ToonLifeOnline Blog

Paul Whittington, aka Carrotkid, is a stop-motion artist who is also an avid photographer and filmmaker.  His work can be viewed at carrotkid.com, but what ToonLifeOnline readers really want to know….

Hi Paul.  Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions.

No problem, I am happy to do it.

First and foremost, let us know a little about yourself and your talents?

I live on Vancouver Island and I mostly make short films.  Of those, I like to make stop-motion films, but I also do live-action ones as well (I hope to combine the two in future films perhaps). I also screen write and and do a bit of photography as well.

As I mentioned to you earlier, I found your video on our ToonTube site.  I watched it an was absolutely amazed.  What inspired you to create L19: Disposed?

Thanks… Umm, actually nothing really inspired that film.  It just sort of sprang up out of nowhere starting off with a couple of test shots. The main reason for making that film was so I could force myself to learn some good compositing skills. I wanted to get better at composting so I took the character L19 (originally from android 207) and did a few blue screen test shots.  I liked how they turned out, so I did more and more until I had enough for a film. Then I just filmed a bunch of odd shots to fill in the blanks and that was pretty much it.

 (pictured above: L19’s impending fate)

L19 is your latest short film correct?  Can you tell me about some of your other films?

Yes, “L19:Disposed” is my latest… well sort of. I’ve been doing a lot of odd little videos here and there, but nothing too major. I recently made a short video in March which was a montage of the herring run season we get here on the Island each year. Before L19 I made “Android 207″, which has so far been my most successful (popular) film. Then there was “Table Kid Kirby”, which is a 5 part stop-motion series about a clay man stuck on a table. “Isabel Knew Too Much” was a live action short who’s main character was a dog who’s world comes crashing down around her through self realization.  “Spare Parts” was a sort of post-apocalyptic fable story about a small android who heads off to fulfill his destiny. And then there was “The Doctrine of Vitality” which dates back to 1997.  It was my first real short film where I play a man addicted to carrots.  It may not be my best film, but for me it is one of my favorites because it is my first. I am currently working on a new short called “The Baked Apple” which will be a blend of stop-motion, pixilation, and live action.

“L19:Disposed”and “Android 207″ have a sense of dread and desperation.  You were able to do this without having any dialogue.  Was that your initial intentions, or did it just end up that way when you were done?

Yes, that was my initial intentions for sure.  I don’t usually like to use dialogue very much because it often gives off a strong sense of reality, meaning the view can relate to things more. Sometimes I’ll use narration, but very little. There are just too many advantages to making films non-dialogue which appeal to me, so I rarely use it unless I feel it necessary.

(pictured above:Android 207)

“L19:Disposed” recently received second place at the Milwaukee Short Film Festival.  How was your experience at there?

The guys who put on the Milwaukee festival are great.  They are great to talk with and they seem to understand a lot about film, so I always love submitting to them. I first found out about them through a really cool illustrator friend of mine Matthew Laznicka of  Basement-Productions. He’s the one who illustrated the Carrotkid image of me on my website. He is a fantastic artist! He lives near Milwaukee and told me what a great festival it was, so I submitted “Android 207″. I was surprised to see “L19:Disposed” win this year, but also happy about it indeed. “Android 207″ also won the second place award at last years Milwaukee festival so that rocked big time as well.

(pictured above: Setting up top-down shot)

Your short films take place in a very sterile and clinical setting.  It really lends itself to using Android characters.  It actually reminded me of the game Portal, and I mean that as the ultimate compliment.  Do you have any plans to indicate what has happened to humans in your world that you’ve created?

The humans are there, (usually at least one in each film) such as the scientist at the end of “Android 207″, and the dude who drops L19 into the waste disposal.  To me, the humans are always faceless and unimportant in a way.  That is why I never show their heads in the films; I learned that from Charlie Brown. There are many things I don’t like to dig too deeply into in my films,  partly because there is limited time in short films, but mainly because I love having a sense of mystery in the films.  Tthe less I mention about anything that is not needed to be explained in order to get the story across, the more there is for the viewers to reach their own conclusions.

Have you played Portal?

No, but it does look like fun! I don’t own a gaming machine, but I used to love video games when I was growing up.  I used to have a Mrs. Pac-Man arcade machine, but I still play it on my computer all the time!  From what I’ve seen of Portal, it reminds me of one of my all-time favorite games from the past, Load Runner.  I was addicted to it! Ahhh, the memories. Actually, there are a lot of people who compare Android 207 to video games, including Portal. I recall reading a few “Cool, reminds me of Portal” comments on Youtube and the net.  I don’t mind the comparisons at all.  I do have a great love for vintage video games and it is nice to see some of it rubbing off in my films, even though I had no conscious intentions of doing so.  I guess it must be coming from my sub-conscious.

How long does it usually take you to create your short films?  What usually takes the most time?

