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Charlie Kaufman's stop-motion project, Anomalisa, turns to Kickstarter for funding
There are few more bizarre or successful pairings in cinema than Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman. Now, the two aren't teaming up again (at least not just yet), but the writer of Adaptation and Being John Malkovich is teaming up with stop-motion studio Starburns Industries on a new project called Anomalisa. The animators, whose past credits include Moral Orel, don't want any interference from the traditional studio system and have turned to Kickstarter to fund the film. The roughly 40 minute feature will follow a motivational speaker whose life has become "hollow and meaningless." Sounds like a right, fun romp! There's little doubt that the movie will get made -- it's more than half way to its $200,000 goal and there's still more than 50 days left to the funding period. Kaufman is hardly the first big name in Hollywood to turn to crowd-sourcing, but he's part of a growing trend of artists bucking the traditional system and sustaining themselves and their craft with direct support from fans. Check out the plea for funding after the break.
Insert Coin: Genie turns any camera into a world-class time lapse rig
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. New Zealand-based designer Chris Thomson and filmmaker Ben Ryan found that motion-control time lapse gear too expensive, too complicated and too bulky. So they set about building the Genie, a box that moves your camera around under its own power. Designed to be cheap(er than the competition) and user-friendly, the device will let you choose from a variety of presets or build your own to turn and position the camera. It will also draw itself along a guide rope, either on a dolly track or cable-cam for stunning landscape photography. It's reached $42,542 of its $150,000 goal and if successful, each unit will cost $1,000.
Glif creators release stop-motion movie app, Frames
Studio Neat, best known for the Glif, which enables you to mount an iPhone to a tripod, has released its first iOS app. Frames is a time-lapse/stop-motion movie app that enables you to create these sorts of films on the iPhone. You can capture and export video at 720p, adjust shutter settings, lock exposure and focus, adjust frames per second and more. At US$2.99, it's a great way to experiment with creating a stop-motion movie on the iPhone, and we'll be doing a full review later this week.
Nintendo Wii joins the Hulu Plus watch party
Sure, we knew it was coming, but now Hulu Plus has officially arrived for the Nintendo Wii, letting you stream "current-season hit TV shows such as... New Girl and Vampire Diaries" in all their high standard-definition glory. We know, you're already caught up on all that New Girl action, but The Biggest Loser's latest win will look even juicier in gorgeous 480p SD resolution, so head on over to the colorful Wii Shop Channel to get your $7.99 monthly Hulu fix. Or, if you're not keen on paying for your teevee, you can download a two-week free trial of the service anytime within the first month of availability. And what about that 3DS version? You'll need to wait until "later this year," unfortunately. Full PR is just past the break.
Music video created with iPad and iPhone
As you can tell from our quiet start this morning, it's a slow day around the TUAW HQ -- most of us are still in the holiday mood, and with much of the United States off work today anyway, things aren't too crazy. But we're still here, and while some of us are buried under snow, we can still at least remember that somewhere on Earth, there are sunny skies and tropical breezes. In fact, you can see both in the video posted below, which was shot by Ron Nadel and Dovev Adar a band called Passion Pit, completely on an iPad 2 and an iPhone 4. [Update: We originally attributed the video to the band Passion Pit, but the music is incidental] The team used the ReelMoments app (and presumably the official Camera app as well) to shoot all of the footage, and then edited it together with iMovie on the iPad. It's well done -- I wouldn't say it's super groundbreaking (we've seen music videos put together like this before), but there is some really good stuff in there. That last shot is especially great, and, if you are like us and working today after the holiday, might remind you that at least someone's on vacation this afternoon.
Belkin preps LiveAction camera remote for your iPhone
Look past the typical FCC dowdiness and you'll notice a Belkin-made remote shutter release for the iPhone. We have no notion of price or availability, but the regulatory paperwork does at least reveal how it works: the controller triggers still or video recording via Bluetooth and the accompanying LiveAction app, and it also houses a detachable stand for propping your phone up on a "variety of surfaces." Stop-motion shenanigans spring to mind, but the more obvious use is for group photos -- and you might consider pairing it with one of these to avoid cropping heads.
