Everyone goes somewhere when looking for ideas, whether its a real place or imagined. My place right now is my latest project. I created a cavern, striped black and grey. A brown dirt road that forks in the middle serves as its center peice.
A sign in the middle points to two different places. 10 miles to Nowhere and 21 miles to No place in particular. The moon rises in the blackness surrounding the cavern. The road goes on forever, zigzagging left and right as it approaches mountains behind.
This is the main setting for what will take place in my next claymation. It is hell. My rendering of it at least. It has a black iron fence that serves as a crooked container for the slanted organ with skull pipes. It has a greyish atmosphere. Rarely seen is a color. It is desolate.
And it makes me think. This hell is like my template for creative thought. My only ideas are how to put as much bright light in it as possible. Color brought into a colorless environment. Yet every character will bring life to this place not just one or two.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Molding Manifesto
Now a claymator shouldn't quit, steal characters, or be unoriginal. But what should a claymator strive to do?
Work Hard
With all that life has to offer, it is easy to get drawn to other things when more important things are at hand. You have to spend at least a couple hours every week devoting time to making claymations. You have to motivate yourself. Take pride in it, and working hard for it will be enjoyable. You will be able to endure anything.
Be Creative
Easier said than done. But have fun being creative. Go out and isolate yourself for a little bit. Listen to peoples conversations, watch how they walk. Look at the clouds, look at everything. This is the fuel for creativity and your mind is the engine. Keep a notebook on you everywhere. If anything pops up in your head original or funny, write it down right away or it will leave you forever. Keep that notebook dear to you. Take pride in writing down things in it. If your not smart, not creative, not the material that you think doesn't make you right for what you want to be, keep doing it, if its what you want. Forget the odds, forget the others, overcome. Overcome yourself first.
Be Yourself
Know yourself. Take pride in who you are, no matter what you look like, or how you sound. Then you will be unstoppable. Don't let other people get you down. If others have nothing good to say about you, don't let their words carry feelings into your heart. They don't matter. But take advice, listen thoughtfully to criticism, it is fundamental to progression. And take in the compliments. Let them go to your head. Its what you work hard for. Let your compliments be you.
Work Hard
With all that life has to offer, it is easy to get drawn to other things when more important things are at hand. You have to spend at least a couple hours every week devoting time to making claymations. You have to motivate yourself. Take pride in it, and working hard for it will be enjoyable. You will be able to endure anything.
Be Creative
Easier said than done. But have fun being creative. Go out and isolate yourself for a little bit. Listen to peoples conversations, watch how they walk. Look at the clouds, look at everything. This is the fuel for creativity and your mind is the engine. Keep a notebook on you everywhere. If anything pops up in your head original or funny, write it down right away or it will leave you forever. Keep that notebook dear to you. Take pride in writing down things in it. If your not smart, not creative, not the material that you think doesn't make you right for what you want to be, keep doing it, if its what you want. Forget the odds, forget the others, overcome. Overcome yourself first.
Be Yourself
Know yourself. Take pride in who you are, no matter what you look like, or how you sound. Then you will be unstoppable. Don't let other people get you down. If others have nothing good to say about you, don't let their words carry feelings into your heart. They don't matter. But take advice, listen thoughtfully to criticism, it is fundamental to progression. And take in the compliments. Let them go to your head. Its what you work hard for. Let your compliments be you.
Claymators shouldn't...
Any manifesto for a young aspiring claymator, such as mois, have a list of to do's and to don'ts.
Claymators have responsibilities to themselves and others. Whether the hard work and discipline needed, to the originality it takes, you have to know where to bite off others and when to throw in the towel.
Now if you want to spend about three years of your life doing things the wrong way like I did, then by all means, don't listen to a single word I'm going to say. I congratulate you for taking my path but insist on you using every bit of information from others that you can.
