Live Action & Stop Motion Test Shot

[Feuyaer]

well done!

[delaneypratt]

can stop watching this

[delaneypratt]

Nice work! I'm Subscribing!

[silenceofthehills]

C'mere...I just wanna hug!

[Darius12235]

This shows that we don't need CGI just yet. The monster actually looks real this way.

[GhostOfACPast]

WOW!!!

[JKIProductionz]

whats the puppet made from?

[animatorIsomer]

@JKIProductionz I threw that puppet together really quickly, it's a rubber latex build up over a wire armature and carved cushion foam.

[Vortex42]

Loving the comments!

[matt9736]

so theres a tutorial on how you did it, but how did you line the model with the footage?

[animatorIsomer]

@matt9736 The puppet is on a flying rig so, it's not anchored to the floor at all. I shoot using a frame grabber (Dragon Stop Motion) so I can see the background movie and the puppet superimposed on top. Basically I'm just positioning the model and the lights (because the lighting change during this shot) until it just looks correct.

This shot would have been easier to shoot if we had placed the camera on a tripod and just panned smoothly but, this test shot was intentionally made challenging.

[matt9736]

@animatorIsomer thanks, it looks awesome i might have to try this

[Dinoslay]

@animatorIsomer There's also a way to digitally stabilize a moving shot and then destabilize it after the necessary additions have been made so it isn't always necessary to align the puppet's camera with the live action camera thus less hassle in fitting it. There are of course the axis turns like at the wall in this clip that need aligning but it still helps reduce the amount of distraction.

[animatorIsomer]

@Dinoslay Yes, for this shot alone we made a conscious decision to work with a shot that was not stabilized so that we could deal with a 'worst case scenario' just to see if it could be done. We actually stabilized the live action footage of this shot after this had already been completed, just to see how well that would work also.

We did this because we know how sometimes you can't count on technology doing what you expect, so this test answered the question 'what if it doesn't?'.

[Dinoslay]

@animatorIsomer IMHO technology only enhances what the individual itself does. Think about how CGI could benefit the tactile work if it were only used to enhance it and not replace it(one good example being the digital work done on the orc masks in the LOTR fan film Hunt For Gollum). The digital blur here already does that. We should have the option to choose using computer tools selectively and do I mean selectively.

[animatorIsomer]

@Dinoslay - Naaaaa, I say CGI creators should always model their own props in the computer. They know how to do everything just as well as us sculptors and prop builders do, so let them do it. I'd rather not see perfectly good props and puppets get wasted by turning them into polygon models, I like to see the real thing on screen.

For me, the best way to look at technology used for movie making is as camera equipment. It's just not a movie if there's nothing in front of a camera lens. Ha!☺

[Dinoslay]

@animatorIsomer That's a good observation and I respect your opinion. What I mean about the CGI bit is that if mesh models were used in tiny 3D tracked increments on real objects they would not distract the viewer from the fact that its 99% a real object but would still make it seem more alive than it is. Good CGI is invisible, bad CGI is on-your-face. Even stop motion can have that problem. It's still nevertheless the story and how it's told that's priority number one.

[Dinoslay]

@Dinoslay May I also add that building CG mesh model parts onto real puppets also gives the computer artists way better reference when it comes to blending the effect to live action footage rather than if they were to use just white balls when putting 100% mesh modeled characters to an otherwise unrelated video. Mixing approaches is always a good idea as it leaves space to improvise. I do not mean that doing it 100% practical is bad, one just has to know the restrictions well.

[animatorIsomer]

@Dinoslay I was just joking a bit in my last comment. I mostly agree with your comment about how effects need to be invisible but, that only applies if that's the kind of film you want to make. 'Perfection' is the Hollywood standard now but, I don't mind lower budget 'B' films in which the effects are more obvious. After all, they're just movies meant for fun and I don't think they always need to be 'hyper real'.

[Dinoslay]

@animatorIsomer Peter Montgomery(kezadrone) is a really good example of b-film approaches being done very realistically in independent art form. The world needs more people like him.

Even Hollywood has to sometimes respect imperfection for it too can bring perfection when handled with said respect. ;)

[animatorIsomer]

@Dinoslay - I Loves what Peter is doing! (I hope to join forces with him in the future)

[Dinoslay]

@animatorIsomer I too am always curious to see what else he comes up with next.

[unluckynutter]

when stop motion is done this well it looks better than CGI in my opinion

[Roncace]

I sure would like to know how combine stop motion and live action like this?

[animatorIsomer]

@Roncace -

Take a look at my tutorial on 'Front Light/Back Light Matting' that was the basic process I used to combine the images. The motion blur comes from a plug-in called 'Real Smart Motion Blur'.

[Srdragonis1977]

wow very nice looks very good !!!!

[bluworm]

I am flabbergasted!

