The Tiny Circus Chronicle

Madison Children's Museum

2011-11-19T15:35:00.000-08:00

For two days, Tiny Circus landed in the wonderland of imagination and play known as the Madison's Children Museum. We set up shop in the heart of Possible-opolis, right next to the Hodgepodge Mahal, an indoor jungle gym made from salvaged and repurposed materials.

Entire families were engaged in the animation station whiteboard extravaganza. Participants would grab a marker and draw a tree growing, rain drops dropping, or sometimes wiggly patterns, juggling insects, or an octopus swimming, and then we'd all step back, take the shot, and again, draw or erase a bit more.

Perhaps you can tell: it was Halloween. This is the first ever tiny bunny to participate in a Tiny Circus animation. All animals are welcome, of course.

We projected the shots onto a small screen, so we could watch the amorphous whiteboard animation as it was being created.

That evening we played our animations at the Museum event, Beakers and Broomsticks, for a rotating cast of costumed children and adults. (The History of Ghosts and Ghost Trap were in the line-up that night.) With so much going on in the space (black light painting, dancing, slime making), luckily people were drawn into our room by snacks, and stayed for the animations. Hard to beat popcorn + candy corn + Tiny Circus animations. We also debuted the animations created by the students we worked with at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

The University of Wisconsin, Madison

2011-11-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

When we arrived at Mark Nelson's Interior Design course at the University of Wisconsin Madison, it was a considerable shift from our project with the elementary school in Mount Vernon.

In Madison, Tiny Circus spent time with two classes in the Design Studies department creating animations. After some conversation about Tiny Circus, animation practices, and the storyboard process, the students got straight to work. In Mark’s class, they collaboratively brainstormed, storyboarded, and animated “A Day in the Life of an Interior Design Student.”

Jenny Angus’s class created short animations in small groups. The stories ranged from the love story of French bread and cheese to dancing Army men to a crafty spider (why spin a web, when a hammock is more enticing?).

On the last day of class we watched and discussed the completed animations. In the context of a design class, we discussed the value of listening to the reactions of people who are removed from the making process: do the animations communicate the stories we were aiming to tell?

The films premiered as a part of the Madison Children's Museum Halloween celebration. More on that to come.

A Letter to the Editor in Mount Vernon

2011-10-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

When Tiny Circus is on tour, it's one workshop after another. At times it feels as if our magic lanterns (Peanut and Silver Pelican, the airstream trailers) pop out a screen, project a show, and roll out. That's why we're grateful for any small window into the community reaction and lingering thoughts after our departure.

Here's a Letter to the Editor of the Mount Vernon Sun; a beautiful community reflection on Tiny Circus that was a treat to read.

'Tiny Circus' is art in the spirit of cooperation

On the evening of Thursday, Oct. 13, I was mesmerized by a free community showing of stop-motion-animation videos created by the students of Washington Elementary in collaboration with the Grinnell-based "Tiny Circus." This free showing took place on the south-side lawn of the elementary school with hundreds of people from the Mount Vernon community in attendance. It was an open air showing under the stars, the audience in lawn chairs, and on blankets; visiting with neighbors, parents, grandparents and anyone lucky enough to know it was happening that evening.

It was a magical event - a genuine collaboration on the part of children, their art and music teachers, Sarah Fitzgerald and Kristi Keast, and a group of traveling animation artists under the leadership of Carlos Ferguson, a gifted artist, communicator and all-around creative organizer.

This was Tiny Circus's second visit to Washington Elementary. The 2010 animation with Mount Vernon students titled "Elephant Trap" can be seen on YouTube. Photo-documentation of this years animation, "Giraffe Trap" can be seen if you go online and google: mustang moon, tiny circus.

Rich with whimsy, student-composed music, drawing, collage, live performance, and great degrees of patient practice on the part of everyone involved, this event points to a need many of us feel in our daily lives for the sort of cooperative engagement that can transform an idea into something actual.

In our current national climate of divisiveness and disrespect, a program that leads by example, teaching that cooperative effort makes us all winners is one that should be encouraged and continued in our school system. I only hope that continued funding for such worthwhile educational programming makes that possible.

Sue Coleman

Mount Vernon

Giraffe. Trapped.

2011-10-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

They said it couldn’t be done. They said it was too tall, eats too many leaves, can't be tracked, is perfectly silent. Camouflaged to near invisibility... ferocious to boot. Many had tried, all had failed.

On October 14, Tiny Circus and 500 elementary school students proved the doubters wrong.

With loads of help from middle school and high school students, teachers, parents - and, of course, the local coffee shop - the giraffe was successfully (and non-violently) trapped!

The premiere of Giraffe Trap on the lawn of Washington Elementary School was a joyful, overflowing community event. Over 600 people - the creators, and their parents and neighbors - took in the 40-minute Tiny Circus show. There were lots of cheers and giggles throughout the night.

We loved working with such a supportive and enthusiastic community. Here are a few of the thank you notes and reflections on the project by the students.

To all this we say: we tingk it was a blast, too. Tank Ewe! We'll be back soon!

Hello Mount Vernon!

2011-10-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

Autumn is in full leaves-falling, crisp air mode, and the drive from Grinnell - 80 miles East - to Mount Vernon, Iowa was a golden and dusty one. Last year over 500 students at Washington Elementary School, as well as teachers and some middle and high school students created Elephant Trap, an animation that continues to delight audiences at our shows across the country.

We’re back in Mount Vernon again, this time with a taller order: we are trapping a giraffe!

Trapping the world's tallest giraffe requires lots of height so we decide to use a sky jack to become as tall as the giraffe. By rigging the camera to the sky jack we are able to capture movements of the students below.

Back inside the school students fabricated parts of the trap and scenery then began bringing them to life at the animation station. They also worked on composing and recording an original score for the film based off of the phrase "we're gonna catch a giraffe!"

Tiny Circus received a huge welcome back from the students, who covered the walls with an abundance of wonderfully original, handmade TC posters. Thanks to the students and teachers for the rock star welcome!

Our tallest trap yet will premiere at Washington Elementary School, Mount Vernon on Thursday, October 13th starting at dusk.

Ghost Trap Premiers at the Citizen Jane Film Festival

2011-10-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

Tiny Circus was thrilled to be back at Citizen Jane for a third year as part of the Cirque du Cinema! With Halloween approaching it was the perfect time to try our hand at trapping a ghost. We had a blast collaborating with over 350 students at the EEE school as well as the University of Missouri students who came in to help each day.

After a week of hard work, Ghost Trap was completed just before premiering at the Opening Night of the 2011 Citizen Jane Film Festival. The film was screened for the first time in a wonderful stable turned movie theater called the Rustic Ring. Ghost Trap showed again before the Closing Night Film, Dish at the Missouri Theater It was great seeing some of the newest Circus members in the audience to watch the animation we created together. If you didn't get a chance to watch Ghost Trap at Citizen Jane you can watch it now on the Tiny Circus YouTube Channel.

University of Missouri Student Reflects on Ghost Trap

2011-10-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

We're excited to introduce a new feature to our blog: posts by participants and observers of Tiny Circus in action. This week, Sam Jonesi, a student in Joanna Hearne's History of Animation class at the University of Missouri spent the morning at EEE School when we were in the midst of creating Ghost Trap with the 4th and 5th grade students. We spoke with Sam and his classmates about Tiny Circus when we arrived in Columbia, and they've been joining us at EEE School, participating in all the moving pieces of the animation process.

Here, Sam writes a wonderfully descriptive account of the experience:

Sometime the week before, I had been assured that simply by being in my History of Animation class the particular day Tiny Circus was presenting, that I was automatically a member of Tiny Circus. I didn’t feel that way. I was not hoping to go into film school, like many of the other members of my class. I was just a computer science student who needed a humanity and liked cartoons. Still, I was looking forward to getting to be a part of the process of animation. I knew it was a tedious process, but I had no idea until I got to see it in action. Two whole classrooms of students were split into four groups. Each group would then go to a station and work on a task related to animation there, switching every thirty minutes or so.

EEE Students set-up animation stations to shoot Ghost Trap!

