Tore Posted July 15, 2010 Posted July 15, 2010 Hi fellow virtual pupeteers! Just wanted to share some preview stills from "Trapez", a 5 minutes short I'm currently working on. The film is adapted from the short story "Der erste leid" by Franz Kafka. :-) Tore Quote
largento Posted July 15, 2010 Posted July 15, 2010 Extremely nice! Something to look forward to seeing! Quote
thekamps Posted July 15, 2010 Posted July 15, 2010 Wow! This has a beautiful/fantastic look. Looking forward as well. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted July 15, 2010 Hash Fellow Posted July 15, 2010 Welcome to the forum! Looks promising! Quote
Tore Posted July 15, 2010 Author Posted July 15, 2010 Great stylism! Using A:M? Glad you like :-) The software used: A:M 15.0J+, Pixosaur 3D Painter (handpainted textures), Twistedbrush (backdrops+some textures) and good ol´ Gimp. All the renderings are done 100% in A:M (one run / no compositing). I like to be able to manipulate the »photographic« quality of my renderings, and I am working more like if I was doing stop-motion than traditional 3D. A:M with its fast no-nonsense interface, and fast and excellent rendering, keeps the creative flow running. As I´m animating frame by frame, hardly never using interpolation, and with very little camera movement, I dont need complicated rigs or physics simulation, to »get in the way« of the animation process. Quote
Gerry Posted July 15, 2010 Posted July 15, 2010 Wow, great look, great lighting, character design, everything! Will there be dialog, or none? Quote
NancyGormezano Posted July 15, 2010 Posted July 15, 2010 Fabulous imagery ! very much looking forward to seeing this Quote
Tore Posted July 17, 2010 Author Posted July 17, 2010 Wow, great look, great lighting, character design, everything! Will there be dialog, or none? No dialog...I think. Quote
Tore Posted September 30, 2010 Author Posted September 30, 2010 I have set up a blog showing production sketches and the progress of "Trapez". For those interested, it 'll be possible to subscribe to the blog. Visit here: http://trapez.posterous.com/ Quote
HomeSlice Posted September 30, 2010 Posted September 30, 2010 Your artistic style and the extremely simple geometry go very well together. You are a bloody genius in that respect. If your animation holds up, and the story is even mildly entertaining, I think this will be really good. Quote
Meowx Posted September 30, 2010 Posted September 30, 2010 Looking great! Style is very Burton + Picasso, something I've never really seen before. Quote
Tore Posted October 1, 2010 Author Posted October 1, 2010 Thanks for the words guys! Makes me really happy when just doing what I love, gets such nice response! Quote
nimblepix Posted October 2, 2010 Posted October 2, 2010 Beautiful work! I'm looking forward to seeing how you handle this. Quote
thefreshestever Posted October 2, 2010 Posted October 2, 2010 great unique style! i´m trying to simulate stop-motion in my actual project, too... although i´m not animating frame by frame, i´m just too lazy for that Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted October 2, 2010 Hash Fellow Posted October 2, 2010 I'm eager to see some animation tests when you have them! Quote
Admin Rodney Posted October 4, 2010 Admin Posted October 4, 2010 Awesome! I love how you are taking this out of the look of CG and into the Stopmotion realm. If I have any suggestion it would be to really target any area that looks CG and replace that, obsure it or otherwise blur it in. The measure that comes to mind is that if someone doesn't think it's made out of some physical material that has been painted over by you, something else should be added into area to suggest that. (example: a protruding wire or something that could be interpreted as a imperfectly manufactured or overlooked defect) It looks like this is already your plan. I thoroughly enjoyed the behind-the-scenes on your blog! Quote
Tore Posted October 17, 2010 Author Posted October 17, 2010 Well, that is a very precise description of my intention :-) All surfaces in Trapez is either 100 % handpainted by me or they are decaled with photographs of existing materials like plywood or paper and then given a hand painted touch-up. Even black and apparently smooth surfaces has been crosshatched with a "pencil". I make extensively use of Pixosaur 3D painter and TwistedBrush in conjunction with a Wacom tablet to make the process as intuitive and expressive as possible. Glad you like my little blog - have just put up a new post today. Quote
*A:M User* Shelton Posted October 18, 2010 *A:M User* Posted October 18, 2010 I love the blog. Keeps me inspired! Quote
Tore Posted February 17, 2011 Author Posted February 17, 2011 Slowly, ever so slowly, my little film comes along. Most design decisions have been finalized by now I guess, and hopefully all the strange technical glitches have been ironed out. So now I've begun animating...one frame at a time. As a stop motion animator once said: It's like dancing ballet, just very, very, very slowly. Looking forward to A:M 16 in an usable version, so it will be possible to cut down final rendering times. In the meantime some more stills to look at :-) Quote
HomeSlice Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 Very nice images! Looking forward to A:M 16 in an usable version, What parts are not usable for you? Have you submitted descriptions and steps to repeat the problem(s) to A:M Reports? Quote
Tore Posted February 17, 2011 Author Posted February 17, 2011 What parts are not usable for you? Have you submitted descriptions and steps to repeat the problem(s) to A:M Reports? Still a lot of stability issues in 16rc1 - and rendering of volumetrics/fog/mist (which I use intensively) is problematic in several ways. I have reported most of these problems, as I've encountered them. But until the release of 16 is out I just stick to the very stable 15j, I guess. Quote
tbenefi33 Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 I like the dark look to it, can't wait to see it in action. keep up the good work. Quote
