The Bake Sale Thief is Here!

Wow, my last post was back in January.  Time flies when you animate, graduate college, job search, work, go to church, and buy a car (aka having fun).  Yes, much has happened in my life for the past year.  Although I am proud of my accomplishment for receiving my bachelors of science in mechanical engineering, I unfortunately didn't have a job upon graduation like most of my friends.  However, I continue to cling to God and allow him to direct my life.  Believe me, that's not easy.

Part of the reason this film took so long to complete was because I sunk into a depression after I graduated.  On top of not having an engineering job, I also got my recently purchased car rear ended in Morgantown.  During that time, I struggled with my faith, but eventually came around when I started listening to God through His inspiring words in the bible.  When I started putting my trust back in God again, I got more involved with my local church.  I always felt God was calling me to the children's ministry, so I volunteered to help the youth memorize bible verses.

As my faith was growing, I decided to get back into animating.  I actually considered to abandon this film and start something fresh and new.  However, I watched the animation I had already completed during my last semester at college (the first two minutes of the film).  I really liked the animation, and I realized I came too far to simply abandon the project.  After praying about it, I decided to finish the film.  Once I animated a few shots, a new feeling of excitement was filling inside of me.  My passion for this medium was reignited.

Sections of the film were rewritten to allow the story to flow better and to simplify the animation.  The next five minutes were then completed.  Special effects were applied, sound was added, and music brought the film to a new level.  I'm so pleased with the final result!  I think it could provide a wonderful opportunity to show other people what Jesus meant when he said love your enemies (Matthew 5:44).

Although I'm proud of the result, I'll admit the film does have some flaws.  There is a filming discontinuity because some of the shots were done out of sequence and I didn't properly keep track of a minor detail.  The sound is also not the best, but hopefully most won't notice my amateur efforts.  What I really am proud of is the animation.  I think it's some of the best I have ever done because I really got into the heads of the characters to help determine what actions they would do in certain moments of the film.  I also felt I took full advantage of using the camera to tell the story.  Every shot was thought out to support the overall narrative.

Yeah, it's not perfect, but I am very proud of it.  I feel confident people will be very entertained when they see it.

Thanks for reading and may God bless you!

The Bake Sale Thief!

I finally figured out the third episode!  This story took a long time to write, but I finally have it nailed down.  Let me explain.  Generally, I write these shorts on simple ideas, but they eventually get really complicated and the story needs to be simplified once again.  I wanted this episode to be a little different, so I went more with a mystery theme.  The past two episodes deal with a chase sequence, so I omitted anything of the like.  I also wanted to introduce more characters, particularly the goody goblin.  I had the drawing in my sketch and I just had to bring him to life even though I wasn't sure how to move forward with the story at the time.

The original sketches of the Goody Goblin.

Oddly enough, I built the character before I even started writing the story board.  The first step was to make the armature.  To help maintain the size and consistency of the head during the animation process, I used a head cast from resin for the skull.  This was from the same mold I used from the fur ball in The Pet Rock.  Next I drilled some holes in a cardboard egg and used it as a torso.  I twisted metal wire for the arms and legs and fed them through metal tubing.  Unlike the other characters that have rubber hose arms, I wanted him to be more rigid to make him less appealing.  The neck is a metal tube wired around a plate.  The plate is screwed onto the torso as well as the other limbs.  The head as a metal dowel attached to stick inside the neck.  The ears are made from a smaller gauge of wire to be more flexible.  Masking tape was used as a from of mesh.  Blue beads were glued into the head for eyes.  Finally, the clay was applied.

The Goblin's Armature

The finished puppet.

When the puppet was finished, I did some test animation.  The results reflect how the story would be written.  As I did the animation, I wrote the story board.  In animation, the visual should be regarded with the most importance.  Instead of writing a script with words, I use drawings to create inventive visual gags.  I use a sheet with a sequence of boxes to keep all the ideas organized.  If I make a mistake or if I want to make changes, I cut and paste (tape) the old fashion way until the story is finished. 

First page of storyboard.

When developing the story, I realized I needed at least one more character for the bake sale.  Since all the other characters are male, I changed it up once again and created a girl character.  Her armature is similar to Mr. Weebee's, a typical skeleton.  She also has a skull from a resin cast.  It was originally a mistake.  When I mixed and poured the liquid plastic, I waited to long for the chemical reaction to take place.  I was filling up the fur ball head mold when all of a sudden the plastic solidified.  Due to the flatness of this head, I decided to model this character in a more gingerbread man style.  The final model made sense since the character was to be a baker.

Final model of  the girl baker.

Once finished with the modeling, I did a simple animation test.  It turned out satisfactory, so it was the last test necessary before entering production.  I am happy with the results so far.  The Bake Sale Thief will follow Mr. Weebee as he attempts to help out with a charity bake sale.  However, trouble begins when he discovers someone is snatching all the baked goods.  As he unravels the mystery, he not only discovers the culprit, but also the motive.

I honestly can't tell when I'll have this finished.  I'm in my last semester of college.  I'll see how much time and energy I can muster to work on this along with my candle movie project, school work, work, church, job search, and so on...  Only God knows.  I plan to start production on 1/23/15.

Thanks for reading and may God bless you!

The Pet Rock Has Arrived!

Yeah!  My latest claymation is finally completed!  I hope you enjoy it!  I liked working on this one and I can't wait to further expand the story of these characters in the next few episodes.  I don't have any storyboards yet, but I do have some more story ideas I would like to pursue.  More details later.  For now, I ask you to simply watch this episode and let me know what you think.

