"Marco Pollo and the Synchronic Articulator" and other short animations, Nick Hilligoss, 2014, Australia

[Airicist]

"Marco Pollo and the Synchronic Articulator"
March 22, 2014

This is a lip-synch exercise for the March 2014 monthly challenge at AnimateClay.com. I wanted to try out something that could do a better job of shaping particular vowels than my usual puppets - they are pretty much limited to muppet style gum flapping. Sound clips are from the movies Wizard of Oz (1939), Robocop (1987), and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), plus one song which doesn't fit the giant head/robot theme, but was too perfect for testing the Ahh and Ooh shapes to pass up. (Plus the chicken enjoyed it.) Title music is from Kevin MacLeod's Incompetech.com site.
The chicken was made some years ago for an exercise at Stopmoshorts.com, and was dragged out of retirement for this one last gig. He's built up from armature wire, epoxy putty, upholstery foam, and liquid latex. Most of the machinery is part of a set I am making for a future project, but I put the head and the control panel with the switches together just for this. The head is made of plywoood, mdf, armature wire, and ping pong balls.

[Airicist]

"L'Animateur (The Animator)"
March 22, 2010

A Jester sets up his portable stage on a barren planet, and compels his puppets to enact an old story. A retelling of the Adam and Eve story from a different perspective.
Originally made for the Stopmoshorts website, where keywords were set every 3 months so we could try to incorporate them into a short film sequence. The keywords were Apple, Tree, and Fall, so it was either this or Isaac Newton. And I couldn't think of where to go after the apple landed on his head...
Instead of a 30 second gag to be be completed by the deadline, , I took a few months longer to make this into an actual short film.
Puppets, sets lighting, camera and animation by Nick Hilligoss. Music composed by John Garden and performed by Earthly Delights, and used with permission.
Produced and directed by Nick Hilligoss 2007.

[Airicist]

SMM - Skeleton Swordfight
August 12, 2010

A promo for the online Stop Motion Magazine featuring a re-creation (with variations) of the skeleton swordfight from 7th Voyage of Sinbad. This is for the special Ray Harryhausen issue, celebrating his 90th birthday this year!
Unlike the feature film, this is all stopmotion puppets on miniature sets. Brett McCoy put back some of the epic quality needed with his great music score.
Check out StopMotionMagazine dot com if you're interested in the art of stopmotion animation.