![Animating Apothecary - Perpetrations by Jim Middleton](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZIWtxkRJX6c/TzbwEvMYtOI/AAAAAAAAALc/TDTwYxbtQxQ/s785/aalogoANIM.gif)
Here lies the residue of "The Animating Apothecary," a source of obscure ephemera and thought, created fresh(ish), but now reduced to howling into the wind, sketching in sand, and nibbling at the crustier extremes of an overbaked society. Instagram? see - https://www.instagram.com/animating_apothecary/ - content (c) 2006-2024 Jim Middleton
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Sunday, July 07, 2024
Post 683 - Another Concurrent Exercise - IAD Poster Distortion Project!
Members will be given six images from this year's IAD Poster, created by legendary independent animator Bill Plympton. Here they are, au naturel, waiting for some serious in-betweening!
And the mighty poster, itself! As they say, "watch this space!"
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Post 682 - Notes from 1989 Give Me A HEADACHE! (ongoing)
Run A: Notebook pages, sketched while I was supposed to be making IVs:
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(c) 1989, 2024 Jim Middleton, Animating Apothecary |
Then a conversion in Flash (ok, they call it "Animator" now):
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(c) 2024 Jim Middleton, Animating Apothecary |
Run B: More muscle than migraine -
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(c) 2024 Jim Middleton, Animating Apothecary |
Run C: More migraine -
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(c) 2024 Jim Middleton, Animating Apothecary |
Run D: More doodling -
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(c) 2024 Jim Middleton Animating Apothecary |
Run E: Sequencing -
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(c) 2024 Jim Middleton, Animating Apothecary |
Run F: Try some shape tweening (make Flash work a bit)
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(c) 2024 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary |
Audio track test - unfiltered
Sunday, June 23, 2024
Post 681 - Another Discovery in Another Box! A Bumper Film! Wooo HOOO!
I found 100 painted cels from a 16mm project I completed in 1988, among my last film-specific bits of animation for "commercial purposes." I recall it was projected once before sliding into the ether (the film, not me, I'm a strictly propofol kind of guy), but I have no clue which landfill currently holds the original footage.
So, still in possession of a scanner that hasn't been abused for over a week now, I rebuilt the thing from the drawings, adding a wisp of PD music for the background.
Post 680 - More old boxes, more old sketches, more abandoned sequences - from 1973
I remember starting this, getting frustrated at the attempted drawn "dissolves" and even more disappointed in the effect of the chemical tint I was attempting on the Super 8mm master footage. So I cut it, but stuffed the 70 drawings into an envelope, into a box, into another box, at the bottom of yet another box. So I tried it again. A registration nightmare (couldn't afford a paper punch at the time), somewhat corrected by Photoshop today. For "Good Garbage" in 1973, which used Tri-X stock because Ektachrome was sooo pricey. Ah those days of saving for college. About 10 seconds, silent (I only added the sound stripe after editing, another logistical nightmare - the soundstriping didn't like my splicing tape, so every cut had to be redone after that). Impossible things before breakfast ...
Saturday, June 22, 2024
Post 679 - RIFFing through Rochester - Illustrated with Too Many PICTURES! June 6-8, 2024
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Scene of the Crime - The Dryden Theatre, next to the George Eastman Museum, or "GEM," which is how my name is pronounced in West Virginia. |
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Palpable expectations - will anyone show? Will the film run? Did I spell the movie title right? |
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The Original Kodak building, moved to the location, an extra story built, Eastman's office on the top floor. |
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Filmmakers, documentarians, the scent of a pot growing facility on the 4th floor, the location has it all. |
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George Eastman is buried here, and he's obviously not going anywhere, so the general consensus is that he's quite dead at this point. |
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RIFF President, Bill Abrams, of Kodak, with an expansive greeting |
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We were feted, we were treated, we were watered, we were given Ultramax film |
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The take-away - "You want the look of film? Shoot film!" In George Eastman's old office on the third floor, in comfy seats, getting the low-down on Kodak's history since 1888. |
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Lawyer-filmmaker-theatrical documentarian Kemp Brinson, checking out - carefully checking out - Kodak's latest niche market: a $5500 super 8mm camera |
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The Eastman House - dining room |
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The Eastman House - fireplace in the dining room, but central heating system control is on the wall, ca 1905 |
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A proper place setting for dinner, with a special plate for any bones that may emerge during the experience |
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The locked, secured china cabinet, with doors that merged with the panels |
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Guests arrived at the side door, the ladies could go upstairs to "freshen up" before being presented at "the grand staircase" |
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The garden room, site for Eastman's breakfasts |
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The game room included the latest in entertainment, again ca 1905 |
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...but by 1930, a radio was added... |
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Caught out of the corner of one's eye, this was a bit spooky |
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The main entertainment and meeting room, where a quartet grew into Rochester's orchestra |
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Look up into the floor of the attic |
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The gardens were still green |
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A reconstruction of the "lost elephant" in the room, complete with tusks. One of the originals fell out, showing that in Rochester, like Alabama, the Tuskaloosa. |
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The back-up player organ on the second floor |
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Laughter is both contagious and infectious. Caution at all times. |
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Walking along the side streets of Rochester, an impromptu resting location - near the Dorado on Park Avenue |
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The BnB at 7 Strathallan - complete with a 1am fire drill so you can meet your fellow boarders! |
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The Eastman House, on East Avenue, built when the area was all farmland (he kept the farm going) |
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The RIT chose the proper name for this location - "Media - Art - Games - Interaction - and Creativity" |
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Amanda Hughes, recent RIT graduate, gave the tour for our introduction to the 22nd century |
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Quadraphonic? Try Googlephonic |
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7000 square foot sound stage for whatever the mind can imagine |
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Ms. Hughes wearing her philosophy |
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A wall of sound - MAGIC |
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The main lobby - MAGIC |
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Video game streaming on Nintendo, created at MAGIC |
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Is MAGIC responsible for the name, "corn hole?" (hope not) |
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These plastic chairs, however, not Magic... |
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Instructor's office - tidy and restrained |
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... a bit less restrained ... |
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The CFO's office - extremely restrained |
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We were very well fed. Thali of India, in Rochester |
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- worth every moment - |
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The whole lot of us, keeping tabs on Mr. Eastman |
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Nadan Pines, filmmaker ("Father's Son") contemplates larger formats |
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Ryan Steven Green ("Ephemeral Art and the Death of the Phone Booth") meets with Nadan Pines at the airport - and discovers empty phone booths! |
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It wasn't just a hallucination, just hallucinatory! If you send your film to no other festival, certainly send it to RIFF. It was easily the best experience in a long, long time! |