Here it is, the final for our experimental animation class, Roll Initiative! All @sisterhugbear & my planning, scriptwriting, and puppet making over the last two months had to be channeled into 3 very intense and claustrophobic days in the puppet room shooting. But it’s done! It’s not perfect, but I’m glad we made it.
Well, I’ve got one puppet done, at least. I was really hoping I could get all three completely finished, painted, with clothes and everything, but everything kind of dog piled on me this week. It is truly “Crunch Time”. I keep waking up in the middle of the night with my arm’s circulation fully cut off, and I have to deliriously hold my dead arm with my other arm until the feeling comes back, all the while panicking that I might never get to use my arm again. That’s what this semester feels like.
here’s an in progress chris, he looks kind of like a chicken dinner.
Here is Chris an Ari in their current states. Ari needs ears and her head shape needs some fine-tuning (and ears).
I really wanted to sew the clothing by hand, but in the interest of time I just used glue. It looks OK, I think. and the armature still bends and has the same amount of mobility, but I really would have liked to have enough time to sew her some little pants. I worked with what I had and used the pre-existing seams in some cut up pants as the seams in her pants.
I’m also recording the final dialogue that will be used to animate too. I got a voice that wasn’t mine to be Louise and I think it fits a lot better.
Been having some health problems, physically and brain-wise, I didn’t get as much done this week as I would have liked. It’s hard to gauge sometimes if the reason I am not getting anything done is because I’ve hit a wall or I’m actually lazy. I hope this time it was because I hit a wall.
This weekend I plan to have all the puppets, backgrounds, and dialogue track ready to film for next weekend; when (hopefully) Alia and I can get the puppet room for Friday through Sunday to film everything. At this point the ambitiousness of the project is looming over me every day. I’ve been finding gray hairs since I shaved my head. I think this semester has shaved 10 years off my life expectancy.
I’m finishing up Louise at the moment. She has a proper head and hands, although I’m still not sure what to do with her feet (little socks?). Here, I made her arms too long.
Here she is with shorter, thicker arms.
Painted her with 4 coats of acrylic paint (two white, two of her skin tone). Now she is ready for her hair and clothes.
This week it was time to crack my knuckles real loud (I actually didn’t because I hate that) and get my legs wet and do some test animation.
On Wednesday last week I recorded some scratch audio of the dialogue from my script; it’s VERY rough, and clear that none of us are thespians. Here’s the scratch dialogue in it’s cringe inducing entirety. Also here’s the most recent draft of the script, since the dialogue won’t make as much sense without it.
I am beginning to get uncomfortable with the subject matter of the script. Not because it’s risky, or divulges too much information about my personal life (other than the fact that I play Dungeons & Dragons, which might be unforgivable??), but because it’s not “artsy” enough. But maybe this is another way of experimenting? I feel like it would be too easy to fall back on making something based on my impulses like my ketchup and sticky note animations. Especially convincing dialogue, which I don’t have a lot of experience writing, is new territory for me. I don’t know of a lot of experimental animation work with exceptional dialogue; that’s not usually something you pair with animation. I thought about this while making spaghetti today (I got too wild with the chili paste).
Alia (@sisterhugbear) and I shot the above animation test on Saturday night. As you can see, our technique with working with the puppets gets better as the video progresses. We started out just animating keys on 4s but then got excited and tried to do smoother moves on 2s. Also, in an effort to save time, we made some camera pans between characters as they talked so that we wouldn’t have to “cut” and physically move the camera to frame a new shot. The pans ended up looking pretty cool, and we’re thinking about using them in the final film to cut down on the amount of camera moves we have to do. This would bring up a new challenge regarding staging; we’d have to situate the characters differently so that all of their faces and expressions will be visible and readable.
So I’m going to come clean and say I drank Baileys out of my hands like an animal and held half a loaf of rye in my arms like a small child tonight. It’s election night baby. Here’s some stuff I worked on this week:
Continuing with the script development, Alia (@sisterhugbear) and I talked more about modifications we could make to cut down the script. I made a few tweaks to make certain things flow better, and the escalating tensions between then characters work nicer, but I’m having trouble condensing it to a more manageable size. Alia had the idea of perhaps having certain more description heavy moments be voiceover, with the image described doing an animated boil perhaps. This would cut down on some of the animating we’d have to do, although it’s not exactly what I envision “aesthetically” for the film.
