Turntable Animation

Moran Mclaran - We Got Time

Swish Blog

The Screenplay:

1.      Dark corridor – protagonist walking away from the camera

2.      Pan to the right down a small corridor to reveal a dark presence.

3.      An upwards swish ends this scene.

4.     We see the protagonist walking up some stairs away from the camera again, as she reaches the top and turns the corner we swish upwards again, to then reveal the presence standing spookily half way up the stairs.

5.      We watch as the protagonist breaks into a run up another set of stairs.

6.     We swish up once more to reveal the presence at the base of the current stairs.

7.     After another swish, we see the protagonist from the front for the first time as she runs up another flight of stairs towards the camera.

8.      When she reaches the top and turns the corner to face an alley way, we swish upwards once more to reveal the presence standing very close in the small alley, the protagonist screams and we cut to black.

9.      Building in volume throughout, we hear The Requiem by Linkin Park.

 The Evaluation:

Swish is a video transition technique which consists of quickly moving the camera away from the subject, either to the left, right, up or down. In the next shot, you then quickly move the camera in the same direction until you reach the subject again. 

For our video, I think that we managed to master the technique ­relatively well, although Michelle had a lot more control over the camera than I did, as I found it difficult to stop the swish movement in the right place, it would either be too high or it would be shuddery around the stop, for the scenes which featured Michelle. 

We tried to come up with a creepy, surrealistic storyline. The way we created it was that I played the protagonist who was running away from a haunting dark presence, played by Michelle. Most of the film was shot on the stairs, with the protagonist climbing higher and higher.

In the editing stages, we added the effects of black and white colouring as well as a glow/distortion effect. For the end of the video we used a blur out effect, I think it was called ink splat, or something similar.  

Mobius

Mobius is a large scale, sculptor, stop motion animation. “MÖBIUS is a sculpture that can be configured into many cyclical patterns and behave as though it is eating itself, whilst sinking into the ground.” (eness.com) 

It was created by Eness, using 21 assorted shape large green triangles. Filmed using a digital stills camera, it shows the creation snaking around the landmark of Federation Square in Melbourne.

I really like this film; I think it’s really inventive, stylish and sleek. The blocks move so smoothly, it ignores the aspects associated with the jerky movements of most stop motion animations. 

I do, however think that the project would have had a cleaner result without the public walking in and out if the pattern. I know that Eness says “The result is an optical illusion and a time-lapse of people interacting with the sculpture and moving through Melbourne's landmark location throughout the day.” But I personally think that if the blocks had stayed in the foreground of the frame for the entirety, it would have had a much more polished effect. 

I also think that in a couple of the frames throughout, the leaves and rubbish that popped up were a disappointing distraction from the main subject of the blocks movement.

It took 49 animators two weekends to position, photograph and then reposition the blocks into a sequence that only makes sense in the playback. It must have been an extremely challenging and difficult animated film to make, but a very enjoyable experience I bet it was, for all those involved.

Evaluation

For our take on the Mobius animation, I and Michelle wanted to make a video that created a real situation. We decided to use a laptop screen, onto which we stuck in yellow the letters that spell ‘Loading’. 

We also positioned a green star at the top of the screen, we had also planned to have one at the base as well, they were going to alternate in size on different cycles, but we had to change from using a computer screen to using a matt laptop screen because of the reflection of us and the tripod.  

The production of the animation went relatively smoothly. 

We managed to set up a good routine with changing and repositioning the letters. Despite being situated in the door walkway, on a Monday, we managed to just about keep out of peoples way and minimised the risk of camera jumps.

However, with the last letter, there was a camera jump that we only discovered in the editing. I presume that I must have kicked the tripod slightly whilst swapping the letters, so I volunteered myself to then try and correct the jump on Photoshop, by repositioning and painting the entirety of the last frame to the right. It was difficult and not particularly successful but I did manage to minimise the jump to a barely noticeable skip, so on that note I reckon it went quite well.