Animation Evaluation

Claymation Evaluation

Our Idea

For our Claymation idea, me, AJ, and Mohammed came up with the thought of creating a fighting scene using stick figures. The classic game called ‘Mortal Kombat’ inspired us because a fighting game is perfect for Claymation and Mortal Kombat will make it even more enjoying to make. Our roles for our idea were;

• Snapping shots – Mohammed
• Creating the Characters – Hakim
• Moving the Figurines - AJ

Stickman Fight - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NNDRfQSCTE 

In this video, you can see that our work is quite similar. As you can quite clearly see that the stickmen in this YouTube video are fighting each other continuously, just like our one. We also notice that they use the same 2D effect as we did to create that 1v1 atmosphere, and they also executed combos. Furthermore, sound effects were used throughout the video to create that back shivering feeling. Comparing to our work, we also used the same type of ‘Bang’ and ‘Boom’ effects, giving us ideas before making this project.

The Process

The process of creating this idea was to first get fresh clay and start making figurines of characters that are in the game. We then started to roll, stretch, and bend the clay to create the writing that’s in Mortal Kombat. After finishing the clay making, we then put the clay in front of the camera and started snapping the shots. We used a continuous sequence to create the illusion that figurines have a mind of their own.

Furthermore, we then saved the shots we created and uploaded it onto Final Cut Pro. After, we added sound effects and text to make the clip look at a professional standard. Last but not least, after all the exporting and editing, we then uploaded the completed video onto YouTube for others to view. The upload time took roughly 20mins to complete.

The Feedback

After we had uploaded the completed clip, we got 4 of our classmates to take a look at of what we produced. All 4 have liked the video and they’d recommend it to their friends and family. After gathering all the feedback, it seemed that all of them said “The only negative about your clip was the storyline.” We then viewed our video again and realised the storyline did need improving, and it could have been a lot better.

• Dylan - ⅘
• Fatima - ⅘
• Fatmata - ⅘
• Jack - ⅘

Strengths & Weaknesses

One of my biggest strengths during this project was to be able to organise the equipment and the clay. I feel that our group progressed in a faster pace due to my organisational skills obtained from similar projects. Another strength we had as a team included communication skills. We assigned each other different roles to do speed up the process of this project.

However, we did have some weaknesses. Every 10-15mins we would stop to have unnecessary conversations to our classmates about irrelevant topics. This slowed down our work rate and lost valuable time. In spite of all that, we learnt to become more focused and also to be able to work at a faster rate. This has impacted us greatly.