Walsh-O-Matic

Cute Toy Truck

2012-01-05T09:16:00.000-05:00

On topic of making toys, I made this for my son over the Christmas holidays. It's not from the toy book I just posted, I just "winged it".

It was very fun (and super easy) to make. I just used scrap wood, some dowel, and some store-bought wooden wheels (got the wheels at Michael's Craft).The tools I used were a drill press (to make the holes for the axle, and the hole for the exhaust pipe), a vice, a coping saw, and some sandpaper.

I used professional wood glue to glue the cab piece on to the body, and I used 2 sizes of dowel- one for the axles themselves, and one for the exhaust pipe.The most fun was the paint job. I just used acrylic paint (didn't bother priming the wood, just went for it), and used a hair dryer to speed up drying so I could get multiple coats done.

When it was all finished I used two coats of an acrylic gloss finish, to protect and give it that "new truck" shine. My son's been playing with it for about a week now, and if it can stand up to a week of his bashing and crashing, I consider it a success.

It was really fun giving it to him at the breakfast table that morning- I love the feeling of making him happy with something I made myself. That being said, I also enjoy playing car racing games with him on the PS3!

Book On Making Old Fashioned Toys

2012-01-05T08:58:00.000-05:00

I have a little shop out in my garage, as well as a small work room in the basement. I enjoy working away on projects, sometimes for myself, and sometimes for my son.I recently came across this book:

It's got a lot of fun projects, that really are simple, and charming. If you've ever wondered how to make a Balancing Man, a Skyhook, or a Floating Ball, then this is the book for you. It's laid out very nicely too, with a nice mix of historical illustrations of the toys and games, as well as more modern but tasteful illustrations of how to make the stuff.Well, I'm off to make a Bullroarer, wish me luck. If you are in Canada, you can buy it here.

Ben Whitehouse- Stop Motion Artist

2011-12-26T09:15:00.002-05:00

I've just discovered the work (and blog) of UK stop motion junkie, Ben Whitehouse.

You can see his great work here.

He does extremely charming and appealing work, with lots of "how to" stuff to boot.

Enjoy!

NEW Mad Monster Party Book

2011-12-25T13:00:00.003-05:00

I'm back, after taking an extended break from the land of bloggin'.

Facebook, through its ability to post info and links so quickly, has been the place I've been posting stuff lately. But a blog allows for a more in-depth look into topics, and I've started to miss that a bit.

And, when I look back at all my entries- gosh darn it, I've got quite a bit of information here, including interviews and profiles of all kinds of things, so I want to continue to nurture that.

And what better way is there to come back to this blog then by showcasing a brand new book that is sure to appeal to ANY fan of puppets, monsters, and generally cool stuff:

MAD MONSTER PARTY, by Rick Goldschmidt. It's a great tribute to the memorable Rankin-Bass stop motion feature from 1967. Rick has filled the book with lots of great photos and press images, the script from the film, music and lyrics from the songs, and all kinds of neat stuff that I'd never seen before. It's a must for fans.

You can order the book directly from Rick Goldschmidt here.

Proud Teacher Moments

2011-03-10T16:21:00.004-05:00

When I started formally teaching about 5 years ago, I couldn't have known that part of the satisfaction of that job would be seeing the success former students go on to achieve.

So here's another "proud teacher moment."

Annecy is a huge festival, VERY hard to get into, and a student I worked very closely with has made it in. I'm so proud!

Read all about Carla Veldman's accomplishment here.

Stay Inspired

2011-01-28T00:51:00.002-05:00

I'm finding it really hard to post on my blog lately. Life has sort of moved me into the direction of living in the world, but not blogging about it.

I've got lots of exciting stuff happening in terms of animation projects, but it's hard to find time to tend to everything (this blog being one of those things that is suffering a bit).

And life stuff (non-animation) is throwing massive stuff my way, as well...

If you follow this, or if you check in semi-regularly, I really do thank you. I'll keep trying to update things.

In the meantime, go learn more about and/or watch more of this guy's stuff, preferably with a little kid:

No matter what, go out and make something you love, with your own two hands, and show it to someone. Preferably someone you love.

Kevin Parry and Tim Burton

2010-11-30T19:48:00.005-05:00

I had a super proud teacher moment last week.

Tim Burton has a major show (of his art in general) opening in Toronto. He was in town to promote it.

Kevin Parry graduated from Sheridan's Animation program last year, with his short film The Arctic Circle.

Kevin and his film were selected (along with other student films from around the Toronto area) to show his film to Burton and have a conversation around it.

Burton honestly digs his film, it's really nice to see.

Tim Burton on The Arctic Circle and Stop-Motion Animation from Kevin Parry on Vimeo.

More Exposure For My Zombie Flick

2010-11-10T21:33:00.003-05:00

Happy to discover that Canadian Animation Resources has profiled my 30 seconds of zombie-ness.

You can read the wee article (and watch the movie again) here.

"Medium Hard Puppet Making"

2010-11-08T20:39:00.008-05:00

Today I did a lecture on "medium hard puppet making".

"Easy puppet making" is taking a bit of epoxy and mixing it with armature wire.

"Medium hard puppet making" is still pretty easy (with practice), doesn't require any power tools, and gives you quite nice results.

"Hard"- cutting your own aluminum armatures (need a few power tools, and quite a bit of precision)

"Silly Hard"- making stainless steel ball-and-socket armatures (good ones). Why bother unless you're planning to be a pro puppet maker? Or are just really into metal work. If you need a ball and socket armature, buy it.

Anyway, here's a few pics of a semi-finished puppet:

And here's two images of the how-to: drawing him to scale, then on another piece of paper "light box" him around his edges, and then use that to draw in your armature of wire and epoxy, and make that armature (always working to scale)...

Movember

2010-11-06T18:43:00.005-04:00

The month of November is Prostate Awareness Month, aka Movember.

My friend Mike Weiss made this very appropriate video a few months ago, not specifically for Movember, but it sure works!

Enjoy (and get your prostate checked, if you have one- only you know for sure).

Beardimation from DeliciousNougat on Vimeo.

Fangoria Digs My Film

2010-11-03T20:21:00.004-04:00

Super pleased that world-renowned horror magazine Fangoria did a flattering piece on my stop motion zombie film. This magazine (in case you don't know) has been around for years, has been a huge inspiration for countless filmmakers, and is known around the globe.

You can read the piece and watch the film here.

Such great exposure, it's really encouraging for me. It really makes me want to keep working on my own stuff...

Thanks, Fango!

Happy Halloween!!!

2010-10-31T21:07:00.001-04:00

Here's the holiday, from our home...

Halloween 2010 from Chris Walsh on Vimeo.

A Halloween Visitor

2010-10-29T11:08:00.006-04:00

Cooked up a new addition to my Halloween decorations. I call this guy "The Creeper" cause he likes to creep up behind you and go "Boo!" Then he runs away into the night, giggling. What a creep.

I bought a hard foam skull, added paper mache, some plastic eyes, a paint job, and a wig.

And here he is properly lit and staged...

And here's a little video (I use some music called "Haunted Nursery" by Midnight Syndicate).

The Creeper from Chris Walsh on Vimeo.

Rise of The Living Corpse

2010-10-22T07:08:00.003-04:00

My zombie film continues to spread across the horror film festival landscape.

It will be playing as part of the Dark Carnival Film Festival, in Bloomington, Indiana.

I hadn't posted it online at first, so that it retained a bit of an "exclusive" nature for traditional (terrestrial?) film festivals. Now that the film has played around a bit, AND since it's Halloween, I've decided to make it public.

I hope you enjoy it, it sure was fun to make. Zombie puppets are WAY too much fun to make.

Please spread it around via all those social network thingies...

Rise of The Living Corpse from Chris Walsh on Vimeo.

First Animation with Nate

2010-10-02T14:51:00.000-04:00

Shot this earlier today. The music is by The Heavy.

Nate's First Animation from Chris Walsh on Vimeo.

Hand Puppet Fun

2010-10-02T14:44:00.001-04:00

I shot this early last summer. Great fun, figuring out how to direct Nate in a way he could handle (being just 2 years old), AND manage a puppet and shoot at the same time!

A Day In The Life of Nate and Lion from Chris Walsh on Vimeo.

Another Festival

2010-08-26T20:49:00.003-04:00

Happy to report I just got word that my zombie film "Rise of The Living Corpse" has just been accepted to another festival. This one is the Maelstrom International Fantastic Festival, in Seattle.

I'm now 5 for 6 on festivals I've heard back from... it's the best average I've ever had on a short film, to be honest. Funny how you learn as you go (and keep learning). From this high percentage of acceptances at horror festivals (as opposed to animation festivals) it makes me think of the age-old saying: "Give 'em what they want."

It seems that what "they" want is my horror films (not that this short is truly a horror film in any graphic sense, it's actually totally G-rated). And if "they" are wanting that, perhaps that is what I should keep giving them.

It's an interesting approach for an indie animator to consider- create genre or niche films that appeal to a specific audience, but do it in animation.

Anything to be different, I guess.

My New Animated Films

2010-08-24T15:20:00.005-04:00

This past spring, I finished two stop motion shorts.

The first is called True Family Story, and I've blogged about it quite a bit since I started it nearly two years ago. I'm proud of it, especially the pacing and tone, both of which I feel are light and energetic.

I've only had the energy to send to exactly ONE festival, and that's Ottawa. They turned it down.

I will send it to more fests just as soon as I can gather the energy. It's my own fault- all this energy spent to create the film... then no energy left to send it out there. But it's a solid little film (despite what the Ottawa fest thinks), and I think it will have a pretty good shelf life, so I'll get it out there asap.

Here's a couple of pics of the DVD jacket. The jacket was largely designed by the every-talented Carla Veldman, who was a remarkable assistant through the entire production.

The second little film is called Rise of The Living Corpse. Who doesn't like zombies? Who doesn't like zombie stop motion films?

It's just 30 seconds long, and for THIS film I've actually sent it out to quite a few festivals. It's interesting- because it's a genre film (horror, obviously) that sort of "doubles" the number of fests I can reasonably send it to: horror fests, and animation fests.

And- since most horror fests get live action stuff, and "serious" stuff at that, a 30 second animated comedy stands out to programmers. As a result, I'm happy to say that of the 5 festivals I've heard back from so far, it's been accepted at 4 (with Toronto's After Dark Festival being the silly monkeys that turned it down).

The wise festivals so far include: Fantastic Fest in Austin, Oklahoma Horror Film Festival, Fright Night Festival in Kentucky, and the Chicago Horror Film Festival.

Oh, Ottawa also turned THIS film down as well.

Here's a few pics of the DVD (again, with design tackled by Carla Veldman).

I'm being pretty stingy on posting clips from either film. I kind of like the idea of being exclusive for a little while, with the films only going to fests. I'll post clips (and perhaps eventually the whole films) in the future.

I'll also probably look for some formal distribution, not to make money through, but in my experience it just adds to one's professional reputation to have a 3rd party handle the film.

Or- I'll keep them to myself for distribution and promote it myself exclusively so I can use the films to push my own "brand".

Time will tell...

Back In Action

2010-08-24T15:10:00.004-04:00

It's been ages since I've posted. A lot has been going on in the "real world" that has found me with no time or energy for the virtual world.

The main thing has been moving my family to a new town. Essentially, the past six months of our lives have been taken up by "moving" in some way- looking for a new home, buying a new home, prepping our old home to sell, then selling that old home, then moving into our new home.

The past two months have been especially intense. Once we got possession of the new house, we had some pretty major renovations to tackle, while also packing to move out of the old house. Then once into the new house, it's been madness just trying get some boxes unpacked and live a semi-normal life.

The good news is that the move has truly been "life-changing" in a very real (and very positive) way. We love our new home, our new hood, our new town, and it's SO good for our son. He now has heaps of grass to run on, parks and fields to play in, a stellar library to get smart in, and his very own PLAY ROOM. That is, a room dedicated to (you guessed it) playing. It's a room he'll be able to grow with, a room to be himself, to have fun, to just be a kid.

And personally, I'm really looking forward to this winter, when I plan to do some fun mural monsters for him.

My son isn't the only one with play space. I also get my "own room". And for lack of a better name I'll call it my studio.

The little room is humble, it's a mess for now, but it's big enough to "make stuff" in, and that's enough.

A New Home

2010-07-20T21:56:00.002-04:00

I've not been posting at all these last weeks, as I've been completely overwhelmed moving my family to our new home just outside Toronto. We're very happy (I can see the stars at night), and I'm even going to manage to have studio space right at home now. But it's been hectic to say the least.

When you can barely remember where you've packed your toothbrush, it makes it pretty hard to focus on updating a blog. But when life settles, I will be back.

I'm not feeling too guilty about not updating- in the past months I've finished not one but two stop motion shorts, both of which are in the process of being submitted to lots of festivals, and I've contributed a lot of work on yet a third. So creatively things are good. I just need to settle my home life. I'll expand on the film projects at a later date.

I hope you keep checking back, and thanks for checking in. Regular broadcasting WILL resume in time...

Near The Egress

2010-06-19T08:18:00.001-04:00

A stunning film.

Near the Egress from antonio martinez on Vimeo.

TAIS New Works Screening

2010-06-18T12:46:00.004-04:00

TAIS (Toronto Animated Image Society) is having an exciting event. If you're in the Toronto area, and want to see what is hot/fresh/new in indie animation, check this out. Pals (and fellow stop motion filmmakers) Mike Weiss and Marc Beurteaux have works in the showing (although I don't think either films are exclusively stop mo!), and recent Sheridan grad Kevin Parry will be showing his stop motion graduation film Arctic Circle (a superb film, student or otherwise). I'm planning to be there, you should too.

I will past the details below:

You are cordially invited to join TAIS for an evening celebrating the best new animations from Toronto and beyond! Short animated films of all styles and genres will be screened, along with entries from our animated jam session, the Aqua Jam. We’ll also screen the cameraless animations created over the year at our monthly Incubator sessions. Awards and reception will follow screening. An event not to be missed! Come out and support your local animation scene.

TAIS ANIMATION SHOWCASE
THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010
7:30 PM; doors open at 7:00 PM
At the TRANZAC CLUB (292 Brunswick Avenue – off Bloor St. near Bathurst St.)
$8 general admission; $6 for TAIS members

Program includes:
"The Orange" by Nick Fox-Gieg
"Everybody" by Steve Reinke & Jessie Mott
“Weenie Wagon Woe” by Willy Ashworth
"I Need an Escape Plan" by Julie Doucet & Anne-Françoise Jacques
"Beneath the Eye of Time" by Madi Piller
"Recipe" by Martha Griffith
"Birth" by Signe Baumane
"Amoeba" by Patrick Jenkins
"The Animator" by Marc Beurteaux
"The Arctic Circle" by Kevin Parry
"Heavenly Bodies" by Mike Weiss
"Nukie Goes Bonkers" by Jonathan Amitay
"William's Creatures" by Pasquale La Montagna
... And so much more!

With installations:
"Thalé" by Barry Doupé
"A Typical Morning for Green and Blue" by Andrew James Paterson

Montreal Stop Motion Year 2

2010-06-07T21:32:00.004-04:00

Great news, Eric Goulet is heading up year 2 of his festival in beautiful Montreal. This is an important festival for the community of stop motion, so it really needs support (and entries)... Here's what Eric is saying:

The 2010 Montreal Stop-Motion Film Festival: Call for entries!

Montreal, 8th of June 2010: We are back!

Hot on the heels of the hugely successful first edition of the Montreal Stop Motion Film Festival, we are officially opening the Call for Entries for 2010.

www.StopMotionMontreal.com

To enter your film in the festival, download a submission form, fill it out, and send it, along with your film.

Deadline for film submissions is: September 10, 2010.

Please refer to the entries section on our website for answers to any questions you might have concerning eligibility, dates, accepted formats, and new rules.

This year, the professional segment has been updated with a new category for films-commercials less than 1 minute in running time and we will have more guest appearance during this week-end long event that promises to be super cool!

The festival will be held in Montreal, from the 29th to the 31st of October 2010

Help us spread the word and tell all your Stop Motion friends to participate and join us for the coolest festival around!

Cinematographically yours,

Erik H. Goulet
Director
info@stopmotionmontreal.com

2D Glasses

2010-05-31T14:21:00.001-04:00

I would be first in line to buy a pair.

Lost Madness Summed Up

2010-05-26T21:45:00.003-04:00

I'm going to let this great link speak for me.

