through the looking glass

Sunday, August 8, 2010

some days everything just goes wrong ..............

( i should have taken heed when my cake was burnt on the outside and raw on the inside )

seriously..... erghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........

starts off ok.... until........ oooo no poverino ....

ear falls off ....plink...

antlers

..weirdly more difficult today than the little hands were ....?

shell casing head of clay...

can she get any more ugly ?

it appears so ....

yes

errrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh
back to the drawing board ......................

!!!!!!*/////§°çç°§:§ç§°§°§°ç : MN;HGFGHSsgraaaaaaaaaach!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

songs in the key ... part 2

so,
...where were we ........?

ah yes ........music clip,
"songs in the key." ..........puppet construction with eyeballs that are moveable within a very tiny constricted set with a big hairstyle over the open head surgery part....

first test: - solid clay head

character :

female

insecty

victorian

big bug eyes

mid 20s-ish

sweet

creepy

threadbare

and so if anyone has any fantastic ideas about workable eyelids at this stage ...feel free to ...let me know ..!!!!!!!!

the little hands were weird...as I was making them they were wrapping creepily around my finger .... odd little life-signs coming out of cold wet clay.............................................................

now ...armature for the body ... proportions ... to head size .... I want the head quite big like a child's head is, ... too big for the body ... a kind of innocence of character...

the wire is an aluminium armature stop motion wire from the UK, specifically designed for animation ... twisted to add strength with brass jointings that are tensioned for ample but restricted movement in tiny increments over a long period of time ...

the feet have joints and points for nut and bolt "tie offs" on the set so the puppet doesnt fall over from shot to shot .....

......

armature running off to Ingermaaike in Norway for a victorian felted body encasement ....

ahhhhhhhhhhh.............. if only it were that simple ............

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Lorna Thornber caught my life story gently in a butterfly net ....

HER business magazine New Zealand August 2010 issue

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

songs in the key...

having agreed to make a short film /music clip

and having decided to shoot it in stop-motion animation

and having realised today that I am already 2 months into the project and not one frame has been shot .....

...I thought it high time to mention what is going on...

to a stills photographer 2 months pre-production time sounds insanely long ...

for film it appears years are needed ... I have 4 months more
before finished product must be visible
tick tick tick ...tick.....tick...tick tick tickticktick...

(pick yourself up off the floor Mr Failsafe!)

*first step listen to the song a million times and read the lyrics

*second step interpret story - make alot of notes and scribbles for producer to make weird comments about ..try and understand that my weird scribbles don't translate to someone outside my brain

*third step design character - make a lot of sketches

*fourth step realise that you have to work out how to construct an entire workable puppet head from scratch, with moving eyes and eyelids that you can get to in the back of her head in a small set and move in tiny increments during a very long period of time...that wont fall apart during 4 months of filming

hmmmmmmmmmmm

well at least I have her eyeballs so far

Sunday, July 18, 2010

och a wee shooooooooow for insomniacs .....................August 2010

a new show

by candlelight

in the Scottish settler city of Dunedin

sheltered between the high cliffs and the harsh antarctic sea

curated by Larry Matthews

at the Lagniappe gallery

this is a group show featuring works only by pinhole camera ...

which I have been secretly working away on for 5 years ...

of my diorama pinhole polaroid collection I will show 6 images

camera oscura ..... the origins of photography

how to make a pinhole camera

always proposed to do an exhibition by torch or candlelight ,........
wonderful telepath that Larry ...!!!!

{lanyop} lagniappe small art gallery is a not-for-profit art space along george street in dunedin, new zealand behind mou very bar and above alchemy cafe. run by artist/designer/poet/magic

ian larry matthews it is open only when the sky is dark.