Brief: Imagine an origin story of how The Elephant & castle might have got its name. Create a “book” that tells that origin story. the only rule is to have an element of movement.
My concept: Create a stop motion picture book using paper cut outs. It tells the story of a baby elephant that lost its herd. Years go by and its mother found him and they are finally reunited.
My process:
This was a group animation project, but I didn’t have a group when I started UAL. Because of my neurodiversity, it was difficult for me to find and speak to the other students. This reflection is about how I made this animation by myself. I made this animation using a mix of a stop motion picture book animation, by drawing the elephant and environment on scrap plain paper and then cutting around the drawings afterwards. For the editing, I didn’t know how to use Premiere Pro yet, so instead I used a different software called iMovie. For the beginning and end of the animation, I recorded a stack of paper to make a flipping-through-pages effect, to make it feel like the animation itself is travelling through a book.
(The flipping-through-pages idea was inspired by the animator Gildedguy from YouTube. In most of his animations, he starts with a flipping-through-pages animation.)
Storyboard:
Video editing: iMovie
Video:
Personal Reflection:
I found the start of this project very stressful, because at first I was not clear on when this was supposed to be handed in. At the beginning, I also struggled to find an idea for the story, because we were not allowed to research Elephant & Castle. Then, through sketching a storyboard and brainstorming, I stuck with the storyboard and made it into the animation as a stop motion. I like the flipping of the pages and the movement it creates, and the feeling it gives that you are entering the story of the book. If I had time, I would have added sound to it.
Time management was the main issue for this project, as well as connecting with the brief and finding a story. However, it made me realise that when I am stuck with finding ideas, the best way is to draw anything that comes into my mind to start shaping a story. A little bit like an abstract painting that can become an idea.
Inspiration: Page flipping
From 00:00 to 00:07 – Book flipping