KARNABAL

Animeyted Syortpilm

2011-06-26T03:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, the film is still on! :)

Visit the Kaleh & Mbaki blog
or the Kaleh & Mbaki facebook page

Something New: The Green Attic Project

2011-04-30T02:48:00.000-07:00

An architectural side project which turned out to be a major undertaking, The Green Attic Project was one of the most stressful endeavors I have ever handled. I took on the duties for conceptual design (which was really fun) up to construction supervision (which was not). My hats off to my friends who actually do this for a living.

Here's a time-lapse animation clip of the six months of construction work.

The Green Attic project from destudioanima on Vimeo.

Posterity Post; Naghihintay

2010-04-03T23:36:00.000-07:00

Look what I found! While rummaging through tons of CD and DVD backups this Holy Week-end, I discovered some vid clips from an unfinished cinematography project I had way back in 2005.

Naghihintay vidclip from destudioanima on Vimeo.

The left frame is raw 16mm film footage shot with a Bolex while the right one is Digital 8 video shot with a Sony Handycam. The Bolex had light leaking into it that's why there's a vertical white band on the right side of the frame (this essentially ruined the whole project for me). The Handycam was essentially our version of a video assist. We ran out of tripods that's why the frame is a bit jittery.

Aside from Cinematography I also learned about Production and Set Design having done the carpentry, painting, and dressing up of the set all by myself.

Here are some sample PreViz shots I did in 3D for the lighting and composition. If only live action film making was this easy to set up.

director/cinematographer/carpenter: Dennis E. Sebastian
production crew: JV Chiu, Alex Espartero, Norly Lalo
talent: Denise Castillo
makeup: Jean Aves

instructor: Regiben Romana
location and equipment courtesy of Mowelfund Film Institute

MTV Philippines Signs Off

2010-02-19T16:46:00.000-08:00

I haven't watched MTV Philippines in a very long time (haven't watched any tv in a long time actually) and was quite surprised that it has signed off. That's it. No more MTV Pinoy style.

This is sad for me for 2 main reasons. First, MTV is a highly recognized international brand name and to have that connected with Pinoy music and music videos is, i think, a good thing in promoting some of our music and videos in the world arena. Like when the world hears that so and so is MTV Philippines Artist of the Month or this video is video of the year, they might take notice. Maybe.

This leads me to my Second reason. In 2006, the video I made for Mojofly's song Tumatakbo won 2 awards in the MTV Pilipinas Video Music Awards. These were for Best Animated Video (which was the first time this category was included) and for Favorite Indie video. It was and still is a great honor to have won and that moment will always be remembered as MTV Philippines also will.

Plus who can forget Sarah Meier, Cindy Kurleto, and Belinda Panelo :)

hey i can draw!

2010-01-01T08:19:00.000-08:00

i was planning to go straight to the 3D animatics/layout using my CG characters but my computer died on me. so... traditional hand drawn storyboards was the way to go in planning and developing my animated short, WHY THE SKY IS HIGH.

and since i don't have the funds to hire my professional artist friends (whose art has graced this blog o mine in past projects), i decided to do the storyboards myself.

here are some of the boards.

this is an exploration of the Shaman character.

not bad for someone who doesn't really draw much.

This is not a test!

2009-07-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

I designed, modeled, rigged, and posed this guy myself (animation is in progress). I just got sick of borrowing someone else's character just so I can animate something for someone else. This time I'm doing this for me. So there.

By the way, the character shown is the Shaman. The title of the animated short is Why The Sky Is High. It is based on an old Filipino folk tale.

And now for that nap :)

Wolverine VS The Hand v1.0

2009-04-30T08:06:00.000-07:00

Hey it's Wolverine month and to start off celebrations here's an animation test I made of good ole Logan duking it out with a few of his favorite ninja pals. I'm calling it version 1.0 because the truth is it's not absolutely, completely finished :(

Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in some time to polish it some more, do a few tweaks and of course add music and sound effects. Stay tuned for the final version :)

Something New: SNIKT!

2009-03-24T06:10:00.001-07:00

I'm still far off from finalizing the animation for this test (yes another test) but I must admit that I am very excited about how it is turning out. Many thanks to Mike Kiessling for the wolverine model & rig and also to Dan Neufeldt & CGnetworks.com for the ninja model & rig. Couldn't have done any of this without your cool characters.

I guess this is how it would look like if Eadweard Muybridge had a session with Logan and The Hand.

