Sponsors - Christmas - and Film

Hey Guys,

Its been much longer than usual for a post but Holidays and Work has slowed me down a tad. Not too slow though....

Workspace-

Shel Touching up the puppets....keeping them pretty for all the closeups!Hard at work Late at Night!!!

.....Aaaaaaaaaaroroooooooooooo.......Wolfs Howl!!I wanted to announce that we started looking for outside sponsorship on a couple of Studio neccesaries outside our budget......we have been fortunate to have some very cool people from different places offer some Help on our Film Adventure.

THANK YOU ALL So much guys!!! I cant wait to share the finished chapter with you all in january!!

so.......We are trying to raise $2,500 in total and we are looking at ways to make it happen............

I would like to announce one of the contributors to the fund as My VERY FAVORITE TOYSTORE on Earth!!

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/

I get all my toys from them and as most stopmo people out there --We have an inherant LOVE of Toys or Movie memorabelia from our youths ........or just cool Movie collectable stuff.

I'm so excited to have there name attached to our film because I have been a long time fan of the store....{and it feels professional that a OUTSIDE company has faith in our project}

I HIGHLY sugest you guys go there for great prices on awesome toys!! and if you think Im kidding about being a toy Lover.....check out my collection from over the years!!! Ha!

My Insparatatoruim!!!!

Ha!....and thats just my office at the house ha!!....you should see my desk at work...

Being the Holidays....and .......I had a week of Stunt work on top of my Regular job and Christmas ...... I was short on a few quotas

I have been working with extreme closeups and am amazed as to how little the movements needed for animation are {and how easy it is to screw up an animation on that scale}.........as well as the ammount of DIRT and sand and hair particals that show up....CRAZY...cleaning up is a Pain in the arse!!

the replacement heads are working well.I am about to do a new rather complicated shot on sunday night that is exciting and scary as always......Flea Pilot gets Bonked by somthing and goes into a sleight dizzy stumble....then regains composure...FUN stuff!

drilling into clay is so nice for hiding holes- Shel and Bridget have begun working on the Miniature versions of the ships

- both Flea and Dobers ships are in full swing. Its really cool to watch it happen all over again ......its just on a smaller scale.She will post on that next week.

Shel sculpting the body of dobers ship-to scale

bridget sculpting Engines for the mini ship -dobershel makin the skeleton!! for the mini dober shipThe Backup puppets are almost all done as well.....Painted and ready to go...Thanks Art Assistants!
Justin ConnollyWe are shooting for my January B day as a finish date for this sequence. Thats a fine Gift.

By the Way.....me and Nicky decided to do some new sculpts a few weekend ago.......

One thats been on my list for a LONG time....{Dirk The Daring from Dragons Lair}....I'm making a puppet version !! Cant wait to animate him!! ...More to come.

armature-reference-blocking him in.....Nickys - Next Epic Piece!! This last weekend we celebrated Christmas...which is always a great time at our house....Great family fun and Lots of great food!!

Happy Boys got a ramp for Christmas!!stockings!Sister Jenna and Bro In law ChrisSister Wacky JackieMama Daughter-early morning kidshe heNancy Bshamaslam-Brother in Law -Ray Ray Shan Nay NayDaddy Daughterha!Grandmonie and DonBrother ToddLittle Parker Ray RayRobert and Bridgetsister Jackie and Parker.Bro in law Chrisjriggity

Thanksgiving Adventures and Fast Setups

Hey guys,

This last weeks shoots have been all Quick shots.....but they all still require plenty of TIME to set up....

.......preparing puppets for hi def closeups...... I have to wrestle eyelid clay...and eyeball dirt......

smoothe out clay........ TESTING 3D pics before choosing the interocular distance.....adjusting lights.....and thinking about performance.......stop mo takes so much FREAKIN time!!!!

but......We are ahead another 15 seconds this week....only had One Fail last week - but it was'nt the performance that failed me.....so much as the cracks in the puppets knuckles and some comping issues- Shel would'nt allow cracks like that to get through this time {she wants clean looking puppets}....The shot had issues keying out....due to the Depth of field in the shot......I had to tone it down in the Re Shoot in order to get a good KEY.

