24/03/2023-26/03/2023 - PADDING THE ARMATURE

BEFORE THE PADDING

Here is what the armature looked like with no padding.

When animating the armature for my experiments, I noticed that for me to be able to edit out the rig from the video editing stage would be extremely difficult since the rig and armature limbs blend in together.

So, the feedback that I received from my supervisor was to to create some sort of layer on the armature that would help look similar to skin.

Here, this is the armature before I decided to start padding it.

The way I was able to start padding the armature, was to measure how long the limbs of the armature was. I tried to carefully not cover the holes where the screw would go (in case the armature is too stiff or too loose during filming).

After having measured the limbs of the armature, I was able to create strips by using the bed foam and started to wrap it around the parts of the body I wanted to cover. I tried to make sure not to make them too big and lumpy on the body.

After having wrapped the bed foam material, I had to carefully wrap it wit black string to keep it intact.

DEMONSTRATION OF PADDING FOR ARMATURE

I personally had no experience with padding armatures since I don't consider myself a crafty person so I went to a classmate for help. The person I went to was Deniz Oksuz, who is someone I have worked with before for group projects and they had a lot of experience and talent with making puppets.

Progress of me having the top part of the arm finished and starting to work on the lower part of the arm. There is the screw in between.

The way I was able to start padding the armature, was to measure how long the limbs of the armature was. I tried to carefully not cover the holes where the screw would go (in case the armature is too stiff or too loose during filming).

After having measured the limbs of the armature, I was able to create strips by using the bed foam and started to wrap it around the parts of the body I wanted to cover. I tried to make sure not to make them too big and lumpy on the body.

After having wrapped the bed foam material, I had to carefully wrap it wit black string to keep it intact.

FOOTAGE OF ME PADDING THE ARMATURE

Here is a fast video of me working on the padding of the armature after having learnt what to do from my friend Deniz. At first it was quite frustrating since I am not really skilled in crafts but after as I got used to it, I was able to do it a lot faster and more confidently.

So here is what it looked like with the left part of the armature being covered.

Here is when most of the limbs are covered apart from the torso

FINAL OUTCOME

Here is the final look of the armature after having finished the padding. I was extremely proud of my accomplishments and I felt as though me learning through a friend in person was a lot easier than using a video since some times I can get quite confused for things I am not quite familiar with.

All in all, I believe this experiment was a huge success.

RIG SET - UP (31/03/2023)

As I was wondering around the studios I had noticed that the rigs had no bolts with balls that would help set up my armature. So, I had to find help as soon as possible since Easter break was happening soon and I needed it to help film my animations.

I was able to reach out to one of my tutors, Lesley-Anne Rose, who was able to help me find the right size of bolt that was required to fit in the rig.

Here is a photo of the rig before, I was able to experiment with the different bolt sizes.

Here is a photo of the right sized Bolt with the Ball stuck onto it.

So we noticed that the bolt that was able to fit through the rigs in the studios was a 4mm Bolt. The only issue with this one, was that it had a clip that was stuck onto it that it was not letting the bolt tighten in the rig.

So, after having contacted Lesley again, she was able to tell me to go to the Cook Building (which is a wood workshop area specified for students who are engineers) to get some help.

I took her advice to heart and went to check it out. She was also able to give me the right sized ball for the bolt as well as threadlocker to stick the ball on.

Once reaching there, I was able to get advice on the bolt and was able to cut off the tip of the bolt so I could be able to stick the ball with the threadlocker when I got home.

FINAL RESULT

I was able to use the threadlocker on the ball and managed to tighten the bolt onto the rig.

This experience really allowed me to know how to manage situations when things go wrong and to not panic when things don't come my way. Since this was a situation that I never encountered, I was thankful for the staff that were able to help me through this situation.

31/03/2023 - PRIMARY RESEARCH FOR SHOWREEL

Throughout the semester, I was able to send emails to different companies and people who work in industry. The people that I managed to contact were:

• LAIKA STUDIOS

• A+C: Specialists in Stop Motion Animation

• Stop Motion Department Inc.

