Posts Tagged ‘website’

Mother of Many

Emma Lazenby’s film “Mother of Many” has just been nominated for a BAFTA in the Best Short Animation category. Emma has documented the making of her film in a fascinating blog called MoM written under the pen name of ElsieDarkwinter.

“Mother of Many” is based around the rhythms of a baby inside the womb and the rhythms and day to day routine of the midwife being calm and controlled – leading women through the most life-changing and challenging event of their lives. It was made using real recordings of childbirths and foetal heartbeats, combining painting on glass, hand drawn animation, Flash and After-Effects.

The blog starts back in March 2009 where we find Emma doing rewrites for her script. She writes; “I am having a lot of difficulty. I have written a script – first second and now on my third draft. It feels like I just rewrite the same script every time. It is changing slowly, but with the constant deadlines, I feel I have to keep finishing each script and never address any of the things that are bothering me. I just rush, panic, fluster and beat myself up a bit.”

Emma tells how she got the idea for the film; “The film is about midwifery, and is a celebration of my mum, who did this job for 30 years – delivering thousands of babies and a large percentage of the local population. I started thinking about it a year ago when she retired. It feels like an idea with some point, the point being to do a job with meaning.”

By the middle of April ‘09 the script is coming together. Emma writes; “…all the people (the funding ones) have said they are much happier with the new script (third draft) and I have been storyboarding roughly, doing some more work on design.”

Early May ’09 finds Emma working on her animatic. She says: “Animatics are nice – because you see the film, but not so nice, because the drawings are all so scrappy.”

By mid-May the animatic has been approved and Emma announces; “Today has been the start of making the film. I designed some pregnant women, made a list of things I have to do and how each scene works.”

In June ’09 Emma talks about the sound track. She has given her recording machine to an independent midwife in the hope of getting some authentic sound. She writes that she is “…waiting for women to pop who will let us record them grunting and screaming or just breathing calmly depending on how the births go.”

Emma Lazenby painting under camera (picture from MoM blog).

In July ’09 Emma has some animators working on her film but she wishes she could find the time to animate herself. She seems to be constantly on call to make decisions, emailing, talking and designing. She is determined to find a way; “This week I am in a little room away from email and everybody and everything – painting and playing under camera to make nice womb textures and contractions – it is lovely.”

By mid-September ’09 the film is nearing completion. Emma writes; “I am going to London tomorrow to help with the sound mix at Fonic. I am really looking forward to seeing it with proper sound instead of my cobbled together stuff.”

In late September the film is finally finished and Emma has mixed feelings. She writes; “I have no idea what I have made or what it looks like – if it is good or bad – whether I like it or not. I feel rather weird really but so excited. It is so odd to get to the end.”

The film’s BAFTA nomination is announced in January 2010 and Emma makes a blog post. She begins; “I am really quite shocked and it is only sinking in that my film has been nominated for a BAFTA. It is ridiculously exciting.”

You can read the full account of the making of “Mother of Many” in Emma Lazenby’s blog MoM.

Watch a clip of “Mother of Many” on YouTube.

See the full list of BAFTA award nominations.

Postscript (23 Feb 2010): Congratulations to Emma Lazenby on winning the BAFTA Short Animation award for with Mother of Many. Watch the winner interview.

Have you seen “Mother of Many”? Please share your thoughts on the movie in a comment to this post.

Colors! is a painting program that takes advantage of the pressure sensitivity of the Nintendo DS touch-screen to create a digital sketch-book. Animator Sheila Graber, who has been experimenting with it, told us; “It is great for ‘smudge and click’ as I used to call it in ye pastel days when I used 16mm film. It is SO much easier using this programe and you don’t get your hands dirty! I can recommend it for animators of today”.

During her long and illustrious career Sheila has produced a number of “face to face” movies where one face dissolves into another. Now she has produced one using Colors! called “Facelife”. It covers life from cradle to grave through various faces.

Facelife, by Sheila Graber.

You can find out more about the program at the Colors! website. There you will find a FAQ page that tells you all you need to know about running the program on your Nintendo DS, a gallery of drawings produced with Colors! and a page where you can download the program free.

Another animation program for the Nintendo DSi is Flipnote Studio. This has an onion skin feature so that you can see your previous drawings. You can also record sound and add sound effects to your animation. However, it does not appear to use the pressure sensitivity of the touch-screen like the Colors! program. Flipnote Studio is available as a free download from the Nintendo DSi Shop.

If you have used either of these programs let us know your thoughts about them in a comment to this post.

Coraline

A series of short videos about the making of the animated puppet film “Coraline” can be viewed on the Film in Focus website. Coraline is directed by Henry Selick and is said to be the first stop-motion animated puppet adventure to be originally filmed in 3D.

It is the story of Coraline Jones, who is bored in her new home until she finds a secret door and discovers an alternate version of her life on the other side. This parallel reality seems much better than her real life to start with, but then this seemingly perfect world turns dangerous – and the fun begins.

There are ten behind-the -scenes videos, each running for two to three minutes.

The one called “Bringing It To Life Featurette” uses speeded up footage to show the animators at work. There are also clips from the movie interspersed with interviews with the film makers.

A video called “Brian and Martin Featurette” concentrates on a scene where Coraline gets accidentally soaked from a bath shower. To animate the water they created a series of plastic models of the spray water and substituted them one frame at a time.

The “3D Featurette” demonstrates how they set about shooting the two viewpoints necessary for 3D using just one camera.

Let us know your thoughts on these behind the scenes videos in a comment to this post.

A collection of 13 short films from the Aardman Animations studio have been added to a film site called Indie Movies Online. The movies are free to watch although you do have to sit through a 30 second advert before the movie plays.

Among the movies on offer are Peter Lord’s Oscar-nominated Adam in which God is attempting to lay down some rules to the first man on Earth – while Adam himself is longing for somebody to keep him company. Plasticine animation.

Will Becher’s Boxed In centres on an old man, living alone in a sparse room. But when a mouse incurs into his tiny world, he rediscovers some purpose and vigor. Puppet animation.

Creature Comfortsis the Oscar-winning short from Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park, in which interviews with the public are used to put words in animal mouths. Plasticine animation.

Adam, Boxed In and Creature Comforts from Aardman Animations studio.

Let us know your favourite out of this Aardman collection in a comment to this post.