Snow Animation

It is magical to see ideas coming alive. My thesis film is in full production mode these days. There are snow scenes in it, and I looked for ways of animating snow from scratch with no use of any preset effects.   I'm sure there are many ways of doing it, and people end up with most creative ideas of animating snow. I carried the idea of animating snow for a few days until, in a shower, it came to me! 

Each line represents a path of a snowflake. I chose the amount of 35 frames for a complete cycle of a snowflake, so that the last flake drawn right next to the first in the cycle. In that way I can use the snow for 5 seconds or 10 minutes, for whatever length I need it in a shot.  Lines are color coded for my own orientation, I animated paths of one color at a time. Indulge my geeky post this time! The process took half a day, but I think it payed off eventually. Here is one of the shots with the result.

Thesis Film.

Living through a delicate time of pre–production for my thesis film. Having only one year on my hands for making this film I am holding myself from being overwhelmed and give my senses enough space to breath before jumping into production. Countless notes around my desk, looking at works by masters, both painting and cinematography, reading Russian classics and Japanese haiku, I look for patterns from my perceptions from the past and present, aiming to make a film that will carry in itself a journey of one's life with inspirations, memories, and growth. Above is a culmination of my visual development for the film's looks. The film, titled "Died 100 Times", is planned to be completed in May 2012.  

Of Care.

One more episode from the Oah & Harlam Series I made these year. Scored by Thomas Parisch in association with PearUp Media.

Demo Reel.

Demo Reel from Ruah Edelstein on Vimeo.

'Do you have a demo reel? Send me your demo reel! Demo reel, demo reel, demo reel... !' - I heard a lot of that in the last few years. I also heard from an artist and a filmmaker I am looking up to since childhood, that chopping up films into a demo reel is an unbelievable act for him, and I felt how opposed he was to the idea of chopping films into a reel. Films, that are so carefully thought of in terms of story, color script, and the overall feel of it.  And so, after years of making films I made a demo reel. Thinking of it as a collage of different works put together in a two-minutes piece to show what I do.  

Of Stars & People

At last online! This is a new episode of Oah & Harlam series I was working on this year. At fist glance the stories about two weirdoes Oah and Harlam may appear as senseless. But when there is an overflow of senselessness, then appears deep philosophy. 


These stories are not just shorts that I wrote, they are a worldview, answers to some questions of reality, grotesque simplicity of which seems to be surreal. In this series bits of life situations, thoughts, and actions are applied to animation, music, and a spoken word. I think there is a need to write fairytales for grownups, to write almost impossible stories in order to talk about important things in life.


The original music scored by Yoon Lee, involves a rare use of instruments such as kalimba and kayagum. 

Summary

Titled after an eponymous work by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, this film is a collaborative project. A musician, Yoon Lee, used audio signals from varying instruments and tone generators to vibrate a plastic membrane over a speaker. Acrylic powder on the membrane formed shapes, as long as the sound was passing through. The process was captured with a down-shooting camera in stop-motion manner. And I took care of charcoal drawn animation, live action, and montage for this film. As to the music, Pärt works in minimalist style that employs self-made compositional techniques. His compositions depict simple harmonies, reminiscent of ringing bells. Exceedingly stable, yet fragile. 

Dusted from 2008...

Of Care - Still

         One more still frame from "Of Care". I used oil paints for all the layers in the background, which was very fun to work with, while seeing how the paints interconnect after being layered digitally on screen. 
       
The episode is scored by Thomas Parisch and Laurent Ziliani of PearUp Media. This short and "Of Stars & People", scored by Yoon Lee, will be screened along with other MFA-1 films at CalArts Bijou Theater on May 19th, 4pm. 

Of Stars & People

These are still frames from "Of Stars & People", one of the two new episodes from Oah & Harlam series. This episode along with "Of Care" is screened today at CalArts Open Show, 2 - 6 pm and after a break 10 - 11:30 pm. 

Animation is complete!

Two new episodes of Oah & Harlam series are complete. This is a still frame from "Of Care", one of the two shorts this year. We are working on final mix, and I am looking forward to show the films soon! 

School Girl

This is a traditional animation exercise from a CalArts' advanced Character Animation class taught by Ted Ty. The character was given, and all I had to do - animate! This is from last Fall's semester, while these days new shorts of Oah & Harlam Episodes are on the way! 

Home Alone

This is a short animation I did last Fall for Drawn Techniques class with Maureen Selwood. The task was to show a fall of a chair. 

Animation.

Full-time film work! Oah & Harlam Episodes, my friends. 

At first glance the stories about two weirdoes Oah and Harlam may appear as senseless. But when there is an overflow of senselessness, then appears deep philosophy.

These stories are not just shorts that I wrote, they are a worldview, answers to some questions of reality, grotesque simplicity of which seems to be surreal. In this project bits of life situations, thoughts, and actions are applied to animation, music, and a spoken word. There is a need to write fairytales for grownups, to write almost impossible stories, because when we seriously begin to talk about important and intimate things in live, most of us cannot take it. 


The image above is an animation pencil test from "Of Care", the new episode I am working on right now. And so, Harlam is walking. 

Of Shepherds.

This is a first short from the "Oah & Harlam Episodes". The project is based on a poetic prose by Ruah. Two characters - Oah and Harlam find themselves in situations of unspoken search, that is visually interpreted through animation. Music scored and performed by Yoon Lee. Sound design and final mix by Diego Perez. Animation, concept art, story, and directing by Ruah.

Of Shepherds (2010) from Ruah Edelstein on Vimeo.

ForGiveness.

This is a second episode from the Oah & Harlam series, a poetic prose by Ruah. Music for this episode is also scored and performed by Yoon Lee. Sound design and final mix by Diego Perez. Animation, concept art, story, and directing by Ruah.


ForGiveness (2010) from Ruah Edelstein on Vimeo.

Of Giants.

The third episode from the Oah & Harlam series is scored by Laurent Ziliani and Thomas Parisch in association with PearUp Media, a Hollywood based film scoring company. It is featuring vocals by Argenta Walther! Sound design and final mix by Diego Perez. Animation, concept art, story, and directing by Ruah.


Of Giants (2010) from Ruah Edelstein on Vimeo.