• Mackinnon Saunders

• Kevin Parry - Stop Motion Animator (Youtuber)

• Loose Moose Productions Ltd

• Chloe Rodham

After having sent emails for my research, I was thankfully able to get responses from two people from industry. I was extremely happy about this since it was a big step for me to be able to reach out and contact people from industry as well as get responses from them.

James Mendola Stop Motion Demo Reel 2015

One of the people who were able to reach out to me was Kevin Parry. He was able to provide for me a work of James's, who was hired by LAIKA as a Stop Motion Assistant Manager. This reel was provided extremely useful since I wanted to focus on pure animation rather than creating a puppet from scratch or creating a film. It was provided extremely useful for me since I was also reassured by Kevin since he told me that the supervisor who checked this reel noticed the raw animation through the armature and was able to see the potential of his work. Not only this, but I was also reassured about the idea of using a raw armature since it would be useful if I was able to showcase my skills through the skeleton of the armature and not worry about the lack of puppet design.

HOW DID THIS RESEARCH HELP?

This made me realize that if I had more time for my experiment for next time it would be to use proper hands for the armature to help emphasize the movement of the hands since hands are important in storytelling.

Not only this, but it would've been extremely useful for me to provide my armature with some sort of lip syncing so it could feel more real about the action as well as the character provided in the animations.

ESKOS, (2009)

Another company that was able to respond to me was 'Loose Moose Productions Ltd'. I was able to contact Glenn Holberton, who is a BAFTA-nominated animator and puppetry producer in the company.

Glenn's response was extremely useful since he had provided me a film that Barnaby Dixon had made to show his puppetry as well as his Stop Motion Animation skills. He also provided me with important information since he had told me

"Just using an armature is harder because you don’t have the luxury and luxury of costume or facial expression. However, if you can pull off the feat of telling the story using just body- or should I say armature language it should be a tour de force!".

HOW DID THIS RESEARCH HELP?

This animation was extremely appropriate since the two responses that I had gotten were extremely different from each other. I felt as though this was a different twist of using a pure armature for a personal film rather than a character show reel.

I really liked it since it was a creepy twist of the use of the armature and how the set and the design suits the aesthetic of the armature through the screws and rods throughout the film.

So, if there was an aspect I could've improved on or do again, was to try to create a film that would suit the aesthetic of the armature and try to either do a short film or create a scene specifically.

CHLOE RODHAM

Lastly, the last person to reach back to me was Chloe Rodham. She is a freelancer animator and model maker that I was able to contact through my supervisor, Claire O'Brien. I was really fascinated with her work since she had this really unique yet creepy style throughout her projects.

Nevertheless, her feedback was really helpful since she had mentioned that it was appropriate for me to focus on a basic armature since I wanted to research on animation and not puppet making. In addition to my research, she advised me to check some animations on the Aardman academy's website for inspiration.

Not only this, she mentioned for me to try to experiment by creating my animations without the reference since I would most probably see better responses and more 'life' through my armature through the exaggeration of the movements.

HOW DID THIS RESEARCH HELP?

I took her advice to heart, so I decided to experiment with a movement without looking at the reference. I wanted to compare it to a previous iteration of it that I had done the week prior, so I could really see if there was much of a difference in my work.

EXPERIMENT - WITH REFERENCE

So, for the initial one, I noticed that the armature felt quite stiff since it was the body without the padding and just the bolts. It felt a bit more static through the leg movements but I was able to successfully do the smooth movement of the arms.

EXPERIMENT - WITHOUT REFERENCE

I felt that the experiment without the reference was extremely useful since I was able to do a slide movement of the armature in a natural way that allowed it to proceed with the right arm moving. I was extremely surprised by how I was able to make it more stylized to my liking but keep it in the way that I want it to be.

REFERENCES

(1) ESKOS, (2009) (2011) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUZ0VS9LZhQ (Accessed: March 16, 2023).

(2) James Mendola Stop Motion Demo Reel 2015 (2015) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zut4ZfNXuNU (Accessed: March 16, 2023).