One Year Later

Our Trailer

With our screening only 6 days away, we finally have a trailer! I hope that many of you will be able to come to our screening June 6th at Baker Theater at 3pm or at 7pm.

It is going to be a marathon week, so I must get back to work but I hope to post more soon.

Sam

The Girl’s Room

So, as Matt glues on both of the girl’s hands that fell off while we were shooting yesterday, I will give you an update. A couple of things:

first of all, we were able to win $300 at the research and creativity expo at Ohio University when we placed first in our section. That’s good, because we are juuuuust about out of money.

Second of all, we started shooting the little girl’s room yesterday and it looks really cool. It is so refreshing to have moved onto an interior set. We don’t have to worry about the illusion of endless depth, we don’t have to worry about lighting and composing wide shots, our environment is totally contained and it is so nice. No more dancing leaves that suddenly appear in the bottom of the frame, no more twitching tree branches, no more walking, no more running!! Well, at least for the time being. Anyway, here are some photographs:

I’m so pleased with how everything turned out. Anyway, her hands are just about done so we’re going to keep shooting.

-Sam

Hello Again

Gah! I have been absolutely awful about keeping everyone posted and I apologize. It is only because we are just so swamped with work that it has become really difficult to find the time to sit down and write something. A shame, really a shame, because we have been making a ton of progress. Matt and I have adjusted to a new schedule. I used to be a morning person, strictly early to bed, early to rise. But, this quarter it quickly became apparent that I would have to become much more nocturnal than I am naturally. Now, I’m more like.. late to bed, early to rise. I’m sure the lack of sleep will eventually catch up with us, but hey, that’s what summer is for. In the mean time, shooting every night from about 8 or 9 until 2 or 3 am seems to be the most effective schedule. That way the light is constant, there isn’t anything else I need to be doing afterwards, and it is the only 6 or 7 hour span that Matt and I are both available.

We have been having visitors lately, and it has been really nice. It’s just great to share the illusion with people and show them the process. It is one thing to watch what is edited but I think it is entirely different to see what all goes into it. So, those of you in Athens, please, if you would like to come and visit, just let me know! I swear, 7 days a week, all hours of the night, we’re over in our little bunker.

Another note! I just found out last week that, after months of anticipation, I received the Student Enhancement Award! This is a grant through the university that will fund my project for next year, which is completely thrilling. What is most exciting is that I get to use part of this money to purchase a camera! Finding a camera was a huge dilemma this year and at on point we were left camera-less before some class mates stepped in (thank you, thank you, thank you Sam Butt and Jeff Kolada!). It will be a true luxury to have a camera of my own. But, on top of that, I am just truly thankful and thrilled to have another shot at this next year. I plan to use the summer to start developing a script.

What else..what else.. We are about to wrap on all of the cabin exteriors and move onto the interiors of the little girl’s room, which is nearly finished. Her room is really great, a wonderful balance between shabby and adorable. I think it will be a nice change from the dark exteriors that have consumed production thus far. Pictures to come soon.

Lastly, I will post a little sneak preview. This is a scene where the little girl is trying to peek into the window of Treeshaker’s cabin. A brief, brief clip, but I love it and want to share it.

Sets!

So, we have made great progress on fabricating our next sets. Last night Matt and I took a day off of animating to push ahead on the construction of Treeshaker’s cabin and the little girl’s room. They both are looking so great, I cannot even tell you how excited I am about them. Sorry for such a short post but here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Been a While

Long time no post! Sorry about that. Factors to be blamed: long hours of animating, athens international film festival, midterms. In that order. The last of the three suffered greatly, I can assure you.

Anyway, things are moving along steadily in little land. Matt and I have been pushing on with animation and have the greater part of all of the forest scenes wrapped. Nathan and Andrea have done a great job of pushing forward on fabrication. Pictures soon to come of Treeshaker’s cabin and the little girl’s room. Very glad to have some significant progress especially as that deadline of June 6th creeps closer and closer and closer. No, the deadline isn’t creeping up, it is straight up attacking. I swear weeks are only 3 days long now or something. What is today?

Lastly, I will leave you with a screen shot, I haven’t posted one of those in a while. This is from another successful run sequence with the little girl. Enjoy:

More to come,

Sam

Rolling Along

So, I am to the point where everything I look at, I imagine how it could be made into a miniature reproduction. Truly. I guess that is what happens when you spend endless hours in the dark only with the company of puppets.

