View Full Version : MacPro Unboxing Animation


Paul Whittington
September 1st, 2010, 06:12 PM
This is a short unboxing video I shot as to test my editing work flow on the new MacPro machine. A majority of the shots are stop-motion:
YouTube - 2010 MacPro Unboxing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMru6ICAdw8)

Hope you enjoy :)

Glenn Davidson
September 1st, 2010, 06:57 PM
Cool video, just ordered a MacPro myself. What is the story behind the severed head, meat hook and noose? Halloween Video?

Simon Denny
September 2nd, 2010, 03:31 AM
Hi Paul,

I really enjoyed that. Care to share some tips on how you went about shooting this?

Thanks

Paul Whittington
September 2nd, 2010, 08:53 PM
Thanks Glenn - the severed head and noose, haha - yeah, they are a few props for a horror film I'll be shooting next year - should be fun!

Thanks Simon - I shot it fairly quick (two evenings last week) as so I could get the new machine up and running asap. It was filmed mostly with stop-motion; animating both the Mac and the camera which was attached to a slider. The shot with the Mac in the air was actually standing on a stack of books (adding another book for each frame as it raised up and then I rotoscoped the books out in post as I floated down - glad you enjoyed it, thanks :)

Alan Melville
September 3rd, 2010, 05:59 AM
Paul,

Having no idea on how to do the effects, I loved it....well done.

Al

Bruce Phung
September 6th, 2010, 03:53 PM
This the best unboxing I have seen. If you can do a tutoial how to animate, duplicate this video would be awsome. I love animation but have not idea how it done. I know it required a lot of keyframings.

Chuck Spaulding
September 8th, 2010, 03:41 PM
Its great to see someone doing good old fashioned stop action.

Well done.

Paul Whittington
September 8th, 2010, 06:19 PM
This the best unboxing I have seen. If you can do a tutoial how to animate, duplicate this video would be awsome. I love animation but have not idea how it done. I know it required a lot of keyframings.

Thanks Bruce, glad you enjoyed it :)

Would love to do a tutorial indeed but unfortunately time permits me from doing so. However, stop-motion in general is fairly straight forward in technique. First frame you shot how you want it to look. Then capture an image of it, move the subject a tiny bit, capture another image, and keep repeating. I also like to animate the camera as well which gives more dynamics to the shots. Things to know ahead of time are:
- Make sure you have a steady power supply for the light so you don't get light flicker when playing back the shots (flicker is a huge pain to remove in post).
- Always lock your focus and exposure before shooting.
- If you are animating more than one object, keep track that you move all objects for each frame (it's easy to loose track).

Hope this helps :)