On the Other Side of the Fence

Working on the final sound tonight. In the process of waiting...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 01:32:57 -0400

Working on the final sound tonight. In the process of waiting for a render.

All this rendering is so tedious. So close to being finished!!

I have little time to update now until the end here, but...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:38:01 -0400

I have little time to update now until the end here, but I’ll try to put up a few things! Still working out a few end titles. I love self portraits with the set. See the scale! wooo!

CHICKEN SPLAT.

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:21:33 -0400

CHICKEN SPLAT.

Shooting is finally completed,…er, well, almost. I still...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:17:00 -0400

Shooting is finally completed,…er, well, almost. I still have the end credits to finish up, but that is just a touch of live action, and shouldn’t take as long as the animation!

It is looking like the movie will be about 8 minutes not including the credits. It feels good to finally be to a point where I feel like I might actually finish this project. May 1st is the deadline. Got a few long days a head of me.

I had the opportunity to go to the NAB conference in Vegas this last week and it was very inspiring. The whole city carries this energy, and though I am tired—I am feeling enthused. Even more enthused that I got to meet an employee of LAIKA!

(I wasn’t to happy to return to 40F though..brrr.)

Anyway. Ben is working on some color corrections for me in exchange for some of my help in flicker removal from his stop motion. So, I guess I should get back to it.

Happy Friday!

6 hours of animating condensed into 0:56 seconds!

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:12:27 -0400

6 hours of animating condensed into 0:56 seconds!

Working on compiling the clips that we have shot so far. I spent much of my Easter Break and this...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:01:52 -0400

Working on compiling the clips that we have shot so far. I spent much of my Easter Break and this afternoon working on correcting flicker issues and I am pretty pleased with the results. Mike and I have been working long hours and hope to finish shooting in the next few days.

A word from Mike our lead animator: Word.

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:16:28 -0400

A word from Mike our lead animator:

Word.

Mike has been working really hard animating and I have been...

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:07:00 -0400

Mike Animating

screen capture of footage

adult deborah --I look nice and tired.

Mike has been working really hard animating and I have been trying to keep up with puppets and props as we go along. We’ve completed about 3 minutes of animating with still about 3 or 4 to go it looks like. —The film will be much longer than anticipated. I am ok with that.

Had to perform surgery on Deborah’s hand this morning, but...

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:12:00 -0400

Hanging out

Deep in thought

Creeping

Had to perform surgery on Deborah’s hand this morning, but it went well and the repair was made in time to make some serious progress today.

We discovered that we can turn the piano instead of moving the backdrop for all the different angles. Makes our lives so much easier. I spent the day filling balloons with chickens while Mike animated.

Sorry the pictures are only from my cell, I will try to take some higher res stuff for you all later.

The animation looks great so far! : )

Ciao!

Got a lot done today. Title sequence is complete and so are the...

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:31:00 -0400

Step-father

Working on the miniset

Mike!

Got a lot done today. Title sequence is complete and so are the shots with the miniature set. Onto the larger miniature set on Saturday. My friend and composer of the film, Ben Schultz is in town, so we had a chat about the soundtrack and he got a chance to check out this side of the operation.

There will be a big push this weekend.

So shooting has finally commenced! We shot about 26 seconds yesterday for the title sequence. Mike...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 09:50:36 -0400

So shooting has finally commenced! We shot about 26 seconds yesterday for the title sequence. Mike and I are both pretty excited and our ultimate goal is to be finished shooting by April 6th. : )

Making progress. I know I keep pushing back the date for...

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 19:55:40 -0400

Making progress.

I know I keep pushing back the date for shooting, but tomorrow for sure we begin!

The mini set is now complete and ready to shoot the title sequence.

I hope to have a little preview with a little trailer in the upcoming weeks.

Ciao

Ok, So Mara has done a TON of work on the costumes (and is doing...

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 00:25:00 -0400

Family portrait

Mother

Stepfather/adult Deborah

Casting heads

Step Father

Clothing for the Father

Transport!

Creating a mini miniature for opening

Ok, So Mara has done a TON of work on the costumes (and is doing an amazing job!!) and I’ve been doing a TON of work on the puppets, so everything is finally coming together.

