Help Us Conquer The World!

Exciting news! Our animation is in the running for a $70,000 short film award!

We need your votes!

I Have Your Heart was invited to be part of the Viewster Online Festival, and is in the running to win some serious prize money. Like $70,000 serious. Money that we could use to make more films, more art, more animations.

So how does this work? How can you help?

The Viewster Festival ranks all the films based on your votes, then a jury of experts picks the winner from among the top ten. If we can get into that top ten, I think we stand a good chance… So, if you can spare five minutes, here's what it takes:

1: Go to http://www.viewster.com/movie/1262-17529-000

2: Wait for the counter in the top right to turn into a hello 'LIKE' button. Click it!

4: Viewster will prompt you to log in. You can use Facebook for this, or create a Viewster profile.

5: One more step… for your vote to count, you need to like two more films. Given how many great shorts there are in the festival this really isn't much of a chore!

Is there anything else you can do to help I hear you ask? 

Yes! The ranking system isn't just based on likes, it tracks how much 'interaction' each film gets. Here are some things that can really help give us a boost!

- Leave a comment on our film. This really helps. 

- Share the film using the twitter/facebook/g+ buttons 

- Post the film on blogs

- Tell all your friends!

I Have Your Heart at Sydney Film Festival!

We are very excited to announce that I Have Your Heart is having its festival premiere at the Sydney Film Festival, and is a finalist in the short film awards! Nominated for Best Animation and Best Director.

For those interested in seeing our animation up on the big screen, we will be screening on June 15th & 16th. 

http://sff.org.au/public/films/program/dendy-awards-for-australian-short-films/

6 days, 65,000 views!

Yay!!!! So many eyeballs on our art. Taking over a tiny corner of the internet with our paper puppets. BAM!

We've been doing a few interviews too so keep an eye out for those in the next few weeks.

And look: we have books. Hand bound by Kim "the bookbinding" Boekbinder (yeah, that's what her last name means. It's Dutch.)

They are limited edition. Half of them were already ordered during the Kickstarter, but there are 15 left of the original 100. ORDER HERE

Featured on BoingBoing and New Merch!

We are featured on BoingBoing today! http://boingboing.net/2012/11/19/i-have-your-heart.html

Head over there to read a little bit about the production.

We also have some new stuff available in the I Have Your Heart Store. A limited edition art book, DVDs, and a shirt!

Shooting: In The Garden

Just finished shooting the last tricky special effects piece for the animation, now there's only three more shots to go and it's a wrap!

Here's a frame of Cora and family convalescing in the Garden.

Workshop: The Last Set

A late night garden party with Kim before she flies back to NYC, planting the last set full of trees, wisteria, ivy, and other horticultural details!

 

Shooting: A Touching Moment

The end is within reach. Only seven shots remaining to be animated! One more on the ship, and a handful in the garden set.

Shooting: Sexy Underthings

With a flash of her knickers, Cora breaks free from her greedy family...

Shooting: Propositioned

Cora isn't quite sure what to make of the situation...

Shooting: The Docks

A quick snapshot of my screen, taken while shooting the establishing shot of the new docks set. Extremely happy with how the ships look on camera!

Shooting: A Bird In The Hand...

Happy to be back in the studio, getting ready to shoot on the new set.

Update: A Time For New Sets

We've been busy here in the I Have Your Heart studios! Everything is powering along and it's a wonderful to see so much progress. We've completed animation on a lot of shots now, including some of the trickiest scenes in the film.

But now shooting has stopped for a few days while we turn over to new setups. It feels a bit sad to be packing down our first sets, but it's very exciting to be building new ones. We've finished with the mansion, the street, the surgery... and now it's onward to the docks and the garden.

 


- THE TEAM - 

One of the main reasons we have been able to ramp up the production is the new team of amazingly dedicated people who have joined us on the project.

Murray Lorden is our project manager, lending his formidable skills and good humor to the logistical challenge of keeping the film on track.

It's business time.

  
Lauren Beck and Claire James have been helping with the endless amounts of cutting and construction that are required to build this paper world of ours.

Lauren lending her crafty assistance to the shipyards.

Brendan Barnett is the talented animator who worked with me on Monkey & Sardine, and we're lucky enough to have him helping out with some of the more complex shots.

As you can see, Brendan is a method animator, acting out the action.

Joe Muecke has put a huge amount of time and enthusiasm into the production, and given that he dresses like a sailor and drinks rum on the job, it's no accident that he's been in charge of the shipyards, building paper boats.

Ben Batt is a master of the miniature structural engineering required to make our puppets, and has been very busy constructing our characters.

An example of Ben's precision handiwork.

Joel Loxton is a fellow filmmaker who has been lending a hand with lighting & camera setups, and even got roped into constructing a few buildings for the docks. He has a great eye, and his technical know-how has been a great help.

Joel and I prepping for the first shot.

I'll finish this post the same way many of my long nights animating end, with a beautiful sunrise above the studio.

 

Visitors

We've been making some wonderful new animation friends lately!

Oscar-nominated animator Anthony Lucas came to visit the set. I've always loved his work, and was a bit nervous about showing him our film-in-progress. But he liked what we've been doing, which was exciting, and gave us some invaluable tips from his wealth of experience.

Here's a link to his wonderful film The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello



We also recently met Isabel Peppard, another Melbourne animator who is currently in the middle of finishing her creepy-beautiful stopmotion film. Was great to find someone else who is also spending all their time being an art hermit locked in the cave of creation. You can check out Isabel's amazing work here: www.butterfliesanimation.com

Shooting: Bonesaws & Blood

 

Had fun playing with some spooky lighting for the surgery shots.

In The Workshop: Needle 'n Thread

Yes, I have apparently made props for the animation that are too small to pick up...

Shooting: Romance Loves A Challenge

The Rogue shows off his nimble climbing skills in an attempt to impress our heroine with his romantic intentions.

Shooting: Need a Handkerchief?

Experimenting with mixing traditional drawn animation in with stopmotion, using frame by frame replacements for a couple of FX shots. Madness? Quite possibly...  Anyway, I now have an extensive miniature handkerchief collection.

Shooting: Behind the Scene

A sneak peek from the animator's point of view.

In The Workshop: Ship Built

 A finished ship, and its little boat-friend.

In The Workshop: Crates

Busy day in the studio today, with many helpers. We rigged ships, made fancy dresses, and constructed many crates. Nothing quite says 'dockyard' like a nice big pile of crates!