By the way, the creators of the show missed a great chance on the final episode. As we see the name of the show floating up at us, out of the darkness, it should have read:

"LAST".

Come on... genius. I credit my lovey wife for that one. Thank you, dear.

Blur Test

2010-05-26T20:44:00.004-04:00

Here's a quick test, as I continue to work on the Kaj Pindal train project (see my earlier post).

Untitled from Chris Walsh on Vimeo.

It was done using Dragon software, and the Canon Rebel T1. The result certainly is interesting, and implies a lot of creative uses in stop motion. Frame blurring or motion blur is typically lacking in stop motion. That's because one moves the puppet... takes an exposure. Then you move the puppet again... take an exposure. So the puppet is in a static position when each frame is taken. There is simply no movement to blur.

In live action, there are actual frames of film that are blurs of movement, when something moves quickly. And in traditional animation, the animator actually draws blurred frames. This lends the work a real sense of life, that can be realistic, or wildly stylized. But in stop motion, it tends to not exist.

But if you have a camera that can do a timed exposure (such as the Rebel can do, when working via Dragon), you can actually move the puppet while the exposure is being taken, giving blur.

In this test, the blurring is wild and extreme. If I did further tests, I'd use the technique more sparingly to see how it looks. What's curious (for camera nerds) is that for the first few frames of the test, there is very little depth of field. That's cause I was using a rather quick exposure time, to just get the held frames shot- around 1/8th of a second, at f5.6 (ISO 200). But just as the blurring frames start, you'll notice the depth of field greatly increases (most evident in the bg train). That's cause I had switched the camera setting to a 4 second exposure, and had to stop down to approx. f22 (still at ISO 200) to maintain consistent exposure.

This massive stopping down (from 5.6 to 22) greatly increased the depth of field. So it's neat to see a principle of lenses and optics (in this case: a smaller aperature increases the depth of field)so clearly at work.

Then, once the blurring frames were done, I switched BACK to 1/8th shutter and f5.6 (so as to quickly grab the frames, since they were just held frames) and you see the depth of field go back to how shallow it was in the first frames.

There's ways to reduce this visible shift in depth of field, namely I could have shot at a much higher ISO, which would have let my timed exposures be much shorter, and my f stop change be not nearly as dramatic. Or- I could have shot ALL the frames at the one timing exposure setting (in other words, set it and forget it, instead of shifting things on the fly). But hey- it's just test 01 of potentially dozens...

I'm very much enjoying the combo of Dragon and the fully manual DSLR for stop motion. I love being able to control all these attributes, something that was very difficult if not impossible in earlier "camera/software" stop mo setups.

Dragon really makes it simple, and easy. If you know your principles of lenses and optics, you can get to work making fabu stuff... fast.

NERD NOTE: As much as this is nice to do some fancy motion blurs here in 2010, check the video below. It's from The Mascot, by Ladislas Starevich. Shot in 1934.

Watch towards the end of this clip, as the animals jump around within the box. There's blurring there (and more in later clips, if you watch). And some wonderfully convincing rear-projection live action footage, as well!

Yet another reason why for my money Starevich is pretty much the tops in terms of stop motion historical figures. He did most of his stuff on his own, essentially at the same calibre as what was happening in Hollywood at the time (can say King Kong?), and did it all on a much smaller budget. And with far more charm (in my opinion).

TV Drama As Art

2010-05-25T07:30:00.002-04:00

Now that Lost is done, I highly recommend you turn to The Wire as the next TV series to sink your teeth into.

It's a very different show (sorry no smoke monster, just gritty cop drama on the streets of Baltimore), and where Lost starts story lines it can't finish, (and as a result disrespects the audience deeply), The Wire delivers, throughout.

The entire series of The Wire is available to rent/buy and I can confidently say it is hands-down the finest TV drama I have ever watched.

On the topic of TV art, here's an insightful article for those of you that savour drifting blissfully into a long-term TV world...

Kaj Pindal Train Film

2010-05-19T23:15:00.001-04:00

I'm currently in production (on a co-production), with none other than Mr. Kaj Pindal, world famous animator. It's a film that features toy trains, brought to life through stop motion animation.

The concept is Kaj's, the trains are Kaj's... I'm providing some further creative insights, and my stop motion skills.

It's also a chance for us to test drive the studio's new HD set up that is running the Canon Rebel and Dragon.

The finished film will be about 3 minutes long, will be set to a lovely piece of music (a popular Danish tune from the mid 1800s), and will entertain both young and old. That's all I will say for now.

When will it be done? When it's done (I like Kaj's style towards release dates!)

I'll post updates on occasion. Here's a clip to get started:

KajPindalTrainFilm_Day1 from Chris Walsh on Vimeo.

I'll update the project occasionally, but here's a video to get it started. It was a great first day. We had recent grad (and super talented artist) Carla Veldman, Kaj himself, and our studio's technology guru Aldines Zapparoli, all grooving away.

It's a rare thing when you can get together a core group of talented and awesome people, of all ages (!) to make something exciting. And if you can listen to vintage jazz music at the same time, well... I think you've died and gone to heaven.

If only every work day could play out like this!

Exciting News For Cuppa Coffee

2010-05-19T20:58:00.002-04:00

Great news for Cuppa Coffee Animation, and for stop motion in general.

Click here to read the press release.

Neat Home Made Amplifier

2010-05-02T09:00:00.003-04:00

Stop motion people tend to enjoy messing and modifying and remixing things, sometimes just for fun. Other times it's to achieve something for a project. Often it's for BOTH reasons- it's fun, and it gets the job done.

Here's a very simple and elegant little thing- a way to amplify (and then distort if you want) just about any sound you can tape the unit on to.

For some reason youtube is being difficult when it comes to embedding, and is cropping clips off. Is that a way to make people have to go to the actual youtube site to watch clips properly, as a way of getting more eyes on to youtube ads, so as to generate more $ for youtube.

Or maybe I'm just cynical about giant money-making entities. Anyway:

You can see the original stop motion blog this clip comes from, by clicking here.

Mike Weiss-Gentle and Twisted

2010-05-01T06:50:00.004-04:00

Mike Weiss is a Toronto animator, story board artist, and all around funny chap.

Somehow, he continues to find the time to keep making excellent independent work. His sense of timing in his animation is always frame-perfect, and his sense of humour is gentle, but delightfully twisted at the same time.

Be sure to watch all his films at this link.

Here's one every grown man has dreamt of making- a dance club mix featuring facial hair animation.

Enjoy!

Beardimation from DeliciousNougat on Vimeo.

Stop Motion by Barry Purves

2010-04-28T19:45:00.004-04:00

So I received a delightful surprise in the mail today. An advanced copy (I think that's what you call it when it's not on the stands yet) of Barry Purves new book, simply called "Stop Motion".

It's a beautifully designed book, laid out wonderfully, with great care. Super nice to simply hold in your hands. And as expected the content is fantastic. Purves has such a great writing style. It's passionate, assumes an intelligent reader, and never hesitates to take the metaphysical aspects of the medium seriously. I'm also very proud to say I have a total of three images from my own films in the book. I'm super excited to be amongst so many legends of the medium, and thanks to Barry who supports indie productions as much as (if not more than) big studio stuff.

Anyone who has breathed life into a puppet through stop motion can attest- something magical happens, something mysterious and deeply rooted in what it means to be human, the moment one lays hands on the object to be animated. Purves feels this deeply, and explores it. No other author's stop mo "how to" books do this, and it's vital to understanding the medium deeply.

You can pre-order it here.

Higglety-Pigglety Pop! - Update

2010-04-27T23:35:00.006-04:00

From the creators of Madame Tutli- Putli comes this adaptation of the Maurice Sendak book. It's available on the Blue-Ray of Where The Wild Things Are (but not the dvd, so us poor schmucks are out of luck).

You can see clips here.

It features some wonderful puppet work (from what I've seen from these clips), and good on the NFB for working with a major studio (Warner) to create something artistically distinctive, but at the same time commercially oriented.

It was created in part through Concordia University in Montreal, through an Intern project. It's an exciting thing to see an educational institute strive to work with industry to create significant work. I'm personally a very big fan of schools reaching out to industry to forge stronger ties. It really helps industry, the school, and most importantly students.

Adam Pockaj-4th Year Film- Carol of The Elves

2010-04-26T19:42:00.002-04:00

Another Sheridan graduation film.

Very twisted and funny story, excellent action sequences, super animation.

Carol of the Elves from Adam Pockaj on Vimeo.

Nathan Dickey-4th Year Film- The Landscaper

2010-04-26T07:49:00.004-04:00

A very nicely done graduation film from Sheridan's Animation Program.

I worked as Nathan's Mentor throughout the process, and it was a pleasure working with someone so dedicated and talented.

This version is about 90% done, and the unfinished portions are actually a great insight into the animation process. His rough animation is very confident and energized, which really shows in the few "in progress" portions.

He's a great voice actor as well!

Enjoy.

The Landscaper from Nathan Dickey on Vimeo.

Insights For Animation Grads

2010-04-26T07:39:00.002-04:00

Mark Mayerson is no stranger to the exciting and sometimes terrifying world known as The Animation Industry.

He's just posted a piece of advice to animation graduates, and it's a very useful read (for animation grads, and art grads in general).

Dan Seddon- 4th Year Film- Ducking Around

2010-04-23T07:13:00.005-04:00

I'll probably embed a certain number of Sheridan graduation films on my blog, as I come across them.

This one's very charming, silly (love the duck's boots), sweet, and very very nicely done, in all ways.

Ducking Around from Dan Seddon on Vimeo.

David Lynch Interview Project-Update

2010-04-19T23:25:00.002-04:00

I wrote about this project some time ago, but sadly it wasn't running very well, technically.

I'm happy to say that's been taken care of, and the project is well underway, with lots of interviews gathered.

The short interviews play very cleanly, and the image and sound quality is great. I just wish the title cards and credits would move along at a faster clip. The enjoyable part of this project is being able to take in lots of people's lives, quickly, and it lags a bit with slow editing (at times).

That being said, it's a wonderful and life-affirming thing.

It connects humanity, and appeals to the basic interest we all have in other human lives. A very simple concept, elegantly achieved.

Go watch 'em all!

1st Yr Animation Students

2010-04-13T10:27:00.000-04:00

As part of my work at Sheridan, I teach the first year students. I cover Animation History, and I lecture for them on Story and Layout. It's a foundational year, in terms of animation skills and in terms of helping them form a mind-set for a life in this business. There's a lot of promise in this crew, no doubt about it.

So here they are- the future of animation (graduating in Spring, 2013).

Aren't they shiny and bright?!

Don Sahlin

2010-04-09T00:09:00.002-04:00

Here's the link to a very informative piece on Don Sahlin, an American puppet maker and stop motion animator. Thanks to Mark Mayerson for the link (and Michael Sporn for continually posting such fascinating and diverse stuff).

Star Wars The Phantom Menace Review

2010-03-31T12:07:00.002-04:00

I saw this film in the theatre, it broke my heart, and I never thought about it again, at least not seriously.

But here's a now famous, in-depth consideration of this film, that uncovers the specifics of why this movie is so wrong, and so terrible.

I commend the guy for having the guts to watch it repeatedly.

The review is broken into several sections, some of which veer off into "humour" that won't be to everyone's taste (including mine), but it's worth it to get the scoop.

And overall, there's a heap of very funny stuff mixed in with the serious consideration of the film.

Kaj Pindal Blog

2010-03-12T09:17:00.004-05:00

I'm very proud to announce the launch of the official Kaj Pindal blog.

Kaj is a legend in animation. His contributions to Canadian animation in particular is astounding, and his further efforts in the Animation Program at Sheridan has spanned the decades.

Oh, and he won a little thing called an Emmy for his animated TV program Peep And The Big Wide World (pictured above).

I'm lucky enough to have developed a great relationship with Kaj, as we co-teach the Animation History class to 1st year students at Sheridan. I've learned so much through Kaj, and he continues to personally inspire me with his animation experiences, AND with his devilish humour.

In his eighth decade now, Kaj doesn't show much sign of slowing down. And now, he even has his own blog!

The blog is maintained by Amir Avni, a very talented 4th year student at Sheridan. Amir is also a passionate animation historian, and jumped at the chance to work with Kaj on this project.

In the background is me- I'm co-editing the blog with Amir, which basically just means I polish things a bit...

And of course, Kaj is providing a lifetime of experiences and collected artwork from his years as an animator.

We hope the blog becomes a wonderful resource for everyone who loves animation, and in particular, lovers of NFB animation... and Kaj!

Axe Cop

2010-02-27T17:28:00.003-05:00

Axe Cop Comic

As the site says, "Written By A 5 Year Old And Illustrated By His 29 Year Old Brother".

Be sure to read the "Ask Axe Cop" pieces. Question 3 is currently my favourite. If I could, I would relax in the exact same way.

Esquire Piece on Roger Ebert

2010-02-24T12:33:00.002-05:00

I recently read this very moving and insightful piece on film critic and author, Roger Ebert, who continues to struggle with cancer and its repercussions.

If you ever find yourself in need of defending the importance of the written word, send people to this article.

J. L. Roop

2010-02-23T19:34:00.004-05:00

Jerry Beck over at Cartoon Brew has an interesting piece on J. L. Roop, an early (and largely unknown) American stop motion animator.

Great Puppet Making Book

2010-02-22T09:36:00.005-05:00

I plucked this one off the stacks at Sheridan's library a few months ago, just at random. It's not for making stop motion puppets, but rather various hand puppets. The book very much impressed me for a number of reasons.

First, it's a very cute, tidy, "pocketbook" size. Charming. An easy read/reference.

Second, it's filled with very clear and well explained puppet "stuff". This includes not just hand puppets, but also stages for puppet shows. Some are very simple, some are complex, but all are explained very clearly.

Third, the book has a great tone. It's witty, and reads as though the writer had fun putting it all together.

Fourth, the actual puppets that the book shows how to make are clever and charming, and encourage the imagination of the reader to envision variations on designs and methods.

Fifth (and finally)- the book is DIRT cheap. Amazon.ca has it for approx. $10 (Can).

For all these reasons, I ordered myself a copy.

I highly recommend this little gem.

More 4th Year Stop Motion Goodness

2010-02-07T13:29:00.005-05:00

Here's a still from Sheridan Animation's Carla Veldman's film, The Scarf.

More pics and info as they become available...

Interview With Feature Film Animator Payton Curtis- Part 2

2010-01-31T20:03:00.024-05:00

As promised, here's the second and concluding part of the interview. Much thanks to Payton for taking the extensive time to answer so many questions, in such detail.

And again, Payton's answers are in italics...

Part 2
The relationship between a stop motion animator and his or her animation director is typically a very important one. Can you describe what in your opinion makes for a great feature film stop motion animator director?

That one is simple, going to bat for you. You've got enough on your plate to deal with from day to day set, prepping and shooting. So a good animation director will oversee anything to do with the animation side of things. Sets, puppets, wardrobe, you name it, can cause problems in animation. Although these people are truly brilliant artists, they are not by trade animators. A good animation director will float between all departments making certain that everything being made is "animator friendly".

Another relationship that’s key is between a stop motion animator and the puppet department. The puppet department is responsible for helping you perform to your greatest potential. Can you describe how that relationship flows on a feature?

Very important! A poorly tensioned puppet or an unfastened piece of fabric for instance can be hell once launched on a shot. The animator/puppet maker relationship is crucial. As an animator it is your job to give defined demands and reasonable explanations for anything and everything you request. Once a puppet is in a shot it must perform well, otherwise your performance will suffer. And as I've learned, do it exactly right the first time! Once it's done, it's done. After that you will be forced to look at your mistakes every time you watch the piece. Patience and preparation are paramount.

What are some of the biggest challenges in being a feature film stop motion animator?

The biggest challenge is keeping your chops up! Unlike most television series(which are quite forgiving), feature work generally speaking demands the utmost attention to detail and quality of performance. In a 50-60 hour work week, spanning two years, you are required to stay sharp and give it your best from shot to shot. That’s a very difficult thing to do. If you have an off day, everybody notices it and it'll be there on display for the world to see!

Biggest rewards? (beers with Bill Murray could definitely count).

Definitely the best rewards are the people you work with. Yup, meeting a childhood hero like Bill Murray (a true gentleman) and downing a few was pretty cool. Working with Henry Selick was a treat, I was a huge fan of “Slow Bob In The Lower Dimensions” in high school.

