Ocean of Stop Motion

Three words: Stop Motion (is) Awesome. Time consuming, yes, but it was all worth it in the end. Or so I hope. And not to say it's a bad sort of time consuming, but more of a fun sort. And the time is also needed if you want to make a polished animation that actually simulates unquestionable motion to the human eye.
Not knowing really what to expect out of the project, before class I searched my apartment for items and anything really that I thought would be cool to bring to life. Unfortunately, everything that came to mind was way too big for what we were working with, so I ended up with basically just a blanket and a Rubik's Cube. Luckily, my group came prepared.
I think we definitely took the abstract root, using the most random things we could find and a Bolivian blanket(moving at some points) for our backdrop. Some of our characters included Star Trek figures, a troll, a gang of bugs, and an origami swan. We even used some ketchup to add the special effect of blood. Needless to say, it got messy real quick. I'd say our main theme was deep space massacres as we had characters eaten alive... several times. But we also had a few dance sequences and weird formations to add to the class's collection. I hope to see a few of them used in the next couple of weeks.
Due to time constraints and our camera acting up, my group had to end early, but I had nothing better to do so I decided to stick around to assist. It was cool working on two totally different projects with different goals because I got to see different techniques used to create motion and also different environments being made with creative items. There are definitely some creative minds in this class and it's a great thing to see.
This week's class definitely inspired me to start making my own animations, no matter how long they take. With a simple digital still camera, a tripod, and various apartmenthold items, I think I can create something worthwhile and worth watching. I've always been inspired by Trey Parker, the creator of South Park, due mainly to his creative mind but also his use of stop motion to create the pilot episode. From what I've heard, they just used construction paper cutouts and animated/edited in Flash, and it took them about three months to make. But that's three months that spawned their careers so cheers to Trey Parker for sticking with stop motion (although I believe they use Maya nowadays).