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Previous News
04.29.06
* Lionel Ivan
Orozco: The Early Years Collection  ... Okay, that's sort-of a parody of Uncle Ray's Dvd title. Had some old
tests and things but film medium can be subjected to
damage due to storage conditions .... moisture and other
elements that get to them. This must be almost 20 years
but for first time, revealing to the public, micro-brief
Stop Mo tests of Organic Alien
Flying Ship, all shot on ol' classic Super 8mm film. Also at that time, saved some of this
via home brew, poor man's film-to-video transfer, and so,
that combined with gra ininess of Super 8mm contributes to
its overall rough look. I still have that ship model and
some other unnamed items (keeping secret for now) that
could save me time in starting off my new
tests in the digital realm. You
first see straight-on view of this
organic ship coming towards you. It's suppose to be
zooming through space and avoiding human created
space garbage. Then shot cuts to side
view of ship heading down towards planet earth
(in turmoil  ). Remember, this is old, so
don't criticize too much. My visual and cinematic
creative sensibilities are now much more advanced
 .
All the elements/composites done IN-CAMERA
(No 'puters or digital-schmigital), using film
backwinding, double exposures & multiple beamsplitter
glass setup in front of camera lens. The alien model ship
was suspended by fishing line from overhead aerial rig.
The stage background just black bed sheet. I underexposed
it would be blacker. The lights on ship where reflective
"Scotchlite" pieces stuck on the model and lit
via Front Projection using beamsplitter 1 to direct
white light source onto the model. The first shot, with zooming
starfield was done via a couple of
rotating black construction paper discs, cut
with spirals & slots and lit from behind. You turn
one of the discs, animating a frame at time and it gives optical
illusion of moving star points. Difficult to
explain but maybe this will help. I first animated the alien craft,
then back-wound the film, then the  zooming star field was animated
separately double-exposed (in-camera)
onto the flying ship. The floating space garbage
was just foam chunks suspended via nylon
and animated at same time as the flying saucer. The side
view moving background starfield background was
done using a 6-1/2" x 30" black art poster
board with painted white dot specks to create star
points. This side view starfield background was also
animated (sliding it each frame) seperately then later
double exposed (via film backwinding) over the already
animated space ship. The model ship was basically in static
position and I just animated it pitching &
weaving (via nylon wires/overhead rig) and then the
underside rotating spinning was also incrementally
animated. The moving starfield background &
space garbage gave the illusion of the
movement through the environment. The glowing
force-field effect surrounding the ship, was
done via black construction paper, with cut-out opening
matching the silhouette outline but a little larger than
alien ship and then orange gel taped to cut-out/opening
and softly lit from behind . This was front projected
using beamsplitter 2. The animated pulsing orange glow
was controlled with light dimmer. This glow was animated
at the same time as alien saucer. The
beamsplitter allowed me to see the in-camera composite
and I was able to eye-ball motion track the glow to the
saucer movements. Okay, this was a fricken
struggle to write & explain without any
behind the scenes pics (none available). I am not sure if
I can blog like this regularly. Got to take
behind-the-scenes pics from now on, to make 'splaining
easier. Oh I forgot .... you want to see it?
Don't blink .... it goes by fast,
take a look.Edit: 04.30.06
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04.22.06
* B-Movies,
Drive-ins, Harryhausenesque, escape, fun .... back to
Retro-Comfort! This
is maybe my semi-official announcement:
I have been procrastinating long enough but as I said in
the past .... crap and unforseens
in my "life" have been
interfering, but hopefully, I have finally reserved
plenty of time ahead, for me to "create".
At the moment, I do not yet have any s pecific Stop Motion projects in the
works, but for years, I have thought of many Stop
Motion & Special Effects scenes that I would
like to have done. Very much in the Harryhausen-like
style/genre. Back then, maybe complex &
difficult using ol' school filming
methods, but now with all these digital-schmigital
tools currently available, it is obviously very
do-able. To get my very rusty Stop Mo
gears lubricated again, I'm thinking of doing
random Stop Mo test shots, composites, special
effects elements, etc. and then show
& blog about the behind-the-scenes, sort-of
like the ol' Cinemagic Magazine, but on the Web.
They are not going to be tutorials but more like, you
looking over my shoulders. NO ...at this
time, I will not use a Digital Still Cam and the more involved digital workflow
& computer horsepower which Hi-Res requires. If you
regularly read the message board, a plethora of Stop Motionists
(and wannab ies) are Hi-Res digital
schmigital obsessed  .
The Video Resolution class are now looked
down upon as though "we"
are outcasts? In my tests & work, I
will try to follow the "principle" of KISS
(Keep It Simple
Stupid). Some of the tools for
my tests: The infamous & now a collector's
item, the Sanyo IDshot. Even though the IDshot
can shoot still image jpegs & tiffs,
I will primarily use it to grab video resolution
images for doing the tests. The
other very important tool will be the Stop
Motion software. I will be using the just re leased .... Stop MotionMaker Advance. Craig, the
author of SMMadv, has designed &
included many features into this software. I like his
philosophy, "Variety of animation &
image working tools in one program". Also
....soooo affordable. Incentive
for people to Stop Mo Create. I
want to test drive SMMadv
and try to push it as much as I can. I
have no idea what the results will be.
You will be there with me during the ups &
downs. Looking through my storage, I found my
old diary, notes, and scribblings of scene/shot ideas
from many years ago. I even did thumbnail storyboards of
some of them. Here is only a sneak teaser of my original
quick rough storyboard sketch of a Stop Mo sequence, Insect Aliens Among Us . Maybe, I got your salivary
glands dripping with restless anticipation &
excitement? Please, wipe that slimy spit off your
chin
* Uncle Ray
in L.A, PowerRanger Contest, iStopmotion and Cuppa Coffee
feature ....
Looks like George Lucas & James
Cameron paid their respects to The Sultan of Stop-Motion. Hey George ....
how about funding some little Stop
Mo projects .... experiments .... for cable, a
special, or something? Go back to roots
.... Retro is Cool.
Use the real stuff .... not
pixel imitations .
What's James Cameron been up to? Sort-of
semi-retired? Next ....
Some sort of contest by PowerRanger people .... looks like it has to
do with Stop Motioning of their action toy figures but their site about contest seems vague
to me and does not provide any useful
Stop Motion resources for the kids. Next .... update of iStopmotion frame capture program for Mac-heads.
It's suppose to have some added features. Finally .... Cuppa Coffee apparently has had success with "A Very Barry Christmas" and it won some awards. It looks
like a major movie will be in the works ....The Big Stuff, a feature length spin-off starring Barry
Buckley and his animal friends set amongst the
glitz and glamour of Las Vegas. About 90 minutes and
maybe budgeted at $7 million! Who says that one
has to spend $25 million and more on Stop Motion?
Of course, the way Tinsel Town does movies
.... their budgets are obscenely over-inflated.
Hollywood could use some Walmart
business sense
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04.15.06
* Inspiration
for Stop Motionists (veterans & beginners),
Producers, Ad Agencies,"Suits", etc. .....
It's the weekend.
Let's order some pizza again. For me, good ol' basic
pepperoni & cheese .... also get me some Diet Coke
.... with all the caffeine please! Turn off
all your room lights, turn-up the volume
and kick back. Here goes: Curious Pictures did these 3 animations (QT player) : Texas Lottery "Rodeo" (paper, cut-out, compositing), Reebok "Foot Soldier" Ad (directed by the late Paul
Berry) This one is funny, shown on Saturday
Night Live (I think back in 2001), "The Narrator that ruined
Christmas"
(It's 5 minutes long!). Here is another
animation studio, Bix Pix Animation that seems to do a lot of Stop
Motion and especially Clay methods, "NBC 75 Years", promo/bumper clip (QT player) .
They also did this "Christmastime for the
Jews" for Saturday
Night Live, aired Dec '05. At the Bix
Pix site you will find more Stop Mo clips. Clay
animation still seems to be a powerful medium
(e.g., the NBC spot).
* More
Info & Stuff for You .... Stop Motion
maybe percolating in Salt Lake City,
Utah -- USA.? A studio there will soon
releasing a direct to Dvd all Stop Motion feature.
I have mentioned this studio before but read this new
article, Motion Slickness. Next ... G4-TV
cable network will be launching the old Star Trek
series and here are a few of the Star Trek Stop Mo spots. Next .... Animation Magazine looks like it now has free access
to their short articles, newsbytes & other links.
