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@thatparanoidsnail
My study programme initiated a homepage a year ago to collect and showcase all productions that have been created in the university atmosphere. Uploading a new project every week and at the same time highlighting it in a category called “spotlight”. This week`s my turn - giving me a reason to finally make it public online.
Solivagant - my stop motion animated short is finally online for everyone to watch! Lean back, put your best headphones on and get immersed in the unknown microcosmos of a lost snail :)
Shared with Dropbox
Before handing in my film experiment as a graduation project (I received an A by the way), I was asked to write a project log, how everything evolved and to make clear, on what tasks I spent my time all these months. Things my profs told us about our final projects and its documentation beforehand:
- We need to decide on a concept and follow it.
- The log should prove that we put a few thoughts into our projects and not just “film it / whatever happens”.
- It should be some kind of guide for future students that aim for similar projects.
In game development “postmortems” are often written to make public what has succeeded, what failed, in the development of a game product. Usually failures are covered up, shedding light towards the shiny achievements. I see my project log as an “animated short film postmortem”, while being brutally honest, how decisions and obstacles manifest in SOLIVAGANT. It`s German and if you`re into it, be my dear reader :)
Festivals - to be seen or not be seen... Festival season is ending soon, and two events are worth mentioning:
1) SOLIVAGANT made it through selection round No. 1 at Cardiff International Film Festival 2017/ UK, which basically means, it was good enough to be passed on from previewing to the final acclaimed jury. The jury will then pick semi-finals, that will be shown on the festival screen (and have a chance on winning). My short didn`t make it that far, but from all the thousand of entries I`m happy I made it through stage one.
2) The animation got selected for the STIFF San Mauro International Film Festival 2018 as a semi-finalist, which is really cool - the catch here: due to unforeseen events the festival got cancelled a few weeks prior to the event date (which leads back to - no Italian show for my snail...)
I sent SOLIVAGANT into competition worldwide: children festivals, animation festivals, experimental and short film festivals. The animated short got rejected by almost every festival I applied. It was an experiment, and I would never say it failed. SOLIVAGANT is a very specific, absurd and subtle film, that surely doesn`t and cannot please everyone. In a festival selection circuit it - as it shows - easily falls under the radar, due to it`s silent approach. It highly depends on what device your watching and listening on - there are so many clues I`ve hidden in the audio tracks that get lost on stereo loudspeakers, so many details that hide on the big screen. True, to experience more than unusual stop motion graphics and sound collages, it demands a lot from the viewer`s openness to a non-verbal storyline.
It needs you to listen.
My friend and music composer has gone a step further in the mean time. Inspired by the film, the idea and its aesthetic he decided to use the leitmotif for another track, with lyrics even. Have a listen!
I`m also considering to give this track to someone who might get inspired to make some abstract art that could serve as a film poster...
After that preview night, I knew that the snail has some interesting aesthetic to it. And it deserved music by a proper musician. I`m a sound recordist, I set up microphones, wherever they can pick up the best-possible sound and I love the art of listening; but composing was beyond that. I let my VFX friend do the motion design for the credits, not because I couldn`t use After Effects myself, rather because he can do it much faster and much more beautiful than me. So why struggle with things that are more intuitive to other people I am surrounded by? I asked an IT student that I have always connected to music, because that`s where I usually meet him. Concerts. Listening to or being part of. He got really excited by musically following in the inspirational footsteps of Martin Molin - and came up with a more fantastical music piece than I had ever imagined! Unfortunately there`s no video proof of how he did it, but he did share a few of his tricks: For the beat he used the table by clapping and hitting it in various ways or simply snipping. But he also used a package of rose leaf tea and squashed it, making the sound that reminds me of pebbles!! And for the background he modified his piano, partially covering the strings with the hand and paper, to produce a unique sound. On top of that he recorded a clarinette solo for the lead... To be honest, I can`t really imagine how he did it, the descriptions result in blank astonishment to me. Anyway, it doesn`t matter how many creative thoughts went into the music-making process that I don`t understand: it doesn`t change the fact, that I am really honoured by the committment and that it`s such a beautiful work of art.
Of course, what would Solivagant be without the drama resolving into rhythm and music? Probably not much. For the preview that was shown recently in Bayreuth in front of my colleagues and teachers I did something I don`t usually like to do: I used copyrighted material. Everything that goes into my short film, is supposed to be created exceptional for it - that is my aspiration. When I was in the sound design process I first tried to come up with musical ideas myself; using kitchen ware, glasses, my keyboard, kalimba, a glockenspiel, an ukulele. Even though it wasn`t that bad, it was not convincing, either. It didn`t deliver the feeling I wanted to, the different types of instruments didn`t harmonize, it just didn`t feel “right”. But deadline was approaching fast, so when I stumbled upon the really beautiful music made with the Marble Machine, that had been built by the amazing Swedish band Wintergatan, I was like: THIS. IS. AMAZING. I really liked the uplifting vibe, the originality, the noise in the background and the dedication that went into this masterpiece. Just for fun I listened to it while watching my final cut - it was the kind of music I was subconsciously looking for and now I found it, BUT it wasn`t mine...
