JD Photography

Stop motion is a time consuming labor that most people don’t understand. Picture after picture of subtle changes that won’t come to life until the editing process to see the movements come alive. The motion is only part of the story.

Liz Blazer writes in her book, “Animated Storytelling, Simple Steps For Creating Animation & Motion Graphics, “In production, sound can be an afterthought, but waiting until the middle of )or after) animation to determine your soundtrack is kind of like waiting until there’s a minute left in the fourth quarter of a pick-up game to sub LeBron James.”

 Throughout my brainstorming of my stop-motion animation project I had sound effects and music already in mind. The story of a carrot swimming in forbidden waters needs some special sounds that I cannot produce from my kitchen counter.

I set the tone by using subtle beach sounds, then the carrot jumps in the swimming hole with a splash. The music undertone is light and joyful, like you’re on the beaches of Hawaii. SPOILER ALERT! Watch the video at the bottom before reading any further. The ending is the crunch and eating of the carrot and all other sounds and visual are cut away.

All the effects bring the story to life. The movements are just one side of the story. The sound provides the life and heartbeat. This beings the world to life.

How does someone bring whole worlds to life?

“First, establish time and place, and then do the work to define the physical, social, and visual laws that exist there. These “laws” will provide a consistent foundation for whatever far-flung chaos you envision and will help give your world a sense of authenticity and verisimilitude,” writes Blazer.

One things I added was a little chuck of celery that the carrot jumps off of into the ranch dipping pool. I like the idea of another vegetable being there but not jumping in and was helpful in the carrot jumping in. The celery could have tried to stop the carrot but did not, it helped. This is the world I created to show how we don’t always warn others, and ourselves, to perceived dangers and actual waring sign around us.

These sound effects are incredible and enhance the whole viewing experience. They use a combination of FX as well as an ominous music bed to add the the Distortion feel.

This action / adventure stop-motion has sound FX, music, and VO to tell the story and give the tone. 

Text animation is designed look, feel, and sound as an enhancement to your project. The example above is a buffet of options one can choose to use.

When I’m thinking of text animation I love layers and this is an example of one I did year or so ago. I love incorporating video masks and movement in an opening sequence.

In my project this week I didn’t focus on my graphics animation, I wanted my focus to be on the story and stop-motion. I hope you enjoy.