In Car Animation

Nothing special, nothing new, just something to keep me entertained on a journey to work returning animation kit.

I was taking a laptop back to work, when I had the idea of using the laptops built in camera for a time lapse sequence of my journey. I opened the laptop to it's widest position and propped it up on several bags and then belted it in, as well as tying it to the seat with my coat! I really should have taken a photo of the set up as it looked hilarious.

I shot this piece capturing two frames every five seconds.

It made my journey a little more interesting although the exposure is poor and the framing terrible, I need a laptop boaster baby seat next time!

Blur-ing my face

Here's a picture that a good friend and I knocked up a few months ago. The image is using the simplistic style of British artist Julian Opie, who created that iconic LP sleeve for Blur.

I wanted a picture of myself for the wall, but didn't want either a posey pic or painting. So went for this style as a happy medium. The image was produced by tracing a photograph in a combination of Photoshop and Flash and then printed onto a square canvas for my front room!

A True Inspiration...

My heart sank today when I heard the news Tony Hart had sadly passed away. With my own craft show launching this week, I feel we've lost a true great. This guy wasn't a Michelangelo or Leonardo, although a very talented artist, for me and other British kids, his work was a lot more inspiring. As a child in 80s Britain, I never got into art from looking at the Mona Lisa, it was from seeing this silver haired gentleman using simple lines to create artistic wonders.

Being a stop motion animator, the influence of Morph is obviously a massive reason I wanted to start bringing plasticine characters to life. But Morph wouldn't of worked as a 60 second animation thrown between Blue Peter and News Round. The thing that made Morph was the relationship with Tony. Today children's television is dumbed down and patronising, with presenters dramatically interacting with their puppets. The relationship between Tony and Morph was different, there was a genuine chemistry between them. Tony's mild manner and authoritative voice made you believe that if this great man was talking to a clay figure, then the clay figure was real!

I mentioned before in a previous post, but during filming for the show, I realised how tough it is, to be friendly, informative, remember lines and be entertaining. Tony Hart seemed to do it with ease, and this made you feel you could do everything he made. I'll post the series up this week, but feel they aren't a patch on a genre he really made his own.

There's a really nice video produced by the BBC online, it shows how creative he made his shows and reminds you what children's television is missing today. I love the pixelation of Tony on the cart with a paintbrush in his mouth, and wonder how the director broke that to him. I guess Tony felt if children would find the demonstration entertaining and engage with art, then it was worth it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7836142.stm

I was planning to send him a copy of the series, and tell him how inspiring he was to me, and how much respect I have for his work. I won't get to do that now, all I can do is try and inspire kids to be creative in the same way he did for me, passing on what he did for me.

The 3 little Piggies build a Studio Set

Note* In this story there is no big bad wolves and no sets were huffed and puffed down...

Here is a short piece of time lapse footage I produced showing the Set being constructed for the animation series. I used Stop Motion Pro 6.5 and set the counter to capture every 10 seconds. The set took roughly two and a half hours to finish, and here it is...






By the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Hope it's a good one!

Tis the season...

to be jolly???

I'm off for Christmas now, so thought I'd leave with the one piece of creativeness I've produced which isn't to do with an animation craft show. Today I was editing together an interview for the series with Aardman's Richard Goleszowski. He gave a really interesting insight into the creative process behind putting an episode of Sean the Sheep together. In the show the interview is only three and a half minutes long but I've got 15 minutes worth of chat, which has some really nice content, I must throw it together later on next year as there is some interesting stuff which isn't suitable for a series aimed at 8-12 year olds.

So here's my Christmasie effort for 2008... It's an envelope but could be a xmas card, gift tag or reindeer enthusiast journal cover???

Merry Christmas one and all!

Behind the Scenes, On Set...

As promised a few snaps from my latest project the online series 'Animate and Create' which goes out at the start of the new year. I'm frantically editing away at the moment, the deadline and Christmas are lurky though...




Me on Set...


Serious me in the plasticine jungle, which is the studio...


Me again... This Time trying to find my motivation for the opening scene


My 'Man trapped in box' mime impression


Finally my Homage to the legend Mr. Tony Hart and his trusted sidekick Morph

Feeling Lost

Having a down day? Me too...

I'm lucky enough to be a very energetic passionate person, but as a creative this comes at a price in the shape of a low. The dearest things to me in life are my dreams, desires and future projects, these things keep me going and something to aim for. If I was to describe how my lows feel,it would be losing my self belief in fulfilling my dreams. Now the reasons can vary from others doubting or letting you down to personal matters effecting your work.

When I'm low/down I always use the term 'Lost' to describe the feeling, as i never know how i got here or how I'm going to get out. I'm not sure how I'm going to get myself out of this current low, maybe writing this is one attempt?

This all reminded me of an article I was asked to write by an online creative mag. The theme for the issue was 'Lost', so I wrote about a creative person's eternal state of feeling 'Lost'. A link to it is below:

http://www.creaturemag.com/lostandfound/page5.html


I'm feeling more 'Lost' than usual tonight, but do hope i get back to being a plain old 'Lostie' soon enough. It's days like this, that makes the highs all the more sweeter...

My New Baby...

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I thought it was about time I mentioned the main project I'm working on, which is keeping me from writing my Blog!

I'm currently producing a short animation craft show for the online channel Kent TV. The series will be made up from six episodes, each being eight minutes in length. The episodes will present animation tasks, interviews with animators and run a competition. The show is being pitched at both primary and secondary schools pupils from the county. I've written, produced, and am presenting it which has been lots of fun, but extremely straining, most of all for the crew as I forget lines!

I've been busy the last couple of months writing the shows, producing the interviews and have just finished recording the studio tasks. After presenting I have a new found respect for TV presenters in particular the likes of Tony Harts and Neil Buchanan. These guys are such an inspiration to so many young people, and they're real professionals. For them to be so good on screen, remember lines and processes and to complete all the tasks successfully over and over again is tough job.

I'll write more and throw some photos up over the next week or so.

Buttons For Eyes...

I wasn't going to write anything today until a friend pointed me towards this little treat!

I've been hearing the whispers and seeing the amazing previews of Coraline, so was thrilled to see this preview of the film. The film is directed by the amazing Henry Selick, and looks like the perfect example of top notch stop-motion animation. I love the dark style and the imaginative design of this fantasy world and can't wait for the film to hit the UK.

One comment I always get asked about my short The Windmill Boy is why my characters don't have any pupils, so I'm always interested to see how characters without pupils act. This is one very excited animator, counting the clock down until February!

One of my proudest moments was hearing my short film was being screened next to Henry Selick's short 'The Moon Child' during a screening at a US festival.

Doritos Ad Entry

I thought I'd add this short piece of animation I made back in May this year. The project came around when an animator friend of mine challenged me to produce a video for a competition to make a 29 second ad for Doritos. I didn't think too much about it when I accepted, but later realised I would have to make sets and models, plus animate while he only had to work at home on the computer!

The project took 8 days to produce, 3 to make all the models and sets, 3 1/2 to animate and 1/2 a day to edit and put the sound down. The idea was knocked together by my best mate Dave Wharram and I over a few beers, while Steve Allen helped with the climbing wall, wire and podium models. In Post production Mankit Lo edited and did the cleaning up, while Leon Benning produced the sound for the project. The commentators voice was performed by my head of Department the wonderful Mr David Bradshaw!

It was a really nice short project, and very enjoyable to make using with the crew who all helped out on my short film. It has definitely made me want to do at least one short film of my own a year from now on!