One group had chalkboard animation with Carlos. One student would be in charge of taking pictures using a laptop while the others would each be assigned to a bee. It would be the other students’ job to move the bee the tiniest bit. The student taking the picture would say “SHOOTING!" The camera would make a “boop” sound, and then the student would say “GOT IT!” This was done at a rapid-fire pace, with students getting up and down quickly to get out of the way of the shot.

The students at the non-chalkboard animation station had to move more slowly and deliberately. They did their animation on what is essentially a table with a camera and lights on the top of it. The camera on this contraption was also controlled by a laptop. Each student was assigned a star, and had to move it a small amount. I participated in this process for a small bit, and found it quite tedious, and soon had to move on to something else. I later found out that using this method, it took fifteen minutes to create all of three seconds of animation. I find it amazing that Tiny Circus could hold on to the attention of so many children for so long, and have them collaborate to make something original. Judging by the animation of theirs that I have seen, they are quite good at this.

Animating the night sky

Another station involved making the construction-paper figures actually used in the animation. This is where the other MU student who assisted with Tiny Circus, Paige, spent most of her time. Today, the children at this station made soccer goals, soccer balls, soccer players, a bear, and a parachute (it all makes sense when you actually watch the animation).

The last station was sound. Here students were encouraged to make their own sound effects for the animation using whatever materials they could find in the room they were in, though they mostly used their own bodies and voices to create sound. I learned about this often-forgotten part of filmmaking, such as the idea that it’s best to have a three-second pause between sound effects to make them easier to separate for the sound editor.

A group of students record sound effects for a chase scene

Even though I barely participated directly in the process of animation, I still had a lot of fun watching. I could tell that animation is hard, tedious work, but getting to see the characters you’ve made all by yourself actually move I think would be worth it. I learned a lot that day, and I really did feel like a part of Tiny Circus.

Citizen Bumper

2011-10-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

The Citizen Jane Film Festival comes once a year, and the Tiny Circus spends the rest of the year looking forward to it.

We left Circus House in home-base Grinnell at 6 AM to arrive in time for our first engagement, beginning a nine-day stretch of animating and collaborating. By noon that day, we were in Columbia, Missouri, in the classroom of Joanna Hearne, a professor at MU. We spoke with 20 of her students for an hour or so, detailing our plan to collaborate with 300 elementary-school students over the next week. The class, History of Animation, is assisting our team on a daily basis.

Two hours later, we went to the EEE school, site of our workshop, to move our boxes and cameras up three flights of stairs. Then later that evening, we shared dinner, beers and a campfire with our hosts.

Before the workshop with the EEE school, Tiny Circus had two intense days of animating with Stephens College students to brainstorm and make an animated bumper (a short introductory logo) for the film festival. The festival conveniently has a circus theme and so our aesthetic fit perfectly. We worked with about 12-15 people over the two-day period and then handed off the resulting animation to Paula and Kerri, the festival directors.

Here we are brainstorming the storyboard. As often happens with animation brainstorms, we had a lot of ambitious ideas that we continued to revise - and simplify - as the day went on.

Making the Citizen Jane unicyclist. She had movable arms and legs and her wheel is a film reel.

Animating in the dark inspired a quiet and focused atmosphere.

We wrote the music and recorded sound effects - old squeaky chairs, lockers opening and closing, fabric falling, an old film projector - all found in our midst at Stephens College.

In the end a true collaboration and an elegant short that pays homage to the circus theme of this year's Citizen Jane: Cirque du Cinema! Check it out on the Tiny Circus Facebook page.

Look for our blog post next week about the EEE workshop hours of animating fun with 300 students!

HUB-BUB in Spartanburg, South Carolina

2011-09-21T16:18:00.000-07:00

Tiny Circus, rolling on... landed at HUB-BUB in Spartanburg, South Carolina, after driving from our lovely stay at the Elsewhere Collaborative in Greensboro. We went straight to work on our first community animation featuring the characters of the Tiny Tiny Circus. Billy, the 17-year old strongman, and Sid, the human cannonball, have an antagonistic relationship, and this was Billy’s chance to get Sid.

Here we are working on the scene with the sheep chasing the gumballs, which we shot from above.

Eager animators of all ages!

There were lots of sheep sound effects to be made and recorded. We learned that sheep bleats most of the time sound like some variation of “bah,” but sometimes sound like “meh.” The sounds of the gumballs rolling through the hills was made from empty bottles rolling across the wooden floor.

Sweeping up the remnants of the workshop in the HUB-BUB Showroom. Now, we’re off to Columbia, Missouri to create a bumper for the Citizen Jane Film Festival with students from Stephens College, trap a Ghost with students at EEE school and, of course, dance.

We’ve taken to calling the airstream Silver Pelican. What do you think?

Elsewhere Winding Down...and Beyond!

2011-09-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

It’s our last week at Elsewhere Collaborative in Greensboro, NC. We’re still clicking away on the History of Dust, brainstorming Traps with students in Columbia, Missouri and Mount Vernon, Iowa, and, it must be noted, completed a short research mission at the sea.

Here we are having a little fun with a Jack-in-the-box while talking remotely with students at EEE school in Columbia, MO. We will be creating a Trap animation with them in two weeks.

Sometimes during our remote conversations the students looked like pixelated waving sea creatures. We had a great time introducing them to Tiny Circus and listening to them respond to the animations. Their enthusiasm was bursting through the screen.

Let's not forget the most important thing: Ice Cream! A walk down the street from Elsewhere is an important part of our days here - coffee espresso, mint chocolate chip, strawberry cheesecake - it's the Dari Barn of the south!

Elsewhere has a six-person bike called the "Surrey" - here TC members and other residents of Elsewhere take the Surrey for a spin around town.

Sound editing in the sun, on the couch, on the porch. The doors open to the street and passers-by often peer in to see what we are up to.

Up next: Spartanburg, South Carolina, where we’ll be doing a workshop with the community at HUB-BUB, an art space and residency. Check out the HUB-BUB blog for a short history of the Tiny Tiny Circus and plans for our workshop and show. The characters are ready for lights, camera, and action via lots of Spartanburg hands!

Films, Music, Pie

2011-09-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Tiny Circus was a part of Backyard Band/with, an evening of films set to live scores by local musicians, and our favorite part: it’s a potluck with homemade pies. We wish we could have shared Circus bread with the 1,500 people who came to this community event at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, New York.

The History of War, created by a group of about 20 children and adults at the Citizen Jane Film Festival in 2009, and The History of Falling, were great punctuation marks for the program of films, helping to transition between heavier and lighter pieces. A beautiful and tasty night.

An Eventful Weekend

2011-09-05T21:01:00.000-07:00

The circus celebrated Labor Day with a weekend full of fun events and even a swimming trip to the local quarry. A few days ago we put on a roadside Tiny Circus show in front of Elsewhere as part of Downtown Fridays in Greensboro. Passers-by could watch all sorts of Tiny Circus histories, then come inside to help create our latest work in progress: The History of Dust.

Other Elsewherians took part in Downtown Fridays as well, making it a fun, high energy evening for everyone.

Resident artists challenged each other in super wheelie ball, an original game created by Ben Garthus.

Dust continued forming the next day, and was helped along by hands big and small at a free stop motion Playshop held at Elsewhere. As you can see, we’re surrounded by books, and so its only natural that books play a big role in telling the History of Dust. Using books as building blocks we are currently constructing a one-of-a-kind, book bound time machine! As all the dust keeps piling up we look forward to sharing more updates with you soon.

Another One Blogs The Dust

2011-09-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

Today a collection of Elsewherians brainstormed the The History of Dust. Sitting around the table in what is known as the Collaboratory, we talked about the ways and places dust gathers and what the existence or absence of dust could mean.

As we settled on dust, there were moments of levity.

And more serious contemplations.

Trying to keep track of all of the little particles of ideas.

The storyboarding begins!

Carlos, Jess, Johanna, and Laura talking through the animation.

At this stage in the brainstorm we try to describe the story as visually as possible to make sure we’re imagining the animation in the same way. We were inspired (one might even say bound) by our surroundings.

Now we get our hands dirty. We’ll make the set and props for the animation with visitors to Elsewhere’s Open House on Friday. And on Saturday: we animate! If you're around, come play with us.