The first screening of SOLIVAGANT at my universities yearly film night yesterday was a good kick-off. I just recently read in a library book about design work that creativity means having the courage to stand behind one`s own ideas and more importantly even, wanting to share these ideas. I`m just at the beginning of doing so, the feedback by now was pretty heart-warming. My little snail had the honour to make photographs with its first official fans! And with this delighting encounter it also got to be named after a beloved cuddly toy: ELSE/ELLY.
So at this intersection of fear and courage, strenght and selflove in the center of Bayreuth, it`s time to head towards great adventures. Festival deadlines, I see you.
I`ve hidden in the editing room for the last couple of weeks.. to see the snail finally come alive is very rewarding. Of course I had the ups and downs during my animation process, doubting if my concept would really work out, if it could be more than just “art”. If all the sleepless nights and challenges I came across would pay. For me personally, it all did. With the sound design I also prepared, I`m looking forward to it`s first public screening this week. Feel so excited! I might rather consider it a preview, collecting feedback from my colleagues and to observe, if the snail cosmos I have envisioned for so long, has the power to affect people, entertain and make them forget their own worries for a sec.
Setup for the intro sequence:
Technically - slider in position, camera attached to the mount (yay, rubber bands!), a bit of foam underneath the objective.
Artistic - placing the props, moving them around millimeter by millimeter, re-checking in the camera, arranging the lamps.
PS: As a genuine sound person it took me about 2 days to figure out the basic lamp arrangement, as after shooting the intro sequence there would only be minor lighting tweaks (key word: continuity).
As the storyboard evolved it became clear that I would prefer a slider intro, showing off all the yummy goods on the table... typically me, I considered a DIY solution, which came out pretty basic in the end, but did its job. I used one strip of wood and cut it in two pieces as a foundation; picked leftover fabric belts and a few screws to secure the rails in place. The camera mount is made of two T-pieces glued to a rectangular wooden plate. Done!
I would not recommend it for heavy cameras or videography, though. On a small budget and no rental in sight I guess I made the best out of my means...
A few other pics from my animation stage setup - every prop on its place, lighting in position and the camera is on a little slider I made. Details in concern of the slider soon.
THIS! Considering the puppet snail to be not more than 15cm, there would have been no other way to shoot details than using macro lenses (if only I would have known better sooner...) - or extension tubes. With my DIY solution I managed to get shots like the one above, with just a certain spot clear while the rest remained blurry. A nice effect though, which would intensify the snail-POV effect as snails naturally are short-sighted :)
What crisps have to do with camera work? Well, I primarily used a 50mm lens. Did work quite well, but only for the intro sequence. After that I figured out, I wouldn`t be able to get any closer (my plan: extreme close-ups). Luckily I, a natural sound-loving person, have a couple of camera-loving friends, so one of them could help me out with a zoom lens (35-105mm) (eternal thanks!!). It still seemed impossible to achieve those detail shots - until I stumbled upon the existence of extension tubes at the dead of night. Had an empty crisps packaging lying around and did some experiments with it. 36, 20 and 16mm tubes for the start. Looking back, I still can`t believe they saved my imagery!!
I would have been lost, if I hadn`t made up an even more detailed storyboard/ shotlist... and even though I planned every take beforehand, I couldn`t resist to add additional shots. With the plywood and some fabric adhesive strips (they came in very handy during the shoot) it was a breeze to visually add them, too.
All set up: It took me two days to figure out the lighting setup - as a natural sound person and even though I`ve been watching best boys and gaffer doing their job on a real-size film set, I was keen on trying it myself. I had considerations of the key, back and fill light and tried to pursue the best possible lighting I could personally achieve - now that I had more advanced lighting gear at hand (I already imagined shooting with simple desk lamps or plain LED panels, thanks to some pals, that was not the case :) I used two soft boxes (one for the background, one for the fill light) and two headlights, one with a blue effect foil as a key light/ daylight simulation and one with a plain WD foil as the backlight (I somewhere read it would make figures in the image more three-dimensional, and I hoped it would figure out). After moving all the lights to their perfect spot, I then was in need to get my hands on the final camera settings...
As the dried latex was a distinct layer I could puncture it, to place the little antennae. They are now, opposed to the rest of the solid mouth piece, moveable to some extend.
And the latex layer gave another possibility for the magnetic construction - I first cut a hole in the front of the snail puppet, sticking in a strong tiny magnet and securing it with some drops of super glue. It was not as easy as it seems, as the latex was quite protective of its entrails. With a lot of squeezing and dragging I managed to position the circular magnet where it was supposed to go. The magnet was a last minute bargain at the craft store, but for the records: I would like to use smaller/thinner magnets next time. If they were, the hole would have been way smaller and possibly be invisible with the latex still covering it... this way the snail will look to weirdly smile forever. Anyway, for the matching mouth pieces I used the metal plate that came with the magnets, cut it into rectangles and placed them between the latex layer and the clay unit. Used again some super glue to attach them, before the flexible latex went back in it`s original shape. Did prepare all of the 10 mouth pieces in the same procedure.
Ready for some replacement animation?