Every filmmaker it seems bites a little off of others. With certain claymations, they need publicity so they make fun of blockbuster hits to get some air time. For me, I bite off of others techniques. That is, how they film certain things, how you can make something look like its flying, or how many frames per second should be used to show something moving fast.
A claymator, nor any filmmaker, shouldn't take ideas or characters away. If your going to make your mark, then like Nick Park, create some well developed characters and make them your own. I'm sick and tired of seeing redos of things already done. Sure there have been a few good shorts, (even non claymated features) that have made fun of Star Wars or Spiderman, but they seem to be piggy back riding other artists.
Originality is what anyone should strive for. Making your mark. I don't want to see twenty more spin offs of a certain show. No one does. Create two or three characters make a skit or two. And if you don't fall in love with their performance, start anew. And if you can't do that, then claymation sure as hell requires too much patience for you.
Quitting cannot be in your vocabulary unless you are absolutely sure that a film you are undertaking will not have the quality or output you need. It's a hard strive to make any movie let alone a claymation so don't hit yourself over the head when you make a failure, we all do.
Claymators have responsibilities to themselves and others. Whether the hard work and discipline needed, to the originality it takes, you have to know where to bite off others and when to throw in the towel.
Now if you want to spend about three years of your life doing things the wrong way like I did, then by all means, don't listen to a single word I'm going to say. I congratulate you for taking my path but insist on you using every bit of information from others that you can.
Every filmmaker it seems bites a little off of others. With certain claymations, they need publicity so they make fun of blockbuster hits to get some air time. For me, I bite off of others techniques. That is, how they film certain things, how you can make something look like its flying, or how many frames per second should be used to show something moving fast.
A claymator, nor any filmmaker, shouldn't take ideas or characters away. If your going to make your mark, then like Nick Park, create some well developed characters and make them your own. I'm sick and tired of seeing redos of things already done. Sure there have been a few good shorts, (even non claymated features) that have made fun of Star Wars or Spiderman, but they seem to be piggy back riding other artists.
Originality is what anyone should strive for. Making your mark. I don't want to see twenty more spin offs of a certain show. No one does. Create two or three characters make a skit or two. And if you don't fall in love with their performance, start anew. And if you can't do that, then claymation sure as hell requires too much patience for you.
Quitting cannot be in your vocabulary unless you are absolutely sure that a film you are undertaking will not have the quality or output you need. It's a hard strive to make any movie let alone a claymation so don't hit yourself over the head when you make a failure, we all do.
How to make a Clay Model: For Idiots
When ever I approach a new claymation, there's always 3 things I focus on:
1. The script.
2. The Characters
3. The layout (Backgrounds, stages, props etc.)
Everything else is second nature. The voices, the storyboards, the editing; I'm just not well planned enough as an individual making claymations all by my self to undertake every aspect.
I'm am foremost an artist. I love writing and love creating works of art. Making them funny, surreal, and interesting to the public make it even better. I usually try to cater to those qualities, but mostly I try to make my mark with new and eventful things like green baboons, and black and gray striped caverns.
Honestly I never start with the script first. I'm a visual artist first, and creating characters is essential for me to write about them. Every "real" movie I made, I always had friends or family perfect for the part. But in claymation I make a character and see what I want to do with him.
First comes the creativity. I love colors so first I cluster as much colors into one animal that I can.
For a green baboon I need:
-Green body frame in the shape of a pear with a long curly tail.
-Green head with yellow skin around the mouth and eyes,
-Huge yellow ears with two small white eyes
-two blue circles for its butt
-and big red lips surrounding razor sharp teeth.
I put it all together and hope for the best. If a color doesn't match I redo it. After that I cut it open and shove a wire skeleton covered with duct tape inside him.
Then I spend about ten hours writing jokes in a short movie with as little dialogue as possible.
And then around twenty backbreaking hours creating a perfect setting for the green baboon to frolic in. This is the most painstaking part as its no fun to spread green clay along the floors, and even less fun paying twenty bucks to do so.