This Thursday Night I stayed up all night doing a Mentally Big shot for the Film......this was the Flea Pilot and Dober walking towards each other -- meeting in the middle...I drew out dobers poses for the walk to guide me......but I'm kinda winging the Flea going into the shoot.

I really wanted to nail this shot.... and it came out pretty good -

..... a Quality new shot is what I stay up so late for .......its so exciting!!

....more ta come.

Thanksgiving -Recovering from another fun Thanksgiving marathon Holiday......2 Big Turkey's .....family......friends......1 big Mountain....and some fun games at the park. We had 2 thanksgivings like we do almost every year.....a {family day and a Friends -Adventure Day}.

This year we decided to climb a mountain at a place called Mormon Rocks........we had been there before and had a great time......This time we would take our 7 year old Monkey with us.

........9 am. ......This climb is not an easy one even for some adults so I was very proud that Aedon got up there and down again with little effort.

It was incredibly windy this day so Shel tied Aedon to my waist up at the peak....it was enough to blow me off the mountain at times so her 40 pounds could get pushed off balance pretty easy.
We also had my good friend John Kim and his girlfriend{Michelle} Michelle was very afraid of heights.........so we were very proud of her conquering her fear at the top and making the trip down the spine of the mountain We got to play on the train tracks....and do some jumping....as well as play at a bridge for a while.....
Aedon really wanted to squish a penny under a train and just as we were leaving a train came.....PERFECT.....She flattened a quarter and was very pleased. after playing in the gym for a while we sat down for some power food ---Yummy!!! perfect meal!! then on to the park for a Night game of Walk football and Wiffleball.....I love both of these games. Played untill 9:30 or so......then home -Crash - talk.....shower and then ..........turn on my reserve, Reserve batterys for another Late night shoot!

gota make that quota!!! Ha!!

jriggity

Mumbai - Shooting - and CTN Expo

Hey guys,

Good News from {Mumbai Intnl Children's Film Festival} ...

{Gerald's Last Day} wins the Best {Global Animated Short award!! }......

Wooo Hooo......

This is really special win for us........to know people in India actually Liked our film is thrilling! .

I get so excited looking at that little map on the side of our blog showing visitors from new places in the world........

We cant wait to enter Our next film in this fest again in a year and some months ........and Maybe we could actually visit next time too. ?!

As far as shooting....I've been surpassing my animation Quota every week
- untill this last week....only got 5 seconds of footage....dangit!!

I ran into a few roadblocks - a Light bulb death and lots of that Invisible stopmotion Set up time consumption.

but In the time since my last post I've added another 15 seconds of film.......

I shot a test or 2 for playing with a focal shift.....didn't work too good though ...ha! but .... a couple tries was worth it.....the finished shot looks Excellent even though its short .

I can also tell you that the flea is on the surface now and In full cowboy stare down mode.
In Animation Adventure news.....Me and Shel attended the CTN Expo this weekend. It was a really fun time and we attended many panels filling our heads with knowledge and inspiration. We are very lucky to be around such an HUB of animation related activites... I got to meet a couple of LONG TIME Inspirations {Gary Goldman and Don Bluth} I have ta say......it meant alot to let them know that I can actually trace back my first true artistic-animator JOLT to when I saw {The Secret of Nimh} as a child. I told them how much I hold onto the story of how they got started in Don's Burbank Garage as an Inspiration and how we are in the very same Situation now.

I believe our conversation with them broke up the countless faces and handshakes a little bit and allowed some genuine Connection for that brief moment. I really enjoyed meeting them.

He and Gary had a very Inspiring talk on their starts and Careers.....what they think about 2d animations future as well as the Opportunity we have as animators storytellers these days-A whole studio in that inexpensive box In front of us. We just need the inspiration -imagination and Work ethic to make things happen.

He also mentioned how doors flew open for them that they did not have to force.....they were doing something they loved and were very passionate about. Each time they created something it lead to new doors opening.....and new opportunities.

This whole inspiring talk was in stark contrast to an early panel on making independent feature films......the whole message of the talk was - DONT DO IT ...!! Ha!

