These are the test shots for my animation. Below is a photo of how I am currently set up for shooting with two different cameras for both angles. However, I’m thinking of switching to just using one camera (one produces better images than the other) and creating an alternate camera angle in a different manner…

Camera 1 Images (Angle 1)

Camera 2 Images (Angle 2)

So it’s pretty clear when comparing the images that Camera 2 (low angle) is looking better than Camera 1 (high angle.) My original plan of using two cameras probably wont work then. Using two different camera models also presents the issue of having to adjust coloring and exposure individually for each camera… and making them match has proven to be very difficult. To fix my angle issue I think I’m going to use just Camera 2, shoot all of my angle 1 shots, then shoot all my angle 2 shots and edit accordingly to keep everything consistent.

Test Footage

Below is some test footage I shot today using my setup. I’m still not entirely sure where I want to take my video so this is really just me messing around with some random stuff. I noticed my lighting changes around a lot, which I think is due to a combination of me moving around (casting shadows) and my camera’s exposure settings changing with auto focus, etc. So I’ll need to focus on fixing that for my final.

Idea #1 Worm/Snake Adventure

I want to create an animation focusing on a toy, preferably something easily posable like worm on a string or one of those wooden snake toys (pictured.) I think I could create a funny story using one of these as my focus. My idea is not to have the creature confined to a single stage, but rather shoot frames of him moving around different environments. So, he could be crawling around my apartment, go outside in the bushes, go out by the pool (maybe even go for a swim), “climb” up a tree, etc. If I use worm on a string, I can buy a pack on amazon of multiple worms, so I was thinking while main character worm is out in the world, he can meet a lady worm and they fall in love (happy ending.) Or, I could do a tragic ending and have the worm snatched by a bird and die at the end (tragic ending.) I’m not sure exactly how I would create the bird character, but I’m thinking I could probably make some type of paper craft puppet and have that final scene shot on a stage.

Idea #2 Paper Cut Lightbox Animation

I’d like to do a 2D style stop-motion animation using paper puppets on top of a lightbox, with the camera facing down to shoot the frames. My “Stage” would be the white background of the lightbox, though I suppose I could put some sort of colored paper over it to create a different type of background, depending on what kind of setting I want to create. I did a similar project like this in 2017 and made a short animation using a segmented dragon-like creature and toy shark (shown above.) Like my first idea, I’d like to focus on a worm or snake creature exploring an environment and possibly interacting with other creatures (maybe even an evil antagonist.) I want to do a worm/snake because the long body could be easily segmented and crafted into a paper puppet to work with on top of the lightbox. As for altering the camera angle, that would be hard since the camera needs to stay positioned directly above the light table; So, I think I could create the illusion of an alternate camera angle by crafting alternate puppets, zooming in on a scene, etc.

I could do a similar set up with a chalkboard/whiteboard as well. So, instead of the camera positioned over top the lightboard, its over the chalk/whiteboard, and I hand draw each frame of the animation. Inspired by the animation in “Humorous Phases of Funny Faces” (1906.) Again, I want to focus my story on a worm.

Idea #3 Play-Doh Animation

Play-Doh is just a lot of fun, and I think it lends itself naturally to stop-motion as it is easier to work with than say, clay. My idea for working with Play-Doh is to have a long, worm-like creature sitting on one side of the frame. Next to him, various objects fall out from the top of the frame and land next to him (sphere, cube, pyramid, etc.) The worm “looks” at these objects and attempts to recreate their shapes with his own body. Eventually the objects become very complex in shape, like a pair of scissors or shoe, so the worm gives up. I also think it could be funny if a long piece of yarn falls down, so the worm tries to stretch himself out extremely thin, so thin that he breaks in two! But it’s a happy ending because then the one worm turns into two worms and now he has a friend. My secondary camera angle could switch between portrait shots of the two worms looking at each other.

For my time map assignment, I created a comic page inspired by various “daily comic” works I’ve seen around on social medias like Instagram and Twitter. The intention was for the artwork of the comic to be simplistic and humorous. As for my process, throughout my day on August 23^rd I wrote in the Notes app on my phone where I was and what I was doing for each hour. Of course, I didn’t write down every single action I did on that day, as that would result in a comic with thousands of panels. Rather, I tried to focus on one particular action or location of the hour and turned that into an illustration. The materials used for my comic were very minimal, all I needed was a micron drawing pen and a piece of paper.

