NWFC Final Project

Yesterday was the final animation class and we screened our final projects.

My instructor, Will Vinton, was on hand to show the class reel afterwards, which had my morphing animation and the school logo introducing our work. So that was really cool.

After the films, we voted and three Audience Appreciation Awards were given out. I didn't win, but was happy to see the most deserving films take the prizes for Best Story. 

Then, surprisingly, I was mobbed with interest in my sculpting technique, and ended up giving a live demonstration from my chair.

When class let out, a few of us went for drinks and plan on keeping in touch. 

All in all, great experience, my animation's improved, my storytelling has gotten better, I've been exposed to talents in storytelling that far exceed mine,  and I don't even care if there are fingerprints all over my characters, or if I'm out of Wax #195. That's probably the biggest development in all of this. I have been taught to just let clay be clay, not worry so much about the details, and put all that focus into creating great characters to tell effective stories with.

Thank You, Mr. Vinton, for making all of this possible.

And thank you, Mr. Sykora, for giving me the job that paid for this class.

And now, without further adieu, I present to you Don Carlson (Helper Brain)'s final project:
A Currant Affair!

Don Carlson 

animator/alumnus

NWFC School of Film

Edward Swivel-Hands

I've found a way to make replacement parts for clay, silicone, or any other style of puppet.

What you do is take a ball point pen apart, find the tan section that tapers, pull the point off that, and yank the ink tube out of the other side.

Then, you saw the clear plastic point of the pen off, twist a piece of 1/16 armature wire into where the ball would normally be, and then push the clear part back on over the tan part, which is now the wrist. The wire will stay in, but you can epoxy or tape it if you like.

The result is very expressive hands (due to be the ability to remove them). I know what you're thinking: "but Don, why not just use square brass tubing? Well, when doing it that way, to turn the wrist you have to twist the wire and each time you change the position of the hand you are wearing the wires out more. This design allows you to turn the hand at the wrist, which contains no wire. As a result, the arm wires are going to last longer no matter what the hands are "saying".

One caution: this process is very messy because of the ink. You want to wash it out really well so it doesn't get all over your puppet. But it works great.

Here is some animation:

(Head replacement test)

(First three shots)

There is no sound effect for the second shot, and the animatic is seen briefly, but it's not "set in stone" and is subject to change

Let's go fly a puppet...

Hey Creepies!

Alright, so we have SIX MORE DAYS till launch, and there's much to do. I'm kind of tinkering here and there trying to get the star of the show looking somewhat decent, and finding ways of shooting the grand ending.

I never actually thought of this before, but... JB weld is magnetic because it has steel in it. Why not use it in combination with earth magnets and fishing line/monofilament to fly a puppet? Much more control over the motion than using hooks or duct tape. You can cut the line shorter to gain height with predetermined increments marked off on it, and even fly the puppet forward and backward, on an arc, or even with constraints by gluing up a piece of wood to keep it in a straight line...Maybe there could still be a hook to take up the slack, or a piece of stikki wax?

At any rate, the final shot of this project needs some serious liftoff, and I think magnets will do the job nicely.