We made a video about our workflow for Red Giant Software.
Check it out…!
Red Giant TV
In this episode, the team at Tiny Inventions shares their unique workflow for mixing real-world models with computer animation. They’ve used these techniques for music videos, advertising, and their new short film: ‘Something Left, Something Taken.’
Jason and his assistant Eric filmed the “making of” without any AC on due to the sound recording.
Thank you for working so hard in the hottest studio, and also the beautiful footage!
While we were in San Francisco, we contacted a friend of ours who is a wonderful animator at Pixar.
He was super generous enough to give us a 3 hour tour!!!
Storyboards, concept illustrations and clay maquettes were displayed nicely on the 2nd floor. Some of this pre-production work is never displayed in front of the public eye, so it’s exciting to see the development art getting the attention it deserves.
The most amazing part of the studio was “the ghetto” also known as the animation department.
It felt like… disney land / junkyard / backyard all put together in the most creative way possible. Mixed with rooms, there were little playhouses used as cubicles. Each animator decorated her/his house or room in a very unique way that was inspiring. One animator built a roof deck on top of his playhouse, and our friend Don built a treadmill in the floor so he can exercise while he animates. How cool is that!?
That place is magical, and all the talented animators are wizards.
Thank you so much Don for a very intensive, inspiring, educational tour.
Andy is a great friend of ours who is extremely talented. (I bet everybody can agree after watching this movie)
I have a very personal connection to this animation because we all started working on our independent films around the same time and also finished around the same time. It was nice to have a great friend who lives near by who could share work-in-progress and motivate each other. I am so proud of Andy and this movie is going to bring lots of success and happiness to his life!
“You must watch Fantastic Mr. Fox, you’ll LOVE it”
This is the line I heard from many people and for some stupid reasons, it took me a long time to actually go check see the movie.
Well, I finally did last weekend and I LOVE IT!
My friends were right! It is the best film in the past 10 years for sure!
I can’t stop thinking about how fun and inspiring that film is.
The pan of Mr. & Mrs. Fox taking a short cut blew my mind. What a blend of dialogue, music, action and fun. My favorite is Kyle the Possum and how charming he is. (How can you not love him?)
I love how his eyes swirl but he will still give a sign to Mr. Fox.
My favorite moment was at the very end, when the gang is dancing in the super market, Kyle is just sliding left to right. You can only do this in stop motion, if this was done in CG, the audience will take it as a mistake.
I had not seen any animated film that really took advantage of animation so much.
It cheated a lot by not showing their feet in walk cycles! I had not seen that in feature films for so long that it was almost refreshing. The techique was so retro that everything seemed unique and different.
What a genius film…..the writing was extremely funny, animation was beautiful and the sets are AMAZING! Amount of details that went into those sets is hard to imagine but every little effort was worth it.
There are many situations that remind me of how much I love to be part of the animation industry world-wide. Film festivals are awesome because you can make animation friends from other countries and share the passion for animation. Of course it’s sad to know that you won’t get to see them for awhile, but at the same time, as long as we all keep making animations, we’ll encounter each other in a few years.
It’s also encouraging to know that there are people who are going through the same emotions as you on the other side of the world.
I had a wonderful early Christmas gift last year. Dai Sato, a famous Japanime script writer, whom I worked with over the summer came to NYC again to do a research for his new film that he is writing for.
Along came Producer Emi Matsumoto from Robot (Academy-Award winning director Kato belongs to this production company)andMasaaki Yuasa (Director of Mind Game and Kaiba)! They wanted to come to my apt/ studio to check out the lives of New Yorkers.
I don’t think I have a normal living situation, being surrounded by miniature sets and absolutely no decoration. But Max and I spent an entire day to make it look somewhat “normal” and welcomed them.
It was so encouraging and inspiring to have such established people from Japanese animation industry to give us advise. What a wonderful Christmas gift that was…
P.S We also received a wonderful Christmas gift from Estonia. Lots of Estonian animations from our dear friend Janno Poldma!
This is a making of “Electric Car” video that we created for They Might Be Giants.
A demo version of the song is used in the video up until the end of the 1st chorus.
Storyboard & Animatic
Storyboards were drawn on paper and animatic timing was worked out in Flash.
Crafting
For this project, it was very important for us to use recycled materials.
Some of the beautiful papers were donated from Kazuko & The Maysles family.
Schedule
The bulk of production was completed in a very busy month.
Photography
Paper puppets and crafted objects were under lit to accentuate the textures.
This also gave the materials a natural lightwrap.
Digitize
Digital photographs were assembled in Photoshop.
Animation
Characters and environments were animated in After Effects.
The cars were originally crafted but they were reassembled in 3D space in After Effects.
Compositing
Additional lighting and atmospheric elements were added to give a magical touch!
