I've enjoyed stop-motion a lot over the past years, but I haven't been able to make a new video in almost a year. It's a real shame 'cause I know I'm more than capable of it and I can do lots of fancy visual effects that other people can't (or at least don't). I've had plans to make an episodic series, but it's only gone so far as a first draft. Since my last video I've also gotten a green screen and lego train tracks that can be used as a dolly, so there's so much I can do but just haven't had the time to. In the time between now and my last published video I have attempted to make more, but they never quite worked so they were never released. Maybe I'll post them here in an incomplete form.
I'm a bit nostalgic, in the sense that I like to make either nods or direct references to old LEGO themes. This is most obvious with my repeated use of the Brickster Bots from LEGO Island. I also like to use sound effects and songs taken straight out of old LEGO games.
Most of my videos were made for the LUCL in its prime, but that was years ago and now, looking back at them, I can see how far I've come. I mean, looking at my earliest compared to my latest (which is still nearly a year ago, mind you), I can see just how far I've come. Looking back at that first video, I'm actually completely embarrassed about the music - I randomly tried to make a rhythm on GarageBand, but because I was just using my computer keyboard it recorded it all laggy and I wasn't bothered to adjust the note lengths so it turned out horribly.
Here's the last video I've done, 'cause it was uploaded to the LUCL it has been disgustingly compressed.
http://universe.lego.com/en-us/community/creationlab/displaycreation.aspx?id=4fda2132-1bee-4578-858a-ac956975512fAnd here's my first stop-motion video for comparison:
http://universe.lego.com/en-us/community/creationlab/displaycreation.aspx?id=f5f78c8a-b941-4505-baa7-aa6eb392783dMaking a video has several steps, and I use different things for each of them.
For the picture taking, I use a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28. It's not a DSLR, but I can still manually adjust the focus and take photos in 16:9 (widescreen), so I don't have to do it later.
After importing the photos into iPhoto, I split the pictures up into scenes, and individually create an image sequence and export it as a .mov in 1080p in photoshop for each scene. I normally use 12-15 fps (I think I've been using 15 lately), but the Brickster Bot video had some 24 fps parts in it.
I do the editing in Final Cut Express, it allows me to use a lot more advanced and technical things, and it's a lot better than just using iMovie.
Sometimes I try doing visual effects in Adobe Flash, but now I try and avoid it because it normally results in a lower quality image and exporting the flash animation as a movie file will always leave unwanted marks similar to a digital TV with bad reception. I usually use FCE for effects now, but the bouncing boom box in the brickster bot video is a flash movie with a keyed out green background. If you look closely enough, you can see that the speakers individually get bigger and smaller, just like in LEGO Island 2.
Once it's finished in FCE, I export it out in its highest quality and then use iMovie to export it again for the web.
