Iantimothy, you have my condolences... he was a mighty fine duck...

Alas, poor Drake. I knew thy not.

Drake's new head is doin' great. today I will finish scene 4, tomorrow I will start on scene six.... That one is pretty short. Then hopefully this weekend I will start Scene 7, then after that scene 3 and 5, I have a bit of post-production work to do, so I think we are looking at about three more weeks. so... early to mid August.
I am trying to decide what the caterpillars cameo should be in this one.

Glad to hear Drake's on the road to recovery!

Uh, it's only a model duck. And it's great that you 'fixed' Drake iantimothy.

Ajmole i think Shaun the Lamb knows that

There was another page?

page of what?

Drake(v.2) we will all remember you

Hi, I've just 'discovered' in a way your Beaver Creek animations, and I love them! I won't say it on here just in case, but when I saw how old you were I couldn't believe it! Aardman had better watch out. Would you mind if I asked you some questions, as I'd like to make my own stopmtion film(s)?
Thanks very much.

iantimothy: Of this thread.

No problem, ask away..... I have made a ton of mistakes.... I think that's the best way to learn, and if I can pass that onto others then that's great!

Thanks Ian! Just a few questions...
1) What software do you use to put the frames together, add sound etc.?
2) What type of armature do you use for your models?
3) Roughly how long does it take you to make an episode of Beaver Creek?
4) What did you do with the $500 you won from the AT&T Virtual Science Challenge?
Thanks again!

1) To animate I use istopmotion, it is for mac... if you are on windows, then stopmotion pro orta work. to edit I use Final Cut, but any editing program shoould work fine.

2) I went into a bit of detail on your armature thread, it should answer that question.

3) It usually takes a month of pre-production, about two and a half months of shooting, and a week of post-production.

4) I haven't used all of it, but I am into model trains, so I used about $60 to get some new track and cars. I haven't done anything with the rest. I actually won $1000 from the same contest back in 2008 and haven't touched that money yet.

If you have anything else, feel free to ask.

Thanks very much Ian!

I am starting scene six today, Twigs gets to swim (above water) again, he hasn't done that since the third episode, so that is always kind of fun.... then tomorrow I get to show something that ABSOLUTELY has never been shown in Beaver Creek before.
and I am not tellin' ya what it is.
This is the last major scene.... as you know every Beaver Creek has to end with that short final gag, so that is scene seven, I will probably start that on sunday, then two interior scenes, and I will be finished.

It sounds like it's going really well. You might even be finished before August!
I was also wondering, how do you shape the mouth so that the character looks like it's saying the words, i.e. how do you make it the right shape so that when it's animated, it looks as if the character is saying the words? Sorry if that confused you, it's hard to explain!

I don't no what ian uses but a lot of people use a mouth chart and mouth replacements
which you put on the puppet

Here's some used for the stop mo movie coraline :

Here is an example of a mouth chart :

And another :

you would then make a mouth out of plasticine corresponding to the mouth chart hope that helped!

That is basically what I do, I have a hole cut into twigs head, and the lips can come off, I have a box with different shapes and I listen to the audio frame by frame and see what shape should be put on.

if you watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHSj019p3h4 it briefly goes into that during the stop motion part.

That is a really helpful video thanks ian !!!!!! that will help with my animation pizza boy !!!

I just watched Episode 3 of Beaver Creek - I think it's my favourite so far! I can't stop whistling the theme tune either!

At least you can whistle funky. I can't.

A hole in Twigs head? Sounds painful.

yea, but he doesn't mind.

Alright, I shot somethin' pretty interestin' yesterd'y, It shows something that has never been done in Beaver Creek before. I will hopefully finish scene six tomorrow, and then I hope to finish scene seven by wednesday. I have another project in, that I can actually get paid for.... it is just a 15 second logo reveal so sometime soon I will take two days and do that. but that won't take any more than two days.

Beaver Creek Episode Five Update

Date- 7/21/10

Amount shot- five minutes, twelve seconds.

Time spent- Two months one day.

Shots completed- 54.

Number of sets- four.

Number of characters- Three major, two minor.

Dialogue- complete.

Voice talent- Joel Timothy, Amy Barkley, Tim Roberts, Tina Showalter.

Estimated completion- Thursday Next week.

I just jumped out of my seat and tapped danced because I can't wait and it will be be soon!

WWWWWOOOOOHHHHHOOOOO!!!!!!

yep, it will be just a little bit early... I think probably thursday next week, I have two more short scenes left... they are interior scenes, today we have one of the voice talents coming over... this will be the last audio that has to be done before the post audio. You know it is always risky when you work on something for two months and have pretty much no idea what the final thing is gonna look like strung together, so last night I put it in final cut and watched it, I think this will be a mighty good episode. now I want to make something clear, that is when I finish shooting, I probably have a week or so of post production, so it will probably be released in about two weeks

so, I reckon y'all just need to sit a spell, and wait fer two weeks.

Today all the dialogue was finished, I think what we recorded today could be the funniest thing in Beaver Creek history, it was one of the guest voices, Tina Showalter, she doesn't really play a character, but it is mighty funny and she did a great job with it. I wish I could tell you what it is, I won't, but I will tell you, it doesn't really advance the plot it's just funny, and it is a reference to an older gag.

Ohh Realy

SOUNDS AWESOME!!!
Now i'm not going to sleep for 2 weeks...Thanks a whole blooming lot Ian!

The last scene is done, now there are two scenes shot out of sequence that I have to do, but I have another quick project in, I will probably finish that is about a day.

I can't wait! Well done for finishing early Ian.

woohoo!

Sweet!!!!!

Alright, change o' plans, I have decided to finish up Beaver Creek, then do the other project, there is not really a deadline, I am still makin' the character, and I am goin' to see if I can get it to be HD. So I think I can finish episode 5 by, maybe, tuesd'y.

I think I might have just come up with the idea for Beaver Creek Six.... If y'all think I should make another one.

YES!!!!!!!!

Good, because we pretty much have it written.

What an insane questions.
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YOU SHOULD!...YES YES YES!

Wow, by tuesday? Awesome!
Now i cant wait!

I probably should of peed before I just read your post about Beaver Creek being done by Tuesday. Because I got too excited and now I need to change.

Great, looking forward to it!!!!!

Remember that's me finishing it, not the release date, I am hopin' to release it, over next weekend.

right now, I am working on the first interior scene, it is a weird one because the main action is going to be done in flash, so I have to make twigs, basically just stalling for time. This is where all three of the guest voices are, they are very very very very very funny, especially Tina Showalter, she is a jazz singer that my dad produced an album for. I am not goin' to tell you too much, but, there is a part where there is a song, not sung by Twigs, and she wrote and sang this song with perfect three part harmonies. And it is hilarious.

and Vincent, I am lookin' forward to Green Roots 4, you still thinkin' you will be done in the fall.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!

One day ahead of schedule, I am finished shooting. I am hopin' to release it maybe, friday.

WOOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Old man Tucker was a fine old man
He washed his face in the frying pan
He combed his hair with a wagon wheel
And died of the toothache in his heel
Get out the way for old man Tucker
He's too late to git his supper
Supper's over and dishes washed
Nothing left but a piece of squash

YEPIE