2 New Stopmotion Animations!

This is what I created for the recent "Rainbow" stop-motion animation for Robert Plant's new music.
Models: Laurie Reinhart (Equilibrium Yoga Montreal), Aurélie Morgane (Projet Æolia), & Lisa Maria Diano.

All art, make-up, body painting, face painting, & stopmotion animation work by The Art of April-Anna

www.aprilanna.com 

Equilibrium Yoga Montreal
http://www.equilibriumyoga.ca/

Projet Aeola
https://www.facebook.com/ProjetAEolia

Just wanted to share my hard work (worked on this more then full time for a month). I am going to re-edit this & release a new version soon, but for now, here it is! 


New! Keta Nadotawag: Listen – Stopmotion Animation (description below) 



Stopmotion Animation Short Film by The Art of April-Anna
www.aprilanna.com

Collaborators: Flying Down Thunder & Rise Ashen
Keta Nadotawag – Listen
Music: Flying Down Thunder & Rise Ashen
Directing Assistance: Mynah Marie
General Assistance: Ziggy Lam

Lyrics & Translation:

Kida nâdôtawag awesîsag

you should listen to the animals

Kida nadotawag pineshishag

you should listen to the birds

Kida nadotan aki

you should listen to the earth

Kida nadotawag kakin awiyagog

you should listen to everyone

Kida nadotawag kichi aya-ag

you should listen to the old people

Flying Down Thunder & Rise Ashen – North Wind

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/north-wind/id573734720

Flying Down Thunder & Rise Ashen – One Nation

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/one-nation/id464244894

Flying Down Thunder’s Youtube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/flyingdownthunder

Hamstead Parade & Free Outdoor Concert

Please join the event on facebook, invite your friends, share the link. http://on.fb.me/1lK3Zim  

Forward this email to your friends and contacts.

Use the hashtag #Hampstead100 in the post you make.Tag us on Twitter @HampsteadQC 

Here is a link to the event on our website: http://bit.ly/Hampstead100 

If you have any questions or need any help promoting the event please email hampstead100@hampstead.qc.ca


PARADE:
12 PM Along Queen Mary and Fleet.

CONCERT:
2 PM in Hampstead Park.

PARADE PARTICIPANTS:
Zuruba Brazillian Dancers
RCMP Pipes and Drums Band
Horse Drawn Fire Engine
Antique Cars & Fire Trucks
Mtl Bhangra Academy, Desi Rythmz
Futuristic Cars and Race Cars
BMX Stunt Riders
Young Academy of Irish Dance
NASCAR Race Car (Andrew Ranger)
Felino CB7 (Antoine Bessette)
Flip Cirque - Wheel Artists
Montreal Roller Derby
Mascots, Clowns, Dancers & Celebrities
NSX Cheerleaders
Pamana Fillipino Dancers
San Tropez Salsa DancersThe Segal Centre for Performing Arts
Steel Drummers
Chinese Lion & Dragon Dance
RCMP Mounties on Horses
Starlight Foundation
The Royal Montreal Regiment (100 soldiers plus marching band)
and so much more...

CONCERT LINEUP:
Ginette Reno - Page Officielle (with Guy Lafleur)
Martha Wash (It's Raining Men, C+C Music Factory)
Crystal Waters (100% Pure Love, Gypsy Woman)
The Damn Truth (Montreal Rock Band)
Back Beat Show Band (Hits from the 60s to now)
Lionism (David Lion) (Illusionist)
OLD F/X (Hampstead band)
Plus food trucks, surprises, and musical fireworks!

Red Fish

I am trying to identify the fish I saw the eagle pick up out of the water yesterday. The fish was approx. two feet in length and had a red face/head, & red tail but was silver in between. Can't find anything online that looks like this description. It was in the river.

Update:
I wonder if it was a Quebec Red Trout (also known as Arctic Char) but I haven't seen any photos that matched it exactly but that's the closest thing I have seen online to what I saw yesterday.

Arctic Char (Quebec Red Trout), Photo Originated Here

An Eagle, a Red Fish & the Veil

Today was a great day, though I was running on fumes (short on sleep), I really had fun and I am really pleased with what I produced. Not not necessarily everything I created today will be usable, I got what I needed for the scene change. We were working on one of my new stopmotion animations (4th scene but 5th photoshoot). I took 1,751 photos; did several retakes and a few versions of the same thing, so now I have to decide (indecision can be a real beast) which versions I am using.

