Monday, November 23, 2009

Mumbai - Shooting - and CTN Expo

Hey guys,

Good News from {Mumbai Intnl Children's Film Festival} ...

{Gerald's Last Day} wins the Best {Global Animated Short award!! }......

Wooo Hooo......

This is really special win for us........to know people in India actually Liked our film is thrilling! .

I get so excited looking at that little map on the side of our blog showing visitors from new places in the world........

We cant wait to enter Our next film in this fest again in a year and some months ........and Maybe we could actually visit next time too. ?!

As far as shooting....I've been surpassing my animation Quota every week
- untill this last week....only got 5 seconds of footage....dangit!!


I ran into a few roadblocks - a Light bulb death and lots of that Invisible stopmotion Set up time consumption.



but In the time since my last post I've added another 15 seconds of film.......

I shot a test or 2 for playing with a focal shift.....didn't work too good though ...ha! but .... a couple tries was worth it.....the finished shot looks Excellent even though its short .

I can also tell you that the flea is on the surface now and In full cowboy stare down mode.
In Animation Adventure news.....Me and Shel attended the CTN Expo this weekend. It was a really fun time and we attended many panels filling our heads with knowledge and inspiration. We are very lucky to be around such an HUB of animation related activites... I got to meet a couple of LONG TIME Inspirations {Gary Goldman and Don Bluth} I have ta say......it meant alot to let them know that I can actually trace back my first true artistic-animator JOLT to when I saw {The Secret of Nimh} as a child. I told them how much I hold onto the story of how they got started in Don's Burbank Garage as an Inspiration and how we are in the very same Situation now.

I believe our conversation with them broke up the countless faces and handshakes a little bit and allowed some genuine Connection for that brief moment. I really enjoyed meeting them.

He and Gary had a very Inspiring talk on their starts and Careers.....what they think about 2d animations future as well as the Opportunity we have as animators storytellers these days-A whole studio in that inexpensive box In front of us. We just need the inspiration -imagination and Work ethic to make things happen.

He also mentioned how doors flew open for them that they did not have to force.....they were doing something they loved and were very passionate about. Each time they created something it lead to new doors opening.....and new opportunities.

This whole inspiring talk was in stark contrast to an early panel on making independent feature films......the whole message of the talk was - DONT DO IT ...!! Ha!

.....I dont think were gona listen to that one....... We are choosing to tell animated storys if people want to support us or Not.....so we have Nothing to lose and everything to gain in chasing this Dream.

Ill be shooting again tonight....I am looking forward to our thanksgiving Power Party-

Rockclimbing -Walk football- Wiffleball and Awesome Food!! Happy thanks giving people.

jriggity

18 comments:

Shelley Noble said...

Great post j-Rig, Congrats on the positive attention. Especially getting to meet Mr. Bluth and Mr. Goldman. You had just mentioned on the blog that getting that moment would be a major fulfillment for you. So that's terrific that it happened.

I like your notes from their talk and that your ignoring the early panel dumb advice. Prolly just put there to weed out the riff-raff.

We should start calling you Viking steam roller success machine of all life. Happy and safe Thanksgiving time to the whole Wagneriggities clan.

Robert Litton said...

Full

JPierro said...

Thanks for passing on the inspirational story and message. It resonates well through you. Congrats on success in India, and have a great Thanksgiving.

Aravind.J said...

Awesome!! Congrats on winning the Best Global Animated Short award!!

rich said...

Congrats on the award! woohoo!

making a feature film is not just a dream for you folks anymore. it's a reality, and you are taking all those steps to make it happen.I think the fact that you believe in it and can see yourselves making it that it will happen no matter what.

that is also why all of you are such an inspiration.

Mexican Viking said...

Absolutely inspiring. Thanks so much for the post. Now to build a garage! I mean animate! Wait, storyboard first... hmmm. No. Idea! Yes, that's it!

Yaz said...

Congrats!!!!! In India.. you are a worldwide success. Did you enter the animation festival in Turkey? I think it is happening around now. If not make sure to enter next year. So, then maybe you come to Turkey too??? :))) Wow how nice that could be seeing you here.
Happy Thanksgiving!

jriggity said...

shelly- thanks .....

yeah meeting them was cool...and the negative guy had alot of great information to share anyways.

HA! VSRSM for short...ha!

You too ...happy TG.

Robert} like the cool aid guy says.....OOOOooooooo yeEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

Natarajaprabhu} theres definitely a BIG growing animation industry and talent over there.

very exciting!

John}thanks man..you too!

Aravind.J}thanks man!

rich johnson}WORD- thanks a ton man....and thanks for you support on the blog.

Mexican Viking}Ha! I hear ya man....one step at a time and we all get there.

Yaz} thanks....and we will look for an animation fest in Turky!

It would be great to meet you!

jriggity

Nicole Standard said...

Congrats on the award!! I can't wait to see your next film. I would have to agree with you and any panel that talks about Independent films is basically telling you to quit now. Keep the Independent work coming!!

Unknown said...

Congratulations! Great to be able to actually meet those people. Very inspiring and motivating.

Anonymous said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you too, man.

Great to hear that you got to meet your idols! It must be a blast shaking hands with someone whose work got you excited to animate. I had the same experience recently, and it's AMAZING! Especially when the people who did those films didn't think they would be remembered. For some, it was just work and deadlines- but those films hold a special place in my heart. Forever.

jriggity said...

Nicole Standard} will do Nichole and great to hear from you on our blog.

Maarten} very motivating indeed!

Don} yeah man....film and story is powerfull!! I know I was shaped directly by many.

Ryan McCulloch said...

Okay so I guess I've been out of commission for a while and just spent my morning catching up on 2 months of your posts. First off, it has been truly uplifting to take in that much of your inspiration and updates all at once. Secondly, congrats on finally meeting your hero (Don Bluth) and for GLD making it to India (SWEET!).

Justin, Shel, what you guys are doing is tremendous. The props and sets: WOW! The new animation: EVEN MORE WOW! This is such a vast jump ahead of GLD, which was amazing in itself, but the fact that you guys are growing and learning and improving your technique so fast is mind blowing and gets my blood pumpin.

I'm also continuously inspired by the family of artists you guys are putting together, is there nothing better than to work with people you love?

As I read about your thoughts on the smoothness of Dober's replacement expressions, and your frustration over the Flea's steering wheel, I hope you always remember the joys an audience feels in watching the simple imperfections of stop-motion. These are the things that remind the audience that human hands have touched this film and the puppets, and it separates us from the perfect-polished CGI animations. It's a philosophy I feel very strongly about.

You guys are rock starts, I hope one day I can come over to your garage and play around with your sets too!

Anonymous said...

awesome dude! Your film is coming along nicely.

Gregory Sesma said...

You guys are my heros, a true inspiration. What's next! What's next!

Anonymous said...

wow! great news, congratulations to the team! and a successful animated production in December
;)

jriggity said...

Ryan}thanks alot man.....and working within our family and friends new members of our family are appearing....

its very rewarding....

ha....last night I animated a shot and I was VERY tired...I felt my concentration failing and held onto your words{tiny imperfections}are ok....as i PUSHED through the shot.

I hope to do my best but leve some room for the hand pushed element.

If your ever in town just let us know!

HwangNguyen}thanks man!

greg}- Animating is next....for a good long while too..ha!..Shels making miniature ships for the Space battles..

jmanu} thanks dood...

goutwort said...

Hey man. I've haven't been here for a long time, and I am blown away. Your onset shots remind me of my studio job, but there we have a large and specialized crew to take care of the various aspects of production. I am really impressed that you guys are doing everything yourselves.

The footage you're posting is really wonderful too. Great pose-to-pose animation. I like animators who are willing to put the effort into settling an action, and have the courage to hold it before moving on to the next motion. It is also really nice to see the attention you're paying to anticipation and secondary action.

Great job, I am looking forward to seeing this thing progress.

-gout