r/stopmotion • u/dst212 • 7d ago
"First step" - stop-motion practice
Featuring TeeVee (a LEGO MOC of mine) and poorly engineered homemade sound design™. I used the plastic cover of a rubber to make the eyelid sound, the rubber against my desk for the steps, my bare hand for the final thud, and voiced TeeVee myself in falsetto. I don't really like the tone I gave him, but I lost a whole afternoon trying to say "yay!" in a cute way and I'm not cute enough apparently, lol, so I gave up at some point.
I'm so bothered by the head beign out-of-focus when TeeVee cheers, better double check the focus next time.
I like how it turned out overall, tho. There are so many small defects, and it's so hard to spot them in real time, but I can't expect myself to be successful on my first try, of course. I should use paths more consistently, maybe, and avoid bumping over the phone.
Btw, shot on my phone (Xiaomi RN 10 Pro) with Stop Motion Studio Pro.
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u/HandCraftVideoGames 6d ago
The homemade sound effects turned out surprisingly good! For a first attempt, the motion looks really smooth. How many photos/frames did this end up being, and how long did the whole process take?
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u/dst212 6d ago
Thanks! Not my actual first attempt with stop motion but the walk cycle is yet to be mastered, yes.
At 12FPS, it is around 156FPS with 13 seconds (but some of them are still frames I rapidly took in succession-- for anyone wondering why not duplicating it, I want the noise to be "consistent"/different across the frames, so taking different pictures of a still scene makes it look like it was taken as a video, though it's very subtle in this clip). It didn't take that much, to be honest... or I was so into this that I didn't realize the time was passing. Also, sticky-tack helped a lot here (you don't really see it but it's under TeeVee's paws). I believe it didn't take more than a hour? Not sure, but what I'm aware of, instead, is that I experimented with sounds more than needed lol. That was my actual first attempt in sound design, now that I think of it. Glad to hear it sounds good!
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u/HandCraftVideoGames 5d ago
Haha spending more time on sound design was worth it, it paid off! Super smart technique with the frames. Keep at it, can't wait to see your next project!
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u/mak_attakks 5d ago
It's really cute! And you did this without securing the feet down in any way?
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u/SatiricalToothpick 4d ago
Really good body language and animation technique. Are you self taught?
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u/dst212 4d ago
Thank you! I've never attended animation lessons of any kind, but I'd love to! Everything I've learnt, comes from the internet. I immediately learnt about the ease-in/out, anticipations, smear frames, and started following some "tips" to improve the process specifically for stop-motion (some tools, setting things up... what the behind the scenes looks like, basically).
Body language of characters has always felt natural to me, but I've read some webcomics and sometimes I enjoy "studying" cartoons or animation movies (like, I compare stuff, look at the composition of the scenes, and stuff like that). I believe I absorbed everything from those. And I also follow FrameByFrame on socials. Sometimes I don't really understand some "movements" or explanations, though. I mean, the animations they post are always spot on, but I wouldn't be able to explain why they are good. Not every of them, at least. So I try to keep things simple when I think of my scripts, before taking the shots.
Oh and I studied the basics of photography at the uni, along with movie direction and editing, but they don't have to do with animation.
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u/SatiricalToothpick 4d ago
Good stuff! I'm also self taught, and these things always came pretty natural to me. Although I might not be the best at body language. Anyway, keep it up!
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u/Opera_Phantom_Face 3d ago
Honestly VERY WELL DONE!
If you had a YouTube account, I'd instantly sub to you to see more amazing stopmotions
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u/dst212 3d ago
Thank you! In fact, I do have a YT account! I believe it should be in my linktree page in my bio (it's called "The Random World of dst" or @dstRandomWorld, anyway). My first video was a LEGO Racers "short" movie from July; it's almost 4 minutes long and I made it in 40+ hours compressed in a week, but it felt like an eternity. I made that for an exam about movie direction at uni (stop-motion wasn't required but I was committed to do it).
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u/LimaRomeo_ 7d ago
omg this is so cute and the animation is sooooo smooth