About this project

This project is about remaking the Gears of war's TV commercial directed, by Joseph Kosinski, using stopmotion.

Here's the original video


I did some very basic stopmotion tests before i started this project.  There were very jerky, but there were my first steps into this "world".  I was using Todd McFarlane's action figures that didn't have good articulations for what i wanted to do.  After some researchs on the web about puppets and armature, i discovered the "Stikfas".  A little plastic action figure with balls and sockets joints.  These toys are the best for beginners because they work very well, offers great possibility of movements, a good durability and are very cheap.  So i bought my first one on ebay, the "Black Ops". 

After some tests, i was looking for a little project to learn the basics of stopmotion.  By that time, i was playing a lot with the game "Gears of war" on Xbox 360 and i was enjoying it very much.  I need to say that i have waited a very long time before playing it and i watched the TV commercial, that looks so nice, several times.  The idea of remaking it was the only thing that was in my head.  There were plenty of technical shots that  were offering a great challenge for me and a great way to learn as much as possible about this art.

I started with the "Alley pan" sequence.  I did it on a green screen with the Stikfas, glued to a stick.  The camera was moving around him on a homemade rail.  The idea was to do a Chroma key on the green screen and to add a "city" as background.  (By this time, i was expecting finishing my "exercise" within around 3 months...)  After a few tries, i was thinking that i would have better results if the character wasn't shot on a green screen, but on a set that i could build.  (To have the shadows, light reflections... a more realistic look. Little by little, i built a set and the project got bigger and bigger and here we are...

“Portions of the materials used are copyrighted works of Epic Games, Inc., in the United States of America and elsewhere. All rights reserved, Epic Games, Inc. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Epic Games, Inc.”

5 comments:

  1. Outstanding result for almost a beginner... I can hardly believe that it took "only" about a thousand frames. How much roomspace does the set take? Did you hire some room for it or did you use some place at your home?

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  2. Thank you very much. Yeah, i run that at 24 fps, so 1440 frames are required for a minute. The average set dimensions are about 3'x 8' (there's some pictures on my blog that can give you an idea). I use a small room in our home basement.

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  3. Oh, I see, I have to say that the fact you're so hardworking on the blog diary is very helpful for others. I myself recognize it as really educative and inspirative. Thumbs up.
    Anyway, the set is actually very tiny, I thought it was huge :)
    You have to be very skilful, judging of all the gadgets you've had to make.
    Well, you use MonkeyJam - aren't you missing onion-skin feature?
    (sorry for my flawed english)
    -fmash-

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  4. Monkey Jam is use to compile images. I use CSMC to capture and it has an onion skin feature. I think that this software is only compatible with some Canon's cameras.

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  5. Padma Locana HeidemannOctober 7, 2011 at 5:27 p.m.

    A 1 minute project that took about a year...The best 1 minut project I've seen! Great detail and work. Very inspiring ang truly amaizing. May we know what the next project will be? :3

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