[dragnink]

awesome! shows a ton of promise

o7levi i sent you a friends request because your project sounds similar to mine, fellow star wars fan here and i'm interested to see your work!

[animatorIsomer]

Similar to your project? What project would that be?

[animatorIsomer]

Similar to your project? What project would that be?

[animatorIsomer]

Similar to your project? What project would that be?

[animatorIsomer]

Similar to your project? What project would that be?

[animatorIsomer]

Similar to your project? What project would that be?

[drsyn]

beautiful

[studio1018]

How have I never seen this????? WOWZAS! This is scary and awesome. SO COOL!

[animatorIsomer]

Consider this a preview for Sinbad The 5th Voyage! Thanks for being there for the show tonight. :)

[animatorIsomer]

I had my lights on tracks overhead so I could slide them from one angle to another to compensate for the camera move. You need to figure out all that stuff in advance of shooting so you can just focus on the puppet.

Adding the motion blurs with software is not only easier but, it's far more accurate than Go Motion ever was. The hand held footage was hard to match the motion of in this shot, that would be better done in post as well but, this was a test to see if that could be done. Thanks! :)

[kuliana24]

found a link from the lab, and I think it rox! I have loved animation since childhood, but I've just started to get serious with it. mine are crude, but smooth. I do them in small increments for best effect. Haven't done advanced stuff as motion blur, ( ie; go-motion) though I've studied it. I'm doing shorts, and someday even a full length film. Heavy Metal, but with puppets. My specialty is makeup FX. I'm struggling to find work. Check out my video: "Tankersley FX" Thanks!

[animatorIsomer]

The good news is, there's no reason to even consider using 'go-motion' anymore. Motion blurs can be added digitally now as a post effect so there's no need to motorize the puppet in any way. You can animate in the classic Harryhausen style but with the newer tools for compositing, you can do much more than ever before!

[champus1969]

Amazing.

I didn´t know Stop Motion could be so smooth.

[iamhandsometruestory]

@champus1969 Most probably the stopmotion was enhanced with motion blur

[TerryZgraja]

absolutely amazing!!!!

[TheCyberController]

That was amazing. That is all I can say. Thank you for showing this. You have inspired me to go further into my animations!

[animatorIsomer]

Thanks! Doing this test shot helped me get the gig doing some puppet animation on Sinbad The 5th Voyage that's in preproduction now. So if all goes well, you'll be able to see more of this kind of thing late next year in that film. :)

[Luffse]

shit that was great! you guys really show what stop motion can do! to me, stop motion looks much better than cgi if you know how to handle it! It also looks much smoother when a properly motion blur is added! Well done guys! very well done!

[Dinoslay]

Yes, that's how I feel modern techniques should be worked with, by keeping them in minimum. The best type of effect is the one you cannot pick out. Modern production pipelines make the fakeness of it all kinda obvious. All that one needs from "3D" is the three-dimensional space. What occupies that space doesn't have to be all-pixel in structure.

Very elusive method done to a wonderful artform. I'm looking forward to learn from you. ;)

[TK42138]

Totally agree. You only have to watch George Lucas' Star Wars prequels to see how painfully obvious the overuse of greenscreen and cgi sets and models is.

Good to see old school techniques still being used. It's a true art form.

[Dinoslay]

Not rush, I understand that you wish to keep it a secret for now. I'm myself much into Stop Motion and would love to do that myself someday(I heavily use After Effects). I assume that you faked the angle by replicating one turning axis in the animation and then doing the rest with modern 2D or 3D trackers. And people say that CGI can do it all. Humbug! It's not the effect but how you use it.

[animatorIsomer]

I don't have After Effects. (can't afford it) I do pretty much everything I do physically in the real world and keep the com-tech stuff to the barest minimum. But that's just my own personal end of it, I'm just the puppet builder/pusher.

These techniques are still evolving, nothing is written in stone as to what is a 'best way' to do things. That's something I've always loved about this business, always there is a need for new ideas and ways to get it done. :)

[Dinoslay]

This really gives the character a presence that you don't often see in today's entertainment industry. The fact that it's a physical entity in a moving camera shot makes it more real. This even makes the jerky motion irrelevant(plus that too can be fixed with the right method).

How many people did it take to make the character animation plate? I'd seriously appreciate a video explaining how you guys did it.

[animatorIsomer]

Thanks for the good words, that was exactly the type of reaction we were hoping to get! The physical reality of stop motion puppets is the biggest benefit to creating that look of real world physical interaction between the live and the animated elements. I shot the did everything involving the stop motion myself and the digital matching was also donet by a single person.

As for a how-to video, we need to keep some the herbs and spices in our secret sauce mum for now, ;)

[tatiarosenthal]

looks amazing Ron! how did you guys plan this?!

