stopmotion
Blog post here:
We decided to make a holiday card + DVD to send out this season. Thought it might be fun to record the process 
/casey/.
Cast:
Synopsis
This is the tale of Left-brained Larry & Right-brained Rachel, a Siamese twin couple, stuck
together by the head and thus resulting in them sharing only one brain. Using exactly fifty percent
each, their separate personalities are kept intact and following the theory, being either left- or rightbrained, Larry and Rachel are complete opposites. They have a hard time being stuck together with their counterpart, but not only do they hate each other, their abnormality also makes them dislikable to the people around them, leaving them with a melancholy life of bullying and parental neglect.
One thing the couple shares though is a common hatred and a longing for revenge.
The opportunity arrives when they find out that using the whole brain at once might give them
supernatural powers that can help rid them of their enemies. But the tragic lesson is learned: Being
so opposite their team work is doomed to go terribly wrong.
The Script
I’ve had the idea for this story for a couple of years before I came to the European Film College
(EFC). I’ve always been very interested in how the brain works and how intelligence can be
categorized between individuals and at the time I had recently read what is now my favourite book,
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and other stories by my number one idol Tim Burton.
Influenced by the style of this book, mixed with philosophies of left- and right-brained theories, the
characters of Larry and Rachel came to me out of thin air.
I drew my first sketch of the characters and played around with some rhymes but didn’t get much
further at the time. I’ve always had a small dream of doing stop motion, so it wasn’t until the
opportunity arose at the school that I decided to take up the idea once again. Eventually I submitted
it for the Final Projects and was extremely happy when it got chosen amongst the around seventy
scripts submitted.
Today the theories are quite outdated, but I decided that this wasn’t supposed to be a story of realism afterall. The concept worked brilliantly though: From this very black and white way of looking at the world, the personalities of Larry and Rachel were strictly set from the beginning and it was easy to figure out how each of them would think in any given situation. The plot came from the idea of Larry and Rachel joining forces to get revenge on the people who had treated them badly whilst growing up. By mixing brainwaves Larry and Rachel could get supernatural powers. Knowing how opposite they are though, the ending was just as clear to me from the beginning.
I enjoyed writing this script and hope to write many more just like it. Stylistically it’s very
influenced by the works of Tim Burton and even Edaward Gorey who inspired him. I regard this
project as the first step on my way to finding my own unique style; a mix of all the details I love so.
The production
For four weeks we worked and lived in the common room of the Blue House at the EFC and hardly
saw the sunshine that was right outside the huge black curtain that was to be constantly closed for
light continuity reasons. A total of twenty sets of hands pitched in, all contributing with a great dose
of creativity. Some would merely join us for an afternoon of propmaking when they had free time
from other projects, others were full time members which gave us a core crew of seven people who
worked from 9 am to 11pm every day.
The film was made as one of the 16 Final Projects to culminate our school year at the EFC – being
the only animation film.
This film is definitely the result of an incredible effort and most importantly: Great management.
Because of a cool overview and control we managed to keep the deadline. There were many
challenges along the way, but they were always solved with creativity and hard work.
I feel extremely fortunate to have worked with such a hardworking bunch of people who not only
transferred my script and drawings to an exact replica of what I had envisioned in my mind, but
always added such a fine dose of humor and detail.
Written by Sally A. Ward, June 2009
A group of people behind the film has now founded an animation company, Artificial Clay, doing commercials and other short films.
Sally Andersen Ward
Director, writer, production design
zallyaward@gmail.com
kittyfishproductions@gmail.com
+45 61664472
Kitty Fish Productions
kittyfishproductions@gmail.com
+45 61664472
Niels Michael Wee
Producer
Niels.wee@hotmail.com
+45 31240588
Artificial Clay
Artificial.clay@gmail.com
+45 31240588
Cast: , and
This is a version of my short film Inspiration with a new score by Ben Doner and Victor Rusin.
( the old version is here: )
Cast: , and
DIRECTOR Rob Shaw
ANIMATION STUDIO Bent Image Lab
«The Machine» is an animated fable following the path of an innocently forged mechanical creature. As his independence and knowledge of the world grows on his journey, as does his desire to conquer all that we encounters, from the pastures of a farmer to the realm of man’s entire world.
The story is in itself a mechanized apparition, the characters and scenery exisiting inside of an early 20th century nickel arcade and being driven forward by the gears of this machine.
The main character, the innocently created, human like mechanism whose power knows no bounds, thinks of himself as invincible, that no man or spirit could ever overpower him. Yet, the irony is that he himself is only a small part of a greater device, and in this case, a mechanized stage for passers by to waste a nickel in.
This film was shot over many hours at Bent Image Lab over the course of several months in 2008-2009. Animated using stop-motion puppets and sets, then composited together in After Effects, the film has a mixed media presence to it that is accentuated by the machine’s own collage like form.
CREDITS:
Film by Rob Shaw
Narrator
Andrea Schuch
Voice recorded by
Angela Poschet
Animators
Rob Shaw
Sarah Hulin
Sound Design
Brian Kinkley
Music
Sirrobrob
Color Correction
Orland Nutt
Additional effects
Fred Ruff
Cast: ,
Luckily for me, I live near one of the most photogenic places in the world – Niagara Falls. This video is a compilation of some timelapse shots I took over three separate nights in the city.
Music by Mychael Danna & DeVotchKa – The Winner Is
Shot with a Nikon D90
Cast:
Abstract:groove directed and produced this corporate film for Pirelli Re (the real estate company of the Pirelli Group) behind the creative direction of Federico Pepe and Stefania Siani from DLV BBDO Milan.
The inspiration came from the concept of video projection onto architectural façades, but this time our challenge has been to recreate the same atmosphere mixing compositing, stop motion, time-lapse, and 2D animation techniques with the intent to create an even more obvious oneiric sub-reality sensation.
Working with NY based D.O.P. Luca Fantini, we decided to shoot the night sequences without the use of artificial lighting, using photo cameras to shoot long exposure frames (up to 40 seconds).
The film was shot in Milan, Rome and Berlin within 5 days.
Our objective, from a photographic point of view, was to capture the natural light from three different cities which are covered by three different skies.
Although, what we wanted to capture was a nocturnal light not visible to the human eye. For this reason we mainly worked with the shutter fairly closed e with longer exposures, something impossible to do with a video camera.
For us it was a way to interpret the oneiric elaboration which the human brain could have on a nocturnal panorama, to represent the memory of that natural light recomposed in our dreams.
Client: PIRELLI RE
Agency: D’Adda, Lorenzini, Vigorelli, BBDO
Creative Direction: Federico Pepe, Stefania Siani
Direction and Production:
ABSTRACT GROOVE
Director:
LUIGI PANE
Director of Photography:
LUCA FANTINI
Executive Producer:
GIADA RISSO
Producer:
MAURO MASTRONICOLA
Motion Design, 2D/3D animation:
LUCA SIANO, VALENTINA VICINI
Music:
FRANKY B & DAVIDE MASTRODONATO
Cast:
Un cortometraje animado grabado completamente con un Nokia XpressMusic 5800, para el concurso «2 minutos de cine»
Diseño y Animación: Rob Díaz
Música: Chromeo
Gracias!
____
An animated short film shot entirely on a Nokia XpressMusic 5800 for the «2 minutos de cine» contest.
Design & Animation: Rob Díaz
Music: Chromeo
Thanks!
Cast:
