The Dunny Factory and Stop-Motion Magic With ReBo Labs
new video hot off the edit from ReBo Labs; with a peek "behind-the-scenes" of the
making of Dunny Series 4 in "Dunny Factory" [peep hi-res QT-version HERE]:
i had an opportunity to chat with director, Michael Boczon, about
the magic of stop-motion toy videos = /// CLICK HERE TO READ
TOYSREVIL: what was ReBo Lab's first animation collabo with Kidrobot? i remember my 'excitement' when i first laid my eyes on Bent World Vandals-video LOL
REBO: The first collaboration we did with Kid Robot was for the Dunny Azteca Series. Previously we made animations with the Dunny LA Series and Series 3 on our own. KR liked them, but wished it could have been tied to a release with the current figures. That was right after Series 3 came out.
TRE: how long did it take to do/complete the Bentworld Vandals and the current Dunny Factory? could you break down the timeline for us, Michael?
REBO: The Dunny Series 4 animation took about 60 hours to complete the set building and design, 15 hours to shoot the animation, and 20 hours to edit and compose the sound. The Bent World Vandals anime required 35 hours for the set, 20 hours for shooting, and 20 hours for editing and sound. These were each done over several days.
TRE: the amount of effort and time for a 1+minute final video is mind-boggling ~ *respect* ~ besides being the envy of Dunny-collectors worldwide (no doubt with your chase figures in the videos) - the Dunny Factory was a very controlled and smoothly executed video, with sweet creative touches, IMHO - how was the experience doing this particular video? as say, compared to Bentworld?
REBO: The Dunny Series 4 animation required a lot of pre-shoot planning and required a very technical dolly shot. It is our most prep heavy animation so far, but we were sure all that planning and organization would pay off. Overall it was easier and even more enjoyable to animate the Dunnys because we were dealing with fewer figures per set up. We were able to focus on smaller points of interaction.
For the BWV anime we were working with a larger number of figures at once, so if one Vandal got crazy and fell over there was a domino effect. The figures are small so they need to be in a tight space, moving them can be exhausting and complicated. After 7 hours of moving in frame increments you dream all crazy, everything is in small steps. You wake up feeling exhausted.
[peep hi-res QT-version here]
TRE: tis like every rapid flicker of the eyelids is a single-frame movement LOL ... what format did you folks shoot on? get tech-geeky on us!
REBO: We shoot 1280 x 960px on an Olympus Evolt 300 SLR digital camera, sequence the frames together as HD, then edit with Apple¹s Final Cut, the music and sound FX as well as the visual FX were all done in Final Cut Studio.
TRE: gawd, i lurve Apple's FC! LOL (i still remember the days of Media-100 *shudder*) how did the genesis / story for Dunny Factory come about? and who did what?
REBO: The idea for the factory came from us brainstorming about what we can do that is clever, cute and unlike anything we have done yet. We really wanted to tackle new challenges with this animation. Michael did all the technical prep work, built the mechanical set parts and mini lighting. He also did the editing, effects and sound. Christine operated the camera and held down the craft services department. The set building was a collaborative effort as well as controlling the figures.
added 29.09: dunny-factory set currently on display @ KRNY [via]
TRE: REBO: Hell yea, check back at rebolabs.com for a special release in the next month. ReBo is also the maker of Nicer Shit. Issue 3 will be out very soon! Check nicershit.com for the release date.
TOYSREVIL: gotta lurve the name! LOL - cheers for your time and trouble Michael, and while we wait for ReBo's next video, please share with us, WHO IS REBO LABS?
REBO: ReBo Labs is Christine Reilly and Michael Boczon. Michael is a director/video editor and Christine is a photo director and photographer. See more at michaelboczon.com and reillypictures.com. Together we make stop motion animations and the free street culture zine, Nicer Shit.
