The little ‘extra’ effort in Animation

In a couple of days my final exams for this semester would be over. That’s one entire semester gone by. One-fourth of the huge pie called ‘M.A.’ already consumed. It feels so mystic when thought of in this super-intellectual way! So what have I been up to in this new field that I entered about five months ago? Cutout, character, pixilation and sand animation- the big things done this semester. The things that kept me excited and going. Yeah I am going to show you some of the work I have done and promote some of my youtube videos. You have been warned! [:D]

Working on the Character Stop Motion Animation- Animation Lab, AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

On that non-eventful September day, we were told to get some basic shape cutouts and cameras. And in 3 hours, we were to shoot our first stop-motion cutout animation- without telling a story. This is what the work done by my group resulted in.

Next we were given a few days to come up with a story. A meaningful one this time. The same trick was applied again and over two days, this is what my group shot. I just finished editing the sequence.

At the end of September, we worked on the most interesting bit of animation till date. Pixilation. No, it’s not about ‘images getting pixelated’! My group spent an entire Thursday shooting on campus. And then each one of us had to make our individual edits of the footage over the next month. Here’s my version of the final edit.

And then, as the final project of the semester, we did a sand animation. This was huge! My class was divided into 5 groups of 4 students and we were given one-minute each of a 5-minute song. We had to storyboard its non-literal meaning and then sand-animate it. Well, the weeklong workshop began and at the end of day 1, we were done with 20 frames (out of the estimated 720 (12 frame per second)) and which ultimately landed in the recycle bin. But it made our objective clear- we have to get done with this huge patience-testing work ASAP! And we did complete it on the 5^th day! Take a look at the completed music video. The last one minute before the credits appear (starting with the line Phata pajama lekar), that’s what my group animated.

One of the days when we were working on the Sand Animation- Animation Lab, AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

At the beginning of the course, my faculty warned us- When you are working day and night for an entire semester, your parents would expect you to show them some of the productive work you have done. You would show them your animated films. Don’t be shocked if their reaction is something like: ‘Ye kya tha? Ye to shuru hote hi khatam ho gaya!’ (What was this? It ended as soon as it started!)

Well, I guess that’s what has happened! That’s the ‘extra’ effort that goes into each frame of an animated film- I realize it quite well already! And I wouldn’t deny that now I do look forward to consuming the other three quarters of the pie! [:)]

You sometimes actually need that 'little' extra effort in animation; try putting a thread through a needle for the first time!
I did it during the character animation, to stitch the character's body parts together; and no, it wasn't my first time but still the effort!