Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Back in (pre)production....

Photobucket

Yes, once again, I'm printing out tiny little labels, all stolen shamelessly from the intrawub---- well, some with extensive modification.

Can't really do much with them though till Im done animating my current scene... it wouldn't do to have bottles disappearing and jumping around randomly! I actually did grab one bottle on the set before I realized what I was doing... need to try to get it back in place via Framethief. And I even had it hotglued down... my heart sank when I felt that glue bond snap suddenly! But at least it was only ONE bottle... and I ended up taking a few from the far end that are off camera for measuring.

Just wanted to post this to show I am back to work on my film now... Prammaven, call off the claydogs!!

This film has seen me through a lot of growth so far, and some serious upgrades of studio equipment and animation skillz. But it's time I get it done. Long-term goal is by the end of the year, but I hope to finish it before winter sets in and free myself up to start in on something else.

13 comments:

UbaTuber said...

Cool! Good luck meeting your goals, I know it'll be nice for you to be able to focus on something else. Labels are looking great!

Shelley Noble said...

By the Great God of Stop Mo, I hear the hammer of Ahab ringing!

All the sprokets holes, in all the frames of celluloid that ever existed, are chattering at this great news!

Can't wait!

tonychauzer said...

Hope it's clear skies and smooth sailing through your film trek Mike! Although its a little wishful to think this way when it comes to stop mo... a little wishful is what we are right? :)

Cheers!

StopmoNick said...

Nice labels! Funny, I had to buy a new printer yesterday, so I could do exactly the same thing for my current drinking exercise!
Great to hear this is back in production! You're setting an example for me - I've been doing little tests and exercises for too long, putting off getting into my next actual film. How long? I used the first puppet I made for it in the very first Stopmoshorts round in 2004! In your case, I can see the exercises paying off as the animation improves in each one.

Did Shelley hit the nail on the head? Do you hear the tap of a peg leg on a ship's deck in the distance?

Anonymous said...

Ooh, called OUT!

:P

Good luck, man. When you're doing your X sheets, here's a tip that can make the timing easier:

As opposed to a traditional X sheet, just open something in your basic text program. Number straight across, covering every frame, but in groups of frames. This will put your timing dead-on.

Example:

1-35 man reaches down to pick up newspaper
36-78 hand on newspaper, hold
79-110 hold on hand, on newspaper
111-135 hand leaves frame with newspaper

Then time all of your other actions around that, which you'd have to do on an X sheet. This is just a realy fast, super effective way to get the basic timing of the main action in the shot down. It gives you a blueprint to plan around.

Emily said...

That's really exciting - I hope you'll still slip us lots of tips and progress reports along the way!

Darkmatters said...

Oh wow... when Shelley said "I head the hammer of Ahab ringing", I just thought she meant I was back at the forge, pounding it out again. So in that sense, yes. But is there an Ahab film looming over the horizon after I finish this one? I won't rule it completely out, but I've had lots of good ideas for films since then, and I really don't have a good working scenario for an Ahab film, though I do have a few good ideas that don't hold together into anything cohesive.

So that project is in limbo... it might happen one day, it might not. But I'll definitely launch on something exciting when this one is done!

Darkmatters said...

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement everybody!

Pram, cool concept... very loose X sheeting. I just might try that! The scene I'm working on with Skulkin and that annoying drunk is showing me I need to work these more complicated ideas out somehow beforehand... it's ok to just wing it on simpler shots, but once you have two characters interacting you need some kind of guiding principle.

Darkmatters said...

Emmy,
I'll definitely keep blogging my progress. After this film I want to change my approach, but I'm not sure how yet. Don't want to just stop blogging and lose all my readers, but at the same time I don't want to give away too much. Got to find the right balance. But for the rest of this film, I;ll be spilling it all as I go.

Yaz said...

Little labels for the little bottles. All looking great! I cant wait to see you finish this project. There are a lot of things for me to learn from your filmmaking. And your next project for the next year.. Very exciting! Good luck!

R.S.Cole said...

Bumped a bottle during the shoot? Heck with it, forget it, I have to fix stuff like that all the time in post. At least you knew that you did it, half the time I only notice stuff getting knocked out of place after I render the final product. I'll see that gravel on the ground pop to a new position and blame it on the cat. :)

jriggity said...

Great news man!

cant wait to follow the progress.

jriggity

a guy in a gorilla suit said...

99 bottles of beer on the wall... sorry, couldn't resist. But very nice labels.

Hey, and how about 'Infinite bottles of beer on the wall - take one down and pass it around, infinite bottles of beer on the wall...'