Note, the diary that follows below was originally released in the form of a blog in 2005 / 2006… happy reading…
Gloomy Valentine has been in production for about a week now. Isabel has been working very long hours. We’ve had Hugh come into set up lights and position the camera. The computer is installed, and the completed set looks fantastic… can’t wait to show you some pictures!
Wednesday August 24th 2005, 5.15 pm
John Lewis has now joined Isabel to work on the animation, so things have really sped up. For the first week they’ve worked together on shots, and now John is going to work night shifts – he wants to – so we’ll be in production 24 hours a day… which will certainly speed things up.
Tuesday September 13th 2005, 2.30 pm
We’ve installed several old film lights in the studio. They create a great deal of heat – the room is not really that big and all the windows are sealed up to keep other light from spilling in – but there’s no question of not using them!!
Cameras
Wednesday September 07th 2005, 5:56 pm
Chosing a camera is a mine field. I reckon, for the benefit of the end result, and given all the time you’ll put into a project, you have to go for the best you can get. Can’t afford a $20K Nikon, or be bothered with a spycam video split on a cheaper SLR? You wouldn’t be alone. But basically what you are looking for is the best CCD chip for your money and the best lens quality. Then lights, sets, and so on. We settled on a DSC F828. Made by Sony, the camera was a little triksy at first… we had to buy an analogue / digital converter box to get a live feed for the framethief software, and we got some extra lenses, though the standard lense offers fairly good flexibility (It’s a Carl Zeiss T* zoom lens). We’re outputting to HD and potentially a film blowup, but if you were outputting for the web, for example, you might settle for less.
Wednesday September 07th 2005, 6:00 pm
Gloomy puppet last seen in the menswear (or should I say Kenswear) department of a children’s toy shop. Her man now has a nice new suit. Very cool.
Post production pathway options for digital filmmaking are fairly open. We take still image sequences, treat them, edit them and finally will grade the whole thing using a machine so expensive that if we sold everything we owned we’d still never be able to afford it…
Friday September 23rd 2005, 8:51 pm
We’ve completed the first few shots and things have gone very well so far. As always, no matter how much prep you do, there’s always stuff that comes up at the last minute… the fine detail. Anyway, here’s a sneak preview of one of the shots. Izzy’s done a terrific job here. This shot will eventually show our little lady gazing sadly into her bedroom mirror. This shot is straight out of the camera – and has not been treated in any way. I’ve put the thumbnail in the post – but click on it to see a (much smaller than actual) size image
Sunday October 02nd 2005, 10:18 am
We’ve done our first blue screen shot now… It went well though it took a while to work out the best way to go about it. The blue screen paint’s expensive (you have to buy 4 litres and we used about a 300ml) but worthwhile for the end result. There’s not a great deal of bluescreen stuff that we’ll be doing as we are trying to do as much in camera as possible.
Well it looks like the impossible has happened and we are ahead of schedule. Its mainly due to the fact that me and John have been shooting literally day and night for the last three weeks (he shoots night shifts coz hes a vampire). We have only two more weeks of shooting till we lock of the shots and hand them over to the composer, sound designer, editor and digital effects, then it goes to get graded. Ive had a bit of a love hate relationship with animating but I love being able to build my own little monsters and then breathe life into them. Its like a dream come true.
