animation & pretty flowers

It’s spring, it’s so beautiful out and the fresh air comes in my window as I slog away in the semi-dark on an animation (which I’ve mentioned in some previous posts). Wasn’t I doing the exact same thing last year? Here’s a shot of the growing pile of drawings + some pretty flowers (clematis) that are growing on our fence and smell like nothing I’ve ever smelled before. Should be finishing up this week—wait for me spring!

Looping

Yay, I got some of the Super 8 film I shot back AND discovered that the projector I accidentally stole from an old neighbour in Montreal actually WORKS (thanks Ralph) so I got to watch everything to boot—a rare privilege.

Now I’m experimenting with scanning and looping several of the image sequences I took. This doesn’t seem to make sense to most people I try to explain it too, but basically I shoot 10-20 frames of something (say light sparkling on water), which I digitize and loop in After Effects (so it plays over and over). These loops, with their gorgeous film textures and colours, will then serve as backgrounds to my animation. Seems to be working so far, but scanning such small film strips is tricky.

Horsies

Just a quick montage of scans from this little animation project I’m working on, which involves some horses galloping, which can’t help but reference Eadweard Muybridge. I still remember how excited I got when I spun the zeotrope at the Science Center when I was a kid and saw the horse running through the slots. Remember that?

Anyway, I need to refine them a bit, but they actually already animate quite nicely in the inky washy way that I like.

It’s Super 8 time.

I haven’t made a Super 8 film in about five years (woah), and the reason these two lovely ladies are on my desk is that I’ll be using them for a new short animation project I’m about to start work on very soon.

Digging them out got me all excited. I used to be a regular participant in the Montreal Super 8 Film Festival, where I made this film amongst others. Super 8 film cartridges are three minutes long and festival rules meant all editing was done in-camera, ie. figure out your shit, shoot it and screen it no matter what. Once I got in a bike accident while shooting but that’s another story…

For this project I’ll be filming backgrounds for my animation. I look forward to the touch of “real film” aesthetic it will give my piece. Speaking of which, is it ironic to take a photo of Super 8 cameras with a cell phone set on fake “old” photo mode? If so it wasn’t intentional, but appreciated in hindsight.

Best wishes for 2012

A little “moving greeting card” for 2012. Times are tough, and there is lots to worry about. We all feel the weight of the world on our shoulders these days, as we should. Things need to change. But we can’t let ourselves worry and fret to the point of debilitation, to the point of paralysis. Never stop dreaming of the world you want to see. (Viewable full sized here).

 

BLACK GOLD now online at the NFB!

I’m excited to report that the animated short I made for the National Film Board of Canada‘s Hothouse program, BLACK GOLD, is now officially released and online. I’ve got it up on my website, but I’ll send you to the NFB site to watch it because I want to give you a chance to explore all of the amazing films and animations they’ve made available for free, including the other 5 films made by my talented colleagues during Hothouse.

For those who don’t already know, Hothouse is an annual program that supports 6 emerging filmmakers in creating a one minute animation in 12 weeks—a super short timeline as far as animation is concerned, especially for newbies like me. It was such a privilege/dream come true to work with the NFB, and I can’t wait for my next animated project. Let me know what you think!

Black Gold

This winter/spring, while working from a cabin in Saskatchewan, I had the incredible experience of participating in the NFB’s Hothouse 7, where I created my first animated short BLACK GOLD in 12 short weeks. Baptism by fire is the best kind of baptism. We pre-screened the films in Montreal this June, and they are scheduled for official release sometime in the near future. Follow a bit of the process behind the scenes here.