Mindy Madison and the Cockroach Man - A Cowboy Scene Film

[Rodney V. Smith]

my 18 month old LOVED this movie Jason. He kept saying "again" every time it ended. You should do a childrens story book version and publish it.

[jasonthewho]

I'm so glad to hear that Rodney. I'll definitely look into the story book version idea. I'm actually still working on a The One Hundred Worst Days in the Life of Bartholomew Saxton book, that I hope to publish next year, thanks in part to your encouragement.

[jasonthewho]

This film had a simple but visually appealing aesthetic, a charming voice over (only mine could have been more camp) and a sweet little story!

I think more could have been done with the story never-the-less - and that it perhaps lent itself a little too much to simplicity. However as i understand this film is itself an experiment in animation, and overall its a positive and pleasant little film that young children would clearly enjoy!!!

So a welcome addition to the festival in my book!

Thanks Lawrie, I definitely agree with your comments. I kept it simple to make sure I got it done in time, but next time I will push the limits a lot further.

[jasonthewho]

Thanks also to Chris and Zaza for your comments! Appreciate it!

[Rodney V. Smith]

Excellent! I'm sure there's a series of childrens books in there revolving around the adventures of Mindy Madison. And I'm very glad we haven't heard the last of Bartholomew Saxton...

[killacam]

cute film- I could definitely see this on pbs or something as one of those quickie shorts they used to show on sesame street or something. handmade animation definitely has a charm that you can't get on the computer sometimes. loved the spray that came from the bug spray can for example. good stuff.

[jasonthewho]

Thanks Killacam!


So, there have been various questions about how I made this, and I've said a few things about it, but I think I'll post a more detailed description of my process in making Mindy Madison.

Here it is:

I storyboarded first
Then drew the figures, props, etc. on regular white computer paper
Cut those out
Taped those to the proper color construction paper, then cut around them
Some of the figures were multiple pieces, taped together. This allowed me to have multiple heads for Mindy, that could be switched out, and two arms for the mother.
I would arrange the pieces on my floor, with my camera on a tripod pointed straight down at them
Had one light lighting the paper
Framed the shot, then start taking the pictures
I didn't have this, but ideally you'd have a remote shutter release so as not to shake the camera
Fixed all my mistakes in editing, including some minor Photoshop fixes to images, and aligning the images to increase the smoothness of motion