Lintscape

Gosh!

2009-02-23T18:12:00.001-08:00

This animatic gave me so many problems. phooey. I finally had to export it at a poor quality so that it would be small enough to upload to vimeo without being canceled. Apologies. I finally figured out how to import the jpeg sequences at 24fps, so the film's tempo is far less hectic. Also included is the very exciting beginning of a soundtrack! Finally, it's starting to come alive. I also, played around with some color correction in the scene where she begins to unload the washing machine into the dryer. I am currently re-shooting the lint attack scene with articulate hand puppets. It's amazing how much hands can show a character's emotion and fear.

Untitled from Caitlin Craggs on Vimeo.

Tests? or not?

2009-02-12T12:55:00.000-08:00

new dust fall!!!!!! from Caitlin Craggs on Vimeo.
re-shoot of the dust fall. no es perfecto.

CamMoveTest from Caitlin Craggs on Vimeo.
camera move on 8's, but without onion skinning assist.

Lintlandia

2009-01-29T09:50:00.000-08:00

So the construction process is taking a wee bit longer than I had expected. Surprise! So I'm going to give myself another week before filming to finish that up and then do a few tests. One to determine how the pacing of the camera move. Another to determine the pacing of the lint floor coverage, and then a final one to determine the movement the lint spores. And then I'll x-sheet dat stoof.
Here is the lint ground-cover

And then the sproutlings of lint

Shot from last week

2009-01-28T15:12:00.000-08:00

Here is the shot that I wasn't able to bring into class last week. I've been noticing a weird phenomenon where my scene are being sped up. I shot 167 frames for this shot, which at 24 fps should be just about 7 seconds, plus the 2 second hold at the beginning of the shot should be 9 seconds total. So why is it only 7 seconds. My export info says that it's at 24 fps, and when I set up the premier file, it was at 24 fps. WHAT"S GOING ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lintsprout from Caitlin Craggs on Vimeo.

Updated Animatic as of New Year

2009-01-14T19:18:00.000-08:00

Here it is buoys and gulls!

Untitled from Caitlin Craggs on Vimeo.
Note, as discussed in my last post, the CU of the lint attacking the face is not really doing it for me. Also, during final critique I was giving some great advice about pacing the sequence. More time while the woman is stooped over, building tension. And then lots of cuts while the lint attacks. I can do so much more with this.

But for now I must turn my efforts to the final shot of the lint world. I spent a few hours on the phone with Canon support trying to figure out why I couldn't remote capture animation form my camera for more that a minute without it freezing up. We finally decided that the recent update to my operating system probably was creating bugs in the image capture software. Blerg. Gosh apple, why do you always have to show off! We get it already! Anyway, the short of the long story is that I can still use my good old Tiger laptop to capture images. So i'm signing off to do just that! hot dog.

Schmappy New Year

2009-01-12T19:25:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year when we get real serious about things. Things like finishing our senior thesis. Tra la la! And with that come resolutions. I want to begin with a promise to post more. I have been attempting to write this post for the last week, but keep getting way-layed because Vimeo refuses to upload my current animatic. Hold tight. I'll get it up there somehow and it is very pertinent to my post today.

So...
I began sorting out my lint into matching shades and tones.

I'm currently researching ways to dye the material. And i've hit a bit of a road block. In the dying process, it seems that the texture of the lint is completely compromised. Lint that was tricky to animate before dying has now turned in to a disgusting, immobile blob.

Cool looking, but not suitable for animating.

So, as i can see it, I have 2 options:
1) skip the dying process and simply use the lint in the color it is right now. as you can see in the first photo, i have a pretty decent range of colors, though not outstandingly bright, they would still be relatively captivating.
2) have some of the lint spores be dyed and some not. have the ones that are NOT dyed grow and then pull out to a full shot of all the lint spores after growth has occurred.

I'm leaning towards the first option, scrap all the dying. However, this brings me to my next point issue. How to animate the lint growth: straight ahead or in reverse. I wish I had that video uploaded because it shows the problems of animating with lint. In the attack scene on the CU of the woman's face , the lint didn't have the wonderful, "cobwebbing-over, mold-growing-on-left-over-chili" movement that i so desired. As i moved the lint around the face, it broke off into chunks. So it looked like a bunch of little lint babies swarming her face. (video is soon follow, i promise).

So, I need to do a little testing on that matter, but also with the growing lint spores. I'm going to do one test spore of the lint growing straight ahead and then one where i have the spore already constructed and i'll deconstruct it, animating backwards.

Anyway, hope this drivel makes sense. I'm getting that overwhelmed feeling already. And the semester has just begun. Tra la la!

Ani-matic-o!

2008-11-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

Here is my animatic, updated with new animations!!! So far, I'm only concerned with getting through my shot list so some of these shots will be redone. In particular, the shot with the dust falling needs to be much, much, much slower. Also, please disregard the quality of the shots; these are but simple unaltered jpeg copies of the RAW images. I plan on processing the image sequences to give them a much higher contrast, ol'fashionedy look.

