Stop-motion Reflection:
Making the stop-motion was a very enjoyable process and I further learnt a lot about the program Adobe Premier Pro which I had never used before. My group worked really well as a team as we were never short of enthusiasm or ideas and everyone contributed towards the process. I helped construct the set and characters which was an interesting learning process as to what works well on camera. I thought wire characters would allow for flexibility of movement however on set it was difficult to get the character to move and stay upright. Furthermore it was suggested that our character could have had more emotions as we used only four different faces alternatively. Through a collaboration of ideas, character and prop construction our set was successfully pretty spooky and ‘artificial’ for our comedy ‘old-style,’ horror film. Our influences also included the ‘Quay brothers,’ which were a group that constructed stop motions from a whole range of materials. Our pictures taken by Lauren worked really well with great seamless action and focused shots. Jess enhanced the eerie feeling through the coloured lighting which worked really well. We decided on place cards with text for any dialogue, action and credits to give our film an ‘old-style’ feel. Nick created the border image working well with the theme as well as providing a chop between scenes. We only used the outside of our set and the ‘box room’ to film. To get the camera on the level of our character we cut a hole in the back which allowed easier access. Using a variety of camera angles as well as props we planned action from the beginning to the end. The incorporation of the chewing gum allowed us to make him the villain which ultimately destroys our character.
I knew that music and sound effects would be very important for the final short film, as I had researched other horror/ stop motions. I found sound is one of the strongest aspects in creating a mood or atmosphere. We found a number of scary soundtracks as well as funny theme tune references to add. We concentrated on good timing of music and sounds which created suspense, shock, humour and slowed and increased the pace of the film. Overall I am very happy with the result and learnt a lot about film, sound, Adobe Premier Pro and prop and set construction. Furthermore it was great to work in a team and learn to incorporate a range of ideas while utilizing everyone’s strengths.