debut album, released in 2007, included the platinum single "Check Yes Juliet", and went on to sell over 250,000 copies in the US.
Thursday, 12 February 2015
About the band...
We the Kings is an American rock band from Bradenton, Florida. Their self-titled full-length debut album, released in 2007, included the platinum single "Check Yes Juliet", and went on to sell over 250,000 copies in the US.
Creating the Cut Outs!
Today Amy and I created the cutouts for our Animation...
Here are a few pictures...
Friday, 6 February 2015
Similar Examples...
A similar animation and one that we have been highly inspired by for our own animation is a music video by Oren Lavie, "Her Morning Elegance".
This is a great animation in which two people move around the bed as if to walk and dance in an effective manner.
Oren Lavie (born 1976) is an Israeli singer, songwriter, playwright, and theatre director. His music video for "Her Morning Elegance" earned a 2009 Grammy Award nomination for "Best Short Form Music Video".
The song’s a bit slow—a bit Iron & Wine’ish, if you will, so be prepared to be all melancholy afterwards. The video itself, though, is dripping with creativity — over 2,100 single photos were taken in order to put this thing together. And it’s so well done that there are times myself where I completely forgot that these two were lying there — horizontal — on a bed.
Thursday, 5 February 2015
The Song...and the Lyrics
The Idea!
For this project I am working with my friend, Amy Young.
Our idea is to create a video for the song Queen of Hearts by the American boy band We The Kings. It's quite a romantic, 'lovey dovey' song, so we aim to play on the lyrics and create a stereotypical video with a couple.
We have 2 actors planned to film for us and will be filming with a Sony A1 connected to the lights in the TV Studio. We need a lot of height in order to film as our actors will be laid out on the floor, moving to each frame that we film.
Effectively, this is how we will film our 90 second stop motion animation ----> VIEW HERE!
This music video by Oren Lavie, "Her Moving Elegance" shows just how much fun stop motion animation can be.
There are roughly 3,225 still photos for the entire video, using one camera hanging from the ceiling.
It took them 4 weeks to create an animated story board and only 2 days of shooting for the live actors to recreate the animation.
We have cut out all the necessary cut out props that we need and the equipment is booked, all ready to film. We will remove a black curtain to lay on the ground and mount a camera from the bars in the ceiling in our TV Studio.
Our idea is to create a video for the song Queen of Hearts by the American boy band We The Kings. It's quite a romantic, 'lovey dovey' song, so we aim to play on the lyrics and create a stereotypical video with a couple.
We have 2 actors planned to film for us and will be filming with a Sony A1 connected to the lights in the TV Studio. We need a lot of height in order to film as our actors will be laid out on the floor, moving to each frame that we film.
Effectively, this is how we will film our 90 second stop motion animation ----> VIEW HERE!
This music video by Oren Lavie, "Her Moving Elegance" shows just how much fun stop motion animation can be.
There are roughly 3,225 still photos for the entire video, using one camera hanging from the ceiling.
It took them 4 weeks to create an animated story board and only 2 days of shooting for the live actors to recreate the animation.
We have cut out all the necessary cut out props that we need and the equipment is booked, all ready to film. We will remove a black curtain to lay on the ground and mount a camera from the bars in the ceiling in our TV Studio.
Tuesday, 13 January 2015
Research #3 - Model Makers
John Wright Modelmaking
A studio specialising in the production of quality models, sets, puppets and props. They also manufacture a range of armatures and ball and socket joints for use within the animation industry.Established since the early 1990's, and based in the centre of Bristol, John Wright Modelmaking has earned a reputation for producing high quality models for the animation industry.
Their skilled team of model makers with backgrounds in engineering and sculpting have created work for many award winning film and advertising productions. They have created models and sets from animated films to children's television programming and commercials, such as: 'A Close Shave; for Aardman Animations and 'Fifi & the Flowertots'.
Cod Steaks
Founded over 25 years ago in Bristol's harbour side, they now operate from a 1.5 acre site in central Bristol, with purpose built workshops to take care of every creative requirement.
Their passion is in the detail and they offer the highest quality of design and craftsmanship with a wealth of creativity, imagination and inspiration to boot.
With over 25 years' experience, Cod Steaks is recognised by many of the world's top creative businesses as a leading provider of 3D design, model making and construction services.
Scary Cat Studio
With widespread experience within the stop-frame animation industry, they specialise in all aspects involved in the creation of animation puppets, whether that be a simple plasticine upper or a sequence of replacement animation models.
From sculpting the maquettes to assist with early character development to the design and construction of ball and socket armatures, they can produce the puppet that is best suited to the animator's requirements.
Some of the puppets they have created are for the Duracell advert, the Specsavers advert with Postman Pat and Tatty Teddy.
Mackinnon and Saunders
They are one of the world's leading puppet making companies specialising in the design and construction of characters for television shows, feature films and commercials.
With over 30 years of experience, Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders' talented team have had the privilege of bringing some of the worlds' best known animated characters to life. From Bob the Builder, Postman Pat and Fifi and the Flowertots, to Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox.
From concept moquettes, mould making and armatures to costume, hair and pain, the team will always go the extra mile to ensure the characters they produce create the maximum impact on screen
What skills do you need to work as a model maker?
Jobs in the Animation Industry.
Ways into the animation industry -
Apprenticeships
Degree Courses
There are various different parts of animation you could work within (35 to be precise, on the creative skillset website). These range from an Animation Director/Supervisor to a Model Making Team Leader.
- Animation Director or Supervisor
- Responsible for the quality of the animation, keeping it on the brief and for delivering consistent performances.
- Interpret the brief from the Director and other relevant departments.
- Animator (Stop Motion)
- Animating models or puppets on frame at a time to create a performance and provide the action outlined in the storyboard.
- Bring the models/puppets to life.
- Inbetweener
- Produce the drawings between key poses in order to complete the illusion of movement and action.
- Responsible for producing neat and accurate in-between drawings, as directed by the Assistant Animator, Animator or Animation Director.
- Model Maker
- Producing the working models, props, and/or puppets for stop motion animation.
- Need to be all-rounders, able to work in several craft areas. These include sculpting, mould making, casting, trimming and seaming, foaming, metal working, welding, painting, finishing and costume making.
- Roto Artist
- Tracing the areas of live action frames where computer graphics will overlap or interact with live image.
- Creating clear areas (mattes) within the frame to allow all elements of the scene to be layered convincingly by the Compositor.
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