‘Stop Motion Animation-An Urban Reflection’ by:
Serina Dabbah – Short term intervention artist
Serina, 20, is in her 3rd year of Design and Visual Communication at the German Jordanian University, who is interested in Animation and movie making.
Hanan El-Sukhon – Short term intervention artist
19-year old Hanan is currently, in her 3rd year at the German Jordanian University, majoring in Design and Visual Communication. “I have always been interested in art and music, as I considered them as a crucial part of my life.” she says.
(Picture above, from left: Hanan, and Serina, sits on the set of stairs where they worked on their stop motion video, along with photographer Omar Mossly, where also the children of Qala'a had created origami boats, fish and other maritime life with the guidance of Phil Essaber to serve as props.)
Many don’t understand how does stop motion work. May you elaborate and take us though it? And what kind of equipments do you need?
Serina: The Stop Motion is technique in animation which is making an object to move, where the object is moved in small increments linking individually photographed frames. This creates an illusion of movement when the sequence of frames is played in a continuous manner. About the equipments it’s important to have a good tripod and a camera.
Hanan: Its a technique that makes an object looks like it is being moved by itself. It is basically a method of taking as many pictures as possible of an object by a stable camera.
Urban Reflection is all about producing great art work, which [chapter 1] consists on the area you’re targeting, Jabal Al Qa’la, and the artists engaging with the area’s materials, verified from murals, multi-color use, still arts and conceptual arts. How does your project of video art and stop motion fit in all this?
Serina: They all fall under the category of art which Ch.1 is all about, only different ways of expressing it. There weren’t any limitations in Ch.1 the artists could do absolutely anything. Plus I thought it was a really good chance to introduce the whole stop motion art for the kids, I mean they now know what stop motion means.
Hanan: Our project would not have been completed without the help of the kids who had a major role such as folding the papers, in which our stop motion could not be done without these materials.
As we know, a good stop-motion should look like a movie. We noticed that you used inanimate objects as actors in the urban reflection film, are there any limit to what you can use?
Serina: By using stop motion your imagination is the only limit.
Hanan: In our opinion, all kinds of objects can be used in stop motion animation. It is not restricted into any specific object.
The program also consists on connecting artists with communities. Was it hard to engage the kids in the making/process, and what role did the play?
Serina: Not at all, actually I was really surprised by how they reacted and cooperated with us! The kids helped in the making of the stop motion as well as creating the origami and moving them along the stairs.
Hanan: They were very excited to participate in the project, as the environment was more into fun than completing the project itself. The kids themselves were proud of the work they have done and felt happy being part of the group, realizing their capabilities and completing their tasks. As mentioned above, the kids helped us in folding the papers and enriched the environment with joy.
You shoot the film in daylight and in public streets, and we know stop motion need stillness. So how did you manage the movement and with sun changing?
Serina: Well, I had a few problems with the sun changing but I fixed it in the editing process, as for the movement I didn’t really face a problem because I was using a tripod which keeps the camera stable and eliminate any camera-shake.
Hanan: Our work was in the afternoon, we tried to minimize it in few hours and to finish before the sun set. We tried to see all the changes through the lens of the camera. It was a bit difficult when people around got interested to know what we were doing and stopped by to find out what we were working on. Their shadows were reflected on the ground and consequently were captured by our cameras. In this matter, we tried to avoid their shadows as much as we could mainly by notifying them.
Watch Serina, Omar and Hanan’s stop motion video for An Urban Reflection, which the kids also watched and loved (here>)
Acknowledgments:
People who were also a viral part of the project, but My.Kali didn’t get the chance to view them nor their work are:
Sally Shalabi – Hamzet Wassel
Laila Demashqieh – workshop facilitator
Zoe Thrumston & Martha Wasserbauer – Interns
Phil Essaber – ‘Origami Dreams’
Ala’a samman and Rafic – Zakharef Lab
Omar Mossly – Stop motion video/photographer
Mlabbas – ‘Stay Clean’ (stencils)
British Council – ‘Outer Space’ graffiti project, facilitated by Stik
Shamekh El Bluwi – Al Qala’a Waterfall
The End
<Previous First Page>
– Make sure to stay updated on the group, An Urban Reflection’s latest news, projects and events on their official Facebook page (here>)