Stormbird (Dave’s remix)

Storm Bird

Hmmmm. How to explain Stormbird. I’m not really sure if any explanation I can give can adequately describe our thought processes when creating this stop-motion epic. The ‘storyline’ just kind of suggested itself. It’s probably easier to explain it’s conception than how we developed such a monster. It came about when we had id-iom’s good friend Dave over from LA for a while. He’s known for doing a bit of video production/editing so after consumption of a few beers down at the studio we (stupidly) decided that a short stop-motion video might be a good idea. It wasn’t. After over 2600 shots over the best part of a week in the freezing cold basement making just one tiny adjustment after another we were close to death by exposure but were finally able to call it a wrap.

There is plenty of footage which ended up on the cutting room floor that will hopefully never see the light of day as it’s more than a little weird and would probably emotionally scar any viewer for life. And all that took long hours of standing around in the cold that i’ll never get back. I bet the Aardman animation studios are all cosy and warm. If i’m ever to attempt anything like this again I’ll be making sure it’s warm outside or we have such mod cons as central heating…

Anyway, once principal photography was finished we realised we needed some musical accompaniment befitting of such a creation so we put out the call and came up with 3 very different soundtracks. The first version will probably not play in certain countries on youtube as The Man probably has certain copyright issues as it features tracks that are already out there but that’s where our other versions come in as both feature an original score which should play internationally no problem. The other video’s will follow this in short order and we’d really love some feedback on which one people prefer (so watch this space)…

What else can we say about the video apart from the fact that it features anthropomorphic spray cans, the Graffiti Removal Squad (first featured here), sharks (one of which is gay but we had a hard time portraying that!), Tom Selleck (although I like to think he’s in his Thomas Magnum persona), a fireball (from Streetfigher 2 obviously) and, of course, the plucky little robin a.k.a the storm bird in Norse mythology.

Finally, whilst I like to think our video has a certain naive rustic charm there are those who treat the subject with a little more professionalism. So for those who haven’t seen it here’s a little link to a much more polished creation featuring light stencils by our good man Pahnl.

Cheers

id-iom

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With an eagle’s eye

With an eagles eye

After realising that we hadn’t got anything on the internet for a while i decided to pick up a can and get to work on a picture on one of the walls of our studio. At this point in the studio things were getting scary though as ice was beginning to form on the windows and some of the gusts of freezing cold air coming from the gaps around all the doors and windows were just getting a little to much to take. Needless to say i had to be quick or I might become a permanent fixture down there and so i picked up the black and went hell for leather, dancing around when not actually painting so as to not freeze on the spot. The only goal of mine was to try and use the hole already in the wall but apart from that it was bang, get it up and get out. A small piece of advice though for anyone who has to work in a cold, cold room for any length of time i would suggest you listen to either some of the hardest thrash metal or some of the dirtiest drum and bass you can get your hands on, which is what i’m more partial to, as these types of music can really get you to motivated. Here is a little present for all those unlucky few:

Good luck!

Cheers

id-iom