Holy smokes, I made a short film!!!

The surprises keep coming, though. Read on...

It's been over 10 years since I released my last fully completed short film (2001's "Lunch"). Since then I've had many, many projects come and go, with starts and stops. But now I've finally done it. I've made an honest to goodness real short film- and finished it! Presenting "My Bathroom" starring Yurt the Yeti...



Wait, wait... puppets??!!! Yep, I've gotten into puppetry. And let me tell you, it is very addictive. When I was growing up my entertainment sensibilities were shaped by two major influences- the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes shorts and Jim Henson's Muppets. I've managed to make a career out of animation, but now due to the encouragement of family and friends I'm doing puppetry for the sheer joy of it. I'm having an absolute blast! The great thing about puppetry is that I can turn something around really quickly. I was able to plan, shoot, edit and do post on this two and a half minute film in ~10 hours (that does not include making the puppets, although those only took me about 8-10 hours each). Imagine that- turning around a full short film in a weekend. You'd be hard pressed to do that with CG (believe me, I've tried!). 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. :)

I've made a channel on Vimeo for future shorts starring Yurt and Cousin Squeegie. It's called Confessions of a Yeti. Feel free to subscribe and see what comes next.

Blik

There's just so much to like about this little film. Congrats to the folks involved.


Blik from Polder Animation on Vimeo.