Thursday, November 12, 2009

1 minuet and counting....

Hey guys!

We have had alot going on recently guys

We Hit {1 minuet 14 seconds Of Quality footage}

....woooo hoooo!!!!!
The film is looking really Excellent and I only had to do 1 reshoot so far.{AMAZING!!}

As with {Gerald's Last Day}I will share all of my FAIL animations here on the blog.

Here is my very first one - Dannngit!





I felt I had to redo this animation because I didnt like how hard he HIT as he leaned forward in the car.....I wanted a bit more FLOW....or dizzyness to the action.
And secondly - I kept bumping his steering wheel as I animated him...dangit!!
ALWAYS LOCK Down everything people - I dont know how many times I need to learn this lesson....jeeez. I have also done a Shot that was "THE SHOT" When I was first storyboarding the film.
I dont know what it was.....but I just always was Drawn to this visual from the begining...{Its in the bag now} with a slick camera move ta boot!

in other news - we went to a Holloween screening of Coraline a few weeks back and got to meet Henry Selick for the first time. He is one of the famous type people that I had on my imaginary list of {would like to meet someday}

Here's a few on my Famous List in no particular order -
Captain Kirk - Saw Him in an Airport

Hulk Hogan -
Henry Selick - Met Him In Hollywood

Don Bluth- Hope to meet him next week at the Cartoon expo!
Arnold Schwarzenegger -
Ray HarryHausen - Met Him at a book Signing.
Bill Cosby- I wished he was my dad growing up.
Sigourney Weaver -
Clint Eastwood -
Tim Burton -
NightCrawler from the Xmen -the comic version -not the Movie guy....

Me , Shel , Robert and Bridget got to meet Henry...
Me and shel got to Talk with him for a little bit and He was very kind to usShel watches my inner Dork meter going off the charts-....and for some reason I felt that this was an important inner milestone for us. Our paths crossing early in our career as director-story tellers and perhaps again someday as Professionals.

Ive got DREAMS!!!

Well after speaking with him ...he said he would go to our blog and check out the film.{Dont Know if he really will?}.....but it was a cool thought None the less...

next -

so Fresh off the Airplane -

.....We are Just returning from {Savannah Film Fest}.....This was a really incredible festival guys! This is the BEST one we have attended thus far -

They flew us out to Savannah....Picked us up at the Airport -gave us an excellent Hotel right in Downtown Savannah....and provided us with Lots of Yummy food and Films to feast on.

Each screening had 400-500 people which was incredible.....great audiences...Excellent theatres!!

Me and Shel got to walk the city -even go for a night Run in the Park This was also the first fest where we really got to talk in length with many filmakers....In particular the Animation Group.


This is Kyle Bell -Director of {The Mouse that Soared} One of my very favorite short films Ive seen this last year!! He works at LAIKA and the film was created there under his direction. We got to discuss tons on the Process and everyones goals as filmakers. This was really exciting and educational.

We took a tour of the SCAD {Savannah College of Art and Design }which was an Amazing facility!! I couldnt believe how much these kids have access to.....I would gladly reccomend it to my oldest boy Nicky. Great city and Awsome school.

On our visit....we also met an amazing coulple of animation Historians named Nancy and Hal Miles. They enjoyed our film and approached us after the showing with an invite to dinner.

Nancy has been involved in animation for many years and has a massive collection of 2d artwork from most of the classic Disney animated films. She and Hal have studio{Hal Miles Imagimation Studios}..... and in house Museum {Nancy and Hals Stopmo Museum}.....

At the House we got to meet up with a stop mo Brother -Dan Mackenzie - I could see his passion on his face and Im sure well be in touch. Hes a student at SCAD and is in good hands With HAL as his teacher....in there Home - museum Hal took us on a tour of the artwork with almost every piece having a story . I got to see and touch some of the actual pieces of film and stopmo History. They are going to open a stop mo museum in the future and Hal has an enormous collection of stopmo History that will thrill any lovers of stopmo.

Here are some of the pieces -

I got to touch a Jack Skellingotn armature!!! and replacement heads....
Me Touching the armature -on a real -Christmas Town set from the film.
hold one of Sally's arms from Nightmare - see her replacement faces up close....

I got to dork out on the Real Centipede from James and the giant peach!!!
It was foam latex....just like what we are doing here -I didnt know that.
Some of James's faces - the seagulls from the film -


Some Harryhausen History-
One of the things that was So cool about seeing this stuff up close was that - It didnt seem IMPOSSIBLE anymore - they use the same stuff we all do - its all that much closer now for me mentally!!

Look at all the Pillsbury Doughboy puppet stuff that I grew Up with....

Hal was an FX artist from back in the day.....he worked on most of the coolest films from my youth.....and lots of not so cool films with cool effects in them.

Heres the actual head from T2....Stan Winston sent it to him as a gift after the film finished. Awesome!!!

I got to touch Mighty Joe Young skulls.....
This is {SUCH AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF STOPMOTION} I wanted to touch every piece in the museum.....a physical connection with this object that Magically came to life on Film -WOW!!!



Its almost like confirming that these puppets arnt really ALIVE...Ha!


see the original Bump in the Night Puppets -

He had a Noid - and a California Raison!!.....