Also, the scenes with the sneaking lint are a little difficult to follow, and I plan on retouching the lint so that it is more vibrant.

Untitled from Caitlin Craggs on Vimeo.

Photogs

2008-11-11T10:01:00.000-08:00

Well, lot's-o-updates. I finalized my set up so I could begin shooting fo' real.

It looks good... real good. But now I have to get back into the animation groove. This weekend I realized (rather painfully) that my timing skills need a quick tune-up. All that time doing artwork and getting stuff ready to shoot-- and now my shootin' arm has gone a bit flabby. Pay no mind, I'll be back in top gear lickitysplit. In the meantime, feast your eyes on this very shoddy animation done on my my old camcorder. WAY TOO FAST (especially on the second one). I'll have new, slightly less terrible animation that I did this weekend on the new camera up soon.

new animation 1 (11408) from Caitlin Craggs on Vimeo.

newanimation2(11408) from Caitlin Craggs on Vimeo.

Oh yes, and also of note (and illustrated in the following sequence of photos) I figured out a way to switch out the puppet hands. Where once an arthritic-looking hand was stitched to the puppet, I simply glued a cut-off needle. I can now easily slip new hands on and off the puppet.

Galagalagalagala!

2008-10-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

So, as I was slipping behind in my schedule, I was also sipping champagne in New York at the Princess Grace Gala. It was quite a high-falutin' event with plenty of ballgowns and pomp. However, the most exciting thing was meeting all the other recipients. It's fun to meet people from other schools and compare experiences. However, animators were in short supply; the only other animator was a statute recipient (she won a initial grant and a works-in-progress grant, and was now being honored for her body of work). Check her out: Rose Bond, she does really cool things with animation projected in buildings.

http://www.rosebond.net/ !!!

Here are two photos of me and my animation being projected on a REALLY huge screen for lots of people. eek! Kinda weird.

bad news and good news

2008-10-20T16:48:00.000-07:00

It is at this tragic juncture of the semester that I must inform myself and you (my valued readers) that I am indubitably and irreparably behind schedule. I cannot pretend that I will catch up those missing weeks. At this point I should have animated seven scenes. I have not done this. The good news is that I can make a new schedule!!! Huzzah! And everything will get done. On the sunny side, I will be meeting with an esteemed animator who will give me some much desired advice concerning how exactly to shoot my film. And about precisely what camera, lenses and lighting i will need to procure. So, without further ado, I will provide my revised schedule.

October 28 scenes 1,2,3
November 4 scenes 4,5,6,7
Nov 11 scene 6, 8, 9
nov 18 scene 10,11
nov 25 12, 14,15
december 2 scenes 13, 16
dec 12 scenes 17,18,19
break bg 12 scene 20

I can already hear Sheila's concern for the ambitiousness of this plan, but until I begin animating and actually find the pace too speedy, I'm gong to try and stick to my original pace (between two and four scenes a week).

HUZZAH!

2008-09-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

new animatic!

Lintscapeanimatic(9/30/08) from Caitlin Craggs on Vimeo.

GULP!

2008-09-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't posted in a long while. I'm a bit behind in my schedule (about a week's worth of work). I completed two large scale backgrounds in pen (posted below) and I'm beginning to feel that the larger backgrounds are much more compelling (more information) and that perhaps every scene should be on such a scale.

I also experimented with a rudimentary multi-plane to see if a little depth would liven up each shot. The answer is YES!!!!

So, I'm considering going back and redoing all of the previous backgrounds (and therefore puppets, gulp) on a larger scale and multi-planar. Will need feedback from the class.

Buh buh backgrounds

2008-09-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

The backgrounds, with appropriate puppets inhabiting them, are unpainted as well. This is for the same reason as the puppets' colorlessness: continuity.

I'm beginning to think about pushing the 3-dimensionallity of the backgrounds since the puppets have so much more depth. It looks a little odd. Particularly in the first example. Color helps to add depth the the BG, but only nominally. I think I'll have to re-do these BG's so that I can multiplane them. I will also have to carefully consider lighting. Thoughts? Concerns? Questions?

Phew!

2008-09-16T11:04:00.000-07:00

Puppets=mind boggling. Here are the first 5 puppets for the film. They are unpainted as I have decided that the best way to create color continuty between all the puppets will be to paint them at the end. As such, they can not be stitched together either. So, I'm on schedule. Sort of. This animation thing reallly is about problem solving!

Note that puppet 5 (CU hand) has three sets of replacable fingies so that the hand can release some clothing.

Nifty!

2008-09-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

So here is my second attempt at using gouache to paint the establishing BG (from the first scene). I switched the composition so it was a little more inviting and interesting. And I have to say, I'm rather please with thing over all... a nice feeling after being so disgusted by my first gouache (or should I say "gauche"?) attempt. I also found that all my work seems a little better after it has been scanned and fussed with in photoshop. Viva la computer!

I probably will go back and touch this up a bit before shooting it with a camera move... and I'm also considering animating the grassy parts with a little real grass. Must test!

