TechniquesThe technique used in Wallace and Grommit is claymation this is very clear due to the fact that we can see its made with nothing but clay and the way all the characters are very flexible with there movements and faces. Compared with wallis and gromit, Bagpuss is very much a objects and models animation. We can see this by the way that they are made and isn’t flexible at all, such as in Professors Yaffles case he is a wooden birds with only his beak and feet moving. An example is when he walks down the stairs to go look at the house. Another big difference in both of these animations are the lip syncing, in Bagpuss with a few exceptions non of the characters mouths open let alone sync with the voice and when they do open for characters such as bagpuss and professor Yaffle it just opens and closes while there is a voice over.

TechnologyThe technology Aardman Animation and Smallfilms have used in these shows and films are very different such as Bagpusses movement is very ‘jumpy’ and limited. A few reason why this was, was because it was made 40 years ago and the affordable technology and equipment wasn't a very good standard also because it was a kids TV and they wouldn’t

of been bothered with the smoothness of the movement of each character. While Wallace and Grommit is very different with a much more smooth movement like there its being film rather than taking frames of each movement. Another big difference is the facial expressions in the two different shows, such as there is not really any in Bagpuss due to the models faces not able to move and there is loads of expressions in every shot in Wallace and Grommit.

Genre and audience Both Aardman Animation and Small films products are very mainstream with very popular kids TV shows such as small films creating Ivor the Engine, The Clangers and Bagpuss. The age rating for these shows is a more of 4 to 8 age. While Aardman making shows like Wallace and Grommit, Shaun the Sheep and Flushed Away and there age rating is for 4 to 40 this is because the creators make content past the regular kids understanding in which adults could understand more than younger children.

Budget The budget for both of these companies are very different with Smallfilms having a very small budget of £2,000 for a series of 13 episodes while Wallace and Grommit on the other had a budget of £20,000,000. This shows by the way they make the camera shots, for Wallis and Grommit there are panning shots, close ups, and craning shots.

Place of ExhibitionThe places of exhibition for these two animations were Bugpuss was shown on TV and Wallace and Grommit was shown in the cinema

Stop Motion Essay Lee Dorney

A very early example of stop motion is Wladyslaw Starewicz, The Cameraman’s Revenge made in 1912 this is a very good but early Objects and Models animation which for that age was very well developed in the detail and smoothness. The audience for this animation would have to had been rich people or rich families. The reason for this is in those days cinema was a very expensive thing and only well of people went to it. The camera in this animation is static the whole way through but with different backgrounds to create different scenes. The FPS in the animation is is roughly about 7-12. This gives an explanation to why its so jumpy however this is expected with such an early example of stop motion and film as an industry itself. The lighting in the animation is very dim and changed colour dramatically I don't know why this is but im guessing its because the film has rot.

Compared with The Cameraman’s Revenge, King Kong is a much more developed film this might be because it was 21 years later and technology has enhanced. It also might be because there had a much bigger budget, King Kong's budget was £411,983 and therefor could spend more money on better equipment for animation. Due to there being no colour in films it was black and white throughout however the lighting in the film stayed consistent throughout. The reason why this animation is so different to the first is because they used ‘Back screen projections’ this is were the actors act in front of a screen where the projected background is. They would project King Kong which they made in pre production using clay this is a whole different animation compared with ‘The Cameraman’s Revenge’ due tot hat being objects and models and King Kong being claymation. Due to this also being very new you could see that it is obviously clay and the animation wasn’t as smooth. Compared with the animation before there is sound in the animation and also something different is there is sound synced with the film which overall impacts how we see the film and show realism and show more understanding of the characters. The set for most of this animation is in the background projections and only maybe one or two pieces of the set with the actors. The audience for this film would be mainstream film fan and this was at a time period where films was fair new as a mass media form, and the place were it would be shown in a cinema.

30 years later Ray Harryhausen created Jason and the Argonauts. This movie was also back screen projections but not in the same way King Kong was. Unlike King Kong were the actor acted in front of the screen, in Jason and the Argonauts they would film the actors fighting nothing and later on in the editing create clay monsters and put them over the footage. The impact this creates is that the actors looks flat due to being a projection. The budget for this was also once again bigger than the previous claymation blockbuster, the budget for the movie was £645,900. Because the actor were fighting the air in the film they would have to create the set or go to a location which differs from King Kong were they would film in a studio. Now that the technology is advancing the claymation is getting better and now the frames per second is getting closer to the 24 FPS that is film.

Star Wars Empire Strikes Back was the next big hit for animation with the battle for Hoth scene they budges for the movie was £11,620,800 which is over 10 times the amount of JATA and because of the amount of money they could get the nest technology for the

Stop Motion Essay Lee Dorney

time and it showed by the blending of the action and the robots in the same place and at the same time without a clear clue of how they did it. However after this CGI started taking over animation as the main special effect technique. In the Hoth scene the FPS haven't changed much but the they way they worked around it was by having the animation of robots or machines therefor they could get away with it being a little

jumpy. The genre for this movie would normally be sci-fi and would interest the ‘geek’ social class of people but due to this being such a big and successful movie it gained the interest of nearly everyone. This is backed up by the fact that it grossed £348,167,156.

Another two forms of animation are cut out animation and pixilation. Two good examples of each of these animations are cuts out’s, South Park, Monty Python and pixilations neighbors, and Peter Gabriel's sledgehammer. South park is quite clearly a cut out animation with the movement of their bodies just cut out and moved up and down however the ‘jumpy’ movement fits the shows and how it doesn't take it too seriously. There is no camera shake in the episodes due to having the camera static and only moving when panning or zooming or changing scene. The set in the show doesn’t move at all its only just a backdrop for the characters. the models they use in the show are the characters and they are just flat drawings. The sound in the the show is only the voice of each character. Another clear example of cut out is Monty Pythons killer car sketch this is the mots obvious example of cut out animation with it clearly signs that the car, people and backdrop are cutout, like south park the way they more the characters are moving them up and down, the FPS for the animation are also around the same rate as south park would be 12-15 FPS. Also similar the camera is static throughout the sketch apart form the change of scene and a zoom out when they are introducing the sketch. The set for the animation was just cut out scenery from london and the country side. Like the set the model were just cut out pieces of cars and group of people. The sound in the animation was mostly voice over and the voice over making the noises himself however their were a few examples of added sound such as when the eyeball is dropping. Neighbors was created in 1952 and it is a pixilation. The movement for the animation is quite smooth and would be around 13-16 FPS, The camera is static thought out the whole animation and only

changes when they go to a different shot. The set is very minimalistic with only two flat cardboard houses and later on some fences. the sound in the animation was a distorted sound which created the mood for that part of the animation. The second pixilation is Peter Gabriel's sledgehammer a music video, the movement for the animation is sped up quite a bit and because of that I can loosely guess the it is 27-37 FPS. The camera like in every animation I have talked about is static apart from when he is changing shot. the set in the animation was ever changing due to fit what is happening in the

animation. They used a lot of models in the animation are such as clay models, objects and this makes the video a mix of all animation. Because it is a music video the sound in the animation was the song he is singing.

Stop Motion Essay Lee Dorney