Sting Project. (2009)

After viewing a number of films where Pixilation was used I decided that I definitely want to experiment with this technique. I like certain rough qualities that it possesses.

The direction of my project frequently changed: I made various animated/drawn experiments and was disappointed with their results, consequently each time I had to find a better approach. It started with an attempt to animate the movement of microbes on a page. I intended them to appear on the page and morph in to the necessary letters, spelling out Animation MaidstoneUCA. I experimented with timing and movement but eventually I felt a bit unhappy with the idea. Next experiment was to enlarge the figures and make them in to proper characters: I wanted to make them jump but eventually came to a conclusion that it does not satisfy my creative hunger.

The assembly of my final project version begun with the inquiry in to Pixilation: I signed out a camera, some lighting equipment and a tripod and started shooting my self in motion.

The camera angle and the quality of lighting are the paramount factors that determine the outcome. I spend about 3 days trying to understand various software peculiarities and shooting the necessary footage. It was hard but results seem acceptable in relations to the levels of my experience. People kept getting in the way or I made a movement a bit too quick, as well as I wanted to convey certain emotion throughout the animation. I wanted to make it reasonably light, and fast flowing, considering that the animated part had to be of up to 12 seconds. Eventually I used the footage that combined the elements of stop-motion animation and pixilation technique. I had to use anything and everything of a considerable size that I could find in the studio.

The next bit was to finalize the integration of a logotype into the composition. Recently I have been using ink a lot, as I think that the fluidity of line that one can achieve is visually pleasing. So in this project I decided to use this technique even though I did anticipate some problems. Firstly it would be the drying time and secondly the outcome which would be constantly boiling. After some experiments I found out that the effect I manage to achieve is actually desirable. I decided that it would be reasonable to make the animated part last for about 4 seconds as it would allow the viewer to get adjusted to the motion that is happening on the screen and take in the information.

I wanted the logotype to slowly form on the screen so I scanned my ink drawings and added colour and type in Photoshop. This was also considerably time consuming, as the composition became more and more complicated it took more and more time. The next step was to combine these to parts in to one: it was done with reasonable easy in duration of several days.