"The Weirding Room"

This is the third installment from my "North Stradbroke" trilogy. I made this the first night of a weekend away. I basically got the idea on the spur of the moment and ran with it taking multiple photos on a 10sec timer until I thought I had enough photos to work with. I really enjoy the spur of the moment ideas. It is what I do best. Unscripted madness I guess. I never know when they are going to happen but when they do - I try and make them happen. In this case it did nicely. I really had no idea what I was doing or what the outcome would be but that was no reason to stop!

North Stradbroke Island in Time Lapse

One of the things I've been trying to do is find my own style. We all do I guess. I've tried a few styles now and one of them is Time-Lapse which I've experimented with a few times now. Both in a studio with Lego and outside in the real world. It's something that I find quite challenging because I really am not sure going into it, what I'm really going to end up with. When I say that I know what the pictures are because I took them but the end result is always a mystery. It's like opening a present that you've had hints about. "It's a teddy bear - but how big is the bear?" Recently I went to North Stradbroke Island for 4 days for a wedding. During this time I took photos everywhere I walked, every 5 or so steps. I did all the places I went to, sometimes twice, and then went back and edited them all to fit together over 2 videos. I'm quite pleased with the end results, even though they are a bit jerky, it still works well with the great music my friend Jim Stanley aka Anvilheadmusic.com provided. These really turned out quite well. I managed to mix the still photos with live video in places. I didn't expect to get as much footage in the end as I did. I aimed for about 3 minutes but ended up with over 12 minutes. Well that's enough rambling on - here are the 2 videos....

Feral Berryl

Ok so this one is based on a poem I wrote during my "poetry" phase of 1991 - 1995. Most of the stuff I wrote then was the basic A,B,A,B rhyming style. This particular poem was written in 1994 when I was in the midst of my "clubbing/pubbing" era. By this stage I knew a bit about human body language (thanks Alan Pease) and I saw this type of behaviour alot whilst sitting at the bar people-watching. The filming itself had alot of issues, mainly camera related with my lens deciding it didn't want to work properly anymore so I had to repeat a few of the dancing loops which cheapens it a bit but doesn't really detract from it so much. Well, here it is: "Feral Berryl"

Smoked by Salmon

This was a labour of love and time. Neither of which I had time for. Yet, going into it I knew both but still pushed myself to complete it. So yeah - not sure. Was originally intended for the Sydney Tropfest but I just didn't have the time to make the deadline. Luckily enough another film festival on the Gold Coast with a deadline a few weeks later was what I knew I could make and did. I really pushed myself to make this deadline. I was totally drained emotionally by the end. With work and TAFE, sleep came a distant 3rd in this equation; and it showed. I actually got caught sleeping at work. As far as the outcome is concerned. I'm still unsure if I like this. I'd have preferred more shots with the traffic to not repeat the shots I used but overall, I guess those shots were needed to show the fact that this was happening day after day after day.

Star Wars Vs Peer Pressure

This video was one that I made based purely on "well if you're animating Lego - you may as well do a 'Star Wars".... And so I did. This was originally totally scripted but after the shoot (which I wasn't fond of the outcome) - I decided against. I actually scrapped this whole project but then after a month I went back and looked at what I had and realised it had 'musical potential'. And thus it happened.

Lego Stop Motion/Time Lapse Modulars

I previously posted a Stop-Motion/Time-Lapse of the Lego "Fire Brigade" Since then I have continued on and done a further 3 Lego Modular sets, the Grand Emporium, Pet Shop, and the Town Hall. So here are the 3 videos

"The Ball"

So to escape the clutches of LEGO Stop Motion cliche - and the slight chance of either having to actually storyboard - or even having to write a script. I decided the ball I'd been walking past the last few days needed to be a star. "To shine through all the other 'ball' stereotypes!" It did take alot of character building but in the end the ball stepped up (even knocked back a role in Titanic II)and pumped himself up to be the bigger (midget) soccer ball. This was a special day for me, and a special film. I knewI was doing nothing special on this day except what I wanted. It was the 14th anniversary of my brothers untimely death, and as every year I take this day to remember the only brother I lost. We weren't that close after we turned about 18 but regardless, we were still brothers. The day he died is the day I remember like my own birthday. I do the same for the both, I take the day off. This year I took the day off, but prepared. I charged the battery in my camera. On the day of the shoot, I just filmed everywhere I could and it felt so good. I knew it was going to work. It did. This is the result:

"The Deuce"

It's been a while since I made a LEGO Stop Motion. Late September actually but that's not to say I haven't been busy with other animation. This one is probably my best to date in terms of smooth animation, lip-sync and general overall quality. I'm more than quietly proud of this one.

Walking to Work '12

So I decided to do another Time Lapse of me walking to work. I took a photo every 6 steps (plus a few videos along the way). This one worked out alot better than my first (incidently my first You Tube video - but not my first made) It worked out pretty smooth, better than I expected actually which it usually the way right. Aim low - hit higher!?

I've got two more videos to add, both are Lego Time Lapse and Stop Motion: Most people do a straight time lapse but I try to add a "bit of life" to them.