More for the Kiddies
I was going through some old tapes yesterday and came upon this little gem. I had forgotten that I'd even made this. It's a very early blue-screen test of a fairy puppet I'd made after I started recieving orders for 'Cat and Dog'. Although the crazy blue screening in 'Cat and Dog' adds to the overall humour of the piece I probably made this to assure myself that I could achieve some decent looking characters if I chose.
I think this is one of the cutest things I've ever made. Gush.
Fortunately I didn't have the second half of this little test on the tape. It was of a Crocodile who lives in the hut (at the end) having a bubble bath singing a blues song about counting bubbles. Why is that fortunate? Cause I did the singing. Trust me, you don't want to hear me sing the blues using a crocodile voice.
Anyway, enjoy the fairy. If you've got young-uns, show them, let me know their reaction.
Ohhhh, I just remembered that the background was originally modelled on one of those scary block-prints published in early versions of Dante. Ha!
posted by G3T Films at 8/03/2006 09:15:00 am
Take: 31
That is really sweet. It kinda reminds me of the in between videos of games like Final Fantasy. I like it.
Thu Aug 03, 11:45:00 am
Oh, and Squid is going to love the puppet once he sees it.
Thu Aug 03, 11:46:00 am
ahhh so cute. I want to hear you sing the blues.
Thu Aug 03, 11:57:00 am
Is that a CG puppet or a real puppet? Tres adorible either way.
But....
Dude, I would SO rather see a dispeptic 'gator singing the blues.
Thu Aug 03, 12:19:00 pm
That's a rather large compliment Wendy. Final Fantasy rocks!
I'm not sure I see it but I'm glad you liked it.
PS. Between you and me I think the fairy has a crush on that hot piece of monstery goodness Murp!
Thu Aug 03, 01:06:00 pm
Not to toot my own horn but I agree l>t. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it. Can't believe I forgot about it.
You'll have to forgive me if I don't post the second half. Not only would I have to go back through my CD storage library from that period, which is rather large and mostly unlaballed, but also if I remember correctly the singing was truly terrible.
Thu Aug 03, 01:11:00 pm
Hey SafeT,
The puppet is real, made of sculpey (polymer clay), fabric and stick on stars (the type kids get on their homework). The face and body was then hand painted. The facial movements, smiling and blinking, were then done with CG. I was using pretty rudimentary tools at the time for the CG componenet. I can't even remember how I got it that 'clean'. I should really document that sort of thing.
And Dude, the dyspeptic Croc probably wont make a appearance any time soon but I would be really interested in what Sam thought of the Fairy.
Thu Aug 03, 01:31:00 pm
I kinda liked the background music! The thump sounded kinda like striking a cardboard box with a stick. It's given me ideas!
I liked the fairy charachter. Hard to believe fairies are viscious and spiteful creatures with disgusting habits and hideous bad breath.
Thu Aug 03, 10:27:00 pm
I love the dragonfly wings of the fairy. I will show it to my daughter later, although she is all about dragons. dragonfly/dragons...close enough.
Thu Aug 03, 11:06:00 pm
Hey Tich,
Thanks man. The music is just a filler piece I splashed out on the keyboard to give the footage a little more of the feeling I wanted. I often put an approximation of the music a real musician might eventually play into a video.
I think the thump is supposed to be what my keyboard believes a mid-sized taiko (太鼓) sounds like. When I was taking music a lot more seriously than I do now I once did a piece where the main percussion instrument was my really comfy green velour sofa. Had awesome tone.
Shhhh, don't tell people about the fairies. They're meant to appear cute before they attack!
Fri Aug 04, 09:03:00 am
Thanks JLee,
I've had a lot of people compliment the wings and ask me how I did them, not for this but a show called The Sprites, and they're always seem disappointed when I explain exactly how low-tech I went on the animation. Instead I'll just say I used dark powers and a pinch of cinnamon.
My nephew is into dragons too. Dragons, dragons, cars, dragons. If it helps, this fairy knows several dragons. They usually catch up on Wednesdays, go to the laundromat together, do their washing and drink chai lattes.
I'd love to hear your daughters perception. What age is she?
Fri Aug 04, 09:14:00 am
Cool, I'd like to hear some of your musical creations.
Fri Aug 04, 09:55:00 am
I was thinking I might continue with the Kiddies theme and put up the opening titles for 'The Sprites' next.
Once again, the singing isn't fantastic (in the wrong key for the lovely girl I got to sing it for the trial edit) but I did write the music for it.
As for other music I've written... I'm not a great musician and really only tinker with the pieces I can hear in my head. I've only ever studied wind instruments and therefore I've never been good at getting full pieces (with tricksey little hobbitses like chords, etc) out into the real world. That's for proper musicians and composers!
Fri Aug 04, 10:19:00 am
Sam thinks the fairy look like "dark crystal, the part at the end when the girl flies and the big bugs fall apart"
And she liked it.
Fri Aug 04, 10:28:00 am
How DARE Sam try and imply I'm ripping off the Dark Cr... Oh, yeah, right, 4 year old...
That's very sweet of Sam to say. I love the design in the Dark Crystal. I love that part in the film and Jen's like "You have wings?! I don't have wings", and Kira's like "Of course not, you're a boy silly!". They're the last two gelfings on the planet and somehow she has that knowledge. Dream Fasting would be cool!
