Some weeks again, I attended an animation workshop by N.E.mation.
The Workshop
It’s my first time to get my hands on to create a short video cartoon clip, all began from the scratch, completed the animation with a great sense of satisfaction. Thanks to invitation from Sara and Dice Studio LLP.
Venue for the workshop was at a lab in NYP, school of Interactive & Digital Media.
I had no problem locating the lab because I used to study at School of Engineering which was just “next-door” to Block M.
Venue for an animation workshop at a lab in a school was so much appropriate. It really brough back memories from the days in school when we were all teamed up to get projects started.
Anyway, this stop motion workshop was all about using colour-ed papers and cut-outs to create backdrop, characters and shapes to create a story!
We were paired up and my partner was Thiang, a very friendly babe.
Before the hands-on started, we had an intro to the theory behind Stop Motion.
Stop Motion is basically about capturing mulitple snapshots (frames) of characters/items moving, step by step, bit by bit. The concept was based on some toys which were invented long time ago.
By looking into the holes while spinning the upper part of the toy, I saw the clown jumping around.
Another toy, making use of angle and reflections.
Watching the man “running” as the plate continued spinning.
Amazing invention right??
We were introduced to a simple software to capture the frames. The name of the software is AniMaker by Animagine.
One important point which I’d jotted down while learning the software:
- 24 snapshots (frames) to take 1 second, for the same position and backdrop, we have to take 24 snapshots! Luckily for AniMaker, there is a button which automatically create 24 frames with just one click.
The software makes things very easy for newbies like us with its necessary functions and buttons.
There is this function “Onion skin”. It allows us to see previous frame while we try to shift the characters for the next frame.
Getting started
The first step we did was to choose the colours for our characters, backdrops and whatever items which would be captured in the anime.
Photo extracted from N.E.mation
Our topic of the day was to create a short clip showing how air pollution from the cars can harm ourselves.
We had to sketch out the characters, from their eyes to their outfits, not to forget the buildings. Then we gota cut them out and outlined the shapes with a black marker.
The mess we created!
In the midst of capturing the frames…
Previewing our animated work…
Everything had to be carefully placed and focus must be there!
Even minor things like the shoes, clouds, we might though they are easy, but then we gota consider the sizes, and not just anyhow put into the pictures! Hard work was put in ya!
Each time we captured about 10 frames, we tried to see a preview, to avoid any mishap!
Frankly speaking, Thiang and I were very happy with our cutouts. They looked so cute and colourful!
The lovely car made by Thiang!
Thiang was really good with her drawing can!
The backdrop (buildings and SG Flyer!) were created by Thiang!
Each cutout had to be stick on by blu-tack. The blu-tack has to really tiny, else we would see a lump on the cutouts and that wouldn’t be nice.
I made the little girl who was the victim!
I liked her cute tongue! Yep, her tongue was added on and blu-tack-ed over her smile!
Our animated video can be views HERE!
It was a great experience for me, the workshop made me to become more appreciative towards Stop-motion anime, and cartoons.
The coming up voting contest!
N.E.mation is a competition for youths to express their notions on Total Defence through animationThis year, is the 6th year running and another round of competition has started. Theme for this year is NS: From Fathers-to-Sons.
Encouraged by the success of the five Total Defence animation clips featured in the National Day Rally in 2006, Nexus has organised N.E.mation (since 2007) to provide a creative platform for students to express their personal ideas about Total Defence.
Students with no prior experience in animation were given training to equip themselves with skills to convert their stories into one‐minute animation clips for public viewing and voting.
The winners of the competition were determined by a combination of public voting and judging by a panel including industry professionals. The winning clips were then screened island‐wide on free‐to‐air television and some were honoured at international animation and film awards.
The Champion team wins a fully sponsored trip (worth more than $15,000) to USA to visit DreamWorks Animation SKG and get to see first‐hand how films like ‘Kung Fu Panda’, ‘Shrek’ and ‘Shark Tales’ were made.
Sounds cool right??
Right now, the top 10 finalist teams have been born!
The public can vote for their three favourite clips in January 2012.
The winners of the competition will be determined by a combination of public (50%) and judging (50%).
Voting details will be announced at a later time. So do prepare to cast your vote to support the participated youths ya!
About N.E.mation
With only 300 students in the first season, N.E.mation! has grown to attract over 2,200 participants this season. Since its inception, over 7,200 students from 160 different schools have submitted their stories to N.E.mation!.
Several of the 50 clips produced so far have won local and overseas accolades over the years, such as the MediaCorp Viewers Choice & the Annecy Awards.
More info on N.E. Mation can be found here:
• http://nemation.sg
• http://facebook.com/nemation
• http://youtube.com/nemators
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