WIP Flick: Music Video

[jluck]

So this was a very early attempt at stop motion and only a 10 second clip. However, it's a start. I should having something with more substance in the next few days, I just wanted to attempt a zoom shot.

http://youtu.be/sNFWNLpkQtY

Staff Edit:

Assignments

Lesson: Controlling Depth of Field

Creating a Brick Flick: Part 1 - Pre Production

Creating a Brick Flick: Part 2 - Production

Edited August 11, 2013 by Darkdragon
Added Assignements

[SteampunkDoc]

Well let's see here. Was the zoom done manually, or digitally?

It looks manual, and fairly well done. It got a bit rough there at the end, but quite good.

I admire the ambition of going so big. You've got a lot going on in this clip, and while each part isn't perfect, coordinating so much is quite a feat.

There was a tiny bit of flicker, but remarkably little. The prop bumping does get distracting, but that's the only real problem.

The animation was a little choppy/jumpy, but you've picked so difficult motions. (Guitar, violin, banjo)

Overall, it wasn't perfect, but I really admire the ambition. Keep it up, and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

You've done well.

[jluck]

Well let's see here. Was the zoom done manually, or digitally?

It looks manual, and fairly well done. It got a bit rough there at the end, but quite good.

I admire the ambition of going so big. You've got a lot going on in this clip, and while each part isn't perfect, coordinating so much is quite a feat.

There was a tiny bit of flicker, but remarkably little. The prop bumping does get distracting, but that's the only real problem.

The animation was a little choppy/jumpy, but you've picked so difficult motions. (Guitar, violin, banjo)

Overall, it wasn't perfect, but I really admire the ambition. Keep it up, and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

You've done well.

Ya the zoom was manual, more of an experiment than anything. The part that really needs work is prop bumps. I'm going to hop over to the academy and go through a lesson or two and then upload a longer clip which should be quite a bit better. The instrument movements are remarkably difficult! Thanks for the feedback, I'll have more for you real soon.

[jluck]

Ok here's a follow up clip. I tried to cut down on prop bumps, switched out the background, dropped the zoom, and even dared a low light shot. Any feedback is welcome!

Ps if the resolution is poor forgive me. It looked fine on my phone but I had problems earlier on larger screens, I'll have it corrected for the final edition.

http://youtu.be/yyC6Y929tog

[SteampunkDoc]

Alright, new video, new advice.

First, I noticed some camera shaking, but since you're using your phone there's not much you can do to fix that.

The camera's position is fine for an establishing shot, but once a few seconds are passed, you'll wanna bring things in. (More on that in a second.)

Not only does this make things more dynamic, but if you only have a few players in the frame, it's easier to concentrate on perfecting the animation.

Also, camera placement/angles play a huge part in creating the desired atmosphere. A good rule of thumb to start with is to cut for each line of music.

It also depends on the pacing of the scene, and what is happening. It you ever do a slow talking scene, then feel free to go through more than one line of dialog, but if you ever film a big battle scene, you'll want to cut a lot quicker.

Another thing I addressed in the second lesson is this:

'Most beginners tend to elevate the camera above the characters. This causes the viewers to “Look down” on the world, and destroys the illusion of being in the world. Keep things about face-high on the figures. Again, depending on the storyboards and angle choices, you may want to/need to elevate the camera, and that’s fine. But as a general rule, keep things about face-level.''

Again, while the tall looking down clip fine for an establishing shot, you need to brings things in and down fairly quickly. Take this video for example,

. It's about the perfect example of an amazing music video. (Can't say I love the music itself, but the execution is flawless.) He begins with a farther out shot, but spends the rest of the video on close-ups and mid range stuff. He also includes a lot of camera movements, but even without those he changes angles a lot and tries to keep things interesting and fresh.

Some of the animation is fine in yours, but the doors didn't swing open smoothly. And what's the walk cycle you're using? It doesn't appear to have too many frames.

Next time I'd like to see the camera come in some, and single out somebody or something, with that receiving your full animating attention.

But that's up to you.

[jluck]

Thank you so much, as this is my first flick I really need a ton of advice. Ok on to your advice, first I'm filming on the ipad so the resolution is good but your spot on with the bumps. Honestly, I'm happy it hasn't been worse:)

the bulk of what you said dealt with camera angles, I see exactly what your saying. The broad shots feel removed from the action. Clearly, I missed out on some great chances of doing that early on.

You asked about the walk cycle, I'm doing as follows: 1) feet together 2) lift right foot 3) balance between studs 4) plant right foot 5) feet together.

I noticed I seriously flubbed the cycle in repeating steps with one foot and also lacking adequate arm motion. Do you have a possible better walk cycle? (In lieu of your response I will look at the lessons)

Tell ya what, in going to animate some further scenes. Since this is a test I want to see what I can do. Ill focus on adding close shots and more angle changes, likely one per line.

I really appreciate your help, I hope to create something worthy of the advice I've been given! Thanks.

[Darkdragon]

Welcome to the Brick Flicks Academy! I'm glad to see your work here and your desire to improve it.

You've got a good start here. Everything SteampunkDoc said, I agree with. I think one of the things that could really improve your video is to have more varied shot types. All static shots will get, I hate to say this, boring after a while. Also remember that generally for music videos you want fast cuts in time with the music, this is what viewers have come to expect from music videos.