Wednesday October 26th 2005, 2:25 pm
Well, we are now nearly finished shooting and the results are looking fantastic. (Gush gush – but really, we are thrilled!) It’s great to see the puppets really come to life as we start to assemble the shots. I mentioned somewhere before that there are actually two characters in the film. The boy broke the girls heart. It’s her story – but I thought we should show you all a shot of the unhappy couple in better days
It’s been a tremendous learning process for us all, and it’s just the beginning! We’re starting to think about the next project (world domination) and we haven’t even finished the first… we should hold our horses! We still have to finish the edit, sound design, composition and grade among other things
Izzy and I are looking forward to seeing The Corpse Bride. It comes out in Australia in a few weeks
Monday October 31st 2005, 9:12 pm
We’ve just shot the last of the shots we planned to shoot. Editing starts tomorrow. Things are going very well but we are tired. We caught up with our composer Elliott and sound designer Damian earlier this week, and it is very exciting having their input. Can’t wait to see what they come up with. Meanwhile, digi Pete is slaving away on his computer making really great digital elements to add to some of the shots. So many hours spent in dark places!… ahhh well, we’re very happy to be here at this point – and on halloween!!! – Warwick
Tuesday November 08th 2005, 1:07 pm
We’ve locked off the picture now and have composition and sound design underway. We did have a couple of late nights getting to lock off (not quite as late as John, our night shift animator though!) Still looking for some more Look-alike competition entries – it’s not too late! We’ll post some look-alike pictures when we find the time to sort them out
Thursday December 08th 2005, 3:16 pm
Ahh, Damian’s magic ears are working overtime as are the feet, hands and minds of Blair and Mario the Foley artists
We’ve had a few hiccups as we went into post – the usual digital media issues – long render times, and too many options! – but things are still on track and the picture is looking wonderful. We thought we’d post a few pics of Damian (and Izzy) at work at Huzzah Sound (in Fox Studios)… music is coming soon and the Gloomy Valentine is coming to life
Thursday December 15th 2005, 8:12 pm
She’s coming together extremely well now. She breathes onscreen, and music rings in her ears. The life that sound has brought to the image is really amazing, and we are very fortunate to have been working with two very talented people doing sound design and composition respectively. All of the music was recorded with live musicians, and the depth that it brings is astounding. Final mix is set for tomorrow 16th December
Final HD images should be ready early next week
Monday February 20th 2006, 3:14 pm
Gloomy Valentine is now out being sent out to film festivals around the world. We’ve arranged a special friends and crew screening for later in March. Let us know if you’re in Sydney and would like to come.
We’re also planning to redevelop this website so we can better show off Gloomy Valentine (We’ll feature a clip online). We’ll make some special edition t-shirts and so on (more details soon!). Currently Izzy and I are developing a couple of other animation projects. For now, we hope that in the next few months you have the opportunity to see Gloomy Valentine – and that it fills you full of sadness.
A woman struggles to overcome the sadness of a broken heart. Haunted by memory she is ultimately consumed by nightmarish shadows
The lyrical and monstrous are interwoven in Gloomy Valentine, a stop motion, animated short film that tells the story of Gloomy, a woman struggling to overcome the sadness of a broken heart. Aesthetically influenced by gothic surrealism, Gloomy is haunted by memory and is ultimately consumed by nightmarish shadows
Saturday March 25th 2006, 4:18 pm
Gloomy Valentine has premiered to crew, friends and family at the Dendy Opera Quay cinemas in Sydney. It was a great opportunity to screen the film to all involved and the response was terrific! Thanks to all those who came along – your support and applause was greatly appreciated! We all went up to the pub afterwards and many a story was told over a few ales and pizzas. I seem to recall we even smoked a cigar (thanks Rob
Below are a few photos from the day. – If you are interested in seeing the film please don’t hesitate to contact us on XXX and we can let you know where or how you can see the film. Also Izzy has made some superb puppets and t-shirts which we’re selling at cost – will post photos – anyone interested please email and let us know size – colour is black (of course) – cheers. Have a gloomy day
Great news!
Gloomy Valentine to break hearts on the big screen in Germany and Italy (and the small screen in Australia
Gloomy Valentine has been selected to screen at the prestigious 22nd International Short Film Festival Berlin. The Australian produced short film, a digital stop motion animation, will screen in the Berlin festival that runs from 07 -12 Nov 2006.
Directed and animated by Isabel Peppard, and produced by Warwick Burton Gloomy Valentine is one of 400 shorts selected for the festival from nearly 4000 entries
Locally, Gloomy Valentine has also been selected as a finalist for Best Animation in the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) Awards to be held in Melbourne on November 10th
Gloomy Valentine tells the story of a woman driven mad by loss of love. Weaving the lyrical with the monstrous the film is aesthetically influenced by gothic surrealism. Isabel Peppard the film’s director and lead animator says “Gloomy is haunted by the memory of love and in the end she is consumed by nightmarish shadows
The short animation was produced using a dedicated digital pathway. Capturing still image sequences with a digital SLR camera direct to a computer hard drive gives animators a great deal of flexibility and allows live viewing of each animated sequence. Peppard acknowledges that “using digital stills saved money, while maintaining High Definition production values, and getting a live preview of each animated movement is a fantastic and enabling tool
Gloomy Valentine was produced in association with the Australian Film Commission and will be screened on SBS TV’s SOS (Shorts On Screen) program in February 2007
STOP PRESS: Gloomy Valentine to screen in Italy at I Castelli Animati – an animation festival held near Rome in late November. Check it out for yourself: http://www.castellianimati.it
Gloomy Valentine has also been nominated for Best Music for a Short Film at the 2006 APRA – AGSC SCREEN MUSIC AWARDS – congratulations to Elliott Wheeler! Good luck on the night! More details at http://www.apra.com.au
Saturday November 04th 2006, 9:56 pm
Isabel is now on her way to Germany for the European premiere of Gloomy Valentine!! Photos to come
We’ll have a web trailer online soon and the DVD will be available for purchase on this website.