But the absolute best is working with the best artist in the business! Painters, sculptors, cameramen, animators, designers, effects wizards, wardrobe, riggers, set builders... These people are the reason you give it your best day to day. That immense wealth of talent keeps you on your toes! You don't want to disappoint all these brilliant people by shooting a poor performance. You want to make them proud of their efforts by doing the best you can.

Looking back at your successes thus far as an animator, was there a moment that has proven to be pivotal, or key, in terms of your development? Even a childhood thing, perhaps, that “makes sense” in some way today?

Not to be grim, but losing my Mum as a boy was tough. I grew up fast and learned, arguably the greatest lesson a kid can learn- take nothing for granted. Work hard, stay true to yourself and expect in return only what you put into your efforts.

Other pivotal, professional moments that stand out that you’d like to share?

A few, but the standout moments professionally were working along side people that had an impact on me and whom I admired through the developing years. Henry Selick of course and Trey Thomas for instance.

Trey has worked on nearly everything stop-motion over the years and I split an “Other Mother” sequence with him on Coraline once I had proven myself to be relatively competent. Trey is a great supporter of other animator's work and has no ego. Seeing my work along with his was a kick. He was the "Godfather" of animation on Coraline. Trying to mimic the masters and make seamless cuts from one animators work to another was a great challenge.

AND...of course professionally and personally, meeting Julianna. An amazing animator who worked on Coraline. We were pals throughout the two years on the film and were recently married! That's pretty pivotal I'd say!

What is it with stop motion in recent years? It’s only growing bigger. My thinking is that in an increasingly digital age, it’s hugely reassuring to see something so human and physical on screen. It has a warmth that we, as humans, deeply crave. What are your thoughts on the medium’s continued rise in popularity?

You pretty much nailed it! Computer animation has the look of something that's been "over-polished"(in my opinion). Stop-motion on the other hand has a unique look that cannot be mimicked. Slight imperfections whether it be a misplaced frame, a 'boiling' piece of clothing (flutter from being handled by the animator), a slight set shift, or a prop being nudged... All of these "imperfections" is what makes the craft so unique. Every frame has been manipulated by hand.

For the premiere of Coraline, they had work stations from the studio set up in the theatres. This gave the public an insider, behind the curtain look of just how complex, detailed, and hand-made the process is. From the design, to build, to animation people were mesmerized by what they saw. They then went into the theatres to see how all of these inanimate works of art could be coaxed and manipulated into a lifelike performance! Great fun! Beat that CG!

This tactile presentation taps into anyone who played with toys as a boy or girl (that’s everybody I assume). Luckily I get to do this for a living! Bringing beautiful "toys" to life for others to enjoy.

If someone reading wants to be where you are professional down the road, but is just starting out in formally learning about stop motion, what insights could you share to help him or her in that effort?

Practice. Whether it's music, sports, academics or animation, you must focus and improve your skills constantly. Now more than ever before, anyone can take up stop-motion in their own homes with as little as a computer and a cheap digital camera. So get cracking! We are all students for life.

I've been animating professionally for about a decade, and am now working on my fourth feature film and I still pick up new tricks and gags constantly. You just have to keep your eyes open and leave the ol' ego in a box somewhere where you’re not likely to find it. You can learn something from everybody if you keep your mind open to learning and criticism.

I know you have some of your own projects in development. Would you like to tell
us about that?

I just finished producing and directing (and animating of course) Wes Anderson's acceptance speech for the National Board of Revue in NY. I guess I did a good enough job on Fantastic Mr. Fox to have them give a ring here in Canada and ask if I'd like the job. It was fun! I shot it in my studio at home over the holidays. This is the first high profile gig that my company, Darkfarm, has produced! Hooray!

I have also optioned a television series I created called "Super Robot Fight Planet!" to a company here in Toronto called Copperheart. They are a great bunch and with any luck in the next year we'll be making a stop-motion giant robot series for the kids! (and big kids).

Interview With Feature Film Animator Payton Curtis- Part 1

2010-01-17T15:59:00.026-05:00

Payton Curtis is a Canadian stop motion animator. He grew up in Southern Ontario, and has worked at a variety of Canadian stop motion studios, working on commercials, music videos, and TV series and specials. In the past few years, he’s made the transition to feature film animator, and has established his own company, Dark Farm Animation.

Payton was kind enough to answer a series of questions for my blog, about life as a stop motion animator in “the big leagues” of feature films. He’s animated on both Coraline (he did a large chunk of the remarkable opening credit sequence), and more recently on The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

This is Part 1 of the interview. I will post Part 2 next week. Payton's answers are in italics.

INTERVIEW WITH FEATURE FILM ANIMATOR, PAYTON CURTIS, PART 1
First, a fairly straightforward technical question- on features do you shoot primarily on 1s or 2s? Or do you mix it up? Can you elaborate a bit?

Primarily ones, depending on the film of course. They had a wonderful idea on Coraline which was that the 'real world' would be on twos and the 'other world' would be on ones, giving the two separate worlds a distinct look. The real world being a little choppy and the other being "perfect" and smooth. Unfortunately this idea was abandoned. Not really sure why. If you look closely, you'd see that many shots on the film are mixed 1's and 2's. They were used mainly for efficiency as scheduling was tight.

I myself shot everything on ones. Opinions vary but film is shot on 24 frames per-second and when projected the 'strobe effect' on two's can be distracting. On the other end of things, we shot Fantastic Mr. Fox entirely on two's to give it a more 'rustic' or 'classical' feel. Only shots with a panning camera where done on ones to avoid the awful strobing that occurs if shot on two's. On a big screen, a camera pan on two's can be enough to give you a stroke.
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Another technical question- can you describe the general work flow for you, as an animator on a feature? To be more specific, can you take us through the process you would follow for ONE shot on a film, from beginning to end, in terms of your
involvement.

One shot... Much is involved, I'll try and keep it light...
You would first have a meeting in editorial with the director, lead camera, and editor. Going through the storyboard to find key gestures, character movement, facial expressions, anything that may be needed for the current shot as well as the previous and following. You then talk with your camera team to figure out was is needed for execution. After action is established, you then move on to the puppet depot to discuss exactly which puppets are required.

This then leads to a visit with the wardrobe department to make sure continuity is correct. Shooting out of sequence can mean you have a clean puppet that in a previous scene say, fell into a mud puddle, or ripped a hole in her jeans. The slightest error in costume could mean starting all over again from scratch!

Then to the rigging dept. If a puppet needs an aid moving through space, jumping, running or handling props, a member of the rigging team will come up with clever levers, winders or pulleys to help your puppet defy gravity. These people are fantastic! Some of the most ingenious devices I've ever seen are conjured by these people and of course in the final cut, all of their work is invisible!! Then you go back on set with everything you've gathered and shoot a block.

A block is the shot filmed on 10's or 5's. A basic test to prove lighting, rigging, and animation are in sync. Also the post effects wizards can spot any potential disasters or discuss a specific effect that may have been requested by the director.
After this, back into edit a second time to discuss the block and make any alterations before going back out to shoot a rehearsal if needed. This is a much more involved effort where you shoot on two's or three's, including facial expression and any other details that will be present in the final product.

After this is done, back to editorial to discuss once more with the director. If all is good, then you go for it. Third times the charm! I should mention that sometimes after a block, if all involved are pleased, you can get the go ahead to shoot the actual shot which can be very exciting. You skip the rehearsal, but you've got to be damn sure your on the ball. If you blow it after a weeks work, nobody is very happy with you.

When shooting in 3-D, you have to make sure that your effect is going to work, without testing the 3-D camera, the entire shot could be blurry. The slightest error in distance the camera travels between the two exposures needed for 3-D can spell disaster. Worse thing is you only animate using one of the two 3-D exposures. So you don't notice the error until you've finished the actual shot.
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You’ve mentioned that on Coraline, your approximate quota of animation you had to deliver was 5 seconds per week. Were those 5 seconds of finished animation created on Thursday and Friday (for example), with the earlier days spent testing
and rehearsing? Or were those 5 seconds the result of shooting a few careful frames each day, Monday to Friday, in order to have your quota complete?

Those 5 seconds per week are only finished frames that end up in the film, no rehearsals or pop-throughs count. Depending on the week, sometimes this was quite simple to achieve. Say for instance you have a single character who remains stationary, then 5-sec is more than reasonable. In fact, it wasn't uncommon to double or even triple your quota in a week.

On the other hand, a shot that is extremely difficult, for instance the floor disintegrating and Coraline falling into the web took weeks to plan. I worked with camera and rigging the entire time(between other shots) to prepare. So when we actually approached that shot, testing and correction took well over two weeks. Everything possible was done in camera, which can slow an animator down significantly. Then quota can be a little tough to meet!
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In your experience, is the animation style of a film established as part of pre-production tests and run-throughs, with various departments and crew consulting? Or is it something that firms up only once the actual shots are being turned in,
during production?

The style is supposed to be established by lead(or key)animators early on in production. But since the film takes a year to two to complete many fresh new ideas or styles surface, and if possible are worked into the film. The best animated films in my opinion are seamless. You should not be able to tell who did what shot, a definite style should be set in stone very early on (Disney were masters). I think it's distracting from the story if style or character performance varies, especially in the main character.
-------------

On the topic of animation styles for features, can you tell us a bit about how the styles are determined in terms of what directors convey to you? Is it all through example footage of previous projects, or through discussions? Through acting
things out live, or letting animators go crazy for a while and then see what style is emerging, to then focus it from that?

It's a bit of everything you mentioned really. It could be reference from old films, clippings from a magazine that show a certain pose perhaps or animation test after test after test... Mainly though once a hard line for a character is established you play. By this I mean act it out with the director (you've gotta get over your shyness. Or what a lot of people do is film themselves acting out the scene and use it as a direct reference. Personally I like to fumble through my work without live action reference. I've tried using live action reference, but I found myself spending too much time trying to mimic the reference footage rather than letting the puppet lead me.

If there where hidden camera's in animators sets on films people would certainly think we are all nuts! Repeating the same odd movements hundreds of times over to better understand weight or action, or behaving like a 12 year old girl or an elderly obese woman! I would take great joy whenever I'd catch a friend in the middle of one of these moments, good fun! Like I said, you gotta get over your shyness in this business.
------------

A complex shot isn’t just about the animation required. It involves having lots of rigs, lots of set people hovering, camera people involved, complex camera moves, tricky lighting, blocking, complex puppets that move and step in complex ways,
complex considerations if big digital post fx stuff is going to happen… how do YOU stay focused so that you can give the performance you need to give?

I can really only stay focused while actually animating the shot. Until then, everybody is tapping you on the shoulder. When you are finally 'launched', everyone who helped bring it along, camera, rigging, sets, post, etc. leaves you to it. They then have a red flashing light placed on your set entrance warning people to leave you be.

If I really wanted extra privacy on a tricky shot I would stay after hours when the building was empty. Very quiet and peaceful and absolutely no distractions, except for other animators. If anybody else is kicking around, it's nice to take a coffee break and discuss progress or problems. As everybody knows, a fresh set of eyes or perspective can be the quickest cure for a stale situation.

PART 2 OF THIS INTERVIEW WILL BE POSTED NEXT WEEK.

4th Year Stop Motion Projects

2010-01-17T13:47:00.004-05:00

So our fourth year students are for the most part up and shooting now in the stop motion studio (or at home)... very exciting!

Here's one awesome pic from Kevin Parry's project:

There will be more pics and hopefully some video profiles on more student projects very soon...

Nerdland Update- Da Winner!

2010-01-17T13:23:00.002-05:00

So from what I understand, the stop mo pilot called Nerdland that was created locally by a lot of great people (at Cuppa Coffee, and more specifically created by Ted Heeley) has officially WON the online contest at Teletoon!

That means it was voted for most, compared to all the other pilot projects. This can only mean good things for the show, as it strives to get "greenlit" for series...

Thanks to everyone that helped out.

I'm loving the direct approach that's in the nature of online promotions like this. Create something (or develop something to a stage) then DIRECTLY appeal to readers/viewers/like-minded supporters.

I love that it by-passes old school "gate-keepers" like traditional broadcasters and producers. Go right to your fan-base, and appeal to THEM. That's who the content is being made for, after all. Of course, the contest was set up by a traditional broadcaster, by the results are from strictly online viewing and support.

Wheee... I'm really glad I invented the internet.

Stuffed Toy Goodness

2010-01-10T13:40:00.006-05:00

I'm having fun making little critters like this one for my little guy. Nate's almost two now, and he's got a lot of love to give to stuff animals, so I'm happy to oblige.

He named this guy "Bert".

The nice thing about making toys like this is that they are fast to make, compared to the work that goes into a puppet. And of course, when a stuffed toy is done, it's ready to be loved. Even once you finish a puppet, it still has to perform.

Making stuffed animals is a really simple pleasure. And it's such a great feeling to hand something I've made to my son, who in turn simply hugs it and loves it.

A very simple thing. I wish all of life was like that!

Line-Stop Motion Project

2010-01-04T08:59:00.008-05:00

Justin and Shel Rasch are fast becoming the dynamic duo of indie stop motion. Their amazing film Gerald's Last Day is still cleaning up at festivals, and they are well underway on their next amazing effort- Line, a sci-fi epic starring (of all things) a Doberman.

Justin and Shel are not only talented artists, they are also really honing their skills as self-promoters and fund raisers. As traditional methods of development and broadcast continue to shrivel up into dust, indie methods are proving themselves to be truly viable. And their film Line is proof-positive.

They're using IndieGoGo to raise funds, and they're already on their way. A few years ago raising money like this would be completely impossible. Today, it's a reality.

This is so encouraging for indie artists, I can't even begin to explain. You really should contribute. In part because the more a site like IndieGoGo succeeds, the better it is for all indie efforts. But more specifically because you can use your money to help quality indie film (and stop motion in particular) to succeed.

It's one thing to go the multiplex and plunk down your money to get some popcorn and a ticket in order to be dazzled by Avatar for three hours. That makes you happy for a bit, and it makes James Cameron and Jeffrey Katzenberg a little bit richer. It also drives an industry that employs thousands of artists I know, I know. But it's still a pretty impersonal thing.

If you use the same amount of money to support Line, you're doing something REAL with your money. You'll see real results, as your money clearly helps the project develop and succeed.

In other words, you are getting huge bang (and huge artistic karma) for your buck.

I've contributed and I hope you do too.

You can contribute by clicking here.

Sheridan Film on Cartoon Brew

2009-12-24T16:17:00.005-05:00

So if you're a serious fan/student/practitioner of animation, you know about Jerry Beck's site, Cartoon Brew. It's a real "go to" place for what is up in the medium.

So it's a very nice thing to see a recent Sheridan group film front and center on that blog.

You can read the entry, watch the film and read the very interesting (and passionate) comments by clicking here.

Meow and Amy Lee

2009-12-16T12:01:00.005-05:00

Here's something kinda fun I came across the other day, and decided to post it on youtube. This was before I learned stop motion, but still had ideas that were animated (in a way).

It was imagined as a pilot, as a segment that might be dropped into a larger show, or aired on its own as a little filler/bumper.

The premise is based on a fun little girl character I imagined, named Amy Lee.

She loves to learn (about anything), and to present what she's learn to classmates and teachers. So each episode would be essentially a slideshow of drawings she'd done, and a voice over (her presentation) to go with it. And her stuffed cat, Meow, helps her (in strange and rather surreal ways).

It's fun to think about how much storytelling you can do in this format- still images, with voices and music over top...

I never had the chance to develop it further (life took me in different directions). I still quite like the rich crayon colours- crayons are so pretty and fun. I hadn't watched it in a long time, and I was taken aback by its warped sense of humour. She's a weird kid. I like that.

Oddly enough, all the "Bigfoot facts" are just that- if you research Bigfoot lore, all this stuff is true! Well, as true as can be.

Apparently Amy Lee takes her research seriously, even in the realms of cryptozoology.

Hope you like it.

Go Nerdland!!!

2009-12-16T11:49:00.004-05:00

So the pilot episode of Nerdland (which was created by many, many people that are near and dear to my heart) is doing very well in the voting. In fact, it's in the lead. This is extremely exciting, because if it wins, it is a huge boost to landing more funding to make MORE episodes.

But it still needs MORE votes. You can vote as often as you like, apparently.

