Stop Motion Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation Debra Kaufman, Series Editor A Guide to Computer Animation: for tv, games, multimedia and web Marcia Kuperberg Animation in the Home Digital Studio Steven Subotnick Digital Compositing for Film and Video Steve Wright Essential CG Lighting Techniques Darren Brooker Producing Animation Catherine Winder and Zahra Dowlatabadi Producing Independent 2D Character Animation: Making & Selling a Short Film Mark Simon Stop Motion: Craft skills for model animation Susannah Shaw The Animator’s Guide to 2D Computer Animation Hedley Griffin Stop Motion Craft skills for model animation Susannah Shaw Modelmaking and animation sequences created and photographed by Cat Russ and Gary Jackson, ScaryCat Studio Illustrations Tony Guy and Susannah Shaw Focal Press An imprint of Elsevier Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP 200 Wheeler Road, Burlington MA 01803 First published 2004 Copyright # 2004, Susannah Shaw. All rights reserved The right of Susannah Shaw to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1T 4LP. Applications for the copyright holder’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science and Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: (þ44) (0) 1865 843830; fax: (þ44) (0) 1865 853333; e-mail: [email protected]. You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage (www.elsevier.com), by selecting ‘Customer Support’ and then ‘Obtaining Permissions’ British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 0 240 51659 1 For information on all Focal Press Publications visit our website at: www.focalpress.com Please note that although some brand names have been included for ease of communication, no endorsement is intended by this inclusion and no discredit is intended by omission Typeset by Keyword Typesetting Services Printed and bound in Italy dedication This book is dedicated to Bob Godfrey, whose book Do It Yourself Film Animation inspired so many people to get started. ThisPageIntentionallyLeftBlank contents acknowledgements xi elements of an animation shoot xii chapter 1 introduction – playing God 1 nature and caricature 3 what this book is for 6 chapter 2 getting equipped 8 what is your aim? 8 recording formats 9 film 9 video/DV 12 animation software/frame grabbers 13 essential and non-essential extras 15 the animator’s toolkit 15 lighting 16 editing/sound 17 rough guide to film/video or DV recording budgets 18 glossary 19 chapter 3 getting animated 21 animating familiar objects as a first approach 21 timing: single frame or double frame? 22 notes on movement 23 first experiments: the bouncing ball 24 the dope sheet/X-sheet 27 planning 28 chapter 4 keep it simple – developing your story 32 idea – script – treatment 32 planning your shots – basic film grammar/composition of shots 35 the storyboard 39 editing – animatics and story reels 43 viii contents chapter 5 coat hangers for armatures – making your own model 46 character design 46 working with modelling clays 49 making your own puppet 52 chapter 6 model makers – the professionals 64 the maquette 65 ball and socket armature 66 mould making – hard and soft moulds 71 casting 76 colouring 81 costumes/dressing 82 glossary of model making materials 83 chapter 7 four walls and a sky – sets and props 85 research the look 85 design and building of sets 86 interior sets 91 exterior sets 91 forced perspective 94 making props 95 rigging 95 glossary of materials for sets 96 chapter 8 sound advice 98 pre-production 99 recording dialogue 100 lip sync 103 sound breakdown 106 chapter 9 the mechanics of movement 109 studies from observation 109 posing the model 112 timing 113 weight 115 anticipation, action and reaction 118 walking and running 122 the illusion of speed 124 animal and bird movement 125 contents ix chapter 10 the performance 129 character animation 129 comedy and comic timing 132 subtle character animation 135 chapter 11 filming 138 filming information 139 motion control 142 lighting 143 health and safety issues 144 special effects – tips and hints 145 final checks before you hit that button 150 sending your film to the labs 151 glossary 151 chapter 12 post production 153 timecode 153 sound 155 chapter 13 getting the job – the business of animation 157 know your limitations 158 different work, different studios 158 commercials 158 series 160 TV specials and features 161 applying for jobs 163 your showreel 164 festivals 165 sending proposals to commissioning editors 165 