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.

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.

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.