Desktop Warfare

After almost an entire year of production/procrastination, Desktop Warfare is complete. I had a lot of fun with it actually. I shot the film last year, and unfortunately I forgot about all about it. It wasn't until I found it squatting in my hard drive that I began to finish it. And I am really pleased. The effects look decently real, and the collaborative sound effects are just as good. The only thing I regret is the camera I used. In some scenes it looked like I filmed it with a potato. It was my webcam. I was experimenting with onion skinning which I must say was WONDERFUL, and the only way I could do it was with the webcam. Unfortunately the webcam is the only camera I have that can hook up to a computer. It was so much easier and looked so
much better between frames. The issue will be resolved eventually. As some people say: baby steps.

Desktop Warfare from Trellis Haynie on Vimeo.

The Trouble With Foley

Last year I had a stop-motion project called "Desktop Warfare". Initially it was a box of pencil top erasers at war with each other. They had paperclips for weapons, tape rolls and CDs as helicopters, and even a glue stick as a nuclear missile. The project was actually really fun to make, but unfortunately, after I got all of the shots, effects, cuts, and frame rate fixed, it came to audio and sound effects I drew a total blank. Not only did I have a lack of a sound effects library, but I was at a complete loss for what should go where. I manage to scramble a few gunshot sounds from a few of my old computer games, and that's frankly as far as I have gone up to this point.
But I vow to myself: Finish it. What I'll probably do is pay someone to time together all the low key things: individual gunshots, background noise, just the most tedious things. And since my teacher has a whole class full of kids who I think would gladly do it. In that case, I would still have to figure out what I want them to do and what I don't want them to do. I think I will tell them that to only put in sound effects for the standard paperclip rifle. Everything else like the crayon bazooka, the wire clip sniper rifle, and the glue stick nuke would be much easier to put sound effects in for.
On another note, I need to ask around and see if there is a program in After Effects that can match the frames color wise. Unfortunately, I used a regular webcam for the video, and since it is automatic in virtually every aspect, each frame differs slightly in gamma and exposure slightly from the one before it.
Should I ever get this finished though, I will definitely be proud of this. It's the first stop-motion film I've done where there are a multitude of moving parts scooting about at once. I do look forward to being able to post this online, and here on the blog.

Why I Prefer Stop-Motion

     I'm a big fan of stop-motion animation for two reasons:
a.) I thoroughly enjoy it
b.) I don't have to put up with actors
Even with the short films I've always been doing over the years, there has consistently been a problem of the actors/grips not giving a flying f#$%. I'm not much of an extrovert, so this generally does drain a lot out of me to constantly have to keep everyone else focused. It's exhausting for me. Therefore, I like using stop-motion. I don't need to get my actors rides to the set, I don't have to pretend to care what they are talking about between shots, and I can start and stop shooting whenever I feel like it. Not a single person in my way except me, which in itself is still quite a task. I have a lot of ideas I would like to put into paper, but in many cases I lack something that makes me rethink it completely. Whether it is the right camera, proper materials, or even sometimes the things I am using breaking. It's extremely frustrating on a lot of occasions.
However, it beats having to deal with other people.
Other people just annoy the living daylights out of me.

Skydiving Rig

In my next video project, I need to create an effects that looks like a person is skydiving. There is a problem though: finding out how to make it look like someone is floating in front of a green-screen. I have a theory on how we should do it.

The basic idea is to take an office chair, remove the back rest, and wrap it in green construction paper. As the subject is filmed, someone below oscillates the chair with a rig around on the floor; spinning it and moving it in a circular motion. And to give the impression that I want, i'll need to put a fan in front of his face to make his hair act like its being blown. Either that or I make him wear a hat. The illustration below shows what I mean, however crude it may appear

My Anatomy Presentation

Here is my "PowerPoint presentation" on a skin disorder we were each assigned. In my case, it was seborrhea: a special kind of rash. This video didn't take long to make, and writing and recording the script was pretty seamless. Anyway, I had fun with it and here it is.I got the idea from watching "Zero Punctuation" on youtube, but decided to make it a bit simpler than his hilarious videos.


Seborrhea, I Adore Thee from Trellis Haynie on Vimeo.

Documentary Failure

I was once tasked with creating a documentary on something. Being lost for options, my friend and I decided to do paintball. We got there, and right there things started spiral down the crapper.Nobody wanted to do an interview, which in documentaries B-roll is incredibly important. Without it, the film would be like a twelve year old's essay on giraffes. Anyway, here is pretty much the only thing worth showing off. I had an idea for a neat introduction where I introduce the subject matter, put down the mask, and get shot a few times. As you might be able to tell from the video, it hurt a lot more than anticipated. It's still kinda funny to watch.
Documentary Intro Failure from Trellis Haynie on Vimeo.