lightningad

great job with the movies......now all you need to do next time is convince them to record the dialogue properly. just because its going in a kiosk doesn't mean it should be recorded in a kiosk!! Her voice really lets your work down. I can see why your client is happy. Congrats.

like i said - i get paid to sit and make weird noises...i don't know of a better way to pay the rent? But projects like this one, i do for the fun of it. Creative collaborations with chums is a great way to stimulate the grey matter, and lets you explore areas that you don't normally get into!

if i tell you, you gotta promise on threat of death not to tell anyone else!! Its not electrically generated at all - simply get a long flexible pipe (5' in this case) and growl into it. have your mic placed at the other end and move the pipe around in front of the mic whilst making the growls. This was then edited in Digital Performer to get the good bits. All the robot voice and servo sounds are my own voice, a plastic pipe and a good mic. The ball voice was my dog, coaxed into growling and then pitchshifted and re-edited. The feet sounds were me bashing a flimsy metal strip light fitting on a carpeted floor. I also like old keyboards, but i never use them for sound fx creation (and i do a lot of that - its my job!) The best advice i can give anyone wanting to improve their sounds is to listen to reality. Analyse what you hear and then try improve on it. You will usually find that recording the actual real object will not give the sound you thought it would. You almost always need to augment it with other sounds. A good source of ideas for foleys ( the filmaking term for sound fx creation) is the website www.filmsound.org. you might get some good sounds from the casio by throwing it against different surfaces!!

and speaking as the sound designer on the film, I'm really impressed with what Charlie achieved in his first foray in CG. His animation was a pleasure to voice as he obviously had a mental soundtrack whilst shooting the piece. Its a real skill to allow a character space to breathe, think and react to the sonic elements that have yet to be created. And one final point, that no-one else mentioned...for me, one of the most vital aspects of any animation is giving the characters a sense of weight and gravity. Without that, they are just puppets floating about. These characters have a weight, which informs their motion and conveys a reality to the viewer. really well done, Charlie. here's to the next one!!