Then film, edit, and everything else and you've got your first claymation. Easy huh.
1. The script.
2. The Characters
3. The layout (Backgrounds, stages, props etc.)
Everything else is second nature. The voices, the storyboards, the editing; I'm just not well planned enough as an individual making claymations all by my self to undertake every aspect.
I'm am foremost an artist. I love writing and love creating works of art. Making them funny, surreal, and interesting to the public make it even better. I usually try to cater to those qualities, but mostly I try to make my mark with new and eventful things like green baboons, and black and gray striped caverns.
Honestly I never start with the script first. I'm a visual artist first, and creating characters is essential for me to write about them. Every "real" movie I made, I always had friends or family perfect for the part. But in claymation I make a character and see what I want to do with him.
First comes the creativity. I love colors so first I cluster as much colors into one animal that I can.
For a green baboon I need:
-Green body frame in the shape of a pear with a long curly tail.
-Green head with yellow skin around the mouth and eyes,
-Huge yellow ears with two small white eyes
-two blue circles for its butt
-and big red lips surrounding razor sharp teeth.
I put it all together and hope for the best. If a color doesn't match I redo it. After that I cut it open and shove a wire skeleton covered with duct tape inside him.
Then I spend about ten hours writing jokes in a short movie with as little dialogue as possible.
And then around twenty backbreaking hours creating a perfect setting for the green baboon to frolic in. This is the most painstaking part as its no fun to spread green clay along the floors, and even less fun paying twenty bucks to do so.
Then film, edit, and everything else and you've got your first claymation. Easy huh.
Who has the Authority
Where should Authority come from:
Well, after looking at "Salaam" we can see there is a bit of a difference in two societies of where authority is derived.
Religion:
While most religions are well intentioned, the people who call themselves leaders in each sect can be seen as freedom fighters to terrorists. Even at the home front in USA, religious leaders and icons are far from what they preach. It is hard to say whether or not we should derive our authority from our pastors, preists and other leaders, because like us their are human, not ideals, and come to sin.
State:
A constantly shifting thing due to politics. When a hundred years ago certain things were blasphemy and condemnable, today they are the rights of man. They adhere to the majority of people living in the state, but what if the majority is wrong. Should they have authority of your life.
Yourself:
A constantly shifting form from day one to the end. You, yourself can determine whats right or wrong for yourself by what you see and feel and over all, this is the major right of authority. People kill, steal, cheat, harm and destroy. But they also heal, protect, love, share, contribute, and care as well.
Your authority shouldn't be one thing. The term "putting all your eggs in one basket", could it revel in evil when coming to how one rules their life. Authority should be derived from each and every person, for themselves. To rule over themselves. I should have authority over myself. But as the states are concerned, they should have authority over services and money. And as far as religion is concerned, their authority should have no place in society, at all, except in the lives of each person as an individual or a congregation of individuals. They have no right to force their God's on everyone but those who believe and have faith in them.
So authority of ones actions comes from themselves and authority over everything else comes from the state. But the states authority can only and should only come from the consent of the majority.
Well, after looking at "Salaam" we can see there is a bit of a difference in two societies of where authority is derived.
Religion:
While most religions are well intentioned, the people who call themselves leaders in each sect can be seen as freedom fighters to terrorists. Even at the home front in USA, religious leaders and icons are far from what they preach. It is hard to say whether or not we should derive our authority from our pastors, preists and other leaders, because like us their are human, not ideals, and come to sin.
State:
A constantly shifting thing due to politics. When a hundred years ago certain things were blasphemy and condemnable, today they are the rights of man. They adhere to the majority of people living in the state, but what if the majority is wrong. Should they have authority of your life.
Yourself:
A constantly shifting form from day one to the end. You, yourself can determine whats right or wrong for yourself by what you see and feel and over all, this is the major right of authority. People kill, steal, cheat, harm and destroy. But they also heal, protect, love, share, contribute, and care as well.