.....I dont think were gona listen to that one....... We are choosing to tell animated storys if people want to support us or Not.....so we have Nothing to lose and everything to gain in chasing this Dream.

Ill be shooting again tonight....I am looking forward to our thanksgiving Power Party-

Rockclimbing -Walk football- Wiffleball and Awesome Food!! Happy thanks giving people.

jriggity

1 minuet and counting....

Hey guys!

We have had alot going on recently guys

We Hit {1 minuet 14 seconds Of Quality footage}

....woooo hoooo!!!!!
The film is looking really Excellent and I only had to do 1 reshoot so far.{AMAZING!!}

As with {Gerald's Last Day}I will share all of my FAIL animations here on the blog.

Here is my very first one - Dannngit!

I felt I had to redo this animation because I didnt like how hard he HIT as he leaned forward in the car.....I wanted a bit more FLOW....or dizzyness to the action.
And secondly - I kept bumping his steering wheel as I animated him...dangit!!
ALWAYS LOCK Down everything people - I dont know how many times I need to learn this lesson....jeeez. I have also done a Shot that was "THE SHOT" When I was first storyboarding the film.
I dont know what it was.....but I just always was Drawn to this visual from the begining...{Its in the bag now} with a slick camera move ta boot!

in other news - we went to a Holloween screening of Coraline a few weeks back and got to meet Henry Selick for the first time. He is one of the famous type people that I had on my imaginary list of {would like to meet someday}

Here's a few on my Famous List in no particular order -

Captain Kirk - Saw Him in an Airport

Hulk Hogan -
Henry Selick - Met Him In Hollywood

Don Bluth- Hope to meet him next week at the Cartoon expo!

Arnold Schwarzenegger -

Ray HarryHausen - Met Him at a book Signing.

Bill Cosby- I wished he was my dad growing up.

Sigourney Weaver -

Clint Eastwood -

Tim Burton -

NightCrawler from the Xmen -the comic version -not the Movie guy....

Me , Shel , Robert and Bridget got to meet Henry...

Me and shel got to Talk with him for a little bit and He was very kind to usShel watches my inner Dork meter going off the charts-....and for some reason I felt that this was an important inner milestone for us. Our paths crossing early in our career as director-story tellers and perhaps again someday as Professionals.

Ive got DREAMS!!!

Well after speaking with him ...he said he would go to our blog and check out the film.{Dont Know if he really will?}.....but it was a cool thought None the less...

next -

so Fresh off the Airplane -

.....We are Just returning from {Savannah Film Fest}.....This was a really incredible festival guys! This is the BEST one we have attended thus far -

They flew us out to Savannah....Picked us up at the Airport -gave us an excellent Hotel right in Downtown Savannah....and provided us with Lots of Yummy food and Films to feast on.

Each screening had 400-500 people which was incredible.....great audiences...Excellent theatres!!

Me and Shel got to walk the city -even go for a night Run in the Park This was also the first fest where we really got to talk in length with many filmakers....In particular the Animation Group.

This is Kyle Bell -Director of {The Mouse that Soared} One of my very favorite short films Ive seen this last year!! He works at LAIKA and the film was created there under his direction. We got to discuss tons on the Process and everyones goals as filmakers. This was really exciting and educational.

We took a tour of the SCAD {Savannah College of Art and Design }which was an Amazing facility!! I couldnt believe how much these kids have access to.....I would gladly reccomend it to my oldest boy Nicky. Great city and Awsome school.

On our visit....we also met an amazing coulple of animation Historians named Nancy and Hal Miles. They enjoyed our film and approached us after the showing with an invite to dinner.

Nancy has been involved in animation for many years and has a massive collection of 2d artwork from most of the classic Disney animated films. She and Hal have studio{Hal Miles Imagimation Studios}..... and in house Museum {Nancy and Hals Stopmo Museum}.....

At the House we got to meet up with a stop mo Brother -Dan Mackenzie - I could see his passion on his face and Im sure well be in touch. Hes a student at SCAD and is in good hands With HAL as his teacher....in there Home - museum Hal took us on a tour of the artwork with almost every piece having a story . I got to see and touch some of the actual pieces of film and stopmo History. They are going to open a stop mo museum in the future and Hal has an enormous collection of stopmo History that will thrill any lovers of stopmo.

