45

This 12-Year-Old Girl Can Kick Your Butt (At Directing Movies)

05.15.13 @ 9:00AM Tags : directing, director, kickstarter, stop, stop-motion, trinityanderson

Trinity Anderson is barely 12 years old and she makes me feel like I’m slacking: she knows how to operate a steadicam, has been animating for years, and just finished a successful kickstarter for her short called Me and Ewe. Seriously? I’m pretty sure at 12 years old all I did was play tetherball and draw really awful stick figure cartoons. (Come to think of it, not much has changed.) Trinity was ever-so-kind enough to sit down for a video interview with NFS to talk about anything from her Dragonframe stop-motion software, to her thoughts on gender equality in the movie biz. More »

11

Step Behind the Scenes at Laika, the Stop Motion Animation Company Behind 'ParaNorman'

03.14.13 @ 8:25PM Tags : animation, behindthescenes, stop-motion, watch

It’s one thing knowing that directors and actors can combine their talents (along with a whole army of folks working away behind the scenes) to have us suspend our disbelief and buy into their presentation of a character experiencing a particular situation. Succumbing to a well-directed scene isn’t that great of a leap from being sucked into a well delivered story told round a camp fire, after all. For those of us who aren’t animators by trade, especially the stop motion variety, there’s something of a black box mystery when it comes to the art of turning inanimate objects into living, breathing characters we can route for. That’s why it’s always a fascinating treat to get a peak inside the inner workings of a top animation studio such as Laika, who are responsible for compelling animated stories such as Henry Selick’s Coriline or more recently, Sam Fell and Chris Butler’s dark adventure, ParaNorman – for which Grow Film created a series of behind the scenes videos. More »

8

Kirsten Lepore's Stop-Motion Short 'Bottle'

11.15.10 @ 5:04PM Tags : kirsten-lepore, seen, short, stop-motion

This beautiful and touching stop-motion short by Kirsten Lepore just won a Vimeo Community Choice award, and deservedly so. On a basic level it’s a perfect example of anthropomorphism, as we assign emotions and desires to what are literally piles of dirt. Going beyond this, the relationship metaphor feels derived from real life, negating any sort of escapism to be had at the hands of what could otherwise be merely cute animation. Highly recommended. More »