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Author Topic: Sigma 6 Ninjas in my new Stop-Motion  (Read 3616 times)

SnakeEyesOnAPlane

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Sigma 6 Ninjas in my new Stop-Motion
« on: July 22, 2007, 04:32:50 PM »

Hey everyone!

You might remember "Don't Fear the Reaper," that short stop-motion flick I made a while ago which guest-starred Scarlett and Snake-Eyes.  Well, this summer I've made another stop-motion film, and I've once again used my favourite GI Joe ninja as a character.

My new film stars Transformers Optimus Prime [Classics] and Armorhide [Cybertron] as Peter Built and Fred Liner, two hard-boiled cops.  Two Bad Mother Truckers!



Sigma 6 ninjas Storm Shadow, Snake-Eyes, and Kamakura have captured the President (Primus from the Transformers Cybertron toy line).  But what do they want?  Who do they work for?  And can the Bad Mother Truckers save the President in time?  Tune in to find out!

I broke the story up into 3 Acts, and if you'd like to see them, just click on the links below:

Act 1: Situation
Act 2: Investigation
Act 3: Confrontation

Feel free to post any questions or comments.  I also have some behind-the-scenes photos I can share with you guys if you'd like.
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grunt 4 mvp

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Re: Sigma 6 Ninjas in my new Stop-Motion
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2007, 09:16:55 PM »

Technically, it was obviously impressive, but you also did a good job with the script; it made me chuckle several times.
Nice job.

How long did it take?
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Re: Sigma 6 Ninjas in my new Stop-Motion
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2007, 02:48:29 PM »

I started writing it on May 24, then I shot all the footage, and I've been editing it for a few weeks.
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Redmao

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Re: Sigma 6 Ninjas in my new Stop-Motion
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2007, 07:23:10 PM »

Ameer, you're a bloody genius!
That was fantastic!
Great use of that Dark World little house by the way.
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SnakeEyesOnAPlane

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Re: Sigma 6 Ninjas in my new Stop-Motion
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2007, 07:35:49 PM »

Quote from: "Redmao"
Ameer, you're a bloody genius!
That was fantastic!
Great use of that Dark World little house by the way.
Glad you guys enjoyed it!
Dark World owns!  I'm happy I'm not the only one who remembers that game.
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SnakeEyesOnAPlane

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Re: Sigma 6 Ninjas in my new Stop-Motion
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2007, 01:59:14 PM »

Here's some behind the scenes stuff you guys might enjoy:

To get Wendy to walk towards the camera in Act I, I laid down some Lego train track, made a cart, attached her ankle to it (since her feet are out of frame), and in each photo, posed her and moved the cart a little bit forward:


The street in Act II was actually just one strip of Lego road.  I moved props around as well as the light source (lamp in top right corner) to make it look like time was passing.  Also worth noting are the characters who weren't used in this scene:


To get the camera to rotate around it subject, I laid down some curved Lego tracks and built a custom cart which held the camera steadily:


For the shot where the camera is behind the missile as it flies towards the ninjas' hideout, I attached an arm to the cart and put the missile on it.  Here's what it looked like, sans the cotton smoke trail:


For the Bad Mother Truckers' shooting scene, I had them lie down on Lego train cars (which were out of frame).  I just rolled these carts along to get them to bail.  For the muzzle flash, I put a piece of cotton on the end of the guns' barrels and aimed a flashlight at it, moving the light to burn out the cotton:


The empty casing seen during the shootout montage is actually a real casing from .45 automatic, provided my friend who gave the Yellow Ninja his voice:


And here's the obligatory cast photo.  Spoilers - Don't expect to see them all back in the next Bad Mother Truckers film!:
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Scramble

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Re: Sigma 6 Ninjas in my new Stop-Motion
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2007, 02:34:29 PM »

I finally got around to watching that. Just fantastic, man. I want more. And thanks for the behind the scenes shots. I like how you made a lego dolly.
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SnakeEyesOnAPlane

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Re: Sigma 6 Ninjas in my new Stop-Motion
« Reply #7 on: July 30, 2007, 03:34:24 PM »

Quote from: "Scramble"

I finally got around to watching that. Just fantastic, man. I want more. And thanks for the behind the scenes shots. I like how you made a lego dolly.
Thanks, Scramble!  Happy you enjoyed it!

As for the Lego dolly, that one took me a while.  I had started with making her actually walk, assisted by stick-tack (like what I did in Don't Fear the Reaper), but it didn't look so good.  The dolly was great, it kept the movement consistent and smooth (well, smooth enough).  It turns out that Stikfas Ball joints fit into Lego clips perfectly (look at her right ankle in the first photo).  That's the beauty of only having to worry about what's in frame!
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martin-montreal

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Re: Sigma 6 Ninjas in my new Stop-Motion
« Reply #8 on: July 31, 2007, 07:45:21 PM »

So hot !!  8)

I really like the smoke going out of the rifles, the Indiana Jones reference (so funny!) and also... your brown carpet!

Your moving around camera play was pretty cool!

Again, Again...

Martin
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SnakeEyesOnAPlane

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Re: Sigma 6 Ninjas in my new Stop-Motion
« Reply #9 on: July 31, 2007, 08:34:31 PM »

;D Happy to have brought a chuckle to your day, Martin!
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Pete The Greek

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Re: Sigma 6 Ninjas in my new Stop-Motion
« Reply #10 on: July 31, 2007, 10:02:46 PM »

I finally watched all three clips.  Holy crap, that was good.  I love the transformations.
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SnakeEyesOnAPlane

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Re: Sigma 6 Ninjas in my new Stop-Motion
« Reply #11 on: July 31, 2007, 10:07:21 PM »

Quote from: "Pete The Greek"
I finally watched all three clips.  Holy crap, that was good.  I love the transformations.
Thanks, Pete!  The transformations were hard to pull off.  When you see that I change to a different camera angle, it's usually because I'm cheating!  Some transformations were impossible, like Primus'.  He couldn't have transformed in the crouching pose he was in.  However, it think it looks pretty convincing!
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