I’ve been experimenting with music recording a bit lately and have an idea that calls for a low-fi vocal sound. Singing through a kazoo works (somewhat) but isn’t the easiest approach so I started looking into vintage harmonica microphones, which are known for their gritty qualities when used in vocal recordings.

In the process, I learned “tin can” microphones are quite easy to construct, so I gave it a try.

The metal can was one I’ve had laying around for a while. I couldn’t help not sanding around the edges more, to give it a well-used appearance.

No advanced electronics expertise required here: The main components are a piezo transducer and 1/4″ microphone jack.

Next I’ll experiment with altering the resonance within the can using things like aluminum and wax paper. (And perhaps try building the mic element itself from scratch.)

Woo hoo!

Ahem.  I recently finished post-production on my quirky, sci-fi  mockumentary film entitled “Hickory Never Bleeds”.

It was filmed with a very limited crew (ie. me and my wife) and features a cast of local talent.

Synopsis:

This sci-fi mockumentary follows the unusual efforts of the Monster Defense Team, a group appointed by 94-year-old mayor Harper Stokes (Hayward Barrett) after the small, reportedly monster-inhabited, town of Farr is ridiculed by the media.

Retired machinist and weapons enthusiast Emil Sutton (Mark Forte) acts as the team’s leader, whose primary objective is to capture or kill the threat lurking in their woods. Emil takes under his wing the young, enthusiastic Ard Bridges (Torrey Harriel), a graphic designer who escaped to Farr as an alternative to city life. Concerned for the team’s public image, Ard insists they have a professionally-designed logo.

Former Army engineer Munn Feith (James Sonny Howard) brings additional firepower to the team, along with an understanding of conspiracy theories and a strong appreciation for Samurai swords.

Concern escalates among the group for the fourth – and most reclusive – member, Leland Walles (Frank Ladner), whose home is a small shed in the middle of the woods. Using his own peculiar technique of audio cassette ‘fear conditioning’, Leland seems all too willing to face the threat alone.

The town residents round out the quirky personalities presented in this story, offering up their theories about what the creature is, where it came from, and what should be done about it.

Trailer:

I’ll be premiering the film locally this month, and entering into a couple of nearby film festivals.

New music video for Jones Unleashed…

Little details not only enhance realism, but they can be the most enjoyable aspect of the puppet and prop-building process.

Adding scuff marks with abrasives, distressing new/clean surfaces, wearing down edges, and just plain making stuff look old is all part of the fun.

This is what the boots look like now:

(Real mud will be added while filming.)

Here’s a shot of the blaster with holster and strap:

The front of the gun came from a small Maglite flashlight which was worn down with sandpaper, starting with 180 grit and finishing with 400 grit.
A small galvanized pipe fitting connects the metal front to the handle, which was sculpted from PaperClay and then painted. An old metal knob was added for appeal.

Undoubtedly the most enjoyable prop to work on was the backpack. Here’s how it looks currently:

It serves a functional purpose (basically a transmitter of sorts), so I wanted to make the bits and pieces tie together in a somewhat believable way.

I’m nearly finished as far as the puppet and his props are concerned. The next steps involve setting up some scenes/backdrops and some odd-and-end set pieces and props.

My biggest gripe with computer animation is the lack of spontaneity. There’s lots of STUFF that goes into it: Modeling, texturing, rigging, animating, rendering, waiting…

I almost always carry a small notepad in my pocket. If something comes to mind – such as a story idea, some piece of dialog, etc. – then I have it there to record whatever it is I thought of. But every two or three pages is full of little character thumbnails. Sometimes one of these characters catches my fancy and I try to translate that into a digital character that I can animate. This means doing tons of poly modeling (using the sketch as reference), texturing, rigging… just a bunch of stuff before I ever get to the point where I can animate the character. And when I do get to that point, my morale is shot because the character has lost whatever it was that I really liked in the first place.

That is largely what resulted in the paper cut-out animations. This really helped take the original “charm” of the character directly into the animate-able version, AND sped up the whole modeling process (since I’m only using 2D planes)… but as simple as it is, there’s still quite a bit of setup involved.

So I started thinking beyond that. Even so far as to wonder “How can I remove the computer from the whole process? How can I just get an ‘animated’ performance in-camera. No rigging, no texturing, no rendering.”

IMMEDIACY is what I was after.

This led to some experiments with moving paper characters in front of the camera by hand. I remembered the intro to an old show called “Mrs. Cabobble’s Caboose” (a public television program we had to watch in the 3rd grade). The characters in the intro were just sorta moved about, with limbs dangling – apparently attached by little springs or something. It had a nice handmade, energetic feel to it.

But I started to consider how I’d tackle lipsync/dialog in that scenario, which led me to think “Hey, I can just add a tracker point to the face and add the mouth shapes on… the… computer.” And this defeated the purpose.

A couple weeks after this, I see a post by animator extraordinaire Keith Lango. Not only did he just complete a short film… he completed it within a weekend! Using PUPPETS. (Check out Keith’s post HERE.)

Keith said many things that resonated with me:

It’s like a dream come true! And I’ve got ideas for more shorts, too. The key thing for me is to get the ideas done and out there, entertain, tell stories, reveal and live with characters. I finally feel like I can do that without investing months or years to get my ideas out. Plus I’m not just stuck in my studio on the computer. I’m up, moving around, breaking a sweat, learning new things. Even better, my wife and kids help, too- it’s really a family thing in ways that animation never was or could be. Working with my hands on something is just too cool. But I won’t be quitting my day job as an animator, though. I still like that too much.

Inspired by this, I decided to give puppetry a try. Here’s what I’ve got so far…

I’m a woodworker by trade, so I’m geared to wanna work with my hands; it’s way more intuitive. It’s also rewarding in the sense that I can take whatever I’ve made and show the kids right away, getting instant enjoyment from their reactions. And as a bonus, my wife likes the fact that she can help sew stuff for me.

I’ve got a bit more to figure out, including arm movement via rods (and I’m considering making a separate hand for closeup shots.) Also, some of the parts for this particular character are still a little “clean” and need proper distressing (sandpaper, dirt, paint, etc.) The vest, goggles and blaster are pretty much where I want them.

The character shown here is for an upcoming music video. I hope to upload video footage once complete!

Here’s a video I completed recently for a local group called Jones Unleashed..

The “story” part was filmed in an early-1900′s church, and the band performance was shot in a local field. All of the projected sequences were done here at my home/studio.

You can hear more Jones Unleashed on Facebook.