Something New: Ballerina Animation Test

2009-01-31T20:22:00.000-08:00

Hey, I can still animate! It's been years since I've done any serious animating and it feels great to get some hands-on stuff going. The animation is part of a secret project I'm working on. (this test is very short. only 7 seconds long)

This Ballerina is the Andy Rig courtesy of John Doublestein

Posterity Post; BTX

2009-01-21T07:17:00.000-08:00

In the early part of 2006, a grand project was being planned. A relatively old and successful movie was going to get a reboot. The film project was Peque Gallaga's Batang X and I was tasked to create the teaser pitch. So with a few artist friends and some former students of mine plus the support of the Unitel Production facility we started cooking. First we did some planning and design, then created a CG character and animated her, then shot some live footage against greenscreen, and last we finished it up with some vfx magic and graphics. This is what we came up with.

BTX story reel

BTX 3D animatic

Studio Shoot (photos by Philip Alpajora)

BTX Final

Concept and Direction: Dennis E. Sebastian
Art Direction: Hendrick Gonzales
Cinematography: Philip Alpajora
Camera: Errol Afed
CG Character Model: Voltaire Cada
Character Animation: Albert Ao
Editing and Graphics: Denise Castillo
Additional Graphics: Justin Luciano

Batang X original story by Peque Gallaga
3NA Character Design by Dwight Gaston

So what happened after all that hard work?
The project went to someone else of course.

oh well...

Posterity Post; Ma'yo Storyboards

2009-01-19T18:21:00.000-08:00

Here are the complete storyboards for the animated short Ma'yo. I pitched it, it got the "Green Light", and then it went to development limbo.

Ringjo Fua created the great line art based on a shot list I made (I didn't have time to write the full on screenplay but I knew the shots that I wanted inside and out).

It would have been really fun if we got to make this short. sigh...

Maybe Mcdonald's would be interested :)

Posterity Post; Safety Off MV

2008-12-29T08:04:00.000-08:00

Yet another animation concept left out in music video limbo. We are developing this one as a graphic novel/novelette. If we get funding this will come out in print. If not then it will probably be just another freebie comic on the web.

As cliche as it may appear, this is actually based on a true story. No, really.

Again Development Art is by Hendrick Gonzales and Story/Concept is by me.

Posterity Post; Bihag MV

2008-12-29T07:03:00.000-08:00

Another 2005 animated music video pitch that didn't even get to the pitching stage with the band. Fortunately it is currently being developed into a children's storybook (with a twist). That's the nice thing about creative ideas, they really take on a life of their own. Again Development Art is by Hendrick Gonzales and Story/Concept is by me.

Posterity Post; Reality MV

2008-12-29T06:38:00.000-08:00

2005 was music video year and like most struggling animated filmmakers, we had an abundance of creative ideas. Unfortunately there weren't many takers. Here's one of our animation concepts that almost got made - but didn't. It would have been lots of fun. Development Art is by Hendrick Gonzales and Story/Concept is by yours truly.

Posterity Post; Show and Tell Character Design Art

2008-11-16T17:51:00.001-08:00

This is the "naked" art of the characters by Hendrick Gonzales before it was photoshopped for the colored boards. I actually prefer sketchy art to finished art.

Posterity Post; Show and Tell Development Art

2008-11-16T17:42:00.001-08:00

We were on a roll that year, trying to make two animated shorts at the same time. Together with Ma'yo I wrote Show & Tell. Development art were made by Hendrick Gonzales.

Posterity Post; Ma'yo Environment Studies

2008-11-16T17:28:00.000-08:00

More development art for the Ma'yo story I wrote. These ones were made by Hendrick Gonzales for figuring out the environment and camera choreography.

Posterity Post; Ma'yo Development Art

2008-11-16T17:20:00.000-08:00

Another recent blast from the past. Development art made by Ringjo Fua (line art) and me (additional photoshop work) for the stalled production of the Ma'yo animated short I wrote.

Posterity Post; Lougee and Ricci 3D Facials

2008-11-16T16:57:00.000-08:00

Here are some 3D facials of Lougee and Ricci modeled by Voltaire "Volts" Cada for the Tumatakbo video. Couldn't find renders of Ali's facials.

Posterity Post; Tumatakbo Story Art

2008-11-16T16:48:00.000-08:00

Found these storyboards for the Tumatakbo video when cleaning some stuff off of my hard drive. Bants Abantao really made some amazing artwork. They're not in the right story order. That's just the way he works. Anything and everything can happen.