Tiny Circus goes Elsewhere...

2011-08-27T15:43:00.000-07:00

After raising hell and high water Tiny Circus traveled through an earthquake and approaching hurricane to park our airstream in downtown Greensboro, NC for a month long residency at Elsewhere.

Elsewhere is an arts production site and museum set within a former thrift store housing a 58-year collection of colorful American surplus, thrift, and antiques. We’re excited to be part of the Elsewhere community of artists and to spend the next month playing in this amazing space!

During our first days at Elsewhere the Tiny Circus gave an artist talk and learned about other resident’s work. The next night we attended an outer-space themed community dinner for a fellow Elsewhere resident’s project Radio Espacio Estacion.

Elsewhere’s incredible living museum provides a unique setting to create new histories as well as site-specific shorts with the Tiny Tiny Circus characters developed over the past summer. Stay tuned for lots of updates-its gonna be a fun month!

Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown

2011-08-27T06:01:00.000-07:00

From Gatlinburg, the circus headed 1004 miles north to Provincetown, Massachusetts to teach another animation class.

Our studio was in a renovated lumber-yard at the Fine Arts Work Center. Class participants divided into groups to brainstorm short animations.

Storyboarding "Hell or High Water".

Animating a soggy marshmallow.

The finished animation, a beautiful little short. Tiny Circus heads south next to Elsewhere, in Greensboro, NC.

Arrowmont School of Art and Craft

2011-08-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

Tiny Circus traveled to Gatlinburg, TN, land of swimming holes and bears, to teach an animation class at the Arrowmont school. Class participants began by illustrating an common idiom (a stitch in time saves nine) to learn various animating processes

Next, the class turned to a more familiar topic and began to created an animated bear trap.

Here, animating a chair lift behind a scene of Gatlinburg.

Creating a cardboard bear trap, spray painted gold, of course.

It was a great week with many trips to swim and some late-night animating with a corn-dog. We'll be back soon. Check our youtube page for the final version of the animation.

Characters

2011-07-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

Our resident hedgehog has headed home to Kansas City - the circus is winding down for the summer.

Over the last two weeks, we've been working on character development. Six circus performers evolved from our 6-week brainstorm, each has a back-story and musical theme. Each is the product of intense collaboration - and multiple generations of refinements.

Our Wednesday night community meals - ducks, food, a film, and backyard community.

Here, Marty begins to take shape around her hand-machined armature.

The circus collaborated to create musical themes for each of the characters as well.

The Tiny Attic Circus of Lincoln, Nebraska took Sheva the fire-breather and Maestra the ring leader home to do some design work - they sent wonderful creations back to Tiny Circus Base Camp for finishing touches.

A happy circus at the Danish Maid bakery. A regular stop both in the day-time, and often at 2 AM for fresh 'nuts.

2011-06-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

Our tiny tiny circus is becoming more and more plausible by the day! It took us a few trials, but we are finally getting the strong man to be animate-able after a couple skeletal surgeries...

We've also been spending some time figuring out the logistics of the set for the Archival Room. Hannah did a great job drawing out our ideas and figuring out how to construct lots of tiny boxes.

And we're getting closer and closer to creating our vision of the human cannonball. He's even got his own theme song in the works.

All in all, we're having a great time seeing things come together and come to life!

Truckin' Along

2011-06-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

Tiny Circus is still truckin' along and everyone is making good progress on their projects. We are continuing to develop our circus characters, making adjustments to personalities and materials to create the most compelling juggler, strong man, and human canonball that we can! In our quest to improve our animating process, we welcomed the help from a neighbor on developing our own green/blue screen.

And so, animation has begun! The Strongman lives...with a few creaky bolts, but he lives!

To bring our characters' personalities to life, we've also started producing a theme song for each one. You have not been truly moved until you have seen Emile the juggler weep to his own personal accordion music.

When not animating, the circus picked out colors to paint the outside of the circus house!

...and then we went to work! the painting looks terrific!

A hello from the Tiny Circus, especially to the Circusers who have left recently!

2011-06-20T17:30:00.001-07:00

It has been quite the roller coaster here at the Tiny Circus over the past few days. But rain or shine, we're still having agood time!

We've had to say goodbye to a handful of members, including our impromptu deejay Mike, who has given us many memorable dance parties.

We've been plugging away on character development, as well as improving our living quarters.

We've made sure to stay hydrated in the summer heat, and well-fed. With so many people around and a rapidly growing garden, we're always bound to have delicious food.

The ducks are growing, too...

Sweet Rewards

2011-06-20T01:04:00.000-07:00

We've been crossing more and more Tiny Circus TO-DO's off of our handy dandy new chalkboard lately. The shelf of finished characters is starting to fill up, the makings of different props are popping up in the studio, brainstorming ideas are quickly evolving into a full-on storyline. To celebrate our progress a group of circus members hit the local ice cream stand for some sweet hard-earned treats. We also took a day off to recharge our batteries and celebrate the summer solstice by going out to a nearby lake for an impromptu beach barbeque. The summer season is officially upon us.

After making miniature ice creams for a project:

Some circus members went out for the real thing:

The Dream Team

2011-06-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago the Tiny Circus shot a family portrait before animating a scary dream sequence. We finished shooting scenes yesterday and are currently working on editing and music for the new animation. We've been experimenting by making lots of spooky sounds and playing around with editing styles, making the post-production process very exciting!

The past several days have been stuffed full of all sorts of creative collaborations including developing a captivating overall story for the TINY Tiny Circus project as well as fabricating an assortment of brand spankin' new props and characters.

All this creative energy has spilled over into daily tasks and fun shenanigans throughout the house.

And a few days ago at the Circus: Omelettes! It was a veritable carnival of kale (from our garden), mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, green peppers, and cheese.

We also continued the tradion of Tiny Circus community movie night by showing the Wes Anderson film RUSHMORE on the lawn. Thanks to everyone who joined us! Movie nights will keep happening on Wednesdays this summer and all are welcome to come.

And of course a Tiny Circus blog post would not be complete without a little duck love!

Charting Progress

2011-06-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

A long morning meeting to discuss our daily schedule and progress resulted in a new chalkboard (scavenged from a previous Tiny Circus summer session). Our new process: categories and tasks are discussed briefly at a morning meeting, overall progress is charted at the beginning of our afternoon work-session.

Taking the ducks out for a walk.

Bread school apprentices.

Circonians are learning to make the circus bread (which is about 60% of a typical circus diet). 6-12 loaves a day!

Character Building

2011-06-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

This past week, we've continued work on our current long-term projects. We’ve been developing our characters, building environments for them to live in, and creating the overarching story of their world. We’ve really enjoyed imagining how our characters might interact, and we’re having a lot of fun with it. Since our characters are hip to the latest trends, they’re naturally all on facebook. Look them up if you’re interested-- Billy Circus, Sheeva Circus, Maestra Circus, Marty Circus, Emile Circus, and Baby Circus. Maybe you’ll even see them on twitter soon! Or maybe not…

In order to ensure that everyone got a chance to do some animating, we decided to take a break from our long-term projects and create a short together. After an intense morning of brainstorming, we came up with a project that has proven to be a real NIGHTMARE—literally! We spent the day animating, and all gathered in the attic at nightfall to film a terrifyingly bad dream. We’re still working on editing and sound production (including toy instrument arrangements!) and finding new ways to spook things up a bit.

Other than that, we’ve been enjoying each others company, cooking and eating some delicious meals, continuing our weekly community movie night, and loving the Iowa summer weather. The gardens are yielding a bountiful harvest, the ducks have really grown (and they’re just as adorable as ever), and our feet are sneaking in a dance party whenever they can.

Chugging Along

2011-06-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

Day 11 of Circus, and we’re staying eager. We’ve tapped into a scenario that will encase the existing animations of Histories and have room for future Histories, too. You could call us a narrative-creating machine. We’re asking questions like: “How do portals work?” And, “How are they discovered?” As Tiny Circus builds the members of the Tiny Tiny Circus (we are actually creating a very small animatable circus), we’re wondering, “What is Firebreather’s greatest vulnerability?” “Does Baby Drummer have a favorite song?” “What will unhinge Strongman?” "Is Contortionist mint-chocolate chip green, or M&M green?" "What does Ringleader's laugh sound like?" "What makes her laugh?" Still much to unearth as we create complex characters and absorbing stories. The summer, it feels young.

