"For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see.
He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten
cities in Monroe and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle's lords, and heir to
the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and
remembers that which she hath forgotten."
- The 'Cats of Ulthar' (1920), H.P. Lovecraft
Wildfilm
Visual Ventures
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Prince of Darkness (aka: The Cat Creeps)
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Eighty Years of Killdozer
Worked heavy construction for near forty years and seldom met a heavy equipment operator, who if ya' mentioned the film 'Killdozer', would respond with anything but "Man, that was the best movie I ever seen!"
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Stop-Motion 101
"The predominance of ideologies in our culture tends to mean that, unless marked
as high art, many avowed non-realistic genres are viewed as frivolously escapist,
as 'mere fantasy,' and thus as suitable only for children or for 'mindless,'
"irresponsible adults."
- Steven Neale, Film Historian
Hey - this guy just wrote our epitaph!
We get quite a few inquiries addressing the stop-motion animation we've posted. Mostly from quite young folks. We've no intention of divulging a few techniques we've adapted that were derived from a bit of frustrating trial-and-error on our part. Techniques that we have yet to note in any of the endless reading and research that we invest into the process. Quite a few we feel to be a bit more simplistic than those of the acknowledged "experts" (who more often than not happen to have a cash interest attached to their expertise). However, it's tough to brush off a ten year old kid seeking a bit of assistance when we can help. If not mindless, we tend to be a bit responsible:
Stuff we've needed:
An (at least basic) understanding of the following ancillary disciplines are suggested:
Photography/filmmaking
Studio lighting
Video editing
Drawing/sketching
Clay sculpture/mold making
Scale model building
Scale model painting including airbrushing and weathering techniques
Can't hurt:
Woodworking
Metalworking
Stone Carving
MIG/Flux core welding
Software:
Photoshop
DragonFrame
Pagemaker
Some crucial materials (we inserted the manufacturer brand for stuff we've been using):
'Monster Maker' brand Monster Clay (medium)
'Sculpy' brand polymer clay
'JXE JXO' brand thermoplastic (beads)
Soft clay
'Monster' Liquid Latex
UltraCal 30 plaster
'Jack Richeson' brand armature wire - 1/16" and 1/8"
Most important, don't forget that ya' gotta' start with a script. Former NYU professor of film Haig Manoogian wouldn't let ya' touch a camera without first handing him a film script.
Saturday, August 3, 2024
This Happened To Us!
The ticker says that this is post #400. When we first began this blog back in 2012 we thought a blog was just another on-line device to buy and sell stuff. Our original intent was as part of effort to get rid of the last of an unwanted litter of four male kittens of a stray cat that had taken up residence at the sanctum.
We wound up continuing along with the blog, posting some photos and videos and commenting on such as well as anything else that came to mind. We consider it a form of "gym workout for writing" to keep in tone between some script writing that we've been doin'.
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
What Not: Twenty Years Solo / SUP Lite
Considering it's been twenty years this year, figured we'd post this old video one more (and last) time: