Camp S.O. Cool: 2012

Apprentices Demonstrate Their Skill at Building

Master Greg started today off with making the Apprentices construct models of the latest trusses of the 1400s. If they can construct a well-made model, they might be selected to help the parish build their new chapel to Saint Werenfridus, the patron saint of stiff joints. Below are some of the sketches the Apprentices are working from.

Pictures of their work will follow.

Apprentices Paint Illuminated Letters

The Apprentices to Mistress Lisa painted illuminated letters, the initial letter of their name. This ancient custom was usually done on parchment, but our Apprentices used fine, hand-made paper.

Below Isaiah's "I" and and happy Isaiah.

Here Alex presents his "A" and beams about it.

Above, Journeywoman Eva helps Jonathon with his initial letter, while Isaiah investigates patterns. And below, Gus and Grace look over patterns for their letters.

Tao and Maya look at intricate patterns for their letters.

Apprentices Make Juggling Sticks

The Apprentices started off their week making juggling sticks from dowls and pencil grips. The next step is to practice juggling the sticks for Friday's Faire!

Master Greg shows Apprentice Alex how to push the smooth pencil grips down the dowls. The smooth pencil grips were harder to work with than the ribbed pencil grips, which slid easily down the dowls, but hold their position on the stick less well.

Here are the examples of the factory produced sticks. We will post pictures of what our Apprentices made soon.

European Auteur ¡Gregor! Awards Animation Films

The long-awaited awards for last week's animation have finally been e-mailed to us by ¡Gregor! (He claims sunspots slowed the transmission of his e-mail.)

You might remember ¡Gregor!'s previous documentary films such as "The Bark of the Dingo" and "The Zebra Ambush." We were graced with his attendance last week in the storyboarding session. He missed our film festival, arriving at 1 AM instead of 1 PM, claiming he read the invitation incorrectly.

But once out of bed, we showed ¡Gregor! the Animators' work.

He took it very seriously, as he insisted we "document," as he termed it.

These are his Awards, with his comments:

Best Story: "Snake Kharma" [which finally can be viewed, as "Snake Kharma2"]

"Mystical Asian story about Age and Wisdomlessness. The Paradox! The Enigma! And the halitosis! Brilliant. Still pondering the significance of smell in the film, as well as the symbolism of the skateboard! Does the film endorse change, or stasis?"

Best Smoothness of Stop-motion: "Blob Mania"

"Story could be enhanced by incorporating a red ball. And with flashbacks to the trauma of re-shooting the entire picture, making it a metapicture about the meaning of life in a universe where we all get second chances to do again exactly what we did before."

Best Color: "Flower"

"Better title: "Flow-wolf." While making the audience wait on the edge of their seats for the vicious wolf to appear and eat the amazingly colored flower, they slowly realize that the wolf is really the reverse of the word 'flow': ah, the manipulation of knowledge, of desire, oh the profundities!"

Best Drawing: "Evolution"

"Is it a tragedy or a comedy? Ah, the profundities! And the kid with the pointy hair? He should be in a weekly sitcom! On Fox!"

Best Visual Special Effects: "The Blob"

"How did it grow? How did it grow? I was terrified. I ran and hid in the bathroom for 20 minutes!"
[It was actually two hours! We were awakened around 2:30 AM to the shrill shrieks coming from the downstairs bathroom. Despite being in a bathroom, ¡Gregor! had soiled himself!]

Best Action: "The Robbery"

"And when the robber appeared on the top of the building, it reminded me of . . . and pushed the thing over onto the guy, I was transported to . . . and then the other guy swung around, I thought that . . . and when he chased after the robber, I couldn't NOT think of . . . and then the robber ducked! Oh! the symbolism of . . . ." [¡Gregor! went on for three pages. We give you the highlights.]

Best Titles: "Glob Guy"

"They were really very nicely done; but total sell out! Don't tell ME who the 'bad guy' is or what is 'treasure'! Symbolismus! Symbolismus!" [We don't get it either.]

