Research – The Extraordinary in the Everyday

Neighbours (1952) – Stop motion short film

This award winning pixilation short film was made in 1952 and used many different quirky ways of make he short film entertaining. With the use of stop-motion Norman McLaren was able to make the short bizarre and funny to watch. Things that wouldn’t be possible to be filmed normally has been added as a great effect, which is what makes the film really entertaining. This includes how the characters move and how the clay flower which is what the two ‘neighbours’ are fighting over move.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-o9dYwro_Q

From what we see from the pixelated film is that the two men become driven crazy over this magical flower. The film is made to feel special and certainly was unique to its time, when the characters move around without touching the ground. This is done using stop motion and using still images to make the movement happen. For the two actors in scene this meant they would have to jump a lot in gradual steps to show the movement in the air.

In the scene it’s not just the people that move in an unusual way. The

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fence post move at the end of the film, forming a sort of fence around where the two characters have died. In the fight scenes the movement is over exaggerated to create a source of entertainment. The whole aspect of the people moving so bizarre is to make the short film funny and it still is to this date. Norman has clearly emphasized some of the ways the characters move to make it funny.

https://thenamelessdead.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/norman-mclaren-neighbours-1952/

In stop motion we know that the frames per second varies how fast the characters move, so we know really there is no contact between the two characters. The frames of where the characters move parallel to one another’s movements depends on how much shorter the frames per second are. This makes the fighting scene more dramatic and far-fetched with faster movements, it also makes it eye catching and funky to watch.

How ideas from Neighbours will be included in my production:

The way in which the characters move in the film has certainly influenced me, so in my production I will be using some form of special technique using stop-motion. For instance I could use the same body posture for a character but move that character around varying the frame rate so the character can change speed when moving. The interpretation of objects in scene moving at the same time may also be implemented into my final production. This will be done like in the scene when the two main characters are buried, the fence posts move around them. I could use this effect for things moving around the main character in scene to make the short film more entertaining to watch.

Joe Wellers Stop-Motion Video (YouTube)

In Joe Wellers YouTube video you will see a unique look at stop motion in his video he has made. He has a large fan base specifically a young audience.

On the video there are many views and likes this shows that the video is either entertained his audience or influenced his audience to make pixilation videos themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo2-wdEVZi4

In this scene above Joe Weller has made sure to use animation techqiues to make the chasing scene unique and appealing to watch. You will see when the two characters move they are the same person but in different outfits and they move in the same body posture. He has made sure to stand in a upright running position so that when they move it gives a funky look for when the characters in scene move.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo2-wdEVZi4

In this scene above you’ll see that he sort of teleports through the bushes and trees. He has done this by changing his FPS speed. Instead of gradual photos to show movement he has at random photographed himself jumping to show some sort of identification of him jumping through the trees and hedges. In the video it is an inventive technique to use and it makes the chase seem more entertaining and fun to watch. It’s quite uncommon to see the use of pixilation used in that way so I think works very effectively for his short film.

Here Joe Weller has used the stop motion effect to make a sort of replica to the 2D game Mario. In this you can use the same still image but move it slightly to show movement. You’ll get away with how unusual it looks, as it’s a game and its supposed to be fun. By using the still image on him running is basic but works well as this part in the short film is very entertaining and fun to watch. He has used this scene to good use as it brings a lot more colour into the short film also its well relatable as everyone knows what Mario looks like. It varies how the short looks and it makes his younger fan based more engaged into what he has made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo2-wdEVZi4

In this scene you’ll see that Joe has shown what he has won after getting through the stages in the game he goes into. The prize appears to be towel, which is then animated in the direction to his hand. For this he has used a still

image of him with arm out as a base layer and then has edited the towel coming in his direction to be caught. Further on from this scene to make his short film funky his uses the towel as a sort of cape to suggest the idea of flying off away from the person chasing him.

How ideas from Joe Wellers Animation will be included in my production: In the game section of Weller’s animation, he uses a fixed posture for his main character but moves the character along in scene. He has done this by taking a photograph and editing it by using premiere pro to make the character move. Visually it’s appealing and works very well and has encouraged using the same stop-motion technique as what Weller has used. I think it works so well because its unusual to any other short film you’d normally see.

The 7 th Voyage of Sinbad

This classic film was made in 1958 and uses the technique of stop motion for the beasts that Sinbad and his men encounter in the film. You’ll see the clear difference between the two different kinds of filming techniques. This film will help towards the production of my film as the beasts in the background are represented in a different aspect to how the original filming is done. Obviously the film is a little out-dated nowadays but it still comes with many fantastic examples that will help me to make my final pixilation film.

https://allgeektomeblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/7th-voyage-13.jpg

In this image you’ll clearly see that the two animals that are fighting one another are made out of clay. They have made this using stop motion in a studio. To show the two animals movements they would have to slightly move the arms and legs or and part of the animals to show a gradual process in movement from each of them. You can clearly see the difference to the

original filmed and to what’s been animated. For the use of the animation to look as effective as possible they still need to show thought about the amount of light that is used in the animation process. The time of day will depend on the light intensity used for the animating of the two animals. You can see that the light isn’t too bright (which would emphasise the fact that they aren’t realistic) and that the light isn’t too dark (so that thought of time of day has taken place for both of the animals). The general at the time would have been to make the animals look as realistic as possible. It would have been new to the people viewing the films at the time which would of exciting to the target audience but at the same time for it to pay off successfully they would have to animate well to make the animals look as realistic as possible.