This project is a stop motion piece that I created for my advanced graphic design class.
Moodboard
When I chose to do a silhouette stop-motion, my mind quickly recalled the tribal paintings I had seen
growing up in East Africa. They are abstract stick-like figures that are popular to show village life by many
East Africa artists.
growing up in East Africa. They are abstract stick-like figures that are popular to show village life by many
East Africa artists.
Story
From my moodboard, I decided I wanted to shoot an African folktale. I recalled many short stories from my own memory, but decided to have an actual source. I then bought Jamilla Okubo’s, Tales of East Africa, that had many stories close to my heart. After reading a few, the Legend Regarding Origin of Fire captured my attention. That is how I found my story!
Storyboards
Schedule
Making my own deadlines for this project was something that was new and challenging. I was not quite sure how long something would take to shoot or re-shoot. It was definitely a learning process.
Voice-over
Shortening the story was also another difficult task to tackle as following the original story was not
possible for the time I had. I recorded myself telling the story, and based on that I planned out how many
frames I would need.
possible for the time I had. I recorded myself telling the story, and based on that I planned out how many
frames I would need.
Set Up
To shoot my silhouette stop-motion, I decided to use a light table. This allowed me to have only one light source and created a real silhouette environment for my paper puppets. However, there was a lot of difficulty with the flexibility of the light table and the camera because of its size.
Sketches
Based on the African tribal paintings in my moodboard, I sketched out the idea I had for my character,
and how the scenes in the stop-motion would look like.
and how the scenes in the stop-motion would look like.
Paper Puppet
I learnt from a lot of videos on YouTube that it is easier to make a paper puppet for a moving character. It was a little difficult to make as I was working on a small-scale.
Paper Props
I created all the items I needed using black cardstock and bristol board. This helped keep the characters in the scene opaque, as I could create depth with other materials.
Materials
To create a sense of depth in the scenes, I used a base layer of newsprint paper, and tracing paper layers on top. I also used charcoal to create texture in the “underworld.”
Improvising
I had to be a little creative to shoot one of my scenes. The difficulty arose when I had to keep still two figures but have more than one element moving along with the base paper. I blurred the focus of the camera to hide the difference in depth in this scene.
Editing
I used Stop Motion Studio to shoot and edit my stop-motion through the whole process. Stop Motion Studio made it easier to know how much an item had to shift in the next frame. There was also an automatic black and white feature available to use while I shot my frames. Later, to edit to audio and perfect pacing, I used iMovie.
