‘Inter-Dimensional Safari’
April 13, 2012
Expeditionist Todd Laturno at the very beginning of this Safari, had an encounter. Well, you better see it yourself ….
Ladies & Gentlemen of the jury … Harryhausen-esque Stop Motion NEEDS to desperately experience a renaissance and enter into the consciousness of the public. The above fantastic work was created by Stephen Chiodo, Todd Laturno, and animated by the veteran stop motion animator, Kent Burton.
I know, the CGI addicted drones will say, “But it does not look real”. I say, what the hell is the definition of ‘real’ in the realm of the other-worldly and/or fantasy?? Actually, my observation, when you look at the above stop motion creature character, you know it is not ‘literally real’ and that it may have some puppet looking characteristics, but YOU DO NOT CARE. You allow yourself to enter the directors/filmmaker’s interpretation & vision of Fantasy and the Surreal. This is what Ray Harryhausen did. He was not obsessed with copying every minutia of ‘reality’.
If the above were done CGI, the mouse-clickers would likely overload it with internal jello-like blubbery motion and ‘flapping in the wind excess’ jiggly skin, and also superfluous internal muscle movement & twitching. IMO, it is actually refreshing not seeing all that extraneous CGI additions. Today’s audiences have been so indoctrinated to the CGI aesthetics. The above stop motion creation, to me, looks just as fantastical surreal but using a different aesthetic style (stop motion) compared to something done using typical formulaic CGI. Kudos to Stephen Chiodo & crew. We need to see more of this from the Stop Motion creators out there … come out of your closets!
LINKS: Chiodo Bros Productions – Kent Burton & 2 – Other Harryhausen-esque experiments from Peter Montgomery
Topics: Dynamation, Films - Shorts - Animation, Puppet Animation, Special Effects, Stop Motion | 20 Comments »
Dragonworld (1994)
April 5, 2012
A Charles Band produced movie (aka Moonbeam Entertainment) was known for low budget features. For Dragonworld however, the scenic location filming, the stop motion animation by Jim Danforth, and other talented artists contribution of special effects, greatly enhanced its production quality, when compared to other ‘B movies’ of that time in the early 1990s.
This is not a Ray Harryhausen-esque action packed adventure, but instead, a light fantasy tale that is soft & heart warming, which I think kids would maybe enjoy on a Sunday evening. Also, do not forget this was made about 18 years ago, before CGI special effects worldwide domination.
A generous & sharing Youtuber uploaded the movie in seven chapters (separate videos). I created a playlist which will play all 7 chapters automatically, in sequence ….
LINKS: If you prefer to just watch the individual chapters Stop Motion Works Youtube – Jim Danforth – IMDb Dragonworld
Topics: Animators, Films - Shorts - Animation, Puppet Animation, Special Effects, Stop Motion | 10 Comments »
Nick Hilligoss on Stop Motion
March 31, 2012
Back in November ‘11, our SMW News archeology department unearthed a rare treasure of a video (see link below) of a creative talent from the Land of OZ. His name … Nick Hilligoss, an unsung hero in stop motion animation. Just do an internet search and his name pops up all over. I did my past kudos to my friend Nick in the last SMW News but there is always room for more, as he most deserves it!
This new film/video of Nick appears to be more recent, but I am not sure and only guessing because Nick’s hair color now appears to be in the Gandalf/Obi-wan/Santa Claus, Ultra-White stage 
LINKS: Nick Hilligoss – Stop Motion in the Land of OZ – Wiki Info – YouTube Channel – Gallery/Portfolio site
Topics: Animators, Behind the Scenes, Puppet Animation, Stop Motion | 2 Comments »
‘The Pirates! Band of Misfits’: Relaxing Behind the Scenes
March 29, 2012
Of course, we all have viewed a plethora of documentary-like or featurettes such as ‘making ofs’ regarding animation, special effects, and similar. Just speaking of documentaries ‘in general’ (not related to FX & animation), I also always liked, when there was minimal narration and without too much or frantic editing … just let the raw moving images and the real sounds & noises speak for themselves. Here is one that fortunately is about Stop Motion 
. It is as though we are just ‘hanging out’ at the Aardman Studios. It seems like a calm & soothing work environment atmosphere … an escapism from all the real world crap out there ….
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
LINKS: Misfits movie Website – Aardman Studios
Topics: Behind the Scenes, Films - Shorts - Animation, Miniatures - Models - Puppets, Puppet Animation, Stop Motion, Stop Motion Armatures | 2 Comments »
Chipotle’s ‘Back to the Start’ stop motion viral ad (2011)
March 19, 2012
I believe that this was a viral marketed stop motion piece from last year (Sept, 2011) and only now, I serendipitously found it and watching it for the first time. Commissioned by Chipotle, a national Mexican style restaurant chain in the USA. The undercurrent of the ad perhaps can evoke some heated political debate (see youtube comments) … you know … attacking Big Agriculture, supposedly another capitalistic corporate Evil entity, out to screw the people. I will restrain myself 
and not commenting on the politics and also, I do not think Chipotle taking that view. It’s the youtube posters ’stirring it up’. I will be only posting here in reference to the aesthetic & style choice of using the stop motion animation technique. Check it out ….
I am again pleased, that the ‘powers that be’ chose to go with real hand made stop motion, even though it possibly was more labor intensive. This is similar advertising philosophy as the earlier UPS ‘My Choice ad’ posted here at SMW News which also used REAL Stop Motion. I can take a guess; if these ads were done CGI, they would NOT be as interesting or popular. Advertisers & agencies perhaps seeing that people/audiences are getting CGI over-saturated (too much, no variety) and some ’suits’ recognizing the public are intelligent and maybe unconsciously can sense between something that is handmade vs. all computer CGI-faked. Also, another COOL FACTOR that Cgi cannot compete with …. is the making-of behind the scenes when using hand-made Stop Motion or the use of practical, classic & other traditional (no Cgi) special effects techniques. Here is an edifying & informative ‘making of’ the Chipotle ad, in other words, a lot more FUN watching the behind the scenes (compared to mouse-clicking CGI making-ofs) ….
One thing I did not have time to look-up is … WHO were the specific artists, crafts-people, technicians, studio, etc, that did the actual hand-making creation of this stop motion piece. I see the obvious credits to the director, producers, ad agency & so forth, but the names of the Artists & Creatives on the ‘frontline’ in bringing this animation to life, it seems more difficult to find and they deserve proper credit.
LINKS: Nexus Productions – Chipotle Mexican Grill
Topics: Behind the Scenes, Commercials-Ads-TV-Net, Miniatures - Models - Puppets, Puppet Animation, Stop Motion | 1 Comment »