Jeremy Bessoff Project Log http://bessoff.com/blog A project diary for motion-picture work Tue, 01 May 2012 17:17:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 en hourly 1 Animation Frame Report http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=617 http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=617#comments Tue, 01 May 2012 17:17:19 +0000 Jeremy Bessoff http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=617 I’ve created a group on fbook called the Animation Frame Report.  It’s purpose is to act as a platform for posting the incremental steps animators slave over to create animation.  Hopefully animators will find it useful for feedback and inspiration to keep animating.  Who else but a fellow animator understands that creating a compelling 24 frames of a movie in a day is quite an accomplishment.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/349049141820135/

]]> http://bessoff.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=617 Rocking Sphere http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=604 http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=604#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:04:18 +0000 Jeremy Bessoff http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=604
Beebe and his Bathysphere on deck of the Ready

Beebe and his Bathysphere on deck of the Ready

My love for animated gifs has been rekindled!  Here is a tiny looping sequence from my current animation project.  It features Dr. William Beebe and his diving apparatus, the Bathysphere.  Soon we’ll dangle the Bathysphere on a slender steel cable into the black abysmal ocean.

]]> http://bessoff.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=604 Rocking on the Waves http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=594 http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=594#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:27:46 +0000 Jeremy Bessoff http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=594 Here is a test of the wave system I’ve devised for long shots of the tug Ready upon the sea. The waves are cylinders plastered with spiral ridges. When rotated frame by frame the structures take on a screwy wave-like motion, abstracting yet still describing “the motion of the ocean.” The following animated gif loop is a test without lighting or final paint. The ship also needs its second boom attached so it can lift the bathysphere into the briny sea.

wavetest2

Unfinished ocean wave apparatus test.

wave testing

]]> http://bessoff.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=594 Darkness on the Face of the Water http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=561 http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=561#comments Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:17:51 +0000 Jeremy Bessoff http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=561
This mysterious clip “activates” forthcoming animated sequences. “… And there was darkness on the face of the deep.”

]]> http://bessoff.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=561 H.M.S Ready at the Ready http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=571 http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=571#comments Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:01:10 +0000 Jeremy Bessoff http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=571 The former H.M.S. Ready was the vessel used as a platform for the bathysphere descents.  Due to the tug’s retrofitting for the bathysphere, another ship, Beebe’s faithful Gladisfen, was called in for towing duty.  For the sake of time, yet woe to historical accuracy, I’m eliminating the Gladisfen from the scene and letting the Ready propel itself into action.
This model is actually a bas-relief sculpture. The ship is flat on the back making it ideal for animating the contour diving scene on a layered animation table.


Base for Gladisfen Model

Unpainted sculpy ship

Gladisfen Bas-Relief Model

]]> http://bessoff.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=571 Tiny Lighting http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=564 http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=564#comments Sat, 17 Dec 2011 04:32:31 +0000 Jeremy Bessoff http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=564 Beebe Puppet with Flashlight

Dollhouse lighting! I’ve been having trouble lighting the puppets from the inside of the bathysphere set. The discovery of bulbs described as GOW and GOR (grain of wheat and grain of rice) allow for setting up actual 3-point lighting inside small, confined spaces. I hollowed out a plastic toy flashlight and put in a GOR bulb. Puppet Beebe can now illuminate his instruments more realistically.

Experimenting with dollhouse lighting rig

Thanks to Shelley D. for the lighting tutorial!

]]> http://bessoff.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=564 Ultramarine Blue http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=557 http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=557#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2011 05:13:58 +0000 Jeremy Bessoff http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=557 Painted Diving Sphere

A coat of ultramarine blue will camouflage my intrusive incursion into the deep.  I will slip in undetected and observe what nature hides from the air breathing world.  I will be the first man to reach the depths only dead men have reached.

]]> http://bessoff.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=557 Sphere Casting II http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=542 http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=542#comments Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:06:06 +0000 Jeremy Bessoff http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=542 Front Half of Sphere

“She’s birthed of fire and true to your specifications, sir” the engineer said, as a bead of sweat cleaned a streak down his sooty brow.

“If the calculations are true,” said I, “She’ll hold back the entire weight of the ocean.”
Back of the Sphere
“That she will.  I guarantee by Hades forge you’ll get to Hell and back.  The only weak spot in the plans is your nerve.”

Inside Back of Sphere

Here we see the rear entry portal of the bathysphere from the inside.  The sphere is cast from a basketball.  Plasticine was then molded to form detailed protrusions.

Cast Bolts
The exterior hatch bolts were cast in plaster from mold impressions of a bolt head in plasticine.

]]> http://bessoff.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=542 Bathysphere In Clay http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=530 http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=530#comments Thu, 07 Jul 2011 23:30:56 +0000 Jeremy Bessoff http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=530
Bathysphere made of clay.

Bathysphere made of clay.

Her sphere is a bit untrue and the windows a bit googly-eyed, but she’s sea worthy.  She’s tested for pressures of 2 feet of water or 0.867 pounds per square inch (the depth of my fish tank.)    The original bathysphere was a steel ball with three windows (one of which was covered with a steel plug because of leakage problems) of fused quarts.  At sea level we experience an atmosphere of 14.7 psi.  Seawater depth pressure doubles every 33 feet which means that at 2,200  feet (its deepest dive) the bathysphere must withstand a depth pressure of 3222.06 pounds per square inch.  Imagine an elephant and several comically large anvils standing on your little toe, but that pressure all over the surface of your body.  Squish.

]]> http://bessoff.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=530 Lowest of the Low http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=527 http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=527#comments Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:51:38 +0000 Jeremy Bessoff http://bessoff.com/blog/?p=527 It has come to my attention that my animated Western Red Rider’s Lament is currently ranked as the #2 least popular Western of 2011 thus far. Yay me! My pal Jason H. has the #6 least popular Western, Agnes and Me.

Sucking Out Loud

Sucking Out Loud

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