Hothouse
Between March and May 2011, this space will feature posts by our 6 Hothouse 7 participants. We’ll share snapshots from each filmmaker’s creative process as they work remotely across the country. Watch as they make 6 awesome short films in 12 weeks – starting now!
Hothouse 7: The hard stuff and the easy stuff
I won't write much because after days and days and days of 14 hour days my brain is pretty much toasted, buttered and eaten. Things are going really well, but each day I think I might be a little closer to finishing something else comes along. Body: tired....
Hothouse 7: Oil Drum
A while back I was asked to elaborate a bit more on my process shooting under camera stop motion on drumskins.
For several years now I've been using coated drumskins, like what you'd find on the exterior of a bass drum, as canvases for my artwork. I find the...
Hothouse 7: If you can’t take the heat – then get out.
I'm more than happy with picture lock.. now let's take it a step further, shall we?
* A skype message from Luigi Allemano, our mentoring director, sound designer and mixer, in regards to what Karla, our foley artist, will need to make my clouds come to life with sound....
Hothouse 7: Evolution of a Shot
Now that my film has been Picture Locked I thought I'd take this moment to explain the process of shaping a scene as experienced through NFB's Hothouse. There is so much value in working rough, and as I discovered, it leads to better ideas. There's no harm in...
Hothouse 7: Tactile Kiss Transmission Device
So our producer, Michael Fukushima, sent me this link about a Japanese invention that can record your tongue movement and replay it through a machine, which makes it possible to sort of french-kiss yourself, well more a plastic tube (or ultimately with a celebrity that gets paid enough...
Hothouse 7: Animating animals… Am I crazy?
All week and all weekend has and will be spent working with the tireless Jelena Popovic, editing and tweaking our animations in preparation for Picture Lock. For those not in the know (like me, not too long ago), picture lock is a deadline where everything that's going to...
Hothouse 7: Tay in da Win
I animated my parasite scene today. I animated my parasite scene today for five hours, bent over the knitted intestines with my hand shoved up the tube. Now I know how large animal veterinarians feel when they are called out of bed in the middle of the night...
Hothouse 7: This Sh** is Bananas
Animating is sooo different than making objects and art installations. I’m used to creating something as I go along; based on the results I am getting so far. Animating is like writing a book about a painting, and then painting it, and then staring at it until it...
Hothouse 7: Rabbits Fuel Animators
Here's some rough animation from the fantasy sequence in my film, Missed Connection. It was done basically straight-ahead with a few key poses that I wanted to hit to the beat of the music. For a while I had this section blocked out as a pose of the...
Hothouse 7: Swimming Towards Picture Lock
I thought I'd give a quick update on the flood situation while a chunk of my animatic renders. Let's just say things got worse. Let's just say we had to abandon ship once we lost use of our toilets and power. Let's just say floods suck. Now safe...
Hothouse 7: Esophagus Tours: $5
Just a little update as to what I’m working on:
I have knitted a big ol’ esophagus which I’ve strung up using a clothes line. I will pull the tube along the line as I film to give the illusion that the camera is traveling along inside it. Since...
Hothouse 7: Simplify
My original intent for Hothouse 7 was to use an alternative animation technique, by using audio to directly effect a particle simulator, while providing some sort of narrative structure for an audience to follow and not be completely random. When I finished my first pass of animation, it...