Wait! There’s more. Last night we rounded a few corners to return to the Grinnell Railway Express, a railroad model club that has created a tiny scale model of Grinnell. A vibrant test animation with the small trains and cars and Jewel Box Bank set our imaginations in motion. What will unfold in this little world?

Being Productive and Having Fun at the Same Time!!

2011-06-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

The summer session at the Circus is revving up. A few new members have popped in over the past couple of days, and we've started working on a show to tie all of the Tiny Circus' work together. This has involved brainstorming new ideas, getting familiar with different materials, and birthing new characters. We also went to check out the Grinnell Railway Express to see if they would be kind enough to lend their space for part of our show. They agreed to help us, so we will be able to bring the wonderful town of Grinnell into the personality of our show!

We've made sure to balance work with play over the past couple days as well, which involved a lot of playing with baby ducks. Some of us also worked on putting together a Tiny Puzzle!

Tomorrow is our Community Movie Night, which will be very much enjoyed after a long day of working on the Circus house. Come on over if you want to watch a movie and enjoy some good food and good people!!

Summer session day three

2011-06-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

After a few days of brainstorming and learning, the Circus took a break and went for a swim at the community pool. Honing our synchronized swimming, underwater telephone, and Marco Polo skills, we head back to the house to prepare for our show tonight at Grinnell College on Mac Field. No new pictures, just good memories.

The beginning of the fourth summer

2011-06-02T06:42:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and the Circus is in session! The first day we kicked off with a new "intro to the show" animation, and where do we go from here?

What kind of dance parties await?

Bettendorf Family Museum

2011-05-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

This week Tiny Circus is at the Bettendorf Family Museum trying to trap a turtle. One would think it would be easy, but it involves braiding paper towel into a beautiful rope...

disguising kids as eggs to land perfectly in a GIANT basket...
This week Tiny Circus is at the Bettendorf Family Museum trying to trap a turtle. One would think it would be easy, but it involves:

Tucking tightly into a ball in the hopes of winning PLINKO...

feeding a number of rowdy and colorful chickens...

and leaning way back!

Yard is in

2011-05-08T16:40:00.000-07:00

If you weren't looking forward to Summer Circus yet, maybe the new yard will get you going. After the lawn was leveled and graded away from the house, the trash and rocks had to be taken away. Then, the fresh sod was laid. Now, it's the best lawn in the world!

There's even a new parking lot for Circus vehicles to land.

While cleaning out the lawn, we found treasure. Old marbles, a bracelet, a 50 cent piece from 1917, a human tooth, and plenty of other little lost items were reclaimed in the proses. Its amazing what a old yard can hold.

The garden is coming along nicely as well. Every day the plants get bigger and bigger, and soon enough, they will make their way onto our plates.

The addition of a 5th bed will bring us cherry tomatoes, broccoli, and more greens.

Garden and Circus Preparations

2011-05-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

We planted the last garden bed with more lettuce, kale, and cucumbers. Its delicate work planting seeds a quarter of an inch beneath the surface!

The onions are getting taller every day, and spinach, peas, radishes and lettuce are popping up.

Free lettuce. Already inches tall, these bad boys tower over the other plants.

The other big project... cleaning out the old Circus studio. We reclaimed a refrigerator and a dishwasher among many other great finds. Unfortunately, the last to leave summer circus 2.0 might have forgotten to clean out that fridge. In related news, Circus now has for sale some special aged milk and 2-yr old fancy prosciutto.

The reflection of the Circus House in the little airstream makes it look like a cartoon. Beautiful Iowa summer days, right around the corner.

Yard Work

2011-04-30T08:28:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, it will be fixed.

Putting in a new yard by hand could be a painful experience. But knowing a guy who can handle a backhoe with artful delicacy who has the foresight to see the true potential of the Circus House back yard can be helpful.

Within a few minutes the back yard was a real mess - but not long into his work you could see he had a plan.

This is the view out the studio window. Imagine a yard that drains water away from the house full of green grass. Also imagine badminton and cookouts.

The garden has also been planted. You can't see it in the picture, but the plants in the first bed are peeking through the dirt. The lettuce in the third bed were donated to the circus from a local community supported agriculture.

Grinnell College Animation Festival - Octopus Trap

2011-04-20T08:11:00.001-07:00

Tiny Circus returned to base for the final week of our spring tour - the first Grinnell College Animated Film Festival. We set out to make an animation that involved multiple Grinnell groups.

We began with a group of college students and Circus members, experimenting with animation and brainstorming a storyboard for "Octopus Trap", the third in our trap series. A few hours on Monday night led to an almost-finished story. The next day we met with kids who participate in the Neverland Players at Grinnell College - a collaborative effort that pairs kids with college students - the kids write plays, and the college students perform them. The Neverlanders had no problem finishing up the storyboard, adding key elements like a flock of octopus-carrying birds, telephone wires, and a dump truck.

We began animation at the Galaxy Youth Center in downtown Grinnell, an after-school program for kids. These folks did some top-notch animation, giving a whale just the right whale-feel...

Grinnell High School was next, two art classes collaborated with the Circus to animate the octopus bouncing on the clouds - a perfect fit for a large and capable group, each cloud had to move for every frame, and the octopus had to bounce and tumble.

Next, on Friday, the circus loaded into the van to travel to the local middle school to work with Kid's Art, an after-school program facilitated by Grinnell College students. The kids, College Students, and Circus members animated fishes that had been created during the Galaxy animating period a few days earlier. We began with a little free-play to determine what fish motion worked best, then all stepped up to animate a couple scenes from the trap wherein the octopus flies through a school of fish at high speed.

The last day of animating was outside, at Grinnell College. We set up next to the central building on campus and engaged folks as they walked by our table.

What a great project! Thanks to all our participants - it feels like something of a new direction, working with lots of different groups to create a shared animation - we'll be doing more soon.

Now it's time for a bit of a break before the summer session begins - we'll be finishing up details on animations, working on the circus house, locating beds for the fifteen folks that will arrive on June 1.

Tampa, Florida.

2011-04-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

Tiny Circus swam in the ocean as we reached Tampa, Florida - the southernmost point of our spring tour.

We set up at a convention center to work at the yearly conference for The National Council on the Education of the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). Before arriving, we planned a storyboard for the History of Migration. Conference attendees stopped by our table to help draw, erase, and redraw (thousands of times).

Clay, as an animating medium, is pretty great - it displays a bit of "history" with each new photograph. The finished animation shows the fingerprints of our hundred or so participants...

Our technique: redraw the leaf, then erase the original, photograph, repeat.

Many hands...

Two of our animators - helped to perfect butterfly motion, leaf twisting, and tree shaping.

The History of Music

2011-04-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

The History of Music began with the construction of a house made of colored paper. This paper house acted as our stage to tell a story. Participants created props for each room - a bathroom, bedroom, attic...

Animating a hamster ball smacking back and forth in a bedroom.

An entire house full of things to move...

Letters to thank our sponsors and facilitators.

Friday evening we projected the new project inside of the Discovery Center. Everyone turned out for the debut!

With a new animations, loaded van, and packed airstream it was time for Tiny Circus to hit the road and keep traveling South.

Thanks for the great week you guys, hope to see you soon! Special thanks to Chantal, Erin, Shawn and Elliot...

Discovery Center Workshop in Tennessee

2011-03-21T15:05:00.000-07:00

Arriving in the South on March 20th was like driving into summer. Somewhere in southern Illinois we went under a bridge and passed over to a whole new world of green grass and flowering trees.

Enjoying the feel of windows rolled down, we made our way through the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, to find Murfreesboro. We will spend the next week working with a group of 4th through 6th graders along with some Middle Tennessee State University students to create the History of Music.

We are all excited to see what the week will hold, and look forward to the upcoming workdays. Music!

New Orleans

2011-03-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

Tiny Circus finally landed in New Orleans - we're setting up in the 9th ward to make a promotional animation for Common Ground Relief.

The levee between the industrial canal and the Ninth Ward is just down the street. This broke during hurricane Katrina, flooding the entire area.