Your authority shouldn't be one thing. The term "putting all your eggs in one basket", could it revel in evil when coming to how one rules their life. Authority should be derived from each and every person, for themselves. To rule over themselves. I should have authority over myself. But as the states are concerned, they should have authority over services and money. And as far as religion is concerned, their authority should have no place in society, at all, except in the lives of each person as an individual or a congregation of individuals. They have no right to force their God's on everyone but those who believe and have faith in them.
So authority of ones actions comes from themselves and authority over everything else comes from the state. But the states authority can only and should only come from the consent of the majority.
Oh!!!! the Nightmares
When I was about six, the only nightmares I used to get before Christmas was not getting the new Lego set that I wanted. Boy was I wrong about nightmares when "The Nightmare before Christmas" came out.This movie spells out color and imagination. Taking in breaths of horror and exhaling candied gumdrops of death. This movie wasn't anywhere near the first Christmas movie, but it was the first incorporation of Halloween Holidays/Jesus day.
Who couldn't say this movie was pivotal. Of course it took America's population of parent hating teenagers (Emos) about ten years to realize how awesome it really is, it nevertheless remains a great movie. The pizazz, the music, the intricate designs of each character; they're all so gorgeous it makes me think how many people have committed suicide through the many back breaking hours it must have took to create such a piece.
This picture signifies so much meaning inherited in the format of this motion picture. A walking skeleton in front of snow top covered gingerbread homes shows the duality of the happy holidays. The mixture is fantastic as you have on one hand a celebration of toys, presents, and Jesus; and the other, well who knows anymore...something about witchcraft and satanism.
Anyways, isn't the face on Jack Skellington (The portrayed walking skeleton) just memorizing. Where even a character that could scare the pants off a little child could find comfort and warmth in, um well, an icy snow flake.
A great work, I definitely recommend it. Sure you've seen it a hundred times, or at least heard of it, but Tim Burton definitely brings a darker side to claymation.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Hard Work All Lost
The biggest shame of Virginia Tech is the waste of life. Hard work for nothing. Lives lost before the really start. Dreams shot down. Future families never to be. Sons and daughters never to be had. I hate when I lose a couple of hours worth of work. I can go hysterical.
But twenty years, that's the shame. Roughly 600 years of life was taken. Not to mention the lives they could have saved. The world will keep turning, and few will remember. I didn't know any of them, they were just numbers in a headline.
But the numbers that I saw, makes me want to dwell on living the years I have left then giving glory to the murderer and perhaps spawning more of them and creating future travesties. I don't want to be a number on a headline.
But twenty years, that's the shame. Roughly 600 years of life was taken. Not to mention the lives they could have saved. The world will keep turning, and few will remember. I didn't know any of them, they were just numbers in a headline.
But the numbers that I saw, makes me want to dwell on living the years I have left then giving glory to the murderer and perhaps spawning more of them and creating future travesties. I don't want to be a number on a headline.
Friday, April 20, 2007
ANGRY kids, are they a problem?
Angry Kid
Another Aardman creation, Angry Kid features a hideous red-haired freak along with his sister in minute long escapades. It really is a new form of claymation. It uses the bodies of real people with superimposed clay faces for the animation. Whether sniffing his finger for god knows what or dry heaving, he always makes me laugh.
If Angry Kid were a real human being he would coin new meanings for “Smell my Finger”. He would be a rock and roll prodigy who lives with his “Mum” and “sis”.
His escapades are eerie and irky, and half the time his face just makes you want to throw up. And even though he’s just a fictional character, you can literally smell how gross he is. Yet none of the dissuades any viewers from becoming Angry Kid addicts.
I recommend watching at least one of his shorts found at http://www.atomfilms.com/, and if your not instantly hooked, take up heroine, cuz you should have no fear of addiction.
