Stop Motion animation - Retro Video Games

This is so good i had to share it. I just wish it were mine....

cobravision visuals from actual animation frames

here are some frames from my animation:





I have left the end frames out so you have to wait until it is fully finished before you can find out/see what happens to my character!!

cobravision- animation

After discussing our projects last week I decided to go with the idea were the man ate the cherry pip and turned into a tree as well as the story of the man who ate a spider as a base to start my story from. This time my character will start by eating an egg!

The story:

my main and only character is joe, a fat bald, nerd who wears glasses and likes hiking and rambling in the woods/mountains. Anyway he comes across an egg whist walking. His journey of transformation begins. He eats the egg, which has a spider on it. He then takes on these two creatures characteristics-feathers grow from his head and he grows spider hairs!

I have used a variety of shots for these scenes as well as split screen.

He is then stung by a bee on his bald head and again begins to grow a characteristic of the bee's body. Another split screen shows the feathers that he has pulled from his head flying away on the wind. The next shots show a birds eye view of him now with bird tail feathers from his rear end, with spider hairs and bee antenars. Split screen again shows a fly around his head which he then eats and later takes on a body part of the fly-fly eye. Finally his transfomation is complete he has grew wings with which he flys away-birds eye view and then a shot of him flying past the moon.

Throughout he is scared and shocked but when he gets the wings he is happy.

Technique:

hand drawn in black ink using water colour washes for the b'ground and things which grow/eat or sting him! This will be animated on the line tester.

Interactive

The girls know what game I bought in New York, it's just come out over here and the website for it's quite a good example of an interactive environment

Hotel Dusk

Carrie - ThinkSync

My story came from listening to one of the songs on the website and it made me think of a beach and waves and a man walking along the beach. I thought about filming this man, smoking a cigarette perhaps, looking out onto the horizon while he's walking along this beach. He looks very deep in thought. I wanted text to come up in parts to show his thoughts such as "Why am I here?" and "How did I get here?" This would continue until he eventually stopped and turned towards the horizon, which the camera would then turn to and we would see he had been looking at the Earth in the sky. My main problem with this idea is if I were to film it, how I would get the image of the earth into the final scene without it looking like it had just been plonked down. Would I be able to achieve this in after effects? Or does anyone have any other suggestions of how I could do this?

Hey, has anyone soldered their components onto the jack leads yet? If so is it the red and white wires which we solder onto the two component legs? There is also a copper one so is that just pointless? Thanks!

The rose that grew from concrete (storyboard)

Thinking about how I can create an interactive experience which will allow the user to explore through it showing the poem. I thought about what the poem meant and how to illustrate it and this is what I came up with.

I came up with this idea when i came across this webpage

cobravision more ideas

Hi, thanks for the comments!

I tried to think of events that have happened to me or that I have see or heard, heres a few which I think could be better starting points for me to really develop.

idea one

was something i read in the mirror about the worlds most deadly road its just a 10ft wide dirt track that twists and turns hugging the side of a mountain below which is a valley with a shear drop of 16,500ft. the road is know as El Camino de la Muerte-the road of death! wooden crosses and bunches of flowers line the side of the road a reminder of death. Truckers drive up and down it each day taking their lives into their hands as they wonder what might be beyond the next corner. A cyclist has also plunged to his death misjudging a hairpin bend.

I can sort of visualise silhouetting the mountain and road with crosses on its edges. I could maybe twist the part were the truckers dont no whats around the next bend maybe its something scary or magical or something else or I could change it a bit, by having someone in skiis skiing down the road/mountain he too could misjudge the bend and plunge of the edge, he panics you dont no whats going to happen then the screen could either go black or he could have a paracute?

Any suggestions/comments welcome

idea two

I once went for a meal and a drink after work with my friend Tracy. On our way out of the pub we went to the toilets. Only when I went to open the lock on my door the lock was stook and I couldnt get out! I shouted to Tracy to tell her I was stook and she shouted stand back, so I did the she kicked the door, the door flew open and the lock and screws holding it onto the door frame flew off.

the story needs padding out but it was so funny when it happened it was like a scene from a movie, well we thought it was funny!

idea three

someone could be eating cherries and swallows a pip by accident. That night they are restless in bed and keep turning over. Gradually as the night draws on their skin begins to turn brown, twigs and leaves start to sprout all over their body. then their arms grow into branches and feet stat to grow roots. when morning comes and they open their eyes they are now outside. they have grown into a tree through their house and out of the roof!