Hensons puppets are the best and Frank Oz is just the most wonderful puppeteer! Not to mention Kathryn Mullen (Kira) and Dave Goelz (who did the dying emperor!). Ahhh, that's when the Creature Shop would have been at it's coolest.
Thanks for watching my little bit of film Sam. I appreciate it.
And thank you SafeT!
Fri Aug 04, 10:50:00 am
I'm not a musician either, don't worry about it.
Fri Aug 04, 01:08:00 pm
Could have fooled me! I'm sure I'll end up posting my music at some stage. You know, when the blog is having a slow week or I feel like being ridiculed by complete strangers.
Fri Aug 04, 01:28:00 pm
Short but so sweet. Thanks.
Fairies bad and naughty - I don't think so! Well not in our house anyway.
Look forward to seeing The Sprites
Fri Aug 04, 02:15:00 pm
Aww thanks Pal.
Yeah, very short, and ultimately useless in any other forum but a blog but that's cause it was only a test to see if I was fooling myself in thinking I could use blue-screens.
Oh yes, fairies are renowned for their terrible behaviour and wicked tempers. Are you being held hostage by the fairies? Is that why you're defending them?
Post twice if the answer is yes.
Fri Aug 04, 02:53:00 pm
You mean we have to wait for a slow week to ridicule you? Ah... :(
Sat Aug 05, 06:13:00 am
my daughter is 9, about to turn 10. I may post the whole collection of dragon stuff she has: plastic ones, stuffed ones, books, posters, calendars, you name it.
Sat Aug 05, 08:59:00 am
..ok, she said "I like it" and wanted to see the ending! Out of the mouths of babes...
Sun Aug 06, 09:44:00 am
Hahaha - Tich, You're more than welcome to ridcule me anytime you like.
Mon Aug 07, 09:00:00 am
Hey JLee,
Although I think your daughter is probably a few years older than the age group to which I pitch this sort of material I'm really glad she liked it.
9/10 is a fun age. My niece is that age. The other week I was telling a story to my nephew about how I climbed a giant tree, full of weird and wonderful animals that I HAD to describe in detail, and found a golden apple (that was a prop in my latest film). My niece turned around and told me I was a liar, it was a good story but I shouldn't lie. Ain't she sweet!
Mon Aug 07, 09:07:00 am
Dark Crystal is such a strong memory for me. Sam likes it, but has me skip through the scarier parts.
I, too, am a big Goeltz and Oz fan. Kevin Clash ruined the CCW arm of Henson's camp, in my opinion. Are we to assume Henson wants us to teach our kids to talk about themselves in falsetto and in third-person? Don't get me started on Baby Bear's rediculous lisp.
Mon Aug 07, 01:04:00 pm
Jim Henson has been the only celebrity death to ever move me. That man had a lot more shit to do on this Earth.
Mon Aug 07, 01:05:00 pm
My "young-un" was delighted! I am sure you know who I am (sitemeter), but a big Thank you! Made my day with the blog comments!
Have a good one :)
Mon Aug 07, 01:07:00 pm
That fairy looks good enough to eat. Uh, like, uh, I mean, uh, I can't eat a fairy. You are what you eat so I wouldn't want to be a fairy. So what I mean is, that fairy looks good. Is she single?
Mon Aug 07, 01:38:00 pm
As I was booting up your page just now and saw that we're still on about the little fairy, the line 'Fairies don't glitter, they just glow from the stress' ran through my head. A little song I wrote once upon a time when the land was fresh and full of daisy chains and the air was crystal clear and the wumpy nombats lived in the furry winkles...
Mon Aug 07, 11:12:00 pm
i love it...
why are her lids so heavy?
Tue Aug 08, 09:20:00 am
Ho! I've been kinda busy. Almost forgot this place existed. Almost.
SafeT, We'll not have any ill talk about Elmo. He did the Oz TV rounds not so long ago and made all sorts of sexual innuendos towards a female early morning TV host. He's OK with me! (Point taken though) I'm in total agreement about Henson though. It would have been cool to work under a dude like that.
Hey Anon, I don't really make a point of checking my site meter all that often. There was someone from Egypt googling about genetic skin diseases at about that time, I take it that wasn't you. I'm pretty sure I know who you are though. Really glad your "chidler" could enjoy the vid. Peace!
Squid, squid, squid! Considering your birthday (Happy Birthday!) I'm sure you're a little too old to get it! Yeah, OK, maybe not. In the version with the crocodile there's a lot more bubbles streaming from the window of the hut. Satisfied? Glad you liked the puppet and the music.
Murp! Too Funny! She is single but can be a little flighty. Interested?
Ticheru, There will be something new soon, uploading. I don't know about your theories on Fairies (great line) but I'd love to hear more about the wumpy nombats in the wurry finkles. That kinda reminds me of a childrens book one of my lovely friends wrote. I think it's still waiting on illustration so I wont say anything further, she's a great writer though.
Thanks sweet Jane. I believe she had just awakened, her lids still heavy with sleep she was setting off for a night of fun and fancy in ways that only fairies can.
Tue Aug 08, 02:49:00 pm
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