Pre-Production in Action!
Reading
Chances are, you subconsciously associate specific colors with certain emotions. For example, black in North America typically represents death or mourning, but in many European countries, purple represents mourning. Likewise, a green hat on a short redhead would resemble a leprechaun in Western cultures, but a man wearing a green hat in China suggests his wife is cheating on him.
Colors are compelling storytelling tools because they can represent strong emotions and motivations without changing anything else about an image. For example, take this image: in soft blue light, Mr. Bear and Mr. Owl seem friendly, but a harsh red light would make them look evil (or as evil as two stuffed animals can be).
How do you take advantage of the power of color, though? The best place to start is to gather a general understanding of the meanings behind different colors. Here's a blog I dedicated solely to the purpose of understanding color. Once you have the basics, let's work on color vocabulary.
First, the hue is the color name you would refer to on the color wheel: blue, green, red, violet, etc. Next, saturation describes the intensity of your color: highly saturated colors are brighter and more intense, while unsaturated colors are duller. Finally, the color value defines how light or dark a color is: lighter colors are closer to white while darker colors are closer to black. All of these will inform your audience of specific meanings using only color.
Now, you can employ color choices in your story. After you've created a storyboard, turn it into a color script. Color scripts are visual outlines that showcase how you plan to use colors throughout your story. Think about the purpose of your story: is it funny and lighthearted, is it informative, is it dark? Pretend your story can only use one color and choose a single color that radiates the meaning behind your story. This will be your dominant color and will influence later color choices.
Create a separate pre-color script to represent each frame of your storyboard. Each frame in your pre-color script will feature a defining color for that moment. Next, identify the most crucial, key moments of your story – these will need the most robust color emphasis. After you choose the colors for your key moments, fill in the remaining frames of your storyboard with supporting colors. Finally, apply your shiny new pre-color script to your storyboard visuals to create a full-color script. The colors you choose are entirely up to hue.
Some tips before you get colorful:
Limiting your color palette will eliminate distracting colors from the audience's attention. In addition, the fewer colors used, the faster viewers can process the story.
Support your subject by limiting unnecessary background detail and use white space around the subject to keep the eye flowing to your subject. You can even use complementary or contrasting colors around your subject to help bring viewers' attention to the subject.
One dominant color and one accent color are sufficient: your thematic color unifies the film while the accent color supports the story.
Use saturation and surprising colors with restraint: they are energetic but distracting, and you want the attention focused on the plot.
Identify still objects and backgrounds using different colors than the moving subjects, so the inanimate pieces don't compete with moving colors.
Animation is great for experimenting with all sorts of designs: you have no rules and unlimited possibilities. Experiment with different color themes and different angles. Sometimes, our most artistic work happens when we aren't trying to play by the rules. So, make your own rules, make your own mess, and make your most nonsensical artistic dreams come true. Playing with your wildest options will help you discover defining moments you wouldn't have seen or help you decide on something entirely radical for your story.
You will also learn along the way that sometimes you suck (it's okay, me too). But you will never reach perfection if you don't start somewhere – even if somewhere is rock-bottom. So strive to reach out of your comfort zone and improve your skills. Make the kinds of things you want to be hired to do, and the best way to do this is using personal projects as opportunities.
Research to Inform
Stop motion animation dates to 1849, when Joseph Plateau and Charles Wheatstone attempted a collaboration by constructing a sequential set of stereoscopic images. Unfortunately, the plans never reach fruition due to Plateau's impending blindness. Later, films used the "stop trick" by pausing camera recording to create a scene change, as if by magic. Finally, Helena Smith-Dayton started a "stop action" principle for her clay animations, which essentially repeated the stop trick for a series of images. Today, we recognize many films for their groundbreaking stop motion techniques, including King Kong (1933) and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964).
King Kong (1933)
The 1933 film King Kong is widely renowned for its stop motion animation by Willis O'Brien. Directed and produced by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, the film received rave reviews at its New York City debut and is ranked by Rotten Tomatoes as the greatest horror film of all time.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
The beloved Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first aired in December of 1964 on the NBC network. Now, the film is aired repeatedly throughout the holiday season every year since its release, making it the longest continuously running Christmas special. The stop motion animation process was filmed at MOM Productions in Tokyo with supervision by Tadahito Mochinaga and associate direction by Kizo Nagashima, who also developed stop motion animation for The New Adventures of Pinocchio (1960-1961).
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Despite Walt Disney Pictures dubbing the film "too dark and scary for kids," The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) earned incredible praise for its animation. It was met with critical and financial success. Disney released the film through Touchstone Pictures for fear of backlash from its dark nature but later reissued the movie by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton, it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and grossed $91.5 million worldwide.
James and the Giant Peach (1996)
Also directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton, James and the Giant Peach (1996) combines live-action and stop motion animation. At first hesitant, Walt Disney Pictures acquired the film rights to the Roald Dahl novel from the Dahl estate in 1992. Debates ensued between Selick and Disney regarding live-action and stop motion processes for the film's production. The director initially planned to use a live-action James throughout the movie but chose to continue with entirely live-action and entirely stop motion animation scenes to lower development costs.
Wallace & Gromit
Wallace & Gromit is a stop motion comedy franchise consisting of four short films and one feature-length film. Created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations, the series spawned several spin-offs and TV adaptations. The feature film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) received critical acclaim and became the second-highest-grossing-stop-motion animated film, second only to Chicken Run.
Create
Bear Hug
For practice, I created a stop motion animation with Mr. Bear and Owl at a photography studio. I initially wanted Owl to flutter down from the top of the bench to sit next to Mr. Bear. I used a fabric banner and an apron to tie around Owl so I could slowly lower him. After securing a noose from the frame railing above, I attached Owl's banner rope in the noose's loop. I decided it would be significantly easier to raise Owl by tightening the noose then lower him by loosening the snare, so I photographed the sequence in reverse order. With around seventy photos in my camera roll, I wanted to add more movement in the sequence. So, I started moving Owl to the side and then above the bench, as if he were flying down and scooting across the bench.
Of course, I realized Mr. Bear didn't move, so I started lowering his head down and back up. He began to look like he might be sobbing, so I made it into a bit of a story: Mr. Bear cries, and Owl flies down to hug him. I had to add Owl scooting over to hug Mr. Bear, so the images shifted some when I returned Owl to the bench. I also repeatedly kicked the bench trying to adjust Owl's noose, so some of the frames turned out different. This was probably one of the more significant struggles I experienced since I would shoot a few frames and need to move the bench back to where it was (and I failed). I also made Owl's noose long enough to reach the bench seat but only short enough for him to sit atop the bench, so I had to readjust the length of the rope when I decided to add him flying into the frame.
Welcome to Bear Hug!
Pencil Pusher
As an artist, not having the right tools is inconvenient and frustrating. Sometimes being resourceful is the most creative ingredient to making art. I started developing a short stop-motion animation about a pencil who wants to draw but doesn't have paper. Pencil decides to open a sketchbook, but the sketchbook is too heavy for him. Pencil's friends, pen, and pencil sharpener, will team up to help him open the sketchbook and draw.
The best part about storytelling is choosing how the story unfolds: will it be chronological or a sequence of puzzle pieces leading to the big reveal? It could be overdramatic, lighthearted, or gut-wrenching. So, I started with a Pre-Production Summary and Storyboard for a linear storyline:
Maybe chronological order would be too dull for this animation, so I developed a Pre-Production Summary and Storyboard for a non-linear storyline. I debated either Book Ending or The Puzzle for a non-linear format but ultimately chose to use The Puzzle:
Go make art and remember that nobody can judge you more than my coworkers when I hung an owl from the ceiling.