February 18th, 2010
Nexus Productions and director Johnny Kelly combine classic stop motion animation with quick and affordable 3D printing technology to create title sequences for the popular Dutch science show “Het Klokhuis” (Apple Core).
The titles are currently featured at The Art of the Title Sequence, where Johnny Kelly provides a lot of behind-the-scenes details on the production process.
The sequences were shot at Clapham Road Studios, a studio in London that specializes in stop motion animation. Director of photography Matthew Day shot with Dragon Stop Motion software and has used it on numerous projects there.
Click here to watch the opening titles.
Click here to watch the end titles.
Tags: 3D printing, clapham road studios, johnny kelly, nexus productions, stop motion software
Posted in Title Sequences
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February 7th, 2010
Alan Poon and Adam Makarenko directed the latest music video for the rock group Zeus. This beautiful video is mostly stop motion that was captured with a Canon 5D MkII using Dragon Stop Motion software.
The video is currently featured on Motionographer.com. Read the article.
You can watch the video here.
Here is what Adam had to say about the process:
I built all of the sets, DP’d, and directed with Alan Poon. What was really interesting was that Alan was actually in New York for most of the animation, while I was in Toronto, so we would go over things through/on Skype. I was able to share my [Dragon Stop Motion] screen with him, and get feedback on moves, ideas, concepts.
Also make sure to watch the making-of video.
Tags: Adam Makarenko, Alan Poon, stop motion software
Posted in Music Videos
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February 2nd, 2010
Director to watch; Sean Pecknold has once again created an inventive stop motion film with elegance and charm. This time for The BBC Knowledge Channel. Make sure to check out the behind the scenes photos from his site.
Watch the film here.
Sean Pecknold
Animator, Britta Johnson
Tags: Sean Pecknold, stop motion
Posted in Broadcast, Title Sequences
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January 28th, 2010
Cove entertainment created this ambitious fan clip for Deerhunter’s “Famous Last Words”. Using a process of photo cut-outs shot stop-motion in practical sets, Justin Martinez and Gilberto Vega shot over 1400 frames. The process yielded about 5 seconds per shoot day.
They shot with a Canon Rebel XS connected to Dragon Stop Motion.
Tags: deerhunter, stop motion animation
Posted in Music Videos
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January 24th, 2010
Burning through the animation festival circuit, Max Winston’s “I Live In The Woods!” picks up awards and kudos. Cal Arts grad Max Winston’s thesis film is a high energy stop motion feast of colors and colorful characters. Max bravely and seamlessly weaves together on-set stop motion with live actors and exterior shots, creating a short film with an unexpected and fresh esthetic.
Check out “I Live In The Woods” site
Check out a time-lapse making of.
Tags: Max Winston, stop motion
Posted in Artists, Award Winners, Short Films, Student Work
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December 19th, 2009
Artist and Filmmaker Allison Schulnik created this mesmerizing stop motion film for the song “Ready, Able” by Grizzly Bear. Aliison’s painting and sculpture styles translate amazingly into the clay characters and dimensional abstractions that inhabit the clip.
Allison had this to say about working with Dragon Stop Motion:
“Dragon rules the world woooooo wooooooo !!”
Make sure to check out Allison’s work, including her short film “Hobo Clown”
Posted in Artists, Music Videos
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December 17th, 2009
The ambitious stop motion short “Zero” picked up a NSW Gold Award from the Australian Cinematographers Society in the Experimental and Specialized Category. Zero director Christopher Kezelos gives credit to the exceptional work of the film’s director of photography Mathew Horrex. The film was shot using Dragon Stop Motion software.
Christopher had this to say about using Dragon Stop Motion:
“We shot Zero using a Canon EOS 450D and Nikon prime lenses. Due to the manual nature of this setup, we spent a lot of time using Dragon’s Cinematography tools to set up each shot. I found these tools to be an essential part of our shoot as we spent a lot of time tweaking the camera settings and picture framing before capturing valuable stills. Having the flexibility to shoot hi-res images and quickly flip between them to decide on our final settings was invaluable”.
Writer/Director: Christopher Kezelos
About Dragon Stop Motion and post production:
“The most obvious conundrum one can face when shooting a stop motion animation is how to effectively manage the thousands of image files and hundreds of directories required. Dragon made this a breeze. It automatically created a directory structure based on our scene and shot numbers. This sped up our work flow dramatically as it allowed us to cross reference our story board numbers with our directory structure to quickly find the shots we were after. Handy during production, a godsend during post”.
Make sure to check the Zero site to see it at a film festival near you.
Tags: ACS award, stop motion animation, Zero short film
Posted in Award Winners, News, Short Films
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November 19th, 2009
McGraw Hill recently created an animated spot to promote its GradeGuru site. It features classic stop motion whiteboard animation with some CG effects.
Here is what Benjamin Cooke says about his experience:
“Just thought I’d send you guys a note to say how good your Dragon Stop Motion software is. After trying many other products before starting our short animation, I was relieved to find something simple to use, yet very powerful.”
“The structured workflow allowed us to shoot scenes alongside the post production process. We had two of us working on the capture and animation, and our CG guy was literally working on frames we had shot a couple of seconds earlier, and letting us know if he could loop a section of our animation, or if a scene transition was working. We were able to complete the whiteboard animation in 3 days – with minimal post production to do afterwards we had everything completed in a couple of weeks (with most of that being timing adjustments, VO and sound effects). Considering it was our first ever stop motion animation, we are pleased with the outcome – and I doubt we could have done it this well without Dragon Stop Motion.”
Grade Guru in Production
Grade Guru Whiteboard Shot
Watch the video on Vimeo.
Posted in Commercials
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November 6th, 2009
Paolo Nutini : Pencil full of lead
Corin Hardy directs this fun promo for UK recording artist Paolo Nutini. Paolo is represented as a life size clay version of himself. The stop motion Paolo sings and dances in sync with a bevy of live-action female musicians and dancers. Animating with Dragon Stop Motion 2.0, the animation team loaded the live action shots as line-up layers. Mark Waring (who also acted as animation supervisor for “Fantasic Mr. Fox”) had this to say about the Nutini project:
Mark Waring-
“We used Dragon throughout the Paolo Nutini promo – and realistically we couldn’t have done it without it! The overlaying of reference footage and the x-sheet facility were invaluable! It made for a smooth shoot and happy producers who could see what we were doing!”
Tags: Paolo Nutini, stop motion animation
Posted in Music Videos
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November 2nd, 2009
Dragon Stop Motion 2.0.2 adds support for the Canon 7D and Nikon D300S. These are the two latest DSLRs from Canon and Nikon. Both of them support live view, and are great choices for stop motion animation.
Canon 7D
The Canon 7D is a camera that a lot of people are excited about. It has 18MP resolution and 1080p HD video recording at 30, 25 or 24 fps.
Learn more about the Canon 7D at Digital Photography Review.
Nikon D300S
The Nikon D300S is an upgrade to the popular D300.
Learn more about the Nikon D300S at Digital Photography Review.
Tags: Canon 7D, Nikon D300S, software, stop motion animation
Posted in News
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