Other than that, though, things are going well (KNOCK ON WOOD). We have settled into a nice rhythm that, at least for now, seems livable and possible. We have animated a scene every night this week, and as long as we have more days than scenes, I’m feeling ok.

We screened Sc. 7 to the rest of our class earlier in the week, and the response was so positive that I think we all got a new burst of energy. I can’t tell you how much watching our project with a fresh audience helps! I think we just get so unbelievably over saturated with the images and know every ounce of work that was invested into them, and every little bump and flaw, that we lose sight of how it actually looks.. of what it actually is. So, thank you deeply to all of my classmates, it helps us.

Soon, I would like to post some peeks at the actual artwork from the story on which our film is based. In the first post, I explained that “The Treeshaker’s Worry” was written by my mom, Andrea Levy, who is now an illustrator at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, OH. I spent hours, and hours watching her make this artwork and create this story, so I cannot even explain how it feels to now be giving this story a second life. I think it will be a truly wonderful moment when I can watch our finished film with my mom. What a journey.

Take a second to check out her artwork, she is incredible.

That’s all for now, more to come soon. Check out our photo gallery if you haven’t already, it gives a better idea of our studio and stuff.

Sam

The Small Joys

And I report to you with a small bundle of success! Tonight, after days of attempts, we animated a run sequence! It was really tough, especially because we haven’t even mastered walking. And you know what they say, you can’t run before you walk..but miraculously, that is exactly what we have done! Our first tries looked like our little girl was a zombie with numb feet, but tonight, oh tonight, we have something that looks natural! Her arms pump in coordination with her legs, her body doesn’t lurch up and down, no sway, no running in place, just a run. Phew.

It’s funny that just a few seconds of captured success erases hours and hours of failed trials.

Unfortunately, at the very end of a second take with a new camera angle, her leg literally popped off. I say literally, because it actually made a popping sound. Brutal. Matt is currently reattaching it, so I took the opportunity to report to you all with our bit of success before it is overshadowed by a new slew of obstacles.

More later, I have to hold the leg as it is glued,

Sam

Recap

So,

Things have been interesting in mini world. We have discovered what to be a reasonable and relatively efficient pace. Originally, I believed that shooting long but few days would be best, but soon we realized short but many days is definitely the way to go. This way, we aren’t forced to animate while fatigued and ensures the best quality.

On another note, a friend of mine suggested I sort of explain exactly what it is we are doing and what all of this is for. To begin to explain that, I will tell you that we are five students at Ohio University: Matthew Emmons is a senior in Specialized Studies, Andrea Otto is a Junior in Video Production, Nathan Moore is a Junior in Music Production, Adrian Alexis is a Senior in Digital Media, and I am a Junior in Video Production. We’re sort of a funny bunch but I would say that we have worked extremely well together.

Secondly, this project is for the advanced narrative production class, MDIA 419, that has produced many successful films in the past. Most notably, The Dying Western (www.thedyingwestern.com) and last years feature length, Trailerpark (www.trailerparkmovie.com). There will be a total of four shorts produced in the class this year, ours being the only animated. The screening will be in the Baker Theater in Athens, Oh on June 6th. More about that later.

Anyway, I thought that I would leave you with another screen shot. This is is Treeshaker digging up a few worms.

Check out his hands!

More to come later,

Sam

Pushing On

So! It is becoming more and more apparent to me the size of the challenge that we took on. Stop motion animation is painfully slow and we have such a short deadline, that it would be a lie if I didn’t say that I wasn’t a bit freaked out. But, every time we do anything that works, anything that turns out as I imagined, the panic subsides and is replaced total excitement and enthusiasm.

Our shoot didn’t go quite as planned on Sunday. There were several setbacks and obstacles, as usual, that put us behind schedule. However, at the end of the long day, we animated something that looks really wonderful. This is the first time that I am doing the lighting for any real project so I was very pleased with how good it looked. You can see a screen shot from the scene in the header of this blog. In this scene, the Little Girl is climbing up into a tree to wake up the birds to begin the day, an important point in the story. Here are some photos taken on set while we were animating:

This is me, looking weird, getting the puppet into position.

Little Girl running in the woods. I love her hair.

Matt getting the Little Girl attached to the tree

Anyway, we are shooting tonight and I will hopefully get some more screen shots to show you guys. For now, here is a little more on the process of making the Little Girl:

Little Girl : Pre-Hair

Andrea hand threaded all of the hair into the Little Girl's head.

Almost done..

full head of hair.

Done!

Let’s all hope that tonight goes a little more smoothly and I will post more soon.

- Sam