ShoePie's Animation Blog

The next big thing

2012-02-26T21:35:00.001Z

Retro Toy Reviews seems to have gone down pretty well, and I have ideas for 3 more episodes which don't repeat the same joke so hopefully there'll be a few more of those later this year.

I've started work on my next film and for some reason... actually I know the reason. It was this film:

This brilliantly mental rollercoaster ride was filmed by two guys (and a Cat) in a room. These are the exact same limitations that I have... although my Cat refuses to act. But when I look back through my films, they all tend to be quite small in scale, 'two guys in a room talking'. Even the X-Wing sketch we only ever see inside of the cockpits.

This time round I'm going to try and create this big world that my characters can be a part of, try to add more drama and try to make it much more fun visually. It's going to be like a proper movie.

This project is set in Swindon... and yes I realise the irony of choosing Swindon as the setting of my cinematic visual extravaganza. The first thing I need to do is build a CG model of the town where all the action takes place. Here's the rough footage of where I'm up to so far, I still have loads of buildings to add and the vintage film look is only a test... but it does disguise the bad CG quite nicely.

It doesn't work in this test, but the moment the camera goes over the top of building I want the viewer to have that sense of height and that 'dropping' feeling. If I can get that then I'll know I've created a believable environment.

So to sum up. This project is by far the biggest thing I've ever attempted and there's a good chance I'll go mental in the process of making it.

Retro Toy Reviews: Buzz-Off

2012-02-18T11:54:00.000Z

Here's the He-Man themed video that I've been banging on about for the past couple of weeks. I'd love to make more of these so if you have any ideas for 80s\90s toys then please suggest them in the comments section, or to me on Twitter.

And finally, thank you to the very generous and talented Eddie Bowley for providing the voices.

Warning! The Nerdy CG bit

The toy's motion was tracked using Syntheyes and then the data was imported into Blender to do all the CG animation and various other compositing. Here's a shot of the raw footage before all the work was done.

I drew tracking markers all over the toy's chest and then I removed these in Blender by blurring the entire video until the points were averaged out by their surrounding colour. I then composited just the blurred areas where the dots used to be over the top of the dots in my un-blurred footage. I used a mask to do this which was created with shadeless material planes parented to the tracking empties that Syntheyes created for each dot. Here's the node set-up of just the tracker removal (Click to enlarge). This was a technique I learned from reading a comment by Sebastien Koenig.

Oh and I also discovered that if you have Anti-Alias enabled in Blender's render settings then it blurs every render layer which can cause problems if you're rendering a mask.

For the chroma keying (which by no means is perfect due to bad lighting around my hands) I used the Channel Keyer node. I usually use a combination of Color key nodes but I read another comment by Sebastien Koenig (He gets around!) that the Channel Keyer gives cleaner edges so I tried it and it's great.

Another useful Blender technique I learnt and used while making this video was UV projection painting. Thank you Blender Cookie!

So that's it! Any questions on the Blender set-up, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer. And please send me suggestions for which toy to do next... otherwise it'll be My Little Pony!

It's in the mail.

2012-02-12T15:39:00.001Z

Fingers crossed I should be uploading a new animation next weekend. I've finished all of the CGI and now I'm just waiting on a prop to turn up from eBay, it got lost in the post.

Once that's live I start work on a short film which has to be filmed by early April. AND! If I have the time I'd love to write something for this BBC Sitcom writing competition.

And finally, this is brilliant.

I Have the Power!

2012-01-15T18:30:00.003Z

When I was about 10 years old I got lost one evening coming home from a friend's house, I found myself at a dark scary crossroads which had four possible alleyways to choose from. And then from the darkest of the Four directions I heard someone shout 'By the Power of Grayskull'. So I chose that path, and when I came out the other side, I knew where I was! He-Man had saved me!... from ending up back at my mate's house.

