Freeze-frame animation is an art form of film and television animation that people are familiar with and love. Based on the basic production process of stop-motion animation, this paper summarizes the experience in teaching and the production skills of stop-motion animation.
From a series of bison running analysis maps drawn in stone age caves 25 thousand years ago to Egyptian tomb murals,
The decomposition diagram of the continuous movement of ancient Greek bottles, and then the movements that took place at different times are drawn together on a picture. Later, people invented toys such as "caged bird" and "magic turntable" by using the principle of visual residue, which can be said to be the originator of today's animation art. Stop-motion animation can be said to be the oldest animation form, and the so-called "stop-motion animation" is every static character in the film. It is necessary for the animator to locate the model first. After taking a photo, the animator moves the object slightly, and then takes the next shot, only one frame at a time. This is also called stopping animation or freezing animation. Even the image of the animation itself and the sense of material and space of the scene can't be expressed and created by two-dimensional animation, which enhances the realism and closeness of this kind of animation.
What we usually call stop-motion animation is usually represented by clay figurines, puppets, puppets or mixed materials. Freeze-frame animation is an animation method that I have been studying. Every time I try different materials, I find a lot of fun. The progress of technology and the change of style are my passions. The experience and skills of production are updated at every stage. There is no end to the innovation of stop-motion animation. Producers always find themselves in endless production methods, which may be the charm of stop-motion animation and what I have always insisted on. This paper combs the production skills from the types, materials and techniques of stop-motion animation.
my works
In the process of making animated puppets, it is very important that the limbs of puppets must be able to move freely, and each joint should not only be able to move, but also be properly damped. Every time you make a subtle movement, the bone can keep the material on the character still, and after shooting this frame, it will continue to change the movement, so the stability of the bone is also very important. The modeling of puppet show animation is mainly skeleton and clay sculpture attached to the skeleton, and the relationship between them is like the relationship between bone and meat.
My appearance is exquisite, realistic and durable, especially at the joints, which can be repeatedly deformed and adjusted without breaking easily, and can withstand long-term movement and swing during the whole shooting process. In practical teaching, we often use simple skeleton, which is easy to model and low in cost. Aluminum wire and lead wire are soft and easy to adjust; Copper wire and iron wire are also good, and some joints can even consider silver wire; For different shapes, we can choose skeletons of different materials. For example, if your shape is cricket, then his head and even his tentacles will have a lot of deformation adjustment, so you can consider using soft aluminum wire. Although it will break if bent too much, it is quite flexible. Sometimes, according to the length and frequency of the film, it is necessary to prepare spare couples to avoid affecting the quality and progress of shooting.
Props and scenes
After the puppet is made, there are no special restrictions on props and scenes. Just build the scene according to the proportion of characters and the requirements of the script. There are no special restrictions on the materials of props and scenes. In most cases, cardboard, pvc board and wood board are used. It should be noted that the selection of materials must take into account the coordination between the color of the material itself and the overall tone, and the tone displayed in the picture is very important to the final film effect. At present, most work scenes are planned to be virtually completed by 3D software. In order to facilitate the later keying, a blue screen background should be configured.
In terms of props, costumes are an important appearance of puppet characters, so the production should be particularly meticulous and careless. It should be made on the basis of strict design requirements and be as perfect as possible. In the two generations of love, we are deeply impressed by the clothing modeling of the two generations of love and the clothing modeling of adults on August 1st. It is not only a fitting dress, but also the background of the script, the culture and characteristics of the times. In teaching, students will make a big joke if a character in a story of the Tang Dynasty is dressed in the costume of the Qing Dynasty. The level of clothing production directly affects the shooting effect. Well-made costumes and props will enhance the visual artistic sense of the whole movie.
Lighting and photography
Illumination is an important factor to reflect the spatial texture of the picture. Three headlights in photography: main light, auxiliary light and effect light. Main lights are used to illuminate scenes and characters, and control the main lights during the day and night. Auxiliary light is used to adjust the light ratio balance of the subject, adjust the brightness of the backlight surface, and assist the atmosphere of the main light at night. The effect is just to create a scene atmosphere with some small changes. A successful light source can accurately indicate the time and create an atmosphere. Because of its own particularity, the lighting of cartoons can be more exaggerated and stronger than that of live-action movies. Almost any stable light source can be used except flashing fluorescent lamps.
There is a very professional awareness of empty shots in photography, that is, before each even-numbered character enters a scene, several empty shots without roles should be taken in advance at each position, that is, every scene should be backed up. This will greatly improve the problem of virtual focus of the picture. When the background jitter or hanging line is eliminated, just change the background directly. Of course, most specific photography problems still need to be solved by searching scenes in practice.
Late synthetic mouth shape
How to make stop-motion animation not only produce complex and delicate expressions but also vivid and changeable mouth shapes? It is very important to make preparations before processing the mouth shape by computer. First of all, when shooting stop-motion animation, it is necessary to shoot in layers, with the head and body separated, the body can be shot together with the background layer, the head can be shot exclusively in the upper layer, and the blue card can be set for keying. Second, in a shot, you only need to pat your head when you speak. Third, according to the lines spoken by the characters, design an expression tone for this portrait photo. Fourth, if the tone of this expression is not consistent with the even-numbered head expression you made, you can take a close-up of your character's head first. TVPaint animation is the best way to import it into drawing software for modification.
The essence of animation is to express the theme in a high degree in the creative process, convey delicate emotions with smooth shots, outline emotional fluctuations with unique composition and color structure, and portray the soul with details. Manual production determines that stop-motion animation has the artistic characteristics of simple original color and natural three-dimensional fantasy, and different materials bring different visual languages. Freeze-frame animation has become an important way of teaching practice for animation majors in domestic universities by virtue of its diversity and freedom of production techniques, and has integrated a fresh academic animation atmosphere.
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