On the twelfth day of Christmas

It's Twelfth Night, the last day of the traditional Christmas celebrations, the day when I normally take down the tree (though this year I'm enjoying it for one more evening - it always goes up late, then I'm always sad to remove it); so we have just managed to share this year's animated Christmas and New Year greetings before Christmastide officially ends. J posted it on her Vimeo page last night, after we'd finally decided on fonts and colours for the credits and decided we'd done what we could with the editing. It was originally supposed to have some close ups to cut into the wide shot of the robins in their hedgerow, but we ran out of time: we should know by now that falling snow takes forever to animate, though we didn't realise that the hairiness of the felting wool would make the flakes attach themselves to each other and mean that moving one would pull several others too far and in the wrong direction. We had not previously animated using live plant material, so had not considered now fast the holly and ivy would wilt once positioned and blu-tacked to the glass. By the end of the third day of work on the main scene we were running out of time and energy, and so was the increasingly bedraggled ivy. There is plenty more in the garden, but the background elements can't change mid-scene. 

J wanted to animate robins this year, as she so enjoys seeing them in the hedgerow outside her window, where I gathered the holly, ivy, twigs and dry seed heads. She needle-felted the birds with hand over hand support from her PA, and thought about what they might do. I scribbled the storyboard, largely to her directions, then P composed the music, with its distinct calls for the two robins. We shoot in her bedroom using a tripod with a horizontal arm and a pair of soft box lights at each side. I blipped the set-up just before Christmas. I move the pieces on the glass surface, and J controls the camera from the computer using Dragonframe stop motion software and her Grid 3 mouse control system for switch users. A throat microphone in a soft collar transmits her vocalisation to activate the switch. She's used this system for her communication aid for over twenty years, and for computer control for about twelve years, so she's very competent at it, though it's an extremely slow way of moving a mouse. She can edit her little no-budget films too, as she did here, though the commissioned ones I've shared previously have been professionally edited. 

If you'd like to watch it, it's just over a minute and a half long, and J will be delighted if the link is shared widely, with anyone who might be interested or on social media.
http://vimeo.com/786678923

Last minute seasonal greetings to one and all!