Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Pre-Production Booklet for Animation

Name:
Order of contents (italics show areas you must add in yourself)
Assessment criteria
LO2

Mind maps of ideas

Risk assessment

Format of your animation

Subject and storyline

Character notes and profiles

Movement of characters

Moodboard

Sets/backgrounds

Audio and soundtrack

Sound table

Props list

Audience

Storyboard and script (add script to booklet)

Frame rates

Lighting design

Production schedule

Crew details

Frame Numbers

Dope Sheets

LO3

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

How to use this booklet

You will need to complete every page of this booklet, and all sections / questions
required.
Assessment criteria for Distinction grade;
LO2
Plans will show a full consideration of movement and continuity, perspective, point of view,
transitions and special effects.
Precise and workable planning of timing and synchronisation to a soundtrack will be
produced. It will be clear at this stage, from the documentation, what the finished piece will
look and sound like.
Learners will follow industry conventions and terminology used in storyboard production
correctly.
Plans for the construction of models, sets and props will be realistic and clear.
Drawings, script and storyboard will all show a creative interpretation of the idea.

LO3:
The documentation linked to the production will be full and detailed and there will be
evidence that the production management and scheduling of the project has been effective
and carried out in a professional manner. The techniques used in the production of the work
are likely to be related to an understanding of current trends in the industry.

Both LO2 and LO3

In all practical activity learners will be capable of working autonomously and effectively. They
will work on their own initiative, will not need constant support or supervision, will give the
work their full commitment, work positively and cooperatively with others, and meet
deadlines. In other words, they will have the kind of self-management skills that would be
expected of them in a professional context. Note also that this criterion should not be taken
to mean that learners do not seek advice or that they work without discussing things with
their tutor, but rather that they are not dependent upon the support of others and that when
they take advice they weigh it carefully for themselves.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Planning
Brainstorm / mind map (add extra pages if necessary

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Attach a 400 word treatment of your idea
I would like to create something different for my channel ident and are extreme sports are
something close to me and I have a great interest in the especially skateboarding. I have
never seen a channel ident that majorly incorporates skateboarding, and I think that by doing
this will bring lots more of an audience if they saw that this channel supported skateboarding
they may be more inclined to watch it. So for my advert I will show a skateboarder skating
about and doing lots of cool tricks and it is all going swimmingly and there will be some fast
pace rock music playing, but then at the last trick the skater goes for a crooked grind down a
handrail and lands on his face and then the music will stop and the picture will go to black
and white and in the skaters splatted head will show the E4 symbol.

How will you meet the requirements of your brief?

To make sure that I follow the requirements of the given brief I will make sure that I am clear
with the brief and make sure that everybody is happy with negotiated brief, both me and the
client. I will plan every shot to make sure it meets the 30 second time frame dead on. It will
need to meet the criteria of an channel ident, this means that I will have to make it clear
about what the channel is, its no good making a good ident then not showing what is if for.

Risk assessment: Are there any health and safety issues you may encounter?
When I am filming my animation there may be small chance of risk, this is due to the size
and shape of my set it will be quite long and low to the ground so could become a trip
hazard, if it was to be tripped it could hurt the whoever tripped on it but also ruin the set.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Discuss any legal issues you may face. Eg; sound, plagiarism, age restrictions
I think that my advert will be within all legal issues, I will make sure that I use royalty free
music to make sure that my advert does not get taken down once up, either this or I could try
and get the permissions to use a song of my choice. I think that my advert will be suitable
for ages above 10 so can be played anytime of the day because the channel runs throw-out
the day and it is not to extreme. So long as I dont use copy righted music then I should be
fine because I dont want to show E4 in a bad light by doing something illegal, I also dont
want to ruin my representation as a producer.

Use of possible formats

Circle which of the following formats your animation will take;
stop-frame techniques
time lapse photography
plasticine animation
Claymation
using found objects
modelling
puppetry
combined formats

Why are you using that particular format?

I am using stop frame animation because I love how it looks I like it to be very smooth stop
frame animation but it still have an animated look. It is also easy to work with and to change
because it is a moldable material in many colors.

What are the different possibilities you could explore using this format?
The possibilities of stop frame animation are endless as you can make any inanimate object
do whatever you want, with the correct preparations, for example just like the recent John
Lewis advert were all the household items moved along together, This was clever as they
have managed to show thousands of their product in a fun way without boring the audience.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

What are the limitations of using this format? (i.e what problems/ obstacles might you
have?)
There are few limitations just things that make it harder, for example because I am taking
pictures thing cannot stay in the air without support, this just means things might take a while
longer.

What imaginative or inventive animations have you seen which use this format?
Add in links and screen shots of three examples of animations using this format.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Subject
What will the subject of your animation be?
It will be showing the audience what channel they are watching and show them what the
channel is about.

