Bouncing Ball Exercise

The bouncing ball exercise was the first of the animation module. The first task in completing this exercise was to plan the first 32 slides, which was done by numbering the frames from 1-32 and then creating a base line (this was the ground for the animation) and tracing it from each page onto all of the others. The next stage was to trace from the original frame, where I'd draw a ball at the high point stage. On each frame I would trace over the ball, but slightly alter the position to create a falling motion. I would also have to take into consideration that the ball will slightly change shape as it falls and bounces (It will be slightly squashed when it hits the ground and will stretch slightly when it bounces up). The initial traces were done in pencil so I could plan out where each frame would go and make any changes to make sure the overall piece will work fluidly without any odd frames or noticeable errors. I then went over the frames in a black fine-liner pen. Tracing over previous frames was key to doing this exercise effectively because I could see where the ball was, and then plan where I'd create the next frame.

Once I had finished all of the frames, I stuck down the book which I had drawn all the frames in so it wouldn't move when I captured the each of the images. I then set up an overhead camera and connected it to a mac; I opened iStopMotion and started to capture the frames in order from 1-32. I took a different amounts of shots for each frame as the speed of the ball bouncing would change during the sequence. After capturing all of the images, I exported them into final cut, where I put the sequence together in order. I then copied the sequence and repeated it 5 times so the animation wouldn't be short, and so I could get a clear view of how well I had created the animation. I also got to see the flow of the animation when watching it in a continuous video.