So here are directions from the show's creator, Ted:

1. Go to www.thedetour.ca
2. On the right-hand side you’ll see a schedule of shows each with the word vote against it (I’m telling you this because it’s really not obvious not because I think you need help with simple instructions)
3. Click the “Vote” beside Nerdland
4. Do this 5,000 times

Help support stop motion productions! Go and vote!

Some Thoughts On "Improv Animation"

2009-12-10T20:06:00.023-05:00

This long post might be more enjoyable to read if you open the blog in a second window, so you can watch the clip and pause it, as you read the piece. Essentially, what follows below is a detailed critique and though-process thing, essentially frame by frame for the above clip.

This clip is some test work I did in the classroom today, while students were doing the "Puppet Walk" assignment. If you want to know what the tests were, you can read the notes on youtube.

In brief, this animation was done to test puppet parts. And so all I really wanted to do was move the parts- a lot, and in big, dramatic moves, with lots of rotation and force, to see what would break. That meant in terms of performance or a specific action, I had nothing in mind.

But as you start a test like this, you can't HELP but start to perform through the puppet. A personality starts to emerge, and that personality starts to drive the animation.

At the start of the piece, he "sort of" bows, "sort of" stretches... then goes into a confident turning walk. The bow or stretch or whatever it is doesn't read as an action very clearly, especially when compared to the walk. The reason it doesn't read clearly as an action? The animation didn't know what action he was animating! At that point in the test, I was simply moving the puppet, trying to keep it smooth, and worrying about simply moving parts. And since I had no specific action (or even pose) in mind, it reads as... well... nothing.

Then the walk starts, and THAT reads fine. Because as I started that, I certainly knew I was about to turn and walk the puppet around. But how was it going to walk? Upright, slow, proud, elegant? Or squat, cramped, silly? Again, I didn't know, and just let it be fun. This works better than the bow/stretch, cause a walk is a walk is a walk- it's a forward movement of the puppet using its legs and feet. So on that basic level, it "reads". So not knowing how the puppet would walk till I literally did it results in animation that is still clear and fun to watch.

Then the leg kicks up and holds. That was the essence of improv, in that I had intended to keep walking the puppet, but as his leg came up and the puppet drifted backwards, I thought- "hey, that's fun looking- he stops walking and just kicks his leg up." I made sure I could pull it off smoothly and convincingly from where the puppet was currently posed, and then went for it. I aimed for a specific pose (now that I knew he was going to kick his leg up), and animated into that pose. But the fact that I didn't know I would do the held kick until I started to do it adds fun to the animation, and helps it feel like it's a living character who is capable of that sort of unpredictable behaviour/performance.

Then he goes into a stomping, chicken walking, tribal dance thing. Didn't know what it was, didn't care, just went with it and let it be fun, smoothly animated, carefully controlled, generally believable in terms of structure and anatomy... I was just rolling along now, cutting loose. Into the "head down" pose... and his head started to slide off its stem.

Again, it's improv time. I could have gotten some sticky tack and held the head on... but who cares, go with it. So his head falls off. Thump.

Now what? Improv again...

And here's where I cheated. I originally animated his arms coming up in alarm. From that I intended to have him search for his head. But I got bored with that instantly, and didn't know where I'd go from there. It just seemed predictable, for the puppet to reach for his head. So I deleted those frames, back to the point where his head fell off. And then I thought a bit...

So improv in animation can appear fast on screen, but of course the animator has some time (all the time!) to think a bit. So I figured his head has fallen off, what would that mean to a living creature? And of course it meant- instant death. And that, I knew, would be fun to animate. I love animating impacts. I love to dial up the gravity, so an impact feels hugely heavy. It's fun to animate, looks good, and gives really believable weight to the animated world.

So off he goes, tumbling to the ground. The foot thumping to a rest at the end is a nice touch, I think, and I always try to create some visual texture with big impacts, to layer things up.

The gag of the hand coming in was just something fun, again thought of in the moment. He picks the puppet up (I was careful to pose its legs "loose" to make it feel like a real creature rather than a stiff puppet), and takes it offscreen.

Now, in the infinitely creative realm known as "off screen space", anything can happen. In class I always have tonnes of semi-broken body parts lying around, and so screwing in an arm where he head was was a pretty easy gag.

As the hand puts the puppet back in to place, I was careful to cover the "new design" with my hand, to hold off on the reveal as long as possible, to get a nice "ta da!" moment for the audience as the realize he has an arm instead of a head.

The ball of clay was added as something for that new arm to deal with. I didn't know how yet, but I knew it would work out somehow. The first place I left the clay wasn't on screen enough, and so instead of deleting the frames and trying again, I just left it, and animated my hand in again, nudging it into a better part of the frame. It ends up feeling like a nice little bit of performance but it wasn't planned- again, improv is going with the flow, but also instinctively knowing that the way you are going with it will get you something good. Remember the murky bow/stretch pose at the start? Things can get messy and hard to read very quickly, if your instincts get foggy.

As the creature comes to life, I had no idea what kind of personality it would have, so I just animated in search of a nice pose. The proud, elegant "look at me" pose was reached just by animating around a bit (and deleting some frames) until something started to make sense, and would read nicely. He could have come off as scary, shy, dumb... but proud and elegant is what happened, so fine by me. It reads nice, and was intriguing in terms of what I might be able to do with it.

I was getting tired/bored now. The thoughts of having the puppet slowly and carefully pick up the clay wasn't to my liking- it would require too much finicky, fine animation. I just wanted it done. So a splat it was! Nice and energetic, big moves, strong lines of action...

Having the ball roll away was again, thought of in the frame before the hand smashed down. It seemed fun, and added a surprise the audience wouldn't see coming (let alone the puppet).

So it rolls away. There is a beat. And in a time-honoured tradition of animators getting tired and wanting to end their work somehow, the hand comes back in again- this time to flatten the puppet like a pancake.

I very much enjoyed the follow-through on that impact. The actual hand coming in is only 2 or 3 frames, but the puppets legs and arm flying up is what completely sells the force of the impact.

Then the hand lifts to limp puppet away, and we're left with the clay. It was yet another turning point. How do I end this thing?! I considered animating my hand again, this time dropping off a smaller piece of clay, and letting them duke it out somehow. But that would open yet another chapter of animation, and I was DONE.

So the hand comes in, and the ball crawls on. The hand retreats, the end.

What I like is that it suggests some fun/interesting/thought-provoking metaphysical concerns, about creators and their creations... masters who punish, then reward... the unpredictable nature of creators, be they Gods or gods or parents... or animators.

Whew. I guess that's partly why stop motion constantly engages me- with each frame you're moving through vast realms of the possible, making things concrete out of nothing, riding your instincts and gut impulses in an effort to communicate clearly with the audience.

That never seems to get boring.

Get Some Clay- Animate It!

2009-12-09T12:35:00.002-05:00

Something through the Sheridan stop motion channel I maintain at youtube.

It's very easy to get yourself set up at home for stop motion. And once you're set up, you can let your imagination (and animation skills) go wild...

Pepper's Ghost

2009-12-08T22:25:00.005-05:00

I'm a sucker for physical effects. If it can be done "on-set", or "in-camera," it just gives me such a kick.

One such tried and true effect is Pepper's Ghost. It essentially hinges on the transmission and reflection of light. Wikipedia does a better job of explaining, so for that you can click here.

It's simple, elegant, and when done well- beautifully effective. You just can't beat an effect that literally happens before your eyes. It feels real... because it IS. Real beams of light, being directed and controlled, for effect.

The effect has been used by many large amusement park shows (Disney's, for example), but I think its use in low budget traveling sideshows is more interesting. I love the idea of something so mystifying and effective happening in an otherwise rag-tag setting.

A classic example is the "Girl To Gorilla" attraction.

I've embedded a video below that is a charming home made version of the "Girl To Gorilla" trick.

It's wonderfully effective, and the creepy night-vision quality only heightens the excitement!

It warms my heart to see physical effects still wowing the crowds (and freaking out little kids)...

Tis The Season

2009-12-06T20:20:00.005-05:00

Christmas is a time to build lasting memories.

Just ask any of the kids in these Santa photos.

Stop Motion's Rising Popularity

2009-12-06T19:50:00.005-05:00

I did an interview a few weeks ago for a Canadian daily paper. I was asked my professional opinion, essentially regarding why stop motion seems to be rising in popularity these days.

Anyway, it's a decent article, with a nice overview of some major moments in the medium. He did his research. He must be a real fan.

You can read it here.

I'll point out one critical thing, though- the article takes the angle that drawn animation is "dead". That's the angle of the article, not ME. I see the vibrancy of drawn animation every day in the program at Sheridan.

Other than that, it's a nice little piece.

Good On Ya, Stop Mo

2009-12-06T19:43:00.003-05:00

Cartoon Brew has recently done a bit of a summary of stop motion features for this year. There's been several, and all of them very solid (at the very least).

You can read the piece, and the comment threads, here.

Remarkable Paper Animation Ad

2009-12-03T21:22:00.004-05:00

This is simply remarkable. Big thanks to 3rd yr Sheridan Animation student Aminder Dhaliwal for the link.

Morph

2009-12-02T20:18:00.004-05:00

You just can't go wrong with Morph. Some of Aardman's first stuff. The clips are little gems of acting and clever premises. Super charming, and just so well done. There's a bunch of them you'll find near this particular youtube link, so enjoy.

And- I love the voices.

Tour of Stop Mo Class

2009-11-17T11:30:00.003-05:00

Here's a video that gives a little overview of how the stop motion class at Sheridan works. I'm pretty proud of it, since it sees 120 students learning an intro to stop motion every year. It's required a lot of planning, organizing, and energy from me, and lots of support from Sheridan to see it happen.

We've also had the great people at Cuppa Coffee Animation help us with puppet armatures. Without their help, we wouldn't have such a great course.

Update on Nerdland Premiere

2009-11-14T13:39:00.002-05:00

Regarding my friend's show that needs your votes... if you follow the link in the posting below, you'll find the film. You can easily watch it, and make a comment.

But what you might not notice is that there is ALSO a vote button. The web page has a very bad design, in that you can barely see the vote button. It is beside the name of the show, in a column of show names, on the right side of the page. It's a very light grey button, that says "vote" right beside "Nerdland".

I think it's terrible that a poor web design might reduce the show's chance to succeed, especially since so many fine people have worked so hard on it.

So if you've already watched it, go back and find the vote button. If you haven't watched it, watch it.. and vote for it!

Robert Zemeckis Must Be Stopped

2009-11-14T08:00:00.005-05:00

Short of inflicting personal physical violence on the man, please help the world of motion picture storytelling and humanity in general by stopping Robert Zemeckis.

His most recent mess is a mo-cap monstrosity that pillages a classic holiday tale- Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. I've seen the trailer, and that is more than enough. It's WRONG.

Stop Zemeckis by not seeing this film. Ever. And by telling all your friends to not see this film. He is not making movies, he is making atrocities, and trying to pass them off as "the future of film making". If it bombs, he might not get to make another.

I have never used this blog as a place to call people to action, but I can't stop myself now.

The fate of motion pictures is in YOUR ticket-buy, DVD renting, PVR-clicking, and downloading hands.

I have had it with this guy. Please stop Robert Zemeckis.

Thank you.

24 Hour Stop Motion Student Film!

2009-11-12T20:17:00.005-05:00

I love it when students have the guts to go for something on their own. When a student doesn't wait for a class to catch up, or to be given official "permission" to make something... he or she just goes for it. That act of "going for it" is always inspirational.

Recently in the Animation Program at Sheridan, the students initiated a "24 Hour Film Challenge". It wasn't for marks. It wasn't for credit. It was because they love animation, and want to become better at it. Those that accepted the challenge locked themselves in a room for 24 hours, and animated. Most did drawn animation. Above is a stop motion effort.

This was created by 3rd year animation student Jen Bamford, who seems to have been officially bit by the stop motion bug. The animation isn't perfectly smooth, and of course the trial version software has a watermark on it (student budgets). But you see through those things immediately. The film has a character in a great situation, one we can all relate to. And the creative use of materials (wire, tinfoil, papertowel), with simple but effective lighting, is great to see. So often students get tied to the idea that a puppet MUST look a certain way (ala Coraline, or NBC), when in reality a puppet can be anything. And an animated world can be anything (in this case, paper towel!)

This student's animation will get smoother. Her overall tech will only improve. But what is already there in this animation is a sense of story and development between characters, and a sense of tone and atmosphere that's instinctively very solid.

AND- it was done in 24 hours.

I think this idea of making an animated film under this time constraint is a fantastic learning experience. The final product won't be polished, but that can actually mean there's a manic, primal energy to the piece. It's so easy to take that energy and life and see it stamped out through the careful work of refining an animated concept. It's encouraging to see something raw, and lovely.

As a teacher part of your job is to (hopefully) inspired students. It's a great payback when on their own, students return the favour to their teacher.

Coraline Script

2009-11-12T20:11:00.002-05:00

Well, I think the title of this posting says it all.

If you want to download the script to the film, click here.

Thanks to Mark Mayerson for the tip...

Nerdland Premiere- Help It Succeed

2009-11-10T14:06:00.005-05:00

A friend of mine has created a pilot, through Cuppa Coffee Animation.

Cuppa Coffee is Canada's mega stop motion studio.

The show is called Nerdland, and the time has come to support it online. With online support, votes, comments, and so on,the show just might make it into full series production. That's an incredibly difficult thing to achieve.

Please do your part to help! Go here, and watch it. Then comment, and vote.

This is from Ted, the creator:

"... Nerdland, an animated pilot I created and codeveloped with the fine people at Cuppa Coffee Animation is set to premiere on line at http://thedetour.ca/ on Friday the 13th of November.

It will run for the week,and will be open to comments and votes. As far as I know, Nerdland is the only stop motion show against a sea of primarily flash-animated pilots, so we stand out from the crowd right out of the gate, so I hope that adds to our appeal.

Nerdland is the strange adventures of a group of twenty-something nerds (Kevin, Jarhead, Patty and the Beast)trying to survive in a decidedly nerd un-friendly world. The message of the series is that we are all Nerds, each in his/her own way.

Any comments you make or votes you cast would be greatly appreciated. Many talented people worked very hard to make Nerdland, (and the other pilots too for that matter) and developing the show from the ground up with Cuppa's guidance was a lot of challenging fun for me as well. I hope you like it. Given Nerdland will be premiering on the internet, positive comments would be refreshing, since most will just be insults a curses from angry loners.

We could use your support, so write in and let them know what you think! Unless you hate it, then write in and lie like crazy! Seriously, I hope you enjoy it.

Also, if you could pass this email along to friends a coworkers as you see fit, the more comments on each show the better for everybody. The pilot project offers a great opportunity for the public to voice an opinion on what we watch.

Thanks in advance for your help in this

Ted Heeley
Creator/co developer
Nerdland"

Potter Puppet Pals

2009-11-08T22:06:00.003-05:00

These clips are all pretty killer. I don't know much about who is making them, and posting them. But I love how they are essentially puppet shows, that use some camera editing to make it a bit more punchy.

They are all darn funny. This one really tickles me.

And I don't really even like Harry Potter.

Where The Wild Things Are- Some Further Thoughts

2009-10-20T20:13:00.007-04:00

I was sick over the weekend, and couldn't see it then, as I wanted to.

But I played hooky from school this afternoon, and got to see it. For me, it really delivered. I loved its particular pace, its distinctive and unusual pacing, and how determined the film was to keep the drama down at "kid level". Essentially, much of the drama that unfolds is schoolyard in nature. There are relationships established, then broken, then mended. There are alliances and factions that struggle and pull apart... then collide together again.

When I was a kid, in the course of one school day I would go from being mortal enemies with certain classmates at morning recess, to being on the same team in a game of football at lunch, to happily recounting an episode of Airwolf from the night before during afternoon recess, then back to enemies by home time. Then the same drama, the NEXT day (only different).

This films builds its drama from this perspective. Its the story of kids (albeit most of them monsters), playing and living with each other, and learning (to certain degrees) about themselves and the world, through this interaction.

The drama never goes epic in a typical Hollywood sense, and I found that so refreshing. There's no alien menace. No 80 foot tall hamster... no overt, mindless spectacle. The drama is all about emotional states of being, and feelings.

There's no wise-cracking, no catch phrases. No one gets hit in the crotch, and there's no fart jokes. There's no Cuba Gooding Jr., either. It's a terribly honest, earnest, heartfelt film, thank God.

The complexity to the characters and their relationships is another facet of the film that deeply impressed me.

