We just completed a brand new music video for They Might Be Giants and Playhouse Disney.
Making this video was a lot of fun and we got to work with a very talented illustrator, David Cowles.
Here is some production art from the video.
A model sheet for Davy Crockett. I don’t think we ever showed him from behind.
Portion of the storyboards.
This is the final animatic with some rough animation.
You might notice that the beginning is slightly different.
chalkboard/ character animation
Here is the super high-tech super model that we used for video reference.
Yes, I made a paper rocket.
Then we imported and rotoscoped the video footage in flash.
And here comes the most exciting part.
We projected the flash file to the chalkboard and traced it.
It’s actually a lot more difficult than just “tracing” because you have to maneuver your body so that you don’t block the light from the projector.
Then each time we photographed, max covered up the projector with a huge piece of foam board!
puppets
My favorite part was creating the theater ! I felt like I was decorating a pre-k classroom.
Crafted puppets were photographed and composited in After Effects.
collage
For the fight scene, we created the smallest green screen ever.
cleaning up
Our studio was covered with chalk. And we coughed for the next few days.
It took almost full day to clean everything. To be honest, that was actually MY favorite part of the process. (Max didn’t help.)
Enjoy the video!
9:34 pm on July 24th, 2008
You guys really outdid yourselves. The video is amazing.
9:40 pm on July 24th, 2008
>adam
Thank you! That’s a very sweet thing to say. Congrats on your piece for getting into Ottawa! …and SEE YOU SOON!
8:43 am on July 25th, 2008
[...] the piece with designer/illustrator David Cowles. Max and Ru have also created a detailed “making of” blog post that shows all the hand-crafted effort that went into the [...]
9:16 am on July 25th, 2008
after seeing all the work you guys did, maybe i’ll forgive you for not hanging out in so long. incredible video.
10:08 am on July 25th, 2008
I LOVE IT!!!! I love your production photos too, especially that video of Ru and the paper rocket. Cotton ball fight scenes rock.
12:13 pm on July 25th, 2008
Great work! And that means alot coming form someone who’s not an artist
12:27 pm on July 25th, 2008
Unbelievably awesome!!
4:50 pm on July 25th, 2008
You guys are AMAZING!!!
6:34 pm on July 25th, 2008
[...] chalkboard animation, then progresses to cutouts and puppets. Check out the “making of” here. Tagged:Animation cool shit [...]
9:38 pm on July 25th, 2008
I love the old school rotoscoping method! Well done!
11:51 pm on July 26th, 2008
You guys are awesome! Congratulations!
12:35 am on July 27th, 2008
At first the video amazed me, but when I saw the making of the video, I got a sense of the amount of work that went into it. What a great job-I love watching it over & over!
10:03 am on July 27th, 2008
>mike,
sacrifice!
>jene
that’s my high-tech 3D skill! can’t wait to see yours, too!
>ryan
i can’t believe you still remember that….you know i never meant it. lol.
>mary
thanks! i need to craft with you soon!
>strongie,
you girls are awesome, too! go penguins!
>lori,
super old school trying to make it look like new school!?
>karen
thank you! how are you and jim?
>mom
it sure did take a long time to make…but it was worth everything!
2:11 pm on July 28th, 2008
Absolutely lovely! SUPER HI TECH 3d!
2:19 pm on July 28th, 2008
great job guys, looks fantastic.
5:39 pm on July 28th, 2008
[...] Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata of tiny inventions, with illustrations by David Cowles. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how it was made. Related PostsThey Might Be Giants on The Sound of Young AmericaThey Might [...]
10:12 am on July 29th, 2008
Hey,
Great mind work. Its not a tiny invention any more. Its BIG!!. And animation is also simple and AMAZING!!! …WOW!
10:18 am on July 29th, 2008
[...] Fun handmade video for new They Might Be Giants video complete with making of images: http://tinyinventions.com/blog/?p=84 [...]
7:02 pm on July 31st, 2008
Ru and Max,
I really enjoyed the video.
You guys are so talented and creative!!
I especially like the behind the scene stuff.
Keep up the amazing work!!
8)
Mariann
11:46 pm on August 1st, 2008
[...] Yes, that’s a real chalkboard. Want proof? Read all about the behind-the-scenes process here. [...]
7:07 am on August 5th, 2008
Thats a really well written article, very useful!
11:07 pm on August 5th, 2008
[...] chalk board animation. For insight into this advanced, high-tech process, check out a comprehensive behind-the-scenes page at the Tiny Inventions [...]
11:37 am on August 15th, 2008
[...] out a behind-the-scenes blog post about the creation of the video here–it has tons of fascinating pictures of how this unique artwork was put [...]
11:56 am on August 20th, 2008
>Hal
Yup, super high-tech! Hope to achieve super duper high-tech soon.
>Phil
Thanks thanks thanks!
>Noor
Wow! What a nice compliment. That means a lot to us!
>Marianne
Behind the scene adds another flavor. I can’t wait to see your work from this year.
>seo,
Thanks. I hope this will help other animators to try something low-tech and have fun.
2:11 pm on August 20th, 2008
Wow that was awesome. Great job Max and Ru.
7:12 pm on August 21st, 2008
>Paul
Thanks! Hope the next film will be even better…
12:06 pm on September 13th, 2008
It took me a while to finally see the gem! Glorious!
7:29 pm on September 25th, 2008
>celia
What took you so long! Better late than never~! Thanks for checking out.
3:07 pm on May 6th, 2009
whoa, you guys are out of your minds in the best way possible. makes me feel like a chump with my pencils and paper. i dont know how you wrangled what SEEMS like a complex process in to such a seamless, beautiful and thoroughly fun video, but hey, you did it. I really really love the final product and will definitely be following this blog!
3:08 am on May 13th, 2009
I read your blog in a regular manner, and I really like your way of writing
Please keep going, smile
your sierra
8:51 am on May 13th, 2009
>Tim
Thank you so much!
It was fun because every week, we were experimenting with new materials. And my arms got muscular from drawing huge on chalkboard. Win-Win situation.
>Sierra
I must remind myself that I should write more often.
Thank you for being a regular!
11:58 am on September 9th, 2009
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.
11:45 am on September 28th, 2009
[...] produced at Tiny Inventions (that is Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter) who also posted an extensive making of post on their own [...]