festival

Dead All Along Re-Render

Dead All Along || Ceri Frost from Giles Timms on Vimeo.

Sadly, I never had the money to submit Dead All Along to festivals, but I recently received a small grant to submit my animated films to festivals. So I’ve edited Dead All Along and have been submitting the film to festivals.

Of course I ran into a few challenges with the re-edit and re-render process. Originally I edited Dead All Along with FCP 7, but have been using FCP X and with the big change in FCP X I was unable to access the original FCP files. So, after some research, I bought 7toX which allows you to export the original FCP 7 file as an xml file which can be imported into FCP X. 7toX works really well, for the most part, and I recommend it if you have FCP 7 files that you want to access in FCP X. You do have to install FCP 7 though. I guess the best method would be to install the legacy version of FCP 7 to a different machine, but I installed FCP on the same machine as FCP X and just followed the directions below, that I found online. So far no problems running both on the same machine (fingers crossed)

1. Create a folder called FCP X Apps, and placed FCP X and Compressor within folder

2. Install FCP 7, and after installation move FCP 7 and legacy Compressor to a folder in Applications called Legacy-Apps

3. Finally move FCP X and Compressor out of the FCP X Apps folder and back to the root level of the Application folder, and delete the FCP X Apps folder

After getting FCP 7 installed and running, 7toX wasn’t able to export all the transitions/effects that I had in the original edit, so I ended up rendering the original FCP 7 file and imported the .mov into FCP X. However, I could not get the legacy version of compressor to work and the render output from FCP 7 was…not good. The colors were all washed out. I tried and tried to get fiddle with the codec settings and installed x264, but no matter what I tried I could not get the colors right. I’m sure no one else would notice, but I couldn’t live with it.

After more research I discovered JES-Deinterlace and was able to easily re-render my original Dead All Along file with the correct gamma settings so that I could get the color just right. Oh joy :) JES-Deinterlace is a great tool. Below are the settings I used.

Input Settings

Project Settings

Color Settings

Output Settings

Animation Codec Settings

Sunset Stories Animated End Titles and Sequences

The above image is a still from an animated sequence I created for the film ‘Sunset Stories.’ This still image shows the two main stars of the film, Monique Curnen and Sung Kang.

For ‘Sunset Stories’ I created animated end titles and animated sequences. Not all of the animated sequences made it into the final cut of the film, however, and the kiss scene and fight scene shown in this post were sadly cut from the film.

The fight scene with Monique Curnen and Sung Kang showing the live action still on top

The Kiss scene with Monique Curnen and Sung Kang showing the live action still on top

Sunset Stories premiered at South-By-Southwest (SXSW) on March 10th and is also playing today, Tuesday March 13th and tomorrow, Wednesday March 14th.

‘Sunset Stories’ is directed by Silas Howard and Ernesto Foronda.

End Titles at SXSW

My animated end title sequence and animated sequences for the film Sunset Stories is screening today, Saturday March 10th, at South-By-Southwest (SXSW).

‘Sunset Stories’ is a film about an OCD nurse who runs into her past while on route to pick up an organ transplant and the 24-hour journey she goes on to find all that she lost.

The film is directed by Silas Howard and Ernesto Foronda. ‘Sunset Stories’ stars Monique Curnen and Sung Kang, along with ‘Lost’s’ Harold Perrineau.

Sunset Stories End Title Sequence: Stills One

A collection of still images rendered from my animated end title sequence for the film ‘Sunset Stories,’ directed by Silas Howard and Ernesto Foronda, 2012. Sunset Stories‘ stars Monique Curnen and Sung Kang with a cameo by Kevin Bacon.

I designed, illustrated and animated the end title sequence using Photoshop, After Effects and hand drawn characters and props.

Here is the official synopsis of the film:
“May, a high-strung and overly meticulous nurse, must return to Los Angeles to retrieve bone marrow for a transplant. Soon after her trip begins, her world turns upside down when past and present collide and she runs smack into JP, the man she left behind five years ago. Flustered, May loses the cooler containing the marrow. With only 24 hours remaining, the two embark on an offbeat search through the streets of Los Angeles only to discover that just when you think all is lost you find what you least expected.”

