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This is the animated end title sequence and animated sequences that I created for the 2012 film, Sunset Stories directed by Silas Howard and Ernesto Foronda. ‘Sunset Stories’ premiered at the 2012 SXSW Festival and stars Monique Curnen and Sung Kang, along with ‘Lost’s’ Harold Perrineau.
Created with After Effects and Photoshop.
Monique Curnen as the character May
In 2011 I was really excited to create my first animated title sequence for the independent film, ‘Let Go,’ directed by Brian Jett. I also created nine animated time-lapse interstitials for the film. It was awesome working with Brian as a Director on the sequence as Brian gave me a lot of license within his vision for the sequences and his notes were very specific and spot on.
For the nine animated time-lapse interstitials, Brian wanted the following scenes, evocative of Los Angeles: Fence, Suburban, Couch, Venice Lofts, Skyline, Freeway, Hockney House in the Hills, Santa Monica Pier and Ferris Wheel, Palm Trees. The interstitials were a lot of fun to create and they also allowed me to expand my After Effects skills while incorporating the following effects: tilt-shift effect, time-lapse effect, car lights and city lights. Probably my favorite sequence is the poolside sequence that is inspired by Hockney’s ‘A Bigger Splash.’ I went through a big Hockney phase when I started art college.
With the time-lapse LA sequences I thought I would create very detailed environments in 3D in After Effects, complete with 3D buildings. I created the Venice Loft scene this way (the first scene I created), but for all the work setting up a 3D space built up of 3D buildings I decided that flatter buildings worked just as well when creating the environments. Above is an image of some of the props I built for the time-lapse LA sequences – I created lots of 2D prop elements to add visual variety to the urban environments, including, power poles/lines, ladders, aerials, bushes, flowers, plants, cars etc.
I was able to attend the première in LA last summer and met the cast and crew, including Barbara Perry (wife of legendary animator Art Babbit) and Edward ‘Grapevine’ Fordham (photo above).
‘Let Go’ is a great romantic comedy starring, David Denman (from The Office), Gillian Jacobs (from Community), Ed Asner (yes, that Ed Asner :), and Kevin Hart (comedian). It’s available as a vod on both Amazon Prime and Netflix.
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.
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.
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 :)
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…
Above is a cutout animation character called ‘Chaz’ for the opening tile sequence that I am animating for the independent film, ‘Cooler’. I am also animating several animated sequences within the film.
This model sheet shows my cutout character design process and includes my initial character design hand drawn on paper with pencil, pen and ink, the cutout body bits colored and textured in Photoshop and the final character rig assembled in After Effects. I’ve also included screen shots of the cutout character in Photoshop (with the live action character reference) and the rigged character in After Effects.
‘Cooler’ is directed by Silas Howard and Ernesto Foronda.
‘Cooler’ on IMDB
Below are some photos from my recent trip to Belmont Shore, Longbeach LA. I traveled out to LA to attend the premiere for Brian Jett’s film ‘Let Go.’ I created the animated titles and sequences for the film.
‘Let Go’ on IMDB
I created several of the animated sequences for ‘Lucky,’ a documentary that aired on HBO last month.
The documentary, by Jeffrey Blitz, aired on July 19th as part of HBO’s summer of documentaries. ‘Lucky’ focuses on “chronicling the many, and often sobering, effects winning a big jackpot can have on a person” (Television review: ‘Lucky’ on HBO by the Los Angeles Times).
The above character design is Miss Lotto. She was one of the characters that never made it into the final cut. Miss Lotto is a very simple cut-out character composited and animated in After Effects. Miss Lotto was drawn in Photoshop with a Wacom, lightly textured in Photoshop, cut out and then all her girly bits were imported into After Effects.
Lucky premiered at Sundance 2010.
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.