The day begins at 12 AM. Then, I condensed my sleeping time into a single frame. Originally, I was going to include 24 frames in the comic to represent all 24 hours of the day, but I found that trying to fit 24 panels on an 8.5” x 11” piece of paper was very difficult. My day continues as I go to a doctor’s appointment, go shopping, spend time at home, read, take a nap, etc.… until the day concludes at 12 AM on August 24^th. Some other panels have condensed time (nap, at home) to create a final result of fifteen square panels to represent my day.

I found the evolution of Nancy Shwartz’s voice over time (‘Nancy Grows Up’) to be quite impactful and cute. The project reminds me of those “I Took a Picture of Myself Every Day for X Years” videos that exist online; There are a few of them on YouTube. Except in this case, of course, it is a composition of audio rather than photographs. It’s interesting to hear the evolution of time (aging) through sound and voices, rather than seeing someone’s face and body change over time. The audio aspect of the flipbook-like project adds a bit more personality, I think, because it introduces the thoughts and opinions of the individual subject- like how Nancy went from reciting nursery rhymes as a toddler to talking about herself and her school activities.

Around the 10-minute mark the narrator mentioned the idea of the parent clock; How parents see their children growing older, they come to the shocking realization that they themselves are getting older as well. I think that at a certain point the child feels this same realization as well. The child looks at their parents one day and sees that they are elderly, and realizes that they, the child, are now an adult. The now-adult may even feel the responsibility of having to care for or look after their elder parent, so there is a role reversal of the parent-child relationship.

The discussion of clocks and time telling in 1850 was very interesting to me. I never really thought about how people in the past dealt with time and scheduling and all that. If the population didn’t all have the same clock programmed, like how we do today, how could anyone be on schedule? How were important meetings scheduled? It’s a very jarring concept to really think about since so much of our modern-day society revolves around being “on time” to things. You have to be on time to work, school, to catch the bus, etc. It’s hard to imagine myself living in a world with no phone to constantly check the time on.

I enjoyed learning the tidbit about how railroads created “railroad” time and helped contribute to the synchronization of clocks/time. I guess my modern-day bias effects this, but if I were apart of the time war protests that occurred around this time, I’d be advocating for a standardized time. It just makes sense! Who wants to have all sorts of differently programed clocks?

I think Muybridge’s interest in water, and photographing water, survives in the modern day. Water continues to be a popular subject of photography. Another example would be those popular videos on YouTube where people will take a slow-motion video of a popping water balloon, or some other similar subject matter. The slow explosion of water is very entertaining to watch… Muybridge would be impressed.

Classic example from the ancient days of YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90VyvOhPmA0

As to answer the question of, “do the tortoise and hummingbird experience different universes of time?” I’d say I don’t think so because animals don’t really have a concept of time; At least like how humans do. I’m no animal expert but I’d think that animals measure “time” through the day/night cycle, so they only really pay attention to how much light or how much darkness is around them rather than thinking that it is a certain time at any point. The hummingbird may be moving incredibly fast, and the tortoise may be moving incredibly slow, but the two animals don’t really experience different “times” because the Sun is always moving at the same speed… that’s how I think about it

The sequence where athletes describe their thoughts and feelings whilst competing was very interesting to me. They said that time seems to slow down as they become completely involved in their sport… to me this sounds like a related sensation- of how the “time just flies by” while you’re doing an enjoyable activity. In the athlete’s case the time is slowing down (for a moment), and sometimes while we’re doing something really fun, time seems to go by very quickly. I wonder how this is all connected neurologically, like how this all functions within our mentality? Because of course time isn’t actually being altered by our actions, just our individual perception of it.

This was a fun little podcast (broadcast?) to listen to. Frankly, I thought it was going to be boring seeing as it was an hour long… But I was actually really engaged throughout. However, I didn’t like the Beethoven music. It sounds scary and jarring to me… but I guess that’s the point.