Stop Motion Geek

On June 14th 2014 the first ever Gumby Fest, a major film festal and celebration for Stop Motion animation will be taking place in Glendora, CA.  Below is a reprint article from the press release from their blog announcing their world-class Stop Motion guests... Academy Award-Winner Rick Baker Joins ‘Meet Gumby’s Gang’ Panel at Inaugural Gumby Fest in Glendora on June 14 Animators for ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas,’ ‘Robot Chicken’ ‘Coraline’ to share stories from the Gumby studios Glendora, CA –  Academy Award-winner Rick Baker will join the “Meet Gumby’s Gang” panel at the premier Gumby Fest to be held June 14 in Glendora, California. Gumby, the world’s original clayboy and pop-culture legend who starred in more than 230 TV episodes and a movie, “grew up” in Glendora, where the iconic TV series was produced from 1960 to the late 1970s by Clokey Productions. The celebration of all-things Gumby as well as stop-motion animation will take place on the grounds of Gl...

What could be better than starting your day off with part of a whole breakfast, Fred Flintstone, and Stop Motion?  We couldn't think of anything either.  Nevertheless, these awesome commercials/BTS will bring out the kid, and nerd, in all of us.  Directed by Rob Shaw for the incredible Bent Image Lab (a studio that just moved to Manhattan , by the way), these TV spots encapsulates everything we know and love about the modern stone-age Flintstone family who establish how we now think of Prehistoric times. Fire House :  http://vimeo.com/45991027 Cocoa Pebbles "Fire Hose" from Bent Image Lab on Vimeo . Cop Rock :  http://vimeo.com/42010097 Cocoa Pebbles "Cop Rock" from Bent Image Lab on Vimeo .

Link:  http://vimeo.com/92876102

Link:  http://vimeo.com/iantimothy/muir Film by Ian Timothy Voice of John Muir: Brad Wills Music: Marianna Filippi Puppet Costume: Lucia Tello

Link:  http://vimeo.com/feedee/goodgrief Good Grief from FiDalwood on Vimeo .

Laika, the incredibly talented studio currently housing some of the most brilliant minds in the Stop Motion industry, and talent behind films such as Coraline, ParaNorman, and the upcoming The BoxTrolls, announced earlier this week that they plan to convert their spin-off studio, Laika/house, into a studio mainly concentrated on making feature films.  Getting rid of commercials complety from their plate.  Formerly, Laika/house only produced television commercials and shorts. LAIKA/house President Lourri Hammack, Creative Director Kirk Kelley and Managing Director of Strategic Operations Al Cubillas will lead a new studio specializing in short to mid-form animated content for advertising and broadcast markets. Located 19 miles away from the main Laika production house, the Laika/house facility in Oregon has been responsible to make some of the most iconic branding characters, (i.e. the M&M characters), plus, they've revamped some of the most iconic characters in the com...

An animated documentary about FOOOOOOOOOOOD! Voice by Joe Swanson, Brooke Regalado, Zachary Zezima, Sian Bliss, Richie Fruitbat, Rachel O'Connor and Chrysanthe Tan. P.S. No animal were harmed in the making of this film, they were all from the food market!! Made at CalArts Butler Building #4, 2014. Making of:  songsiqi.com Link:  http://vimeo.com/95342512 FOOD from Siqi Song on Vimeo .

Below is a reprint article, a quick interview Stoopid Buddy Stoodios had with Harry Chaskin, one of their animators on Slam City  for Mattel and WWE. Go read the full post here:  http://www.leagueofbuddies.com/2366/news-from-slam-city/ Do you have a favorite episode of WWE Slam City? H: I really like the Perk E. Pizza episode with Mark Henry. The more demeaning the day jobs, the funnier the episodes play, and putting a 400 lb former Olympic weightlifter in a penguin costume is about as good as it gets. Plus, he’s fighting robots! Who is your favorite WWE Superstar? H: My favorite Superstar is probably Santino because he has a sock puppet. You don’t see too many sock puppets in pro wrestling these days.   If you could pick any new “day job” for one of the Superstars to do, what would it be? H: I’d like to see Mark Henry be a stop-motion animator. He seems like a patient guy.

Link:  http://youtu.be/Ywu1DeqXTg4

Below are the two most recent Planters 'Mr. Peanut' ads, they are produced by the ever brilliant Laika  ( ParaNorman , The BoxTrolls ).  The animation here is directed by Mark Gustafson, who was Animation Director on Fantastic Mr. Fox , is the alleged co-director of Pinocchio , and is directing Laika's Goblins , which will be their next big feature after The BoxTrolls .  Mr. Peanut is voiced here by comedian Bill Hader, succeeding Robert Downey Jr., also known as Iron Man. Link:  http://youtu.be/9FfMrgZD6To Link:  http://youtu.be/eeXnq-KajwU

"Story: A lonely desk toy longs for escape from the dark confines of the office, so he takes a cross country road trip to the Pacific Coast in the only way he can – using a toy car and Google Maps Street View. Music by the wonderfull Cinematic Orchestra ( cinematicorchestra.com ) and the track is Arrival of the Birds - please buy the fantastic album:  itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-crimson-wing-mystery-flamingos/id297787201 All screen imagery was animated - there are no screen replacements. Produced, animated, filmed, lit, edited & graded by Tom Jenkins ( thetheory.co.uk  /  facebook.com/theoryfilms  - !NEW MAKING OF PICS ON FB PAGE! / @thetheoryUK /  twitter.com/#!/thetheoryUK ). Shot using Canon 5d MkII, Dragonframe Stop Motion software and customised slider." Link:  http://vimeo.com/32397612