Here are some of the pieces -

I got to touch a Jack Skellingotn armature!!! and replacement heads....
Me Touching the armature -on a real -Christmas Town set from the film.
hold one of Sally's arms from Nightmare - see her replacement faces up close....

I got to dork out on the Real Centipede from James and the giant peach!!!
It was foam latex....just like what we are doing here -I didnt know that.
Some of James's faces - the seagulls from the film -

Some Harryhausen History-

One of the things that was So cool about seeing this stuff up close was that - It didnt seem IMPOSSIBLE anymore - they use the same stuff we all do - its all that much closer now for me mentally!!

Look at all the Pillsbury Doughboy puppet stuff that I grew Up with....

Hal was an FX artist from back in the day.....he worked on most of the coolest films from my youth.....and lots of not so cool films with cool effects in them.

Heres the actual head from T2....Stan Winston sent it to him as a gift after the film finished. Awesome!!!

I got to touch Mighty Joe Young skulls.....
This is {SUCH AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF STOPMOTION} I wanted to touch every piece in the museum.....a physical connection with this object that Magically came to life on Film -WOW!!!

Its almost like confirming that these puppets arnt really ALIVE...Ha!

see the original Bump in the Night Puppets -

He had a Noid - and a California Raison!!.....

Anty from - {Honey I shrunk the kids}...

Pjs puppets -
Gumby-
and way WAY MORE - ....it was a thrilling visit and I will be back someday Im sure.

Organized garage!!!The last piece that Ill show was my very favorite - A few copies of the original sculpt-maquette from {The Secret of Nimh} Mrs Brisby!!!!!! WOW WOW WOW!! I gota get a copy of one of these..........One of the defining films from my Youth -a True instigator in me becoming an animator!
......
10 seconds a week till its all on film!

jriggity

KICK OFF - 4 Shots - and Vacation

Hey guys!!! KICK OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am really really excited about this film......Last week was the LAST week of my 3 week vacation and we really put all our energy into Getting that first shot in the CAN.my weeks work on the film.

Right after a High Octane Dogfight in deep Space......Dober Awakens on a strange planet with his ship in need of repair!!! Can Ya feel It People!!!???


Shots 1 - 4 in the {Dober Awakens} Chapter - the computer display is temporary as we work out all the Display and lighting-effects hurdles.....but...... You can see where I'm going with it.

The world That is taking shape is THRILLING ....I cant even describe how vast and 3d it all feels. We are really taking it to whole differnt level on this.

So after our first lighting by Alia Houser

we discovered a few problems.......I was going to have to comp out too many lights in the background{trying to save work}......and our ship shadows would get cut when I split the tables for access . Alia graciously came over to do the NEW 2.0 Lighting for the set and We are very very happy with the results!!

Shes a very cool person and enjoyed helping out us INDIE stop mo filmakers . Highly reccomended!!

So.....Letting you guys know......I have set a pace of doing 10 seconds of Animation per week as my Goal throughout the making of the Film.

This will allow me much more sleep than GLD did and I hope to come close and sometime surpass the goal.

We as a studio got an incredible NEW Piece of equipment for doing professional Camera moves .

You can see the quality in the Latest shot.....and I will be using it often in this film.

Super Perfect smoothe slide - with a Sweet crank to roll as I Animate.

During my vacation I was able to connect with some of our ART assistants on Our Art Tuesdays. I have been wanting to hang with these guys for a while but gota go ta Work.... It was especially great to hear their personal passions and where there Interest in this artform came from. I Also got to hear what they would like to do with the craft {Films-Careers-Storys}......we hope to help them with some knowledge and Teaching anything we can to help them achieve thier stop mo Goals.

Shot in 3d and edited together quickly just to feel the cuts and get our first taste of the film to come.

Heres Shels latest Handywork - Flea Ships Cracked and smoked windshield ready to be Photographed tonight. {VACATION}- So One of the Things that I have been up too recently with my vacation has been to RIDE BMX bikes - I used to Be a FREAK for the sport.......completly in love with it.

Well .....I have started to ride again and am very much into relearning the Craft.




