Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Pre-Production Booklet for Animation

Name: Henry Atkinson

Order of contents (italics show areas you must add in yourself)

Assessment criteria

LO2

Mind maps of ideas

Risk assessment

Format of your animation

Subject and storyline

Character notes and profiles

Movement of characters

Moodboard

Sets/backgrounds

Audio and soundtrack

Sound table

Props list

Audience

Storyboard and script (add script to booklet)

Frame rates

Lighting design

Production schedule

Crew details

LO3

Frame Numbers

Dope Sheets
 Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet
How to use this booklet
You will need to complete every page of this booklet, and all sections / questions
required.

Assessment criteria for Distinction grade;

LO2

Plans will show a full consideration of movement and continuity, perspective, point of view,
transitions and special effects.

Precise and workable planning of timing and synchronisation to a soundtrack will be

produced. It will be clear at this stage, from the documentation, what the finished piece will
look and sound like.

Learners will follow industry conventions and terminology used in storyboard production
correctly.

Plans for the construction of models, sets and props will be realistic and clear.

Drawings, script and storyboard will all show a creative interpretation of the idea.

LO3:

The documentation linked to the production will be full and detailed and there will be
evidence that the production management and scheduling of the project has been effective
and carried out in a professional manner. The techniques used in the production of the work
are likely to be related to an understanding of current trends in the industry.

Both LO2 and LO3

In all practical activity learners will be capable of working autonomously and effectively. They
will work on their own initiative, will not need constant support or supervision, will give the
work their full commitment, work positively and cooperatively with others, and meet
deadlines. In other words, they will have the kind of self-management skills that would be
expected of them in a professional context. Note also that this criterion should not be taken
to mean that learners do not seek advice or that they work without discussing things with
their tutor, but rather that they are not dependent upon the support of others and that when
they take advice they weigh it carefully for themselves.
 Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet
Planning

Treatment

This is a stop motion animation which will be made by using using found
objects and stop frame techniques, it is biased on the awareness of crossing
railways and the sign stop, look, listen. This will be a 30 second advert
hopefully resulting in raising the awareness of people crossing railways
because there is a lot of deaths each year which are caused through people
being run over by trains. There will be 12 frames per second adding up to 360
frames throughout the whole advert. This advert is aimed to any aged
audience because it is crucial to raise awareness because it concerns
everyone in case they themselves are in the situation of crossing a railway.
This production needs to run a smooth and realistic way which people will
understand and acknowledge what is happening. This adverts needs to end in
a strong meaningful way to get the message across to the audience.
Throughout the advert there needs to be a happy vibe between the family and
what theyre doing until the ending where the child walks on to the railway and
the trains honks then the shot turns to black with whilst the horn is still going
and the sign stop look, look, listen appears out of the black which is where the
advert reaches its end. There will be a narrator talking over the majority of the
stop motion to interact with audience as well as visually.
 Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet
How will you meet the requirements of your brief?

To meet the requirements of the brief and treatment I will be following all the
simple techniques of stop frame animation. For the movement of the
characters I will be changing the modelled objects at each frame to create the
illusion of movement when the frames are all put together. This production
must be exactly 30 seconds long which is the length of the advert slot of
television, there are 12 frames per second which means overall without going
over the 30 second limit there will be 360 frames overall. The set of this
production will be handmade of a railway and a public foot path in the
countryside. The characters included in this production are a small child and
two parents which are both flexible modelled objects which is how I will move
them each frame to create the illusion of movement of the modelled people.

Risk assessment: Are there any health and safety issues you may encounter?

The overall health and safety assessment of this production is very low
because there are no real big risks that can happen during the production
because it will be done in an enclosed room with no risks entering. Although
there are risks inside the enclosed room which slightly dangerous including
tripping over wires and other equipment in the studio. The solution to these
risks is to tape any loose wires down preventing tripping and falling. Otherwise
there are no health and safety issues which are involved when being in the
studio.

Discuss any legal issues you may face. Eg; sound, plagiarism, age restrictions

There are no legal issues to be discussed for this production except from the
the plagiarism of the logo stop, look, listen which will be shown at the end of
the production when the screens turns to black and the logo is shown. I read
up on presenting this on television and it is a copyright law without permission
of the company which are the owners of the logo stop, look, listen. So that my
advert was not illegal I sent an email asking the Stop, look, listen company
and they replied with the same concerned views of people unsafely crossing
railways, and with that they said it was acceptable meaning I have no legal
issues to do with my production. There are no sound profanities or any rude
language in the advert which allows the advert to be shown to any age group.
The target audience is any age so there are no age restrictions because this
production is educational in a way informing the audience facts about railway
deaths and what happens when not using the sign stop, look, listen.

Use of possible formats

 Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

stop-frame techniques
time lapse photography
plasticine animation
Claymation
using found objects
modelling
puppetry
combined formats

Why are you using that particular format?

I am using stop frame techniques which is the best and simplest way to create the illusion of
movement, also it is the most popular stop motion animation format which. I chose using
found objects because the production that I wont to be doing involves someone being ran
over by a train and the best format for that is using found objects such as pre made
adjustable models of people. Using these objects will make it more simple for me to produce
this production because I have got to do a lot of leg adjustments which fit in well with using
found objects because at each frame it wont be as hard to change the properties of the
characters.

What are the different possibilities you could explore using this format?

For this format there are many possibilities that can be approached such as changing the
amount of frame rates in each second making there more or less. Having a lot more frame
rates in each second will make the shot look more realistic and a better illusion of movement
if there was less frames rates per second the shot would look a lot less realistic and the shot
would jumpy when the frames are put together. Which is why in my production of Stop, look,
listen is going to have 12 frame rates per second which will make the shots together look
more realistic and the shot will flow better. Within stop frame techniques there is lots to
explore that can be done such as changing the scenery and changing the idea to what this
productions original idea was.

What are the limitations of using this format? (i.e what problems/ obstacles might you
have?)

There are very few problems that come along with this format and they are that the camera
has to be completely still at all times and the modelled characters that are in the shot can
only be more slightly at each frame because otherwise the illusion of movement does not
look very believable as when the frames are put together the shot will look jumpy.

What imaginative or inventive animations have you seen which use this format?
 Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet
Add in links and screen shots of three examples of animations using this format.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNudcX_uUwM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua9a7-PnHUU
 Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP2SlkmoHdU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTo-c7bR7wI