I kind of based the idea on an animation i saw were a man ate cherries he had picked when he swallowed a pip. over the next few days a tree began to grow out of his head. I cant remember how it ended.

idea four

a true story from when i went skiing in italy with senoir school

On our first day on the slopes we practised on small slopes once we got the hand of turning. As we began to practise going down the slope i remember seeing kirsty the girl a few places in front of me begin to go off to the side and couldnt change direction, she was heading straight for a kind of hut/shed at the bottom edge of the slope. I saw her crash into the hut, I saw her arms, legs, skiis, and poles flying everywhere rolling further down the slope until she stopped. she wasnt really hurt and started to laugh it was really funny and reminded me of some cartoon I had seen.

idea five

I like the book and movie memoirs of a geisha as there are some very interesting discriptions, scenes and memories described. As the book is a kind of diary of a woman telling her memoirs of growning up and becoming a geisha I liked the idea of animating part of her memories.

I thought the opening shot could be of the woman as she is now- old sitting in a dark lit room or cafe smoking a long pipe (this could be silhouetted) then there could be a shot of her face wrinkled, and then zoom in on her eyes through which we are then taken back to her childhoon memory. she was taken away from home to begin her jouney as a geisha in a city within japan. she was taken by train. Have a shot or too of what she can see from the train window, the mountains of her home town, blossom trees without their blossom (maybe in silhouette). The city she is being taken too comes into sight, you can see rooves, lights and smoke. she has a look of sadness and fear on her face.

I need a ending something with a twist maybe or she/we hear a noise and the memory ends?

I think i like idea one and five the most but they need working on i.e better endings or they may be too long to do a 50sec anim from.

The rose that grew from concrete

After doing abit more research and thinkin what i would like to base my interactive enviroment on . I have decided to create a interactive enviroment on the poem 'The rose that grew from concrete' by 2pac . My aim is to create a orgainic enviroment which will be colourful and inviting. And as the user interacts with the elements in the 'garden' a rose will grow from concrete.

:: ThinkSYNCing ::

Ad H Idea

Its going to be split up into three sections. The main section is going to be a single shot film from the main characters viewpoint. The character has been kidnapped has is being held hostage in a dark room surrounded by curtains. The kidnapper is in the room with her and has a mask on so you cannot see their face. After a while of struggling and talking the victim's life flashes before her eyes; she knows she is going to die here(This is section 2, its going to be some sort of bizarre animation showing parts of her life eg. with her boyfriend and friends having fun. She snaps back into reality and the single shot continues. Theres more explaination of whats happening from the kidnapper and it becomes more tense as the kidnapper is told "only a few more minutes". The victim begins to imagine how shes going to escape (This is section 3. It is a different type of animation and its all over the top. Shes going to imagine being in some sort of terrorist base in siberia or something). She comes back to reality again and decides to go for it. Her struggling has paid off and she gets out of the bindings holding her, she throws herself on top of the kidnapper and repeatedly smashes their head on the floor. The body goes limp and she pulls of the mask to reveal her boyfriend with his head caved in. She stands up with his blood everywhere and pulls down the curtains which reveals shes in her own room. She opens the door of the bedroom, (screen goes black but sound continues) and there is the sound of party poppers and shouts "SURPRISE".

I know its a bit over the top but i thought it would be cool. I'm thinking about leaving the 3rd section out (the escape bit) for now as i there's only 2 weeks to do it, but if i like what i've got i'll make that section and add it in for the competition deadline. The one problem I'm having is incorporating music but i think i'll be okay once i have some visuals to work from.

Georgina's Idea

I decided to go with option 2 simply because i want to do something different but am struggling to come up with an idea and i dont know if the ideas am coming up with are possible. Anyways this is my most recent.

I wanted to use the light sensor but couldn't think of anything the user would interact with on screen so i thought to use sound instead and whatever happens on screen would be extra. Am not sure if adding sound into the 255 frames would work and what would happen when played with. It is basically like a drum but without touching the boxes, moving your hands up and down on top of the sensors would hopefully play different sounds depending on the amount of light, i hope the drawing helps.

Another idea was to use the distance sensor as like a mirror but not your reflection, instead a video of someone else. If the user went closer to the screen then the image on screen would get bigger, if the user walks away then so does the image on screen. I was picturing someone walking right up close to the screen and the video of the persons face is pressed on the screen because the viewer was so close.

