Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Circus Life and New Animations!!!!

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!



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.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Welcome to Animation Camp!

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?













Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Des Moines Art Festival

This weekend, Tiny Circus traveled to Des Moines, IA for the annual Des Moines Art Festival after weeks of preparation. We took off early Friday morning and spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday working with festival-goers. Part of the work we did included a do-it-yourself animation station, which allowed passerby to come in and learn about stop motion by creating their own out of assembled objects. At another station, people made props for an animation called "The History of Cities." Finally, inside our newly-completed mobile airstream studio, festival attendees helped us shoot the animation with freshly made props.

Our participation in the Art Festival also included a showing on Friday and Saturday nights. The Saturday night show even included some raw footage taken from the day's shooting!

At the animation station, Ally demonstrates the kinds of movements that make stop motion work.
A crowd gathers in the do-it-yourself area on Friday as "The History of Maps" plays out of the baby airstream. Participants had the opportunity to shoot a few frames and then watch the playback.

Inside the new airstream studio, a group of young volunteers helps with the shooting for "The History of Cities."
Inside the airstream, looking out at the festival...
Outside, festival-goers work on creative paper props, including animals, a parade, and more. Both children and adults collaborated to make beautiful and original work.

Saturday night's audience waits patiently for the show to begin, with another beautiful Iowan sunset in the background.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend in Des Moines. Tiny Circus was glad to get out, enjoy the festival, and make art with people.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

T-Shirts For Sale e-mail tinycircus@gmail.com for more information

T-shirts are now available
for more information contact tinycircus@gmail.com


Greta using her amazing screen printing skills.



Waiting to dry.



Hangin' out.

History of Hiding T-shirt design.
History of Repetition T-shirt design.

Tiny Circus logo t-shirt.

History of Ghosts t-shirt.

History of locks t-shirt.

All t-shirts also available in Light Blue!



Sunday, June 21, 2009

Shake Rattled and Rollin'


Mona's Polishing in high fashion



Elizabeth shows off a great insulation and wiring job on the interior of the trailer


More insulation and wiring


All the great brains here working on different parts of the project

'STREAMIN'

Tiny Circus had a show this past Saturday at the Art Farm Kids Art Camp in Grinnell. It was a success and enjoyed by all that attended. The show was in a beautiful wooden barn with the screen on the inside and the tiny projection airstream right outside the barn doors. What a beautiful evening! Followed by a dance party.




It has rained part of every day for a week. That just means shifting of tents, beds, etc. searching for a dry spot...




The Banner for the side of the Airstream known as 'Silver Unicorn', or our new Animation Studio Airstream:




Work on the airstream does not stop. Ever.




Work on the airstream does not stop. Ever.