Stop Motion 0.1

1. Mechanical Pendulum
2. Free-swing Pendulum
3. Bowling Ball
4. Balloon

I was quite nervous about the stop motion tasks, because of using the camera which I'm not familiar with, and the programme which I'm not familiar with 'Dragon Frame'. With Maya and Tv Paint the interface is more familiar, but dragon frame is quite different.
I was also trying to process slowing in and slowing out, and how spacings and timings affect the overall motion. Absolutely core to animation of course, but it does take a bit of time to get your head around at the start. Particularly when stop motion is quite labour intensive and unforgiving, you want to get it right the first time if you can!
I think the pendulums work fine. I also think the bowling ball drop is accurate, and I was surprised, because I did that one quite quickly because I had to leave. So there is value perhaps in not over thinking? I suppose it works as an initial sketch, in terms. Maybe I could have dropped it from a higher height to improve it, then there would be more fairings. Still I think you can tell its a heavy ball, its moving fast enough.

Ah, the beautiful balloon. After taking some reference footage, I really appreciated the way balloons slow down then hit the floor and can go spinning off. After spending some time chasing after them in the wind, their motion quite unpredictable (in the wind). This is my favorite thing about balloons, so I incorporated it. To me it gives it some charm.
Studying balloons is quite difficult because to drop it from a height to see how it falls, you'd need to be outside (affected by wind), or in a very high ceiling room or a stairwell. Because they twist when they fall too, it feels unnatural to have it pivoting from one side to the other at the beginning, but it was encouraged. To my eye, reflecting I feel like the pivots could have been more understated. Or the balloon should have covered more ground between each extreme pivot. Perhaps it's moving too slowly for the action. I like the speed and action when it hits the floor, like I said, this is what was interesting to me, how it slows down, then hits the floor and it sends it off again.
All in all I was pleased with the balloon, it was the third take, because there was troubles with my memory stick and the files corrupting, and it was the best of three, and the practise was good for me.