I think that if you want to have a nice final product, you're going to need to have an app to control everything on your iPad (they do exist) or get a small camera that will allow manual controls. I'm thinking using a timer or remote feature on the iPad will alleviate those bumps which will really help in the long run.

To get you started on lessons, and other camera angles and control, I'd like you to take Lesson: Controlling Depth of Field .

[jluck]

I'll have new content soon.

Edited August 5, 2013 by jluckhaupt

[jluck]

Welcome to the Brick Flicks Academy! I'm glad to see your work here and your desire to improve it.

You've got a good start here. Everything SteampunkDoc said, I agree with. I think one of the things that could really improve your video is to have more varied shot types. All static shots will get, I hate to say this, boring after a while. Also remember that generally for music videos you want fast cuts in time with the music, this is what viewers have come to expect from music videos.

I think that if you want to have a nice final product, you're going to need to have an app to control everything on your iPad (they do exist) or get a small camera that will allow manual controls. I'm thinking using a timer or remote feature on the iPad will alleviate those bumps which will really help in the long run.

To get you started on lessons, and other camera angles and control, I'd like you to take Lesson: Controlling Depth of Field .

You guys are great, taking the time to assist me! I'm going to go over the lesson and see what I can learn. For now I'm working on a limited budget, but the advice I'm getting is so practical and straight forward so I think can really improve.

Edit: I love the lesson, really helpful. Is there anything I can do as a filmer to pass? The assignment was for comics. I should be posting a video update soon.

[jluck]

Ok so you'll notice I haven't updated the first section of the film, since I wanted to build off of your advice. I did however add to the video using your suggestions. My focus was to get more close up shots, change scenes often, and smooth out my animation. My walk cycle is more clearly visible when the couple embraces. There is one zoomed out shot near the end which I haven't fixed, but i do hope this video improves on my prior work. I attempted a camera pan, it's rough but I wanted to see what I was capable of manually doing.

As always, your feedback is more than welcome as its the only thing that's gotten me this far, thanks!

P.S. Darkdragon, thanks for the lesson, I've been working on better focused shots.

http://youtu.be/O927AXwochA

[SteampunkDoc]

This next part is much, much better. Your walk cycle is good, and the smoothness of the animation is coming along.

There's still some set/camera bumps and light flicker, but that's more equipment issues than anything.

There was also some prop bumping, but you are getting much better.

Sometimes the animation looks pretty good, but other times the easing gets neglected. It's also a bit unnaturally slow at times.

(Lacking that 'pop' or speed of real motions. For example, the doctor's head turn at 1:28. That kind of thing needs to be quicker to help show the surprise and shock.)

Now let's talk about that pan. (0:53) Since there are several things going on here.

First, the movements are about the same in each frame, which works if they're really really tiny, but not when they're bigger.

Second, you moved over, and then zoomed in. This gave the impression that you didn't really know where you were going with that. You wanted the guy centered, but then panned away. Forcing yourself to turn back.

Third, the pan kept bouncing forwards and backwards on it's journey right. An easy fix is to build a rig just for the pan. Basically, build something that will hold on to the camera well enough, and then below that put a line of tiles bordered by bricks. This forces the camera and it's brick-built case to only slide left/right or forwards/back, and not all at once.

The animation is to the point were you just need more practice, and you did a great job with pulling the camera down onto their level. Next time, I'd personally like to see another camera movement or two.

Those can really add to a short, but are difficult to master.

It's pretty obvious that you've read through them several times, but I'd still like to see you complete Creating a Brick Flick: Part 1 - Pre Production as well as Creating a Brick Flick: Part 2 - Production.

Yeah, it's a lot of the same things that you've been doing, but it would give you an excuse to test out your own creative juices.

[Darkdragon]

jluckhaupt, I'm glad you are finding the lessons useful just from reading them. Now that you've been assigned three different lessons, you should enroll in each (you can't enroll in Creating a Brick Flick: Part 2 until you pass Part 1 though). I have listed all your assignments in the first post.

As for my photography lesson, it works well for both comic and film. Since animation is simply a series of still images, learning to control the DoF to highlight the area you want to draw the eye to is extremely powerful skill to have. The reason the assignment there has no comic call-outs is because it isn't specifically for comics but simply to learn how to tell the story with the photos.

For any questions directly related to the lessons, you should ask them in your lesson thread. Once you pass the lessons you can come back here and submit your final video for approval.

You can always come here and submit new video and ask for feedback! It's really nice to see your improvements with each film.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Perfect! I love this clip!

[Darkdragon]

Perfect! I love this clip!

I'm glad you enjoy the work, but the student threads in the Academy are only to be used by the student and teachers. Your enthusiasm is great, and I hope you'll join in the fun and sign up for a class yourself!

[jluck]

It's been awhile since I've done much animating (I've been pretty busy), but I wanted to start back towards earning my tag The current script I created was to announce my wife's pregnancy. My script is as follows:

1. Introduce boy

2. Introduce girl

3. Establish character and background story

4. Create friendship and humor

5. Reveal pregnancy without dialog

I decided to cut down on the possibility for mistakes by producing thr entire video without any dialog. To ease the production process, I used a template from iMovie. I also used a series of short clips to reduce flicker and prop bumps. This allowed me to reshoot any scene I didn't completely love without worrying about wasted time. I have pictures of the set which I will share soon. I am open to any advice, don't let the story distract from the production