Showing posts with label DSDN101. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DSDN101. Show all posts
To advertise the Slum Challenge within the 24 hour Caritas Challenge 2014, I have created a stop motion video. This stop motion video is aimed at intermediate and secondary school aged people. I have based it on the idea of tetris blocks as it is something the target audience can relate to. A game that has been played by people of all ages and is based around the idea of building blocks. This helps to portray the idea of building a house, somewhere the plant can live in. I have also incorporated the natural elements of rain and wind to show how tough it can be to live in a place where materials are limited but are able to stand up against the elements. The house that the flower is in gets knocked down by the wind and then blown away by the rain. To the viewer this is frustrating to see that the work gets broken again and again - something that is just as frustrating to those living in this situation. I have also used techno music to attract the viewers attention as it is something they can relate to. Techno music is very attention drawing due to the beats created. This links in with the blocks dropping down to the bottom of the page and fits in nicely.

 Stop Motion:


Adding rain and wind sound

I have been doing some tests to incorporate sound. I have had to modify the idea of using 8 bit sounds because the rate at which the tetris blocks were dropping and the letters was too fast and became a blur. When I tried to slow it down the frame rate was too slow to run smoothly.

 Instead I have been looking at using techno sounds because you still get the hard sounding beats. This is a sort of modern day 8 bit sound. The techno music also is more relevant to the target audience of intermediate, secondary schools and youth groups as this age group does not have the same association with 8bit sounds that we do. They can however, relate to the techno music being played.








This is the development of my stop motion so far. I had to split up the first scene into part 1 and part 2 because my camera went out of battery faster than I expected. Although this is an annoying problem I have found a way around it so all is fine.

I have been planning my final stop motion and broken it down into scenes. This is to help me make each scene then see how long it is all taking. As I know the final one will take a very long time to film, it is crucial that I break it down into scenes.

I have also been thinking about how I can modify the scenes and backgrounds to make it more interesting. This is taking into account the feedback I got given from the tutors during the review in class.

Scene 1:


Scene 2:



Scene 3:



Scene 4:

I had conducted a quick test to see if my idea will work with Post It notes and to determine their size and tetris shapes. This was a good experiment as I had to make my tetris pieces and also had to determine where I was going to do the shoot so that it would be the correct size.


I have also had a change in materials. Instead of using wooden blocks as I had previously planned too, I am going to use notepad squares in an assortment of colours. Each colour will represent one of four tetris shapes that I am including.

 The reason I am doing this is because I need to work on a larger scale and the wood was restricting me from doing this in several ways. The weight of the wood means it is hard to hold it in place along the wall. Also cutting out many pieces of each shape takes a very long time. I would have to paint the wood to get the different colours, and may require several coats to get a solid colour. 

 However in working with the wood I had some very good experiences and increased my knowledge about working with this material. But it is just not the right material to complete this job with, but I still learned a lot. 

After receiving some feedback during the critique I have had a rethink about how to make my stop motion more effective. I have decided that I am going to play more on the tetris idea so that it seems like the user is in control. 

To do this i am going to use coloured note pads and form them in the shape of tetris pieces. This is instead of using wood. I also need to work on a larger scale than what I have been doing because it was slightly too small making it much harder. As there are many tetris pieces, I am only going to take four of them across into my project.
Tetris Pieces

The review this morning went well for me and it was a very interesting opportunity to see where other people were at with their stop motion progress. We combined groups with Elle's 101 group and this was really good to be able to see work from another group and how the tutor's responded to the ideas and techniques.
  • Krishna and Elle said that my idea and narrative was very good and solid. As my idea was simple they said I had a lot of room for playing and experiment with different techniques, particularly backgrounds. 
  • I need to use a better camera and put it on better settings to get that clarity. 
  • A way to push the slum challenge a bit more is to use a character or object within the building on the tetris blocks to represent someone living in this place. This makes it a bit more obvious that it is the slum challenge I am trying to represent. 
  • I also need to get better at using Premiere Pro as I struggled with this. I am determined to make this program work for me as the video and sound editing potentials on this program will offer me more ways to edit my work, therefore giving me the opportunity for better development. 
  • I was also told that my storyboard portray my idea well and helped my narrative.
  • I could look at changing the background or having things happening around it. Depending on how this is undertaken, it could be a good way to portray the idea that most people do not think about this things in their daily lives even though it is one if life's biggest struggles for some.
  • Get the sound perfect because that can really tie together the actions with the ideas.
  • Also maybe you more frames between the movements so more detail is going on but have it playing faster.
Updated storyboards showing annotations with the use of drafting film paper.
I have created my final storyboard but drawing each frame on a square of MDF wood. I then attached all frames to a sheet of MDF. I decided to create my storyboard this way as it relates to the material I am using within my stop motion. It also creates unity between the planning process and the developing stop motion to the final video.

I had to take pictures of my storyboard for now, but will try and scan tomorrow at design school using a larger scanner.


I have added some audio in Adobe Premiere Pro to test how to do it, but also see the effect it gives the video. I found the sounds using freesound.org and and using the sounds of water dropping and wind. I also used an 8bit sound imitation to represent the game people of all ages know and love.




I have been working on my stop motion and incorporating the idea of using Tetris to build the slum house.


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About

I am a designer, currently studying Design Innovation at Victoria University of Wellington. My focus areas are website and mobile media development, interaction design, 3D modelling and animation and audio-visual space. My blog shows my journey through each project as well as my learning experience through university. What do I want to be when I grow up? I have no idea. But I love what I'm learning. Although there have been many bumps along the road in this journey and despite the fact that there are going to be many more, I wouldn't have it any other way.

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