I started my animation by taking reference of a ball bouncing and planning based on that, even though the subject of my drop was actually a cat. The idea was to have the cat bouncing like a ball, and also the cat is skittish and would have been very upset if I'd actually dropped him for reference. Since I was going to be in the animation, I had to have my boyfriend help me as the camera man. Using a Panasonic digital camera and a tri-pod I took pictures of myself holding the cat and then the position my hands would be in as he fell and I caught him. Next I had to animate the cat actually dropping. For that part I was going to lower him incrementally until he hit the ground, then lift him back up to my position, but my cat was too busy flailing to be a good model. I had to have my boyfriend animate the cat while I took pictures and directed because it was the only way that cat would sit still. To composite the pictures of me dropping the cat and the cat "falling" I had to erase the the background from all the frames with my cat and Photoshop the human hands holding him out. Once I had pictures of my cat on a transparent background, I overlayed his pictures on mine using Adobe After Effects, creating each unique frame. I promise no cats were harmed in the making of this animation!
I added a few frames to the apex because the animation seemed a little short. I think this one looks better.
In retrospect I wish part of my process would have been tidying up my room.