Although my end title design is not a literal translation of the film, I did adhere to the poetic theme of the film. The following is the logline or theme of my end credits:

May journeys through a fairy-tale environment, and encounters the cast of characters as fairytale archetypes. Hidden within the environment and sometimes a part of the environment itself, the cooler is always just out of reach.

‘Sunset Stories’ premieres at SXSW tomorrow :)

Updated gilestimms.com with film title design work

I finally updated gilestimms.com with my recent film title design work for the films ‘Sunset Stories’ and ‘Let Go.’

‘Sunset Stories,’ 2012
I designed and animated an end title sequence and animated interstitials for the 2012 film, ‘Sunset Stories,’ directed by Silas Howard and Ernesto Foronda. ‘Sunset Stories’ premieres at SXSW and stars Monique Curnen and Sung Kang with a cameo by Kevin Bacon.

‘Let Go,’ 2011
I designed and animated an opening title sequence and animated time-lapse interstitials for the 2011 film, ‘Let Go,’ directed by Brian Jett. ‘Let Go’ premiered at the Austin Film Festival and stars David Denman, Gillian Jacobs, Kevin Hart and Ed Asner.

Now I have to get my reel put together…

Dead All Along Screening at the UCLA Animation Prom

‘Dead All Along’ is also screening tonight at the UCLA Animation Prom as part of the 2010 UCLA Festival of New Creative Work. The special guest will be Randy Cartwright (The Princess and the Frog, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast). Animation Prom is the festival screening the work from the UCLA Animation Workshop within the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

‘Dead All Along’ is the title track from Ceri Frost’s debut album CUI.

The screening is at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus, at 7:30pm, Saturday June 5th.

Big thank you to Jenny Sherman and the Animation Students Organization (ASO) for all their hard work and effort to organize Prom <3
View Larger Map

Dead All Along – Opening Night at the UCLA Festival of New Creative Work

‘Dead All Along’ has the wonderful honor of screening tomorrow night, on the opening night of the 2010 UCLA Festival of New Creative Work. The special guest will be Director Joe Russo (You, Me & Dupree, Arrested Development). I’m a huge fan of Arrested Development, so I’m really excited that Joe Russo is our guest :)

‘Dead All Along’ is the title track from Ceri Frost’s debut album CUI.

The screening is at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus, at 7:30pm, Friday June 4th.

View Larger Map

Animator on Jeffrey Blitz’s Lucky

One of my animated stills from the film Lucky, by Jeffrey Blitz

The above is a still from one of the animated sequences I illustrated and animated for Jeffrey Blitz’s new documentary, Lucky. Lucky premiered at Sundance 2010. I was fortunate to work again as an animator and illustrator with Bill Barminski from Walter Robot on this production and it was also great working with Jeffrey Blitz. I found Jeffrey to be a very intelligent and challenging director. The sequences were animated in After Effects, with the illustrations drawn and colored/textured in photoshop.

The reviews of Lucky have been positive and it seems people also liked the animated sequences, as this review from Scott Weinberg testifies “with nifty animated interstitials full of interesting jackpot stats.” You can read Scott’s full review here:

http://www.cinematical.com/2010/01/27/sundance-review-lucky/

I’m excited to see the full film. Please leave a comment if you’ve seen the film and let me know what you thought, thanks.

Manifestations at the Anchorage International Film Festival

Manifestations is screening at the Anchorage International Film Festival.

Thanks ever so much to Teresa Scott :)

Manifestations at the St. Louis International Film Festival

Manifestations is screening agian this coming weekend at the 18th Annual St. Louis International Film Festival. Here are the details for the second screening.

Where: Tivoli Theatre, Animated Shorts Program 1
When: Sunday, Nov. 22, 9:30 p.m.
Link: http://www.cinemastlouis.org/2009/short_programs.html#sp10

View Larger Map

Manifestations was created within the UCLA Animation Workshop at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

Music by Ceri Frost