Back on deck

My main purpose on this page is to relate my progress on my #1 project... what's come to be known as The Ahab Film. That's only a working title... I don't intend to give away too much info this early in the game. As much as I've discussed this project on the pages of SMA, I've never revealed the real central concept, or my approach to it.

After completing my first movie for StopMoShorts right before Halloween of last year, I announced my decision to spend 2005 making short films for Eric's site. I haven't had the heart to mention this publicly yet, but my plans have changed. This is my real project, the one that stirs my blood, and each time I try to tackle another StopMoShorts assignment I feel like I'm cheating. My destiny awaits on the rolling sea, and it's there I must return.

Keep checking back on this page to follow my journey.










 
On the Table
Welcome to my Production log

Here's what's on my workbench right now:



Wow, I haven't updated this page in ages! It's about due I'd say. Here are my recent STOPMO SKETCHES transferred from the blog, where they've become buried in the archives (and no-one can find them anymore!)



Sketch #6
click here for a larger version
Sketch #7
click here for a larger version.


The whole idea behind the sketches is to do rapid setups and animation, just trying to develop my ideas without worrying too much about details or smooth movement etc. I was a bit dissatisfied with my rectilinear sets in the past, so I was trying to find a more simple and expressionistic way to depict the space in the ship. I like what I came up with here... without actually making walls I suggested the space, and let the viewers imagination fill in the blanks. There's a lot of energy present thanks to the brightly lit coils of rope that form scrawling lines against the dark background... I literally sketched these compositions with light. Oh, if you're wondering why #s 1 through 5 aren't included, they aren't worth your notice. Here's a still pic of one of the earlier setups though, which looks better still than it did in motion (trust me!)






Stymied

Well, you could say I've gotten a lot of mileage out of this little shot! Yeah, I'm getting a bit tired of seeing it myself, but with each new test I inch closer to being ready to shoot this bad boy of a movie. Feel free to shut it off when you're tired of the music (which by the way is a Paganini Caprice courtesy of Yo Yo Ma).

Don't ask about the caption.... I just made something up on the spur of the moment so I could mess around with fonts, iris speed and scratches etc. There's something about seeing it all working together with the addition of the music that just makes it magic for me.




Terror
Terror in the Pumpkin Patch

This is my first completed movie, done for the first StopMoShorts event. It took me a few months to come up with the idea, a week to do the fabrication, and a day for the animation and editing. And what a day it was! When I finally hit the sack I was utterly exhausted, but filled with a powerful sense of accomplishment. And isn't that what it's all about? Creativity.... man, I love it!

I put up a page of Production Notes about the making of this little micro-epic. Enjoy.


Some animation tests for my upcoming project:

The following are my animation tests of Ahab at the forge. That's not how it will be in the film... he's the captain, not the blacksmith, but I haven't made the blacksmith puppet yet, so Ahab is filling in for now. I've been posting these clips at Stopmotionanimation.com and got a lot of great feedback and help, especially from Aussie animator Nick Hilligoss, who is mainly responsible for my growth between tests 1 and 6. Nick is one of the truly helpful voices to be found at that incredible forum.

Hammer Test
Hammer Test
#1

Hammer Test 2
Hammer Test
#2

Hammer Test 6
Hammer Test
#6

Hammer Test 8
Hammer Test
#8

Test #1 is really rough... I didn't understand how to use the powerful features Framethief puts at an animator's disposal. After I posted this one Nick began coaching me and you can see definite improvement in each clip afterwards. It seems kind of boring that I kept doing the same test over and over, but I changed the setup for each one and the movement is very different. I'm really glad I did it this way... I think it's taught me a lot that I would never have learned just by doing one hammer test and then moving on. #6 is pretty good and smooth, but after doing so many I was getting bored with the same kind of repetitive movment. I decided to spice things up... so I thought of him as sort of a hothead gunslinger type, showing off his prowess with the hammer. A bit out of character, but it was fun to do. But still there's a little unwanted jiggle in the head movement. In the Tracking Test I paid much more attention to the tracking of his head. I've come to realize that's something an animator needs to really watch.... when you move the feet, the legs, the spine, the arms and hands, the head ends up moving a lot more than you wanted it to. Following that are my first two walk tests, in which I learned hgow difficult it is to keep track of every part of the puppet while making it walk smoothly. Heh... I can always say he's drunk, and lurching across the heaving deck of a ship on rough seas. Yeah... yeah, that's it!



Head Test
Tracking test
#1

drunk Test
Drunken Walk
test #1

walk test 2
Walk test
#2

Busted
Busted


bergmantest 1
Bergman test
#1

Ahab Test
Original
Ahab Test


Sepia
Ahab Test


Witchwhisper


The so-called Bergman test was my first attempt at close-up character animation. It was an experiment in unusual lighting techniques, and not all that successful. here was also a good deal of light flicker, which had never been a problem before. The furnace kicked on just before I began the shot... I believe that's the culprit. Next up is the original Ahab test, which really was to test the movement of the ship. I accomplished it by cranking the camera tripod up and down a little at a time between each frame. Ended up working surprisingly well I think. And finally, the Iris test is really a test of some Stupendous Software plug-ins to create an old time silent movie feeling. Witchwhisper is one of the more recent tests, shot with the Hitachi, and concentrating on closeup character animation. It's not really an image from the proposed movie, just playing around a little with some puppets I have on hand. The idea is that the witch is an apparition who appears to him and whispers evil things in his ear. I've always wanted to try animating hair blowing like that!





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