Anyway, I've come up with the idea for my next sketch and it's He-Man related. I have this incredible voice actor lined up who is going to record all the voices for me and I'm pretty excited about the idea as I've not seen anything like it done before. I can't wait to get started on this one. ETA is mid to late February.

As I'm on a bit of a nostalgia trip I thought I'd share some great He-Man related artwork that I found a while back. The first two are from MonsterBrains blog which I highly recommend you check out for all sorts of crazy monster artwork. These are posters or artwork that would come with the toys.

Here's Skeletor looking like a Pimp (Click for larger versions), I don't remember Webstor being such a short arse though.

And here's an epic battle scene. I love how much is going on in this poster, everyone just doing their thing. It's not exactly a great military tactic but if wars were won by adopting cool poses then Mer-Man would be a shoe in for king of the universe.

If you want to see more of these posters check out MonsterBrains.

Aswell as the old Mattel artwork many artists have been re-imagining He-Man over the years. Here's some artwork by a guy callled Mattias Fahlberg.

With his Spiked skin and Trident arm Spikor was already one of the most bad ass characters from the MOTU world. This image takes his evil brutishness up another notch.

Whereas the toy of the Webstor character (the short arse from earlier) never really looked that terrifying. But this image really taps into his creepy Spider origins.

Check out more of Mattias's images here.

And the final image is from an artist called Raul Abonitalla Jnr. An incredible Frankenstein\Zombie looking re-imagining of Trap-Jaw. This makes me want to see a darker, more adult targeted MOTU film. Surely Chris Nolan can't be that busy now can he?

ShoePie's Year End Review - 2011

2011-12-24T16:47:00.000Z

What just happened?!

I'll start with the positives. I became a professional comedy writer this year (sort of). In that I wrote 5 episodes of a children's TV show which will be on the telly next year. Unfortunately it's not enough work to justify giving up the day job just yet. It was however a great learning experience and proof to myself that I can achieve a certain standard, hit deadlines and generally not suck when thrown in at the deep end.

My video output took a dip this year thanks to a 7 month layoff. Only 5 new videos produced and two of them don't really count. But I was pleased with the feedback for Terminator Ultimatum and the Penguin Thief sketches so the year ended strong. I've also made a lot of improvements on the VFX front by adding Syntheyes to my skill set.

But what about the Stats?

According to Youtube statistics for 2011 my videos were viewed 363,000 times and my subscriber count rose by 64. That sounds good until I look at 2010 when I had 602,000 views, and an increase of 211 subscribers. More worryingly, the videos produced in 2011 accounted for only 7,000 of the 363K views, which is very sad because they're some of my strongest stuff.

I think I can improve next year if I start upping my output again although I probably need at least one big hit if I'm to get anywhere near 2010's figures.

Next Year

I'm currently working on some CG character animation for a friend's sketch show pilot. I've learned a tonne of stuff working on that and my next Blender animation should be a giant leap on from what you've seen with Brian Park.

I have the same old ambitions this year as every year. Develop a web series, make a kick-ass short film and do some television writing. So fingers crossed I can achieve at least one of those goals!

Thanks for the support and here's a teaser for one of next year's sketches :0) - Happy New Year!

Christmas Card Designs

2011-12-22T10:51:00.000Z

It wasn't all messing about with Penguins this year. I also designed these Christmas cards for a friend and local personal trainer to send out to his clients.

The Christmas Penguin Thief

2011-12-13T17:43:00.003Z

The ShoePie Christmas special tradition keeps going for another year! Here's my 2011 effort, I hope you enjoy. If you would like to share this video please share this link as that will help keep the traffic coming to my site. Happy Christmas!!

But it's not all bad news!

2011-12-08T20:42:00.001Z

In less depressing news I have brought one of these:

That's not me by the way!!

It's a Chroma key suit that's used for removing an actor from the scene. I thought it would be helpful tomorrow when I'm filming a hand puppet sketch. It means that I don't have to hide under a table when I move the puppets... What a loser I would have looked if I had to do that!

