Monday, January 18, 2010

Pigs, Awards, Marine Debris, and Kelp Plans

I just got back from the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City, CA. It was quite a festival. Very well run and lots of amazing films. My favorite was "No Impact Man". My zebra film ended up winning Best Children's Film. It also won Best Short a couple months ago from a festival in India. Here's a photo of the awards.
As for the Pig part...I have decided to redo part of my zebra film. The stop motioned toys on the timeline look too amateurish. So I am going to animate them in Flash. This will be quite an undertaking. I have to develop a character for each of the domesticated animals. But it will be good to have each animation on hand for the PodclassTV Paint With Media Page. I've started with the pig. I am trying some rotoscoping (drawing over a video). Hopefully, I can get the movement down, then go back and cartoonize the face. Here's 6 test frames. Right now, the pig is kinda scary. Check back in a couple weeks to see what materializes.
Here's what I went through to make my zebra:
Today, I worked all day on fine tuning the Monterey Regional Waste Management Marine Litter Debris PSA (public service announcement). I think it's coming along, and should be broadcast on Comcast soon.
And finally, I am going to start on a kid's kelp ecosystem film soon. I will probably shoot most of it at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I will make a kelp ballast the main animated character. More soon...