Above is the airstream parked in front of a model home - it is used by Common Ground for volunteer housing and education. Common Ground builds similar homes in the area to replace those lost by homeowners during Katrina.

The blue house to the left is one of the few houses that was still standing after the hurricane - also the main headquarters for Common Ground.

Because of the dramatic incline of the driveway, the airstream had be jacked up in the front to make the floor level inside. Good thing there are handy building materials spread around the site. Coming soon, more New Orleans...

The Great Drive South

2011-03-01T09:16:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 27th -- Tiny Circus heads down South to begin Spring tour. Tour destinations -- New Orleans, LA -- Atlanta, GA -- Murfreesburo, TN -- Tampa, FL -- then back to Grinnell, IA for a animation festival in mid-April.

After packing the van and hooking up the airstream (complete with all necessary equipment for a month long adventure) we were ready to leave snowy Iowa. The Circus is excited to visit old friends on our route and do work down in New Orleans at Common Ground Relief.

Van, packed.

We made our first above-freezing stop in Troy, Missouri to change the headlight in the van, fill the airstream with water, and enjoy a quick road-side snack break.

Landing for the night in Perryville, Missouri, we found our temporary home in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Shortly after bed, we were awakened by a tornado warning that yielded heavy rain for a short time. The heavy winds came in handy during our next day's ride, enabling us reach 21 MPG on our route to Hammond, Louisiana. In Hammond, home to SELU (and the history of adaptation) we visited some circus-member friends and then moved on to our destination of New Orleans.

Gearing up for our Sping Tour

2011-02-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

We're getting anxious for the spring tour, and at the Circus house this means cleaning and re-stocking our traveling animation kit. Re-labeling the boxes and a Wal-Mart run to pick up the bare essentials - double sided sticky tape, duct tape, and other sticky supplies - to get our kit back to full speed.

New box labels. Oooooh they look good!

Our daily bread. This helps with breakfast and lunch. Add a little peanut butter and that's all this Circus really needs.

Storyboard, Animate, Edit--One Hour--READY, SET, GO!

2011-02-21T16:53:00.000-08:00

Its time to take a break from working on the new studio and we decided to set up a little competition with ourselves: Let's make an animation in only one hour.

We selected the newly made sheep and a few army figures as our protagonists.

Storyboard drawn on wall for easy viewing purposes.

Carlos, Maggie and Kyle animate in the new studio.

Making the TINY Tiny Circus

2011-02-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

We are beginning work on the Tiny Tiny Circus, a new component to the circus show. The Tiny Tiny Circus will be a complete (and tiny, of course) version of a circus. Core circus members and workshop participants will create stop-motion animations with these new props as well as animate them in real-time at our shows. The Tiny Tiny Circus might also function as a "Do It Yourself Animation Station" at large events - we'll figure all of this out during the summer session.

The beginning stages of the roller coaster are being laid out above

Sheep all made, baked, and ready to be animated

The Circus House gets a studio

2011-02-07T09:37:00.001-08:00

We returned home to Tiny Circus House and began work on our new studio in January. Zero degree Iowa winter weather does not stop Circus members from knocking down walls of the house. Upon completion, the upper level of the studio will be used as a work space, complete with an digital projector, tons of editing space, and built-in storage cabinets for materials. The lower level has plywood walls and ceiling so animators can hang heavy lights and objects. The lower level also has a separate entry door, 11' ceilings, and wiring for a disco ball, spotlights, and speakers. It will be the ultimate animation/dance party space, perfect for the Tiny Circus!

Day one: a wall was torn out between a bedroom and the garage and the old lath and plaster were removed to create a large space.

This is the view looking east where the garage use to be. The floor was rotten and weak, so it was torn out and replaced with sturdy new floor joists.

The ceiling was sagging a bit in one spot, so we jacked it up and sistered on new stronger joists next to the old saggy ones.

An average workday: Emily models her Hello Kitty suit while Carlos relaxes in fashionable orange.

Tiny Circus heads out to Portland, OR

2011-02-07T09:36:00.000-08:00

At the end of October, Tiny Circus packed up and made way out to Portland, Oregon were we had a month long residency with our friends at the Good Gallery. Core Circus member John (also a member at the Good Gallery) invited us out to spend November in the Pacific Northwest. There we constructed an elaborate Do-It-Yourself Animation Station for our open gallery hours in order to help explain what the Circus is all about.

Our opening was great! Throngs of great Portlanders showed up that rainy night. They played with the Do-It-Yourself station, watched animations, and hung out with the Circus.

Carlos rigging up the conveyor system on the Do It Yourself station.

While in Portland, we started the planning of the TINY Tiny Circus. This new element of the show will be designed to engage audience members directly. It will look something like an elaborate live-action animation set, a 1/20th scale circus, and be set up at each of our showings to the side of the projection screen. Circus members will animate the lion, ferris wheel, roller coaster, and the rest of the circus in real time, and the projection screen will switch back and forth from our animated shorts to the live scenes from the TINY Tiny Circus.

Above is a rough sketch of what the end product might look like.

Soon to be an annual event, Tiny Circus Taco War began in St. Johns, a Portland neighborhood. It was a great battle of smack-talking and smacking lips. Here, the boys work hard in deep concentration to eat 59 tacos (collaboratively, of course). No one was particularly happy about this by the end.

In the case of food-eating competitions the winner seldom wins.

Carlos meant business in his high contrast hunting glasses and pashmina.

Thanks so much to John, Scott, Rude, and everyone else at the Good Gallery for hosting the Circus. Also, a huge thanks to Jake for hosting the Circus for Thanksgiving dinner.

See you next year Portland! We cant wait!

Citizen Jane Film Fest in Columbia, MO

2011-02-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

The Tiny Circus rolled into Colombia, Missouri in mid October with a full team, ready for animation action, all very excited about participating in the Citizen Jane Film Festival. It was our second trip to CJFF, so we knew to expect hard work, dancing, good people, and great fun.

In the beginning of the workshop, we spent a full three hours brainstorming. After a thoughtful conversation about the meaning of curiosity and how to portray and approach the idea, a story was created. Soon, a storyboard was in hand and 15 excited animators set off to building sets, recording sounds, and shooting the History of Curiosity.

Just because it's a hallway, doesn't mean it can't be used as a studio space! CJFF participants construct a window and a balloon box for the animation in just a few hours.

A session of maze building happened in the space provided to us. Great fun! Did we mention that the room had a built in sound system? Perfect for mid-day dance party breaks.

How do you make people fly across the sky while holding a balloon? Many long and focused hours were spent by dedicated new Circus members to help with the completion of the film.

Power nap.

Citizen Jane Film Festival celebrates women in film.

CJFF set up a great series of concerts and parties to keep the action rolling. Above is a rockabilly band performing at a bar just down the road from our workspace. Lots of great dancing happened throughout the whole weekend.

Tiny Circus Loves Citizen Jane Film Festival! --- We can't wait for next time -- we'll return for a week long workshop for CJFF 2011, catch us there September 25 - October 2.

The History of Adaptation in Hamond, LA

2011-02-07T09:32:00.000-08:00

The first week of October, Tiny Circus packed up and headed down south to Hammond, Louisiana to collaborate with students at Southeastern Louisiana University. Working with this college-aged group allowed us to explore a new range of topics and deal with a complex subject.

We had a wide ranging and interesting discussion about potential topics before choosing Adaptation... and then another conversation led to our storyboard.

Storyboarding with our group.

After working long and hard days, we came home to Sara's awesome front porch. Bob Dylan was the music of choice.

Here, we work on the lava chase scene by constructing a conveyor belt of grass where the animals run.

Tiny Circus says thanks so much for the hard work and dedication during the late night animating sessions Southeastern Louisiana!!! The Circus will see you soon!

Promotional video for Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN

2011-02-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

In late September, Tiny Circus visited our friends in Gatlinburg, Tennessee to make a short promotional video for Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. The work in progress starts with a trip into the city of Gatlinburg, all the way to the front door of the facility, followed by a tour of a few studios within. Tiny Circus observed and photographed a few of the classes taking place - woodturning, ceramics, and papermaking among others.