I appreciate any comments, thanks for your help :D

The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery

I have chosen to create an interactive environment based on the novel, The Little Prince. The book has some great illustrations in it to start with and there is already an interactive dvd available to buy on the book but am not gonna look at that until I have finished my own work. I have started by creating a few images and I am in the middle of testing how these images look when animated and ill give the link when I have finished. I know every one may not know the book and characters but I would appreciate some feed back on the images, thanks.

hey can anyone tell me what leads we need to get (that plug into the muio box) and attach to the components? Want to buy the stuff pretty soon to get cracking on it. cheers

cobravision

Hi everyone! I am in desperate need of some help or suggestions for a good narrative idea to produce my animation. As there are no restrictions for the cobra brief except you can not use violence and it has to be 50 seconds long I am finding it hard to pin down a good idea! I tought of the usual- monsters in the shadows, childhood tales but they are too childish.

Before I realised this I re-developed/wrote a story based on Heinrich Hoffmanns cautionary tale of Pauline and the matches, this was my first idea but it uses violence. Heres how it went:

idea 1
senario

a little girl is staying at her nans for the day, she is very naughty and likes to play with dangerous things!

Nan went out into the garden to put some washing out, leaving jane alone to play; she looked around and jumped up and down. Jane loved to play with dangerous things and was always told off for being so naughty. Then a sparkle caught her eye, over on the table in her reach lay the bread knife that nan had been using.
Knives were dangerous so nan and mum told her but they sparkled in the sunlight and had pointy edges. As she reached out she had a thought mum had told her knives were dangerous and if they slip you could cut your fingers off!
But Jane did not listen to what her mother had told her, she grabbed the knife, it was so shiny! She looked at the edges with delight then jumped up and down and swung the knife around.
oh!ow! the knife hit the ground for the knife had caught her fingers as she swung it around! Her fingers bled, the blood now covered her hands and clothes, tears began to run down her nose. Nan walks in, the floor is red! oh no!oh no! now Jane is dead!

this has violence so i problably can't use it!?

idea 2

A child is dreaming of paddling down the amazon in a boat (this could be a wardrobe on its back, its a dream anything goes) There are strange noises and brilliant birds flying in then nights sky.Things lurk in the water-crockodiles- you can see their tales and eyes. Then you hear the sound of rushing water, its too late the boy/girl has reached the edge of a water fall and as the boat goes over closes their eyes. When they open them again it was all a dream their at home safe in bed!

is this too childish, am thinking it is!


I need to choose a theme from which I might be able to form a story. Does anyone have suggestions or a story that I could use?

Maybe I could use the theme of twist?

Any suggestions?

Note: Even if you aren't in the Interactive/BTM group it would be great to at least get some feedback on the concept. Cheers.

Hi again everyone. This week I intend to work through a couple of my proposed ideas before going with the one I feel has the most potential/seems to function the best.

Here I have been developing an idea centring around a bus stop.
Here I have contemplated implementation of other sensors in the bus stop idea.

Here I have been considering various issues with the lift idea.

Any suggestions for reference points, ideas, comments etc. would be much appreciated and I will be happy to post feedback on your ideas as well.

Cheers.

See also my previous post.
Link to my blog

Anyone know where I can get some cool electronic techno type sounds from to use in flash? The kind that you could mix to make a beat. Thnx =)

Frank's think_sync

I've had a few ideas but none of them seem to be achievable, i think this idea could be. Can you please tell me if you think its shit or not and if i'm ripping anyone off, all comments are welcome. ta la's.

I wanted to film it all at night and i'm trying not to use animation because of the required time length. I'll tell the story as you would see it once it has been edited.

It starts with a group of lads running away down the street, the next shot will be a man lying in the street knocked out with the lads running away in the background. The story will then go back to the start and will follow the man on his journey home. on his travels a group of lads are walking behind him and he starts gets paranoid, he begins to psyche himself up as they get closer. He waits for his moment and turns to confront them with a war-cry and a scowl! They are terrified and run away. The man stands there proudly smiling as he watches them run away , he's got a spring in his step and begins to walk away backwards. as he turns to carry on his journey he walks face first into a lamp-post and knocks himself clean out. The End.

I'v been thinking about a different version with the same beginning but the bloke's been ran over or something and the lads are going over to help.

Visualize

Hey, I've created a number of visualizations that I might use in the beyond the mouse project. Was just wondering what your opinions were on them i.e. which one you think is the most effective or would look the best in a gallery setting etc. Anything I could do to improve them? It's quite hard to tell from just images but try and imagine them moving lol or if u cant do that i can just e-mail u them. Click on the image below to see the full picture. Thanks!
Top 2 : Made from 3D shapes (b&w version | colour version)
Middle 2 : Made from 2D letters (colour version | b&w version)
Bottom 1 : Again made from 2D letters but this time with a black fill colour.

