>UPDATE<

THIS SHORT ANIMATION WAS SHOWN AT THE MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL IN JUNE 2009. IT SHOWED AS PART OF THE TELSTRA 'GREAT MOMENTS IN HISTORY' PACKAGE AND THEN IN THE AUSTRALIAN PANORAMA AND WAS UP TO BE VOTED IN THE OVERALL COMPETETION.

>THE NOT SO GREAT MOMENT BEFORE THE BIG BANG<

THIS SHORT FILM WAS CREATED AS PART OF A SCREEN AUSTRALIA AND BIG POND INITIATIVE CALLED &LSQUO;GREAT MOMENTS IN HISTORY&RSQUO; DESIGNED TO SHOWCASE AUSTRALIAN ANIMATORS. THE INITIATIVE WILL RESULT IN TEN SHORT FILMS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY TO BE AVAILABLE ON NEXT G PHONES AND FROM 26 NOVEMBER 2009 ON WWW.BOGPOND.COM. THIS IS THE FIRST ANIMATED SHORT FILM FESTIVAL IN AUSTRALIA.

I BECAME INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT THROUGH GOOD FRIEND AND FELLOW CREATIVE WHOM I WORK WITH ON A LOT OF PROJECTS TIMBA SMITS (FAD EXPERIMENT). HE WAS GIVEN A BRIEF THROUGH TERRI DENTRY FROM (THINK RED SCREEN PLACEMENTS IN SOUTH MELBOURNE) TO ASSEMBLE A TEAM OF CREATIVES CAPABLE OF DEVELOPING A PITCH FOR THE INITIATIVE BASED ON SCRIPTS WRITTEN BY LOUISA DENT AND MARK PEARCE (ELLELDI STUDIOS). TIMBA THEN ENLISTED TOBIAS AND MYSELF TO ESTABLISH A DIRECTION FOR ACTUALLY ADAPTING THE SCRIPTS TO SCREEN AND PRODUCING A SAMPLE ANIMATION TO INCLUDE AS PART OF THE PITCH. WE WHERE ONE OF TEN TEAMS AUSTRALIA WIDE THAT WERE SUCCESSFUL.

MY ROLE WAS TO CO-DIRECT THE ANIMATION, STORY BOARD ILLUSTRATION, TOBY AND I BUILT THE PUPPETS ALL THE WAY DOWN TO PAINSTAKINGLY HAND STITCHING THE COSTUMES, I ACTED AS THE PUPPETEER FOR BOTH CHARACTERS AND ILLUSTRATED THE BACK DROPS.

THESE ARE A FEW STILLS FROM THE ANIMATION.

THESE ARE THE COMPOSITE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BACK DROPS FROM INSIDE THE CHARACTERS WOOPIE CUSHION APARTMENT STYLE SPACE SHIP.

THESE ARE SOME SHOTS FROM BEHIND THE SCENES AS WE WERE FILMING THE PUPPETS ON GREEN SCREEN