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Previous News
09.29.05
* It seems kind of slow
or quiet, or maybe everyone is basking
in Corpse Bride "Good ness"?
I did see it. No doubt .... incredible
artistic, creative & technical achievement! Everyone
has favorites .... right? Like Uncle Ray's works .... you like some more than
others. The general mass audiences and reveiwers-pundits
who usually know nothing of Stop
Mo history, will compare
Corpse Bride to Nightmare Before
Christmas. IMO, wrong to do
that. Both are different stories but of course,
the similarities are there, with Tim Burton's
influence. Do not forget, Henry Selick (at Laika now) directed NMBC.
My favorite is still Nightmare
and I think the animation is just as good.
IMO, with Corpse Bride, the animation,
choreography, scenes, puppets, set-ups, were just more
complex. Touchstone Pictures
originally did not seem to promote Nightmare
much but it gradually built up a following and has become
a timeless classic now. Edit: Forgot to mention James & the Giant Peach .... IMO, animation also about as as good as CB.
* "Sigh" .... I am "behind"
.... "stuff & circumstances" here. Also,
some "health" thing. Don't worry ....in the big
picture, I am generally okay. As posted before
here, I wanted to finally get going in September,
getting back to animation and also, other obligations got
delayed. My graveyard shift job (pays the bills & rent)
sometimes seems to play havoc with one's internal body
clock and mind. I have been doing this vampire schedule
for some years now and "still", I do not seem
to be fully adjusted to it. Sorry for
delay .... looks like October, I hope it
will happen, and also honor my
other commitments to "others"
(you all know who you are).
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09.24.05
* Finally,
some small recognition ..... I am referring to an article giving
some mention to our low key & mild mannered, "The" Anthony
Scott and his StopMotionAnimation.com. As I tiraded so many times in
past, Stop Mo & Hollywood never got along.
With the frenzied CGI saturation upon our senses,
since 1993's Jurassic Park (12 years now); those
forces just about hammered the
nails shut on the Stop Motion Coffin. Just remember
people .... Stop Motion requires
constant vigilance. Also, do not forget; just
some are
pro-active & contribute at
the message board. Soooo .... maybe try
to participate more? At least, just introduce yourself to let us know, we
are not talking to black cyberspace. I
also ranted before; only we can keep Stop Motion Alive and it will be the outside
maverick's who will do it. Do not
look to mainstream to keep Stop Mo
going. Here is article Stop Mo Fans Hail Tim Burton &
Nick Park. It's
not only article where Anthony is mentioned and he has
recently popped up elsewhere, in print. Edit: Do not forget about AnimateClay.com. Marc has been online just
about as long as SMA.com & SMW.
* Hi-Rez-holics: PowerShot remote
capture that works for Stop Mo? Since you are all now nuts
about Corpse Bride and you now want to copy
& imitate them  ,
using intricate screw control mechanical puppet heads,
advanced silicone skins and capture at crazy high
resolution; this might be the software for you. Sorry, I
cannot help you with cheap screw control
driven heads or a poor man's way to
create the CB puppets. Software is called GBTimeLapse. It is for PCs & works with the Canon
PowerShot digital still cams. GBTL has one
frame onionskin allowing you to see previous
frame you shot but unique thing
about this  remote capture is, that you are
able to view an instant low rez preview
of what you have just animated. For this
software to work on your PC, if you don't already have it
installed, you first need to download Microsoft's.NET.
Only questions I would have: I assume the hi-rez
still images are captured directly to hard
drive? With the low-rez preview,
can you scroll through frames while you are animating? A free
demo download
is available. Here is website GBTimelapse. I do not have a Canon PowerShot
and cannot try the software. If you have the PowerShot,
give GBTimeLapse a test,
then contact Granite Bay Software feedback
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09.17.05
* Corpse
Bride Page & Contest .....You might already know that Warner
Bros. Studio are the backers and releasing Corpse
Bride. The Studio has been
offering various online contests through different sites
and I was recently contacted by them. The prizes are not
huge or fancy but a chance to get something free? Contest
deadline is Sept 24. Here is Stop
Motion Works' new Corpse Bride Page
* Stop Motion
Software Customer Service ..... Some Stop Motion software updates:
TePee Animator for PCs, not really a stop
mo specific program but I thought could be adapted. Well,
the website is down. They say it might be only for "short
while" (yeah, sure). Animaatiokone Stop Motion software for PCs
and created in Finland. Someone emailed me that the free
Beta might have expired but Animaakiokone
is not clear or is vague. Their site does not appear to be
updated. They have so far ignored my email
inquiry. I have ocassionally heard rumblings
about FrameThief, which seems to be the first choice
for Macs. I heard the softw are needs updating
or there are some ocassional bugs with
it? I re-visted FrameThief forum and it seems that many, want all
kinds of FT bells & whistles features,
however, no one mentions the very affordable cost
of FT at only $40.. IMO, if one wants extra
features or better customer service; that should comand
slightly higher cost? You Mac people
.... there are practically no Stop Motion
specific programs. The other Mac specific major
ones are iStopMotion and BTV Pro . What are you going to do if
FrameThief vanishes or if just left in its
current state with no updates or improvements? If
FrameThief were updated and more features, IMO, even at
$100., it would still
be worth it. Mac users, if
you're concerned .... be a little more pro-active
and do not take it for granted. Encourage
the creators of the Stop Motion software and do
not be cheap (you spend big $$$ for Mac
set-ups). Let Roman Blok  know your appreciation.
How much creative enjoyment and value
do you get from the software? Oh .....one more program, I Can Animate. I am not sure, but it appears that there
is no trial demo download for you
to test their software? You just buy it
and then take your chances? All this is just my
observations .... talking straight.
Please correct, update or inform me Edit: I looked at BTV PRO site again. Actually .... looks like a pretty
good program for Macs.
It does have 1 layer onionskin (to
compare live & previous frame), but
does not say if it can do frame flipping/scrolling. It
can capture in variety of image formats (like
FrameThief). It does not have sound-dialogue feature
though, but you can breakdown sound track using another
program. Mac people: Why don't I hear BTV
Pro used as much? Did you ever try it? Let me
know
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09.14.05
* $30
thousand puppets & $40 million movie .... That's what I'm hearing; about $30
thou for the cost of each
of the Corpse Bride lead
puppets. I have always heard of very
high prices for Stop Motion puppets. Supposedly,
the Robocop 2 Cain Stop Mo puppets, I am not sure,
but I think, was quoted at about $60 thousand
each or more. I do not know how the "book-keeping
accounting" is done or juggled to arrive at
final production costs for specific items. Just
so that you know, you "suits - producers"
.... Stop Motion Puppets usually do not cost
that much! In Ray Harryhausen's
time, he probably had a $30 thou sand budget for the entire frickin
movie! If yourself or small crew have
more skills in different areas of
Stop Motion, that will make Stop Mo
very
cost effective. However, in any pro
or mainstream productions, the budget
radically escalates. More "specialeests"
are hired and a much bigger bureaucracy, staff,
crew, etc.. Corpse Bride had a budget of
$40 million (that's what is being stated).
Actually, Corpse Bride cost about the
same or often less than many of the
CGI animation products! Where is all the supposed
"savings" using computers?
Maybe, CGI waaaaaay
overpriced? At the message board
sometime ago, I did look-up quoted budgets
of animated mainstream films Stop Motion & CGI. I have heard bull crap
arguements in the past, that Stop Motion
is more
expensive to
produce. Nowadays, "suits" will
pour money into
CGI ...but for "Stop Motion",
they are tight ass cheap. Ray Harryhausen,
Jim Danforth and other Stop Motion
productions were always plagued with
that .... never adequate funding for Stop Motion.
No surprise .... I said it many times,
"Hollywood & Stop Mo never got along".
I prefer to follow Uncle Ray's philosophy .... creativity
and problem solving resourcefulness ....
a sense of pride and accomplishment putting sweat
equity into it. IMO, enlightened
audiences can subconsciously sense that
effort & energy when seeing tactile
real, quality done Stop Motion. Check out these
recent articles, Burton revives Stop Motion -
A Manual Labor of Love -
Animators keeping Craft Alive
* SlamDance
2006  .... We just received this
reminder: "The 12th
annual Slamdance is the number one
alternative to the Sundance Film Festival. Last year, a
new Grand Jury Award for Best Animated Short Film was
added and also, a monthly online
film competition called Anarchy, which frequently features animation
months." One can submit here Read more details about the other,
more prominent animation shorts
competition at Slamdance
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09.10.05
* Katrina
Donation Scams
.... IMO, this is one of the negative
aspects about the internet. It seems
this so-called wonderful hi-tech World Wide Web
communication information medium; is a breeding
ground for these slime dung vulturistic non-human A-holes
... Donation Scams to Escalate -
Don't fall prey to Scams. Katrina is not the only
one; this happens with other past disasters or events.
Any kind of disaster or disruption, and the USA
seems to become more vulnerable and we are in
all kinds of turmoil and especially, this
country's economy. Our $resources$
are not endless. "Something"
is eventually going to "pop".
I could rant on about other aspects of Katrina
and other previous political and worldwide events; and
then, there is 9/11 (4 years ago). For
those of you that like to immediately
"blame"; that is naive and
too simplistic. It is deeper
and it has been a very slooow & gradual
process why we are in this current
state. The ol' USA of long ago,
it seemed, we could kick butt and take care of
business and ourselves. Things, events,
happening waaaaay too Fast
for me. If I only had the power to Stop
Motion in humans ... so that
everyone would slow down and approach
"life", one frame at a time. Katrina: Salvation Army
* Loose Moose
Animation
.... I realize the above was a bit sobering,
but I am human and we cannot pretend
that societal & global reality does not exist. Hey,
it's the weekend. Do you want to momentarily escape?
You know about Loos e Moose? When did
you visit them last? Website has been redone. This studio
is very generous. It appears that they
have QT clips of their best work, all in
their entirety! Also includes the Brisk
Ice Tea commercials. Check-out the puppet's
facial animation! Yes ... Corpse
Bride and Wallace & Gromit
mainstream films may remind the masses
about Stop Motion, however, other
unsung heroes already
doing Stop Mo in other markets.
Here we have an example ... this studio producing
incredibly creative & entertaining stuff,
however, thanks to the "Suits",
the CGI indoctrinated masses being deprived
of visual variety ... aesthetics
& styles. They are doing some CGI but most
of their work is Stop Motion. Make yourself some
popcorn, grab a soda pop, turn down your room lights, and
kick-back! Here is Loose Moose. Let them know how much
you enjoyed it and for helping
keep Stop Motion very much ALIVE! Do it
now .... Contact Loose Moose
____________________
09.07.05
*
Rotoscoping Special FX Tool .... It has a variety of uses and I
mentioned a few times at the message board
here and here, but I do not know if you realize the pearls
of insight & keen observations that I
throw out here, to you! Talking is good and message board
a gathering place but we also got StopMoShorts. Now .... do the walk.
I don't yet see any overflowing submissions to SMS.
If you want to procrastinate .... go
ahead. Only a few, are perservering Stop Motion
Soldiers no matter what. Stop Motion first,
family second (or
equal) . As I explained in those past topics (which
seems to have been dismissed?), with rotoscoping
you can kind-of achieve a Ray Harryhausen Dynamation-type interaction of your puppets
with background action while
you are animating. Some years ago, you
saw a major film that had Stop Motion mixed with
live-action and you probably were not aware that it used rotoscoping
type methods. The film was MonkeyBone which had mixed reviews. IMO, Henry Selick
was restricted in certain ways, so do not blame him
(hint: the "Suits"). Webster Colcord was one of the MonkeyBone Stop
Motion animators and he has available at his site, a
behind the scenes of himself animating  MonkeyBone puppet. It is a
camera assist preview setup where the puppet is layered
over live-action (rotoscope method) so that animator
can animate & synchronize puppet to the actions of
the actor. Then later in post production
both elements are composited. That is
oversimplified, but the general idea. I am guessing,
possibly thousands of dollars for the
customized or proprietery software used on MonkeyBone.
Now you
can use software that can do
similar tasks such as rotoscoping and
other features & tools. You may take
it for granted, at the low cost of Stop
Motion Software.
How much money do you spend on your beloved Cell phone addiction (also click 1 & 2) but you are cheap and whine about
the now, verrry affordable
software? Here is Webster animating on Monkeybone
(Windows Media) Clip 1 Clip 2 (clips hosted by Marc Spess ). I will soon announce some of my
Stop Motion experiments. It will be using
rotoscoping, blue/green screen compositing, traditional
effects, etc.. .... all to achieve Harryhausen
type special effects and then maybe,
it will penetrate
your brains  , the tools
that are now available & accessible, but you may have
not yet, explored its creative possibilities.
____________________
09.03.05
* Taking it
One Day at a Time .... Not just Stop Motion but in the big
philosophical picture. Too much information overload
bombardment;mass communication technology. Everything
seems to behyper-accelerating; local and
world events; economic, political, disasters and
conflicts .... restlessness, paranoia, uncertainty. We
trust the leaders, politicians, beaurocrats but most ALL,
have their agenda being pushed by special interests.
It does not matter which political
party. We arepawns and "they"
will increasingly leech off us (taxes)
for their own preservation ....
legalized theft. If you have family,
kids & such, you may need to somewhat plan "life".
Personally, I attempt not to plan
"life" more than 60 days ahead! Future seems
volatile, up & down. fog to me where
it is heading. What kind of society or world will it be
for the kids All a today being exposed
to this current insanity? I suppose, as I said, just try
to be in the moment. Easy to say and I
try to practice it but difficult and I do not always
succeed. Escaping from all this seems to be solution? Shut
off your TV's, radio, cancel newspaper
subscription, and now, the internet
which is a mixed blessing .... rumor
spreader, hype and mis-information.
Do not believe everything you read online. On
that happy note, I shall now escape into
my Stop Motion Cave and
create my own fantasy worlds 
* Reading
"LIO Blog" Tip .... Although, you will notice that I can
sometimes write extensively .... not come easy
for me. Actually, in school I was not that great
in comprehending or it does memorizing
all the anal retentive English grammar
terminology ..... participles, gerunds,
dependent & independent clauses, appositives,
predicates .... ad nauseum. Why don't they make the
grammar rules understandable in English!?
I write by how it feels &
sounds and notthe
grammatical rules. Here is the tip: When
I first post a news or blog item,
knowing sometimesis a draft version
when it's online. Maybe a day or two later I will re-edit
it. So, it even if you already read the current news or
blog, you might check it again because I could
have slightly revised it. I have been doing this
since the beginning of this news page, but thought I
would tell you. Maybe strange? It is my
website and I can do anything
I want 
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