When I talk about my hidden agenda most people that know me laugh and remind me that my agenda is anything but hidden. Okay, agreed. I let people know right up front what I am after.

One of the things that I am after with the Stop Mo Expo is to get Stop Motion training in the animation schools. There is Stephen Chiodo teaching at Cal Arts and Ken Proebe at Van Arts (I`m currently reading his The Art of Stop-Motion Animation book and I like where he is coming from, I will report on it when I am finished).

For the rest of the schools, a little bit of training here and there on a student by student basis if they can`t talk them out of it, but no real programs. Which, to me, is one of the main reasons that CGI animation has no real world weight. Every CGI animator should start with Stop Motion then their models wouldn`t float off so much.

The biggest stumbling block to getting a program started is the false belief about stop motion needing lots of space. Every time I try to talk anybody into a stop motion program I hear the same old thing. We don`t have room for all the sets. You don't need room. You don`t even need sets!

When I talk blue screen and how little room is needed nobody seems to get it. Blue screen can be done on a camera stand, no room at all. I can`t get people to stop fixating on sets so okay. I have spent the last week building a set for the Stop Mo Expo animation jam. So I have taken this opportunity to prove something about just how much room a stop motion set really needs to take up.

I have created a desktop stop motion set complete with fully ajustable camera stand and it all fits into a (get this) 5 inches deep by 26 inches wide by 29 inches tall storage unit. That is right, when it is packed up it is a carrying case that takes up 5 inches by 26 inches by 29 inches. When it is set up and in use it covers only a desktop. You can`t find a desktop per student? How is that for hidden agenda?



Larry Loc (ASIFA Blog Guy)  ¶ 9:38 AM