bibliography 169 appendix 1 software, camera and recording equipment suppliers 171 appendix 2 manufacturers and outlets 175 appendix 3 calendar of animation festivals and film festivals incorporating animation 179 x contents appendix 4 animation courses that include or specialize in stop motion and related organizations and websites 193 index 201 acknowledgements Thanks to Gary Jackson & Cat Russ of ScaryCat Studio; Tony Guy; Ian Mackinnonn, Peter Saunders & Christine Walker of Mackinnon & Saunders; Barry Purves; Jeff Newitt; Guionne Leroy; Timothy Hittle; Sara Mullock; Helen Nabarro at the BBC Animation Unit; Nick Hilligoss at ABC; Ange Palethorpe, Glen Holberton and Emma Bruce at Loose Moose; John Schofield at bolexbrothers; Blair Clark at Tippett Studios; Lionel Orozco of Stop Motion Works; David McCormick; Helen Garrard; Tristan Oliver; Bob Thorne at Artem; Anthony Scott; Trey Thomas; Richard Goleszowski; John Wright at John Wright Modelmaking; Miguel Grinberg (MagPie); Brigid Appleby & Mark Hall of Cosgrove Hall; Jackie Cockle & Sarah Ball of Hot Animation; Barry Bruce at Vinton’s; Nigel Cornford; James Mather; John Parsons; Pete Lord, Helen Brunsdon, Luis Cook, Nick Park, Sharron Traer, Dave Sproxton, Dan Lane, Tom Barnes, Jan Sanger, Martin Shann, Ian Fleming, & Michael Carter of Aardman Animations; Chris Webster at UWE; Rick Catizone; Chris Grace at S4C; Jack and Elke Counsell, and for keeping me on track: Loyd Price at Aardman. Last of all: Ken, Kitty and Alice for their patience. elements of an animation shoot Story Record Edit Record Idea Script Treatment board scratch animatic sound dialogue Design Work out visuals Make timings models and sets refurb. Shoot Edit Sound dub Post production chapter 1 introduction – playing God chapter . nature and caricature summary . what this book is for You want to captivate people. It doesn’t come with just technique, it’s about putting yourself inside that character. It’s like slowing down your brain and all of a sudden you are that puppet and you move how that puppet moves. Guionne Leroy – animator on Chicken Run, Toy Story, James and the Giant Peach If you want to make great animation, you need to know how to control a whole world: how to make a character, how to make that character live and be happy or sad. You need to create four walls around them, a landscape, the sun and moon – a whole life for them. But it’s not just playing dolls – it’s more like playing God. You have to get inside that puppet and first make it live, then make it perform. Animation is animation, whatever the medium. Whether you are drawing on paper, model- ling in Plasticine, shoving a couple of matchboxes around in front of a Bolex camera or animating with a computer; to become an animator you will need to understand movement and how to create emotion. You can be a cartoonist or an artist on film, a moving image- maker, and there are many beautiful and hilarious examples of this, but they do not neces- sarily fulfil the definition of animation that this book sets out to demonstrate. This book is written for someone wanting to take the first steps in creating three-dimensional character animation. Methods for 2D animation have been documented for a long time. Since the formation of the Disney Studios, their vast commercial output meant they had to find ways of passing on their skills to a large body of workers who needed to know the house ‘style’. The top animators started to look at what they were doing as animators and started to identify ‘rules’ and guiding principles by which they worked. Most of these principles apply to model or puppet animation as well as – as they are derived from the scientific study of movement – the effect of gravity, friction and force on masses. One of the greatest books to read about the development of 2D animation is Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas’s The Illusion of Life (1997). 2 stop motion You will have seen computer animation that seems wooden and stiff or the characters glide and swoop about as though gravity never existed. This is simply because, in this new medium, the majority of practitioners were originally from a computing background and have learned the computing skills but not necessarily the animating skills. Director John Lasseter was a successful 2D animator before applying his skills to the computer-generated Tin Toy, Knick Knack, and more famously, Toy Story and Monsters Inc., giving Pixar some of the best computer-generated characters seen so far.