Below, Carlos and Greta discuss how to move the entire town of Gatlinburg past our camera in the middle of the table. No easy feat, but nothing is too hard for the Circus.

Jess and Greta work on constructing a tiny Gatlinburg.

Workdays were interrupted by swimming adventures at the world's best swimming hole... and in the evenings, many Tiny Circus airstream dance parties occurred. Arrowmont is a truly lovely institution with a long history. Check out their workshops and classes!

Elephant Trapped in Mt Vernon, IA

2011-02-07T09:30:00.000-08:00

In September, The Tiny Circus took over Washington Elementary School in the gorgeous town of Mt Vernon, Iowa for a spectacular week of animation. With the help of 527 elementary students, a class of high school students and teachers, the Circus was able successfully to trap a elephant.

Below, students work collaboratively to animate wind blowing from a windmill.

All the participants worked together to create music and sound effects, construct props, and animate the elephant to create the 3 minute animation. Part of the animation utilized participants bodies. Our hosts rounded up a 40' tall scissor lift and we positioned a camera high above a playing field. Then, many kids worked under the hot sun in 40 minute periods, to act out scenes for the animation while being photographed from above.

527 kids - we needed each one to make this beautiful and complex animation. This was true collaboration - the involvement of all these participants created something much larger than the sum of its parts. ...And we trapped the heck out of that elephant!

During the week we enjoyed the warm Iowa fall days. A reporter from The Cedar Rapids Gazette came and interviewed a few students, catching some great responses. On Friday evening, Elephant Trap was premiered and we enjoyed the biggest Tiny Circus show to date!

Fine Arts Work Center - The History of Food

2011-02-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

In mid-August, Tiny Circus traveled to Provincetown, Massachusetts for a workshop/class at the Fine Arts Work Center - with adults! Yay! We met for half days in a great studio in an old lumber yard. After some initial discussion about whether to focus on individual or group projects, we elected to create a history together - The History of Food. Find it on youtube.

The final scene of our film - eating is about to happen.

Careful animating and photographing. Later, the beach.

A toilet-paper roll with peanut eyes and clothespin feet is a main character in the film

Designing the glove-person-food thingy.

Gemma designs and articulates how this thing should walk. A great week!

Fair, fair, Fairfield

2010-07-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

The weekend of July 2, 3, and 4 saw the Circus rolling into Fairfield, IA, to lead another workshop, this one with adults. (Fun!) We were hosted by the Icon Gallery, and enjoyed the generous hospitality of director Bill Teeple. Above is the venue, with some curious onlookers.

Across the street from the gallery in the Town Square, the Circus set up camp to spread the word, including airstream and Do-It-Yourself station.

Inside the gallery, the group brainstormed the History of Blue. It was a refreshing and fun experience working with a group of adults, all of whom brought creativity and energy to the table. After the brainstorm, participants split into a prop-making and a sound-making group, who didn't see each other until after the making stage. Prop-makers worked on a handmade paper set, while the sound-makers and were excited to have the help of a mandolin player, who was accompanied by found-object instruments.

After the making stage, everyone was impressed by the harmony of the sounds and objects that came separately out of the same brainstorm. Above, a group of Fairfieldians works on shooting the History of Blue, which debuted Saturday night in a show in Fairfield's Town Square.

The Tiny Circus would like to thank all those who participated in the Fairfield workshop, and who generously contributed to its wellbeing there. We had a great time and would love to come visit again! And, please join us for the next dance party...

In the rain, on the 4th of July. Pure joy.

Des Moines, the great city

2010-07-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

In preparation for the Des Moines Art Festival, the Circus decided to do an interactive animation that would get festival-goers physically involved. We decided to use them as props in a large-scale animation, with a camera located 40 feet above. Event organizers provided a skyjack, where the camera was located, and we got volunteers from the crowd to act out a pinball-themed animation in the grass below.

Above, Circus members test out the camera by animating themselves in the grass outside the house using a camera in the attic.

The field where the animating happened in Des Moines. Volunteers were placed on the grass, while the camera shot from above, in this thing...

Groups of volunteers enjoyed acting out a giant pinball game on the grass below. We had kids, adults, even a troop of high-school mimes...
In addition to shooting the human pinball in the grass, the Circus had our airstream shooting studio on the street for people to come check out, the Do-It-Yourself station, and an informational table in a tent to get out the word about Tiny Circus.
Here is a view of the festival from the air, one of the perks of having a skyjack:

And, finally, an aerial view of our jam-packed show Saturday night. Festival goers gladly rested for a bit while watching our animations, along with a few sneak peeks of the footage we shot that day.

Subterranean animations, Circus in the library

2010-07-09T07:45:00.000-07:00

From June 14-18th, the Tiny Circus led an animation workshop in Grinnell's very own Stewart Library with a group of children in the 10-15 age range. The product: the History of Windows, which was then shown in Central Park in Grinnell on June 24th. The animation will be available shortly on YouTube, for your viewing pleasure.

In keeping with our location in the basement of the library, the history had a subterranean location as well. According to our workshop participants, windows were invented by underground-dwelling rodents. Who knew?

Maggie and some of our young participants get hands-on and play with the props. Thanks again to those who participated and came to our Grinnell show!

UAY 2010: Circus fun in Iowa City

2010-07-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

The Circus returned to Iowa City this summer for a workshop with the United Action for Youth, on June 10th and 11th. We were very excited to be working with some of our favorite youth on another animation, the History of Cereal. Above, Jason runs the Do-It-Yourself station to allow newcomers to make their own animation, while Grace gets ready to kick up some next-level beats for the soundtrack with that guitar.
Here the participants are hard at work making props, including an intricate backdrop and paper puppets with moving parts.
On the night of the 11th, the Circus debuted the History of Cereal in a successful show on the Pedestrian Mall in Iowa City. Thanks to all who participated in the workshop, and to those who came out and supported!

And also,
Greta and John graciously hosted the Circus, cooking delicious jambalaya and giving us a place to lay our weary heads. Here is part of the circus having the moment with the four CIRCUS DUCKS that came along to the workshop. These four precious little ones hatched the morning of the 10th and came on the road with us. They have henceforth been convinced of their humanity, given the amount of the attention they received from Circus members and workshop participants.

Circus in a house!

2010-07-07T19:51:00.000-07:00

Summer 2010 has been an exciting time for the Circus. We've had workshops in Marion, Grinnell, Iowa City, Des Moines, and Fairfield (more posts on each workshop later). Also, The Tiny Circus is now located in a HOUSE! Come visit us in Grinnell, IA any time. This year we have had plenty of rotating members to occupy it and keep the creative juices flowing. Pictured here, Rudy and Susanna animate the History of Umbrellas in our brand-new basement studio.

Here, Mikey, our college intern, works on props for the History of Boxes (a new and pending animation). In the foreground, the sculpy-clay protagonist imitates him.

Here's a picture of Circus members at work in the new location. Jason, Mikey, and John are hard at work on props for the History of Boxes in the living room.

Tiny Circus at the Des Moines Art Festival

2010-06-20T18:44:00.001-07:00

We are gearing up for the Des Moines Art Festival! We are very excited to be a part of one of the largest art festivals in the country. Along with Showing "The Other Histories of the World" Friday June 25th and Saturday June 26th at dusk, we will be shooting interactive animations all weekend! Swing by and help us out! What animation will we be shooting? Here are your clues:

Show in the Park

2010-06-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

Join Tiny Circus for a Show on our home turf! Tiny Circus debuts "THE HISTORY OF WINDOWS" along with The Other Histories of the World!

****JUNE 24TH AT 9:00pm at Central Park in Grinnell, Iowa****

THE HISTORY OF WINDOWS was made in collaboration with some amazing artists and animators during our workshop at The Grinnell Area Arts Council. Enjoy the show, bring some popcorn!

EXTRA! EXTRA! WORKSHOP NEXT WEEK!

2010-06-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Baltimore School For The Arts and Switches

2010-04-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

The second of the Baltimore School for the Arts animations: Switches.

The universe: one flashlight to illuminate the sun, one hand to flip the switch, a couple more to slide it all into view.

And a few more to make things and shoot the images. Check it out on our youtube page.