The Mechanical Rooster vs. The Little Christian Boy
I have overheard many arguments as to which is the better. Robot Chicken, or Moral Oral. Robot Chicken, like “Family Guy” caters to those with a lack of attention span. In the form of clay and action figure stop-motion, they parody many movies along with characters and actors in the eighties. Moral Oral takes a different stance and makes fun of dogmatic Christianity and the many teachings found in the Bible. Needless to say the outcomes are as outrageous as the miracles in the New Testament.
Arguers claim, “Robot Chicken is godsend for claymators. It is funny, stream line entertainment and relatively artistic free. It’s hilarity makes up for the lack of frames per second. It really is a good show and when the hell is the next season coming up.”
Moral Oral gets less support as it doesn’t feature celebrity voices mainly found from “That 70’s Show”. “It’s funny and true. Christian ideals are as fundamentally flawed as the ones Oral brings about. It’s more character developed, unquestionably, and follows a linear storyline.”
With the diverse amount of comments upon both claymations which air one after the other late at night on Adult Swim, these seem to be the summary of arguments. But according to this which one would be better.
And so begins the battle of--------
The Mechanical Rooster vs. The Little Christian Boy
Round one: Laugh factor
Moral Oral brings about many jokes about the Church and spends much time building up a story with great punch lines throughout. Robot Chicken has no story but is just a series of punch lines in the form of short sequences.
Winner: Robot Chicken
Round two: Artsy Fartsy factor.
Moral Oral creates a fifties like city in which all the people of Moral County live in. Plus they have more bendable parts then action figures. Robot Chicken creates action figures to look like celebrities, but damn those rigged action figure joints for taking away claymation realism.
Winner: Moral Oral
Last Round: Enlightening factor.
Moral Oral conveys a great satire of life in the church. Making fun of every facet of Christian life. Robot Chicken has speils about every movie and actor in the past twenty years, plus adult film star Ron Jeremy. But will that be good enough.
Winner: Moral Oral.
Winner by Knock Out: me for fixing the fight.
Arguers claim, “Robot Chicken is godsend for claymators. It is funny, stream line entertainment and relatively artistic free. It’s hilarity makes up for the lack of frames per second. It really is a good show and when the hell is the next season coming up.”
Moral Oral gets less support as it doesn’t feature celebrity voices mainly found from “That 70’s Show”. “It’s funny and true. Christian ideals are as fundamentally flawed as the ones Oral brings about. It’s more character developed, unquestionably, and follows a linear storyline.”
With the diverse amount of comments upon both claymations which air one after the other late at night on Adult Swim, these seem to be the summary of arguments. But according to this which one would be better.
And so begins the battle of--------
The Mechanical Rooster vs. The Little Christian Boy
Round one: Laugh factor
Moral Oral brings about many jokes about the Church and spends much time building up a story with great punch lines throughout. Robot Chicken has no story but is just a series of punch lines in the form of short sequences.
Winner: Robot Chicken
Round two: Artsy Fartsy factor.
Moral Oral creates a fifties like city in which all the people of Moral County live in. Plus they have more bendable parts then action figures. Robot Chicken creates action figures to look like celebrities, but damn those rigged action figure joints for taking away claymation realism.
Winner: Moral Oral
Last Round: Enlightening factor.
Moral Oral conveys a great satire of life in the church. Making fun of every facet of Christian life. Robot Chicken has speils about every movie and actor in the past twenty years, plus adult film star Ron Jeremy. But will that be good enough.
Winner: Moral Oral.
Winner by Knock Out: me for fixing the fight.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Nick Park's Influence
Nick Park's "Wallace and Gromit"Nick Park is by far my most captivating film maker mentor when it comes to claymation. The creator of the “Wallace and Gromit” series and movie, as well as “Chicken Run”, “Creature Comforts” and any more that I’m not aware of.