Today was very lovely & very hot. It was a playful but very chill, relaxed day; very smooth going, despite the slow start (I was late leaving the house). Guessing by eye, I would say it was ideal photography lighting around fourish because when we started shooting, it was definitely bordering on over exposed. I don't have a light metre and I have to make a guesstimation. I don't normally do stopmotion outside because it's hard with the time lapse between shots to have controlled lighting but I felt my ideas for what I wanted to do for today's scene would be quick enough that we could work with natural light, which for stopmotion is a treat to me. Very windy as well, which turned out to be a beautiful benefit to what I was working with.

At one point we decided to move locations on the property (we were on the river, we had gone out of town for this), and I am standing there with the tripod & camera attached (being super tired & only moving forty feet away from our original location, I just walked barefoot carrying the camera still attached to the tripod; being on four hours sleep made me feel like it was epic taking it off the tripod, bit silly really), so I am standing there in shock with equipment in hand (after the moment passing realizing I could have taken some awesome stopmotion animation photos or video footage) as I am watching a beautiful eagle swoop down to the water (which was approx. thirty feet away from where I was standing) & scoop out a giant fish (silver & red, not sure what kind of fish, gonna look around online later and see if I can figure it out). So it's flying up with this fish (it was huge & so was the eagle) doing a diagonal swoop away from the water (directly over where I had just told my model to go stand for the next series of stopmotion animation shots) then back over the water (kind of zig zagging) because two seagulls decided to chase the eagle (wtf? ballsy seagulls) in hopes of stealing it's catch (the eagle was the one that took it out of the water, swear I never saw an eagle being chased by seagulls before, hilarious).

When I finished the shoot, we got buzzed first by a white butterfly (my model was all in white) then dragonflies while I was packing followed by discovering lady bugs on my tripod as I was about to leave. Last week with the shoot with Aurelie I had to chase two raccoons out of my house, I just treat them like they are my cats and it's shocking what they understand because I firmly told them no (was going after the cat dryfood) & pointed in the direction of the door (which was around the corner & through the kitchen), told the raccoons "No, go." Twice while pointing and they listened, and respectfully turned around and went back the way they came. Then when they tried to test me to try to re-enter the house (reminds me of kids trying to test boundaries), I squirted them with water the way I do my cats; took a few squirts before they got got tired of being sprayed with water. Super cute. My model's boyfriend who was there helping us out immediately said, "Wow, I have never seen raccoons respond that way to anyone before, they really listened to you, I thought we were going to have to try to scare them out." I explained I don't like to use fear with animals but rather try to get them to listen and earn their respect, teach them boundaries as I find it's more effective and feels healthier.

Be sure to check out my new website at: www.aprilanna.com

448 + 1,219 Photos ....... and then....

So before this evening, in the past 24 hours or more (don't quite remember when I started this editing process), I have edited (including quite a bit of hand detailed photo per photo alterations, additions or corrections, then whatever I could script in bulk for normal photo editing) 448 photos. Just now, I scripted (only basic photo edits, normal stuff like increasing contrast & what not, still gotta go through and decide what I am using; several retakes, I probably did this part in the wrong order but what can I say, it's been one of those days) another 1,219 photos in photoshop. I think it's time for a brain fart. I still have another thousand or more photos to go through. It's worth it, the final product is going to be beautiful (new stopmotion animation).

Be sure to check out my new website at: www.aprilanna.com

New!! Keta Nadotawag: Listen - Stopmotion Animation

Stopmotion Animation Short Film by The Art of April-Anna
Collaborators: Flying Down Thunder & Rise Ashen
Keta Nadotawag - Listen
Music: Flying Down Thunder & Rise Ashen
Directing Assistance: Mynah Marie
General Assistance: Ziggy Lam

Lyrics & Translation:

Kida nâdôtawag awesîsag
you should listen to the animals

Kida nadotawag pineshishag
you should listen to the birds

Kida nadotan aki
you should listen to the earth

Kida nadotawag kakin awiyagog
you should listen to everyone

Kida nadotawag kichi aya-ag
you should listen to the old people

Flying Down Thunder & Rise Ashen - North Wind
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/north-wind/id573734720

Flying Down Thunder & Rise Ashen - One Nation
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/one-nation/id464244894

Flying Down Thunder's Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/flyingdownthunder

Be sure to check out my new website at: www.aprilanna.com