StopMoShorts.com

Okay kids, check out the new link over there----------->. Most everyone in the stop-motion community knows all about StopMoShorts.com, but for those who are new around here, you must visit this site.

"StopMoShorts.com is an online film festival where animators can submit their short films for public viewing. Each quarterly event will present a new challenge and we encourage anyone with an interest in puppet animation to participate regardless of your level of expertise. Beginners are especially welcome.

In addition, we offer to host content submitted by our users. Animators are encouraged to submit short films, test footage, tutorials and showreels. Most file types are accepted (including text and audio files) but for video, Quicktime is the preferred standard.

Staff Members include: Nick Hilligoss, Mike Brent, Jason Gottlieb, Lionel Orozco and Eric Scott. Inspired from an original idea by Kelly Mazurowski."

A fun site for stop-motion enthusiasts, what could be better than that? My hats off to the founders of the site, and to all of those who contribute to it. Way to keep the dream alive!

Sew What?

The Unbreakable eggs have formed their plastic shells, and now they are ready to be dressed. Liz has been mucho busy making their cute little costumes. The fabric that we picked is brilliant, really going to hold up nice under those Hollywood lights. Again, a vast improvement over last years model.
Here are some pictures of Liz cutting, sewing,and fitting the clothes for our egg heroes.

Breaking The Mold

Liz has been working on the egg mold for the Unbreakables puppets. What a process I tell ya! It sure beats the old fashioned Unbreakables that were made out of wood and sanded to perfection. These new and improved eggs have rig points, are more animateable, and lighter to boot.

So here are some pictures of the process that it takes to make a plastic egg. Most of you already know this, but for those who don't, you basically mix up a batch of rubber that you will then pour the liquid plastic into. The rubber mold is the blue stuff there. When that baby is all set, you then pour your plastic and boom, there ya go. Instant Unbreakable.

The Lunchbox DV

I received some information in the mail awhile ago that I thought was kinda neat. The cats that make The Lunchbox have come out with a new model. It's called the Lunchbox DV, and here is what the website has to say about it.

The LunchBox DV is a frame grabber capable of recording individual frames or full motion video, and playing them back, full screen, at a user selectable 24 or 30 frames per second (NTSC, or 25 fps, PAL). It can also display frames sequentially. The LunchBox DV also records sound and plays it back with the video. It also can do audio "scrubbing" as you step through frames sequentially. The LunchBox DV accepts input from analog video or DV cameras and can transfer animation to and from a computer as DV over firewire.

So it seems that it has some new bells and whistles which is pretty exciting, but I hope that it can survive in the modern stop-motion market of cheaper frame grabbing systems. Priced at $3,500.00, it still seems a bit high.

Personally, I love the Lunchbox. I use the original for our Make Out City animations, and on Robot Chicken we all use the Lunchbox Sync. I have used the Frame Thief before, and it just doesn't work as well. I welcome the new Lunchbox with open arms!

These are exciting times.

A Cold Hard Flash

Notice the new link over there------>. Cold Hard Flash is a terrific website that talks all about the great flash animation and artists that are filling the web and the toob with their greatness.

And it just so happens that the site is run by Liz's very own cousin, Aaron Simpson. Who is Aaron Simpson? Well here is what the internet has to say about him.

Aaron Simpson,an Emmy-nominated animation producer, is the founder and editor of Cold, Hard Flash. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he recently served as a producer for Warner Bros. Animation’s Flash-animated series COCONUT FRED’S FRUIT SALAD ISLAND. Producing more than a dozen development shorts for Warner Bros. Animation, Aaron helped to develop two series the Studio debuted on Kids’ WB!’s during the 2005-2006 season – COCONUT FRED'S FRUIT SALAD ISLAND and JOHNNY TEST. Aaron has been producing Flash animation since 2001, starting with JORGE R. GUTIERREZ' EL MACHO, an online series of shorts for Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment.

Aaron currently serves as Vice President of Animation Production and Development at JibJab Media in Santa Monica, California.

So what have YOU done lately? Check out his site now!

Some inspiration

One of our faithful readers last week asked us "What was our inspiration for our new Unbreakable episode?". Although it is hard to pinpoint things like that, I will say that after we came up with our new story idea, and we drew our storyboards....I found something very similar. The very first shot from the new episode will look a lot like this.














Okay, so it's just a fence and a house....But it looks a lot like the fence and the house that we are making. Coincidence, probably. Interesting, not really. Here is another picture of a house from our neighborhood that gave us some ideas. You see, these are the kinds of things you see when you step out of your house and explore your world. So then you can run back inside, close the curtains, shut out the world and animate in the dark. Spooky.

A Fence Siv

Today I have been working on some of the set elements for The Unbreakables. To the left is a picture of the storyboards that we are working off of. As you can see, I'm not the greatest artist, but it gets the point across.

Below is a picture of the fence and a sidewalk that I am making. Tomorrow I'll post a picture for what is part of the inspiration for the new episode, so you can look forward to that. Does the pencil make me look smarter?

A Little Something Called "Otafuku Rex"

An amazing music video by Eric Towner has finally been released, check out the website of the band here. It was animated by some of the gifted Robot Chicken animators Ethan Marek, Tennessee Norton, Josh Jennings, Eric Towner, Sihanouk Mariona, and Liz and myself. David Candelaria was the puppet master, and B-Dogg Kokoszka did a lot of the post work.

The Cat's Meow

Today Liz has been working on the cat puppet for The Unbreakables. The fur was cut, dyed, and then glued to the body. It used to be a boy......
Liz has also been working on the molds for the eggs, and I'll post those up soon. And yes, I have been working too.

I have been putting together our main shooting stage; putting the table in place, the sky up, and putting order to the chaos that is our equipment.
I have also been cutting some set elements, and working on my tan.

North By Northwest

Some big to do's up in Portland, home of some of the greatest animation talent in the Northwest. Here is an article about a new campus they are building that will hold their 400 employees.....to be completed in 2008.

The Unpackers

This has been another crazy week for Make Out City Studios. We put The Unbreakables on hold, and we did some major unpacking. Here is a picture of our hired help.

We have done work on the egg film; Liz on the puppets and I have been working on the sets. I have pictures in the can, and I will post them real soon. Our new setup is going to work gangbusters!

Movin' On Up

Last week Make Out City Studios moved into our new location which will give us more space to spread out and make new episodes of The Unbreakables. On Monday we will resume production and updates will follow, but here is a picture of us moving all of our stuff to get you by until then.