Fed up with with 1and1 Internet

2011-12-08T19:48:00.001Z

I like to keep these posts fairly positive but I've had such a miserable few hours courtesy of 1and1 Internet that I decided to post my first ever rant. This is probably going to be quite boring for everyone else but hey, it's my blog.

1and1's Technical Support

About a week ago my website ShoePie.co.uk stopped working. The VPS server was unreachable even to a Ping. I had not logged in to the server for weeks so I was fairly certain that I had not done anything to break it.

1and1 tested the hardware, declared it fine and washed their hands of the problem leaving me with an unresponsive server. They recommended that I run the backup facility in their control panel, so left with no other option I tried that... It didn't work. The next idea they suggested was to completely re-install the operating system which would lose all of my work. After pointing out that this was not acceptable they quoted some T&C's and told me it wasn't their responsibility.

1and1's Customer Service

Fed up with trying to fix this problem I decided to cancel my server package with them and host my website elsewhere.

After speaking to 8 different customer support advisors I eventually found out that they could not cancel my server package while I still had domain names registered with the account. Fuck knows why not!?

They recommended that I set-up a new affiliate account with them to transfer the domain names over to before cancelling. Another half hour setting up this new account and giving them my bank details I then find out that it will cost me an administration fee! to transfer the domains!

Why?!! I've already paid for these domains! I am ONE customer not TWO accounts!

So now I've given up and I'm trying to move the domain names to my 123-Reg account. And as expected I am running into problems with 1and1's domain name transfer process.

The whole thing is just one big depressing joke and I can't wait to be shot of them.

A Busy Elf!

2011-11-29T15:49:00.001Z

As predicted I didn't make the short list for the Collabor8te script competition. On the plus side it does mean that I can stop Googling how to spell Collabor8te. And it did force me to finish a 15 page short film.

I was planning to take it easy leading up to Christmas but various things were delayed and now I find myself working on 3 projects! The first one, I'm animating a CG character for a sketch show pilot. It's unpaid but I sort of know the people involved and they're all good eggs who have helped me with voices.

The Second project is the Shoepie Christmas Special 2011. I wasn't going to make one this year but at the last minute I decided to try and keep the tradition going. So I'm going to get it done somehow.

And thirdly, together with a buddy I will be recording a test Podcast episode. This is probably the scariest and with the highest probability of failure. But someone, somewhere once said that if there's no chance of failure then you're not doing anything special. So this Podcast should be fucking hilarious!

Here's a peek at one of the stars from this year's Christmas special (If I finish in time!)

The Best Men

2011-11-17T17:07:00.001Z

Unfortunately I crashed out of the last Circalit short film writing competition, it sucks to be me I guess. But that hasn't stopped me from entering their new competition. Here's my entry The Best Men. Have a read and let me know what you think.

It's an idea I thought of years ago and I briefly toyed with turning it into a feature film script. But I think it works well as a short. It's also feasibly a film that I could produce myself one day if I were to be brave and think about filming in the outside world.

I'm still waiting for the results of the Collabor8te short film competition. Although upon re-reading my entry recently I don't think I deserve to get anywhere with it. But who knows?

And finally, I'm pretty happy with the feedback from the Terminator Ultimatum sketch. It's only had 600 views but it's had lots of nice things said about it.

I'll Be Back!

2011-10-31T11:19:00.002Z

It's finished! A big thanks to James and Chris for their acting, I think these are their finest performances to date. Hopefully the video will be well received when it goes out in to the wild.

If you want to tweet\like\share or comment on this video I'd appreciate that. It would be most helpful if you could use the social media links on this page.

Hasta La Vista Baby!

2011-10-29T22:51:00.002+01:00

Here's a quick still with the Blender compositor node set-up for my next sketch, which is due out Monday. This shot still isn't finished, I have to add some blood around the Terminator's face and generally merge the CG effects in better.