Blast from the Past - SAKO (1997)

2008-04-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

An Animated Short which I made for a Human Rights Festival/Competition which did not materialize. The organizers just disappeared.

Did this in the evenings of March and April 1997 (as far as i can recall). I used 3D Studio (not yet Max) on a Pentium 166 Mhz.

Blast from the Past - Man in a Hole (1996)

2008-04-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

Excerpts from my very first animated short film. Done in stop-motion, shot with a 16mm Bolex, and edited on a Steenbeck.

After doing CG animation for commercials for 3 years, doing stop motion was a really great learning experience for me.

The Video

2007-11-20T19:51:00.001-08:00

The video had it's debut September 2, 2005 at the Music Museum as part of the live album launch of the band Mojofly.

It won Best Animated Video as well as Favorite Indie Video in MTV Pilipinas Music Awards 2006

It was also part of the Official Selection in the 19th Singapore International Film Festival (2006)

The Proposal

2007-11-20T19:25:00.000-08:00

“Karnabal”
(05-09-05)

Song: “Tumatakbo”
Artist: Mojofly
Producer: Karin Araneta and Mojofly
Director/Animator: Dennis E. Sebastian
Art Director: Bants Abantao
3D Modeler/Lighting Artist: Voltaire Cada
3D Animator: Terence Roldan
3D Lighting and Texture Artist: Mads Raneses
3D Technical Director: Martin Sacramento

Overview: “Drama unfolds inside the Karnabal sideshow”
Set inside a Pinoy Carnival's sideshow tent, a young
man (Ali) falls in love with the star attraction “The
Amazing Luisa na Tumutulay sa Miswa” (Lougee). He
decides to rescue her from the ring master (Ricci) who
keeps Luisa locked up in her showroom and exploits her
for money.

Visual Treatment:
The music video will be full 3D animation. The
characters will be caricatures based on the band
members. Ali will be a promdi/farmer, Lougee will be
a ballerina/acrobat and Ricci will be a master showman
ala kuya Germs. The overall look will be like a Mark
Ryden painting (see attached printout) but without the
gore or flesh. The interior of the tent would be
mostly dark and claustrophobic with the only
illumination being the spotlights for the posters for
the sideshow acts (see attached printout). The inside
of Luisa's “showroom” will be the complete opposite.
It will not have any floors , walls, or ceilings but
sky and clouds as far as the eye can see. Luisa's
network of miswa tightrope will be tied to very tall
wooden posts whose base is buried deep in the clouds
under it. An obstacle course of booby traps will be
scattered over the miswa tightropes to make it
difficult for Luisa (and exciting for the audience)
when she does her balancing act.

Concept:
A young man (Ali) enters the Karnabal sideshow tent to
see the freaks and oddities. The ringmaster (Ricci)
does his song and dance routine about the amazing
people he could see, for a price. The young man
chooses “The Amazing Luisa na Tumutulay sa Miswa”. He
drops 5 coins in the ring master's box and peeks
through the show window. He is awestruck by the grace
and beauty of Luisa. But a minute later the window
closes and he has to drop 5 more coins. He watches
Luisa's balancing act and acrobatics and the window
closes again. Five more coins are dropped everytime
the window closes and each time Luisa's exhibiton
get's more difficult and dangerous. His heart skips a
beat everytime Luisa is almost caught by the booby
traps and in the end she makes a wrong step and a
bladed pendulum brushes against her shoulder and she
is injured. Then the window closes again. Beside
himself with panic, he reaches into his pocket and
takes out his last coin. He glances at the ring
master and pleads with him. The ring master laughs at
him and pauses. Then he takes the young man's last
coin and opens the window. Through the window the
young man sees that Luisa is cornered by a giant
circular saw and is unable to escape. He asks for the
ring master's help but all he gets is a shrug. The
young man takes matters in his own hands and jumps
inside the window to rescue Luisa. The ringmaster is
shocked and rushes towards the window and this time it
is his turn to be awestruck. The young man sprouts
giant wings, grabs Luisa and flies off with her. The
ringmaster could do nothing but look as Luisa and her
rescuer disappear into the sunset. The End.

Tumatakbo stills

2007-11-15T22:33:00.000-08:00

Postcard

2007-11-15T19:10:00.000-08:00