Thanks for the fun week. And we hope to read about the Animators' work in the future.

Journeyman Eli Has a Weird Hat

Eli this week is Journeyman Eli, and his new look is a crazy, multi-colored spikey hat that jesters wore in the Middle Ages. Not that Eli is apprenticed to a jester, but Master Greg wanted to tease his journeyman.

The new Apprentices to Master Greg and Mistress Lisa's guild learned about apprentices, journeymen, and masters in the different trades of the Middle Ages.

Snake Kharma

We reedited the sound and now all can view the Epic, Snake Kharma! Click the link below.

snake kharma2

Phenakistoscopes!

On Friday, the last day, Animators made their own phenakistoscopes. Here's a picture of one.

We were so busy helping the Animators make theirs that we forgot to take pictures of them.

Below is how to use the phenakistoscope. You need to look at one spot on the wheel in the mirror and not at the whole spiraling pattern.

We only did simple images of a ball bouncing.

We also made a second flipbook, but this time each Animator was much more confident in what they were doing and aware of what they needed to draw to make for smooth motion.

Here is a link to how to make a phenakistoscope.

How to make a Phenakistoscope

Animators Make a Gag Reel

Assistant Directors Olivia and Eli organized a selection of clips as a gag reel highlighting each Animator. Enjoy it at the link below.

Animation 2012

2012 Animation Festival Is Here!

After a long week of set-building, camera placement and movement, script rewrites, editing, (and swimming!), the Animators are proud to present the 2012 Animation Festival! Enjoy!

Click on the link below to be taken to the Camp SO Cool YouTube site.

Animation 2012

Famous Documentarian Hears Animators' Movie Pitches

¡Gregor! the famed Moldovian documentary filmmaker was our guest on Tuesday. He was here to listen to the Animators make their movie pitches about what they wanted to videotape. Assistant Directors Olivia and Eli worked with each Animator on refining their story concept, their presentation of that concept, and the types of shots they planned to use. Below, ¡Gregor! is contemplating the deep symbolism of Maya's "Blob Mania." He was amazed by her compression of detail and dramatic color ideas. It reminded ¡Gregor! of his 24-hour epic "Hippo Attacks Alligator" that he filmed on the banks of the nile in black and white over 24 hours.

Below, Alex explains in more detail his story for "The Robbery." ¡Gregor! said it reminded him of his own idea for a story about a robbery just like that one, only set in Moldovia, and which he plans to shoot this fall. He regaled Alex about his 10-hour drama "Let It Dry" about a man painting his house over the course of a busy day of cooking, eating, and sleeping. That movie won a special Palm de Or, called The Warhol, in the category, Least Likely to be Made Again.

It was a great visit, and we hope to see ¡Gregor! Friday for the premier of the Animators' works!

Animator's Lunch: No Break from Making Things

Tuesday the Animators had tacos for lunch. Although lunch was yummy, the Animators still had to think about putting something together. No rest for the Animators! Pictured here is Tao being served by Olivia, who was trying to get everyone to have a spaghetti taco!

Starting the Stop-Motion Animation

Maya was inspired by a water and oil toy, the kind in which drops of colored oil float through water and turn little wheels as they do. She story boarded her idea, showing how the wheel would turn as the drops fell down. Then Maya cut out her wheel and punched out many dots of different colors.

Maya lines up a dot for another shot.

Maya and Olivia compare where the new dot should go in reference to the last position. You can see her hand being displayed in the window on the screen. You cannot see, however, that Maya can look at the image already shot and the image the camera is projecting, to better guide her movement of the wheel.

Maya takes the single frame shot. And takes a second shot. We use two shots for each image to make a smooth movie. You can see the camera just past Olivia's hair to the left of the picture. The Animators had to hang the camera up to get a clean and steady shot down onto the surface of the table. In the small window on the computer screen you can see the wheel.