Storyline
Describe the storyline of your animation. What events will happen to your characters?
A skater will do a series of tricks mainly rail trick as it is easier to show the full trick, I am
planning to do about 5 tricks before the final one, and after the final one the skater hits a wall
will read E4.

-0

Characters
What characters will be in your animation?
There is just one character in my production the skater who is a normal boy who like to
skateboard every day.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Complete the character profiles for each character in your animation

Name:
M/F:
Age
Costume:

Skater
Male
19
Naked

Occupation:

Student

Hobbies:

Skateboarding
Cat breeding

Character
Background:

He lives in an orphanage but spends most of his time out skating.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Add in images and drawings/ sketches of what they will look like.

What will they be made of?

He is a very simple character made of just an armature wrapped in plastercine.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Movement of characters

How are you going to make your characters move?

I will move him bit by bit taking picture at every stage so when put together give the look of
independent travel.

What is the purpose of an armature?

They keep the model sturdy, strong and easy to move as once that wire is moved it stays
there until moved again.

Will you use them for your characters?

I will be using an armature for my character because it makes filming so much easier and I
will have to make lots of small movements to my characters.

If so, how will you make it?

I will buy an armature set for 20 that you can build yourself to your specs, it comes with
some feet a hip like joint, shoulder and a head joint they all connect together by cutting the
wire to the lengths you want and then using Allen screws to tighten it.

Mood board

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Create a mood board showing what look your animation will have. Add images showing
ideas of mise-en-scene, characters, costumes and colours that will be present in the
different shots.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Sets / backgrounds
Will your set be;

One walled set

A three wall set

A blue/green screen

An existing location

A Combination of two or more of the above

Draw sketches of how your sets/backgrounds will look. Add in labels to your diagrams and
details of locations / lighting etc.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

erzsdAdd in photographs of your sets/backgrounds.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Audio and Soundtrack

What audio will you have for your animation?
I will just have sound effects for each trick and movement as I want to feel quite real.

Complete the sound list, detailing what sounds you will use, where you will source them,
what equipment you will need to record them and when you will use them in your animation.
You will need to design your own soundtrack. You cannot use copyrighted music, and it
must be more than simply adding a track.

What actions will need sound effects?

All of the tricks like grinds, I will go to the skate park to record the sounds, also snoring wich I
will source of the internet and a siren.

Think of the scenes in your animation. Each scene should have different sounds/music to
give information about the mood / emotions of the characters.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Shot

Action

Description
of Sound

Diegetic/non/diegetic

Atmosphere
created

Music type

Skater
wakes up
and walk
out
standing
with board

Snoring

Non diegetic

Keeps the
audience
interested.

Recorded
sounds.

Skater
skating
along

Noise of
skateboard
rolling on

Non Diegetic

It makes it
seem more
real.

Recorded
sounds.

Skater grind
down a
handrail

Noise of
trucks on rail

Non Diegetic

It makes it
seem more
real.

Recorded
sounds.

Skater does
flat land
trick

Noise of
skateboard
popping and
landing trick

Non Diegetic

It makes it
seem more
real.

Recorded
sounds.

Skater
grinds a flat
bar.

Noise of
trucks on rail

Non Diegetic

It makes it
seem more
real.

Recorded
sounds.

Skater
grinds a
ledge

Noise of
trucks on rail

Non Diegetic

It makes it
seem more
real.

Recorded
sounds.

Skater
grinds down
stairs and
hits a wall

Noise of
trucks on rail

Non Diegetic

It makes it
seem more
real.

Recorded
sounds.

Then a splat

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

8

E4 sign
revealed in
wall

Signature E4
music

Diegetic

To make sure
the audience
is aware of
channel

Props List
What props / models / furniture etc will you need to make your animation?
PROPS LIST
Production Name:
Producer:

Item

Script page

Description

Character/location

Jenga

23

To use to make
stairs

Skater will grind

down handrail

Tech deck

all

Finger skate park

that the skater
will ride on

Skater will be using it

all the time.

Notes

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Audience
Define the following characteristics of your audience;
Gender
This advert includes violence and comedy so I would be saying that the target audience is
male but the channel includes programs like new girl and two broke girls these are aimed a
girls so I would say that that although the advert is aimed at boys it will be watched by both
genders. Its not going to be that male oriented so I think it will be fine.

Age
The ages that usually watch E4 are usually teenagers from about 14 I tried to fit my advert
accordingly.

Interest
They would be interested in the types of programs they play on E4 like scrubs or my name is
earl, so they use a lot of comedy and slapstick type things.

What forms of animation might they already watch?

Films and other types of animation like adverts that the might have caught on TV E4 have
been using animation for indents for a while. Also famous films like Wallace and grommet or
chicken run, were released when they were younger.

What images do you think they enjoy watching?

