Monday mornings are already hard and losing an hour of sleep doesn’t make it any easier. A late employee struggles to adjust for the workday. Luckily his co-worker has a solution.

“Timezoned’ is the second episode in a stop-motion series produced by production company Skycar Creative. The first episode titled Heatwave.

Process

This is a stop-motion show that involved humans and props. We did consider “cheating” by using a 4K camera and then reducing frame-rate in post. But, after doing some initial tests on the first in the series, it just looked like low framerate choppy video; too smooth and predictable. At that time we decided to bite the bullet and shoot on the 5D with all stills and then sequence them in editorial. We used a combo of DragonFrame for capture and Premiere, AE, and Photoshop for post.

The Concept

This is the second in a series where we are experimenting with stop motion techniques and creating mini stories of solving universal human problems (too hot, late for work). After the first production. We have another (3rd) in the series in development. The goal is to push the creative and learn something for each new show.

Effects & Props

Aaron (creative director) had this hair contraption pretty clearly in his mind for quite some time, but it wasn’t until he actually built it that any of the rest of us understood what he was seeing. The articulated arms that manage the hair with a comb, brush and gel are arms that scientists use to hold beakers in a chemistry lab. The bowl was a hanging lamp painted the vintage blue to harken to a 50’s hair dryer; and all of the bowls that created the effect of transitioning to the ‘dryer’ were painted to match.

VFX

While all elements were shot on camera in the location you see them (no green screens or digital asset generation), we did rely on some compositing to get our final look. Because we shot all props and people in the actual space, we relied on background plates to erase support rigs and people who were helping make the animations happen. The primary technique: roto, roto, roto.

Sound Design

Our team member Jasper Sharp (who also stars in it) put in quite a bit of work creating the foley and audio FX for the soundscape. One of the challenges was to create an atmosphere that accurately reflected the subtleties of the character’s movements as well as their surroundings. Much of the foley was made using household items and with our voices. We kept the radio voice as a motif (carried over from the first) to help us setup the problem.

Credits

Studio: Skycar Creative
Directors: Aaron Barry & Jane Selle Morgan
Creative Director & Concept: Aaron Barry
Producer/VFX: Manuel Reta
Director of Photography: Jason Joseffer
Art Director: Amanda Beane
On Set Dresser: Matthew Oglesby
Production Coordinator/Grip (Talent): Kyle Hanson McKee
Sound Design (Talent): Jasper Sharp
Music: Premium Beats
Sound Mix: Jeremiah Moore