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November 11, 2009

birthday party: 3anim8

by sven at 7:00 am

click on image to play clip (1min 54sec - 4.6 MB)

This year for my birthday party I wanted to have all my friends make an animated film for me.

We set up an animation table in the middle of the living room, and over the course of the evening folks jammed using paper cut-outs and found objects. Oh, man… It was AWESOME!

downshooter

We used a consumer-grade DV cam for image capture. For software, we used FrameThief. For non-animators: There are a variety of softwares you can use -- a few free ones, but typically $40 for the basics.

The frame for the downshooter is made from a couple of simple wooden lighting stands I built a while back, an 8' long cross-strut, and C-clamps. The light fixtures and umbrellas are from a local pro camera supplier -- but I'm just using 200 watt (3980 lumens) incandescent bulbs in them, which came from a department store.

Todd & Kristen animating

It was really wonderful getting to share my love for stop-motion animation with a bunch of friends. After years of hearing me talk about this crazy art form, they finally got try out the mysterious thing for themselves.

Folks were a little surprised at just how much fun it is to bring little inanimate bits and bobs to life. I think I may have made a few converts that night… ;)

So: THANK YOU everyone for coming! I had a wonderful time… Best birthday party ever!!

posted by sven | November 11, 2009 7:00 AM | categories: exhibits & events, stopmo