I think they would like programs that already exist on E4 as they are already on the channel
to watch. I think they would like blockbuster films not low key independent films, as they are
similar to what E4 shows.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

What might they consider distasteful or offensive?
I think that my target audience is old enough to watch my video, they will understand that it is
just a plasticize character, also if they are already watching E4 then they should be expeting
this type of thing.

How will you ensure that your animation will suit your chosen audience?
I enjoy skateboarding and I think my views are quite generic and speak for most skaters, I
have also asked some friends of mine weather that thought it was a good idea and 3 out of
the 3 people I asked said that they liked the idea and thought it would work well.

How will they physically watch your animation? (i.e in an exhibition format, on screen,
projection, online?) It will be online, on TV and in an exhibition.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Storyboard

Who?

Complete a storyboard for your animation.

Where?

Which
characters/
objects are in
the scene?

What is the
location for the
shot?

Say What?

Lighting

Is there any
dialogue/text?

Natural
Ambient
Torchlight
Spotlight
Direction of
light?

And
then.?
What happens?
Describe the
action.

Camera?

Time?

What is the
camera angle?

Duration of the
shot / number
of frames
action is held
for.

Is there any
movement from
the camera?

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Think carefully about the shots you will be using. Consider the range of shots/angles
to give interest and perspective

Shots

Camera Angles

Extreme long shot

Long Shot
Medium Shot
Two Shot
Over the Shoulder
Medium Close up
Close up
Extreme close up

Birds-eye view
High angle
Eye-level
Low angle
Oblique / canted angle
Worms-eye view
Ground Shot

Movement

Editing

Pan
Tilt
Tracking Shot
Zoom

Montage
Cross cutting
Match cut
Shot, reverse shot
Eye-line match
Jump cut
Tracking shot

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

You will need to convey all movements and actions. Copy and paste the storyboard to
make it as long as you need to show all the detail of your animation.
You will need to add pages to this section for your full storyboard

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Frame Rates
What is the duration of your animation in minutes? (minimum 30 seconds)
30 seconds
In seconds?
30 seconds

How many frames per second for video?

24 fps

There are 60 seconds in a minute. How many frames (ie. Individual photos) will you
need to take?
700

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Lighting Design

Where will you be photographing your animation?

In a studio that I will set up at my house.

Does it have natural daylight?

Yes

If so, you will need to block this out. Explain why.

Yes because you never know how long it will take and normal daylight changes very regally
and is very unreliable in England so I will be using all artificial lighting so I can regulate
myself.

Do you have a constant light source(s) such as a lamp?

Yes I have a wide verity of lighting choices that a can use.

Where will you place your light source(s) to create interesting effects?
I will place above the set act as the natural sunlight, and if there are any dark spot or bit I
dont like I can use other lights to regulate it.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

(LO3)

Frame numbers
You will need to label your images as frames
The first 24 frames will be written as;
0_1
0_2 etc etc

the following 24 will be

1_1
1_2
1_3
Ensure your clips are labeled as such. Screen shot the folder your clips are in, and copy the
image underneath.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Dope sheets
A dope sheet is an animation tool which helps a animator organise the animation shot-byshot.
This gives the camera operator instructions on each shot type and how many frames this will
be used for.
A dope sheet is usually split into 5 different sections.

To indicate what action occurs on which frame number

To see what action is happening in this shot.
To see what dialogue used in this scene.
To show what level of animation is happening.
To give camera instructions (angle).

For example;

Because you will be working with video, you will be using 30fps. You will need to complete a
dope sheet for EVERY SECOND of your animation.
i.e, if you make a 30 second animation, you will need to complete 30 dope sheets.
This will be a time-consuming task, but it will help you understand what will need to
happen in each of the shots you take. The higher marks will come from a detailed and
careful collection of dope sheets. For example, if your characters speaks, you will need to
show the mouth forming every shape in order to look effective.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Frame
0_1
0_2
0_3
0_4
0_5
0_6
0_7
0_8
0_9
0_10
0_11
0_12
0_13
0_14
0_15
0_16
0_17
0_18
0_19
0_20
0_21
0_22
0_23
0_24
0_25
1_1
1_2
1_3
1_4
1_5

Path of action

Dialogue /
Soundtrack cue

Animation

Camera
instructions

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

1_6
1_7
1_8
1_9
1_10
1_11
1_12
1_13
1_14
1_15
1_16
1_17
1_18
1_19
1_20
1_21
1_22
1_23
1_24
1_25

2_1
2_2
2_3
2_4
2_5
2_6
2_7
2_8
2_9
2_10
2_11

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

2_12
2_13
2_14
2_15
2_16
2_17
2_18
2_19
2_20
2_21
2_22
2_23
2_24
2_25
Copy and paste as many dope sheets as you need. Remember to change the frame
numbering so that the first number refers to the second of animation ie, 1_24 is the 24th
frame of the first second, 3_17 is the 17th frame of the 3rd second.

Stop Motion Animation Pre-production Booklet

Liaising with client (write notes on discussions between you and your client)