My final year of University brought my first proper experience of Stop Motion and Model Making. I've played around with it before, but this time I was working on a larger scale, and to a deadline.

For my final year project, I decided i'd take on a rather ambitious project. I regretted it as the weeks and months went by. The project turned out nothing like I had originally planned. My original plan was to create a mixed media piece of 2D Animation, Stop Motion and CGI. The original animatic was about 10 minutes long. I actually ended up cutting that down, and handing in a couple of minutes of footage. The final film had the combination of Stop Motion and 2D animation. I scrapped the CGI early on as I could tell I wouldnt have the time to do it. Such a project was perhaps not the best idea for a final year piece.

However, I did learn alot about Stop Motion and Model making. Despite the stress to get it finished on time, I actually really enjoyed it. Model making was alot of fun, and the animation, though challenging (items thrown around the room in frustration), it turned out surprisingly well.

I had to build two sets. The first set I made was the introductory shot of the main set. No animation was needed in this shot. I wanted a moody night time shot of a small, bombed out building on top of a hill (see pictures left). I created the hill using a wire frame mesh, and then covered it in Paper Mache. Once dry, I covered that in sand and PVA glue. The little house on top was just made out of polystyrene. For a more 'Stoney' effect, I mixed some salt with PVA glue and painted on a layer all over. I added small patches of Games Workshop grass to make it look like there was moss growing up the walls. It all turned out really well.

The background was basically just chalk on a blue wall. The rest was done with lights. The moon was chalked on, and we shone one of the Dado Lights directly at it to give the glowing effect. To give the small building a shadow, we used another Dado Light to the right of the set, just out of shot. This of course, makes it look like the moon is causing the shadow.

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