Behind the Scenes

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Austen Henry-Biskup
Professor Evan Peterson
Writing and Analysis
April 1st, 2019
Behind the Scenes
Making this project was a harken back to my childhood when I would try to make stop motion films out of lego. In our class with Elissa where we looked at Muybridge and the birth of film, I was really interested in how he broke down the movements of different living things by taking multiple images as they moved. With this inspiration in mind, I was struggling to find a good idea that I could complete in the short time that we had. I was thinking about Muybridge and his stop motion while I was staring at my desk, when suddenly I realized while looking at the large assortment of toys laid out on my desk, that I could try to make a short film somewhat reminiscent of Pixar’s Toy Story. I don’t spend much time making films or working with videos, however with my little bit of experience in stop motion, I felt compelled to challenge myself.
Because My idea Combined stop motion animation and video segments, I felt like it was a feasible option. Combining the two mediums would be a nod to the development in filmmaking and an interesting challenge to flow between the two imagery styles. I wanted to challenge myself to make something more professional than I had in the past. I remembered that when working with stop motion it can be really difficult to eliminate shifting of the camera and of the figures and objects within the shot. I spent time researching and devising strategies to combat these issues, I found solutions like taping things in place, and always having the camera on a tripod at all times. I also restricted my filming time to when it was dark outside so that I could control my lighting throughout the film.
I titled the film Behind the Scenes because I wanted to have a fun imaginary story where the toys on my desk like to play with one another when I left the room. Having the focus of the film done in stop motion, I wanted to use what we learned in McCloud about different properties of storytelling through images. I wanted the majority of the film to have no speaking, so I used different transitions like subject to subject to effectively communicate the narrative of the story. I also used several iconographic imagery and sound effects that helped people identify the different characters with certain common tropes. Like for instance I used servo motor sounds for the movement of the characters so that people would identify them at robots.
In the end I was able to Complete a project that I am proud of. I had a couple students help me realize my vision, that know film better than I do. I was able to learn from them and intake valuable information. Going forward I am excited to work on more film projects, during this project I gained enough skill with Adobe Premiere, that I feel comfortable with the software.

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