Goals, Updates, & Stopmotion

Since Peter has been producing all the latest episodes and writing all the latest blog entries, I thought I might step in for a moment with an update.

I want to start this entry off by saying that if you like animation, make sure you see Coraline in 3D if at all possible. I saw it on Thursday evening with my sister (I took her for her 19th birthday) and have been motivated to work on my stop-motion stuff since (I’ve pretty much been working on it non-stop). I’ll even admit that I was a little scared towards the end of the film. It’s quite an experience. And RealD really is the next level of 3D. I’m a little bit disappointed because I know the next movie I go to see probably won’t be using this amazing technology.

My desk is kind of a mess right now!

I’ve kept it sort of a secret all this time, but I have a hidden passion for stop-motion animation. And I’ve been working on a secret project for quite some time now, but I suppose it couldn’t hurt to share it with you guys. I’m building a (somewhat) scale model of my own bedroom, complete with foam latex puppet of myself. It’s for a little online series I plan on creating, it’ll basically be a video blog of me in my room except it will be done entirely in stop-motion. I’ve been working on this thing for a very long time, you guys don’t even know. Check out my flickr gallery. And I recently posted a quick little animation test on Vimeo.

This is what I’m recreating in miniature

And here’s a closeup shot of my WIP

Peter and I have been thinking about the future of Take Zer0 quite a bit lately. Despite our latest 2.0 update to the site, we think that with a few modifications, we can really turn this place from a simple blog into an actual community. Don’t expect anything too soon (we’re still just two guys without jobs), but know that it’s coming (TZ 2.1, if you will). We appreciate any and all feedback from you guys (don’t hesitate to use that button on the left side of our site).

Hopefully our efforts pay off. We’ve both been wondering if it’s all really worth it or not. Why don’t we just go off and make short films? Why not make features and show them in festivals and sell them to a studio? All in time, I suppose. But until then, Take Zer0 is our stomping ground.

What’s next? Peter should be posting the next episode pretty soon. He’s also working on Clip Show. As for me, I haven’t given up on The Late Morning, but I’ve been busy and have had quite a few distractions. I’ve also been learning a lot about writing, myself. I realized I have to start thinking about characters and their wants and needs and not just focus on an interesting plot.