Stress Inc. Christmas Episode

The next episode of Stress Inc. is the Christmas episode.  I'm in the middle of animating it now!  It will be the most epic episode yet.  I'm hoping for a Black Friday launch date, which is November 27th this year.  I've always wanted to make my own stop motion Christmas special, and that's exactly what this will be.  It's proving to be the most involved, and complicated episode yet, but I think all the hard work is going to pay off.  Mark your calendars, Stress Inc returns November 27th!

Stress Inc. Is Here!

At last, the first two episodes are on line!  Two short, sweet pieces of stop motion comdey ready for viewing! Check them out using the link below!

https://vimeo.com/channels/stressinc

Stress Inc.

The first two episodes, coming April 12th!!!

Show Opener

I finished shooting the show opener last weekend (that little bit that plays before each episode and includes the titles.)  So, everything I need for now is in the can.  I'm working on visual effects now and putting the final touches on the sound.  It's getting close!

Episode 2 In the Can!

Episode two is in the can, as of today!  I've been working hard, trying to animate at least one day every weekend so I can finally start getting this project out there.  I still need to do a reshoot of the series opener which is only two shots.  Then there is a bit of After Effects works and sound to be done.  But it's coming along and will be released soon.  It won't be long before I officially announce the project and have the first two episodes ready to view!

The picture above is a shot of the stage while filming episode 2.  As you can see, judging by the size of the Exacto knife and the glue stick on the stage, I'm working with some fairly small parts and pieces as I animate.  Tweezers regularly come in handy when you're animating things this small. 

For now I've decided to hold off announcing a release date (just in case I don't have it done by then).  I want to make sure all is good and ready when I announce the show.  Stay tuned, great things are under way!

Mouths

Just thought I'd show you a series of mouths I use for making the main character talk.  I'm pretty happy with the way animating dialog is turning out so far.  I've been testing out the mouths first by using After Effects.  I have a layer with a mouthless puppet and then insert each mouth on it's own layer for the time needed to portray the syllable it needs to.  This acts as a test and a guide.  I can then follow the quicktime I make from my After Effects file and organize the mouths, decipher which frame they should be on and make an x-sheet to follow while animating.  I don't want the final mouths to be an After Effects thing.  I'd rather put paper mouths on the puppet frame by frame as I animate.  It blends in so much better this way, and I'm really going for that practical stop motion feel.

By the way, Happy New Year!  2015 will finally be the year this project sees the light of day!  Episode 1 is in the can, and episode 2 is half way there.  I don't like declaring release dates, just because I never know what it will really take to do it right till I get there, but I'm really hoping to get the first two episodes on line in February 2015.  Then, subsequent episodes will follow when they're done.  Initially I'm thinking 6 episodes total which I'll release over the coming year.  Cheers!

Episode 1 is in the can!

Episode 1 of my forthcoming web mini series is done shooting.  The second episode is written and I'm blocking out the shots and recording dialog for it now.  I'm on track for debuting this project by the begining of 2015. Yippee!