For example the main monster, Carol, doesn't fit any simple mould. He's not the "tough guy". He's not "the wimpy but smart guy". He's not the "bad guy." He ranges from being an equal of Max (the main character) in terms of intellect, to being a loyal subject of Max a few minutes later. In time, he reveals father-figure aspects, particularly in a wonderful scene when he reveals to Max his "hobby", a miniature world of tiny sticks and mud (shades of any Dad's basement train set).

Carol is also father-like in his physical size and strength, and temper. And so within this one character, we find facet after facet that continues to build his complexity throughout the story.

We later find outright rage and jealousy in Carol, stemming from a refusal to accept that things in life change. Carol behaves like a frustrated child (bringing back to the forefront his childlike nature that we first found him exhibiting), but now it carries with it a truly frightening potential for harm from powerful teeth and claws.

Carol is manic: he is a crying child, he is a raging adult, he is truly a "wild thing"... and he is utterly fascinating as a result.

This character complexity is carried onward to each of the monsters, and it was with deep pleasure that I found myself getting to know them (for better and for worse) over the course of the film.

There's much more I could say about what I loved (since I loved everything). But a few other thoughts, in particular:

- the GUTS this film has, to be so honest, and straightforward, and to NOT pander (to studio expectation and the expectation of a dumbed- down multiplex audience) for SPECTACLE. for BOMBAST. for EXPLOSIONS, AND WISECRACKS AND FLIPPPANT, TOSSAWAY CONTENT (all the caps are very much meant to be obnoxious. blame Hollywood).

-the character design, fabrication, and blending of physical effects and cg. It's hands down the best I've ever seen. It's shocking, terrifying, and wonderful, all at the same time. There's a play with scale in terms of facial features that makes you feel like what a baby must see adults as- all eyes and noses and teeth.

- the character animation. More effective, in terms of drawing an emotional response from the audience, than any similar efforts I've witnessed. I fell in love with each character, and stayed in love, for every scene.

- the devotion to bringing Sendak's world to feature-film richness, as opposed to a "Jonze and Eggers" world. The production did its homework, in terms of knowing larger themes, imagery, and concepts that run throughout Sendak's work (not just WTWTA), concepts such as playful scale, and oral obsessions (eating, being eaten). I bet the Lindbergh baby's even in there somewhere (I'll find it eventually). Would Terry Gilliam have been so respectful? Robert Rodriguez? Or would they have taken the slim original story and inflated it with their own personal imagery/obsessions.

I'm not truly satisfied at the movies very often. Hardly at all, in fact. By "satisfied" I mean that when I hope and hope and hope that a new release will GET me, will really move me, deeply, it almost never delivers.

For me, this film proves that it's OK to still have a little hope that movies still matter.

More on Wild Things

2009-10-13T20:41:00.002-04:00

Wow, I hadn't read this before posting what I just posted. It's also from aintitcoolnews.com, and it's actually very funny. It largely points out what this film is NOT (meaning, how Hollywood's slime-dripping machine has been kept at bay). It nails things wonderfully.

Anyway, there's a theme running in what people are saying: the film transports them back to childhood... and that the film is remarkable.

Where The Wild Things Are- Opening This Weekend

2009-10-13T20:22:00.004-04:00

I've written before about my excitement for this film. You can find it under the label "Movies".

But now it's coming up on opening weekend, and I'm getting nervous. I want it to be everything I hope it will be, but mainstream movies so rarely deliver perfection (or near perfection). So maybe it won't live up. I'll write a review and/or insights after I see it, which I hope will be this weekend.

I plan to see it alone, so I can simply experience the film for myself.

There's tonnes of stuff in print and online about the production, there's a nice little behind-the-scenes thing as well, through Apple trailers. Then there's the trailer itself.

That trailer is why I am hoping so highly. Every time I watch it (and I've watched it approximately four times now), I choke up. And I don't know why. It's too beautiful, too powerful, too much emotion to NOT choke up, I guess. It has something to do with how confidently and honestly the trailer seems tapped in to childhood experience.

As a new Dad, I often see my son (who is 17 months) looking up at my while I'm doing dishes or making a meal, and think to myself "Wow. I can remember seeing my Mom from that same angle. And I can remember how wonderful and safe that felt." So as a new Dad I'm constantly reminded of childhood, but it's just incredibly rare for a work of art to hit it so strongly.

I suppose it's a bit like when a beautiful piece of music moves you to tears. You could try to break the music down into its component parts to figure out why its effect you that way. But all that really matters is that something you've come across has had the power to move you deeply and profoundly.

When I watch the trailer, I feel like I'm a kid again. It's as simple as that. And I don't mean in a Robert Rodriguez sort of way- "Cool explosions! Monsters! Fun! Better than math homework!" Those films are made by well- intentioned adults to make simple entertainment for kids.

I mean this trailer feels, sounds, and for all I know, smells like childhood. I'm transported, and it touches me so much. The trailer makes me want to scream and laugh and cry and hide and throw things all at the same time. It scares me, and it enthralls me and it amazes me, all at once.

It's not just me. Read this. It's a review from aintitcoolnews.com

I need to stress, I think this website is far from critical when it comes to films. It likes everything, it seems. But this review is written from such a personal, touching place. I think this movie is doing that to people. It's making adults see and live like kids again (if only for a few hours of screen time).

So I'm going to keep hoping, and see it as soon as I can.

If I can't hope, why keep making or watching movies?

Update to follow...

TFS-GreenScreen Part1

2009-10-09T10:34:00.003-04:00

Boy am I glad I video taped a lot of stuff back in the spring when I was in production. Now, I can just upload videos, and still feel like I'm keeping my blog alive (when I don't have much time to actually write postings).

Anyway, about this video- green screening (or bluescreening) are pretty common practice in stop motion. You use it for all sorts of reasons. In this example, I am using green screen because the final shot would be too complex to shoot all in front of the camera at one time. The shot entails 4 characters, separately entering the frame, spinning down down down into a vortex of insanity... then, a flood of rabies cells grows from the centre of the vortex, and eventually swarm the whole frame. Try THAT all at once, in front of the camera. And have fun in HELL.

So instead I shot the vortex as a cycle of animation. It was just a card painted to look like a vortex, that I did about 20 frames of animation on, until I had a nice cycle. That would be the background element.

Working towards the camera from the background, the next layer of elements is 4 different puppets. I shot them all on their own, on a green background. I had them posed and animated imagining that later, they would be digitally brought into the frame in the extreme FG, and rotated and scaled down (as if falling away into a vortex).

The final element was a whole bunch of clay rabies cells, each animated this time on bluescreen. They would all be composited together and scaled accordingly, to create the swarm effect.

They were shot on BLUE instead of green, simply because the rabies cells were green themselves. If they were shot on a green background, it would be nearly impossible to crop them out from the background. So that is often why green is used, or blue is used- if the characters have a colour that's the same as the bg, trouble will ensue in post.

I guess an important thing to realize is- sometimes camera/lighting people lose themselves in setting up a green or blue screen. They get really picky, and overly insane about the light on the screen. There are some important things, covered in the video, but it can also be VERY simple and easy. Compositing software makes the cropping process very easy. In the past I've had very impressive results with just some iMovie plugins, a table lamp, and a piece of blue construction paper!

That being said- working smart at the production stage is what makes it "easy" in post. So hopefully this video will help in that sense.

I'll post a "Part 2" another time...

Balance- Completely Humbling

2009-10-02T14:34:00.002-04:00

This film just blows me away. It's so insightful, and so character-based.

And its central concepts are so perfect, and clean, and simple. Remarkable.

TFS- Camera,Lighting and Puppets Video

2009-10-02T13:18:00.002-04:00

Here's a little behind the scenes video from my film, dealing with cameras, camera moves, lighting, and puppets.

Teaching Is Tuff

2009-10-01T20:14:00.002-04:00

It's been a very busy to start to the school year.

I've got a great combination of things I'm doing this semester: lectures on story and layout for 1st year students (all 120 of them), a 3rd year stop motion class (all 120 of them), and the mentoring of a great group of 4th year students as they work on their graduation film projects (4 of which are stop mo, and the other 7 are traditionally animated).

The flip side being, I don't have much time for flogging the ol' blog, what with a family to tend to!

As soon as I can breath a bit, I will be back with updates as regularly as I can. I hope you keep checking back, I'm really looking forward to getting back in action, blog wise.

Thanks!

Puppet Making Part 5- Feet and Legs

2009-09-15T09:53:00.007-04:00

One of the most important things you need to consider is, quite simply, how will your puppet stand up?! The battle against gravity is a huge factor in stop mo (a fact that becomes very apparent when you try to walk a puppet). You have to ensure that your creation will stay on its feet, while it performs.

The easier way to achieve this is tried and true. You embed a "rare earth" magnet in the foot of the puppet. Then you build a set that has a thin surface, which you can access from underneath. From underneath, you apply a second rare earth magnet, and shaboom- your puppet is standing up.

These rare earth magnets are not your typical fridge magnet. Go get them at specialty stores. In Canada, look to Lee Valley Tools.

Often, the magnet from underneath is dropped into a metal cup, which intensifies its powers, and is also secured on to a short piece of dowel. This is what's known as a "magnet wand" (in the biz), and it just makes it easier to manipulate the magnet from under the set.

To embed the magnet in puppet's foot, you first go from your trusty scale drawing. You create a loop of armature wire that is ever-so-slightly bigger than the magnet (they magnets come in different sizes, find the right one for the size of your puppet). Then you braid your wire upward, as you would with an arm. Make sure you've used lots of armature wire, so you can trim the excess to the length you need for the leg.

Then angle the foot's loop at 90 degrees. You now have the foot armature, and the leg armature. "But I want a toe, too!" you say? Go for it. But this method gets you a nice foot/leg combo, and you have a heel joint, and you can do great animation. If having a floppy toe is essential, then do it. But in general, if your audience is focused on the toe flapping in what should be an overall engaging animated story, you've got problems. The last thing Joe or Jane average will be paying attention to is whether you have an animated toe. But, if you NEED that toe, you can fabricate a foot that has a magnet in the rear and a toe that can be animated. Design it, test it, and build it, you'll be fine. But I recommend doing it this way, first.

You will use epoxy (see earlier postings) to embed the magnet into this loop. Be sure to keep the ankle part of the wire free and clear of epoxy, so it can move. Another tip- be sure to keep the base of the magnet that will rest on the set level and smooth, and free from epoxy "gunk". You want a perfect surface between set and bottom of foot, so the magnets can do their thing. If there's gunk on the sole of the foot, you'll get wibble-wobble in your puppet. Not good.

After you've embedded the magnet, you can continue to build up the foot into the shape of the shoe you want. Of course, this technique (of embedding a big magnet) leads to, you guessed it, BIG shoes. If that offends your design senses, there's other options.

But back to the leg/foot at hand. With the foot done, just use your scale drawing to figure out where the leg bones will go, and where the square brass stock will go.

As with the other parts that have brass at their ends, that can slide in and out of armature blocks (hips, torsos), the fit will be a bit loose. That means as you walk that puppet, a leg will want to actually fall out! Eeek. So use a thin layer of contact cement to bond the leg into the hip block. Not too much, or you'll never get it out if it breaks.

For legs that will have pants or long skirts, you just need to bulk it up with some foam. If you will actually see skin, you need to use the latex build up process, as discussed earlier. Again, costume means a great deal to puppet making. A long skirt means easy legs to make. A short skirt means a lot of skin that needs to be made (tricky). Below is an image of the Mom puppet's legs. She has a fairly long skirt, tha shows a bit of skin at the bottom. As you can see, there's latex skin built up to where the skirt will, but not much further.

So let's say you want dainty, "Tintin" style feet. Feet that are far too tiny to embed a big honking magnet. You can use tie-downs.

This entails embedding a tiny nut instead of a magnet in the foot. Then you put holes in your set where you need them, and feed a bolt of the right size up and into the nut. There you go, a sturdy puppet with tiny feet. The trick is that it's now tough to move that puppet around, as you must drill holes in the set for each step that puppet takes.

Good with the bad- magnet feet are pretty easy to make, and easy to move around on the set, but your design might suffer.

Tie-down feet look elegant and beautiful. But they are trickier to make (those tiny nuts are tricky to embed) and are trickier to move around on the set.

You get to choose, lucky puppet-maker.

As with all these approaches, you will have worked hard to create a part that just might break. So since legs/feet take time to make, I recommend a story that doesn't involve millions of shots of puppets walking. The less stress you put on the legs/feet, the less chance they will break.

If your story insists on lots of walking, so be it, but go into your production planning knowing you need to take time to make extra legs, cause odds are they will break.

Also, extreme animation in terms of lots of jumping, deep bending will stress your leg/feet wires a lot. So again, either create a story that doesn't require this (and you won't break your legs) or if it's essential to the story, make yourself extra legs.

It's much easier to make extra parts in advance of shooting so that during animation, if you break a part, you can just swap in a new one. If you have to stop everything, pull out all the puppet making materials, start working with epoxy, latex... it really slow things down. Have extra pieces made during the puppet making stage of things... you'll thank yourself during animation.

How many extra parts to make- spines, arms, legs, feet, necks?... it completely depends on your story, and on YOU as an animator. Some animators are tough on puppets, they stress the puppet a lot to get a performance, and thus break a lot of parts.

Other animators have a lighter touch, and puppet parts last longer for them.

I didn't break a single puppet part on TFS, but I had extras of parts standing by. The animation was fairly limited to some walking, running, (each puppet only have to do a bit of each), then facial animation, basic weight shifts... some throwing, general hand acting... so nothing MASSIVE in terms of stresses.

Plus, I made the parts well. And I am an experienced animator that can get a performance out of the puppet without snapping things. I also animated in what you'd generally call a "Good Enough For TV" style. It's pretty limited, abbreviated, conservative. It let me get lots of shots done quickly, got the point of the story across, but didn't take super long, since I didn't have much time scheduled to animate. All these factors worked together so that I didn't break any parts.

Only experience will really tell you how many extra parts you need. So get making puppets and puppet films... it's the only way to learn.

Amnon Buchbinder- Relaunch

2009-09-03T14:33:00.003-04:00

A former prof of mine from my Grad School days, Ammon Buchbinder approaches story with a dedication and devotion that is truly inspirational.

He's a film maker, teacher, writer, story editor, and has a LOT to reveal regarding story.

He's just overhauled his site, so be sure to check it out.

Montreal Stop Motion Festival!

2009-09-03T10:39:00.005-04:00

Wowee. It's finally happened. A fairly local film festival devoted to the medium of stop motion.

And in the coolest city in Canada. I must be dreaming...

There's NO time to waste though (entry deadline is end of September) so send your flick in now!

Festival runs October 24th-25th, 2009.

Here's the official site.

Nick Craine

2009-09-03T08:28:00.011-04:00

The above pic is "R. Crumb" by Nick Craine. A bigger scan is to be found on Nick's blog.

Memory lane time: as a Grade 9 (or was it 10? 11?) high school punk, arts-oriented, growing up in the sticks of Southern Ontario, I didn't exactly have direct inspiration in terms of peers. I had to look for it. And so I turned to the local comic book scene in the nearest biggish city- Guelph. That's where Nick Craine was, a comic artist with his very own title- The Cheese Heads.

Nick was kind enough to introduce me to the "urban" lifestyle: coffee, edgy comics like RAW, more coffee. Some more coffee.

He took a look at my modest sketch book with lots of crazy monsters and weird little comics, and simply encouraged me. Nothing fancy, he just said "This is good. Keep going". Proof-positive of how easy it is to influence someone (for their own growth) by simply taking a minute.

Today, Nick has widened his world of art into music, illustration, and film making. His official site is here.

And he's recently started a blog, which is here.

His blog is crafted in a personal and honest writing style, with thought-provoking insights. Not to mention the visual art work (which is wonderful).

Go check it out.

Eyebeam by Sam Hurt

2009-09-02T09:49:00.005-04:00

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to inherit 3 collections of a very special comic strip- Eyebeam, by Sam Hurt.

Part of what I love about these strips (which are all from the 80s) is how deceptive they are. You might pass them by... unless you stop and really look.

Their visual style is not flashy. In fact, at times (in the early strips), it's a bit laboured. But that's part of what I like. They have the look of someone who NEEDED to make the comics, whether he was a great visual artist or not. As he went on, Hurt got more polished, but not in the early ones. Today, you see a lot of strips that are drawn by very practiced, trained artists- but that are simply not entertaining in any way. Yawn.

