In keeping with a very busy and interesting summer this year, I just got finished working on a short pixilated film called “Speed Dating”. What is pixilation, you may ask? Well, it is a stop motion technique in which you ‘animate’ real actors and/or objects on a live film set. It is very intense, as I found out, as it combines both the labor and setup required on a live shoot with the patience and planning necessary with animation. My official title was Assistant Animator, although I did everything from helping to build props (I actually made fake cigarettes that appeared to burn down), to Assistant DIT (Digital Imaging Technician) duties to driving people to the train station at night. We filmed at Cinespace in Chicago, a professional film studio currently housing some pretty big-name movie and TV productions. It was great to be around all of the activity and get a taste of Hollywood right here.
I made a lot of friends, learned a LOT about live action productions while refining my animation skills and gaining more experience on a professional studio lot. I hope the film will have a website up soon that I can share. In the meantime, I did manage to snag a few behind-the-scenes photos from one of our producers. As an unreleased work, I can’t share too much more right now, but I hope to soon!
The Director Meghann Artes (green shirt) overlooks the Animators on the bar set.
A little behind-the-scenes of the Sports Guy shot on the bar set. These poor actors had to hold their poses for so long!
The lead actress on the bar set being directed by Meghann.
The interior of our Cinespace area between stages. This place is HUGE!
Wrap cakes! The “capture” one is kind of an in-joke and the needlepoint one will make sense when you see the film. 😉
Creations, Thoughts and Musings 