The premise is this: Three friends, Louise, Ari, and Chris, play a tabletop roleplaying game. Their interpersonal relationships and personalities are revealed through how they approach the game, and as they continue to play it, the game and their own reality in relation to each other becomes blurred.
early concepts of the characters
It’s been difficult writing a script about something as complicated and often misconstrued as Dungeons and Dragons. The more I show the script to people the more I realize that a lot of people don’t have any idea what’s going on because they have no idea what DnD even is. Essentially, most tabletop roleplaying games are games of (a certain level of) chance. Players have characters who can do certain things particularly well, and other things not so well, and these things all have numbers associated with them, which are added (or subtracted) to performative dice rolls. One person (in Dungeons and Dragons they’re called “Dungeon Masters” or “Game Masters”, whichever one makes you feel less like a complete clown I guess) is in charge of running the story, essentially narrating it, and determining what effect the actions of their players have on the story. They also roleplay all the characters who aren’t the players. This sounds really convoluted and arbitrary now that I’m actually committing to writing out a description. ANyway
LOUISE
Essentially, Louise is a Dungeon Master who is highly organized and anal retentive, she is a control freak and follows her own scripts and maps for her generic high fantasy story so rigidly the mere thought of improvising puts her teeth on edge. Now, a “good” Dungeon Master is someone who can walk the line comfortably between being organized and being flexible, for when their players (inevitably) do something unexpected. This is what makes the game interesting, after all! The players should have just as much input in where the story goes as the Dungeon Master.
ARI
Ari, is the opposing force, personality-wise, to Louise. She is spontaneous and provocative, but never actually challenges Louise’s authority. She pushes Louise to improvise and do a story more to her liking, but never actually suggests that she herself could do a better job. Her approach to the game is very erratic and lawless, and this drives Louise crazy. A player like Ari can be fun, because their ideas are so off the wall, and can make for interesting story developments. However, Ari never tries to play within the game’s “ethos” and “rules”, by suggesting something goofy at every moment, she brings everyone out of the world of the game.
CHRIS
Lastly, Chris is the foil that bridges the opposing personalities of Ari and Louise. He is quieter, careful with his words, and less confident about his ability to play the game. He is likely a new player. He wants to play the game in a way that makes both Ari and Louise happy.
At the end of the script, Ari pushes Louise over the edge, by incessantly derailing her story, to the point where Louise morphs grotesquely into a dragon and eats both Chris and Ari whole, and then burns her apartment to a crisp. I like the idea of using this hyper-literal imagery. Does Louise actually turn into a dragon, or is that just a symbol of her frustration and animosity towards her friends? I don’t know!!!!!! It’s animation baby anything can happen.
early concepts for post-transformation Louise
This week I thought a lot more about story development than I did my armature, however, I did make a few improvements.
My original prototype had its arms separated into two different strands of wire, when I rigged them to the body they couldn’t articulate from the shoulders properly. I was also having some issues with the feet, which I resolved by taking them off and gluing them back on.
I also started thinking about clothing and how I will dress the little dudes. Martin with his infinite (????????) wisdom said to not make “doll clothes” for the armature, as it’ll likely be impossible to get on the figure properly, let alone be easy for it to move around in. I thought of a bunch of ways, and am currently leaning more towards sewing the armature into the pants after I paint it. I’m also considering putting snaps on the inside of the pant legs, but sewing the Crotchal Region™ so that the feet fit through the pant leg holes and then the pant legs can be wrapped around the legs and snapped shut to give a snugger fit.
Pattern for pants
BIG JEANS.........BIGGER DREAMS
I know all 1.5 of you are dying to know about my shit hot story so here it is!!!
Dungeons and Dragons has been a big zone of my brain recently since I started homebrewing my own campaign and playing with my friends every Sunday. It is a really exciting way to improve your storytelling; you have to strike a balance between coming prepared with your main story, but with enough wiggle room to improvise for when your players (inevitably) do something you don’t expect.
I made a transcript of a recording of me and some friends from school playing Dungeons and Dragons about a month ago. I really like the way it flows and how each one of our speech patterns is painstakingly written out–some of it is awful, full of stutters and broken sentences–and how natural the tone is.
On Saturday, I wrote a first draft of the short script I would like to use for my stop motion project. Currently, it’s five pages, which is much too ambitious for the time frame I have. It incorporates elements from the transcript, I was very aware of my tone and tried to make it seem like actual humans talking, but cut out a lot of “um”s and “ah”s, as well as some arbitrary “shop talk” about game mechanics (so that I don’t bore people who don’t give a shit about DND, which most people). I’d like to work on trimming it down to a more manageable size, so that it works out to maybe a 1-2 minute film (which may still be too ambitious). I feel like I could push the jokes a bit more, but the dialogue is OK. Alia is going to chop this bad boy down to make it more concise and Good.
