#it's not one that works in 2d so i'll wait until i get a laptop so i can build it in mc

[spacedustmantis]

i <3 designing mazes

[theclo4ked1]

~Happy Holidays!~ Finally, I am catching a break and I'm so happy to start chillin' with some DLC (downloadable content) in my room. I used DLC as a shitty gaming alternative to TLC (tender loving/love and care), but it's true! Before a few days before Christmas, I just could not remember the last time I played a videogame--the last time I even touched a joystick! I was going through a "withdrawal" period. I wasn't experiencing the actual symptoms of proper substance withdrawal, just this constant realization that every work day passing was another day in my life I was not gaming, another day without Sonic or Mario or Smash Bros., all my faves. But this also helped me realize that this is just where I am right now. Times have changed. My body and mind have changed, and I'm not the "Sonic-X-at-7AM-Saturday-Morning" kid I once was. And you bet I'd be playing Sonic games (SA2 mostly, if I recall) after watching the show that same morning until around noon. I'm thankful I was lucky to have that--HELL I'm thankful to be privileged to still have access to have that, I just have a bit less time now. AHEM but that was about a week ago, this is now! I wanna show you something!

You know "Supa Paypa Sistas", right? It was the best stop-motion animation video I've made in years. It was also the...only one of mine that have made it onto the internet... All the other ones I've made are either lost to/in time, or stowed away on my Windows 7 (the best one) laptop's hard drive. You can re/watch the film via the embed YouTube video, or the post link from the start of this paragraph.

Below are the work-in-progress posts I put on Tumblr leading up to the completed film.

https://theclo4ked1.tumblr.com/post/703490039983800320/the-black-box-a-wip-stop-motion-animation-shot

https://theclo4ked1.tumblr.com/post/703689454131478528/supa-paypa-sistas-no-longer-the-black-box

There exists a third draft video that's not on Tumblr and has only ever been used for an outside purpose. Y'know, it's been about a year since I finished that film. I suppose this post is something of an anniversary, and that makes me proud. Without further ado, NOW! for the moment you've been waiting for: what I wanted to show you! Since Tumblr allows only one video per post, I've compiled the forgotten tests and extras I did just before working on "Supa Paypa Sistas", all in a neat Windows Movie Maker package for you :3 They're rough and run slower than the final film because I had initially underestimated the 3DS' ten frames/second animation runtime and did animation on twos instead of ones. Beneath the video I'll detail some things about each cut.

Music: Is That You or Are You You? - Chris Zabriskie

The camera easing test was probably done just as a test. Easing was a concept I've applied already in 2D animation, but in stop-motion, I needed this to create something of higher quality.

True, before the box, there was this bear thing that transformed in a kraken because a super pill went up its butt. I dunno what I was thinking last year, it was late at night.

All three of Veretta's animation tests were just ways of getting the film to start. Two of the cuts were based around the idea of her creation. You can see she was originally put together with just tape before I turned her and Nina into paper dolls using string to increase efficiency. There's one frame at the end of the third test where you can see the circle where Veretta's shoulder connects her arm to her body.

The bouncing box was another easing test to simulate physics with the box's reaction gravity and material. I never thought of what that material is.

Nina's only appearance before the film started was her sliding on the ground.

Veretta's final cut, also the final of the cutting room floor, is her just falling. This was probably a test put after a planned creation since that's what happens with Nina after her creation in the film.

The last thing I want to share are these two photos I captured of the two sisters on December 7, 2022, after I had drawn and cut out all of their limbs. Since the faces were drawn with pencil, I was able to erase and create new expressions when I needed, but Veretta's left facing face was harder to change because I pressed the pencil to hard, so she kinda had a "resting Donkey Kong face".

In an email explaining my animation process, I told my recipient "Nina and Veretta are bristol board paper dolls I made using 8 limbs each: Head, torso, 2 pairs of full length arms, 2 pairs of thighs, and 2 pairs shins/foot parts, ALL painstakingly cut, and bonded by tape, glue and string to create two girls." I think that's all I wanted to say about my little film. I hope to make more things like that in the future, but maybe not with those puppets, they're relics now. I keep them in a drawer of other stuff I've made "by hand" in the last, maybe, eight years? They even have the same expressions I left them with after the film ended. Up for auction: never. Thanks for reading!