POW!

2008-09-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

Here is the puppet prototype. The backing is watercolor paper. To this is glued fabric and whatnot. In this version the skin is watercolor. I might attempt using gouache for a more bold look. The joints are connected using thread and needle. Simple but surprisingly sturdy.

I will be constructing different puppets from different angles for different shots.

AAAAAAnimatic!

2008-09-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

As requested, here is my updated animatic with discussed shots of the extended lint-attack-part. I'm a little bored with some of my camera angles. I thought I liked the campy side scroll look... but now I yawn at it in mild disgust. Perhaps I will re-board some shots before I begin puppet and BG construction.

Animatic 9/2/08 from Caitlin Craggs on Vimeo.

Oooo!

2008-08-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

Thought I ought to post an overview of the project as it stands now:

The laundry room is creepy. Either vacant and fluorescent or dingy and hidden, the laundry room is an indubitably ominous space. I plan to capitalize on this creepiness in Lintscape by creating a tactile and emmersive world. Two films come to mind that will inform Lintscape’s visual style and mood, the first being the BBC series Planet Earth. The precision of the macro cinematography and attention to minutiae, particularly when filming insects appeals to Limtscape’s visual style: the viewer will “shrink” into a foreign microcosm. Secondly, David Lynch’s Eraserhead is a vital text for creating mood. I am impressed by the way that the film juggles fear and absurd humor without becoming campy. Also the gritty, grainy quality speaks deeply to the aesthetic of Lintscape.
The story begins in a normal neighborhood, in a normal laundry room, with a normal woman doing her laundry. The era is present day. We follow her deft actions at a leisurely pace, noting the particles and debris that are present in the atmosphere. Under the camera, we are not sure if the movement of dust, hair and soap suds are involuntary or not, benign or malicious. We become aware very suddenly that something IS in fact alive when a glob/creature of lint creeps out of the dryer’s lint trap. The hapless housewife will not see this until it is too late and has been strangled by the lint. A time lapse of her body shows spores of lint, growing from her host flesh. We then revisit the neighborhood shot, revealing that the attack was not isolated. The entire neighborhood has been overtaken by spores.
I will use 2D puppet, stop-motion in the drably-colored laundry room. For the final camera move, I will transition into a color-saturated 3D world with lint-polyp armatures. Shooting digitally, I can compile layers of animation, heightening the disjointed proportion and depth within the world. The focus on particle movement is crucial. Floating dust, waving hair and bubbling soap-suds, in addition to the mettlesome lint, will be filmed at a very close angle. One of the important aesthetic themes will be the play between what is intentional and what is not. Tension will build up as the audience wonders if the particles are moving in a natural system or if there is perhaps some conscious force. Achieving this type of minute and ambiguous movement will be very challenging, and I am seeking funding to engage mentors Janusz Sikora and Marce Valcarce in the process of lighting, shooting and compositing.
The theme of intentionality will carry over into sound design. I have composed music for my films before and look forward to working hands on with my composer and sound designer to create the perfect aural mood. In the laundry room, I wish to navigate the fine line between random noise and structured music, again creating tension through ambiguity. The environmental sounds will at times swell into an organized musical theme of sorts and then dissemble. In the colorful 3D lint world, I would like to have a pop song, reminiscent of “In Heaven” from Eraserhead. The scene is rather brash and frightening (lint-polyps have taken over the world!) and an asynchronous sound track heightens the horror of the situation by juxtaposing the visual tragedy with aural nonchalance.
I think there are tones of environmental concern, moments of childlike whimsy, and perhaps most important, though lackadaisically paced, the film is brief. At three minutes, there will be no time for slack. The film will be taut and entertaining, despite its experimental undertones.

Alack!

2008-08-25T20:37:00.000-07:00

So here begins the new blog, my previous attempt thwarted by a missing password. Lots to tell. First of all, the summer is coming to a close and it's time to start cranking out the animation for reel (ah ha hah!). This is perhaps the roughest part of the process: getting out of the liminality between the formative creative and organizational period, and the real beginning of production. Now I just have to jazz myself to start doing stuff.
What have I done so far? My main goal for the summer was to relax and reboot, and I think I accomplished that. (yes!) In addition, I have been collecting different types of lint. Some is wildly colored. I have found other lint donors who have tons of dog hair. Also, I am recruiting people to donate human hair and Persian cat hair. So, armed with fresh creative energy and growing lint harvestings, I am ready to start the process.
I wanted to post this item from the Miyazaki's graphic novel series "Nausicaa." It reminds me of my spore world.

Also, here are some luridly colored shots of the polio virus.

Also, I have been working of designing a space in my house where I can shot. It doesn't look like much yet, but I'm planning to convert this old closest into light controlled room in which I can make the rhetoric magic.

As one might note in this photo, the ceiling of the closet is uncovered. Must amend this.

I plan to paint the walls a dark, non-reflective black and outfit a heavy black curtain over the opening. Plans! Plans! Plans! Over and oot!