Grace looks on as Tao and Maya position the next dot and move the wheel. Each shot had at least two elements moving. Behind grace is a light that shines toward the umbrella screen to shed a diffuse light onto the shooting surface. The Animators had to use the soda maker (the red thing) to tie part of the camera too.

Grace helps Maya lay out her last shots to see how they look, in preparation for shooting them. Each letter had to be cut out and then Maya had to figure out how to arrange them. The Final arrangement of the letters varied from this to add one last bit of humor to the movie. But you will have to see the movie to find out what Maya changed.

Turning One Shape into Another

The first thing the Animators had to do this week was to work on turning one shape into another shape in just four moves. The task made the Animators imagine how to make changes step-by-step, a key skill in making stop-motion movies.

Here we see Isaiah and his egg shape to flat.

Phalen made a square into a raised T, and later redid the entire work to make the square into a bear.

Alex made a cube into a monster.

Tao made a ball into a bowl that could hold the ball.

Gus made a square into a flat face.

Making a Video in Just Two-Hours

In animation week, we spent the afternoon of the first day making two videos in just two hours. Each group created a story from scratch from a basic situation: a stranger knocks on the door or a strange sound is heard. First each group came up with the story, then storyboarded the ideas using different shots. The purpose of this crazy idea was to learn about types of shots for working on their stop-motion pieces. Each team then shot their video and edited as much as they could, all within two hours! The video below had extra editing by Gus, and sound by ¡Gregor!, the avant garde video director from Moldovia, who will be visiting our camp.

Here's the video "The Sound."

And here's the video "Oops."

Pickle Recipe Used by Munchers

12 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers
2 cups water
1 3/4 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh dill weed
1/2 cup white sugar
8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt
1 tablespoon pickling spice
1 1/2 teaspoons dill seed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
4 sprigs fresh dill weed

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the cucumbers, water, vinegar, chopped dill, sugar, garlic, salt, pickling spice, dill seed, and red pepper flakes. Stir, and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours, until the sugar and salt dissolve.
Remove the cucumbers to three 1 1/2 pint wide mouth jars, placing 4 cucumbers into each jar. Ladle in the liquid from the bowl to cover. Place a sprig of fresh dill into each jar, and seal with lids. Refrigerate for 10 days before eating. Use within 1 month.

Munchers End Week with Visit to Arturo's in Maplewood

Fred and Dan bought Arturo's four years ago and have quickly established a great reputation for high quality food, grown locally, and cooked with brilliance.

The great dining experience began immediately as Alex, our waitress, greeted us at the door and got us seated and took our orders. We explained to Alex about our camp and that we were excited to eat in a restaurant focussing on locally grown food. She let Fred know we were there and later in the meal Fred came out to talk to us.

Micah seemed especially enthused.

Grace, Hannah and Olivia finished off a traditional Margherita pizza.

Woody and Gus discuss the awesomeness of their Tartufi pizza, made with sausage, mushrooms, and white truffle oil. It was the first time Gus tried truffle oil, which he decided he liked a lot. Good work Gus, following Michael Pollen's omnivore rule: try new foods.

Hannah didn't want to leave the Farmer's pizza (fresh cheese, fennel, and vadallia onion) behind, but she couldn't eat any more. Alex kindly boxed the pizza up for us to take home.

On the way out Fred gave each of us a fresh peach!

Please visit Arturo's. Here is their web site

Arturo's

Read about their locally grown food and local farms on their blog.

Home-made Ice Cream More Cream Than Ice

Munchers shook all they could, but too little ice and too little salt meant the cream couldn't get cold enough to solidify when shook. Despite the frustration, it was still a great weak of Munching! Campers took home bread, pickles, and raspberry jam they made, and a wealth of knowledge about food and the food industry. Munchers, Keep cooking!

Self-Portrait in Food

Munchers decided to illustrate how "you are what you eat" by making self-portraits with their favorite foods. After viewing some of Guiseppe Arcimboldo's work (below) they started their drawings.