The puppets are now mostly completed, I just need to finish up a few details. It is really exciting to finally feel like I am going to hit that point where things will start to move more quickly, or so I hope.

I am meeting with Mike tomorrow to consult and shooting will begin on Wednesday!

Kaitlin finished the backdrop this week, so that is...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:34:00 -0500

Kaitlin Painting

Mother materials

Outside the fence

Flowers

It looks much brigher with sky!

Love the piano

@Mara Ristow.

Kaitlin finished the backdrop this week, so that is finished… As is the set. There are a few touch ups I still need to do, but now I am focusing on getting the first characters done for shooting next week.

Got a text from Mara in Wisconsin and above there is the image of young Deborah’s overalls.

Spring break is almost over, so I need to make the most of these last few “free” days!

When the clothing gets here on Monday, I will be sure to upload some pictures. For sure.

Ciao!

Getting a lot done! Still on track, so that feels really...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:09:00 -0500

Blanket

The body of the Mother

Late night studio space

Sweater!

Young Deborah prototype

Getting a lot done! Still on track, so that feels really fantastic.

Starting to flesh out the characters, get their shoes figured out, and casting the heads. Deborah’s head is cast and now I just need to not burn the clay. I think I’ve got a make-shift double boiler figured out. More tests tonight. Finished knitting the Mother’s sweater last night—I am so glad Mara is doing the other costumes. Its very time consuming. I hope to finish the set today. I have Kaitlin Baumann working on painting the backdrop today—expect an update tomorrow.

Things are progressing well. I am so glad it is spring break so...

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:18:00 -0500

A leghorn and a barred rock :)

The apartment transforms!

Lighting rig and more details

@Mara Ristow

Things are progressing well. I am so glad it is spring break so I can really concentrate on the project now and not worry about other obligations. Sculpting some more chickens and working into the ground a bit more. Kurt helped me build a lighting rig, and the clothing you see above were sewn by Mara Ristow (she is awesome!) I am going to figure out the hands and heads over break, so expect some more updates as I move forward.

Still scheduled to commence shooting on March 12th!

Spent long hours in the studio this weekend and accomplished...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:17:00 -0500

Spent long hours in the studio this weekend and accomplished much.

I worked on the texture of the set ground and built and stained the fence. I painted the grass and started to add texture and plants to that. The water color background is almost stretched and ready for the background to be painted.

All five armatures are now completed and ready to get skin. So I begin the process of molding. My test mold went OK, but I am still having some issues with the curing process of the dragon skin. I need to run a couple of tests and hopefully tackle that this week/weekend.

Feels good to make some noticeable progress. I also have Mara Ristow sewing my costumes for me now, so that is one less thing I have to worry about. The weeks are flying by!

Finally making some noticeable progress! I started machining the...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:40:21 -0500

Finally making some noticeable progress!

I started machining the hands and feet this week and hope to get the armatures completed by next week. I found some Ken shoes at a thrift store and they looked pretty sweet, so I put them on the armature for fun.

Still trying to figure out what works best for the eyes.

The studio is blacked out — I Just need a shelf for my monitor and build the set.

Shooting officially begins March 12th! I’ll try to keep this updated better.

Funding!

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:48:11 -0500

We’ve been funded! I am very excited!

I’ve been working on blacking out the studio and figuring out what I need and I’ve been purchasing materials. Time is flying by.

It feels good to finally be making something, I’ve started sculpting some of the props and hope to start the armatures and puppet fabrication next week (when the supplies get in).

Also, you should check out my sound designer. I am really excited to start talking with him about the overall sound of the film. Below is the link to some of the work he did for a weekend film festival I did with some of my peers.

http://thefledgling.bandcamp.com/album/leaf-me-alone-original-soundtrack

Above: Deborah, the main character as an adult. Still working on...

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:18:00 -0500

Above: Deborah, the main character as an adult.

Still working on fleshing out the 4 characters. The plan is to have them done by Monday. Also, my kickstarter has been fully funded! If you’re still interested in helping out—there is still 4 days left to give!

Ready for a blitz this weekend. Things are finally starting to move forward.