Still want to create a 3D letters & 2D shapes one.

Jumping on the bandwagon

Thanks for the comments on this so far. See my newer post.

Seeing as everyone's posting their ideas in separate posts I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon here. Seems like a better idea as things are more organised - we can comment on each others' ideas separately.

But anyway, here are some ideas I've been working on, some rough, some more developed. I would be grateful if you could please pass comment on them, doesn't matter if you know nothing about Flash/Muio boxes etc, I would appreciate some feedback for the concept in this case, even if you aren't in the interactive group.

Some of the better ideas I had:
Going Down - Part One - Part Two
Beat Blair - Part One - Part Two
Gordon Brown's Holiday Fund - Part One - Part Two - Part Three
Public Transport Sucks - Part One - Part Two
The Chair
Bike controller - Concept - Ideas
More ideas

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this and it would be great if you could post some comments, even if it's just, 'this sucks', 'this needs work' or whatever. Cheers.

Link to my blog

Think Sync

so far i have a few nice ideas including twists. Tell me what you think, or if it reminds you of anything. These are all wrote short for the blog.

Imagine a girl walking down the street, suddenly she stops and makes a run for it. legging it through the streets she keeps looking over her shoulder, or looking for somewhere to hide. until finally she gets back to her flat. When she gets in you see her rush to the toilet. Then a 5sec pause and 'AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH'.

A girls in her room when she gets a text from her boyfreind saying hell be round to pick her up in 3 mins. She is now in a mad rush to get ready, while her bf is walking to her flat. He gets there and knocks on the door. To the surprise of the man she answers it dressed in a over the top clown suit.

A lonely clown wanders the streets, with his hands in his pockets and looking glum. He walks into a shop but straight away gets chucked out by the owner. He carries on walking and gets appraoched by a gang of hoddies. They circle him and begin pushing and taking the mickey. He gets away and runs around the corner, and jumps in a bush. The gang run straight past him and loose him. He then walks off, and sits on a wall with his hands on his chin. Then a car drives past and hurls abuse, milkshakes and burgers at him. He now looks suiscidle. But then walks a girl clown also with her hands in her pockets and looking glum. They instantly make eye contact and walk off hand in hand in a utopia of love.
But then a hooded man runs up to them and shoots the girl in the back of the head.

Id like to think of a plot that could include animation on top of film. so if youve seen any let me know.

:: THINKsync ::

_adam_hughes

i've had a couple of ideas but i think they're either music videos or not incorporating music well.

anyway just thought i'd post a couple of links


this is for sam
www.rubberjohnny.tv
or the full film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0Jn2mD36Pw

its very experimental and i like it but i feel like its just two seperate films cut together.
I like the way he's used prosthetics instead of 3d modelling or cgi or anything computery.
I'm thinking about going for some infrared nightvision in my film and maybe an interview type scenario -
or would that be too much of a rip off. i did buy this the day it came out though and it cost me about £2 a minute,
i think i should be allowed to copy a bit.

Think_sync_vids

Not sure how or what to do yet, still messing round with different ideas. i' ve been lookin' at a few vids that you might like...

The Drum Machine by Tokyoplastic.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A3332044

i like the little characters in this film and the way the music interacts with the aniation.


Crying Chic by George Wu.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A16590143

really like the paper cut-outs and simple shapes. good mix of techniques too.


A picture can say a 1000 words by Tom Mansfield

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A8763771

this film looks achiveable the way it has been filmed, has a very simple twist and is complemented by the music, shame i didn't think of this first.

Beyond the Mouse

Upload your research, initial ideas, proposals for how sensors might be used, what would be screened/triggered/controlled, examples and/or tests that you've done.
Please comment on one another's work. The blog entries, (comments and feedback) for the last project was really good.
Use the blog also to discuss problems, techniques, technology and anything else you wish, or to request help.

Interactive experience

Upload ideas, storyboards, illustrations, animated elements, interface designs and links to tests that you've done.
Please comment on one another's work. The blog entries, comments and feedback for the last project was really good.
Also use the blog to discuss problems, techniques and anything else you wish, or to request help.

Film and animation projects

Upload ideas, treatments, storyboards and links to any rushes/tests that you've done.
Please comment on one another's work. The blog entries (comments and feedback) for the last project was really good.
Also use the blog to discuss problems, techniques and anything else you wish, or to request help.