Fundamentals – Main Project – Stop Motion Animation Segment

DESIGN

For my project I know I wish to work with a jacket and a film camera and so when I went to the Betty Smither’s collection I went in search of just such items, photographed right and drawn out below. I decided the blue jacket was the greatest one to work with and make for my film.

And so with inspiration at hand I began drawing out my design to work from when making the jacket..

For the projector camera I looked through the best displays of just such an item for my work throughout the Betty Smithers Collection. The ones that stood out most I photographed and are displayed below.

The one I most liked being the ‘Pathescope Ace Home Cinema’ camera which is greatly featured in the collection of images below. It is bright, iconic and eye catching a design that I simply love and I feel would capture the attention of the audience to my film most.
And I would make my own camera from this style of design.

MAKING

The first step towards making my jacket for the stop motion film was to buy 1mm thick aluminium wire and wind them around together with a pair of pliers. Next I drew out each of the swatches shapes needed to make up the jacket and then cut around that. Keeping them inside out from each other I then sewn the front and back to each other, making sure not to have any of the cotton stick out of the stitching and to leave holes for the neck and arm parts.

I then did the same with the arm swatches to make them sleeves, perfectly shaped for the arm holes. I then stuck metal circle to the top of the sleeves with wire going along the arms to make animating more certain and easier in which to hold positions.

Cutting open the front of the jacket I then sewn in metal wire to the sides of the jacket, in the extra of the jacket swatches and also along the bottom parts of the fabric. I made the neck cuff and attached to the jacket neck. Also attaching the arms to the jacket before making buttons and closing the top of the jacket in preparation for the buttons I made to be stuck the fabric.

Overall I feel that the jacket looks great, exactly how I had imagined it to be and the size I wanted it. The wire running through the fabric at different parts makes animating rather easier and hold the stances I want far more effectively.

 

The first step of making my camera was to cover my torch in black painted card. Then to fold this box into the right size for the object, cutting a hole shape for the torch, sticking the object in space with blue tack. I then began painting the box black before making a film reel for above it, painting the plastic edges of that black too.

Next I re-created the sign from the camera Ace camera I captured in the Betty Smithers Collection to scale of my camera and after painting attached this to the box.

The final step was to cut a hole in the top to attach the film reel to.
Overall I feel this ‘camera replica’ has turned out really well and shall work effectively in my animation piece.