Honors Project Proposal
After learning and experimenting slightly for the stop motion project that we recently began, I thought of the idea to make a stop motion film for my honors project. It would probably be about what inanimate objects do when people aren't around (Not toys, but random everyday things such as paper or books). I have decided that it will be a slight call back to fantasy rpg games. It will consist of an object (still undecided) that has to journey back to its original location before the human owning it comes back from a trip. I plan to have a long and arduous journey come from the environment, as different areas have different dangers. (i.e. a flooded sink could be like a treacherous lake to the object.)
Extra details
I've started the storyboard for the project, which I will probably add here in the near future. It consists of some inanimate object learning magic from another, larger object. It goes horribly wrong, and the smaller object ends up teleporting to another land (which is just the dining room table). It now has to somehow get back to his teacher, which leads to a journey through many lands (aka my house).
Honors ProjectThis is the video for the honors project. It's a stop motion film based around turn-based RPG games.
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Reflection (Honors Project)
This project was very interesting to me. I had decided to create a stop motion film since I actually really enjoyed the stop motion project that I did earlier in the year. The idea behind it was to have an object go on a journey, with heavy RPG turn-based video game elements throughout the journey. Most of that comes from the Final Fantasy game series, as they had a focus on turn-based combat. I had played that series for a long time now, so I thought it would be interesting and challenging to do a stop motion project around that series.
There were a lot of problems I had encountered in the project, though some of them being much larger. I had procrastinated heavily, giving me less time to finish it. Some of the audio I used would disappear, though I would still be able to fix it. Getting some of the props to stay still in certain scenes was difficult. The backgrounds would move often due to shadows and other people suddenly appearing in some frames. Inserting menus and special effects was also difficult to do, as Adobe After Effects seemed to take three lifetimes to load.
There are quite a few parts of the project I would love to change, such as the menus that would appear in battles. I would make them look more detailed. I would also zoom out some of the close up shots to have room for the menus. I would take more time telling a story with the characters. I would probably try to improve some of the effects as well, to help make it more interesting for people unfamiliar with Final Fantasy or turn-based games in general. I might even change the story quite a bit if I ever decide to revisit this project.
Overall, I enjoyed the project despite the challenges that were presented. It helped me learn lessons, like not procrastinating and taking several shots to get a desired shot. It also helped me learn a lot more about using Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. After Effects in particular was a mystery to me before creating this project. In the end, I'm glad that I had chosen to do a project like this, as the lessons it imparted to me will help me in the future.
There were a lot of problems I had encountered in the project, though some of them being much larger. I had procrastinated heavily, giving me less time to finish it. Some of the audio I used would disappear, though I would still be able to fix it. Getting some of the props to stay still in certain scenes was difficult. The backgrounds would move often due to shadows and other people suddenly appearing in some frames. Inserting menus and special effects was also difficult to do, as Adobe After Effects seemed to take three lifetimes to load.
There are quite a few parts of the project I would love to change, such as the menus that would appear in battles. I would make them look more detailed. I would also zoom out some of the close up shots to have room for the menus. I would take more time telling a story with the characters. I would probably try to improve some of the effects as well, to help make it more interesting for people unfamiliar with Final Fantasy or turn-based games in general. I might even change the story quite a bit if I ever decide to revisit this project.
Overall, I enjoyed the project despite the challenges that were presented. It helped me learn lessons, like not procrastinating and taking several shots to get a desired shot. It also helped me learn a lot more about using Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. After Effects in particular was a mystery to me before creating this project. In the end, I'm glad that I had chosen to do a project like this, as the lessons it imparted to me will help me in the future.