I've been using Blender for pretty much everything in this project and I've been very impressed by it's Chroma keying tools. I normally do all my green screening in FXHome so it's nice to be able to remove another import\export step from my production pipeline.

Syntheyes has been a dream to work with, in fact I'm starting to wish I had been a bit more adventurous and tried to do both camera and object tracking in the same shot. Oh well, the idea for my next video will definitely need to do both.

It's just the little details and final renders to go now. I'm very happy with how the sketch is looking so far though. The acting is a noticeable improvement from previous videos, there were a couple of fortunate accidents which helped us out and lots of little things just clicked. So I'm pleased with it no matter how many views it gets or what the haters think.

Filming Complete

2011-10-23T16:29:00.000+01:00

The filming for the Terminator sketch is now finished, and a big thanks to James and Chris. This time was a bit different to previous filming sessions as I wanted a naturalistic style, so we had to film entire scenes in one take rather than relying on lots of back and forth cuts. Hopefully it's all going to come out OK.

And here's a random unexplained screen capture from the day.

C3-PO

2011-10-15T00:55:00.001+01:00

I modelled this C3-PO head for the sketch we're filming next weekend. It's not 100% accurate but it should be good enough for what I need. Made with Blender.

I'll Be Back!

2011-10-07T22:10:00.001+01:00

After a long time off from making videos we're planning on filming something new very soon. It's a sketch set in the Terminator universe and it's going to have loads of live-action, green screen and CGI shots. All made with Blender of course!

I'm working with Syntheyes for the first time to do the face-tracking so that I can CG my actors up like Arnie here.

Technically it's the most complicated project I've ever worked on, but it should be a lot of fun.

While I'm waiting for the shoot date I decided to work on the intro. So here's a quick peek at the start of the next sketch.

Short Film: Emily

2011-10-02T19:20:00.001+01:00

I've just finished writing a script for the Collabor8te short film competition. It's a kind of supernatural thriller called 'Emily' and it's completely different from anything I've ever written before... although obviously I still managed to sneak in a few jokes about Boobs.

The Judges decision will be announced in late November so until then I just have to forget about it and move on to the next project.

NewsJack Week 2

2011-09-22T18:23:00.003+01:00

I sent in slightly less material this week, but that was OK because I was confident it was of a much higher standard. And just like putting Barbeque Chicken on a Pizza, I was wrong! That's Two weeks I've struck out now with four more weeks to go.

Here's the One-Liner I sent in this week:

At the Lib Dem conference a Blu-ray release of the Downing Street Rose Garden speech has been controversially edited to include Nick Clegg shouting the words 'Nooooo!'.

I was quite pleased with the merging of those two stories, although there's probably too much background information required. i.e. you have to have seen the latest Star Wars Blu-Ray edits, and also remember Clegg and Cameron's speech from last year. It could also just not be funny, I certainly haven't ruled out that possibility!

And here's a sketch I submitted about the Fonz receiving an OBE.

INT. BUCKINGHAM PALACE.

FONZ
Aaaay! Missus Q.

QUEEN
Don't you Missus Q. me Mr Fonzarelli! When we awarded you the OBE it wasn't an invitation for you to move in to our Garage.

FONZ
Relax babe. I'm just gonna hang out for a couple of days, catch up with some old buddies.

QUEEN
For the last time, that Ginger chap is Prince Harry not Richie Cunningham!

FONZ
You crack me up, Queenie.

QUEEN
I'm sorry Fonzie, but you can't live at Buckingham Palace rent free like some freeloading moocher. That's just not how we do things in the Royal Family.

FONZ
Maybe this will change your mind.

FONZIE CLICKS HIS FINGERS, SOME FIFTIES 'HAPPY DAYS' STYLE MUSIC STARTS, GIRLS SCREAMING.

QUEEN
Oh Fonzie! You're so dreamy.

