I was set the task of creating an animation for the Montreal stop

motion film festival. I had to follow a set brief, which I negotiated

beforehand. I changed the genre to romance rather than action or
drama. As well as It had to be a minimum of a minute long, aimed at
14-38 year olds of all genders, have a clear narrative, fit into the genre
of romance and contain at least two characters. I met all of the criteria
above, as well as meeting the deadline of January 13th. My stop motion
features the main character of Timothy, who is a ghost. We discover
that he wants to find love and watch him try to find it. In this essay, I
will look at feedback and evaluate my production. Additionally, I will
look at inspiration for my work and how suited I am to the animation
industry.
Everyone said that my stop motion appeared to fall into the romance/horror genre due to the fact it
features characters that are thought to be scary and it is about the main character falling in love. My
actual genre is romance. The brief states that the required genre is romance. I made this clear
through the narrative used as it had a strong love story. I can back
this up through my feedback. I believe that the genre is horror
Romance because they fall in love. Comparing my work to others
with romance genres such as Corpse Bride, by Tim Burton. The
example is a romance and includes elements such as scary
characters, which mine also has. This example includes elements, which are considered scary such as
characters. This is where this links to my stop motion character of a
ghost. Everyone said that the characters where cute, suiting the
style. Additionally, the ghost is white, which stands out against the
dark background/other characters. I like the use of plasticine, how
ever the characters could have been slightly different for a clearer
narrative This leads me top consider whether I should have made all
my characters as ghost. Although, this would mean that Id have to
alter my story line When looking back at the brief it states that, the production must include a
minimum of two characters. Which was met by me using four characters. I think that my characters
match the target audience as theyre clear and minimal.
When evaluating feedback regarding the style of my animation, some people said that they enjoyed
the dull colours and contrast against the bright colours. Also stating that the video is cute. I enjoyed
the dull colours contrasted with the bright colours. When looking into
the use of dark, dull colours in my stop motion it leads me to look at
the work by The Quay Brothers, their work consists of darkly lit sets,
with no colour, using brown grey and black tones. I really like the look
this gives and was inspiration for my work. Looking further into this
work, it is clear that the animators have used the same animation
techniques. From my feedback, it was clear that I had used model making, fast motion and
Claymation stop motion techniques. As well as these techniques being a positive thing and that, the
movement of the models flows well.
The narrative feedback was also positive; everyone said that the narrative was clear. Specifically, the
use of speech bubbles as it helped the audience understand what was going on. Yes the ghost is
rejected then falls in love. It would be clearer when he is rejected because the people just see him
and cry. Although, some constructive criticism I received was that I could have made it clearer that

different people were rejecting him as they just walk off and cry. I could
have added audio/subtitles to make this clear, although I do not agree
with this, as I like that there is no speech, I would consider improving my
production in this way. When looking back at the brief, it states that it
must have a clear narrative. I have met this by using things like thought
bubbles, as it gave an indication of what the ghost was going to do next
met this. Although my narrative could be clearer from what was said in the feedback, I still feel like
my stop motion met this element of the brief. I think that my characters have my target audience, .
I was told that the technical qualities used were good, the lighting created a sense of ambience, the
editing was smooth and positive, the background music was clear and worked well with the style of
the stop motion. Although, the main negative that was stated throughout my feedback, was that the
camera was shaky. Good editing and lighting. The camera wobbles though. I see this as something
that I could improve on by using a flatter surface and not use carpet. I could have also used a remote
to prevent this. Looking at feedback regarding the content of my work, it was clear that it was similar
to my technical quality feedback, stating that the camera was shaking in some areas, as well as there
being figure prints on the characters.
My feedback stated that the aesthetic qualities of my stop motions were positive. The lighting was
effective as it casted shadows onto the set, which added a sense of depth to something that is twodimensional. The added colour used on the small elements such as roses and hearts was effective as
it stood out against the dark set. Good lighting in background with colour of hearts rose, tears. The
use of fairy lights in the background, which represented stars, was also contributed towards casting
shadows onto the set, which was seen as a positive through feedback. When looking at work which I
gained inspiration from, it led me to look at work by an independent animator, who used a similar
set to mine, which consisted of a house in the middle of a forest, with black cardboard trees. I
featured this element in my set, but in a minimal way. Looking into my feedback regarding the
creative qualities I used, it was clear that people thought that I had a strong, unique story line, had
an element of characters which may been considered to be scary. It was creative cause spooks
Imaginative, I like the idea as it features scary characters

My main inspiration for my work was this stop motion by an

independent animator. The work consists of 360 degree set, with
a panning camera showing the inside of the whole set. We see
the camera rotate around the house and then a short shot of the
inside with a chair disappearing. I like the use of black cardboard
trees, lighting, which casts shadows and camera movement.
Looking at my set in comparison to theirs, you can see that mine
is minimal. I also have back lighting and less harsh shadows. Due
to the fact that I had bright lights, my set isnt as dark. Their
shadows are harsher whereas mine are subtle. I have used fairy
lights to represent stars in the background of mine, which my
inspiration does not include. The main difference between the
two is that mine has a clear narrative throughout, theirs does
not. I think this makes mine unique and appealing to the viewer.

