The Sound of Action

Its Finals week and all the animation students at Woodbury University are burning the midnight oil and loading up on the caffeine to get their films done before the deadline. And as I write this, I have my own deadline to finish animating Episode 2 before the Summer begins or is over.

I've been laying out the final scenes and cutting in sound effects to enhance the animation. I've noticed that many students are relying on their music to tell their animated stories, but I find it always amazing to create a sound effect and sync it up to my silent animation. 

The first sync sound experience I had in animation was to animate a water splash. Back in the day, sound was on 1/4 tape and you had to record this master take unto a roll of perforated 16mm Magnetic film.Once the sound was on the 16mm mag stock, you had to add a head and tail leader. I shutter to remember those days myself, but I learned how to read the sound and figuring out when the splash occurred and when the second droplet of water fell.

No Animateducated website or Youtube references to learn from; my only source was the Disney " Illusion of Life" book and still photographs that I could find in books about science high speed photography. Once the splash was animated and pencil tested, I had to sync it up to the mag stock of the splash sound effect. I will spare you the gruesome details, but let's just say when that drawing of a ball hit the water and the sound of the splash happened at the same time as my animation, that was pure magic to me.

So, here's a sequence with sound effects added to my animation again, but using the tools of today. When it works, I am still amazed.

RoughSound_4192016 from Toondini on Vimeo.

Spot a WatchCat

While working on this project, I find myself noticing a lot of watchcats in my own neighborhood.They patrol our streets and sidewalks always in a hurry, never on a stroll. They sit under cars, in bushes, in windows keeping an eye on things.

 

Take a walk around your own neighborhood and you might be surprised to see a well hidden cat looking back at you. Here is a photo of a true watchcat, he is very well hidden. Can you find him?

From War to NOIR

Seems like yesterday… Ten Years ago, Greg and I were on set of the film we wrote entitled, WAR, and honored to be working with two of our favorite action stars, Jet Li and Jason Statham. 

It was our only Studio Film to date, and since then it's been a long road and we've had a lot of ups and downs, but excited to say that this year we're getting close to finishing our next feature film, NOIR, and even though it's Independent… This time, we get to direct it our way.

A new IndieGoGo campaign is in the works to finish this film and Watchcat Blogcast #2 will feature both Greg and Tony telling you more about NOIR and showing a few clips of work in progress.

Like NOIR

Happy Watch Cat Wednesday everyone. We at #TeamNoir would like to thank everyone who has helped support us in the past year and a half of on our production. We are happy to announce that we are finally wrapping up on principal photography for our feature film, NOIR this summer.

 

We will soon have a teaser trailer coming out within the next few weeks. And a possible Indigogo campaign for post. So be on the lookout.

If you're a fan of Film Noir/Monster movies & Horror Thrillers, support us at #Noir, please go to our NoirTheFilm Facebook page and Like us, follow us on Instagram and Twitter. We are posting pictures of our production and your support is very important for us. 

Thanks again!
Greg Bradley

 

Dumb Hounded

For this WatchCat Wednesday, I'd like to introduce to you one of my favorite cartoon directors of all time, Tex Avery. The debut of "Dumb-Hounded" was on March 20th,1943 and features the first appearance of Droopy Dog.

Droopy first appeared as a cartoon version of a Basset Hound, before evolving into the cute little Droopy we know and love today. This film includes a sight gag where the escaped prisoner, (the Wolf) runs off the edge of the film and has to jump back in to finish the picture. 3 years later, that same gag was used in another Droopy cartoon called Northwest Hounded Police. 

Please enjoy this rare link to this first Droopy film.

1943 – DUMB-HOUNDED (Droopy fin limier) from Mon Cinéma à Moi on Vimeo.

Below is a shorten version of "Northwest Hounded Police" featuring Droopy and see if you can spot that same sight gag used in both films.

Thanks for Watching!

Until next Watchcat Wednesday, if you like what you see, let us know!
Remember to Like our WatchCat Facebook Page.

Watchcat Wednesdays

Animation takes a long time to produce and so, please visit our Watchcat page on Facebook to see what's going on there every Watchcat Wednesday! If its Wednesday, take a look and be sure to Liked the page.

Here's our first Wednesday feature.

 

Our first Blogcast!

 
On Friday, February 26th at 7pm PST, we had our first live streaming experience and it was not a pleasant one. Everything that could go wrong, did. We had sound trouble making it impossible for anyone tuning in to hear us or to learn more about our project WatchCat. 

We also discovered that our 5,000 views have gone up since then to 5403! And so, here's a quick and shorter version of our blogcast...enjoy!

Friday, February 26th was the 108th birthday of Animation Director,Tex Avery. We had planned to show a few cartoons that he made, however legal issues over broadcasting them came up, and we weren't allowed to show them. I did find this link to a bunch of his cartoons for you to enjoy. 

We will announce our next WatchCat Blogcast featuring "NOIR" and as always your comments or feedback is important to us. Until next Watchcat Wednesday...