Turbo Time.

Hey Guys!

been a couple of seriously TURBO POWERED weeks of production at the Rasch Household.

We took some BIG new steps toward being -

Directors this last couple weeks in bringing in a couple of Mercenary Animators to help us put some extra seconds on the screen.

The latest chapter of the film is in large part a Montage.....Lots of Quick , fast shots with drawing new lines and retrieving lots of items needed for the ships repairs.

Here is the first shot I did to Kick off the New chapter-

Directing- Our job is to be as clear as we can in direction and have the puppets and camera's ready to roll each and every mornin...and again in the mid day upon completion of a smaller shot...

this was completly up to Shel ...and she was large and in charge . Our process was.... Me and Shel would discuss the performance and I typically would give some animation direction in the mornings before I left for work.....

Shel then was the Full time Director for the remaining part of the work day.....She sets up the shots and picks the 3d- interocular distance....then sends the animators a clickin.

This seems simple enough.....but with me working the night shift and the time it takes to set up a new shot before the morning animator gets here-clean up the puppets....and be a parent to a summer time kid...all the while doing her day job...ha!

Our first guest animator was fresh back from Spain {Matt Manning}....he finished working on the feature film - O 'Apostolo....and was back in LA.

Between me and Matt working that first week{He inspired me} we put 50 seconds of footage on the newest chapters done list (that's 5 weeks of regular animation time for me!).

And then he came in for another week! {I was still inspired} ha..... we put another 55 seconds of footage down. Rollin!!!!!!!!

It was very cool working with a seasoned pro like Matt and me and Shel learned alot in that short time.

Well.........Here we are in week 3 and our second guest animator - the talented Misha Klein

who just released his short film "FRED"........Its a True piece of Stop motion ART!! And a BIG fat scratch on the page of Stop mo History ....POWERFULL!!......worked with us for one week on the film.....and I am very excited to have had him help us.

one thing I learned from working with another animator was that talking through a performance wasnt clear enough to get what I wanted in a shot....so by the end I made sure to have Thumbnail drawings....to go along with our Verbal discription.

here is a small sequence - a compilation of my thumbnails...in animatic form that I gave to Misha

for his sequence.



....as well as some individual thumbs.

This made the process very clear....and He said it was very helpfull...

side note-

I just have to put this out there.... Misha's film Fred was the main reason I decided to try stopmotion for Gerald's Last Day. I saw animation that was so Cartoony and Fun I was inspired to attempt the medium myself.

Misha was also the first guy I contacted in the stop mo universe....and he invited me into the world

and introduced me to many of its artists.

I wont ever forget that......cause me and Shel are DEEP in the medium and in love with telling story's with it....stop motion has changed our entire lives...BIG stuff!!

With all the work this last 3 weeks will generate we should be Well on our way into this Largest Chapter of the film.

I took a few day's off....due to some needed sleep and other responsibilities...but Ill be workin the night shift again starting tonight...and well be back ta rockin the film for many weeks ta come.

AND We would like to Introduce our most recent Intern - Nakitha! She is a Woodbury animation student who has a large interest stop motion.
She contacted us and was interested in learning how it all works. She is a VERY fast learner and has been helping us with pasting and painting puppets as her early tasks.

We will be foaming new Dober and Flea puppets next, so she'll get to soon learn how the casting and armature making works in full. Welcome Nakitha and thanks for your Help.

In Mini Ship News....here is shel packing up and sending our Dober Mini Ship off to Mike Fleming, one of our New online friends.

He Kindly offered to Mold the ship and make the resin copy's we will need for some of the space Fight scenes as well as a crash that happens later in the film. More on this soon!!

In Other cool stop mo related news-here is the 2010 Montreal Stop-Motion Film Festival: Call for entries!

Montreal, 8th of June 2010:
http://www.stopmotionmontreal.com/

To enter your film in the festival, download a submission form, fill it out, and send it, along with your film.

Deadline for film submissions is: September 10, 2010.

Please refer to the entries section on our website for answers to any questions you might have concerning eligibility, dates, accepted formats, and new rules.

This year, the professional segment has been updated with a new category for films-commercials less than 1 minute in running time and we will have more guest appearance during this week-end long event that promises to be super cool!

The festival will be held in Montreal, from the 29th to the 31st of October 2010

jriggity