Motion Blur

I've been working on some new stuff.



I shot the whole thing on ones, at 24fps. Then I took it into After Effects and used the "Timewarp" function. I set the Speed to: 100 and clicked "enable motion blur." Made it "Manual" and set the shutter angle to: 275.04 and changed the shutter samples to 11.

This method (which I believe is called "Megamotion") was first brought to my attention by Peter Montgomery from a post he did in the StopmotionAnimation.com Handbook. 

Of course the technique I previously described is slightly different from the one in the handbook. I can't find where I originally got that info, but I know it's based on it... Anyway, thank's to Peter Montgomery for figuring this all out!

More stuff on the way.

Look Again

Not cake this time.

Look....

Cake anyone...?

Long Time No Blog

Yeah, I know I've often said I was going to "post more" but.... LIFE, you know? Anyway, things are really starting to pick up around here. I've been busy working full time and juggling said work with other side projects.
Project 1:
I just finished a short story that I've been working on since November. It's titled "Flea Dip." It's kind of a Horror/Neo-Noir/Comedy type thing. I wrote about 90% of it at night (when I'm tired and crazy) so, I think it turned out ok. The next challenge would be getting it published...
What's funny is, as soon as I finished it, I found this.

Now I realize, I need to rewrite the WHOLE STORY as a SCRIPT! 

Yeah, I'm not all that familiar with the screenplay format and it's proving to be quite irritating. But I have 15 pages already, so I think I'll be able to make the deadline.

And by the way, that was actually Project 2.

So, Project 3:

I'm currently trying to get certain stop - motion things done in time for a certain event. But, that may or may not happen, depending on how fast I get my script done. Really, it's crazy how many things I want and need to do that ALL have approximately the same deadline: JULY! 

So, until I can finish something, I probably won't post anything new for a little while (ha, you all know what that means....). 

Anyway, till next time.

Heads

I've been working on and off on the puppet heads for the new short. 

This is just the guy. I call him "Perry" because it sounds better than "the guy."

Perry's head was sculpted in Monster Clay, by my dad, mostly because I didn't want to try and figure how to deal with clay other than what I'm used to. (Also, because I was just lazy.)

Perry's head was molded and I began work on the facial armature. This was, however, a task that has proved extremely difficult and frustrating. SO difficult that this pic is actually of the second attempt. I stopped taking photos by the third because, well, I just didn't want to anymore.

The eyes are glass beads, the skull itself is epoxy putty, and the eyebrow/lip wires are pipe cleaners.

I'm still working out some small problems with Perry's skull. 

Also, I'm sculpting the OTHER character which is still classified. What I can tell you is: this "other character" is the biggest puppet I've ever had to make. Plus, it's got to have FUR. 

WOOPS, I've probably said too much as it is, so till next time. Bye!

A Puppet With CLOTHES!

So, I've been working on a new project (which I believe I mentioned a few months back) and it's been going relatively well.

I've built the armature with new tiedowns and have just partially clothed it.

The tiedowns are ground into a "T" shape which will fit inside a slot in the feet. 

I didn't come up with this design myself, rather, it was devised by Nick Hilligoss! You can check out his tutorial for such tiedowns here.

The clothes that are shown are store-bought, doll clothes which just happened to fit perfectly! 

These are just the basics though. This puppet will eventually have a trench coat sewn over it. Not by ME of course, I can't sew to save my life. I have a friend however, who's mother will be completing the outfit.

As you can see, I'm still quite far from animating. But hopefully, I'll be able to have this entire project done before Halloween.

The Montreal Stop Motion Film Festival

So, some cool news. I've entered Autumn Leaves in the Montreal Stop Motion Film Festival. 
Also, I'd encourage anyone out there who has a short stop-mo film to enter! It's a really cool event and their call for entries is only going to last till September 21st. So, enter now while you still can.
Check out their trailer: