/IMAGINE with Jen: Ko-Fi Crowd Funding - Help the Series Come to Life!

 

 

Hey everyone who has supported our Zombie Pirates project! I have been working on a new project this past year. Why no Zombies? The main issue with my old project here is that I do not have enough space to make the film in our garage. The story followed two ships, the Defiance and the Rusty Cork as Captain Quill was always trying to chase down Captain Leather Beard.

While I think the idea is still a great one, space doesn't allow for multiple ships and destinations across the sea. I think if a company like Aardman ever wanted to help tell more tales, it would be perfect. But of course there's a zero percent chance of that. 

After I had the idea for my new project, I set out to make everything in such a way that I can make many stories in limited space. The main character Jen will live in a small studio home. You can see it in the above video. Then there will be one room on the inside where she works, animating stop motion films of her own.

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 The story about Jen is she has a goal to keep the art of stop motion alive, but only has one way to do it. Through the same means we all have, that is to use social media and her equipment. Is it too big of a task? The film series will follow her on her journey of working on films, going on the internet and interacting with some mysterious characters. Some benign and some who have malicious intents to sway her from her goals.

If you'd like to help support the new project, you can do so over on our new Ko-Fi page for it over here. Members will get access to behind the scenes videos and pictures before everyone else. There will also be 3-D prints you can get of the characters too in the store. Thank you for your support!

Re-Release of Zombie Pirates at 60 Frames Per Second!

It's been six years since the release of our experimental film Zombie Pirates. A newer technology using artificial intelligence came out called Flowframes. The program adds in-between frames to any existing animation or video. It doesn't add motion blur so the appearance of a stop motion film doesn't change. I liked the results and decided to upload it. What do you think?

Zombie Pirate Tales Complete!

Zombie Pirate Tales is now complete! I managed to do the simple flying debris shot and floating hearts today. I will have a final video about the film in the coming week.

Last Puppet Shot Completed!!!

It's hard to believe, but I just inserted the final puppet shot that I animated today into the editing timeline. I need to set up the last two animated shots of the hearts and boards flying in the air. I may try to set up the final shots today to animate soon since I won't be doing sculptures for any of my clients for at least a few more days. It is both a good feeling and sad at the same time.

Only One Major Shot Left!

 

I'm in-between jobs for my clients which has given me a little time to work on Zombie Pirate Tales. Another shot was completed so now there is only one 2 1/2 second shot left to do, one wood explosion shot and floating-heart shot. Then I will need to go through each shot and tweak the look and audio.

Since my equipment evolved from a 5MP camera to a 12MP camera and an Animation Toolworks lunch box to Dragonframe - the look of the film has inconsistencies. Some shots seem almost smeared while others are very crisp. That's because the sensors in the cameras I used picked up different levels of pixels and the internal firmware caused the images to appear at slightly different color temperatures.In editing I hope to resolve some of those issues, but there's not really a lot I can do beyond that. The film simply won't be perfect - but I think the experience was well worth it.

For not having a big budget, some shots are on-par with what I hope I attained. The Will Vinton Claymation style that the talented artists like Tony Merrithew, Gary Bialke, Webster Colcord, Chuck Duke, John Ashlee, Mike McKinney and others taught me through teaching and inspiration. Hopefully the film will inspire the next generation of animators who never saw those older films to give clay animation a try.

Shimbus New Expression

A new expression for Shimbu for when the fat woman zomby swings down from above. Shimbu won't move and is just in the background. If I did animate him, I would only move him a little - or possibly have him blink. I don't want any distractions to take away from Ruble who is the main focus.

What Exactly is a Mizzen Rope?

Ruble isn't the brightest character in Zombie Pirate Tales. He learns everything the hard way...but that's what is so great about him. This is another completed shot that I managed to do tonight (actually 3AM this morning) in-between some sculpting jobs for other clients. The quality is probably very low here on Blogger since I didn't upload this on YouTube - and I didn't video it in HD either. You'll have to wait for the release to see it in the highest quality. If the video doesn't play for some of you here's a still frame from the shot.

