Tell us about your process/equipment/challenges on this shoot.
- Speed Dating was shot entirely frame by frame using Dragonframe software on a Mac laptop and two iMac desktops with multiple Canon 6D and 7D DSLR cameras. Some of the set ups took two to three hours to complete and we really pushed the iMacs at times – so much so that we even had to tape ice packs to them to keep them cool and functioning while we struggled to finish the shots. There was also a fairly large film crew – a team of animators, DP, AD, lighting, art department, make up, all the normal film crew positions. The whole shoot took about twelve days. In post, I used Final Cut Pro to do a rough cut and then switched over to After Effects for the final edit to complete additional animation and visual effects. The film took about 2 years from conception to final output.
What inspired this short?
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In terms of my style, it comes from a couple of places, but two in particular. I am heavily influenced by the incredible pixilated work of Jan Švankmeyer, especially his penchant for the absurd and the grotesque. And for the look that I like, I really like the work of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, especially ‘Delicatessen‘ and ‘Amelie‘.
In terms of the storyline, I was at a point where work was keeping me very busy (I had just finished my second year teaching at DePaul University in Chicago) and I hadn’t had time to make a film in a while. Looking for inspiration, I opened some wine, called up one of my best friends and began to reminisce on the time we both went speed dating. We moved on to the subject of dating in general and our memories of dates that went less than perfectly. Almost everyone has had an experience like that. I compiled some of our most off the wall stories and then began to put my spin on them. I have a tendency to lean toward the absurd, so my mind just let loose on all the crazy things that people encounter when looking for love.
Which Dragonframe features did you find most useful in a live actor stop motion shoot?
- We used so many great features of Dragonframe but some of our favorites were onion skinning and the ability to temporarily draw on each frame of the image we were shooting to help guide the movements. The ability to draw guidelines really helped us out for some intricate camera moves. We also loved that we could spit out rough quicktimes of the scene we had just shot before we broke the actors so we could see if it would work in the film. The ability to play back at different frame rates also came in very handy.
Thank you, Meghann.…We apologize on behalf of the single male world but you certainly have an already committed and lovingly devoted audience for your next film! -Dragonframe
blog by vera long
Meghann Artes holds an MFA from the Animation Workshop at UCLA. In addition to her academic work, she has over fifteen years of entertainment industry experience working for companies like Dreamworks, Nickelodeon, Bix Pix, Noggin, NBC, ABC and Sesame Street. She has won both an Emmy and a Peabody and her short films have enjoyed success in film festivals both across the country and internationally. Speed Dating (2014) was nominated for Best Animated Short at Raindance Film Festival in London. Meghann is currently in post-production on her latest film, Sleepy Steve (2015), a comically absurd short film that combines live action, animation and visual effects. The film is currently on the festival circuit receiving much praise and enthusiasm.
Here is “Stitch”, a fun experimental film she recently did at UCLA’s Animation Workshop in 2014:
Speed Dating credits:
Writer/ Director: Meghann Artes
Assistant Director: Katie Ray
Director of Photography: Scott Thiele
Music: Robert Steel
Sound Designer: Suzanne Goldish
Stop motion animators: Molly McCandless, Kathi Frank, Jody Rice