I am starting the process of level 2 because i have lost some files from my level 1 project but have a 30 second clip i can use if all else fails. I am starting production of this scene so i have more things to work on and get more done before the deadline instead of wasting all my time on the first part.
I am going to research various stop motion projects and stop motion studios to gather a lot of information on all the many ways i can go about his and make it easy for myself, stop motion is a very long process so i think it is best to get as much of this done as i can.
I thought the best place to start looking would be Aardman productions most known for the Wallace and Gromit franchise and many other amazing films although they do their clay models i can still take a lot of knowledge from them such as the creating process and the recording process.
I was watching this video of how they assemble their team into different parts and all base their work from the storyboards drawn by the artists. It takes them almost 6 weeks to create 1 minute of animation doing this style and obviously the standard they achieve being a big major movie. they create the environment and all characters by hand and by many people where as i am doing this all single handedly i will be taking a few shortcuts like with the background being 1 single image but i will hopefully have my character walking across the screen into the race car. I chose to have the background a single drawn image because if i had cut out trees and other background fillers they would all move and make it to difficult for me to do the subtle movements i need my character to do.
The first of this video explains the story of Trey Parker and Matt Stone and how they started of creating southpark and what it evolved too. This is beneficial to me because i am basing this second level design around southpark and the style of the first pilot episode “Cartman gets an anal probe” They created different drawn faces and expressions that they can switch between shots to give the illusion of the characters speaking. I am going to use this for a part of my animation before he gets in the car so you can see the character at the beginning and the end if all goes to plan. I am going to look at some cars from south park and some other cars in animations to see how others have done it. I am also looking at lots of images from southpark because that is where my inspiration for this came from but i am going to try and make it noticeably different so its my own thing.
This is the sort of concept i am going for when he gets in the car. Obviously mine will be stop motion paper cut outs but this is not far off what i am trying to achieve because if you slow it down it is different images on seperate frames which is technically what i am doing but not on a computer until post production. I am struggling to find other sources of stop motion like this video game so i dont really have much to work off which is good i am going to have to put a lot of work into the process so it comes out clean because this is my first big stop motion project.
I found this video explaining how he has a moving background underneath a glass table. I do not have a glass table which is why i have chose not to have an animated background because it would involve other pieces being in the way when i need to walk the character across the screen towards the car. I am going to attempt to make this structure of character though with the arm pieces so the animation can flow better and not look to choppy. Once i have created a story board i will see what ways i can go about this project and hopefully learn from my research on what way would be easier to achieve my goal.
This is my first prototype cutout character which is why he has no features and is just plain white i started making this so i have a good idea on what to do with the next one and what size is appropriate. I am able to move each separate body part but it is a bit fragile and sometimes falls off so on the next actual model i will have a sturdy character to operate with. You can see on the back how i did this with matchsticks and masking tape to stick to each other which did work better than i thought but like i said it needs a bit of fine tuning. On the next one i will draw out the characters clothes and cut them out to roughly these shapes and see the size compared to the background i am drawing up. I am going to have to draw a car and i decided to give him a race car and have him put on a helmet so when it comes to the racing sequence it is easier for me to do because i would just be moving a helmet in shots and not hair. 
This is my first few drawings of the racing sequence, i was putting most my focus into getting a good template for my next model because that is first in this scene but the idea is there will be 3 lanes once he is in the car and he will move from one to the other whilst a plane flies over him dropping bombs into the lane he is in then he will fight the 2nd boss. (Jeffery). This is going to be a tricky task because i am going to attempt to have the car the same size and move from each lane but have the background look like its moving instead. so the trees and possibly some buildings will go past quickly so it looks like he his moving fast. This will be a bit tricky because i have never done anything like this and i cannot find any sources online that could benefit me. This also proves that my idea is still original because i have found nothing like what i am doing for this 2nd level.
These are concepts of backs of cars i have been looking at. I decided to get some race cars and a truck so i can see which would look better and be easier to animate. It will only be 2 different drawings of the wheels the the background moving by with hopefully a plane flying over and dropping bombs if i can find a way of doing it.
Ive decided to go with one of the red car designs because it is a nicer look from behind and most likely look a lot cooler than the truck but i think the truck wheels would be easier to animate because they are more visible and would look more noticeable. If i come to this problem when filming with the red car i will change but for now i am going to draw out some rear end car designs and see what im definatly going with .
DP3GAM1F Tyler Harris's College Blog 