Quick!  Name all of the names of the animation endorsing channels on TV! -Let's see, Fox, Comedy Central, Hub, Cartoon Network/[adult swim], Disney Channel, uhhh...drawing a blank here guys.  If you think about it for just a second of two, you'll realize what a rare comedy it is to find actually good animated entertainment.  Whether it's today, or 20 years ago when all animation was broadcast Saturday mornings and Sunday nights, today, mostly crap television, then, mostly crap television.  My point is NOTING has changed!  Right?  Wrong!  I'm sure at this point you are intimintly familiar with YouTube, Vine, and the overwhelming amount of video-sharing social networks.  Well, within the past 2 years, animation, and should I add actually good animation, has started to have a tide-change, thanks to these social networking platforms. Cartoon Network's Steven Universe , which premiered last year Just a few months ago, Starburns Industries/[ad...

A Nintendo DS commercial by the former Buddy System Studios, (now Stoopid Buddy Stoodios ), directed and animated by Ethan Marak. Link:  http://youtu.be/RIRiek2Dft4

The owner of the successful Animation Tool Kit Westly Wood, has found recent success in selling his Ray Harryhausen endorsed Armacreature armatures. Their product, an armature set of 20 engineered stainless steel joints, hardened stainless steel balls and socket head screws, a foot and toe tie down, and T section boss system; which, is a much more advanced system than Ray had when starting out.  In interviews he talked about walking down to the local Pep Boys to buy ball and socket mirrors, which he would then saw off the mirror mechanism so he could then use the joint.  Below is a reprint article from Animation Magazine... The endorsement by Harryhausen, who created stop-motion effects for decades for films such as   Jason and the Argonauts   and   Clash of the Titans , was key for Wood, whose company has provided armature kits for as many as 5,000 animation projects across the world. Harryhausen died last year at the age of 92. As an expert in stop mot...

Link:  http://vimeo.com/40613524 Farmers Insurance "Dude of Hazards" from ShadowMachine on Vimeo .

" When a notorious super-villain escapes from his subterranean prison, the enigmatic robot warden summons his most powerful henchman to deliver justice. The first completed episode of an ongoing stop-motion animated series." Link:  http://youtu.be/aAuTF9EGdIE

"Commercial for MIVB/STIB in Brussels. Agency is Havas Worldwide. Produced, directed and animated by Beast Animation" Link:  http://youtu.be/yqiIgg--fbw

Laika has announced via their blog that Georgina Hayns, Creative Supervisor for Puppet Fabrication at Laika, will discuss the process of making a puppet, from initial sketch to final execution at Maker Faire-Bay Area on May 18th at 11:30 on the Live Stage. "Georgina will discuss the complex details — and inter-departmental collaboration — involved with making puppets.  The weekend event will take place at the San Mateo County Event Center." Maker Faire official website:  http://makerfaire.com/bay-area-2014/schedule/ "GEORGINA HAYNS  has been involved in all aspects of puppet fabrication for stop-motion films for over twenty years. Her career began in the UK, working for Cosgrove Hall Films, Mackinnon and Saunders and Warner Bros. In 1993, Georgina joined Mackinnon and Saunders as an armaturist where she supervised children’s television series and commercials, including BBC Television’s  Noddy , HIT Entertainment’s  Bob the Builder , Lipton® Brisk® Tea...

I'm not even going to go into how much I love this part, (the actual Stop Motion bit), of the Lego Moive ; due to the fact that I don't have the vocabulary inventory that it would take to go into full detail on how I brilliant this is.  Regardless to say, Stoopid Buddys did a freaking amazing job with this title sequence!  If you haven't already, go read out the all-inclusive, not a detail left behind, interview with the creators and making of which you can find  here . Link: http://vimeo.com/89073171 The Lego Movie - Main Titles from Alma Mater on Vimeo . Director: Brian Mah Director of Photography: Helder K. Sun Animation Supervisor: Ethan Marak

"Extraits de séquences pour une série documentaire animé sur la biologie comportementale en cours de production. [Google Translate]: Extracts sequences for animated documentary series on behavioral biology in production." Link:  http://vimeo.com/25746499 Crânes d'oeuf / Teaser from Pascal Giraud on Vimeo .

This Aardman/DC Nation short is features beloved DC Comics characters such as Batman, Robin, the Joker, and Superman in the classic Aardman claymation style.  Without farther ado sit back in your Bat-Cave, relax, and enjoy! Link:  http://youtu.be/zWRKyfwnjwc

With the success of last year's Aardman/NFTS (The National Film and Television School) Character Animation class, NFTS has confirmed that it's to run a 2014 class that will run from the 15th of September to December 5th. "The intensive 12- week course offering training for 12 CG and stop frame animators was launched last June to meet the growing demand for animation talent in the UK. The 2014 course will run from 15th Sept to 5th Dec 2014. Taught at Aardman’s Bristol studios by industry professionals, tutors included Loyd Price, Head of Animation at Aardman (Nightmare before Christmas, Chicken Run, The Curse of the WereRabbit, Flushed Away and Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists) with one-to one feedback sessions with Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park (an NFTS graduate), Peter Lord and Shelley Page (Dreamworks talent outreach)." The course will feature speakers such as Richard Williams ( Who Framed Roger Rabbit ), Sarah Fell, Darren Walsh, Oli Hyatt, ...