I just moved today and my legs feel super bad so GOodnight
This week me & @sisterhugbear are prepping for a collaborative stop motion animation. The last time I made a 3D stop motion animation was probably over ten years ago.
I’ve never made a stop motion armature, so I was a bit apprehensive, especially since I’m not very “crafty”, or good with my hands.
It turned out better than expected, I think. Although I could definitely improve my prototype. I goofed up and made the arms two separate wires, so the shoulders don’t articulate properly.
I’m satisfied with the overall body shape, though. It’ a bit top heavy, which I tried to fix by making the feet bigger and heavier. It sort of works, as long as I don’t contort it’s body too much.
I’ve thought a lot about what my content is made out of; what influences me, what kind of stuff I really, really want to make, and what kind of stuff I have a habit of making no matter what.
The last three messy experiments–successful or not–really stretched what I considered “my shit”. As in, what kind of materials I like to work with, and what kind of mediums are comfortable for me. When things were going well, I achieved a level of “flow”, sort of complete hyper-focus, where I was so invested in my work that I couldn’t think about anything else. Food, drink, bathroom breaks, a bedtime, none of these were important until I could see a fully realized idea.
I think “dracula mountain” was when I reached a level of complete devotion to what I was doing that it was almost self-destructive. Even the day after I “finished” the work, I couldn’t stop animating more in my head, adding to it, perfecting it. I was so burnt out from putting every bit of concentration I had into it that I couldn’t do any work for two days.
Anyway.
I’ve been thinking about voice in animation. It’s very important to me, I think sometimes it’s the most important part of an animation.
I have here some shorts that I think have great voice, and have influenced me in how I approach/think about storytelling.
This short by Stevie Borbolla is probably the my favourite student film. I love the limited animation, and how the jerky stop and start of the character’s antics are so well crafted. My favourite part is when the lead biker gets those little knives in his eyes, I’ve watched this over a dozen times and I think I still laugh at that part. I also love how simple the story is, and how all of the gags are important to the story, nothing is filler.
This short by Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner is my favourite use of dialogue I’ve seen in a short. They manage to create this alternate hellscape realm city all through a recording of an anonymous man at a bus stop.
I am mostly a fan of Lale Westvind’s comics and illustrations, but I like this short and how it parts look like a Fleischer cartoon from hell. It’s grotesque and good.
This is my favourite animated short of all time. I think about it every day and I have one of the original handpainted cels of the lizard man hanging in my bedroom. I’ve written an essay on how good this short is. Nothing is held back, but at no point do I get tired of it’s unpredictableness. This short is from another dimension where animation doesn’t exist and Sally Cruikshank made all her own rules. Also the soundtrack rips.
Today I woke up at 6:30 am, got to school at 8:00 am. Went to class. Started working on this from 11:30 am until 3:00 pm. Went to work from 3:00 pm until 7:30 pm. Worked on this more. Forgot the school closes at 11:00 pm. “Finished” at 12:00 am.
I told myself this week I’d be more organized. I got it in my head I was going to make this one with post-it notes. I wasn’t going to let this one be bad because of my own sloppiness. I found making a loose plan actually helped my ideas evolve and change more, rather than the opposite.
I was listening to the band Lightning Bolt on the bus today. I’m not usually the type of contrarian who calms down by listening to rowdy music, but there’s something hypnotic about Lightning Bolt’s repetitive, blown out sound. Listening to them while in an enclosed space around lots of people helps me avoid feeling like I can’t breathe. I tweeted the drummer, Brian Chippendale, on twitter asking him if I could use a bit of one of their songs. He gave me his blessings. I went ahead.
I think I really figured out how to smoothly operate the animation table’s mechanisms; my truck-outs look pretty good, I think.
I was better able to use my mistakes as good fodder for more ideas; I didn’t originally plan for the little guy (the one that morphs from the dog) to fall off the frame. Originally, I was going to make him boil like the dog and float around; I accidentally drew him sideways!
I was unable to think about anything other than my vision for this animation while making it; so much so that I forgot to eat, drink, or use the washroom for the last 4 hours. I was so full of manic energy propelling me to finish this that even when I left school and took an Evo home I nearly got into a car accident because I was still in “animation mode”.