We have been spending every saturday Night at the Home Depot Parking lot......Under the 6 lane overpass. Covered and Lit....no one bothers us as we Ride, Crash and Laugh. Heres some pics of our recent Sessions-very fun!!!Nicky Building his first bike - My Hot Biker Chick!! Robert Litton - Composer -Intern -Yaghtsman - BMXer-

Me and Aedon got to do some Physical challenges -



We went Pole Vaulting after a few good years off.

Robert Litton - Composer -Intern -Yaghtsman - BMXer- PoleVaulter

My Aunt and Uncle Visited -
had a great vacation but not LONG enough....

Back at work today animating a Monster driving a small car.....getting back into the groove .

jriggity

Camera Move Test - And Eugene International Film Fest

Hey guys,

been on my first week of vacation from work and I finished the last of the Dober Replacement Heads for our Film . These heads dont look like much now but they will Run the entire Expression range when required on Film. The Eyebrows , ears , jowls and so on are all soft clay ready to be manipulated.
I will be cutting the heads off and placeing new heads on where needed....then re blending the clay into the neck in animation.

These heads like Gerald's - Were sculpted with all the expression required for the acting....Most of the Time -Dober- is Angry or Suprised .... so not nearly as many heads are required....also Gerald had a nice collar to hide the seams unlike Dober....so Ill have to pay more mind to that Throughout filming.

After experimenting with Flea and his replacement heads I've decided to just use his Foam Latex Sculpt and expression giving armature in his eyes and Jaw instead of replacements. His design specifically the Jaw was just to much of a pain in the ass to work with.

We had the Lighting Done this last week as well.....Alia Houser

came out and gave us a couple of hours for getting the ligts set up for the begining of shooting. She Will be back this week for lighting touchups next week.

A couple of last touches added to the set.... and some More Props for the Film - I finally managed to get a Camera Animation test.....



This was VERY exciting!! I learned alot during this test and know I can do it better next time....Its amazing how much more real the Tiny world becomes when the camera starts moving through it.
This is the GAP i worked in during the test - This Gapp was hidden through a Low camera Angle......and some small risers on the side of the set Near the ships.

It all started with My very first 2 Drilled holes in the set and Ship!!..Yikes!!! a bit scarry.This is somthing we plan to do alot of in this Film.

The big issue is the tiny shakes and uneveness of the camera......we have ideas on making the moves less shakey and well try it on the next try. This camera move was done by hand and just nudged along bit by bit.....with a Measuring tape as my guide.

In Festival NEWS - We just came home to Los Angeles from {Eugene International Film Fest}It was the first time we had ever been to Oregon......

The festival set us up at The Valley River Inn which was right across the street from the Theatre. We arrived very late Friday night and crashed out ready for tomorrows Movies and our Showing at 1 pm.

We grabbed breakfast and picked up our Festival passes......It was at the Regal Cinemas in a local Mall...

We watched some Short Films then readied ourselves for the Animation Family Block. We were the first film that played and the audience was really feeling it....

after the showing we did our Q and A which was fun and always informative to audiences . Most people have very little idea how Stopmotion films are even made....and definitly dont understand the TIME required.

We then enjoyed the entire day watching movies ......eating and talking about them .
Sunday was more of the same except for a Nice walk in the Park along the River and some Swingset Fun.

after all the shows -we went to the Awards Cerimony where we Enjoyed Lots of Conversation with the Local Volenteers and Filmakers. Incrededibly Super Ultra nice people..

We also Ended up Winning the "BEST ANIMATED SHORT Award" .....Awesome!!!
It was really cool because after the awards ....they played clips of all the films that Won or films requested for people that had'nt seen them. Ours got played in FULL and it recieved a nice big applause in viewing. Really cool......

It continues to amaze me how much people have responded to our film and how even now its thrilling to watch it with an audience. EVERY TIME!!! Ha!

Everyone that Ran the festival was INCREDIBLY NICE.......And really open to us.....this was the best experiance with the individual People we have had on our festival Tour. I cant wait to send them our new film in 2 years for consideration.

NEXT WEEK - We start Principal Photography. KIK OFF!!!!

jriggity-justin

Planet PUSH - and BIG BEAR.

