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!
This is the youtube link for the video.
by
10:03 pm on September 8th, 2009
wow… that was amazing. really interesting to see the process and execution is so beautiful. i can tell how much you put efforts on this. good job! =)
6:43 am on September 9th, 2009
awesome… I enjoy “making of”s almost as much as the actual work…
7:11 am on September 9th, 2009
Very inspirational! Great job!!!
7:20 am on September 9th, 2009
This was great. Really nice to see your process!
11:30 am on September 9th, 2009
I loved watching how it was made. Thanks! You guys are so talented…
12:58 pm on September 9th, 2009
Thanks for sharing! You guys make such reee-diculously cool stuff… I is jealous!
1:06 pm on September 9th, 2009
What plugin are you guys using over there for the digital puppet animation? Or did you simply use parents and the Puppet Tool with fancy, designed-in-photoshop layers? Or is it a secret?
1:42 pm on September 9th, 2009
Thanks everybody!
>davidjtate
It’s simply puppet tool and parenting, nothing so fancy. There is a bit of coding for the girl and he crab.
Those colorful targets are there so it’s easier for animators to grab each section. Photoshop file is also pretty simple. (head, body, arms, legs, multiple hands, mouths and blinks)
3:29 pm on September 9th, 2009
WOW!
i loved! i like very much to see how these amazing stuff are made!
what pluging is that? that you used to animate the characters in after effects…
8:42 pm on September 9th, 2009
Huge and nice work !
You are really very humble on top of it.
It’s must be tidious to rig so many characters !
Did you experienced some crashes with AE Puppet tool?
(I often find it unstable) I like this Michel Gondry inspired universe (it reminded me of Human Behaviour and Science Of Sleep) Like Davidjtate I was wondering were did you find the colored target … (I guess I look up in AE)
9:27 am on September 10th, 2009
>Tulio & Jeanba
Thanks so much!!
We didn’t use any plug-ins.
It’s a very simple parenting and puppet tool but all combined in a little unique way so that it’s easier to animate.
The colored targets are simple shape layer.
All puppet pints are parented to Nulls with those targets with expressions.
I think Max is going to put a tutorial together at some point.
We were very fortunate not to experience any crash!
Some of the wide/pan scenes got crazy heavy with the 3D car and all the layers but other than that, no computer problem!
11:23 am on September 10th, 2009
Simply put. I love it. Great work!
5:37 pm on September 10th, 2009
tinyru, Max, thanks a lot!i’m really needing some tutorial and this will be much useful to me!
i’m waiting for this ^^
11:52 am on September 11th, 2009
Thanks for your answers
++
1:42 pm on September 12th, 2009
That was fantastic! Amazing! I’m sooooo glad and jealous to see great animation getting made out there. Can’t wait to see what’s next.
4:06 am on September 15th, 2009
its amazing. expect more from u soon
10:19 am on September 16th, 2009
That is so cool! I can see you have put many and many in the MV. it is great animation. add oil see you next animation video.
12:19 pm on September 16th, 2009
amazing as usual!!
Great job!
11:13 pm on September 16th, 2009
wow, that is too cool. i’m so glad you guys shared this! it sometimes seems like AFX was born to crash… but you guys really pushed it for all its worth! beeeeeeeautiful!
4:39 pm on September 19th, 2009
[...] Guarda The Making of Electric Car in [...]
5:14 pm on September 25th, 2009
my goodness, amazing stuff!
keep up the great work, the video came out
incredible!
9:56 pm on December 22nd, 2009
I know others have said it, but I really love the making-of’s. Please keep them coming.
1:31 am on February 9th, 2010
Ru sang!
i’ve seen it before, but i had to c it again!
knowing that i’ll b seeing u in less than 2 wks reminded me of your magnificent work. hehehe
i actually showed this animation to my students n had them talk about it (in english of course). they loved it too!
8:42 pm on March 15th, 2010
[...] Watch the “Making of” [...]
11:39 am on May 10th, 2010
Great work you guys! And I love the new short. Congrats on all the success. Max, it was great to finally meet you.
Dan
10:08 pm on May 10th, 2010
Thanks, Dan! Congrats on all your great work as well- The BNY Mellon spot is terrific.
I’m sure we’ll run into each other soon.
10:45 am on June 23rd, 2010
I Love your Job!!! from Ibiza – Spain
4:33 pm on August 12th, 2010
WOW!!!! U are guy are amazing… I HAVE never this kind of work. WOW!! I love ur work & site and YES thanks for sharing the tips. that is so kind of you
peace D
11:29 am on September 2nd, 2010
[...] Making of….”Electric Car” Previous article [...]
5:20 am on February 24th, 2011
I´d like to know how is the car 3d made, is with 3d layers, i´ts an object 3d imported,. thankyoy very much, a very good job.
8:57 am on February 24th, 2011
>Oscar,
a crafted car photographed in all angles then assembled back in After Effects 3D layers. Hope this helps!
12:27 pm on February 8th, 2012
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