Score: 4
"Alright then."
date: February 5, 2009
Because no one else seems to be doing it, I thought you might like to know what's good and bad about this stop-motion project.
First off, the unsteadiness of the camera. Get yourself a tripod, pile up a dozen books, or use duct tape and a bunch of sticks for all I care, and set your camera steadily. If your characters will be moving around, you don't want the camera moving too, it'll create confusion and will make it unbearable to watch. Since you're relatively new to this, you aren't yet ready for tricky camera stunts, like quick zooms, pans, and tilts. For the moment, get basic character movement down. When you're comfortable with movements, you'll be able to properly use camera stunts while you animate your puppets.
Second, frame rate. I assume that you're working in two's (12 fps). I strongly encourage using a solid 24 fps, thus working in one's, to make the animation a lot smoother. Of course, you'll have to take a lot more pictures, but the outcome will be worth it. This means making smaller changes in positions between shots. It's a long and grueling task, but you'll learn to enjoy it if stop-motion - or animation in general - is really your thing.
Third, quality. This isn't really your fault. You probably shot this with a webcam, which is fine for any hobbyist. because it's a webcam, it's important to avoid taking blurry shots. This means that any kind of movement will create blurry shots. If the only thing you can do to snap a shop is to press a button on the webcam, I strongly encourage you to get a framegrabber, or any other kind of stop-mo program, so that you can take the shot by pressing a key on your keyboard instead of pressing a button on the camera and potentially blurring the shot.
Exporting to .swf is also a horrible thing to do as it ruins the quality of any and all photos. I know you may have been looking forward to showing off your stop-mo abilities to Newgrounds, but it's important to note that this website favors flash. For the moment, YouTube is definitely the way to go when in stop-motion. That's not to say that Newgrounds doesn't want stop-motion, it's just that the upload system here isn't yet ready for videos. I doubt it ever will be, as it isn't in the interest of its members.
Fourth, SFX. When working with special effects, MS Paint really isn't the way to go. Try investing in a cheap photo editing program, or downloading a 30 day trail of Photoshop from the Adobe website. A good stop-motion animation can even find ways to create effects simply by animating them in real-time without the need of post-production effects. Either that, or avoid the need of SFX altogether. A good movie doesn't necessarily need alien lasers, super cool gunshot effects, or a burning plastic doll. A great story with smooth animation can get away with almost anything.
The reviews before me have done a nice enough job of reviewing the movie itself, so I don't think it's necessary for me to give my input.
Hopefully you'll take my advice and improve. I'm looking forward to your next project, with hope that maybe things will go well. In the meantime, get information on stop-motion, visit websites dedicated to the art, and don't stop doing what you like.
February 16, 2009
Author's Response:
Well thanks for opinion I really enjoyed it.
Well I actually do have a tripod but I suck at using it and it's really small.
Also yeah I do need to work better on my SFX. I saved up for photoshop but my mom wants me to complete the video I'm working on before I move on.
I didn't shoot this with a webcam. But this compression shit is annoying.
I'm not actually sure what my framerate is.
Once again thank's a lot for your opinion I appreciate it a lot.
