BLOG 8
Inspired by inspiration
or:
Why I ‘kept believing and kept pretending’ on the first anniversary of my stop-motion hobby
In August 2016, with my short film ‘Paper Airman’ completed and entered into the Manchester Animation Festival (I was yet to find out it wasn’t accepted) I wanted a new project to use for my 4th puppet and a short and simple animation sequence. I looked around for some inspiration…
My day job is as an art tutor/ workshop leader, and at one of the art classes I ran I had become good friends with a guy called Jamie Marks. Jamie made (and still makes) hand/rod puppets and says ‘My work is strongly influenced by the work of Jim Henson and the Muppets. The reason being is that these character are timeless, in the sense they act as if they were real…’ Jamie makes puppets, plushes, cosplay, sculptures, and more. His wonderful work can be seen on his website and he is on facebook, twitter etc.
Two puppet makers working - Young Jim Henson (top) Jamie Marks (bottom)
I found Jamie’s enthusiasm and talent inspirational and I LOVED how he took his passion for Jim Henson and used it to fuel his own creative output. So, I decided to ask Jamie to make a mini Kermit while I made a Jim. Danny the composer would do a version of ‘Rainbow Connection’ (listen to the original here), Jamie would sing the chorus and I would animate it all. I wanted the whole project to be an authentic tribute to Jim Henson (who died in 1990), his work and his outlook on life. The deadline was September 24th, what would’ve been Jim’s birthday.
We wanted to create something that Jamie (and any muppets enthusiast) would appreciate. Obviously Jamie did an amazingly accurate Mini-Kermit (about 2 inches tall), and he told me all about Jim’s career. We looked at reference images and chosing some little details to include in the design that spanned the life of Jim. For example; the face we chose was classic 80’s, the shirt is inspired by old photo of Jim from ‘Sam and Friends’ (1950’s pre Muppets show), and the bench and puppet position is inspired by a memorial statue at Maryland University.
I made the Jim puppet in a similar way to my previous puppet, using cork, paper and wood. It was a challenge to make a face that kinda-resembled Jim, particularly one that would have the mouth positions needed to attempt lip-syncing. It was so important to make the puppet have a friendly expression that mirrored Jim’s face, his work and the sentiment of the film.
When the film was complete we shared it on what would’ve been Jim’s 80th birthday - It was really well received, with Henson fans enjoying our work on Twitter, Facebook and our own websites. Thanks to loads of shares (on pages like Muppet Mindset ) we got thousands, even 10’s of thousands of views of our little tribute - and I still share it every September 24th. Check it out!
During the production of our Jim Henson tribute I found out my short film ‘Paper Airman’ was not accepted into the 2016 Manchester Animation Festival. I was pretty gutted (but not massively surprised having seen the quality of the films on show). However I secretly hoped that I would bookend my first year of stop-motioning with the M.A.F… The idea of watching a film I made in the same cinema that inspired me the year earlier was too good to not dream about. If I had spent a few years making the film properly, maybe I would’ve had a chance… But I liked a quick turn around and making things intuitively, so I decided to forget about festival pressures for a while (although I’d only ever entered this one). On the first anniversary of beginning my stop-motion animation hobby I didn’t want this latest disappointment to put me off… So, in the words of Jim Henson i decided to “Keep believing, keep pretending”.
In my next blog I will discuss the string of weird little project ideas I made while I decided what to make and enter into the 2017 Manchester Animation Festival (yes, yes, I am a masochist)
Thanks for reading!
James
Current Project
*MORY FILM PRODUCTION* I had a bit of a play with some editing the completed shots and looked over the animatic for the next shot. I haven’t had time to actually film anything else since last blog due to visitors and visiting over the christmas period, but looking forward to getting back at it tomorrow.
*MODEL MAKING* I managed to work a bit on the Rox and Cora models over christmas - doing some sewing for the ears and undercarriage etc. I will make more progress on these 2 models after the Mory film is finished as I will need the use workshop space (currently in ‘animation mode’) to do proper model making stuff.
*MERCHANDISE/FUNDRAISING* I am currently thinking of little ‘Mory’ merchandise ideas to use when I complete the film. Any merch needs to have a good % return, so as much of the funds go back into making a new film as possible. Something that ties into the themes of the film would be nice too. I have some idea, but feel free to contact me with any suggestions. All my current merch is available on my shop page