This was the final project that we did for the stop-motion rotation. We are required to create a black-and-white short animation using Dragon Frame, under the topic of “A Trip to the Moon”. We worked in the same group, which I think is a good thing because we are already of a certain level of tactic.

The first step of this project is to brainstorm a story outline that can fit the idea of “A Trip to the Moon”. My partner and I decided to brainstorm on our own first and discuss together for further development. The image above was the brainstorm that my partner did, but later on we both focusing and working on her sheet of brainstorm.

She thinks of the idea of cheese as the moon, which I think was a cute idea and really fits the vibe that we want to achieve. However, we would like to create a comedy scene that the rabbits eat the planet that she thinks is the cheese, therefore instead of making the moon the cheese, we made the earth the cheese.

As shown on the left, we spent a lot of time figuring out how the rabbit might be able to launch from the planet. This was a challenging part because we need to show the flying-off effect through paper and 2D scenes. To solve this problem, I was inspired by the game I used to play when I was young, which is using a ruler and eraser as a launcher to shoot objects. Therefore based on this idea, we included mix media into our animation, we added in different object such as mugs, banana and jars to show the contrast between 2D and 3D.

This is the mind map I did for this project. I first thought of the idea of the traditional celebration that the Chinese have, which is the Mid-Autumn Festival. The element of the moon represents an important place in the Festival, therefore we have a lot of interesting stories and legends related to the moon. The character is most well-known one is a rabbit, therefore using this as the foundation of our idea, we choose the bunny as our main character.

The second part that we discussed is how this bunny can show movement in the animation. We first thought about using the paper fastener to connect the joint, however, we do not have enough time to find the material, therefore we decided to use the blu tag instead. I think it was a good idea because it can be easily removed and we do not need to poke any holes on our assets.

This is the storyboard we did for the project. In the end, because of the time limitation, we did remove and shorten the storyboard down. We would like to show a contrast by letting the bunny eat the earth at the end, therefore the transition in between is important for us.

To make the moon obvious and interesting, also to include the technique of mixed media, we decided to use a banana as the moon. The reason for that is that we think the shape looks pretty similar to the typical moon shape when people first think of the moon. I also used toothpicks to scratch on the surface to create the texture and patterns.

This image was taken during the making process. We used black paper as the background to create a space-like atmosphere. We spent a lot of time cutting out the assets. All the stars and effects that we used in the animation are mostly cut out during our free time. But I am really proud of the result, I think it does achieve our expectations.

This is our final result, we added sound effects and also added a filter to make it black and white. In my own opinion, I felt like the colour version shows higher energy and looked more joyful, but my peer said that she thinks black and white can really make the bunny jump out, and attract the audience’s attention.

Strengths: I think the part that we did well was successfully animated out the story. The part I liked the most is when the rabbits were shot with points like what we usually see in video games. Another part that I think is great is the sound effects that we added. The background music that my partner found fits our animation really well, and I think the sound effects that we add to each small detail really make the whole animation vivid.

Weakness: The part I think we need to improve is controlling the length of the animation, the required length is 10-20, but it was 30 seconds. However, I think in our case 30 seconds can really show the idea that we want to covey, therefore if we want to shorten the length, we need to readjust our storyboard.

Overall Reflection: To conclude, I think the rotation of the stop-motion was very interesting. When I was in middle school, I made a stop motion with clay by myself, and I realized how difficult and patient it is to make this method. But I think it’s a fun experience to see something that normally doesn’t move to move in the animation.

This was the exercise that helped us understand how to use the software Dragon Frame. This is my first time using it, in my opinion, the basic function of it is not that difficult to understand, therefore the part of learning the software did not take that long. This was a small project that required finishing within 1 lesson and need to work in a group of two.

Strengths: I think what I did well in this exercise is communicating with my partner. Although we only met for a short time, I know that without good communication, it might lead to a lot of problems. Therefore, in the end, I think my partner and I work well together. Secondly, I think the result that we created is really showing what we wanted to achieve. I enjoyed the part where we make the rectangle into a jelly like object, I think the animation during that part is smooth.

Weakness: There were several parts we need to improve. Firstly is our time management skills, we spent too much time on one small detail, and we almost ran out of time for the rest of the animation, therefore in the future maybe we need to plan out that in advance, to prevent this situation to happen. Another small parts that we need to take care of is the hands that got into the video, although we knew that it was because of the technical problem that happened because of the software, but this reminded us that we need to check everything before we submit our work.

This work is the icebreaking project that we’ve done in the first day of school. It was a fun activity, we worked in group and created this simple animation but really delivered the idea of stop motion. I think it was a fun and valuable experience because through this exercise, we started to have an idea of how stop motion worked. Also trying to work with a team is important because in the field of animation most of the time we work in a team, therefore training of communication and interacting within a group is necessary.

Strengths: I think what we did well in this animation is that we successfully animated the idea that we planned, it was a satisfying moment when we see the result that we created. Also, I think through different techniques, we really showed the effect of appearing and disappearing.

Weakness: I think we need to improve on the part of creating more exaggeration in our animation. My group mate suggested we can make the llama at the end dead more dramatically, and maybe increase the length or convey the message and idea we want to show to the audience.