Hey Guys,

Here we are just coming back from an Awesome weekend at {BIG BEAR Lake Film Fest.}.It was such a Bueatifull place and we used our time there to its very fullest. We stayed at a HUGE 5 bedroom Super CABIN.It was right out of my Lincoln Log toy box I had as a kid.....fantastic with all the Woodlinees you would expect -Super Warm and Cozy -

We watched Movies - Questions and Answer-Hiked -
Son Nicky got very inspired with the camera (all the cool arty shots here are by him!)-Physical Challenges-- Horsebacked - Biked -Alpine slid- Go carted- Swam-Syncronized Dorking!!Boated- Robert Litton - Intern / Composer / Yaughtsman Stranded on the water potty -Look at Aedons Posture -so telling--Smiling and Hurt a tiny bit.
They thought it would be funny to abandon us....ha!! Problem was they couldnt get the boat to restart so the just floated away Until me and Aedon caught a ride On another boat-Fun adventure!!....and spent time with the grandparents ... So much FUN!! We Won 2 Awards at the festival - Best Family Film Award - and - maybe 10 minuets Later

The {Best Animated Short -Audience Choce Award}....This award was given by Noel Blanc-Son of Mel Blanc -famous for doing all of the voice work from our favorite Animated Warner brotherrs characters.....I was Honored!!!. It was a suprise to Win and feel how much people really enjoyed the film.

The Entire fest was of High Quality and surrounded by Bueatiful Backdrops and really nice people....I wish so much we could have stayed longer..... We look forward to Submitting our new Film in 2 years.

Now Back To the NEW Film-----

Well.... Here we are Tuesday -Shels BIG Work day - making our last big Push on the set before the Lighting designer comes next week.

One of the first thing Shel did last week was extend the Blue screen through some clever sewing...

some of the higher angles we showing garage wall so we added a little over a foot. Shel and one of our very Dedicated Artists will be putting in a bit more time to make sure were ready for lighting. Bridget - we met at the premiere of our Film Gerald's Last Day - she said she was interested in working with us and she has been INVALUABLE!! We are excited to have her with us on this films adventure. We ...after experimenting a bit..{and getting a great concept from our Newest Intern, Caitlin Pashalek}.. decided on a new plant life....to replace our older one. I am much happier with the look.
Shel and Bridget Dash.....took monday to Add some ship damage to the ships...
its so nice to see it all coming together....When I put the puppets in the scene...its almost too exciting to bear. Soon these lifeless puppets will soon be walking and jumping all over the ships. They will do it without strings and amongst their own thoughts.

The will be making their own decisions ....and thats incredibly exciting!!! Because I'll have limited controll over whats going to happen NEXT.

Shel got a bunch of great Inside info from Shadow Machine last week....Our Lighting designer gave her a first hand look on some of the Techniques for lighting and supporting lights in all kinds of situations.

Also in Studio NEWS - We had our electrician install our POWER Conditioner. This was a Big investment for us but Im really excited about how the studio Power is now under controll.

We have all of our lights coming from this Machine which keeps the power at a precise and steady rate.....we also have tons of new Plugs all over the ceiling for easy access.

I have been hard at work - Both at HOME and WORK.....I finally decided on a method of facial acting for my characters. I am now going to go through the process of constructing the many faces of Dober and Festers Emotional states.

I am just 2 weeks from taking a vacation{Comp time}...this is what our company rewards us after finishing a title. Its makeup for all the extra hours we put in during the course of a Game.

I am so in need of this Break and I am looking forward to making a big jump toward begining shooting the Film.

We had some MORE great news this month....We WON 2 online Animation Contests....
Superu Animation Contest
http://www.superu.ca/contests/view/55

and Bigstar.tv Stopmo Animation contest
http://www.bigstar.tv/film-contest/stop-motion-short-film-contests_temp-2009/gld-54-final-sm/recent/1

These both were so cool.....and I was so excited to be a part of the stop mo contest in particular.That kinda thing is very RARE....and the other films involved were very high Quality.

Our DREAM's are coming true. One Step at a Time!

Stay tuned guys Lots ta come!!!!!
Captain Aedon Driving -