Baltimore School for the Arts and Chocolate Milk

2010-03-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

Tiny Circus rolled over to the Baltimore School for the Arts to create three new animations. First up: Chocolate Milk! Here, after each animator has written a suggestion for a topic on a scrap of paper, Bea draws our subject from a bucket.

Lots of great ideas came out of the brainstorm - cows and mud figured prominently, but were eventually dismissed in favor of a nautical theme. Waves were made of paper, boats were made of chocolate...

The waves were marked carefully so that the animators could accurately simulate a milk sea!

Here is some careful motion with paper waves mounted on balsa with magnets, stuck to a piece of sheet metal.

Several people were needed to keep the sea and boats moving, two more to shoot and count off numbers for the wave animators.

Meanwhile, sound effects!

Citizen Jane Film Festival!

2009-10-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

Tiny Circus has been working hard this week at the Citizen Jane Film Festival in Columbia Missouri. We are in the final stages of finishing up "The History of WAR", a new animation made here in Columbia with an amazing group of local kids, and adults. The animation will be ready for our performance at the Orr Street Studios at 10pm tonight! Many thanks to all the volunteers and coordinators of Citizen Jane for making Tiny Circus's stay here in Columbia so fantastic!

Carlos explaining Tiny Circus, and the importance of storytelling

Greta heading off the Brainstorm.

Sarah with a group of flower makers

Bee making

Butterfly making

Sylvia helped with the butterflies

Max and friends experimenting with the Do it Yourself animation station

Tiny sound making session

Mark one of the Citizen Jane volunteers was wiped out, after a long day which included hand delivering us amazing coffee

John and Quana observing progress

John

Greta and Sarah being interviewed at KOPN radio station in Columbia.

From left Sarah, Greta, Polina, and Jo speaking on the Animation panel at Stephens College

Early Snow in Michigan

2009-10-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

It's not often that you see a crew of art students dressed in white - but this was by design... Tiny Circus arrived at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to collaborate with over a 100 students.

The theme of the animation was snowflakes - so we made a black backdrop and used white-clad bodies as our flakes. Here Jess and some students choreograph one of the larger snowflakes.

We attached the camera to the ceiling and shot down from a balcony, giving us about 25 feet of height from floor to camera.

Our outdoor show was rained out, but we had a great back-up auditorium for the show! Thanks to all!

Extreme Circusing

2009-10-08T08:54:00.000-07:00

TC rolled to Marion, Iowa on a rainy and windy night to set up for a gallery walk in front of Campbell-Steele gallery. It wasn't the best evening for a show but folks stood in the doorway to watch the show as cars vroomed by and the wind gusted.

Making History

2009-09-16T12:45:00.001-07:00

Tiny Circus is very excited to report that we have been named finalists in the Aniboom/History Channel competition called "The People Speak". The History Channel and Tiny Circus seems like a good match to us!

Scroll down a couple posts to see some "making of" photographs of this animation.

Read about it here.

Artstop Des Moines

2009-09-12T10:43:00.001-07:00

As part of the Artstop Des Moines event, Tiny Circus cranked up the Do It Yourself Animation Station for a few hours, then put on a show.

Karolyn and Elizabeth pull the screen supports from under the airstream and begin assembly. It takes about 20 minutes to get the screen together (and only about 4 to take it apart...)

Here, Karolyn and Mother/Daughter team Kim and Emma work with the animation station to get ready for the afternoon.

Emma, our newest member.

Some animators at work.

It was a great night, lots of folks were walking around in Valley Junction in front of Olson Larsen Gallery and stopped by to check out our show. Thanks Olson Larsen, thanks Valley Junction!

Tiny Circus Gets Academic

2009-09-12T10:40:00.001-07:00

TC had an impromptu showing at Grinnell College with 6 of our summer members. It was a quiet and lovely evening on the hillside by the college library.

Results

2009-09-04T09:01:00.001-07:00

The finished competition animation! Click twice on the video to go to Aniboom to rate it (you will have to create an account, but it's a quick process...)

Paper People

2009-09-04T08:51:00.001-07:00

The current animation uses cut-paper photographs to show motion - this involves a lot of careful work with an xacto. The cut-outs are stuck with magnets to a wooden table. For each second, there are 15 frames (and so 15 paper people). There are 13 people at the table - this makes for 195 moves per second of film.
Fortunately, the magnets allow everything to snap into place accurately so that the main job is finding the right paper person for the spot.
Lee examines the order. It took about 25 minutes per second of film when we were up to speed.

Fall animating

2009-08-30T09:07:00.001-07:00

TC is working on a new project to illustrate a historical speech. We're trying out brainstorming with multiple people in multiple places. Lee, John, Susan, Jason, Carlos and Alex were at the farm.
First, we made some new tools - a camera-boom that allows our animating camera to pan across a scene. It's huge! 16 feet long! We might need to make a baby version for smaller scenes. Here, Alex works on the sliding part of the boom.
John puts the parts together - the sliding part fits into the channels on the sides. Here the camera is mounted on the boom above the work-surface. It can slide left to right.
Back to animating, and Susan designs some money. A conveyor belt for money-makers.
John arrives for his acting/animating debut. The shoot begins...

Minnesota: Circussed

2009-08-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was a lovely day in St. Paul, Minnesota. We finished editing The History of Pillows (perhaps our best animation yet!) and rolled over to the History Center for our show. Here, our peanut is in place on the lawn in front of the building.
The screen-frame and the St. Paul Cathedral.
Sun sets and the screen rises.
The crowd moved from a musical show up the hill to sit on the lawn and watch.

A perfect night! Many participants from the animation workshop (and thus our newest Tiny Circus members...) came to see their creation on the screen! You can see the animation on our youtube page: www.youtube.com/tinycircus

Minnesota History

2009-08-09T13:09:00.001-07:00

Tiny Circus is in St. Paul, Minnesota this weekend for a workshop and show at the Minnesota History Center. We are animating the History of Pillows.

Chris and Cecil make stars for a night sky.

An elephant factory at Aimee's desk...

Turtles!
Janaki crafts a lovely rooster.

Carlos, Janaki, and Cecil perform a careful operation to replace a night sky with a morning sky while leaving the chicken on top of both motionless.

Here, Chris acts out how a bear might fling aside a turtle. Cecil, Aimee, and Mollie watch.

Many hands...

Many levels of supervision!

The History of Pillows is shot. After a bit of editing, it will premier at the History Center on Tuesday August 11th at dusk! Thanks to all the new Tiny Circus members!

Garden Bounty

2009-08-01T08:03:00.001-07:00

The studio airstream has been suspended for the last month or so - we made it serviceable just before our Des Moines Arts Festival debut. Now it's time to move forward again. Here, the plywood floor is belt-sanded flat and a cherry wood floor is fit to the curves.

Now that the circus is tiny again, the garden is huge! Grinnell College TC'ers will help eat this when they get back in a few weeks. Zucchini anyone? The local coffee shop has a pile of them for free on a table by the register - this might mean they will be hard to give away...

Little Village hearts Tiny Circus

2009-07-31T22:27:00.000-07:00

Maggie Anderson from Little Village Magazine wrote a lovely article all about Tiny Circus!

Summer 2009 is Circused Out (sort of)

2009-07-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

The end of Tiny Circus Summer 2009 is fast approaching, we decided to have an impromptu show at the Dari Barn, an awesome Grinnell ice cream shop, as our last show of the season.

First, we rolled in the airstream..

...nestled betwixt tractors and combines...

Then, we set up the screen...collaboratively...

Then, we got ice cream and waited until dark to project our show on the screen.

And Pogo enjoyed the show and ice cream...

Then, we took down the screen (so skillfully nowadays, having the fastest time fitting within a Micheal Jackson song) and rolled out.

Tiny Circus is thankful for every participant, interest, collaboration, and donation. We have learned a lot and have had so much fun with all of you guys. Tiny Circus Summer 2009 has slowed down, but not really...so see you soon.

Hilltops and Carnivals at the Linn County Fair

2009-07-13T14:32:00.000-07:00

After a hot July Saturday, Tiny Circus found a lonely hill overlooking the vintage carnival at the Linn County Fair. Cast in a summertime glow enhanced by the long going tractor pull, our circus group gathered to set up for one of our final summer events.

