Location Stop Framing Photography

We did location photography today, as we hadn't bought in our props to go into the studio. We will be in the studio next Wednesday instead and from now until then I will prepare properly. This will include me: drawing a rough plan of what each image is going to look like, choosing props, choosing camera type, camera position and camera lighting.


Today, we went out in Burton with a Canon 400D and a tripod. We used the manual settings on the camera so we could have full control on what the camera was doing. We used a tripod to keep the camera in the same position and to stop any handshake blur happening. This helped to make the images flow throughout the video as all of the images were in the same position at all times. We went out with the thought off creating videos involving us moving around trees and something at the park. Between Kayley, Louisa and I we produced 3 videos, one on a bench another around trees and the last one on the park.

In the first video, we went to a bench and Louisa moved around the bench in slow movements. We set the tripod to the right angle and height and set the camera to the right apeture, shutter speed and ISO setting, to make sure the image was as good as it could be. We then got Louisa to move around the bench in small steps. However, I think it could be improved as from looking through the images on the camera, Louisa wasn't in the same position all the way round so if we were to do it again we would have to make sure she doesn't make any big movements with her hands or head. For this video Kayley was incontrol of the camera and I was telling Louisa how far to move.

In the second video, we went to the front of college amongst the trees as we thought of hiding around trees. I was in control of the camera this time and telling the girls when to move after i had taken an image every time they moved. Kayley hid behind one tree and Louisa hide behind another and they moved towards each other. We set up the tripod and camera to the level and height we wanted to and the settings on the camera to make the images good. We decided to do this stop motion video behind trees as we had seen other stop motion videos like it and we wanted to create our own version. I think we could improve this motion video by getting a closer view of the video as it looks quite far away and isn't very clear. 

In the last video, we went to the park. Louisa wanted to me to slide down the slide and then move back up the slide. We put the camera in the position we want it to be in and changed the aperture, ISO and shutter speed as we had changed location. It seemed easy at first just going down the slide but it was hard for me to go back up the slide as it was hard to keep myself up. I think this is obvious in the pictures and one thing we could of improved to make it more realistic. We did this as we thought it would be good to watch me going down and then back up but it didn't work as well as we had hoped. 

Stop Framing Photography Experiment

Today, we went in the studio to experiment with stop framing photography. The whole group came together with ideas to create 3 different quick examples of stop framing photography. We used a selection of different materials and objects from the studio to help us create our background and story of the photography. In the shoot we used a 5D Canon Camera, Bowens lighting equipment, props, fabrics, suitcase, camera stand and a step ladder. All this equipment was needed to make our photo video. Making a stop frame video takes a lot of time and people to help produce a good video. 

I enjoyed being in the studio, working with the whole group and i've realised stop framing photography isn't as easy as it looks. There are a lot of things you need to consider when producing one such as: 

- lighting

- camera settings and position

- what's going to be in the each picture

- what movement is going to be made in each picture

- safety for people in the studio

- who is going to move the objects or props in each picture

This is the example video, that Mr Steve made up, on the spot, to give us an example on how easy it is to produce a picture. We used coloured sheets in this video to create the background. This clip is of a boy swimmming in the sea, to try and produce the look of the sea we had two people at each end of the blue sheet holding it and moving it to create the movement of the waves. Then George moved his arms, in slow movements, to make it look like he was swimmming. George found it hard to move his arms as he was on his side and can't move his arms properly. We took 24 photos in this video. As this was our first making of a stop framing video with didn't really know what to

do in this video. We weren't sure on how small the movements could be in order for it to look good.

The second clip we did was of dylan on his skate board. We kept moving the skateboard in different positions and dylan moved himself in slow movements to make it look as though he was riding the skateboard. The group up with the idea when we were going along that dylan was going to do a few tricks and then fall off his skateboard. We used the purple and red sheets to create a colourful background and the yellow sheet to create a pipe. By moving the skateboard and dylan in small movements we were able to create a realistic video. I think that this image could be improved by having more of the pipe and also that dylan and the skateboard were closer to the pipe instead of being in mid air skating. Overall this worked well and i will be making it into a video and choosing a selection of music to go with the clip.

In the third clip, we did a clip of a girl walking with a suitcase. We used a blue sheet to create the sky and a grey sheet to represent the path and a few white sheets to create the clouds and a yellow sheet for the sun. We had two girls moving the clouds to make it look like that Samantha was moving but instead the objects around her were moving. She was just moving her legs in a walking position, to make it look like she was moving. The group helped Samantha to move her body and the suitcase in every image, in slow movements, as the suticase was quite difficult to move.

From this experiment, I have gained a few ideas on what stop frame video I would like to produce. Also I know how much effort needs to be put in order for me to create a good stop motion video. 

Western Spaghetti by PES

I chose to publish this stop motion video on to my blog as it instantly caught my attention. I think it is really creative and unique. It is inspiring to me as i think it is well thought of and i would like to try and produce a unique stop motion video myself. 

Rihanna - Man Down