Pixilation

Pixilation was a type of stop motion that I became very intrigued by as soon as we were introduced to it during the Pixilation brief. The technique involves using live actors in a frame by frame where the actors are continually posing. We were shown a few videos that were created using the Pixilation, one of the videos that I appreciated most was the music video for 'Oren Lavie's, 'Her Morning Elegance'. The entire clip takes place on a bed where objects and the main actress, maneuver around each other to create the illusion of her moving even though the bed is stationary. I loved this particularly because of the use of the bed almost as a set, or an area for the motion to take place. Another thing I liked about this was the way the animation fit perfectly with the track, not only in terms of pace and timing but also in terms of content. Aspects such as the lighting and soft objects and clothing that the actress was wearing were perfect for highlighting the vibe that the song produced. 

The brief for this task was to create a Pixilation animation in groups, so working as a team and co-operation was important here. We rented some equipment from the photography department that included a DSLR and a tripod, to set up shots and keep the framed shot consistent instead of just holding the camera. There were several themes that we had to follow and generate ideas in cohesion with. The themes were; 'parent and child', predator and prey' and 'parasite and host'. I decided to do the 'parasite and host' theme because I had several ideas that would possible to pursue that I thought were most suited it. I also liked the name of that particular theme. 

Planning was the first step to producing the Pixilation animation. This included idea generation, followed by story boarding the idea and communicated it to the people I was working with so the way we were going to go about shooting it was understood, this also helped produce feedback for my ideas and incorporate any necessary adjustments. 

The idea I had based on the thought of a 'host' cell attacking a 'parasite' using myself as a live actor included the use of a jumper or other item of clothing coming to life and enveloping itself around me. Molly, who I was working with, had a woolen jumper that was perfect for this idea and so I began to plan the shots and create a story board. The story board consisted of a house like setting and the actor walking over and sitting down on a sofa which had the jumper placed on it as if it had been removed and discarded to one side. Once the actor is sat down the jumper starts to move around the back of the sofa and onto the actors body, constricting itself around the actor loosely. This idea stems from the idea of one cell enveloping another. After the jumper constricts the actor for several seconds, he falls unconscious and the jumper maneuvers itself onto the body of the actor. At this point, I began to have some fun with the story and decided that once the jumper was on the body of the actor it 'took control'  of them, and the short animation ends with the actor entering a darkened doorway. 

One note about some of the frames during the video, after I took the photographs for the Pixilation I deleted several frames to improve the smoothness of it. When I rendered it in aftereffects I didn't account for this and consequently dropped a few frames.