Stop-Motion Music Video

1) Understanding Storyboarding

2) PROJECT 2: STOP-MOTION MUSIC VIDEO

2) PROJECT 2: STOP-MOTION MUSIC VIDEO

You have TEN classes to complete this project, plus whatever time you put in at lunch / after school.

The major project for this course is going to be a stop-motion music video!

The audio for you to use is an edited version of Mr. Scruff's Kalimba. Fun fact: the full track is found in the Sample Music folder of every computer shipped with Windows 7!

>>> HERE is a link to the .mp3 file you will use in your project. <<<

Your goal -- get ready for this -- is to take 136 photos that you will sync up to the beat of the song. 136 beats = 136 photos. That works out to 17 segments of 8 beats each.

You can also add an "intro" image and an "end" image at the beginning and end.

The final video will be just over a minute long.

You will use Adobe Premiere Pro CC to create your video project.

So.....where on earth do you start?

HOW TO CREATE YOUR PROJECT:

1) Brainstorm. A lot. Check out all of the examples at the bottom of this page.

2) Consider the total number of shots you will need, and decide on a few major shots / sequences. You will want to organize your shots in groups of 8 (the basic rhythmic loop heard in the music).

3) You need to create a storyboard for this project. Doesn't have to be fancy, just a guide to how your shots will be ordered. (See example above). Keep a paper copy of your storyboard, as you will need to show it to Mr. Burns before going out to shoot. You can always revise it later!

4) Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot some more! Be very careful about composition and be aware of how many shots you need per "scene". You really need to have this planned out fully before shooting. A tripod is highly recommended for consistency between shots!

5) You can always manually "try out" the pacing by scrolling through your images in Windows in time with the audio. Go back and re-shoot as necessary.

6) In Adobe Premiere, import the audio, create all of the markers (tutorial linked at bottom of page), and start inserting your images!

7) Export your video.

8) Upload your video (.mp4) directly to Classroom

9) Complete (fully) the rubric & questions then TURN IN.

5) Import the sound file by going to File > Import and selecting the .mp3 file. It will automatically be assigned to Audio Track 1 on your Timeline.

6) Time to add some Markers in Premiere. This will allow you later "snap" each photo to one of the markers. Your goal is to place a marker on every beat. To do this, play back the sound file (Spacebar) and tap the M key on every beat. You should see little yellow triangles appear above your timeline as you do this.

7) Listen to the sound file a few more times while zoomed in to your timeline (use the square sliders at the bottom of the timeline window to zoom in/out), and stop to manually adjust any of the yellow markers that are off the beat. You need this to be accurate before you continue!

8) Import your photos by going to File > Import, and selecting all of your desired images from their F:\ folder. Remember that Ctrl-clicking selects individual images within a folder and Shift-clicking selects a consecutive range of images within a folder. Ctrl-A typically selects ALL images in a folder.

9) In the lower left corner of your screen, click the PROJECT tab if it's not already visible. You should see thumbnail images for the pictures you just imported.

Select them all and DRAG them to the TIMELINE window (just to the right).

NOTE: If your images were not named/numbered in alphabetical/numerical order, you'll have to drag each image one at a time in the order you want.

10) Align each image with a marker (read below):

Remember that you can move all images at once by drawing a box around them in your Timeline (zoom out enough to see all of them), clicking and dragging.

You want to align the start of the first image with the first marker.

Afterwards, you can click on the edge of each image to drag it in a way that "snaps" it to each marker. This is very time-consuming, but if once you successfully align each image with a marker, your project should be in sync!

11) Add a title slide to start the project and you have the option of ending with another credits/end slide as well.

12) Once everything looks perfect, the final step is to render your video. If you just hand in a .pproj file, nobody else can view it as it requires the source files to be nearby. To render your video:

Go to File > Export > Media.

13) At the Export menu, change these two settings only:

14) Click on the blue file name next to "Output Name." Give your project a better title and select the proper folder to which to export it. Click EXPORT to render the video.

15) Upload your video (.mp4) directly to Classroom.

16) Complete the rubric and answer all the questions (including providing a summary of the plotline of your video) and then TURN IN.