FONZ
Aaaay! I still got it.

The problem with this sketch was probably the weak ending. And it didn't help that it was already a week old forgotten news story by the time the show would air. I must try to be more topical next week!... and funny!

In other writing news, I now have my idea for a short film! But I only have two weeks to write the script if I want to enter it into the Colabor8te competition. It's kind of a weird supernatural thriller so it's something completely different for me. I have the plot completely worked out in my head, all the twists and turns are in place so I really want to see how it comes out and what people think.

Short Film: Signs

2011-09-19T09:55:00.004+01:00

Newsjack updates will probably dominate this blog for the next few weeks but I'm also racking my brains to come up with an idea for this short film competition. Plotting stories is not really my strong point, but you have to turn your weaknesses into your strength if you want to succeed... apparently.

As part of my research into what makes a good short film I've been watching quite a few and so far this is my favourite one.

In other news this week I have submitted a sketch and a one-liner to Newsjack. I've also submitted an entry for another short film competition over at Circalit.com, so it's been a busy few weeks on the writing front.

Oh and I'm hopefully shooting a new sketch in October.

NewsJack is Back!

2011-09-15T17:24:00.003+01:00

The open door topical comedy show NewsJack has begun its fifth series! Hooray! As usual this is a great opportunity for me to work on my skills at handling rejection.

Here's the stuff I sent in this week with some self-analysis afterwards on why I think they sucked and didn't get on.

The ban on blood donations from homosexual men may soon be lifted. This is good news, as it will lead to an increase in the number of blood donors who are YMCA positive.

It's an OK joke but it's probably a bit too obvious. I don't normally write one-liners so I was pretty pleased that my brain thunk of it.

Next is a WWF sketch where I don't make a single reference to the Macho Man:

JUSTIN
After becoming the new president of the UK World Wildlife Fund, Prince Charles declared himself to be part of an endangered species. A little self-serving perhaps?

INT. WWF MEETING ROOM.

CHARLES
Top of the Agenda today is the preservation of Prince Charleses-ses.

AIDE
Right, around here we tend to focus more on Pandas, Tigers. You know, species that people actually care about.

CHARLES
Yes but did you know there's only one Prince Charles left?

AIDE
It is astonishing to think that only one Prince Charles is responsible for producing so much pompous, self-righteous guff.

CHARLES
And do you know what the root cause of their decline is?

AIDE
Is it Inter-species cross breeding?

CHARLES
Don't be silly.

AIDE
Were they wiped out by a giant meteorite?

CHARLES
No. We're not talking about some fuddy, old, prehistoric creature here.

AIDE
I see.

CHARLES
It's due to mankind's over consumption. Let's start with a campaign targeting those selfish few who over-consume on our natural resources.

AIDE
That's actually an excellent idea!

CHARLES
Then perhaps we wont have problems like this morning, when there was nowhere for my Helicopter to land.

This is my favourite sketch of the two. There's no real killer jokes but at least it has a target and sticks to it, my favourite bit is the Meteorite line. The ending is a bit of a let down but it was a nice neat way out whilst staying on point. Although it needed to be funnier.

I'm too disconnected from the world to write topical comedy, I just don't care enough about 'Making a Point' which means my sketches end up being more silly than satirical. However! When reading the Prince Charles article I started skimming through the reader's comments, and that's a great way to see all the different opinions on a story. Then I picked the least racist viewpoint and adopted that position.

JUSTIN
George Osborne received criticism this week from former Chancellor Lord Lawson. Only in politics do you have to put up with the criticisms of some old duffer who used to do your job 300 years ago. It doesn't happen in say Medicine.

INT. OPERATING THEATRE - LIFE SUPPORT SOUNDS BLEEPING.

DOCTOR
Pass me the scalpel please Nurse.

18TH CENTURY DOCTOR
Oooh, you're not gonna be able to chop his leg off with that tiny thing.

