Monday, July 11, 2011

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.

36 comments:

Ian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Math City said...

Hi
Your work is so cute.
Ahmad

Ian said...

YAY! Love puppets! :) Nice work Keith

Anonymous said...

I liked it a lot, low tech rules!
I look forward to seeing a lot more.

Virgilio said...

Yay :D
Way to go, Keith! Very funny! :)
Just subscribed...

Brian said...

Heh heh, love it. Great work!

Andrew Lee said...

Very cool man, love love love it!
I've been wagging a puppet around in my spare time too. One of the guys who works at Magnetic is a muppeteer...so I pick his brain about stuff all the time. I may make a short film this weekend too!!!! Thanks for the inspiration!

Galen Fott said...

Yes! Once you go puppet, you will never go back!!!

Jesse said...

One of my most favoritest things that I've seen you do Keith. It totally has that Henson feel with all the head and hand movement. Plus, the sheer craftmanship of the puppet itself is great! KEEP THIS STUFF COMING. :D

Herman Gonzales said...

Great job Keith, so happy to see some new work. Puppetry is a definitely so fun, to me its instant gratification. Just another flavor besides animation.

Here is some new Henson peoples work now a days( for fun), w/ a green screen too. Some outta the box stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfHWDSQ39kY

AndyG said...

Fantastic. Muppets & Puppets are one of my favourite forms of entertainment. Amazing how any puppet with two eyes, nose and a mouth can do so much to create an amazing performance. I hope to make puppets and do some shorts myself in the future.

I'll be definitely checking out the future shorts. This one was fantastic!

Keith Lango said...

Thx, everybody!

Henk Dawson said...

That's super Keith!

Ekta Animator said...

ha ha funny!! really nice

Anonymous said...

really fun looking puppets

you should try stop motion, sometimes called slow motion puppetry, you can turn stuff out in a weekend, & the whole family can get involved in set and character creation, and all your animation skills are used.

Jennifer D. Cram said...

Gosh, it looks like you had so much fun with this! I'm glad it's bringing you joy. Maybe I'll try my hand at it once I've got my animation skills a little farther along...

Lars said...

I love this! I want to see more

Howler said...

Nothing beats giving a real time performance, only puppets make it that much more possible to do it and still hide your face :D Animation? Totally.

David Sarkisjan said...

I laughed so much when he tried to grab the shower gel and it slipped down. So relatable.

I want a puppet to play with now :)

Unknown said...

hi keith! its about time you made another one :) its great man! cool you're trying another medium. looks like a lot more fun than rotating and translating stuff in front of a box. congrats!

Tania said...

love it!Making the actual puppet is harder than you'd think. especially when lacking in sewing skills.
I flipped a coin when i was 12. one side was puppeter and one animator but thanks to you i think i might have a go at both!

Tania said...

p.s I use a puppet to film lipsync reference. Its amazingly helpful to work out what you can get away with :D

aperrone said...

sons changes animators, LOL
good job my friend

ossian said...

Really good work Keith!
Nice to see also that you have used Finnish music in the end part. It fits well to the film and Eläkeläiset is super entertaining live band:)

Anonymous said...

Well, is another type of 3D animation. Analogic 3D animation. XD
Congratulations.

Sid said...

Wow, nice render...

just kidding, hehe. Love it! specially the camera pan at 'I'm freeee'.

As reaction on the bra scene i would've the second Character look at him with her(wife?) Mouth wide open, just to emphasize the horror and disgust she feels, underlined with a slightly zoom in.

Jake Walters said...

Very funny Keith! I am going to go ahead and bookmark this blog for my colleague for the research project for school. This is a appealing website by the way. Where did you get a hold the template for this concept?

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Explainer Video Company said...

Good work, creative and excellent design, as share good stuff with good ideas and concepts, lots of great information and inspiration, both of which I need, thanks to offer such a helpful information here.

Amit said...

It,s an amazing, really like this .you will rock in near future.

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Nice work, thanks for sharing the short film.
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