Previously, you had to subscribe to the hard copy mag in
order to access their online website. Finally ..... interesting little website
about special effects. Includes some how-to tips (mostly
computer software FX), interviews, podcasts and news/blog
about special effects related stuff. Take a look, FX Guide and if it interests you, bookmark it.
____________________
04.08.06
* Hollywood
actually believes that American audiences have lost their
taste for Anglo-style animation? That's not my headline title but
given to an article that relates to major theatrical
mainstream films, and some reference to animation. Guess
what? The author is slamming
the Tinsel Town mainstream "Suits"  .
Here is quote, "Well, over the past 30
years, there have admittedly been many huge changes in
the entertainment industry. But one thing (sadly) has
remained the same. And that is the empty-headness of most
studio execs." Read full article. It kind of ties-in with my, last
month's DreamWorks/Wallace & Grommit tirades. Then you got this article
giving us opposite view....Animated films riding huge wave of
popularity. So you
see .... spin & hype. It seems very haphazard
how the "Suits" run the movie business. Did you
know, an old '70's TV show, "Welcome Back Kotter" is going to be a major film with Ice
Cube playing Kotter? What the
F----? Stupid Hollywood and their remake-itis sickness. No fresh ideas, originality, or
willing try something different.
* Forget
about Stop Motion in major theatrical films .... If it happens, well good,
but I am kind of pessimistic about that. I do not yet see
a mad Stop Mo rush by the "suits".
I am not referring to the sort-of, underground
Stop Mo movement in Tinsel Town, like Robot
Chicken & Morel Oral;
that's different. I'm more positive
about Stop Motion's viability in other venues
& markets  . In
my continuing series of showcasing independent
stuff, here are a few more, "Bare" & "The
Demon Within"
(they give you choice of movie download formats). Created
by Paper Plane Creations. If you like their work, contact them. Another one, which
is a quick commercial promo piece done through an A d Agency. The actual studio name is Convert (I think in Los Angeles area). I could not
locate their website. Here it is ... The Underground (QT format). With the CGI
saturation upon our visual senses, pushing their
homogenized hyper smoothness style, do not
compare Stop Motion to that (Apples vs. Oranges .... not
the same). There are many other styles &
aesthetics and primary consideration is,
good story telling and characters. Last
news item here .... an
announcement of some deal between
AtomFilms & Verizon to showcase original films
& animated shorts via their upcoming V-Cast
wireless network. So you see .... different
outlets for animation. You will not get rich,
but hey ... one way to advertise & get name
recognition of your animated works. Although, kind of
wierd to me .... you can now watch animation & film
shorts on a tiny cell phone screen?
Okay, maybe while you're waiting in line at Home Depot or
at dentist's office before you get your your gums
injected by sharp needle, followed by
your teeth getting drilled on 
* Trail of
the Screaming Forehead .... correction .... I blogged about it last month. I thought Screaming
Forehead was going to be direct to DVD.
The Director of movie, Larry Blamire,
contacted and reminded me that his film will be
making the Film Festival rounds, before any
other kind of releases. Well .... there you go ....
another way to distribute & show your works and you do
not need to do it via the obscenely costly
mega-millions Hollywood system
____________________
04.01.06
* Robot
Chicken Festivities .... Looks like a lot of partying
down there in Tinsel Tow n
and also some schmoozing at the Playboy mansion.
The mardi gra atmosphere is not for a
feature film, but for a roguish, undergroundish,
renegadish Stop Mo animated cable TV series .... Robot
Chicken. RC
and Morel Oral even got a favorite
voting plug from Entertainment Weekly
Magazine. T. Reid Norton's and Ethan Marak's March blogs has more details about
all this. Hmmm .... viewing some of photos, I see that Ethan
likes to partake in those
adult refreshments and has that certain
look of being in another dimension
Do I see pics of Misha Klein visiting
down there too?
* 30-Second
Bunnies Theatre ..... was posted at Stop Motion message board. Again .... more evidence
of animation's potential and does
not need to be slickified CGI
with millions of dollars production
budget or huge crew. Bunnies stuff is
Flash animation and concept works well .... in Simpsons,
South Park style. Would not work as CGI.
Obviously, Stop Motion is more technically difficult to
produce but it is just as viable an
animation medium. With Stop Mo, you just got to dig
deep into your creativity, imagination and
resourcefulness. Here is brief TV
interview (flash format) with Jennifer Shiman (scroll down page), the creator of
this very home brew, do-it-yourself animation series
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