Summary of stop-motion

Creating the character Silver and Sheep were fun to make, though there were some battles I faced, but came out on top and finished the stop-motion.

Here are some images of our progress when creating the set and characters. I started with the main character, Silver. After making the head, I moved on to sowing up his pj's. Since I was already sowing, I also sowed up the bed covers. When both pj's and bed covers were cleaned up and finished, I sowed the pillow as nicely as I could, although was rough on the back.

With all that complected, I then started to scope the hair, like a wig at first. I made the head on a saprate ball that was a similar size to the head already made. When the hair had the basic shape, I twisted wire and started the sheep. I went back to stylizing the hair a lot more when I placed it on Silver's head.

Now with Silver's head done, I could trial how I would attach the head and body together. My partner Rebekka took care of the sheep, and I didn't take any photos, but by using a sponge base, the sheep was nice and light with a big round body. I gave Silver his hands and neck. He was finished. I mouths and eyes were done last. Little Silver and sheep was done.

Came time to film
One of the biggest problems Rebekka and I faced while shooting the animation was when the sheep head and tail fell of lots. This was hard to work with. Also, when filming, Silver's head was really heavy and hard to hold up for the scenes when Silver sat upwards. He fell over a lot of times when shooting, making the animation not as smooth as I would have liked. But with the power of teamwork and last minute thinking, we attached a stick behind Silvers head to act as a lever/support. With the head and tail for the sheep being clay based, it was easy to reattach. It was just annoying. Rebekka was the one on the computer while I moved the characters little.

Reflection Time
I know that, if I was to create another stop-motion, I would consider the characters mass a lot more so that if they have to sit up, walk, leap, it would be as such as an issue as it was when animating this time around.
Also, I am very happy to have been able to have Rebekka as my stop-motion partner, as will be very sad when she leaves to the North Island and then back to her home in Germany. I could never ask for a better partner.
Another thing I would want to change if animating is to try to take more information with how to use the camera myself, as I still don't much experience or knowledge.
The lip-syncing was easy to animate but a nightmare to sync with timing. The lip-syncing doesn't always match up with the sound and it creates a bad look for our animation. It matched enough so that some would not notice.