The Shiner

This is my latest stop-mo with an adults only twist.
I've combined Lego Stop-Mo with some Flash animation.
I had a lot of issues with this one. New software issues colliding with old ones.
Nothing more frustrating than doing something by the "old" book, only to be struck with "old/new book" issues. Had to uninstall, re-file etc. Eventually got there.
I also used some non-Lego, non-NSFW animation to enhance/degrade.
I hope you enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x0RtiaSQLw

The difference between "Time Lapse" and "Stop Motion"

Todays post is about the difference between 2 techniques that technically involve the same process but deliver a different outcome. Time-lapse photography is a technique where frames are captured and viewed in sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. This is my first attempt at Time-lapse.... And my second.... Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The next 2 videos show a time lapse of a Stop motion :D I also have other "Time Lapse" videos in other posts - just scroll down and read :D I have now uploaded a video that is not really a tutorial but more a "watch and learn". So pay no attention and learn nothing :D Ok - so is this "Time-Lapse" or "Stop Motion"?

Go(ne)Pro(gress)

I went out and got myself a GoPro like every other person that has Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I only have Facebook (look up and 'like' "Free Rein"). I had a lot of issues with the GoPro. Like so many others it was and continues to be software issues. Still a great toy - even if it has 1st world problems haha. So here are the videos I've shot using it. Ironically, the first day/video I used it it worked almost perfectly. After that it became flawed but hey, What I got is enough to fill a blog post with. The first video is me riding a road bike through the bike paths in Brisbane from Nudgee up until Boondall. The best thing about this is if you listen to the sound you can hear the speed! Yes I know this sounds weird but you can. This track is a notorious high speed section. It reminds me a lot of when I owned a motorbike and hit Gorge Road in the Adelaide Hills, except slower... without a motor. A rush is a rush.... The second video I'm posting was a disaster. I had a bad gut feeling about it as I started it. It was the day before I was flying out to Adelaide, with my bike, to ride my bike, for a week long holiday following the "Tour Down Under". I've been a few times now and it's my home town. A very cycle friendly town. So it turns out my gut was right. It was a bad idea and turns out I got it on GoPro! I ended up destroying my big front crank and my left knee. It doesn't look too dramatic but it happened so fast I had no time to react. The front tyre got a puncture and went totally flat just as I hit a sand patch. Funnily - in pain, the first thing I checked was to see if my GoPro was ok! The third video is me and my Kaine. He is and always be a brother to me. We caught up for New Years in 2013/14. During this time we hit the hill with some mountain bikes. It was a bit painful riding a downhill rig cross country but still the memory of a great time remains, not the pain. So these are my GoPro videos. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did making them, even though 2 involved pain haha

31012 Lego Time Lapse/Stop-Motion

It's been over a year since I last did a Time-lapse/Stop-Mo of a Lego set build. These are a labour of love but I am drawn to them as a great medium for animation and self expression. Something I like to do is add a little humour or a flimsy storyline to mix it up a bit. For this one I used workmen. If anything was lacking from my other builds, It was workmen! I do enjoy them overall. But there are problems which exist within this. I need to read the books days before the day of the build. This gives me a chance to pre-build a few things like furniture and trees. I found the first few films easy until I did the modulars. Now I benefit from that knowledge so it's great. If there was any advice I could offer right now - it is don't just open the box and film. Open it - read the instructions, build some of the smaller things that may speed up the filming. Some stuff is worth saving for the time lapse - some is just boring. Go though and assess.

My Tropfest Entry "Three"

So this year I decided to enter Sydney Tropfest. The TSI, or theme was "Change". When I heard it announced at the start of the year an idea instantly popped into my head. I knew what I was going to do and didn't even need a a real script which is how I usually work anyways. I'm not really into storyboarding. I prefer to keep it organic along the way. It can make the process longer and a bit frustrating but compared to wasting time storyboarding it kinda works out. I had the idea of a guy finding a $50 note and the decisions he faced. Should he go crazy, use it for good, or just leave it. I started building the sets in March and continued all the way through until October. The actual filming of the live actor (Jarrod King) was done in September. All editing and animation took place in late October. All the puppet filming was done over a few days. Like the shooting with Jarrod, I just did take after take until I was pretty sure I had enough takes and camera angles to get the film made. I entered with 40 hours to spare. So here is the end product. The editing could've been tighter, which I will do if I enter into another competition. Here is a picture of me with all the puppet sets to give you an idea of the size of the sets....

The JasEn Show

I made 3 short films called "The JasEn Show". All contain different styles of animation. The first of 3 instalments, I didn't use any toys at all. I used a friends awesome drawings, which I animated, and a photo of a bowl of fruit in my kitchen; which I also animated. For the second, I used a brief stop-motion I filmed on my loungeroom floor with random kitchen objects, it worked out well until I decided to light the candles which melted wax and went everywhere haha. I used Adobe Flash andPhotoshop with live shots and pure animation. I took a lot of photos in an old folks home, which I ended up getting kicked out from because apparently you can't take photos in an old folks home. I still took photos on the way out to make sure I got what I need! The last part was stock footage with my own voiceover. For the 3rd I used my distraction as the main attraction, my cat Soda. He always interrupts for his own attention, which is fine. Except when I need him not too. This gave me the idea to use him in this short. For the 4th, I used Lego all the way! I decided to take the kids toys to the next level, but wasn't sure how. Most of the Lego animations used green screens etc. Maybe I should go in another direction with the actual scripts. So I did. I have been watching a lot of "Robot Chicken" and they use kids toys to produce some wonderful adult animation. This was the direction I decided to go. Enjoy....

"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!