If only I had more time to work on these...  I would probably be able to release a new episode every three months instead of every year.  Eh well, I'll keep working on it.

Thanks for reading and may God bless you!

Production for Pet Rock Completed

You read the title correctly.  All of the animation for "Pet Rock" is officially finished.  I am quite proud of the results.  Not only has this episode allowed me to develop my animation style, it has also allowed me to further explore other film making skills such as camera movement, dolly zoom, and rack focus. I don't have much else to share except for some images.

The Wizard returns with Mr. Weebee, this time the owner of a Pet Shop. 

While exploring the Pet Shop, Mr. Weebee pets the fur ball.

The Pet Rock in all his glory contained in a display case.

Mr. Weebee wheels his new pet on a wagon made of toy parts and balsa wood. 

 Mr. Weebee and his pet rock play in the park with a frisbee as the fur ball looks on.

A show of affection between owner and pet.

With some sound, music, and titles, this short is on its way to be finished.

Thanks for reading and may God bless you!

Production for The Pet Rock has Begun!

Well, I'm back at college.  With everything starting up, I was able to shoot the first shot today after working on a few set pieces for the film.  It appears this one will be a little more complicated than "The Booger Monster."  One particular challenge is the pet shop.  I can't have the pet shop feature just the pet rock and the fur ball.  It has to appear somewhat populated and at least resemble a typical pet shop.

First, I started with the front counter.  I bought a nice variety package of balsa wood from the Hobby Lobby.

I marked where to make the cuts to make pieces for the counter.

Using a hot glue gun, I put all the pieces together.  It looks more like a table because I plan to use it in the future as a regular table.

For Christmas, one of my sisters bought me this nifty package of foam texture.

 To make the table look more like a counter, I covered it with the foam.

I also had to quickly put together a sign.  Yes, the wizard from "The Booger Monster" is returning.

I also had to build a pedestal for the pet rock's cage.  Nothing too fancy, just a bunch of cardboard put together by a hot glue gun.

Here's the final display for the pet rock.  The plastic box is from the Hobby Lobby.

Here is the entire population of the pet shop.  The pen for the fur ball was designed to break away, so that I can get some interesting angles from the inside.

That's all I can share for right now!  Thanks for reading and may God bless you!

The Rock is Moving

Well the time of the year for finals has arrived at college.  Everything is winding down, so I had some opportunities to do some more animation.  Since I was merely testing out characters, I feel that I have done all that is needed.  Despite my schedule being every busy this semester, I have managed to complete over a minute of animation.  This is encouraging since I have only worked on animation for a fraction of the semester.  If I can start production right at the beginning of the spring semester, I should be able to finish the film by May 2014.

I figured out how to simplify the story line.  The original plot had one too many characters.  The film was originally going to involve Mr. Weebee's girl friend, but I think she'll have a better and bigger role to play in the episode after this one.  This film will probably be as long as "The Booger Monster."

There's not much else to say.  I hope the goal will be reached.

Thanks for reading and may God bless you!

Moving at the Speed of a Rock

Well, I'm getting through my junior fall semester okay.  I seem to be doing well in all my classes and it looks like I'm moving in the direction God wants me to go with my career.  But enough of all that silliness, I'm writing to provide an update for the latest Mr. Weebee adventure!

Title:  The Pet Rock

Premise:  Mr. Weebee adopts a pet rock which accidentally sparks the jealously of another pet from the same store.

I have completed the storyboards for this episode, but it appears to be a little too long.  It seems solid as is, but I think I should try to simplify it.  The Mr. Weebee series was never intended to be a skit of great complexity.  I hope that if I do make changes, the story will still be solid enough to progress in the film making process.

One of the first things I did was repair the Mr. Weebee puppet.  Nothing too serious.  The wire that holds his arm into position broke off of the main torso of the armature.  This took about an hour, probably less to complete.  Yes, Mr. Weebee is a live and well.  In some of the pictures you can even see him in the background exercising.

After that, I started building the pet that would be jealous over the rock.  I'm going to call it a fur ball.  It's probably not the most original name, but I'm going to stick with it!

His armature was fairly simple.  It was nothing more than a few pieces of metal frame and plates bolted together.  For his front "legs" I used a piece of bent metal tubing.

The build up for his body was merely dried out disinfectant wipes that wrapped around the armature.

What's a fur ball without fur?  I applied it by sewing it in certain areas onto the build up material.

I decided that it was best to cast the head of the creature in resin.  This way, the character will maintain the shape of his head.  Plus, I get to put my resin casting kit to good use.

The original head is sculpted in clay. 

I placed the head inside a plastic cup (the neck piece touching the bottom) and poured in the silicone mixture. 

When the silicone was cured, I cut it open to get the clay head out. 

Here is the the completed mold ready for casting!

As a precaution, I sealed the sides with clay before pouring the resin mixture into the silicone mold. 

Here is a comparison between between the clay sculpt and the resin cast.

There were seams and other small imperfections on the final cast.  To fix these errors, I covered them with some black clay.  This will also help the head match the clay texture of the other characters.

  For finishing touches, I glued on the eyes and ears for this creature.  The eyes were beads, while the ears were clay covered pieces of wire.

You know you want to own one.

I can't wait to see this character come to life in the animation process!  Although this episode won't be completed until the summer of next year, you should expect a reel of animation tests in the beginning of 2014 at the latest.

Thanks for reading and may God bless you!