Stop-Motion Armatures

Here is a list of sites that provide armature kits for use in stop-motion animation.

Skeletoon - Ball joint. A French company. I am currently seriously considering buying one of their kits.

Model Armatures - Ball Joint. The joints on these armatures seem a little too chunky for what I would want. They do offer strong magnates for sale as well though.

Arma Benders - Ball Joint. They seem decent enough but expensive considering they don't have hands.

Animation Supplies - Ball Joint. I was originally considering these armatures but the price was putting me off despite how brilliant they appear. I know these things don't come cheap. Now I may use this site to buy puppet hands and some rigging for the skeletoon armature.

STOP-MO-TEC - Aluminium Wire. May be more useful for supporting characters who do not take up much screen time.

Animation Toolkit - Aluminium Wire. Another consideration for supporting characters.

Morphmation

I really should have posted up about this quite a lot sooner but I entered the Morphmation animation competition run by Aardman and Firebox.com earlier this year.

Unfortunately my animation wasn't selected from those that were submitted. My entry can be found on YouTube here> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me2p8MUaH5g

The brief was to make a Morph stop motion animation lasting no longer than 1 minute.

Pixar Toy Story 2 Zoetrope

Following are two links to videos of a Pixar 3D zoetrope featuring Toy Story 2 characters. I believe the videos were taken during different stages of the zoetrpes production as Jessie is missing from the first video.

Video1: here

Video2: here

SKELEFLEX

I saw said toy advertised on TV about a week ago and decided that it looked like it could be suitable to use as an armature for stop-motion puppets. They are plastic kits a bit like Techno or K'NEX made up of skeleton bones that click together in ball sockets.
After hunting for it on the internet I found I could buy it from Amazon.co.uk and so I signed up to purchase a kit.
3 days after ordering, my SKELEFLEX turned up. I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the figure as I had been worried it would be too small. The one I purchased stands at about 20-25cm tall and is the most human like out of the series. They only come in alien and dinosaur designs.
To use it as an animation armature I will have to create some new hands for it as the ones it comes with are oversized and non-posable.
Hopefully I've found a cheap alternative to expensive metal armatures.
SKELEFLEX

Animation Showreel

Today I finished creating the first copy of my stop motion showreel on DVD! In order to hopefully impress the companies that I send it to I have created and printed off a custom DVD label and case sleeve as well as customising the DVD menu with a program called 'Roxio easy DVD copy 4' which I purchased online for £19.99.
I plan on taking this first copy with me to Mackinnon and Saunders to leave with them when I visit on Tuesday.

Animation Developments

Yesterday I got back from a week long visit to Wrexham where I made use of the animation equipment to create some test pieces for my showreel. These included things such as run and walk cycles as well as some squash and stretch. I found the week very beneficial as it gave me a chance to experiment which I didn't have the time to do on the course and haven't had the equipment to do since being home.

A week previous to this I managed to organise a day down to Mackinnon and Saunders on the 2nd of September where I will be able to show off my animations and models. It has been arranged for me to be seen at 2:30pm. I am now in the preocess of finding whether it would be better to travel by bus or by train.

Music

On Monday 16th I e-mailed RoyaltyFreeMusic.com to check that it was ok with them to upload my animation to YouTube as it used music of theirs that I never paid for. I recieved a reply on the 17th (yesterday) simply stating "You are clear to do so."

Becky's Reply

"Hi Alistair,

Please accept my apologies for not replying sooner to your email. It has been frantic here with all the various projects and deadlines.

Thanks for letting me know the dates when you would have been able to see us. Unfortunately we are going to be too busy now for the rest of June/possibly July also, to devote the proper amount of time to your visit.

In an ideal world it would have been lovely to be bringing new talent into the building to start training up as the puppet makers of the future, but I don’t think its going to work like that just at the moment!

Sorry to have to disappoint you as it was me who approached you. At least we have made contact and Nick highly recommends you.

Please contact us again later in the summer, if you would like to, the situation may be calmer.

I wish you well with the external examiner, and hopefully we may see you later in the year.

All best wishes,

Becky"

So it seems that I wont be able to visit after all and any hopes of a job are off. For now at least. I'll have to make contact again later in the year.

M&S day visit dates

I've just finished sending an e-mail to Becky Hunt at Mackinnon and Saunders to arrange a day for me to visit. Here's what I sent:

"Hello Becky,

This is Alistair. Now that things are more or less over with at my end I have had a chance to look at which days I would be able to make it down to visit you at M&S.

If its not too soon then I would be able to visit on either Tuesday 3rd, Wednesday 4th or Friday 6th of this week.

Each day I would be able to catch a train to Altrincham station and arrive there at roughly 11 o'clock. I then plan on catching a taxi to get to you.

To make sure I've got the correct address the one I have is;
148 Seamons Rd,
Altrincham,
Cheshire
WA14 4LJ

If its not right then please let me know.

To get back I would need to catch a train from Altrincham station at either 15:51 or 16:51. I have chosen these times based on how long I spent during my visit to Cosgrove Hall last year. There are earlier or later trains if needed.

If these dates are too soon for you then please let me know and I'll see about sorting something a little later on in the month. I need to be in Wrexham on the 10th and 11th because the external examiner will be coming in and we've been told he will want to see us all.

I hope to hear from you soon,

Alistair Stuart"

Hopefully one of these days will be suitable and I will be able to show them my work.

Final Year Animation

I completed my animation by the deadline of Wednesday the 21st last week. In the end I didn't get Kris Wilson to produce any music for me as I would have missed the deadline if I had. Instead I found some music from http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/ and found sound effects by using http://www.findsounds.com/. There were some sounds I couldn't find though and so recorded them myself. These sounds were the bucket clanking and Jack breathing. I feel that the sounds and music fit the animation very well and am very pleased with the final outcome.