I think even though there are rough parts and parts I wish I spent more time on, this one was a lot better than last week’s
The more time I spend looking at/changing it/working/reworking this animation, the less I believe a real person on this earth made it. It’s terrifying. I feel like a fucked up guy from hell made my arms make this so I could look at it and make my brain scream. Every time I look at it I feel like I’m watching it from deep space.
I attempted to salvage what I had done with the sound design, every movement seemed like one hundred sounds had to be put there. I wish I had second guessed myself when I thought it was a good idea to use a raw egg as a material. Don’t use a raw egg as material.
This is my first time using acetate in an animation.
(he is missing a leg)
The character I use in my comics did not translate well to a paper cut-out; not enough time was spent constructing the “puppet” and the result is naive (not in a charming way) and lifeless. My own paranoia is suffocating, I don’t want to share this awful movie willingly with anyone.
you aren;t supposed to read the writing
I’m not usually impulsive with anything except when it comes to making things. Then, I am impulsive to the point where if I get a nutty idea I will put all my energy into it until I burn out. Then it’s done, and I send it out into the world. Most of the things I make are messy and unfinished because of this.
When faced with the challenge of experimenting with a medium I was unfamiliar with, I immediately thought about ketchup. I think I might be the only person on earth who doesn’t have a controversial opinion on ketchup. I like it on fries, but I feel like that’s its intended purpose. I like how disgusted people who hate ketchup get when they see people who love ketchup put it on everything.
Other than knowing I was going to make a short animation named “HOT GOD” and it was going to be made with hot dog condiments, I did no pre-planning. I used a piece of illustration board, so that after wiping the ketchup and mustard off with paper towel over and over, a slime trail would be left over as I continued to animate.
Originally I had thought I was going to “draw” with the ketchup and mustard bottles, but it proved to be too difficult to maneuver in most situations. I used cotton swabs.
I tried to not pre-plan anything, even as I was animating. If I had a new direction or a new way to use the ketchup to animate, I went with it. In the middle section, instead of drawing with the ketchup, I tried to animated in the ketchup. I don’t think it looked as good as the first part but I also think I was starting to flag at this point. “I’m tired” at the end was how I was feeling at that point in the animation, so I put it in.
I cut everything together that same day and played with some of the timing. I originally uploaded a cut that was all my own music.
But then today I saw an short by Atsushi Wada called “The mechanism of spring”, and the sound design really affected me. There was a really honed and precise humour to all his choices in sounds that reminded me a little bit of Jan Svankmajer (who, like me, also likes to make gross movies about food). It made me rethink my own sound choices for the above short experiment.
I don’t think I’ve seen a really good portrayal of what autism is like on film that wasn’t a public service announcement. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a representation of autism in film that was actually done by an autistic person. It’s hard for me not to make art about autism because it’s how I navigate the world; I can’t just get out of my autism car.
I drew the below comic when I was processing some ideas for my portrayal of my experimental process; originally I thought a comic would be the best way to show my process, since I do these often and I’ve produced a bunch. I did feel like this comic wasn’t funny like I usually try to make most of my work. I also felt it was a bit on the didactic side. I tried again.
These 3 to 6 panel comics I make are essentially jokes (this one isn’t so much, however) about autism. How it’s cumbersome, awkward, sad, sometimes lonely. I want to make them funny and relatable so people with and without ASD can relate better with me. Sometimes the “joke” is repetition. Sometimes it’s an impulsive feeling. Sometimes it’s a bleak statement that seems so blunt and to the point it’s humorous.
I think my comics would translate well to an animation format. I tried it out in the above video.
I want to make media that autistic adults can relate to; there are so few resources and places where we can see ourselves represented.
you know when you haven’t been drawing recently & warming up takes you like two hours & it still looks sloppy as hell also you just procrastinated for a long time & watched two 40 minute videos of wall of voodoo
i’m going to start using this blog more for school to document my processes. just a heads up in case you’re wondering why i suddenly stop drawing cartoons of characters from star trek skateboarding or something anymore.
some NPCs from a 5th edition campagn i’m homebrewing & DMing with my good buddies!!! the character creation element of dnd is definitely my favourite
design i did for a live comedy podcast show called “Vancouver, Right?”. They’re doing their first live show next month and will be sharing the stage with the local comedians responsible for “Rape is Real and Everywhere”, which is a comedy show put on by survivors to share some cathartic honesty about their experiences. i’m super stoked to be a small part in this. the show is September 25th at the Woods studio
made the mistake of leaving the house today in my Q&A shirt and got rewarded with two (2) older men yelling about devo at me