The Slipper Cycle

On Friday night I ended up at a dinner in the house where I made The Slipper Cycle, so it sure brought back some memories. I spent a year making the film while I worked nights as a waiter, so I had the whole set sitting at the bottom of my bed for all that time.

The film is still getting around - it showed in a programme of African animation at Stuttgart a couple weeks ago and will show at Anima Mundi next month as well. I watched it again - and boy it's rough. But as my first film I'm still proud of the accomplishment.

I was originally going to call it "Through Hell and High Waters" to try and link it to the theme of marriage, but I'm kinda glad I didn't.

Because I didn't study animation, I used the project as way to learn the whole process...

...from storyboard to final film.

I used one of the earliest canon digital cameras to shoot it and my bedside light to light it. Like I said, rough.

Shaun the Sheep was a useful reference.

The Slipper Cycle

Sam... Early development

The image of a sad girl sitting at a table with a dog just peaking over it was a strong one that I remembered from a dream. In the dream, my friend Sam had given me a book with this image on the cover of it. I think "Sam had never seen her look so sad' was the title of the book, but I may have come up with that later. 

I was immediately inspired to try and capture that image in my head and the rest of the concept expanded from there.  First I wondered why she was sad, but then realised it didn't matter why. I was more interested in what Sam could do to help her.

I tried working with watercolours. It was hard.

My drawing skills are also a little... sketchy :)

Sam... Early development

Sam had never seen her look so sad

Here is the little book I made from my animation - for those of you who've seen it but needed words to make sense of it :)

I originally intended to use voiceover, but then felt it was clear enough without it and besides, it would have spoilt Ben Amato's beautiful music. I only printed two copies and gave both away as presents.

I dedicated this book to my baby sister Noa.

Sam had never seen her look so sad

New Horizons

It's taken awhile, but I'm finally starting my own personal blog. I'm often updating news on behalf of Triggerfish, but I figured I needed a separate place to put down some of my ramblings, post some of my doodles, photos, inspirations, or whatever. And what better day to do it than a beautiful, sunny Sunday - when I should be having a break from my laptop, be outdoors, active, doing something like I dunno, riding a bike?

I like silhouettes.

New Horizons