My other inspiration for my stop motion was Corpse Bride by Tim

Burton. I like the lack of colour used in this piece. I think that having all
the characters made out of dull colours, and colours on the set being
dull. I think this is highly effective and something I tried to reflect in
my own work, but I do not think this was successful as the colours are
too vibrant. Furthermore, I also like the use of characters, which are
considered scary. This is where I got my inspiration to use a ghost, as it
thought it would work well with my set. I think that both pieces are
very different. I think that mine doesnt look like it was inspired by
Corpse Bride, but theyre both romances with strong narratives.

I would improve my animation in three ways. Firstly, I would make improve my characters. I think
that the people made of clay could have been smoothened out as you can see
where I tried to join different parts of it. I also think that finger prints/dents
where a major issue. I could have been more careful when moving them about.
My ghost also got quite dirty as it was made of white plastering, I could have
stored it separate to the other figures so it did not get black/grey clay on them.
Secondly, my camera is shaky throughout the production. I believe this is
because the tripod was on carpet; I would not have been able to use a different location due to
excess natural lighting, so I could have put something flat in between the tripod and the floor.
Finally, I like my lighting set up, as I like the shadows cast in the floor, as well as the whiteness of the
light. Although I feel like it was over powering, as it made the set look blue rather than black. This is
something that I could have edited on premier after I had edited it.
Overall, I believe that my stop motion was effective. I like the use of lighting, particularly the fairy
lights as it casted shadows on the set from behind. Although that I like where the lights were
positioned, I think that they may have been too bright. When shooting, I thought that what was
most important is that my characters were clearly and sharply lit. I think that this is key in my stop
motion, although I think this was over powering against the black background, causing it to turn
blue. I think that if the light were closer to the subject and duller, it would have made the set darker,
with the subject standing out. I think that my narrative was strong, although my feedback suggested
that audio would have been something to add in order to make this clearer. I believe that this would
have ruined the piece and decided not to include it, being something I had considered before
editing. I think that my background music is effective as it is simple, and works with the video. My
planning states that I will use forest sound effects throughout. Although, due to the fact my forest is
made of cardboard, not twigs, moss, etc, I believe that using music instead of sound effects fit better
as I experimented with using both forms of background audio. When evaluating my characters I
believe that they were clear and minimal which worked well with the set. I believe that the use of
plasticine was effective as it allowed me to mould my characters and props however, I wanted. I
think that one of the most effective parts of my stop motion is the use of thought bubbles, as this
indicates to the viewer what the character is thinking, without direct speech.

I feel like I met the brief successfully. I had to negotiate the brief so that the production was at least
a minuet long, fitted into the genre romance and included at least two main characters. Firstly, my
stop motion was a minuet and twenty-nine seconds. I shot my stop motion at a frame rate of 18
frames per second, but I thought this was too fast as everything moved so quickly, so I shortened
this frame rate, meaning that the whole video would be longer. I do not believe this is an issue
because it meant I could keep the story clear. I believe this is an effective amount of time as it clearly
gets the story line across, with a good amount of characters featured. My stop motion contains four
characters, meeting the briefs specification of a minimum of two. I decided to include more than
two as I think that it made the story line more clear and emotional. The brief also states that the
story line must be clear. I think that has been met as I used speech bubbles to support points I was
trying to get across, even though I did not use any dialogue. Finally, the genre had to be romance;
this was met by having a strong love story as the base of my concept. I also made sure that I kept to
legal and ethical issues by making sure that I didnt use any offensive language or content.

In conclusion, I think that I am suited to the animation industry. I work well with cameras and enjoy
photography; this is a key element of Claymation. I think I am good at positioning the camera in the
appropriate place and making sure everything is in the frame. I think that I would be able to create a
strong, clear and unique narrative to a stop motion, as I am a highly creative individual. I also think
that I would be good at set, character and prop design, although I do not have skills to make them. I
also have a lot of patience, which is a key skill when working on a stop motion set.