Art 127 – Kumao
Winter 2002
STOP-ACTION ANIMATION WORKSHOP
2/21/02

In camera:
Shoot a sequence of 30 “stills” using a mini-dv camera. Shoot using the PHOTO MODE. (This will give you a sequence of stills that are each approx. 6 seconds long). Use a tripod to maintain camera position and stability.

Try to pre-plan your sequence so that at least one object will appear to move when in reality it can’t move in that way or isn’t really a moving object.

Interfacing computer and camera:
1) Connect the camera to the computer using a firewire cable. The cable should connect from the camera to the back of the computer in each of their respective firewire ports.
2) Turn on the camera to VTR (video tape recorder) so that it operates like a tape deck.

3) Open I-movie (inside Audio/Video applications on the Launcher). Open new project.
4) The computer screen will open with 3 windows: one for the camera/deck, one for your clips and one for your timeline.
5) In the camera/deck window, you can operate the camera using the play, ff, rewind, stop control buttons.

Click the PLAY Button so that the computer will CAPTURE THE VIDEO clips. Note that it will create a new clip for every different photo still that you took.


TO CREATE YOUR ANIMATION:
1) Drag the first clip to the timeline.
For most animation, a typical still is around 3-5 frames. This still will need to be shortened.

2) In the camera/deck window, position the player head where you would like to split the clip (thus shortening it from 6 or 7 seconds to 4 or 5 frames)
(Note that video has 30 frames per second.)
Edit menu>Split Video Clip at Playhead

3) In the TIMELINE window, note that your clip has been split in two. Move the bigger unused section away from the part you want and DELETE it

4) Position the player head at the end of the new shortened clip and drag the next STILL to the timeline.

5) Repeat steps 1-4 for each clip, building your animation piece by piece.
**If you need to retrieve a clip you used already that is no longer in your clips window, simply re-IMPORT IT from the desktop folder:
File menu>import files>find your I-movie MEDIA folder and locate the clip you want to import. Select “IMPORT” for that clip.

6) Once the entire sequence has been constructed to your liking (check timing and length of each still, overall rhythm), export the movie as a QUICKTIME movie:
File menu>Export Movie
Select: Export to QUICKTIME
Formats: Full Quality, Large

7) Name the movie and save it to the desktop or your zip or wherever you want to save it for viewing later.