Script

I have come up with a draft script for my advert, all speech is non diegetic, and so will be recorded later and fit to the advert, therefore, depending on timing and lengths of each scene, this script may change.

house scene
Mum: have you packed everything?

child: I think so?

Mum: What about the milk?

Dad: just putting DairyFriend in the car

mum: Okay, we're good to go

journey scene

Child: mum, where are we going?

Mum: anywhere

prep for filming on 15th jan

I have composed a list for myself of all props needed for each scene, the angles and lengths i am shooting at, and any additional information that will guide me when filming.

Factory scene

Factory

Lorries

Milk bottles

Road

Tree’s

Open, high angle long shot, switch to low mid shot as lorry is filling up and begins to move. High  angle long shot again when watching lorry drive, from front of lorry.

House scene

House

Lorry

Car

Milk bottles

Tree’s

High angle long shot from behind lorry as it approaches house, then eye level mid shot facing house, with lorry on one side, and car on other side, milk bottles switch from one to other. Low angle shot of car leaving

Journey scene

Tree’s and bushes

River and waves

Bridge

car

Eye level long shot of journey, background moving behind it, use existing white paper with tree’s for this, so it can move easily. Then switch to main background ( big paper) and film the river scene, high angle, from the left or right corner, long shot.

Forest scene

All the tree’s

Travelling through forest, some tree’s on both sides of road, obstructing view of car. This should be eye level long shot of car, but perhaps with some close ups. Try both?

Camping scene

Loads of tree’s

Tent and campfire ( logs and flames)

Tent and campfire need to be in a gap with no tree’s, so the camera can see them

Road will stop just before tent

Filmed long shot, maybe mid shot, from a high angle as it approaches tent, low angle (perhaps) as it reaches tent and stops

Shot list

I have composed a shot list for my first advert, however with it being a stop motion piece filmed ona miniature scale, on an infinity screen, i do not have 360 degrees to work with, but 180, and i cant use shots such as Worms eye view or point of view, as the camera is too large to be on the set, so i am limited in my choice of angles and shots. I have tried to include a variety, considering where i can make use of shots such as low angle, which are also tricky at such a small scale. This list is changeable, and when i come to filming i may have to revise some of the shot choices.


High angle LS or ELS - set the scene
Low MS - factory
high LS- lorry moving
high LS - approaching house
eye level MS - house
low CU or MS - car starting
eye level LS - journey
high LS - river
eye level LS - travelling
CU's of car
high LS - approaching tent
low CU - car stops

Further construction

I have now finished constructing each lorry for the opening scene, and made the car that the advert will follow on its journey. I may make another car or two to be traffic on the roads. I have also started constructing the brdige, but have not finsihed that yet. As well as this i have now finished the house, the river, the fire and all the tree's. I now need to construct the factory, the tent and a few roads. I will however add finishing touches and extra's when i have put the set together and consider what it needs to look finished. I will then be able to begin filming.

Further animation research - A Town Called Panic

Whilst I am building the set, I have been animating and testing small parts of it to test my animation skills, and see if what i have planned is do-able and looks effective. I have been struggling with some basic movements, and have decided to do some further research into animation, looking specifically at the movements and how they might have been created. I bought " A Town Called Panic" on dvd, which is a french feature film, entirely made with stop motion, directed by the same people who created the animation for the cravendale adverts. I have watched it through and noticed some clever things that could be inspiration for my advert, and also how they made simple movements look good. I have tried to include here some footage from youtube of the dvd, but there was very little.

what I found out -

The use of humour - not every action has to be perfect, and not everything has to be to scale and made to look realistic. It is an imaginary world and things can be slightly rediculous. In this film, humour is use throughout and nothing is possible or realistic - but that is not important. This is something i should consider when making my advert , i have been focusing on making the set look entirely realistic, but not fun.



- The way they animate their fire is much the same to the way i tired out, it is quite jerky, but still looks good. This film mixes perfect flowing movements with quick jerky ones, and its still effective. I need to work on making it a bit more smooth, but this has showed me it is not an issue, i still like the way it looks.

- giving everything movement, even if its small movements, make everything seem more alive and interesting. Its the little details in this film that makes it brilliant.

- they mix 2D and 3D like i intend to, their tree's are much the same as mine, but perhaps with a little more detail. I might consider painting some of my paper objects to add more interest and detail.

problem overcome.

While i was building the car for my advert, I had many problems with the measurements. I was finding it difficult to make a net where all the measurements were correct and the final car fit together. After 5 or 6 attempts i decided to construct it on photoshop, using the line tool and photoshop rulers I could make sure each measurement was exact and everything was at perfect right angles to each other. This has proved to be a much easier method, and also means i can duplicate the car easier, say if i wanted four or five, i could simply print them and then fix them together, and they would all be exactly the same. From now on i am going to construct the nets for my models on the computer each time as it gives better results and the models are looking cleaner and better made, and i think this is important.

On the left is the photoshopped version, which i can also scale to any size, so i can experiment with which size looks most realistic, and on the right was the best hand drawn version i created, which didnt quite fit together.

Experimenting with animation

Whilst I am in the process of building the set for my advert, I thought it would be wise to test the animation of small parts of the advert, to have a practice and find the positives and negatives, and give me an idea of what I need to work on.

This is my first practice at the wave motions in the river -

There are a number or problems I need to workn on -
 - the waves are too large, and need to vary in size, it doesnt look realistic
- movement is a bit too fast

Campfire for the camping scene -

- This has many problems,the actions are too jumpy, as the fire sizes are too different
- longs are not static