All depends on the film. Each one is usually quite different for the one before it, as far as production goes anyhow. I am always using different equipment and processes, so the work flow fluctuates quite a bit. For “L19:Disposed”, which was mainly a compositing film, about 90 percent of the shots where shot in from of a blue screen, so I spent most of my time in front of the computer doing the compositing and making up of the shots. For “Android 207″, as simplistic as the maze set looks in the film, it was actually the most complicated thing I ever built in my life! It was very difficult to get all the pieces cut and fit into place exactly right and precise so that everything would line up perfectly, and doing so without getting any scuffs and scratches on the freshly painted walls and floor was madness. Plus, I had to do it in such a way that any wall could be quickly taken out and put back in so I could get the camera inside the maze. All this, plus rigging up all the moving walls, floors, giant nails, etc.  Near the end on the last set, it got to a point where I didn’t think I was going to be able to construct it! For that film, I’d say I spent about 70 percent of the time building the sets.

(pictured above: Paul setting up one of Android 207’s traps)

Your stop-motion is flawless and I really love the art direction in each of your films.  “L19:Disposed” is some of the smoothest stop-motion I have seen.  Can you tell me a little bit about the process of creating your films and what you use to create them?

Thanks. Well, first I usually have a general idea of what the film will be about.  Usually I will write a script and or storyboard the complex shot/scenes, but sometimes, like with the film I’m making now, “The Baked Apple”, I just have a general idea in my head and just make up the shots as I film. “L19:Disposed” was done that way, and “Android 207″ was scripted. I get a lot of people asking me what stop-motion software I use, but I don’t use any at all. I usually animate a shot capturing the frames to either tape or memory card, and then I upload them to my computer, and edit them together afterwards using Final Cut Pro. For “L19: Disposed”, I filmed it with a Nikon D40 DSLR – the shots were nice, but image cameras are not really designed for stop-motion.  Sometimes you get slight variations in the exposure in between frames resulting in a flicker effect which is painful to correct in post. Now I use a Canon XHA1 video camera, which allows you to capture still frames onto a memory card.  That’s how I filmed “The Baked Apple” and it worked out great!

Can you tell me why you use androids as your characters?

Not really use actually, just sort of something I fell into. I guess because I love all that robotic-like stuff, technology, and the building of the characters. Because they are android (not human) you have more creative freedom in constructing them and you can make them look however you like.

I saw that you enjoy Science-Fiction.  As a huge Sci-Fi fan myself, can you tell me some of your favorite movies, authors, etc., in this particular genre?

My favorite sci-fi films are the older films from the 70’s and 80’s like Tron, Blade Runner, Westworld, THX1138, Star Trek Original Series, The Terminator, and others which I can’t recall right now. I love Isaac Asimov. He is such a great author. His robot novels are a big influent to me as well. Philip K Dick is great too, but I have only read a few of his books. But my all-time favorite book, which is now not even a book at all, but a play, is R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) which was written by Karel Capek back in 1921 I believe.  It is a fantastic story and it is were the word ‘Robot’ came from.

What are your future plans?  I would love to see you put something together with more story element involving the androids.

I’m not sure if you’ve seen ‘Spare Parts’ or not, but if you’re looking for a film of mine with a more deeper story involving android, I guess that would be the one to see. For my future film, I seem to be heading away from androids and more into object-orientated stop-motion stuff, but I’m sure I will do more robotic stuff at some point for sure.

(pictured above:Paul filming Android 207)

When you aren’t animating, filming, or taking photographs, what are you doing?

Working and sleeping – that’s about it.

Speaking of photography, I’ve seen some of your photos.  You said on your site, only 1 out of 100 is a good photograph.  I doubt that statement is true *laughs*.  You seem like such a humble guy.

Thanks, well maybe 2 out of a 100 is where I’m at now, *laughs*. Actually, when I shoot I take dozens to hundreds at a time, as we all do nowadays with memory chips being so cheap, and usually I find myself deleting shot after shot after shot. I never studied photography so I’m not really sure what makes a good photo, aside from that which I know about film that is similar in photos too. So I just snap and when I see one I like, it keep it.

Do you have any advice for individuals getting started into stop motion?

Yes – If you are new to it, the first thing you will want to do is have fun with it first. Start off simple. Animate a simple object moving along a table. This will also allow you to become used to how the objects move, the speed they move at, and to train you to have patients with stop-motion.  It can sometimes take a long time to do. Then when you get bored with simple objects, try animating other things more complex. Don’t feel as though you have to come up with a story at first, or have to build sets and do all sorts of post work.  If you do that, you will soon become overwhelmed and most likely give up. As with anything, best to start off simple and progress from there.

Thank you for your time.  I really look forward to all of your work in the future and If you don’t mind, I will definitely be posting about all of your progress and work on our blog.

Thank you – it’s been fun! And please, feel free to post whatever you like about my progress. For updates on current news about what I’m working on, people can visit my blog at: http://carrotkidfilms.blogspot.com or to view my films you can visit my website at: www.carrotkidfilms.com