He’s really been an inspiration to me and most likely other claymators as well. His first job, undertaking his first published film ever costs his financier roughly ten grand. And with it he makes a journey to the moon to gather cheese. He wasn’t exactly a pioneer of claymation as most Gumby experts and old “Drummer Boy” enthusiast would say.
Yet what helped me the most was his special features in his DVD versions of Wallace and Gromit. But DVD’s weren’t streamline till I was around sixteen, three years before I could watch two hours of bonus features. So neglecting the wire skeleton, I was abandoned to fail in many of my endeavors.
Yet I am mostly intrigued by him in that he shows the huge market for claymation. He has spawned many new and exciting claymations. Maybe not directly from him, but since his appearance it seems to me that many more followers of the sort create television shows whose fundamentals are clay.
Molding Movies
There’s nothing more aggravating then clumping different assortments of colored clay into characters and having them move on the television screen. It’s hard work, back breaking to say the least, and at the end of the day you realize you spent about fifty bucks for ruined clay, around fifty more hours making it into artwork, and another ten hours destroying it to make a two minute claymation.
I’ve been doing claymation since I was thirteen and to say the least I do not have the patience of a saint. The feeling of creation is the best part. You create a variety of characters, and many copies of them. You grow attached to each copy. They aren’t numbered but rather given names like Bob, and Jimmy. And they become your armada of actors as you undertake the hard journey of making a claymation.
The point is, the creation is like mothers work. You spend fifty dollars on random colored clays that don’t dry, and spend roughly two days worth of hours creating an assembly line of characters. Needless to say, tons and tons of creativity come in hand as you don’t want ten copies of a shitty looking field mouse named “Henry”.
The second part is the battle. You’ll catch yourself saying “Fuck” more then most Valley girls say “Like”. It truly is a war as you’ll go through about two replicas of one character trying to get a scene just right. And you don’t even want to know what happens when a character falls down and doesn’t match up in the next frame and pretty much ruins thirty minutes of stress induced labor to make a cute dog smell a rose.
After you destroy all your hard earned dollars and ruin your once good friends, its time for the editing. Relatively mindless; cut-paste, cut-paste etc. Sound, lighting, audio dubbing, the works. Then you have yourself two minutes and thirty seconds of heaven. I don’t know why I do it, I haven’t the patience to hit a golf ball in the lake without throwing my clubs at some old people nearby. But I believe it’s the most honorable form of filmmaking. Your heart and soul have to pour out on a claymation, a good one at least. It’s getting messy, down in the trenches work, where you receive all the two minutes of glory.
I’ve been doing claymation since I was thirteen and to say the least I do not have the patience of a saint. The feeling of creation is the best part. You create a variety of characters, and many copies of them. You grow attached to each copy. They aren’t numbered but rather given names like Bob, and Jimmy. And they become your armada of actors as you undertake the hard journey of making a claymation.
The point is, the creation is like mothers work. You spend fifty dollars on random colored clays that don’t dry, and spend roughly two days worth of hours creating an assembly line of characters. Needless to say, tons and tons of creativity come in hand as you don’t want ten copies of a shitty looking field mouse named “Henry”.
The second part is the battle. You’ll catch yourself saying “Fuck” more then most Valley girls say “Like”. It truly is a war as you’ll go through about two replicas of one character trying to get a scene just right. And you don’t even want to know what happens when a character falls down and doesn’t match up in the next frame and pretty much ruins thirty minutes of stress induced labor to make a cute dog smell a rose.
After you destroy all your hard earned dollars and ruin your once good friends, its time for the editing. Relatively mindless; cut-paste, cut-paste etc. Sound, lighting, audio dubbing, the works. Then you have yourself two minutes and thirty seconds of heaven. I don’t know why I do it, I haven’t the patience to hit a golf ball in the lake without throwing my clubs at some old people nearby. But I believe it’s the most honorable form of filmmaking. Your heart and soul have to pour out on a claymation, a good one at least. It’s getting messy, down in the trenches work, where you receive all the two minutes of glory.
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