For our exploration projects we were tasked with conducting research of our own choosing, which we found to be especially interesting that was related to the arts. We were also tasked with recognizing what kind of 21st century skills we were learning from the projects. The project that I have created is a stop-motion specifically an object motion. I choose to do stop-motions because I had always been interested in them as a kid and wanted to take this opportunity to further explore that interest. I wanted to come up with a short creative narrative, and learn the skill of self-direction through this as I controlled the creation of the piece.
I first set up my camera at a location with lighting that I thought was suitable, for my film knowing I would shoot in one session and over the course of a couple of hours, I didn’t think that the lighting would make a difference. I also story-boarded my short before I filmed, using post it notes to diagram out the story before I tried to shoot it. I produced my stop-motion by using my DSLR to take individual photographs, and later tape them together in premier pro. Some photographs that I had taken I had to edit in Photoshop, before they would be usable in my film. Things such as my mothers hand who was helping my make my stop-motion would appear in the shot, and I would have to cut that out, along with in this particular shot I was having her suspend my figure on string. The string isn’t visible, as I used what I’d learned to try and edit it out in Photoshop.
My production detailed a samurai game-pieces adventure back onto a table to rejoin his friends after he’s knocked off. He is alone on the floor of a giant world, and through his courage he tries to climb back up.
Through my working on my own explorations project, I learned about some of the aspects of direction, trying to direct a character while I operated the camera. The ability to give good directions is something that I value, and the experience really helped me see how I can operate independent of a partner. I had to conduct all the research on my own, figure out what I wanted to create that could be visually appealing for an audience. For a first piece, I know that the mistakes present within the stop-motion prove to be a great learning experience for myself. I will commit myself to avoiding the same errors that I had there in the future. Additionally, I was free to pursue as far as I wanted into my topic, given lots of freedom in what I needed to create and how I would use my time. My own understanding of time management was improved through the finishing of my explorations.