www.gilestimms.com

Above is a cutout animation character called ‘Chaz’ for the opening tile sequence that I am animating for the independent film, ‘Cooler’. I am also animating several animated sequences within the film.

This model sheet shows my cutout character design process and includes my initial character design hand drawn on paper with pencil, pen and ink, the cutout body bits colored and textured in Photoshop and the final character rig assembled in After Effects. I’ve also included screen shots of the cutout character in Photoshop (with the live action character reference) and the rigged character in After Effects.

‘Cooler’ is directed by Silas Howard and Ernesto Foronda.
‘Cooler’ on IMDB

I created several of the animated sequences for ‘Lucky,’ a documentary that aired on HBO last month.
The documentary, by Jeffrey Blitz, aired on July 19th as part of HBO’s summer of documentaries. ‘Lucky’ focuses on “chronicling the many, and often sobering, effects winning a big jackpot can have on a person” (Television review: ‘Lucky’ on HBO by the Los Angeles Times).

The above character design is Miss Lotto. She was one of the characters that never made it into the final cut. Miss Lotto is a very simple cut-out character composited and animated in After Effects. Miss Lotto was drawn in Photoshop with a Wacom, lightly textured in Photoshop, cut out and then all her girly bits were imported into After Effects.

Lucky premiered at Sundance 2010.

The above is a still from one of the animated sequences I illustrated and animated for Jeffrey Blitz’s new documentary, Lucky. Lucky premiered at Sundance 2010. I was fortunate to work again as an animator and illustrator with Bill Barminski from Walter Robot on this production and it was also great working with Jeffrey Blitz. I found Jeffrey to be a very intelligent and challenging director. The sequences were animated in After Effects, with the illustrations drawn and colored/textured in photoshop.

The reviews of Lucky have been positive and it seems people also liked the animated sequences, as this review from Scott Weinberg testifies “with nifty animated interstitials full of interesting jackpot stats.” You can read Scott’s full review here:

http://www.cinematical.com/2010/01/27/sundance-review-lucky/

I’m excited to see the full film. Please leave a comment if you’ve seen the film and let me know what you thought, thanks.

Another cool shout-out for my animated music video, ‘Dead All Along’ and work in general. I was featured as “an emerging filmmaker to watch” as part of Film News Briefs November Filmmakers to Watch newsletter. The archive of the newsletter is here: Film News Briefs: November Filmmakers to Watch

Big thanks to Jessica Kantor :)

I was really excited and honored to be the Featured Graduate Student Accomplishment in the UCLA Graduate Quarterly. My work on my animated music video, ‘Dead All Along,’ was the featured accomplishment in the Fall 2009 Issue, Volume 19, Number 1. You can download a pdf copy of the issue here: UCLA Graduate Quarterly, fall 2009

Many, many thanks to Mary Watkins at UCLA :)

Manifestations is screening agian this coming weekend at the 18th Annual St. Louis International Film Festival. Here are the details for the second screening.

Where: Tivoli Theatre, Animated Shorts Program 1
When: Sunday, Nov. 22, 9:30 p.m.
Link: http://www.cinemastlouis.org/2009/short_programs.html#sp10

Manifestations was created within the UCLA Animation Workshop at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

Music by Ceri Frost

I finished my reel this week and have added it to my online portfolio as well as my vimeo and youtube accounts. My reel showcases select work from the past year, both freelance and personal projects. To download my reel or to find out more information, visit my main website here: http://www.gilestimms.com/reel09.html

Manifestations is screening twice at the 18th Annual St. Louis International Film Festival. Here are the details for the first screening.

Where: Plaza Frontenac Cinema, Animated Shorts Program 1
When: Saturday, Nov. 14, 5 p.m
Link: http://www.cinemastlouis.org/2009/short_programs.html#sp10

Manifestations was created within the UCLA Animation Workshop at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

My animated music video, ‘Dead All Along’, performed by Ceri Frost, is featured this week on Channel Frederator on their Frederator Show along with an interview on the Frederator Blog.

Channel Frederator YouTube Feature: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLMnSFHY0k
Channel Frederator Show Feature: http://www.channelfrederator.com/frederator/episode/CFR_20091110
Frederator Blog Interview: http://frederatorblogs.com/channel_frederator/2009/11/12/giles-timms-dead-all-along/

Channel Frederator is the ‘cartoon central on the internet and features original cartoons.’

Thanks ever so much to Bailee DesRocher and Bobby Miller :)

This is the animated video I completed for the UCLA Anderson School of Management for their home page video and call to action campaign. It’s an animated video of Max Ohlendorf’s original audio application for the MBA program at UCLA. The production company was Fraser Communications.

Hand drawn, Photoshop and TVPaint elements with compositing and animation in After Effects.