Little Things Add Up

There are only three main shots left to create for Zombie Pirate Tales, but a lot still needs to be done to begin animation. Lately I've been doing more sculpting jobs for Gary Garabedian but in-between I try to get these little tasks done since they don't take a lot of time. Here's a photo of one such job:

 

While it seems simple, what you see here is a result of some trial and error. Ruble has to hold this mug firmly in his hand in order to animate it. Originally I twisted a wire around the handle and sculpted the clay hand over that wire. It ended up being flimsy when I tested it on the puppet by plugging it into his wrist-tube.

The other thing that happened was the handle broke off, so I had a twisted wire and clay mess. To make things more secure I drilled a tiny 1/16" hole in the center of the mug and epoxied (and crazy glued) it all in place.

Shimbu the monk was also repaired and I made some special eye balls for Rubles shots where he is shocked to see the beautiful mermaid. A rig was also repaired that I made about 10 years ago and the solder came loose. I'll attach our zombie puppet to it where he will appear behind Ruble. Much of this isn't really worth getting into as these things aren't super entertaining to hear about. But as the title says, it's the  "Little Things Add Up".

January 2015 Video Update

Resurrecting the Octo Zombie

Technically zombies are resurrected people who have died. I'm not sure what you call a zombie puppet that is dead because he was ruined while making a mold. This zombie is just that! You might recognize him, but in fact the original (seen to his left) was mangled when I made a mold of him.

I call him the "Octo" zombie because he was going to have an octopus arm as part of the original story. For the first episode, he will only be seen peeking over the back of the ship. He won't be seen from the neck down, so adding his octopus arm won't be necessary. It's kind of funny how he was the first zombie I made and will be part of the last shots in the 11 year journey it's taken to complete the project.

Some more things were completed, such as moving the set around for the next three scenes and roughly setting up Ruble and Shimbu the monk. I will need to set things up properly once the camera is in place.The lighting was also reversed since we're filming the other side of the ship....even though the camera is still in the same place in the garage.

One Giant Leap for.....Love?

Ruble has now lept for love that only he can truly feel deep inside his plasticine mind. That means that all shots are completed for the particular camera angle and side of the ship you see below. Just three  main shots remain where Ruble looks towards the camera.

I'll need to set up the lighting in reverse and slide the other side of the ship into place. The next shots will be the most expressive shots of Ruble. Facial animations and drinking his fish beer should bring fun challenges that will have to be over-come.

After that I will need to animate flying debris for the crash shots and a main replacement heart scene. The good news is I think I can complete all these shots before the end of this month.

Ruble Unties the Last Rope

What happens when Ruble unties the last rope? The large zombie woman creeps slowly down from above. This shot was around 15 seconds long - one of the longest shots in the film.

Some of the problems I encountered were that the foam latex which is naturally rubbery wanted to bend the arms into their original positions. If you think of a rubber band stretching, it will always try to go back into shape. And yes - Rubles body is made of rubber and behaves similarly.

That isn't the case usually with foam latex puppets. The issue stemmed from Rubles armature which was epoxied together. The heat from the baking process (for some unknown reason) caused the epoxy to weaken and no longer attach the parts with any strength. The worst area is his left shoulder. Fixing it is not a simple task and I've already cut him opened and added fresh epoxy to several areas already.

The good news is I've got only one more shot left to do with this puppet. Ruble will jump into the air and fly above the zombie and land on her back. I won't need any precise movements to do that shot so the arm won't be too much of an issue.

Speeding Along

One of the problems with the orange screen was the outline around the puppets. This was solved by erasing the orange in Photoshop, creating a transparent background on each image. No chroma key necessary. The results are great, but the animation is slightly limited to plopping these images in without any motion (the mermaid). Or where I animated the fat zombie (with Ruble attached), the animation was only a few frames and some blinks. It is actually fine because there wasn't a lot of movement in the mermaid or zombie scenes. Animating the swing using key frames in Sony Vegas worked out great! Also the scene is in layers where Ruble will be animated and put in the shot later.

Here's the mermaid. She is seen for only a few seconds in the film as a drunken mirage by Ruble.

 

The audio is nearly complete as well as updated end title graphics. All the donators who helped finance the film were added. Newer sound effects of richer quality were plopped in too. Things are nearly done, just a few shots and I can reveal the full film.

Orange Screen?

What do you do when you have green zombies and a green screen behind them? You buy some orange fabric and give it a try.