Anty from - {Honey I shrunk the kids}...

Pjs puppets -
Gumby-
and way WAY MORE - ....it was a thrilling visit and I will be back someday Im sure.
Organized garage!!!The last piece that Ill show was my very favorite - A few copies of the original sculpt-maquette from {The Secret of Nimh} Mrs Brisby!!!!!! WOW WOW WOW!! I gota get a copy of one of these..........One of the defining films from my Youth -a True instigator in me becoming an animator!
......
10 seconds a week till its all on film!

jriggity

20 comments:

aussaimstinee said...

Wow, you have no idea how jealous I am right now!

Shelley Noble said...

Hey, Justin, I think it's fantas-sic that you got to touch all of those iconic stop mo treasures. Hal and Nancy Miles have great taste! I suspect they'll be wanting to acquire puppets from your and Shel's films soon.

Craig Harris said...

Great post brother...a future giant among giants!!

rich said...

epic post. grats on the footage count!! Woohoo! wow, was so cool to see pics of all those stop mo puppets. Fuel for the fire. nice.

You met Henry Selick!!! Lucky ducks.

Mike Adair said...

My prayer tonight,
"Lord, let me fail like Justin".

Awesome post and great work.

Congrats on the progress!

JPierro said...

I love those pics of you guys with Henry Selick, I can see you stealing all of his powers, clever Boy:)
Thanks for sharing the stop motion behind the scenes tour, amazing stuff.

Ken A. Priebe said...

Excuse me while I pick my jaw up from off the floor.

That is all too awesome. Say, you better update that festival list on the side bar there....I know you've won more awards than that! ;)

Anonymous said...

Hey! your posts are always exciting
Great photos and stories!
good luck!
:)

Anonymous said...

At the rate you're going here, Justin, YOU'RE going to be an animation historian!

Dan MacKenzie said...

Love the blog Justin! Thank you very much for the plug on my stop mo work! It was super awesome meeting you and Shel.

Keep it up!!

Will said...

thats amazing! meeting Henry must have been very humbling.
thanks for taking so many photos, i enjoyed seeing them

jriggity said...

Acacia} Man...it was really cool to see that stuff first hand.

Shelly} it was special 4 sure.........ha! thats funny...your the 3rd person to say that. WHO KNOWS? maybe someday our film can go down in Stop mo history like that.

That would be awesome!!

Craig} shucks....

Rich}thanks brother!....I do feel lucky!

Mike}thanks man...

John}I'm sure he gets people dorking out on him all the time....but it still felt cool to talk to him.

Ken}ha! ...yeah we got a few more wins since then...Shel will update soon.

jmanu}thanks dood!

A little blue alien}ha.....I think it would be so cool to be a part of stop mo History!! Someday man.....someday.

Mackmation}yeah man...anytime. It was awesome meeting you too.

Will} it was definitely cool....that guy made -4 stop mo feature films. Thats sick!! Not to mention a Holloween- Christmas CLASSIC!!

I was Honered to meet him.

jriggity

Hermanos Encinas said...

Awesome video, awesome pictures, awesome meeting with mr. Selick and awesome Stop-Mo Museum.

Guys you are awesome!

Hermanos Encinas said...

Justin, can you send me the pictures of the Mackmation´s stop motion museum in a good resolution to make a entry in my blog. Thanks a lot!

Yaz said...

Wooowww Justin, a great animation test there and the pictures below... you got to meet Henry Sellick and saw all those original puppets!! It must be a great feeling. I wonder one thing; you know the picture where you hold Jack's replacement head; there is a bird puppet up on the shelf. Is that a puppet from Nightmare Before Christmas as well?

Will said...

Yaz- I'm fairly certain that bird puppet doesnt feature in Nightmare Before Christmas. it's just occured to me, if you wanted to check out some good bird/winged puppets you might want to take a look at some Ray Harryhausen stuff :)
The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad has a two-headed bird puppet you might be able to draw a little inspiration from - http://theseventhvoyage.com/theroc.htm

there's also a Griffin,Pegasus and a Bee puppet that may be helpful to check out in some way. i think the Pegasus puppet is in Clash Of The Titans, but i could be wrong- the feathers and animation of flight are beautiful if you can track down the film or some clips.

Sorry to interupt! I've followed alot of the stopmotion blogs on here for a while, only just got round to starting my own. I can't wait until Chronos, you seem to be considering all the small details and i'm sure it'll turn out really special. Will

Robert Litton said...

Missing from Famous Person list: Cru Jones.

jriggity said...

Hermanos Encinas} thanks dood!
I send you some pics in an email.

Yaz} it was awesome...The bird puppet was from james and the giant peach....one of the seagulls.

He had 2 of them.....a prototype and the one they used in the film.

Robert}I am cru jones..ha!

Yaz said...

Justin, thanks for the info. I did not see James and the Giant Peach by Henry Sellick before. I have checked out on the net and it seems like a good one to view for some inspiration.

Will- thanks a lot for the information. Let me reply you on your new blog. I have checked out quick and your work looks awesome.

Emily D. Myers said...

Very cool. I went to SCAD and the film festival is amazing! I hope I can go back for a visit one day.

As always, your posts are so inspirational, good work!