Our own stop motion animation creation

For this module we were asked to create our own stop motion animation. I worked with Nicole and we began by throwing around a few ideas of topics. Firstly, our topic had to be a contemporary issues, so we decide that we would like to do something relating to the environment as it is a very important issue in modern day life. 

Ideas:

• Global warming
• Pollution (of any kind)
• Coastal Erosion 

I came up with the idea of creating our idea within our actual environment discussed. I thought incorporating the beach into our idea would show creativity and context, I pitched this idea to my teammate and we both agreed. This then lead to us deciding that if we were using a beach environment we could cover the topic of water pollution. 

We decided to create a story of how water pollution not only effects one species but all species, something created by humans can go through the life cycle and then causes problems for us, showing that it is in our best interests to look after the environment around us. We hunted around the local charity shops to find props for our animation and purchased: a doll, a fish toy, a shark toy, a bucket and spade and windmill (a previous idea discussed had been global warming and wind energy). 

We decide to use Windows Movie Maker to put our animation together, as it is a software that we are both familiar with and hopefully therefore would be simple to edit. Our stop motion animation told the story of the girl called Penelope who lives by the sea, she lead a simple life of catching her dinner in the sea. However, water pollution caused the fish to become infected and die. Penelope then eats the fish and also becomes ill. The animation shows huge impact pollution can have on the whole environment and sends an important message to everyone.

I found the creation as process very enjoyable and it was fun being able to play around with different ideas. However, a drawback of producing a stop motion animation on the beach was the wind. We often struggled to get Penelope (the doll) upright and not blow over in the wind. I also noticed after uploading the images on to the computer than the lighting had been very changeable due to clouds coming across the sun on that particular day. Although, in hindsight may that added to the overall effect of the 'outdoors environment'. 

Bringing it all together

We used Picasa to edit any images that needed tweeking and then Windows Movie Maker to put all the images together. We then selected some upbeat music for the title shots and the credits, and some background music for the story. We created narration using Audacity to record and manipulate our voices. 

I loved creating our stop motion animation, especially as it was on the beach and in such a natural environment, it really put our subject in context. I think if we were to make another stop motion animation we would use a more advanced camera with tripod in order the keep the camera in the same place through the whole animation.