With the evening sky streaked pink by lazy clouds, our small band set about to ready the hillside for the show.

And of course, after all that preparation, all that's left to do is to sit back and enjoy the show...

And what is a celebration without...

Thanks for having us Linn County.

Circusing Iowa City on a Friday Night...

2009-07-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

With Jazz music still hovering in the air, Tiny Circus set up camp in downtown Iowa City at the Ped. Mall. Despite a rainy morning, the evening found us warm and dry with a brilliant audience and a clear sky. All ages came to sit outside in the July evening and share the Tiny Circus experience with friends and strangers alike.

Daylight was still shinning when our crew first rolled in. Equipped with a new animation, just finished earlier in the day at U.A.Y., Tiny Circus was prepared for the evening performance. Was Iowa City ready for the circus?

Our portable Animation Station invited passerbys to try out stop motion animation on their own.

Before the sun sets Susan and Elizabeth pass out our handy and very attractive Tiny Circus bookmarks. Remember to check up on our plans by visiting the website and by referencing your orange, green, or blue bookmark.

The time is 8:00 p.m. and the projection screen needs to come up. It's near the end of our summer time tour, and as these last events fade away, we can all enjoy our new screen set up / take down abilities. Anyone have a timer?

And our show begins!

Along with with The History of Soap, The History of Pockets also had it's Tiny Circus premier. Such a sneaky pencil with such clever ideas...

Despite an unexpected conga line, it was a night of magic and imagination underneath the stars. We hope you enjoyed the show, and we look forward to returning to Iowa City in the future.

Presenting the crowd during the first ever showing of The History of Soap.

Tiny Circus Joins U.A.Y. in Iowa City

2009-07-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

What does a circus produce after spending a couple of days in Iowa City? If you've guessed a workshop with United Action for Youth, The History of Soap, and a marvelous outdoor show, then you would be on the right track.

During the 9th and 10th of July, Tiny Circus joined forces with United Action for Youth. Our very talented workshop participants collaborated in brainstorming, creating, and shooting a brand new animation.

The first day began with an introduction to our entire process. Jason shares the History of Popcorn with Max and Grace. Was this perhaps a source for some musical inspiration?

U.A.Y. participants could also experiment with stop motion in other venues. At our portable Animation Station, Alex shows how nearly everything has the potential to be made into an animated short.

After brainstorming and storyboarding, Carlos lays out the proper scale for this new world. Within those blocks rests the yet to be created Gertrude, super sniffer dog, and a few pink flowers.
Time to break out the card stock. Wherever the circus travels, we bring along a smorgasbord of supplies.

Just as before, it's with attention to detail and patience that every element of the animation is made.

From snail slime to flower smells, The History of Soap came into being with the help of many hands.

Thank you to everyone that helped out in creating this new animation!

Happy Birthday Marengo!

2009-07-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

150 Years is a pretty long time. In order to celebrate, Tiny Circus will post 150 pictures from the festival! Or perhaps, we will limit this post to 150 words and let the images speak for themselves.

July 3rd was a stunning day for a sesquicentennial celebration. Poised from our hilltop location, the Circus enjoyed a perfect view of a veritable inflatable wonderland.

Both the studio and the projection airstream made it to the celebration.

The silvery trailers acted as bookends for our Animation Station and Making Tables, inviting in festival go'ers to tell their own stories and to

Where better to begin?

After 'Stuff' was made, many Marengo'ians took their creations over to the

A few participants created their own story involving an apple tree, some worms, and a tornado. Look it up on Youtube!

Tiny Circus wanted to wish Marengo a very special Happy Birthday by offering a birthday cake, or in this case, watermelon.

150 Candles are not easily made. Nothing says collaboration like an assembly line!

Thanks Marengo, we had a great time celebrating with you.

Tiny Circus Plays Music in the Park!

2009-07-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

On July 2nd, Tiny Circus rolled into Central Park on Broad Street.

As the sun set, the animations glowed.

The crowd was ready for a new type of entertainment after their evening salsa dancing. As the moon rose over the train tracks, Grinnellians resting on lawn chairs and blankets were able to enjoy our show complete with four new histories created by the Animation Camp goers.

Terrance helps out at the donation box. With bow tie on, he can be quite the charmer.

Pogo knows what's up.
She watches intently as Circus members finalize setting up the event.

Three fans go in to investigate.
Perhaps soon they'll be watching their own animations on the big screen.

The crowd starts to grow.
Many of whom are sporting rather snazzy Tiny Circus t-shirts.

The History of Staring Contests kicks off the show.
Who will blink first and lose their castle built of cards?

Over all it was a beautiful night of warm weather, friendly faces, and fanciful tales.

If you missed Music in the Park, mark your calendar for the next Tiny Circus Event!

July 10th we will be projecting at the Ped. Mall in Iowa City at dusk.
July 11th will find us at the Linn County Fair.

Come join us as we wrap up our summer tour.

Storyboards, Sessions, and Shooting!

2009-07-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

Our first three day Animation Camp has come to an end. Thank you to all of our campers for their hard work and wonderful creativity! After Day 1, we progressed through the next two sessions incorporating more prop making, adding sounds, and shooting in the airstream studio.

From storyboards to filming, having clear details make all the difference. The History of Blinking transforms quickly from sketched characters to...

a quite intricate set.
Down to the window panes, we see the patience and time which goes into every story.

Before jumping into the airstream, Jason demonstrates a few principles of stop motion animation. Everyone had a chance to create and move their own object before putting their knowledge to use with the histories.

Cranes easily come to life under the camera lens.

With polished animation skills, the group moves into the airstream to shoot The History of Blinking. Remember to be ever mindful of the camera...

Jonah inches the sore eyed costumers into Sav-Ur-I's as Lucas moves them out.

After three days of intense animating, the afternoon session takes a moment to watch all of their hard work. Jason also gives a crash course in editing.

Patience and detail are key throughout the animation process, but always work best when combined with collaboration and unity.

Good job campers.

Circus Life and New Animations!!!!

2009-07-07T14:04:00.000-07:00

Great day to all of you... The last couple weeks has been a wild ride for the circus, Art Festival, Kids Animation Camp and celebration of 150 years of Marengo. While we could share stories all day long from these events it would not be near as exciting as having you check out the new great animations created during our Grinnell Kids Animation camp. The picture below is from the show on July 2 in Grinnell, great night, great energy, great animations.

We all learned a lot during the camp and hope to take that energy and youthful creativity as we move forward. Below is the link to our youtube site, check out the following animations and check back in the days to come as we update with a number of movies we have created over the last months.

www.youtube.com/tinycircus

The New Animations are...
The History of Hiccups
The History of Clocks
The History of Blinking
The History of Ballons

Tiny Circus in Print!

2009-07-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

Tiny Circus showed up in the Des Moines Register this Past Sunday with a great article from the Des Moines Arts Festival written by Michael Morain. Our own Amy Santoferraro is quoted in regards to our engagement with all age groups, "The tough part is the adults. 'It's OK,' we tell them, 'You can play too.' "

Click on the above image to enlarge.

Welcome to Animation Camp!

2009-07-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

On June 29th 2009 at Stewart Library, Tiny Circus held it's very first Animation Camp. On Day 1 we learned what animations were, broke into groups, and brainstormed the Histories of Clocks, Hiccups, Blinking, and Balloons.

It was a very busy day, spanning from tearing out your own animal name tag to constructing chomping, floating, and blinking props.

The first group of the day views an introductory screening of Kissing, Claps, and Locks in order to get a clear understanding of the art of stop motion animation.

With the help of Terrance (our star of Locks) and Flappy the bird, Carlos illustrates how movement impacts the speed of the animation. By taking big jumps little Terrance quickly passes slow moving Flappy.

The History of Hiccups gets it's start in the corner of Stewart Library. Beware of coconuts...

The afternoon session begins their storming....

Essential story boarding for The History of Blinking. Remember to stop at Sav Ur I's.

What could this possibly be?
Come by Music in the Park on Broad St. at 9:00 p.m. to find out.

A busy 'historian' hard at work. Animations aren't going to draw themselves.

What did you learn today?