Beginning to Shoot Solos
1. Trying a radical new method of animating frames as the traditional means was making me too intimidated to get going.2. Trying to get brief clips of each bug on a homemade green screen in hopes of compositing them into the Bug Party set rather than trying to have all 60 bug puppets on the set animating at once.3. Getting the equipment workflow figured out for solo close-ups like this.
On the first test so far, I've found that my special effects camera won't be right for this, as the DOF is so shallow that the puppet's edges are too soft to composite. Next, I will try the old animation camera here, the FZ50, to see if that gets it right. Failing that, I'm willing to try my new iPad Air (the only equipment purchased for Halfland that didn't seem useful five minutes ago) to get the shots.
My radical new method of animating Halfland frames is a stunning, out-of-the-box concept that is so recursively Meta that I'm excited by the prospect it presents.
It would be right only for this specific film if it works. Well, maybe for other films, too, if you want a freakishly dreamlike movement that looks nothing like familiar stop-motion films.
How intriguing! Glad you've found a way.
ReplyDeleteMay I ask how you will tackle 'eye fatigue'? (sorry...I don't know the technical word for what I mean) When the brain is trying to process a new way of seeing, with movement and blur/softness combined with trying to work out the story/what's going on, whilst trying to absorb all the details? I don't know how long you intend your work to be....so far your little snippets have been delightful and stand on their own as unique pieces (yes - I grinned at the jitterbug!).
Jill
Jill! Hooray, love all your comments! Such a boost. So, YES, I have clear ideas about eye fatigue for the [eventual] Halfland viewers. I'm treating the animation exactly like I would storybook illustrations; almost as if briefly moving paintings. So it's likely the narrative won't be followable from the animation alone. By the time all the "pearls" of scenes are strung together, the viewer will know there are strange creatures living there lives somewhere elsewhere than here. It hopes to be like looking through a foggy window into someone's interesting life. Have you seen the gazing ball in movies like The Wizard of Oz? Where the Wicked Witch can see whom she wants, and even Dorothy could see her family in real time in their lives because she wanted to? I am aiming for that type of visual, slightly distorted, shallow depth of field, as dreamlike as possible. I need to make a post where I show the way I've been able to magnify the video/gifs of Halfland inside an large amber glass bottle! That's my ultimate viewing aspiration for the series, a bottle on a plinth showing the scenes on a loop as art. It's a poem, a painting, a living storybook, seen as if dreaming.
DeleteSo back to your good question, the fully realized story will also be available as a physical storybook, oversized, full color, a mixture of digital stills and natural media illustration. I hope to offer the story for free online, as it happens, mistakes and all here on the blog. But also as downloadable files when all edited. Then, a storybook experience for sale, and the fine art piece of the glass bottles running the film for collectors of folktale works. If I keep making scenes, they can be downloaded as released as updates to the bottle's hidden player in its base!
I hope you'll ask any further questions that occur to you. It's incredibly motivating to be able to SHOW you what I have in my mind rather than just seeing it in my own head.
Oh yes! The magic of that moment when you lean in to see a universe in miniature! It makes everything seem familiar yet vulnerable. Your plan sounds like the perfect way to story-tell as you have so many inside jokes/puns, complex world building, and now character motivations which will be aided by an ‘explanation’. Your myriad of ideas can find homes in so many ways now. We won’t miss any of your details and it’s brilliant that you’re offering us various ways to participate in this enchanted world.
ReplyDeleteJill
Framing that comment. Thank you. But how is it you have such insights? Why do you know so much??? Will you say? I can keep a secret; nobledesign@sbcglobal.net
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