Hulu Plus coming to 3DS and Wii, handheld getting 3D video capture
Rejoice Nintendo fans, Hulu Plus is coming to your console of choice... provided you're up on the latest in Nintendo hardware. Both the Wii and 3DS will be getting access to the streaming service's vast archives of TV shows and movies some time before the year is out. Though, you shouldn't expect to see the Galactica popping out of your portable -- this is a strictly 2D affair. A software update coming at the end of November will also deliver the ability to record 3D video with the Nintendo handheld (up to ten minutes) or even stitch together stereoscopic images for stop motion animation that jumps out of the tiny screen at you. With both Hulu and Netflix in tow, as well as the ability to create your own content, the 3DS is actually turning into quite a powerful little portable. For more details, including some game release dates, check out the PR after the break.
Nokia N8 used to shoot world's largest stop-motion film, 'Gulps' up the competition (video)
In today's rapidly evolving smartphone market, the Nokia N8 seems almost... ancient. But if there's any doubts that its camera is still the gold-medal champion of the bunch, "Gulp" will shut up the critics. The video you see below is the world's largest stop-motion movie, filmed on a beach in South Wales using none other than the phone's famed 12 megapixel sensor. Okay, that's not entirely true; it was actually done on three of them, not just one, with the aid of a massively tall crane to lift them up. Everything you see in the flick -- including the fisherman and his boat -- is life-size; the largest scene spans over 11,000 square feet. The Sumo Science production, in all of its 90-second glory, is ready for your viewing pleasure below, as is a short documentary explaining how it all went down. For sure, you're either going to lust after a N8 once again, or vow never to go fishing again.
LEGO Universe dares you to make a 'Brickbuster'
Have an itching desire to be an amateur filmmaker, but all you have to work with is a video camera and your toys? No problem -- LEGO Universe and The Ones and Zeros Pixelshow think that's all you need to become the next hit director! From now until August 5th, you can film and submit your very own LEGO "Brickbuster" in the Build-a-Brickbuster Animated Film Contest. The best of the best stop-motion machinima will be awarded prizes, showcased at Pixelfest in Broomfield, Colorado on August 13th and 14th, and included in a special DVD later this year. Pixelfest Producer Dylan Krider sees this as a perfect cross-over between the MMO and real world: "When players aren't busy battling to save imagination in LEGO Universe, they can bring their wildest creations to life with virtual building and behavior tools that make it simple for anyone to make their own machinima creations."
LG Optimus Black vs. iPhone 4, others in stop-motion video
I've never been a big fan of the company's phones, but LG sure makes some great videos. Its latest is the Smartphone Championship Race, a stop-motion NASCAR-inspired film that pits the LG Optimus Black against the iPhone, Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc and Samsung's Galaxy S. The competitors' phones are called other names so that LG doesn't get sued (the iPhone 4 is called "Waffle's Ivan"). As the phones race around the track, the competitors are eliminated one-by-one because of the phones' flaws. One is eliminated when it crashes because it can't clear a 9.3 mm entrance. The iPhone 4 is the last one to be eliminated; it doesn't finish the race because its weight keeps it from making it to the other side when it jumps from a ramp. The video is pretty clever, and hey, if you can't make the best phone in the world, at least you can make some cool stop-motion action. [via MacNN]
Stop-motion iPad also magical, revolutionary
The magical, revolutionary iPad is not just in and of itself magical and revolutionary, of course; it also inspires people to be magical and revolutionary, as in this marvellous stop-motion video of a plasticine iPad produced by 26-year-old Ukrainian Svetlana Shokhanova. It was made for the "Post Digital Brief at the British Higher School of Art and Design (Moscow), Interactive and New Media course." We really love this. Of course, as commenters say on YouTube, a plasticine iPad does have its advantages-while it has a pretty lousy FPS, it can be jailbroken with Play-Doh. Read on for the video (as commenters note, it looks even better in YouTube 1911 mode). [Via Mashable]
High-speed camera in motion can stop a commuter's heart
By now, you're certainly familiar with the magic that a consumer-branded Casio super-slow-mo camera can do with motion, right? But what happens when you use a two-year old Casio Exilim FH20 to shoot 210fps footage (played back at 30fps) from a moving train? Nothing, at least until the train slows down.