These strips are very honest, visually... and in time, as you keep reading, the rough style itself actually adds to the humour and enjoyment. Things look funny in this world.

But the main attraction is how creative the story lines are. They aren't really like anything else. Essentially, it's a bit of a sit com style, with recurring college-aged kids that inhabit a decidedly surreal landscape. But it's quietly surreal, nothing flashy. It's just... strange, with twists off into pretty crazy fantasy realms. It's nuts, but in a very controlled, funny, mature fashion.

Best of all- the characters are likable, and are sustainable over the long format. They use big, smart words (gasp!), have functioning brains, and spend time pondering the bigger things in life (but never at the expense of a good smile by panel 4).

Super charming, super entertaining... and very much under the radar.

It's also set near Austin, Texas, so it has to be cool.

Here's the archive. It seems Hurt is still working the title, but I haven't really checked the more recent entries out. I recommend starting at the beginning.

It's a lot more fun to read it in print. If you ever come across the collections, grab em all up.

Enjoy!

TFS- Studio Tour

2009-08-31T08:43:00.003-04:00

Here's a vid that gives an overview of how I organized the shoot, in terms paperwork and studio space:

No Festival. No Fear.

2009-08-29T19:37:00.003-04:00

Colour me naive, I guess. I got to the convention around 1pm, and the line was... how shall I put it... ridicularious. It stretched. And stretched. And stretched. And this was to just buy a ticket (implying the madness of packed fans that would await inside). From what I could figure, it seemed like it would easily by at least an hour wait.

I had truly figured I'd simply walk into the centre, mosey up to the ticket booth and say "one, please"... and stroll into a wonderful world of spooky goodness.

Next year, I'll either go on a Friday (which I hear is more mellow), buy a ticket in advance, go earlier, or find a victim/sucker/pal who will line up like this, so I have someone to complain to.

Instead, I went to see the new Halloween, Rob Zombie's latest flick.

House of 1,000 Corpses? Very interesting. He really announced himself as a filmmaker. The flick had some serious problems, though, in a dozen ways. But...

Devil's Rejects? A really wicked surprise, in a good way. Intense, uncompromising, brutal, but charming, funny, exciting, tasteless... I was pretty impressed. Mr. Zombie was no hack (no pun intended).

The first Halloween remake. Interesting take seeing Michael Myers as a kid, etc... some great casting... amusing. Mildly entertaining. Not being a huge fan of this horror franchise, it didn't do much for me. Was not looking forward to Zombie's Halloween 2. Would be boring and a lame cash grab. I figured I'd wait till his next original film came out.

Was I surprised. Maybe it's cause I was eager to get my horror on (but was denied at the convention), or maybe it was cause I saw it on the big screen (saw the first one on dvd), but this film kicked some pretty serious slasher film ass.

If you're not a fan of slasher style horror (I was the perfect age in the 80s for the birth of the genre), skip it (obviously). If you're a fan of intense, nasty, brutal horror with some touches of amazingly spooky stuff (the Pumpkin Court scene is amazing) you really should see this. For my money, this film has really set itself apart from other recent slasher- style flicks. It's pretty smart, great casting, excellent visual effects, with a tonne of seriously powerhouse scenes, all of which are strung together in a very effective way (in terms of story structure).

And as I said earlier, I have never been a fan of the Halloween franchise. I've always found the William Shatner mask thing to be not only NOT scary but a little... well... silly.

But this film's converted me.

It's SOLID. And Rob Zombie not only directs these things, he writes them, and handles the music. Yowza.

Anyway, if you are in the mood for a sizzling hardcore slasher horror flick, go for it.

If not, then avoid, at all costs. Nasty stuff.

Wheeeee...

Festival of Fear

2009-08-27T20:22:00.005-04:00

I'm going in order to schmooze horror film producers and distributors, pick some people's brains (mmmm, brains), buy some indie horror dvds, and nerd out a bit.

In short, it's 70% business (which is a form of pleasure), 20% flat-out nerd pleasure, and 10% curiousity, as I've never gone to any conventions except a couple of low-rent comic cons over the years and some flea market type things as a kid to buy comics (which was the best of the experiences, cause I was really young, and finding ANY cool comics when you're little is a blast- I remember an awesome bound collection of Creepy comics that blew my mind.)

Anyway... why not come out and count all the male virgins, dressed in black.

TFS-Finished Puppets

2009-08-27T20:16:00.002-04:00

After all these puppet making entries, here's the finished deal. I will probably do a costume entry at some point (which is an obviously huge part of any visual appeal these puppets have). Arlen Gruszczynski makes my costumes, she's amazing.

Anyway, I thought I'd post these so you could get a sense of the whole deal.

TFS- Puppet Making Part 5- Arms and Hands

2009-08-26T20:15:00.000-04:00

Some of these pics are big, sorry. Too lazy to resize...

Arms and hands are (like all the other parts) a world unto themselves. So here we go...

The above pic is based on that good ol' scale drawing you've created a while ago (see why it's so important to have that life-sized drawing?) You need to use that scale drawing to figure out the exactly size, shape, length, and overall look of the arm and hand for your character. As you might expect, it needs to be to scale, once again. To arrive at this drawing, I "light tabled" from the original scale drawing to get the arm and hand figured out... then from that drew in what the armature would look like.

You'll notice there's some square brass stock at the end of the arm. That's to slot into the chest armature. Further, you'll see the length of the arm is braided 1/16" armature wire, with some epoxy for the arm bones, and epoxy for the hand (into which is embedded pieces of thin floral wire for fingers). The skin over top is liquid latex (which I haven't talked much about yet, but will).

Floral wire is nice for fingers. It's strong, will stand up to the animation fingers need to do (detailed, precise movements) but is still easy to animate. You don't want really thick wire for fingers, as it will be hard to animate.

Since both of the characters arms were the same, this one scale drawing will serve. Just keep referring back to your scale drawing of the arm armature as you cut pieces and mix epoxy, so that you are making the arm JUST the right size. It's easy to drift, so use that drawing to check. After you make this basic arm and hand, you can simply bend the fingers which ever way you want, to craft it into a "right" arm/hand or a "left" arm/hand.

The above pic is the puppet arms in progress. It's darn handy to use clothes pegs to hold the arms up safely as each coat of latex dries. And another tip- don't apply the brass stock till the arm is 100% done. If you put it on earlier, it's quite tricky to figure out the exact arm length. Leave yourself extra wire at the end of the arm, make the arm, apply all the latex, then snip the wires to length, then glue on the brass stock.

Gluing tip for armature wire when attaching it to brass stock- use "gap filling glue". It's very strong, and will expand as it dries, hence the name. Regular Krazy Glue is super strong, but will only bond surface-to-surface through direct contact. Gap filling glue is the way to go (in this case).

The process for putting on the latex is TRICKY (notice all the caps. I must be SERIOUS). I've practiced a lot, on various projects, to get to a pretty good point. It takes lots of practice. You'll notice with these arms/hands they need to be smooth from the finger tips right up to the shoulders, (smooth, as in like real human arms/hands) since the whole arm would be exposed. If the puppet had long sleeves, you'd only have to make smooth hands and maybe wrists (and not worry about the arms).

Costume REALLY effects puppet making, in this sense.

It was also a challenge because of the visual style I wanted. The puppet heads were smooth and cleanly sculpted. So the arms and hands had to match. If I had made the heads "rough" in their finish, the arms/hands could have been "rough" as well. "Roughly" applied latex is much easier to achieve, and you can get some wonderful textures by using make-up sponges or bits of foam (thanks to Ted Heeley for that tip). You can get a really nice "smooth but pebbly" finish that looks great under camera. And it has a really warm "Muppet" vibe, like a very dense foam. Really appealing, great texture (and we all know stop mo is all about the textures). BUT my visual style was smooth, so the arms had to be smooth.

A HUGE tip I give students- create a visual style that allows your puppet to have a rough finish, and you will be MUCH happier. But- smooth is possible, if you are brave enough. Or stupid.

Here's the finished arms (pre-brass stock). Note their smoothness. Hard-earned, right Carla? And another tip- once you are 100% done applying latex, dump some baby powder on the arms. Rub it in, and it takes any unwanted stickiness away from the latex, and gives it a very pleasant matte finish (latex errs towards shiny- baby powder it away). And besides, you get a sweet-smelling puppet. Win-win.

Here's how I got them smooth. I used a small, cheap brush to get the first layers of latex on. A coat of latex... let it get pretty much dry... then another coat... it takes time. There's lots of tricks and tips for using liquid latex, you can find heaps at stopmotionanimation.com

I used this process to get the arms basically "on their way". By that, I mean at the joints (elbow, wrist) I used this process to add lots of layers of latex, so I had a nice smooth tube. In other words, if you ran your finger from the wrist all the way up the arm, it was flat- no dip inward at the joints. Now, with that basic "tube" of an arm, I switched techniques. I now started "dipping".

You can only get so smooth a finish by brushing. The bristles ALWAYS leave a path as you draw the brush up the arm, leaving grooves and streaks. But dipping means no brush is used, so there's nothing to leave a mark.

To dip, I found a bottle (baby food) that was deeper than the arms were long. I filled the jar with latex, tinted it with the skin colour (acrylic paint), held the arm by the end wire, and dunked it, fingers first, into the latex. Then I pulled it out, fast, being careful not to bang the arm or fingers on the jar mouth.

I quickly flipped the arms around so the fingers were point up, and used a small brush (and often a toothpick) to carefully "urge" the latex downward in the spaces betweens the fingers. Without doing this, you'd get really stubby, web-like fingers. A toothpick works well, cause right after you dip there is SO much latex it can be moved around without leaving streaks. And with the fingers pointing up, you let gravity help.

The next step (once you're sure you aren't going to get stubby fingers), is to rest the arms. This is when a pair of "helping hands" is, well, helpful. Because you want to be able to tweak the angle at which the arms are drying, as they dry. This way, if you see the latex is "sagging" to the underside, you can flip the arm to balance that out. Helping hands are fantastic for this. As the pic below illustrates:

And here's how the finished arm fits into the armature:

Finally, this is a REALLY important aspect of using latex for arms and hands. The brand makes a HUGE difference. I've used other types of mould maker's latex (which is what this material is usually called at the art store), and they suck. They are too thick, too "chunky". You CAN water latex down, with (duh) water, but still... The best brand is this:

Burma Brand latex. End of story. It's lovely and thin, paints on really easy, absorbs acrylic paint (for tinting) really easily, and is great for dipping. It's THIN, and that's how you get SMOOTH. Only use this brand.

Other brands are ok for rougher finishes. Only use this for smooth (or another brand that's equally thin, but I haven't found one).

After all this, here's my two cents of puppet making for those that are serious: come up with a design that is "rough"- a creature of some sort, an alien, a monster, it can be cute, scary, sad, silly, whatever, but let it rough in its design. You can then make some MARVELOUS puppets (I see students do it every year), if you keep it rough in it's finish. That way, you wind up with an awesome looking puppet, and learn about the materials (specifically latex) as you go... then attempt smooth with the next puppet.

On the other hand, now that you know about dipping (after this entry), maybe you'll be smooth right away.

Good for you! But you owe me 5 bucks now.

TFS- Puppet Making Part 4- Armatures

2009-08-21T20:23:00.004-04:00

A quickie, since I'm pressed for time.

Using that scale (life-sized) drawing of your character, the next step is to design and fabricate your armature. What's an armature? Find out on your own, I'm in a hurry!

Tape that scale drawing to a window, or use a light table if you have one. Lay another piece of paper over top, and draw out how the armature should look. Imagine you're drawing the skeleton for the character.

It's pretty safe to assume (if you making a human) that you'll have a hard chest piece (epoxy), and a hard pelvis (epoxy), into which braided 1/16" armature will go into, for the movable parts.

Sorry this pic is a bit crooked...

In this picture, there's some things to note. See how every limb ends with a small square piece? That is square brass stock.

The ends of all body parts will be covered in the male size (5/32"), and embedded in the armature blocks (the chest, and pelvis) will be the female size (3/16"). This allows the body parts, should they break during animation, to be replaced. You break an arm? No problem, just slide it out of the chest block, and slide in a new one!

BUT- this isn't so easy. I tried it this way, on this film, to test-drive the technique so as to be able to advise students. If it HAD worked, it would be a fairly easy, cheap way to make an armature that can have parts replaced (as opposed to making or buying an aluminum armature, or a steel ball-and-socket armature).

Why it DIDN'T work very well is that the removable body parts tended to shift and slide out of the armature blocks. The solution? I covered the male stock on each part with a thin layer of CONTACT CEMENT. Not rubber cement, not Krazy Glue... contact cement.

The cement dried quite well, keeping the part in place, BUT would probably have allowed me to yank the broken part out without damaging the armature. I never had to find out, as I never broke a body part (blush).

The OTHER option (instead of all this brass stock) is to simply directly embed the armature wire limbs into the epoxy. This works very well, and you'll get a pretty darn solid armature.

The drawback is that all the parts are committed. So if ONE little part breaks, the whole armature has to be scrapped. That's why you aim to have replaceable parts.

You'll also know from that picture there's a neck-type piece. It's a bit confusing, but a puppet neck is made up of a piece of brass stock for the base, then some armature wire, then another piece of brass stock (that will slide into the head). The thick part is actually a latex tube, tinted the colour of the puppet's skin, slid over the neck so it actually LOOKS like a neck.

Where's the arms? Again, arms are a separate thing (for another entry, that will come as soon as I can)...

And- the feet look like lumps of epoxy. That's true, but what you can't see is that embedded in those lumps are rare-earth magnets, which are super strong.

As you're figuring out, it's ALL custom designed, built and assembled pieces. So if it's confusing and unclear, well- that's why it's taken me years to start to get a good handle on it all. I animated professionally for years, and observed the puppet makers. And I started to adapt techniques and approaches for what I myself could handle at home. I had others help me, I showed pros my work, I kept making more puppets... It's just not a quick thing to learn or figure out (just like all good things in life). I'm still very far from a master at it, but I'm pretty good.

My puppets work.

The only real way (after reading this mess of an entry) to start getting good at armature wire and epoxy armatures is to start practicing. Get some epoxy, braid some 1/16" armature wire (you braid it to make it stronger, but it's still easy to use), some basic tools (Olfa cutter, pliers, wire snips) and start learning the materials.

Use some tight fitting rubber gloves when using the epoxy, too. It's not particularly nasty, but over time it could cause health concerns, and no matter what sticks to your fingers, so the gloves make life easy.

All these materials are CHEAP, so get them, and start playing. You'll learn heaps...

Be Advised- Slow Blogging Ahead

2009-08-21T07:59:00.002-04:00

Ah, for those summer days, long gone. Changing diapers, putting baby down for a nap... then running to the computer to post blog updates about my film. Those were the days, huh?

Now, I'm back to work at school, and surprise surprise, find myself with much prep work on my hands for my Fall classes...

Blogging will continue at whatever pace life allows, I promise.

TFS- Puppet Making Part 3- Puppet Heads

2009-08-10T09:14:00.026-04:00

As the previous Puppet Making posting says, it's now time to think of the puppet head as something distinct from the body.

All these examples are from TFS.

So to begin, I've resolved some important design issues already: most importantly, how is the facial animation is going to be created. This is essential to know BEFORE you make the head. The answer (for this project) is- sculpted heads that will have applied on to them animatable features (eyelids, pupils, eyebrows, and mouths). Again, I certainly didn't invent this approach, it's used all the time, mostly cause it WORKS.

The sculpted head will keep its form and volume perfectly (unlike a clay head, that would have to be resculpted constantly), but will still "be alive" cause of the features that will animate. Those features will be a mix of coloured Sculpy, mixed with a soft wax (which helps keep the features from smearing on to the puppet head, which makes a big mess and screws with the paint job on the head).

Next step is to figure out how to actually craft the head, from the core, outward. And that's what this image shows you:

At the core is BRASS STOCK. You can get it at hobby stores, call around. It comes in all sizes. For puppet heads, I use " square, 3/16" ". You can also buy it round, which is why I specify.

The purpose of this brass stock is that it gives a sleeve for the neck of the puppet to slide into. The neck (when you make it) will ALSO have brass stock on it, but a slightly smaller gauge- I use "square, 5/32" ". You want an easily removable head because at times (while animating) you will want to do some detailed work on the features, or you might need to retouch the paint job. Being able to actually take the head off the puppet makes this very easy (even in mid shot!)

