In case it hasn't been clear in the last couple of posts, I like to multi task. I am trying to get production started on my film Soil, but came at a temporary road block. At the moment I am working on puppet build and experimental animation (like my kinetic sand tests in the last post). Meanwhile, I have also been developing a 2D animated cartoon about candles. Between these two serious projects, sometimes you have to take a break and have some fun.
The Animate Clay website posted a new challenge for the month. Back in December 2015 I made the film Constellation for their space topic. I also did one for the month of March 2016 featuring a dinosaur having a nightmare. I actually won that month and received a prize.
This time the topic was "Impact." After rolling around a couple of ideas in my head, I decided on the clay cannon. When I was in Boy Scouts, we took a trip to Gettysburg, PA to learn about the Civil War. As a souvenir, my dad and I picked up a model cannon from the gift shop. For years I wanted to feature it in a piece of animation. Now that dream has come true. I hope you enjoy the cannon that fires clay cannon balls.
The video in this post contains the first pieces of experimental animation for my project Soil. I'm starting with the soil by the way side. Each character in the film will have their own texture to set them apart from the others. Not all the characters will be made out of clay. Upon reading the parable in the gospels, I imagined a dirt path that can lead to the three other soils. I figured the closest material I can use is sand. However, I needed to make a figure that was pose-able, so I decided to experiment with Kinetic Sand.
Unfortunately, the material has proved to be difficult to use. To make an animate-able character, I made a clay figure and covered it with the kinetic sand. It clings easily to itself and the clay, so it doesn't collapse as easily. However, it still falls off the figure while being animated. The material might be better suited for set pieces. I think I'll need to search for another material to get better results. There is a more viscous sand made by the same company, so I think I'll try it to see if it works any better.
In other news, I now have a full time job, so I can pay my bills and stuff. Yeah. Unfortunately, this means less time for films, but I'm going to try to devote as much of my free time as possible. I may also use more of my time for my candle film Enlightenment. I recently came up with more ideas for the characters and the story, and I want to make more progress for that film.
After the December animateclay challenge, I got right to work on my next big project. This one will not feature Mr. Weebee. This is a project I've been wanting to work on for a long time, and I feel this may be the right time to get started. The story is very simple as well as the setting. My next film is an adaptation for the soil parable from the New Testament (Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 8).
For those who do not know, the parable is about the different types of people who receive the gospel represented by each type of soil. The gospel is represented by seeds. Each soil responds to the seeds in a different way. The soil by the way side outright rejects the gospel, and a bird takes the seed away. The bird is suppose to represent Satan. The rocky (shallow) soil accepts it with joy, but eventually gives up under dry conditions (symbolism for persecution and trials). The thorny soil does the same as the rocky soil, but ends up getting caught up with the riches of the world (the thorns) which choke the gospel seed. The last soil is good and accepts the seed without giving up. It eventually produces a bountiful crop.
I got the idea around 2013 when I thought of personifying the seed and having him learn how to grow based on examples he sees on the other soils. At that instant, I decided to make it a cartoon. Then I learned that all the soils were suppose to be personified in the story and that the seed represents the gospel. That's when I changed my mind to make it in stop motion since the earthy quality of the characters lends itself to this form of animation. While attending college and working on Mr. Weebee, the idea bounced around in my head and I thought of unique way to tell the story. I started by drawing out the different characters.
Soil by the Wayside Concept Drawings
Rocky Soil Concept Drawings
Thorny Soil Concept Drawings
Good Soil Concept Drawings
I will discuss each character in detail in future posts. I wrote the storyboard as I was developing the behavior of each individual soil. What's great is the fact that the story has four separated sections, so I can shoot most of this film in chronological order. I also followed one major rule, no narration or voice over of any kind. There may not even be sound effects, only music. Not only would this save me work, but I think it'll also be more poetic. Other videos on YouTube that tell the story typically have narration which reads directly from the bible. This is fine as an instructional tool, but in terms of artistry I don't find it really creative, especially since films are suppose to rely more on visuals. I'm not making a video that does the pastor's job. I'm making a film that looks at a story in a new way.
Just recently, I finished the animatic for the film. I'm going to send it to some friends for feedback. While this is happening, I'm going to start building characters and doing experimental animation. I really hope this project works out.
Lately my life has been a little chaotic. Many preparations had to be done to my parents' house for the holidays. However, I still found time to work on a little short film called Constellation. Every month the website animateclay.com (a stop motion community online) posts a fun competition where the theme is picked by the winner of the previous month. Because the new Star Wars movie was coming out, the theme picked was Space. I thought about it, but I didn't want to do anything too complicated. Then an idea for a very simple story line with a simple approach to animation gave me the assurance that I could finish something half decent in time for the deadline.
One of the most fascinating topics I have ever learned was the concept of stellar evolution, a process that describes how stars go from one stage to another. The story of a young star finding his place in the universe became the basic premise. I drew up some story boards and realized the best way to simplify production was to use 2.5 D animation. In other words, I was animating clay characters that were as flat as cookies. The technique is very similar to cut out animation. Once I figured out the story, I did some animation testing for faces and I also wanted to see if I could get some decent green screen effects.
Recently, I have been rereading The Animator's Survival Kit which was written by Richard Williams. The section on drawing breakdowns especially provided insight on how to create interesting animation in the face. You see, in traditional animation key poses are drawn, and then a drawing in the middle dictates how the movement will look. This is called the breakdown. Choosing a proper breakdown will add more life to a scene. Instead of going from a smile to a frown directly the expression in the middle can be something other than a face with a straight line for a mouth. Obviously, this doesn't apply all the time. Sometimes you need to go directly in the middle. As I stood over my camera, I did the best I could to know when to apply this principle properly. The result is facial animation that has real life. I am really proud how this film turned out.
I also did my best to follow my own rules. Mostly all the characters stay in the same relative space unless something more powerful knocks them out of their spot.
The nebulae is made out of pillow stuffing colored by markers. The stars in the background are copies of a small clay model in different positions that were scanned directly into the computer. For the mouths, I used replacements and added flexibility to them by stretching the lips to better transition from one mouth to another. I used a little bit of focal blur to give an impression to depth,and to also help the audience focus on the main characters. The highlight effects are bright colored blobs that were blurred out and given transparency.
Typically when people speak of the cosmos, they talk about being part of a bigger picture, so the concept of the constellation really nailed this film. To further cement it, I added the bible verse at the end. It's probably one of those few space films that combines some science and religion. My only regret is that I didn't incorporate a black hole. It could have made an excellent climax. If I ever get a chance to make a film like this again, I would do it.
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.
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.
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.