700,000 Lite-Brite pegs make stop-motion masterpiece in new music video
It's tough to say if David Crowder Band's newest handmade music video measures up to Dancing Pigeon's own vid from August, but one thing's for sure: you've got to give props for the work involved here. An astounding 700,000 Lite-Brite pegs were used in the creation of their SMS (Shine) video, along with 80 Earthlings putting in 2,000 man-hours of work. It's a rather impressive 3.5 minutes, so head south and mash play if you're looking for a good time. [Thanks, Nick]
Light painting in stop motion with the iPad
This is about the coolest thing done with an iPad since, well, the iPad itself was created. A firm named Dentsu London has used an iPad to create a series of stop motion shots assembled from sequential long exposure light paintings. They created a set of 3D graphics and then programmed the iPad to show a set of cross sections, frame-by-frame, of those graphics. The cross sections were "painted" into the air with long exposure photographs, and then the photographs were all put together into a stop motion animation. The end effect is just amazing -- don't just watch the beginning on how they did it, make sure you stick around for the film itself. It's a beautiful piece, as well as an ingenious way of using the iPad to create something exceptional. If you're really interested in these images, the creators have also put together a book featuring some of the best stills from the video. It's quite an impressive piece of work. [via TDW]
Pac-Man reenacted by humans in stop motion masterpiece
What's it with Pac-Man and awesomeness these days? First Google, now this? As the story goes, PAC-MAN is the fifth video performance of the GAME OVER Project, put on by the French-Swiss artist Guillaume Reymond. The video -- which is embedded after the break -- shows a great many human bodies (111 to be exact) working together for over four hours in one of the most smile-inducing stop motion clips we've ever seen. Oh, and make sure your volume's up -- the experience just isn't complete without man made blips and bloops. [Thanks, Matt]
Droid Incredible torn down to its constituent elements, reassembled in a flash (video)
Now here's an innovative concept -- instead of doing separate videos for an unboxing and a disassembly of the Droid Incredible, why not combine them into one? And while you're at it, turn that into a stop-motion animation and include well timed sound effects for comedic relief. Make sure to include intimate closeups of the Incredible's spectacularly red innards, then finish off with a sped-up reconstruction and reboot of the handsome Nexus One killer. Got all that? Good, now drop the video after the break and let the people enjoy it.
iPad taken apart then re-assembled in under four minutes, Harryhausen-style (video)
We hope you're not sick of seeing the iPad's inner bits, what with the iFixit disassembly, gratuitous Blendtec promo, and even the FCC having some fun. Now TechRestore is getting in on it -- a bit tardily -- by giving the iPad the same stop-motion tear-down treatment that it lovingly applied for a Modbook last year. Not only does the company rip this magical tablet down to its constituent parts but it puts it all back together again and, while there is neither a kraken released nor Medusa slain, the video does feature some rather fanciful sound effects for you to enjoy, and it's all after the break.
TechRestore's stop-motion iPad tear-down video
Right on launch day, iFixit totally disassembled an iPad, offering eager eyes a wealth of information on what's under the hood. Now TechRestore has created a stop-motion video of the entire tear-down and reassembly process in just over three minutes by stitching together 1675 frames. It's fascinating to watch the iPad take itself apart, not to mention that the sound effects really make the whole thing work. Gumby would be proud. [via 9to5mac]
Found Footage: self-unboxing iPad
This is -- for me, personally -- one of the greatest unboxing videos I've ever seen. Not to oversell it, but the sheer simplicity of a self-unboxing iPad is beautiful. The complete lack of commentary (or even a human) makes it short enough that even my attention span, frazzled by years of short songs and too much sugar, can consider it a pleasure to sit all the way through. In case you're wondering (and don't feel like watching, for whatever reason), it's a stop-motion animation, complete with a hovering X-ACTO blade, created by Brian Stark. Playtime with his new iPad was delayed for over an hour as he created this piece; he's suffered for his art, and for that, we commend him. Read on and watch the video to see for yourself! [Direct Vimeo link for iPhone/iPad users]
Stop-motion Super Mario Bros. 3 is almost as fun as the real thing
It's awfully hard to find a way to cram more charm into the Super Mario Bros. experience -- believe us, we've tried. Well, we're happy to report that GameVideos user smartkid82504 may have done just that, re-imagining the classic platforming action of Super Mario Bros. 3 through some scraps of paper, crayons, a stop-motion camera, and a bit of good, old-fashioned moxie. Head past the break to check it out.