Again, you need to be working at scale now, drawing the head out (based on the original scale drawing), and figuring out just how long you need to make the brass stock so that it embeds nicely, and won't be sticking out at its bottom. This takes practice, no two ways about it.

Cutting the brass stock is a bit tricky. It CAN be done with a hack saw and a vise, but it sort of sucks that way. Much easier and faster is with a rotary tool (often called a "Dremel" which is one brand), that you attach a cutting disk to. It cuts the brass like butter. Remember though- the brass will get VERY hot, so hold it with pliers, and wear safely goggles and a mask (there will be brass dust kicking around).

Often, I do this part for students, since it's a bit tricky and potentially dangerous if you're unsure of yourself. So be careful...

You CAN make the puppet with its head as part of the body. That's a faster, easier way. But this process (using brass stock) is a pretty pro way to go, and that's what we're aiming for, isn't it.

With your brass stock for your head cut, the next step is this:

I've molded plumber's epoxy (a two part compound, available at Home Depot in Canada) around the stock. Again, I've used the scale drawing to make sure I don't put too much on. This epoxy is so that the foil (which is the next step) has something to grab on to. You'll note all the weird pointy bits on the epoxy. If I had done it smooth, the foil would just spin on the epoxy, and your final head would ALSO just spin around loosely- driving you insane while animating (and ruining your film).

Plumber's epoxy is an amazing material. You can use it for anything hard in a puppet's armature- arm bones, leg bones, pelvis, chest... it dries very fast, and is very hard (giving you a really strong armature). There's lots of tips and tricks to using this material, but that's not for THIS posting. Just be sure to practice with it first to get a feel for the material (before putting it to REAL use), and wear tight rubber gloves (the epoxy will stick to your fingers over time, and it's not really healthy). It also doesn't hurt to have a fan and open window, as the fumes are stinky.

You'll ALSO note (this is vital), that I left a wee bit of space at the bottom of the epoxy. This is so that when I apply the Super Sculpy (which is the final layer of the head), there is brass stock for me to sculpt the Sculpy on to. This way, the final layer will be very strongly attached to the brass stock, AND the foil, and the epoxy. If the epoxy covered all the stock, the final layer of Sculpy would only be attached to the epoxy, and that increases your chance that the whole head will spin on the stock, again- driving your insane. This is a bit confusing, but practice is the only way to get it. Nothing about puppet making is "easy", or perfect on the first shot. It's very much a learned skill, and that comes through practice. C'est la vie!

Next comes the foil. Nothing fancy, just good ol' fashion tin foil. The purpose of the foil is to "bulk up" the head, while keeping it light. That's why the final layer of Sculpy is actually so thin- it keeps it light. And a LIGHT head is very important for a puppet. A heavy head will weigh the puppet down, and make balance an issue.

Pack the foil on tight, but not TOO tight, or it gets heavy. Refer always to your scale drawing to keep on size...

Finally, it's time to sculpt. I use Super Sculpy cause it's tough, and I use the grey kind cause it's easier on the eyes and (I'm convinced) sculpts more smoothly. It doesn't drag in the way the flesh-coloured (if your flesh is "white") Super Sculpy does.

A sculpting tip- use a length of 5/32" brass stock (if you used 3/16" in the head) to put your head on to while sculpting. It makes it easier to rotate and keeps your hands off the actual head.

Rotate the head all the time you're sculpting, checking all angles, making sure it's balanced and pleasant and looking "right" in all dimensions... it takes me ages to sculpt (well, hours- a puppet head probably takes me about 6 hours in total to sculpt). But I really enjoy it. I love the process of building the head up, trying things out, starting over... I listen to talk radio, zone out... I love finding the planes and angles that are right... letting the character rise up out of the clay... I'm self-taught, and whatever skills I have it's really just through practice. Take your time, get good. If you're already good, get better.

My basic tools. The weird little wire thing is just some stiff floral wire (covered in plastic) wrapped around into a sort of "mini-scooper" thing, for digging out small spaces..

Here's another tip, for when you're done sculpting for the day, and for when you actually bake this head. Use a wire curled like this:

It keeps your soft head up off the table, cause the wire is sitting inside the brass stock. And when you bake, you can just set the head on this wire base, and place the whole thing on a baking pan. Just make sure as you make the curly base, you keep it flat and level, not wobbly.

When you're ready, bake the head according to the instructions. Baking Sculpy is a bit of an art, keep an eye on it, don't let it burn... and practice.

A baking tip- when it's done baking, turn off the oven, open the oven door, and let it cool. Don't try to take the head out while it's hot. It's now VERY fragile, so leave it alone. I've wept tears of pain from taking a head out too soon... Once it's cool, it's rock hard. But let it cool!

Also- be sure to use the joke "I'm going to put my head in the oven" as much as possible at this stage. My wife tells me that one never gets old...

Now with a cool, hard head, you should have something like this (when viewed from the bottom):

Notice how the brass stock is flush with the base of the head. That's what you want (or even the brass stock up inside a bit). The main thing is that you don't want the stock sticking out (it will look terrible on camera), and you want the square of stock clean and free of Sculpy. If there's any gunking the stock up, you can easily pick it out.

Now it's time to paint. Painting Sculpy is easy, AND tricky. It's easy to apply the paint, but it's tricky to ensure the paint is strongly adhered to the Sculpy. You're going to be putting your hands (and pressure) on this head for every frame, and paint can easily scrape/chip/smear off, if you don't take precautions.

The best way to get a solid paint job is to use a primer on the head. I use automotive primer, grey. It's flat and thin. You just need a thin layer, on all of the head. It dries fast, and from THERE, you can paint on acrylic paint with a brush (or air brush).

Be careful when spraying the paint. Do it somewhere that a bit of mess is OK (like a garage). I use a cardboard box as a "spray booth" to catch the excess paint. And I use a base of wood with skewers glued in to hold the heads, for painting.

Well, now you've got a puppet head. Apply your paint job. Be sure to keep a little bottle of the skin tone paint, for touch ups!

When you're done painting the head, let it dry well, then SEAL the paint by using either a spray fixative (available at art stores), or a paint-on version. This just helps keep the paint on better, and prevents little things like a random fingernail from causing trouble. Be sure to use a flat (or matte) finish, not gloss. Unless you're making a puppet that's glossy (perhaps a fish man?)

The paint WILL chip off, or peel. Not a lot, but it's still likely to happen. Eyebrows are notorious, as they are animated across the head. They stick, they smear, they can pull paint right off. Just be very careful (no kidding), have touch up paint ready, and all will be well!

This process is tested and true, and although it's not perfect, it gives excellent results in a fairly straight- forward, DIY fashion...

Sorry I'm Late

2009-08-07T09:06:00.003-04:00

Very cool "in-camera" movie. You can watch it here.

Loving it...

TFS- Puppet Making Part 2- Full Sized Drawings

2009-08-07T08:47:00.004-04:00

This and basically every puppet making entry will describe a process for making a HUMANOID puppet- two arms, two legs, standing upright, head on top. From this basic structure, you can modify your heart out...

Now that you know specifically what your puppet has to do, draw your whole character from the front, AT FULL SIZE.

Regular computer paper works just fine for drawing the character out (and you can putit on a light table or against a window to trace through, for designing armatures later on). Do rotational drawing if you want to, but a lot of the 3d aspect will come out in the actual sculpting/crafting of the puppet...I personally like to get the size right on paper, then let the character fill out as I sculpt/craft him/her/it.

An adult male is approximately 30 cm tall (this gives you an adult puppet that is big enough to easily animate, but small enough to keep your sets and props that will go with this puppet small enough to be manageable). This is basically working at 1/6th scale, if you are wondering. It's pretty standard.

The bigger your puppet, the bigger the sets and props have to be, and that can take up space and material very quickly!

Kid puppets are obviously smaller than the adults, but you need to actually keep kids bigger than they really would be in relation to a 30 cm adult. Think of making a kid puppet (compared to an adult) as making a very short adult. If you make a kid puppet too small, it will be almost impossible to animate, because its parts will be so tiny.

Draw out all of your characters (if you have more than one) like this, so you can check them all against each other for size relationships. Since you are now working at FULL SIZE, if your storyboard shows lots of shots featuring character A in a medium shot along side character B, both characters had better be approximately the same height for composing those shots, or your going to go mad trying to find a camera angle that allows you to get your shot! In other words, a giraffe and a mouse would have a hard time sharing the same frame. To get your shot, you could lie the giraffe down, or put the mouse on a ladder (both of which are possibly valid staging options), but you then need a giraffe puppet that can lie down, or you need to craft a ladder! And if so, do either of these options really WORK for your story? Or do they distract from the real intent of the scene?

As you can see, size relationships have a lot of impact on production. Drawing your characters at full size at this early stage will let you see these sorts of issues early, and let you redesign or reboard...

Now that you have a SCALE drawing (meaning you have a drawing the is the same size as the puppet is going to be), this scale drawing will also be used for creating the puppet's armature, and to help with framing, sets, props... but before that happens, you should make the puppet's head.

Yep, take it from me: get your puppet designed on paper, to scale. Then start with the head, not the body. At this point, you should be almost thinking of them as two separate (but connected) production issues: the head, and then the rest of the puppet.

TFS- Puppet Making Part 1- Designing Characters

2009-07-29T09:48:00.010-04:00

Click on pic to make it big, although not much bigger, sorry.

So now that I've beaten to death the process of the story development, the next stage I thought I'd explore is Puppets. As with story, everyone has his or her own process of development. This is mine.

Also, I'm writing this for a reader that is eager, generally talented, but not very experienced in stop mo production (in short, my students!) At points I discourage approaching puppet-making in certain ways. That's based on the assumption that you (faithful reader) are not already practiced at this medium, and that you do not have a workshop full of power tools and mould-making materials and chemicals.

From teaching stop mo for a few years now, I've really come to approach the medium from the pov of "what can the average but very passionate person achieve?" So I don't tend to promote methods that require special machines (although sometimes there's no way around using a jigsaw, for some set building stuff), tricky chemicals, foam ovens, mould fabrication, metal lathing, and so on.

So please bear that in mind as you read all these puppet-making entries...I am always trying to get talented and passionate people excellent results, as opposed to miring them in financial debt to buy expensive stuff, so they can achieve poor results cause they weren't focusing on the important fundamentals.

As I now step down off my soapbox, ahem...

I first look at the finished boards, to confirm what the puppet in question has to do, specifically. This is an extremely important aspect of design. As a very basic example, imagine a scene in which the puppet has to reach up and grab an apple from a tree branch. But you've designed (and built!) a puppet with very short stubby arms. When you come to shoot that "grabbing the apple" shot, guess what? Your puppet simply cannot do the action.

So if your character has to (for example) balance on tip toes, then leap into the air, hover for 5 seconds, then suddenly stretch its neck out like a giraffe, you've got a lot of serious design issues to consider. Conversely, if your character has to basically stand in one place, make some facial expressions, be capable of solid but not particularly complex animation, move his arms around, and basically LOOK good, that's a far more straightforward issue. And that's the case with the puppet above. He's the Dad puppet for my film.

In the interest of moving along, I'll just say this about designing and constructing puppets: it's as much mechanical design as it is artistic design. This holds true especially when you are designing AND making the puppet yourself. Puppets take a VERY long time to design and build, even simple ones. All the puppets in my film are fairly straightforward, and the story was in part designed to allow for that fairly simple puppet making. Again, when you are doing it mostly yourself (even with a massively talented and helpful assistant like I had), all aspects of the production are really intertwined as you move forward.

And when they start getting tricky (puppets, that is), having to do very particular actions, it gets very complex and very NOT possible for a do-it-yourself-er. But the specifics of complex puppet making is not only for another posting, its for an entire lifetime of practice and craft...

As you are designing a character, here are a few very basic things to consider. You'll notice most of them concern how to get the puppet to stay still while you are animating he/she/it!!

RIGS
Does the puppet have to have all its feet off the ground at any point? If so, that means you will somehow have to "rig" that puppet with a wire (that is secured to something out of camera) for those frames of animation. Later, you will have to digitally "clean up" those frames, removing the wire. Rig shots can be very simple (a ball landing in a glove), or very complex (10 witch puppets, all floating on broomsticks while juggling jack-o-lanterns). If a puppet needs a rig, it has to have that rigging point (where the wire will go) incorporated into the design.

BUTT MAGNETS
In my story, there's a scene with two puppets sitting on a park bench. How to get them to stay still while they are being animated? My solution was to design very strong magnets (called "rare-earth" magnets) into their butts! So when the sit down, I can put another magnet under the bench, and they will stay put. But I only knew to install these magnets cause I carefully consulted the finished boards. Always refer to your boards before designing.

TIE DOWNS VERSUS MAGNETS
Here's a good example of functionality versus design. If you design a character with lovely, tiny feet, she will look beautiful. But she will be very tricky to stand up. And standing up is the one thing your puppet REALLY needs to do well. If a puppet won't stand up securely, you are going to go bonkers trying to animate this wibbly-wobbly creature. Since this puppet in question has tiny feet, you'll need to use little nuts in her feet, that you can screw a bolt into from under your set. This is the "tie down" method of puppet making. An easier solution is embedding a rare-earth magnet in her feet. Now she will stand very easily, just by placing another magnet under your set. But now, since the magnets are big, she has clunky clown feet. Which is more important, that she is easy to move, or that she looks lovely?

COSTUMES
A complex area of puppet making, this. Is your character a human? If you look at the Dad puppet, he has long pants, and a short sleeved shirt. Pretty "normal" attire. The long pants are good, cause they cover a lot of skin. Under the pants can just be armature, and foam (for bulk). But the short sleeve shirt is tricky, cause it leaves exposed a lot of arm flesh. And since I was making the puppet parts from building up with liquid latex, getting a "smooth" look over all that area was going to be tricky. If he had long sleeves, that would be much easier. I'd only have to worry about smooth hands (as his arms would be under fabric). But the story was very much set in the summer, so he HAD to have short sleeves. So I HAD to pick up the challenge of geting smooth arms. See how costume hugely effects puppet making?!

Further, what if instead of a human Dad, he was a cat Dad? Imagine he still had these cloths, but was also covered in fur. What is that fur made from? How do you apply it to the puppet? Will it stay still during animation?

How about if instead of a cat Dad, he was a lizard Dad? Now you have smooth shiny scales to create. How do you do that?

There's no way I can really go into detail on this here! But suffice it to say (for now) that just cause you can imagine it, and draw it, DOESN'T mean you can build it. Sure, SOMEONE could build it (for you). There are hugely talented pros out there. But it will cost you quite possibly thousands. What can YOU make?

Personally, I can't even make the simple costume depicted! I know my weak areas, and constructing costumes is one of them. I can design, if it's simple, but I can't make. I PAY to get my costumes made. And they are beautiful, and done quickly, and function properly. It's worth it to me, to get nice puppets. So I always budget for costume fabrication. Simple as that.

PUPPET HEADS AND FACIAL ANIMATION
I'll write more on the topic of puppet heads specifically, later. But in short, as you design, think about what your puppet head and face has to do. Let's say you have a tiger, and you design a character that will have a moving jaw. And he has lots of lip sync. You've just designed yourself into hell. The basic shape of that head (assuming it's fairly realistic) is enough of a challenge. Then a hinged jaw is very complex to design and fabricate (assuming you are working very indie). And all that lip sync will mean the very delicate structure of that jaw will be maxed out by all the detailed animation. The wires in there will break, and be very hard to replace. I always steer students away from this structural design for mouths. Again, it's about mechanical realities JUST as much as it about designing a pretty character.

In the example of the Dad puppet above, you can see he has a very simply little mouth. His character only has minor changes in mouth shapes, and in mouth positions. So for him, I designed a head that would be sculpted and hard (and stand up to frame-by-frame abuse by my hands), and that had NO mouth. Just a smooth space where the mouth would go. Then I used clay that was the right colour to match the head, that I simply pressed gently on to head. It could be moved and replaced and animated. This method of "hard head, soft mouth" puppet making is nothing new, it's used all over. It's slick and fast and effective in terms of conveying what you want, in a fairly simply technical way. It's the method I point most students towards.

Again, search your boards, see specifically what your puppet has to do, and go from there. If the Dad had tonnes of lip sync, using soft clay mouths that I whip up on set would not be practical. Instead, I'd make a "mouth kit" of mouth shapes that would be hard, and that could be tacked on with a tiny bit of wax. But still, it's the same basic concept- a hard hard, with external mouth pieces that get applied frame by frame.

