Stop Motion Animation of Falling

Since I've never attempted stop motion or any kind of animation, I decided to stick to a simple simulation: an object rolling off an edge. In order to plan the animation, I first took a video of me actually performing the act several times as reference. After capturing the right video of myself rolling the object (in this case, a Hello Kitty mushroom eraser) off an edge (of a shoebox), I uploaded it to Tracker and analyzed the object's path of falling:

I then used the data as reference and drew out a similar path of action on my background. I tried to follow the spacing rules as closely as I could. Then, I created the set and a makeshift "studio" to shoot the stop motion animation:

 

I made use of all the shoeboxes lying around my house and taped everything down in place. I also placed marks on important areas (such as the camera's position) in case I accidentally moved something and lost my place. I utilized the "Stop-motion" application on my iPhone to shoot the animation. Basically, it allowed me to take several photos, which it then automatically strung together as one video.

Although my animation is very simple, it took me several attempts, edits and recalculations to reach the final result, which still is not very convincing. However, I had fun with it and am proud of what I was able to achieve. I have gained an even greater appreciation for all animators and physicists. 

Below are two of the better videos I shot. Each features aspects I liked that the other lacked. If I knew how to, I would have cut parts from each and put them together, which would probably yield a smoother action.

Video Analysis of Path of Action

My knee injury healed faster than expected, so I actually performed the running jumps. :)

Original video of the jumps:

Screen shot:

Path of action video for the one jump:

Tracker Video Analysis of Falling

Video Reference

Below is my video and image. I apologize for the bad quality!

Mini-Portfolio

Before presenting my "mini-portfolio," I'll start this post with a brief self introduction. I'm in my 6th year at SJSU, finishing my BA in Japanese with a minor in Linguistics. As my major may give away, I'm interested in various aspects of Japanese culture, such as language, music, art, fashion, etc.. I've been immersed in this subculture for fifteen years, so it has a great impact in my life and has influenced many of my choices, such as choosing to further my academic studies in Japanese. However, I feel that this subculture has become more like a background lifestyle rather than a passion; therefore, I have changed my directions in academic studies. Over the years I have gained a passion for Linguistics, thus I plan to pursue a master's degree in Linguistics after graduating from SJSU this Spring.

My history with Japanese culture (specifically, watching Japanese animations and reading comic books) has made me appreciative of art. Therefore, I took various art classes back in high school. They were mostly classes in fine art, which involved a lot of drawing and painting with various mediums. Strangely, I never took any animation classes, so other than watching it, I have zero experience in animation. During college, I've only taken art history courses, as I focused my attention to Japanese and Linguistic studies. As for science, I've only taken Chemistry here at the university. However, I have taken courses in Biology and Physics back in high school, though I don't know how applicable my knowledge in these fields would be at the university level. This semester I am taking Linguistic courses and other required courses for graduation. This class would be my only art/science course this semester, as a matter of fact, in a long time, so I'm really looking forward to it.

I don't have artwork of my own to present; therefore, I will present a few illustrations and a video from other people I admire.

The following three images are fashion illustrations by my older sister:

The next three are illustrations by an artist named Tomoko Shintani who I follow on Instagram:

The video I am presenting is a fun and cute animation by a well-known animator on YouTube named Simon Tofield:

Well, I think that's all for now. Thank you for reading!! ★

-Christine