DOCTOR
Oh it's you, 18th century Doctor.

18TH CENTURY DOCTOR
You need a hacksaw to get through those chunky meat pegs.

DOCTOR
Firstly. I've no interest in chopping off his leg, this is Brain surgery. And Secondly... what are you doing with those Leeches?

18TH CENTURY DOCTOR
Pop a couple on his noggin, jobs a goodun.

DOCTOR
Please leave the operating theatre.

18TH CENTURY DOCTOR
Why? Is it because you find my advice outdated and irrelevant in the modern world?

DOCTOR
No, it's because this is the NHS and we can't afford Leeches.

This sketch is just a mess and isn't even topical. It starts off with a reference to a minor news item and then just goes off on a completely unrelated tangent. I also commit the comedy sin of showing the slightest bit of sympathy for a Tory. See, I told you I was disconnected from the world.

I think the 'This is Brain surgery' line would get a laugh as it has some misdirection beforehand, but that's about it. The rest is unfunny nonsense.

The 'NHS can't afford Leeches' line is my cringing attempt at trying to be satirical but failing in the most embarrassingly amateur way possible. Bloody Thatcher!

So that was that, hopefully I'll have better luck next week!

Some inspiring advice

2011-09-07T18:05:00.000+01:00

I don't know who Ira Glass is but this speech is incredible, and has really inspired me to keep going with my creative efforts. This has really hit home and exactly how I feel.

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

Flash vs. Toon Boom vs. Anime Studio Pro

2011-08-24T12:39:00.000+01:00

My 30 day trial of Flash is coming to an end, and because it's the industry standard 2D animation software I thought about buying it. But spend £600 on what is essentially my hobby? Um... No.

On top of that I just don't think it's very good for character animation. Objects within objects, all having independent time lines (unless you use instances), no binding of objects to bones. It's just a series of fiddly workarounds that make animation more difficult than it already is.

From my experience, cut-out style animation is much easier to do with Anime Studio Pro., which is a quarter of the price. Flash is good for frame by frame animation, but then so is Toon Boom Animate which is specifically designed for frame by frame, and a third of the cost!

Flash has great interactive features for websites and games development but I don't need any of that stuff. There's also the possibility that HTML5 is going to overtake Flash in this area over the next couple of years anyway.

If there had been an animators version of Flash for about £200, with certain features disabled such as Actionscript then there's a good chance I might have bought it. But as it stands I can't see any reason to persevere with Flash and I think I'm going to spend my money with the Toon Boom company.

Flash!....Aaaah!!

2011-07-29T19:50:00.009+01:00

I've just finished a week long 'Introduction to Flash' course at UWE in Bristol and I have leant an absolute tonne on stuff! I could literally do nothing with Flash a week ago, and now I can motion tween, mask and all sorts! I highly recommend checking out UWE's short courses if you're interested in learning animation.

Here's a couple of clips I made over the week, obviously they're rubbish, as these are just classroom tests. But you get the idea!

Bob Johnson Twins?

2011-07-13T21:34:00.000+01:00

I've been trying to get motivated to start training again and I found this brilliant fitness channel on Youtube TwinMuscleWorkout. They have loads of interesting videos, they're funny, and they kind of remind me of a certain ShoePie character X 2!

First video to 1,000,000 Views!

2011-07-10T22:00:00.000+01:00

I've just noticed that my Incredible Hulk video has had over 1 Million views on Youtube! This is quite a Shoepie milestone! I made this video back in 2007 and it literally took half a day to make. It's not particularly funny so I have no idea why it's my most popular video, perhaps it just has an intriguing thumbnail image.

There's probably going to be quite a wait for my next 1 Million views video!

Top 5 Shoepie videos by Views

Incredible Hulk - 1,011,484
Interrogation Droid - 429,747
Avatar - Behind the scenes - 77,746
Superman is a Dick - 57,132
The Muscle Whisperer: Diet - 42,777