Claymation advise

[jvgig]

I am preparing to do my final project for my film class and since I dont have access to a video camera outside of school, I want to try a claymation. The video will be between 5 and 6min long (1800-2200 frames) about a soldier who loses his limbs and struggles to regain normalcy.

I have done previous animation (drawn) at 6fps with decent results. Can I go that low for a claymation? I understand that it will not be completely fluid. Time is limited so I dont think I can do the standard 15fps and finish the project by May 15.

What type of clay should I get? I did a quick search of my local art store and found some modeling clay that says it never dries. Any experience with this stuff?

I will be using a digital camera on a tripod and editing in FCP.

Any other pieces of advice before I commit to this?

Thanks

[rattus]

maby these guys can help?
http://www.animateclay.com/
o look at that claywork...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YrnIVmayVM

[batcustard]

6 minutes of animation by may is crazy!
I'm not saying you can't do it, just that it will be incredibly difficult to do well.

[bleupencil]

Agreeing with Batcustard - way crazy... but good luck to ye.

I've only ever used Plasticine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasticine) for claymations I've worked on and it worked well enough, though it can get quite dirty by the end, with fingerprints and different coloured Plasticine, etc. See?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5frTWXR_bO4

[jvgig]

For my last project i did 3min of animation in about a month hand drawn on a chalk board. It was not professional quality by any means, but it was a good experience and was very well received by my class and teacher. I am in high school, so it is more of an introduction to film/video than a focused animation school.

With that in mind, i am doing a few tests and since I am keeping the majority of the animation to 1 character per scene, I can shoot about 100 frames in 20-30min which works out to about a frame every 20 seconds, about half the time i needed for my hand drawn animation. At that rate, 2200 frames works out to about 10 hours of work and allowing for the inevitable problems, I figure the project should take about 20 hours. I have 2hours of class time per day about 4 days/week to work on the project, so it seems very doable. I am currently debating between 6 and 10 fps. I like the fluidity of 10, but since this is my first and a mistake can mean starting the whole scene over, I do not know if I want to require that many consecutive frames. Any thoughts?

I did my original test with playdoh and that did not last long so I went out an got some modeling clay and wire and made a new character. However, the wire armature seems to be creeping its way out of the clay requiring me to stop and adjust it. Any solutions to this problem?

Thanks for the help

[Aaaamory]

I have heard that wrapping floral tape around the armature wire helps the clay to adhere to it better. That might help to keep it from wiggling its way out as often.

It's a good idea to keep cleaning your hands with baby wipes when you touch the different colors.

[jvgig]

I finished the video on time! I ened up with a little under 2,000 frames for a total length of 6:12 (including credits). I changed the concept from the intial. Any C&C would be greatly appreciated.

The Hand Print (http://vimeo.com/4878911)

EDIT: The video is up, please take a look.

Thanks