Sockenstein - Stop motion production

Our last assignment at university was to create a one minute short using stop motion animation. We were tasked with creating our sets for the animation and also the puppets, which used wire armatures. Below is a picture of the two main characters from the animation ('Tie Guy' on the left and 'Doc sock' on the right). We wanted the animation to have a very minimalist look & feel. To achieve this we used very simplistic materials and designs. This also help us from a production standpoint as well; as it meant we were able to spend less time creating our assets and more time focusing on the actual animation and final edit.

The two main characters were made from a couple of old socks and some other fabric. 'Doc Socks' lab coat was sewn together and the characters' button eyes were simply pinned on. We also used magnets on the bottom of the characters so that they wouldn't fall over during animation.

The set was created using a large roll of plain white paper. Set props were also made from paper and were held up with card and white tac, details on the props were drawn on using felt pens. The set proved particularly easy too light as it was entirely white, meaning the light bounced around. We decided not light the background of the set heavily so that we could get a gradient behind the characters. This made shots a lot more interesting.

We also created three other characters. Both being transformed version of 'Tie Guy' after he is experimented on by 'Doc Sock'. The characters were simply a loaf of bread, a plastic chicken and also a brick. We kept 'Tie Guy's' eyes on these characters so that the viewer realizes that it is still 'Tie Guy' after he has transformed. The characters didn't have armatures but fortunately they didn't require much animation. The animation itself was shot on ones at 24 frames per second. By the end of the film we had taken approximately 1440 pictures. I will post the finished animation in a few days.