[animatorIsomer]

In a hurry! Actually the methods and tools have been something we've been toying with for a while now and just decided to give it a try. The obvious goal is to bring back that method of stop motion masterfully done by Ray Harryhausen that has been absent from movie screens for far too long.

We can do this VERY economically, making it a viable alternative to CGI for indie film producers. Stay tuned, we WILL be doing more! :)

[stopmo]

very impressive, love the hand held cam and the interactivity with the set. great job!

[portablemind2]

amazing. this turned out sooo good. congrats on a great test! the lighting is really well done.

[damienwise]

Lots of stuff going-here that is normally taken for granted in live-action but difficult when mixing live-action and stop-mo. Lighting looks consistent, the camera-move is nicely matched, and the puppet is interacting with the scenery. Looking at the puppet in isolation, it's got some beautiful weight/momentum.

Can't wait to see more! :)

[claysuicide]

awesome job

[DanStevenson]

Did you use rear projection or after effects?

[StopMoWorks]

Again, a rough quick test of Stop Mo added to a Live-Action moving camera shot. Done by a group of Stop Motionists know as the 'International Stop Motion Consortium' aka ISMC. See end credits. Proof of concept that Harryhausen-esque can be more Modern & Contemporary .... continued ....

[StopMoWorks]

..... continued ..... ISMC is exploring a variety of methods to create more advanced looking creature character Stop Motion. We may not be able to do everything mouse-clickers do with computer animated synthesized creatures, but we feel audiences would like something 'different' and ISMC is dedicated to carry on the tradition of the master, Mr. Ray Harryhausen.

[animatorIsomer]

Well said sir! Did I mention that we do this for hire? ;)

[willmundell3]

well the fact it only took 2 weeks makes it even more impressive Ron! I have to say your mould making tutorials are very helpful too, made a large dragon out of silicone for my 3rd year uni film, most frustrating and rewarding thing i think ive done! wish i had seen your tutorials beforehand.

[willmundell3]

wow, thats really clever and must have taken an eternity to achieve to the high standard it is. I love seeing people test the limits of stop motion, especially when the results are like this. Fantastic work as always.

[animatorIsomer]

An 'eternity'? Nope, we threw this together in about 2 weeks from starting to build the puppet to the finished shot. The part of it that really takes time is just getting it straight in your head about what needs to be done and how to do it.

One of the biggest problems we had was just getting some good background footage to match a puppet into. Fortunately, my friend Paul lives not too far away from the castle you see in this shot. Once we had that it was like, "Cool let's stick in a monster!"

[willmundell3]

simply wonderful, very impressive attention to detail with the differing lighting and shadows, was this done post production or did you animate with different light intensities?

[animatorIsomer]

Thanks for noticing. the changing light was done both ways, in front of the camera as well as 'atmosphere' applied in post. My lights on the puppet were on sliding tracks to mimic the directional changes in the live action. Color density and contrast adjustments need to be applied in the computer in order to simulate light diffused in the air to create the illusion of real scale and distance.

[BeebleProductions]

stop motion is only not done cos its so expensive its really awesome my favorite type of animation./

[animatorIsomer]

Thanks but, I should point out that stop motion really isn't expensive at all. It's actually comparably priced if not less costly than other types of animation.

[gollum42]

Incredible. Simply wonderful!

[scareglow77]

This is breathtaking.  I don't even know what to say except WOW. This is EXCELLENT.

[animatorIsomer]

I'll be the first to admit that there are some problems with this shot but, I think we are off to a good running start! Thanks for the good words. :)

The days of Harryhausen style stop motion are not over just quite yet... and with any luck, they never will be!

[Dragonlordmike]

and with people like us keeping this kind of visually stunning and aww inspiring animation alive, itl never die out, we just need to use the technology that people said would kill of creature effects in animation to OUR advantage and slap them in the face with it! LOVE LIVE THE NAMES OF HARRYHAUSEN, O'BRIAN AND ALL OTHER CREATURE EFFECT ANIMATORS!

[FandSproduction]

You're a stopmotion genius! Stopmotion can really be done so professionally that it can look real!

Cheap

Generic

Imaging

CGI in films does look fake half the time. This looks practically real!

[brennig2]

Very good, Your very helpful on the forums as well :)

[penguinboy247]

That was freaking awesome!

The creature was very well made, and it looked so real chasing the guy.

His movements were just unbelievable when he hit the wall and stuff.

Your work is amazing!

Can't wait to see more.

[idragosani]

WOW! I love it!

[idothing]

wohoo ! As dragonlordmike said... will there be more pictures of that very very very well sculpted horned thing ? And the way he gets around the corner, nearly crashing into the wall and the whole run. Greatly done !

[animatorIsomer]

Yes come to think of it, I do have some photos I can post over on SMA. I'll do that in a little while. Thanks for reminding me.

[Dragonlordmike]

thats really well shot, excellent and they say cgi is better, HA with tallent like this in the world, who needs computers!