For less than $10 million?
The Stereoscopic AniJam is here! One person animates a segment, then another person picks it up and animates some more. And then another.
- No need to get everyone in the same room
- no need for them to all be available at once
- no need to find the perfect script (we make it up as we go along)!
I'll give detailed instructions to every participant, but here's the quick scoop:
Anyone can play!
Old pros and amateurs, newbees and old-bees... there's room for every skill level. This is a great opportunity to test your wits, flex your animation muscles, and experiment with Stereoscopic animation. Mr. Hash is generously donating some prizes. You can't win if you don't enter!
But don't all raise your hands at once, because...
...you have to take turns. As soon as someone finishes his/her segment I'll put out the call for the next volunteer. We won't stop until everyone who wants to has had a chance to take part. When we run out of animators... we're done!
How far will it go? If we get 30 seconds put together that would already be a success in my book. A minute would great. Even more? We'll find out.
160 Frames of Fame
a mere six and two thirds seconds at 24 fps. Why the weird number? because our...
Unifying element
is a click track running at 144 beats per minute. That works out to 10 frames per beat, and 16 beats is a good musical unit.
Animating to a beat is a great way to give even modest animation big impact. It worked for Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie, it will work for you! When everyone is done I'll strip out the click track and slap in some "real" music with the same tempo.
Can I do anything?
The best AniJams I've seen were the ones where each animator neatly dovetailed his/her work with that of the animator who worked immediately before him. To help you do something that makes sense, you get to see the whole segment that was done before you came in.
So, if you got a segment of a man riding a bike, you might continue that by having him crash into a tree and fall down. The next animator would just get your segment. She might continue the story by having someone run in to help. Or maybe she'd make someone fall out of the tree that got hit. Every animator gets to add his/her spin to the movie.
But don't give away the secret (beginning, middle or) ending.
Part of the fun is everyone's surprise when they see how their part fit into the whole.
And don't forget...
It's in Stereo
Stereoscopic movies are lots of fun to look at. A:M has done Stereo for a long time, but hardly anyone makes stereoscopic animations with it. Here's your chance to be part of the next big thing!
Fine Print: My plan is to make all the Chors we produce available to the A:M community when we're done, so I anticipate we'll mostly be using models from the web and CDs. But if you have a character you want to use and don't mind it going public, that's ok. Also if this turns out well, it may go to a festival, so you're agreeing that your work can be used that way too.
So, who wants to step up and get this barge going?
Animators, e-mail me privately at theguy@brilliantisland.com and I'll get someone started.
On the topic of potatoes...my school's french fries are atrocious.