Look out for an article about the film in the next edition of IF magazine
If you are in Berlin, you can catch Gloomy Valentine at the 22nd International Short Film Festival, Berlin in the OZ Shorts- Australia Special Program…
http://www.interfilm.de
In other news, Gloomy Valentine’s composer Elliott Wheeler was nominated in two categories at the recent Australian Screen Music Awards. Elliott was nominated for his work on Gloomy Valentine for Best music for a Short film category. He was also nominated for his work on a commercial… (a heart warming commercial about the kid within, for a major fast food outlet) and he took home the award for that category on the night! Congratulations Elliott! Yaaaaaahhhh
OPENING NIGHT AT VOLKSBUHNE AM ROSA
The opening ceremony was at Volksbuhne am Rosa, a beautiful 1920s art deco theatre. Apparently it was built by the state as a theatre fior the people. The opening consisted of some speeches by the festival director, jury and some of the guests and filmmakers as well as selected film screenings from the festival program. Afterwards there were drinks in the lobby followed by a party at Roter Salon. I stayed for quite a few drinks and was also introduced to the other Australian filmmakers who are guests of the festival. This was followed by a few more drinks at White Trash Fast Food till I decided that bed was probably a wise option.
On Wednesday was the first screening of the OZ Shorts program that Gloomy Valentine is part of. The program was well attended and I received some positive feedback from the audience after the screening. I was also approached by a woman interested in licensing the film for broadcast on mobile phones in Berlin. After the screening I met up with another Aussie stopmotion animator and had a big nerdy animation chat followed by many a beer at a pub down a little alley run by the Dead Chickens a robotics and puppetry group. The decor straight out of mad max and it had plenty of atmosphere
BRUNO BOZZETTO
Bozzetto, a legendary Italian animator, has a retrospective as part of the festival program. I had the pleasure of seeing him speak and watching the retrospective of his work. His animation was really funny and through the quality of the movement he injects a real sense of life and personality into his animated characters. When he speaks his attitude and good humour reflect some of the qualities that he creates in his characters
Tuesday November 28th 2006, 4:00 pm
On Saturday I was invited to speak on a panel on creative process in animation. Also on the panel was an Austrain artist Adele Rakzkovi and well known Czech animator Michele Pavlatova who also had a retrospective as part of the festival. At the beginning of the discussion they played all of our films so the audience had some reference point to begin the question and answer process. The panel was hosted by a canadian animation producer who had prepared some questions for us all. After a pretty open discussion at the table we started receiving questions from the audience. One guy asked me why my characters looked like vampires! The panel went on for quite a while and then we were treated to a champagne brunch by the host resturaunt.
DINNER IN THE DARK
On Saturday night Alex, who curated the OZ Shorts program, took all the Australian filmmakers out for dinner. He decided it would be fun to take us all to a resturaunt where you eat in the pitch black. It was funny how much of an effect it had on people. Some of the people seemed very uncomfortable with it but in the end everyone settled in and enjoyed it. It was funny conversing with disembodied voices across the table.
After dinner we were whisked to the Festival Party which took place in a big warehouse venue outside of town. We drank many a beer and even did some dancing
AWARDS NIGHT
Held in the Babylon cinema the awards night was quite a big affair. The presentations went on for a few hours and Otto Sander (best known from wings of desire) seemingly three sheets to the wind already, presented the final awards. After the ceremony we got to see the winning films. Once it was all over there was yet another party this time at the Roter Salon just near the Babylon cinema. This one was markedly more debaucherous than the last one and even the festival directors were still drinking with us at 5 in the morning! Thats what I like about Interfilm!
