There's no such thing as silence

I'm currently sitting on my living room couch, and while its just me in the house, there is noise everywhere... I can hear the hum of my laptop.. one of the cats just jumped off a chair; a small thump as she landed.. cars are outside, their engines rumble past and dissipate into the distance.. a knocking sort of sound came from the neighbors next door.. its starting to rain.. there's a bird or some sort of high pitched noise outside as well.. the rain is making a noise similar to someone dragging their feet across the sidewalk.. the cat jumped again; she meowed.. i can hear my breathing.. slower now that i recognized it.. random clicks or creaks throughout the house.. could do with the heating or plumbing.. neighbors are running water.. i can hear someone walking.. the cat jumped again.. faint thud noise at the neighbors.. the couch creaked when i move my leg.. it's still raining.. faint knocking at the neighbors.. my keys make small clicking noises as i type... silence does not exist.

This was attempt number two for the stop motion animation. The first time I used pastels, but I didn't like how it looked because I couldn't change up the drawings from frame to frame very smoothly with how simple I wanted to keep the drawings. After trying and failing to use graphite (it's too reflective) I settled for technology's creation: erasable pens! They're pretty nifty. The pens allowed me to make smaller changes easily, so that really helped in the process. At a first look some people may not fully understand what my stop motion represents. Unfortunately, I don't have the talent to ever create something that would do the meaning justice. My stop motion is about losing my sister, Rachael. She died on December 29, 2012. It's all I really think about, so that's what came to mind when the assignment was given. It starts with a drop of water that drips down and is followed by other droplets that add to each other creating a large bubble-type mound of water. The surface tension expands and is meant to illustrate the emotional tension until it explodes, releasing all emotions. The bubble turns to rain, which could be interpreted as tears, and the raindrops fall to the ground. I had four raindrops morph into seeds as a transition. The four seeds represent me and my three sisters. The seeds grow into flowers and are together until a hand reaches down and takes one flower away. Without that fourth flower, the other three wilt and die, their remnants turning to ash. A breeze picks up and blows the ashes away. The last scene takes us to a girl sitting under a tree crying. She's holding the flower she picked. I didn't want to draw myself, so the girl represents my sisters and I. She's crying until the sun shines down on her and she looks up. I'm not religious, but I do want to believe that my sister is somewhere safe and she doesn't have to be in pain anymore. I desperately want to think that she's okay and she's happy. The sun acts as that "ray of hope" I'm looking for. The sun gets zoomed in on and the final word "breathe..." appears. Normally I tell myself that things will be okay, but losing her will never be okay. So I tell myself to breathe... because I have to stay calm and do my best. She was always so proud of me and I never want to let her down..

Storyboard

Welp, the story starts with a drop of water, whether it be a tear or raindrop.. it continues to drip, morphing into a ball/bubble of water. It pops and turns into rain, which allows sprouts to grow up from the ground. Four flowers grow and are together until a hand reaches down and picks one. The other three flowers wilt and die without the fourth flower, their remnants turning to ash. A breeze blows the ashes away. The breeze carries over to a tree where a girl sits with the flower she picked. She's crying until she looks up toward the sky; looking past the clouds, then to the sun. The sun gets zoomed in on and the final word "breathe..." appears.

Stop Motion Practice

mer.. this is me :s

Oh hey d'ere