The Famed Claymations
I'm not quite sure how this'll work out...but i kinda wanted to spread the silent animation joy around... Okay, upon first impression of any of the claymations, you would percieve me as a morbid person. While merely somewhat the case...i can be morbid, cheerful...just whatever- but i got really, REALLY bored in the summer of '01 and did the first claymation. I didnt get them into one file on the computer until about july '02...from where i sent them out- but that was quite a bit of a hassle for everybody. So, a webpage is an easier way to spread the joy! Oh, and btw, for each of these, I only had a broad idea of what I was going to do to start with- if there is any plot to them- or any action that is halfway amusing, it was completely adlib. I had some clay figures, and i wanted to make a video. Voila!
Oh, and just a reminder...or maybe a warning...about the claymations....internet explorer will ask to run it for you- but it'll do it in a really small window. To enlarge it, just save it to disk...or do some other option like that and open it in Windows Media Player- if u got it. That's my suggestion, anywho.
Clalien - When a man happens upon an alien...don't make the alien mad!! My first claymation. This is the most "morbid" one...well, it's unmistakably morbid, but it still stands as my first experiments w/ clay. Actually, though it has a relatively long play time- about 300 frames, it didn't take too long to do. About 10 minutes of shooting w/ my still-shot digital camera... and an additional 2 hours modeling the 2 characters- though, i spent a majority of that time on the human guy- the alien i threw together in a few minutes. but, other than some detail issues, you can hardly tell. Of course, if you take into consideration the fact that i put it on the computer, and did tweaking with the overall film to make it all run together (though, admittedly fast), that took another few hours in itself- but truly rewarding- and fun to watch! Just some interesting things to look for: 1) After the human's arm gets cut of, watch when it hits the ground- it defies gravity for a few frames- standing straight up off the ground. 2)
Nuclear Meltdown - My second experiment in clay. Ah, the wonders of 2-d! The plot of the film isn't all that great, but the lighting effects for the explosion turned out GREAT! I used to have a mushroom cloud sequence (though, not factual- in the event of a nuclear meltdown, there would be no mushroom cloud...there's a twinge of physics behind that), but that was lost, making room for some other pictured while i was away from the computer. I kept the meat of it, at least. The climax of the explosion was taken by holding the camera right up to a light bulb... other lights were used w/ individual flashlights, and combinations thereof. Excuse the camera movement- it's VERY difficult to actually keep a camera in the same place for multiple shots when, between each shot, you have to move the clay itself- and i didnt have access to a tripod at that time.
Clay Face - My third claymation. In this one, I toyed with the facial features of a figure, and the movement through multiple facial expressions. I was slightly disappointed that there really isn't much of a transition between expressions- but it makes for an interesting, and halfway funny, clip. But, at first, I had expended my experiment on the facial expressions- and i had a lack of "morbidity," so i decided i would add a little extra sequence... when the head rolls across, im pretty sure you can see some of the toothpicks sticking up that i used as supports- look closely!
Band Fight - Trombone vs Clarinet. I thought it was intriguing, trying to incorporate something as detailed as an instrument in there...and I also toyed with physique. many different things. From all viewers so far, they like the clock that i haphazardly put into view, so the second hand just spins like crazy...
I DID have quite a few extra video sequences using something other than clay. My first digi-cam, still-shot animation was from my camera sitting at one end of my desk, and a made my model Mitsubishi Zero (WWII Japanese Fighter Plane) take off, fly around a bit, and land- only to roll off the side of the desk- the beginning of the disaster dynasty of my work! And then I also had an interesting shot from where i built a helicopter out of tinker toys piece by piece- snapping a shot after each piece was added- and then it flew off- no violence!! And, the last one that I can recall doing was where I had my little brother walk across the den (with each shot I had him close his legs, so he just "glided" across the den), touch a little red button on the coffee table, and VOOM, he turned into a guinea pig, and walked off the edge of the coffee table- it could've been made into a loop, had i wanted to!
Here's some clay still-shots- dealing with the usage of other-colored insides, or just placing clay at the "wounds"...ok, this would be the epitome of morbid- obvuously a prelude to the Clalien video...though none of these figures were used in the film- but the basic principle of death was used....
Home Me, Myself, and I Friends Band MUN Duct Tape Khakis My Backpack Writing My Room