Stop-Motion Mayhem

   So unfortunately I said I would finish two videos for Charlene. And I only finished one. But don't worry, the second video will be ready soon. Check it out:

   I think this video is pretty cool. But it took me a whopping... get ready for this... 5 hours to make. 4.5 hours for the taking pictures. And 30 minutes to do all the stuff in Post-Production.

   The process of making a stop-motion is very simple to do but it requires, patience, a steady hand, and an eye for detail. Almost like painting the mona lisa.
   Here are the tools I used for taking the pictures:

Hardware:

• Macbook Pro  13"
• Logitech C910 1080p Webcam*

Software:

• Photo Booth
• Final Cut Pro X**

Here are the Steps:

1. Before I took any pictures in Photo Booth, I made sure that the images were automatically flipped, so that when we do the word in taking the pictures, the image doesn't look backward.
2. Then I took the pictures and, VERY CAREFULLY, moved the objects until I had enough pictures.^ Now I can't take all the credit for this part because a friend of mine moved the lego's around. Check him out here.
3. After that I imported the images and place them into the timeline.
4. Then I export the video to turn the entire sequence of images into a single video.
5. Then I reimported the video and put markers in where I wanted the titles. I'm Hungry, Time to go home, etc.
6. I google searched an image reference to make my image in photoshop and have made it downloadable for you guys. Click Here.
7. I duplicated the PSD file and then typed in what I wanted each one to say.
8. I imported them into FCPX and then applied a plug in for the video called Alex4D Aged Film
9. Then for my "Jitter" I set it to 0.21, and for my "Saturation" I set it to -100

And I'm Done. The final product is what you see above.

* I know what some of you Apple guys are wondering. "If I have a webcam built in, why would I need an external?" This is because the internal camera only takes 1280 x 720 images. This webcam can take 1920 x 1080p images. Allowing me to make a Full HD video.
** It's not as bad as people say it was. Like I said, it only took me 30 minutes to Import, Edit, and Export the images and turn them into a film.
^ Now for this project I wanted to make the video 24 fps (frames per second), and I wanted each image to last two frames. This means that for every second of video there is, there are 12 images in it. adding up to a total of 500 images taken.