Not saying this is the only way. Just saying it's a slick way that works.

Whew. I have a very strong feeling these puppet making postings are going to be rather technical, as opposed to philosophical. It's hard to resist falling into a "how to" approach, because with stop mo, there really IS a lot of practical stuff to learn.

Of course, in all aspects of the creation of art, there's room for philosophical considerations. It's just that production needs tend to take over (ie, deadlines) and now that story is locked in, it's usually a case now of "get it done".

TFS-Story Development Process, Part 5

2009-07-20T09:30:00.020-04:00

So in Part 4, I provided a brief blurb as to the specific content of the story for TFS. Now I thought I'd share some more details regarding the specific process I used for developing the story.

It's a pretty tried and true process, I certainly didn't invent it. But there's a few personalized twists to the process, as you'll see.

You can click to make this bigger...

The above image was basically "Round 1" of the story development. I knew the story would feature a Narrator (me) who would introduce the story, and then pop back into the story, upon occasion. So I simply started writing the story out as if I was telling it to someone "live".

That's a method of storytelling I feel confident in (and in fact, everything I've made has a Narrator, in the first person). Different pieces I've made use that Narrator to a greater or lesser extent, but they all have a Narrator. I've always loved what a Narrator does to a story, the extra layer of character it offers. When every thing's being filtered through that character, there's a lot of tensions and juxtapositions that can happen. And there's an inherent intimacy that is created between the film and the audience, when someone speaks directly to YOU, the audience.

I know in part this is the result of my college training, that was very much influenced by Philip Hoffman.

His work is certainly more formal than mine, and operates within a more classical "Experimental" realm, and he's not an animator. So at first glance, you'd probably never see any connections between our work. After all, I make cute little puppet movies, that lightly touch on deeper things. He makes serious art house flicks that dig right into heavy, thought-provoking stuff.

But from him (and other faculty in the Media Arts Program at Sheridan, in the mid 1990s) I learned how powerful a personal, intimate approach to cinema can be, regardless of whether you're working in live action, documentary, interactive media, or animation. The film's content can be accessible, broadly appealing, easy on the eyes, traditionally narrative, and so on... but STILL be personally motivated and intimate in its approach.

I think I make stuff that grows out of the traditions honed by artists like Phil Hoffman, even though my stuff has rooted itself in a more commercial, broadly appealing form.

Anyway, moving on...

In an earlier posting, I said how lethal I thought doing all your story development via a word processor could be. If you check out the above scan, you'll see it's covered in very rough panels, arrows, scribbles, redirects, questions to myself, development notes, inserts... working this way was immediate and raw and real. And it always lets you see the process, how you got to where you are. When you see notes to yourself laid out right on the story, it points you to other parts of the story, it reminds you that perhaps there's motifs or story points that need picking up later in the story... and it all happens at a glance, right in front of you.

Even when you change your mind, and scribble something out, that remains on paper to remind you of the choice you made. And all this helps you grow the story. Well, it helps ME. It's a personal process that works for me, and I offer it here because seeing how others "do it" can help hone your OWN process.

I simply stapled all the papers together, and kept coming back to it as I developed it.

Then: below is "Round 2", which was a tightening of things from Round 1. It reads in columns, from top to bottom. At this stage, I guess it's basically the "Thumbnail" version of things. It takes into account the Voice Over, but more specifically depicts the visuals and how they will cut together. To start, I dash out a couple of columns, then start filling them in, with no mind to refining or keeping it clean. This is really about getting the visuals and audio to work together.

Click the pic to make it bigger...

And from this, it's a fairly boring step to "Round 3," which is tightening it up a lot, and putting it into formal storyboard panels.

Click the pic to make it bigger...

I call it fairly boring, because even though this stage is vital, the alchemy and the excitement of developing the story is essentially done. It reminds me of what an animator told me once of working with a director on project. The director would go over the shot with the animator, and together they'd build up great ways to stage the shot, dreaming up all the "goodness" that would go into the shot. This process would be filled with laughs, "what ifs," and real moments of creative storytelling excitment. Then the director would leave. And the animator would sigh, cause the FUN part was done. It was all dreamed up. Now, it was just about putting his head down and MAKING it. That's like this stage of boards. The fun is done, but not the work. And this stage of boards is work, for real.

With this final stage, it's about making it tight and clean and easy to reference when I'm shooting. It's these final boards that I put up on the studio wall, and use to reference when I shoot. These boards will have various production notes included, so that as I set up for the shot, the board reminds me of specifics. For example, a prop in this shot might appear in the board to be the same prop as in an earlier shot, but in fact, it needs to be altered somehow, for continuity.

So these boards have to be detailed, tight, easy to reference...but it's not creative. It's essential work, but not fun work. But in the end you've got a nice set of boards.

For me, Round 1 and 2 are so much fun, because they are so raw. Anything can happen at those stages, and there's an energy that lives in the rough panels that is inspiring. With Round 3's tight boards done, it's pretty locked in. But that's the way it goes. It's a necessary thing for story, it has to get tight. Effective production flow demands it.

With the tight boards done, I shot a still of each panel (I guess I could have scanned them instead, but it's easier for me to shoot stills with a video camera), and use those to create my leica reel, otherwise known as my animatic, or story reel (why they can't just call it one thing, I don't know, or care).

I refined the Voice Over on paper, then recorded it. This happened over several sessions, because I would cut some voice into the leica, sleep on it, and revise how I wanted it delivered. That's a luxury when you do your own voice work- re-recordes are easy to schedule!

Then I cut it all together with the storyboard drawing in Premiere (on my Mac), and thus concludes the story portion of the project. Of course, I spent quite a while editing the leica, getting the timing right, the flow of the whole thing... that's why you take the time at the stage, so that when you actually shoot you know exactly what you need from your shots.

So in the end, it followed a fairly traditional method of development for animation: rough story with sketches, leading to thumbnails, leading to tight boards, then animatic.

The Life of Puppets

2009-07-15T12:48:00.004-04:00

Recently a friend gave my son a small hand puppet, made by Banjo Puppets (they're in my Links column).

Of course, the next step was to play with said puppet.

For me, the best part of this video is not my amazingly strange accent (is this puppet from England? Australia? South Africa? Sweden? very mysterious, and slightly embarrassing).

It's the expressions on my son's face, throughout.

That puppet is as real to him as I am, or a cat, or a dog. It's just another creature in my son's daily life that wants to interact with him. Bring it on. Talking dishes? Sure. A tree that wants a hug? Why not.

I'll never have an easier audience, I should aim all by stuff at the toddler crowd.

But seriously- the full acceptance you can see in my son's face of that bit of fun fur with eyes as being alive is at the root of why puppets "work".

Old Trout/Feist Music Video

2009-07-15T12:43:00.003-04:00

Lovely voice and song, lovely puppets, lovely mood, themes, and metaphors...

Can't embed it, but here's the link.

A Tidier Blog, By Gum.

2009-07-15T09:06:00.003-04:00

For my three avid readers: I have spent a bit of time creating more organized labels.

Now you can delve greedily in the soft, velvety postings of the past, confident that your chosen area of interest, be it "Puppets," "Stop Motion," "Comics," "Books," "Story," "Home Electronics Repairs," "Taxedermy" and so on will be easy to find.

Delve often.

Delve deep.

War Horse

2009-07-15T08:12:00.016-04:00

Months ago, I wrote about a production that came to Toronto, Famous Puppet Death Scenes. It's a wonderful and inventive show, overall.

Some of the most powerful moments in that show come in the conclusion, as the Narrator puppet is "laid to rest". The emotional connection between the audience and the puppet was remarkable, possibly the strongest I've ever witnessed.

That's part of the magic of theatre, of course- the amount of suspension of disbelief required in a live setting (to believe a puppet is living and breathing) can result in a huge emotional connection with that puppet, on the part of the audience. The audience so clearly KNOWS the puppet is just string and wood and wire, but that same audiences WANTS that puppet to be alive. So much has to be invested emotionally by the audience, and that investment pays off in a massive emotional connection with the character. And if something tragic or dramatically tense should involve that character with whom the audience has had to will into life (and of course something dramatic always does befall a character, if its good theatre), the toll it can take on an audience can be devastating.

In a good way, typically.

At a climactic moment in excellent puppet theatre, the engaged audience says to itself, "I knew from the start you weren't real, but I fell for you, I believed in you. And then I forgot you weren't real, and just loved you as a living character. So please don't leave me now. I've invested so much in you. I've fallen so deeply for you."

Of course without excellent puppetry skills none of this happens, but I don't think any puppeteers reading this will be upset if I gloss over their role (at least in this particular posting). After all, if he or she is doing a wonderful job, it's simply the character that is alive on stage. The puppeteer dissolves away...

Case in point: the New London Theatre's production of War Horse. Here's an article on the show. The article also has a link to a Youtube trailer that features the puppets in action.

I haven't had the pleasure, but what impresses me about the production (as its depicted in the article) is the emotional reaction audiences are having to the horse puppets. It sounds like some incredibly powerful connections are being created, with audiences in tears, stirred so deeply by it all.

I love puppet theatre, because its immediate and live nature can grab an audience's emotions in such a raw, magical way. But it also scares the pants off me, when I think of trying to create it- so much can go wrong when you're live!

Stop motion allows for a lot of control, and "reshoots" if things aren't right. It's safe to make, and of course, can then be shown the world over via broadcast or screenings. Theatre simply doesn't travel like motion picture!

But I also think stop motion (through its non-live, careful production method) simply cannot grab the audience in such a primal fashion as a live production like War Horse can. Stop motion certainly can create an emotional response from an audience, but it's just not going to be as magical and remarkable as something live.

Live puppet theatre is very risky, but the potential pay-off is huge.

Thanks to Mark Mayerson for the tip-off on this show.

TFS-Story Development Process, Part 4

2009-07-14T08:50:00.004-04:00

(Click the pic for a nice big image.)

So here's the story I went with. This is essentially how I "pitched" the project to Sheridan when I was applying for funding (more on that process later).

"The project I am proposing is a short (approximately 4 minute) animated film. More specifically, the animation will be in the form of puppet animation.

In terms of content, the film concerns itself with a real family event, that provides insight into how we help loved ones deal with pain.

In the summer of 1965, my oldest brother was bit by what my parents feared was a rabid squirrel. What followed were several weeks of painful curative needles for my brother, and painful worrying for my parents. The ending to this true family tale is a happy one, but the journey to that ending was difficult, to say the least.

How does a family come together during moments of sudden crisis? What lengths will parents go to in order to help their children through such times? What lessons can we learn from the inevitable pain that life brings our way?

In bigger terms, the story is about how we deal with loved ones as they suffer through physical pain.

The tone of the film will be lighthearted, but never frivolous. It will employ humourous visual storytelling (through puppet animation), and a narration that is written in a personal, heartfelt style."

So- why did I give this story the ultimate green light, when other story concepts didn't make the grade? For a whole number of reasons, and that is how I seem to proceed when developing projects. I have to weight a whole lot of factors. It's not just the story itself, it's finding a story that fits the process of production I envision following.

By that I mean, if I had a powerful Executive Producer who was officially standing by to handle getting funds together, I could start my job as writer by whipping up quite an epic tale. I could let my imagination run completely wild (and wouldn't that be fun). But the reality of my production process is that currently, I either fund these things myself, OR pull together a modest budget from external sources, somehow.

And so as I imagine a story, I have to also imagine HOW that story will get made. And keeping production schedules, sizes and budgets realistic is essential to me achieving my ultimate goal which is: see a short animated film on the big screen (or small screen, as the case may be). And it's not just imagining a story that can get made, in terms of production costs. It's a much bigger chain, that involves the use of facilities, equipment, TIME, assistants (if I can get any), other crew...

Maybe I shouldn't work this way, wearing all these different production hats at once. Maybe I should just be the writer when it's at the writing stage... then the producer when it's time to get money... then the director, animator...

But I personally can't work that way. Since I am doing so much if it myself, I see a project from all angles, at every stage of the project. And so it goes...

Experience thus far has proven that when you depend too much on outsiders (especially when money is involved), things get way too delicate, and can fall apart so easily. I just want to get a film on the screen, with my name on it (and that I controlled, creatively). And from that film on screen, I will become a better artist, who has a real VOICE. And then I can continue on, accordingly.

Anyway, back to why this story won the race to the finish line and went into production. Here's a short list of the "whys":

1. IT WOULD "WORK" IN THE EYES OF MY PRODUCER (IE, MY EMPLOYER!)
There is money available to profs to develop themselves professionally. You can use it for taking a course, to buy textbooks, materials that help you create art... The idea behind it is that through self-development, a teacher becomes a better teacher, and can pass that along to the students. I applied to this fund proposing to make a short film. I felt the content, tone, and overall message of this particular story would be well received by my "producers" (as opposed to a hardcore gore film with bloody entrails and naked girls on motorcycles. Although that would also be an exciting concept. Maybe my next film). And if Sheridan is playing a Producer role (although a very hands-off one, since profs have a lot of freedom in how they spend they development money), it's just common sense- KEEP YOUR PRODUCER HAPPY. If Sheridan's name is going to be on this (in some capacity), make it something that Sheridan will be happy to have its name on. A happy producer means an easier next project for ME.

2. STRONG POTENTIAL FOR INTENSIFICATION AND CLARIFCATION
I'm always on my students about "intensifying and clarifying"- that's the process of seizing a concept/story/situation and amping it up and making it VERY clear. Motion picture story telling is not "real life" (even when it's a documentary, docs are still framed and edited and staged to some extent). I knew immediately that this family story seemed ripe for this process. It was a basic story that was already pretty intense, that could be cranked up, made "cartoony," through the storytelling techniques at my disposal.

3 A STRONG BASIC STORY THAT COULD BE DELIVERED CONFIDENTLY
I realized that this story was always a hit when my family all got together- it had intense drama, action, suspense... and a certain amount of cruel (but ultimately well intentioned) humour. Also, since the story was personal (and true), it would naturally be delivered first person, which always makes writing easier for me. When I move into 3rd person storytelling, I have a tendency to lose my connection to the situation and characters. But 1st person keeps me rooted, emotionally. Maybe it's all the personal comic books I gravitate to, artists like Julie Doucet, Seth, Chester Brown...

4. IT HIT CLOSER TO HOME THAN EVER.
As a new parent, I now saw other facets to the story. I could image what it must have been like for my parents to struggle through the event, how scary it must have been. I knew these fresh insights would give me an angle into the story, as I crafted it.

5. ON THE TIP OF MY EYEBALLS
The story was visually "there" right away. Even as I began to imagine how I would convey the story, the shots were tumbling out of my head. The scenes presented themselves, and how they would cut together, what I would reveal and NOT reveal, and when I would do it... the whole story was right there. I had to work through a few scenes in terms of how to show the story, but a vast majority of the visual work was in my head. A very good sign.

6. REALISTIC IN TERMS OF PRODUCTION CONSTRAINTS
Based on how it was visually conveying itself right out of the gate, I knew it was "doable" in terms of production costs and ambitions. With the limited time I would have to build and shoot (basically 6 weeks), it could happen. (Time Machine ahead in production and: In the end I got 80% shot, and 100% of the sets/puppets built, and will finish shooting in the Fall, but that's fine by me, MOST of it got shot, without too much to finish). It also was "doable" in terms of production costs. I would be alloted $800 in development money, and I can do a LOT with $800.

There's other reasons why this one "worked" but those are the main ones...

So to sum up, it wasn't simply the story itself that had to "fit". The story had to "fit" with the larger production process I had in mind. It's a very delicate path through the process, to see something finished on the screen. A misstep can cause ruin. That's part of what it means to make indie films- there's no simple and clear way through- you have to find the right path for each project.

I always use the term "get your ducks lined up." I use that term because it conveys how if you take care with your production issues up front, they can be knocked down with one "shot" (ie, a production can FLOW effectively).

Also, I hate ducks, and love the thought of shooting them dead.

FURTHER NOTE ON PRODUCTION SCHEDULE: I would have 6 weeks to build the sets and props and puppets, and shoot the animation. But the story was already completely done by then, as was an animatic, and the puppet heads were all sculpted (I love sculpting, but I'm SLOW). So these crucial 6 weeks were started with quite a bit of key work done already (I had been working away over the winter).