THE BASIC FILMMAKING SETUP |
| Camera: - A motion picture camera must have two features before you can animate with it. First, it must have the capability to make single-frame exposures, usually done by means of a cable release, a device those screws into the camera's trigger and allows the operator to release one frame at a time, as opposed to shooting the camera at full, live-action speed. An animation camera must also have a lens that can be focused on a relatively small field; 8 & 1/2 by 10 inches is a working minimum, although some techniques will not require a field this small. Usually all motion picture camera lenses will take an auxiliary close - up lens or a diaper. Zoom lenses are almost standard on today's inexpensive movie cameras. Having one built in or being able to mount a zoom on your camera will be helpful for various techniques in animation, although it's not essential. Tripods and Animation Standards: - Common to every technique in animation is this inflexible requirement: The camera must be held in exactly the same position throughout the filming of a sequence. |
FILM FORMATS |
| A s an independent animator, you have a choice of two production formats: 16mm and super 8mm. The following is a basic analysis of the similarities and differences between them. Incidentally, the word "format" is given a broad meaning here. It includes the film stock, film equipments, and even process of filmmaking. In other words, format is an entire system for filmmaking. Selecting one of these two production systems is one of the most important decisions you will have to make. Film Gauge: - This refers to the actual physical makeup of what goes through the camera - the film stock. Paragraphs of discursive prose won't as clear a definition. Image Area: - The actual projected "image area" on 16mm film has three and a half times as much area within a single frame as that of the super 8mm image. The proportions of the frame's rectangle are the same in both gauges - horizontal to vertical dimensions form a proportion of roughly 4 to3. |
HOW TO CHOOSE BETWEEN FORMATS |
| If all beginning animators were forced to select between super 8mm and 16mm production, or between a full-blown Mac and PC workstation, they'd face a confusing barrage of offsetting factors and conflicting recommendations. For digital animators, arriving at the computer store with a fat bankroll wouldn't help either, because that just increases the bewildering array of choices. Fortunately, few neophyte animators ever face such decisions. For most of us, it's not which format to go with but rather how to get going at all. Polemics are replaced with pragmatics. You use what you can afford and what you can get your hands on. If you are faced with the decision of whether to working in film or digital format, trust your own common sense. Ask yourself the following questions: What is Available? If you already have a computer, check out what it will take to purchase the software and hardware required to start the animation. If you can get your hand on some filmmaking equipment, you should certainly try to build your exploration of animation around that equipment - regardless of it being 16mm or Super 8mm format. Snoop around to see what tools are available. Can you con someone into letting you borrow their gear? How Much Do You Want to Spend? Money matters. Take a cold, hard look at what you can comfortably invest in your passion to animate. Computer hardware should help you develop a rough working budget for whatever kind of film or computer project you have in mind. What Kind of Animation Will You Be Doing? Sometimes a decision on format can be made by choosing the start of cartoon you want to make. If it's frame-by-frame drawing techniques that hold your fascination, then filmmaking techniques are the way to go. On the other hand, if you want to still photographs to weave a montage with rich effects and dense visuals, then you will want to move directly to the computer. Who Will Be Seeing Your Work? The advent of home video and computer technology has provided exciting new distribution potential. Now almost anyone can produce cartoons and share them with others, either on videotape or as digital files sent between computers. The future seems to hold great possibilities for compressing cartoons and sending them over the internet. CD-ROMs - and their next DVD generation - will help expand your audience. Unless you are satisfied screening your work for a limited number of people (fellow students, for example), film technology can no longer be looked to as a good distribution medium. The 16mm film distributors who flourished when this note was first written have mostly gone out of business and few institutions or individuals own and operate Super 8mm or 16mm projectors. Certainly the most universal way to circulate your work is by transferring it from either film or computer to VHS video. |
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