Tore Posted May 23, 2011 Author Posted May 23, 2011 Phew! In the middle of moving from one place to another (dust, cardboard boxes, mess and a sore back), I finally managed to finish "Trapez"! Watch here: http://artstax.dk/trapez.html A big thanks to all you guys for advice, encouraging words and interest in my tiny flick :-) Quote
NancyGormezano Posted May 23, 2011 Posted May 23, 2011 Bravo! Bravo! Excellent imagery, lighting, camera work; fabulous, interesting sound design, love the stop-mo puppet style! Wonderful. Congrats! My only crit would be that the sub-titles distract one's attention away from the terrific imagery. I had to replay it in order to get the story, as I was entranced by the style. Your voice quality is excellent. If at all possible, perhaps it might be better if you were to also have a version with a sound track using your voice, in English, without sub-titles? Loved it! Quote
Bruce Del Porte Posted May 23, 2011 Posted May 23, 2011 Great piece! I love the characters and cinematography. Kafka is tough to interpret to Americans. Bravo. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted May 23, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted May 23, 2011 that looks wonderful! You should start a new thread with the link at the top so people will find it easier. Quote
Admin Rodney Posted May 24, 2011 Admin Posted May 24, 2011 Bravo! Encore! I love the stylistic choices you've made that create a doubt in the mind about whether this is stop motion, CG or something else entirely. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted May 24, 2011 Posted May 24, 2011 Absolutely outstanding! Stunning and dramatic design, lighting and sound! I agree with everything that Nancy mentions in her post. My problem with this piece is Kafka himself. Like so much of his work it is very depressingly ambiguous and leaves so many questions to be answered. Is this a simple observation that when people are permitted to devote all of their energy and time to developing and honing their particular art, at the expense of all else, that they become fragile, isolated, temperamental, neurotics who cannot relate to anything but their own obsession? The title,"Erstes Leid", translates to, "First Sorrow", but who's sorrow is it, the trapeze artist's or the ring master's? Excellent work, ToreB! You are a very talented guy. Quote
dblhelix Posted May 24, 2011 Posted May 24, 2011 the darkness was so pronounced it became a character. beautifully executed, do indulge in pride it was political to me at first, but quickly burrowed all the way; it's imagination that will get you.. Quote
John Bigboote Posted May 24, 2011 Posted May 24, 2011 Standing ovation! A well told story with beautiful imagery. Quote
kikiriki Posted May 24, 2011 Posted May 24, 2011 Great look and great storytelling! (It reminds me a little on great stop-motion film Cabaret Karne http://www.stopmotion.cat/cabaretkadne-en.html ) Congratulations! I'm sure it will be very successful on the festivals. Are you planning to transfer it to 35mm film? Quote
ptiversen Posted May 24, 2011 Posted May 24, 2011 Det er fantastisk, jeg elskede publikum uden ansigter. Fremragende arbejde. Godt job Tore. Quote
Tore Posted May 24, 2011 Author Posted May 24, 2011 Hey, what great comments!! Almost blushing...well, I AM in fact blushing :-) Nothing is better than getting positive feedback from people who really know what they are talking about, and who's opinion matters to you! I certainly will indulge in pride! Regarding subtitles: Here in Denmark nearly every tv airing and theatrical release (that's not in Danish) are subtitled. So we are pretty used to them, and it gives the opportunity to experience the original acting (even if in a language we don't understand). In the case of Trapez it is of course a bit different, as the voice is a narrative and not acting per se. But even so: I do not speak english well enough to make a performance I would be satisfied with (not sounding like Schwarzenegger!), so I guess I'll stick with the subtitle compromise - for now anyhow. @Paul: I agree with your Kafka characteristic, but personally I kinda like that ambiguity: it's like life is itself - to me anyhow: so wonderfully free of meaning and answers, and at the same time ripe with suggestion. In the case of our poor trapeze artist though, I read the story as it is both the ring master and the artist who experience the first sorrow. The artist for the reasons you so precisely describe, and the ring master as he genuinely cares for the artist. Og så var det jo rigtig hyggeligt at få en hilsen på dansk også - helt ovre fra Menifee Valley :-) Rigtig mange tak for de pæne ord!! Quote
HomeSlice Posted May 26, 2011 Posted May 26, 2011 That works very well! Wonderful art direction. From your blog: I want to achieve an organic feel that is very far from the bland slickness of normal computer animation. And hopefully the unavoidable jerkiness and roughness of the resulting animation will by far be outweighed by the amount of life and personality. I think you were successful Quote
Tore Posted May 26, 2011 Author Posted May 26, 2011 Any of you have experience with submitting to festivals? Some advice would be much appreciated! Is "Withoutabox" an option, or is it over the top for a small production like Trapez? Quote
HomeSlice Posted May 27, 2011 Posted May 27, 2011 There is some discussion of festivals in this thread. Maybe you will find something helpful there. http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?s=&am...st&p=351170 Quote
Tore Posted May 27, 2011 Author Posted May 27, 2011 There is some discussion of festivals in this thread. Maybe you will find something helpful there. http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?s=&am...st&p=351170 Great! Thanks a lot! Quote
Animus Posted May 27, 2011 Posted May 27, 2011 This is a fantastic piece of animation! Congratulations! Michel Quote
Tore Posted June 7, 2011 Author Posted June 7, 2011 I have just received notice that Trapez has been accepted for the Aguilar De Campoo Short Film Festival (european section) held in Spain 3-7th december 2011. http://www.aguilarfilmfestival.com/ Keeping fingers crossed for the 3 other festivals Trapez is applying for! Quote
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