Unfortunately it is very hard to get a very clean and crisp edge around our zombie. Even when using pink as the color there is a fine line that is slightly visible.

After a few hours of testing and changing the lighting, I'm not sure if there is anything left that can be done to make a more crisp and fine edge. To back light the puppet will not be nice since the sun is meant to be above, to the left and behind the camera in these shots. I may have to settle for less than a perfect matte and go with what Sony Vegas allows. The other option is to try using the free Fusion program I downloaded to see what it can do. I may be able to compose the shot in it and then import it back into Vegas.

Setting Up the Next Scenes

She is really as naturally beautiful as she seems.... I'm getting ready to set her up for her shots in the film. I'm hoping she will work with the green screen behind her. Otherwise I will need to change to blue or maybe orange. After shooting a test I will know.

The rig (made by Mike Weldon) in the rear is on a tripod so I can animate her lowering behind the set.

Another Shot in the Can this Weekend

Ruble has flown once again in another shot. This time from right to left as the canon crashes down through the deck. The flying rig worked great, but it didn't fit on the left side of the deck. Removing one of the set walls was all it took. A couple of camera bumps (I had to climb over it to get some wire cutters) and a broken nylon string were the only issues.

I've also worked in some music from Kevin MacLeod since I don't have money for a musician. His songs actually worked into the film really well.

A few more touch-ups were done to make the old footage and new footage work together. Since my old camera captured 640 by 480 TIFF images (we're talking from 7 years ago) and the new camera captures full HD, the sides of the images were sometimes different in the editing timeline. A pirate map altered to create two dark side bars created an even image size throughout.

I altered the end credits to read better to the eye and also got After Effects version 7 to work on my new Windows 8 machine. It worked well enough to alter the beginning title to read "Zombie Pirate Tales" as opposed to "Zombie Pirates".

Things are getting so far along that I am really excited to share the film. But....as everyone knows, you have to be patient if you're a stop motion film maker. Things take time and that's all there is to it.

The Flying Rigs Big Test

A new shot has been animated and was a big test for our flying rig. Did it wobble like we thought it might? Did it fall apart half way through the scene? Maybe a zombie sabotaged it? Anything is possible. The truth however is in the video below.

Flying Rig Ahoy Captain!

Ruble has a new head for a specialized shot, Shimbu the monk has a new head and hands. Our Mac Mini also has the wires more organized and can send shots for editing wirelessly to our new PC. I also created a sturdy rig to hold up Ruble as he flies through the air out of square steel stock and tubing.

Sculpting Time and Planning

I cast and modified a Ruble head for a future shot. Shimbu the Monk also got an updated head and pair of praying hands. He will be in shots standing behind Ruble as he has his close-up shots. I'll re-pose him and most likely put a newly sculpted expression where his mouth replacement pops off in one or two other shots.

I'll need to sculpt a few more things, including some bodies that will be flying in the air as Ruble jumps up in a fit of passionate love.

One of my former friends never did return an armature I created so I've also had to buy some steel components for two other flying shots. Plans have changed but there are always new solutions. I'll have to work on that before animation begins as well. At least creating things is fun!

What Happened?

Zombie Pirate Tales was put on hold once again in the past few months which is why this blog was silent once again. Our biggest supporter passed away last week from cancer. Yes, my mom is gone as many of my Facebook friends know already.

She allowed me to use the garage in their house to set up my studio space and constantly wanted to give more. Sometimes to a fault to where I'd have to explain how much I have already. When we moved from our previous home in Pennsylvania she chose the next based on the fact it had a garage for my animation work. If I hadn't worked on the film for this or that reason - she would remind me "So how is Zombie Pirates coming along"? She always tried to be a motivator so I could realize my dream of making a short film in the media I loved to work in. Thanks for everything mom!

The good part in all this was that I was here every day with her to care for her in her darkest times. We did all we could and because of that my father, sister, wife and I have no regrets. I was with her right until her last breath. So with her memory in mind, Zombie Pirate Tales will continue. Not that it wasn't going to, but it gives me more motivation to make the film the best I possibly can.

It will be a while before things are back to normal emotionally for our family. Christmas season approaches and so I need to manage work and play carefully. Once normality ensues you will see new posts here regularly as the film is completed.