Not only they're DP, technical experts, providing equipments, special effects...the guys built this motion control rigg for dolly shots too! It's very helpful. Though by the end it's squeaking. ^^;; The lighting guy was originally booked for one day, but he eventaully stayed for the rest of the week and he's been so helpful (I can see he's enjoying himself too).

This is one of the heroes I designed for the story, a glove bunny! ^^b The amateur wire inside gave us flexibility to pose.

As most of the story happens down underground in tunnels, we built these models covered in mud. They filled one box full of dirt (instead of cotton or something lighter then cover with dirt on top) and made it into a 400 pounds killer box. o_O||| We filmed the entire thing inside our little beach house and it was way too small to house in all the equipments and sets. So every morning, the guys have to move the not-yet-use sets outside (including that 400 lbs dirt box) and move it back in at night. What a nightmare. It was impossible to move around. Being naturally clumsy I constantly hit my head. The dirt we used were just dug up from the hill outside and they stinks! (the dog owners bring their dog to poo in there). The poor glove bunny was stinky by the end of the shoot. There were dirt and mud everywhere...I can't ever imagine how we could clean up this place and return to its original form...

We shot for 5 days and hopefully got all we needed. We put together a rough cut and it's already looking good! :D It took forever to light and set camera before shooting each scene...thank god our 'actors' were puppet and plastic...the waiting time just almost killed the creativity and energy. It's a lot of physical exercise too! I would post the 'actor' then duck down behind stage, then get up again to pose and down again...

Now it's production time and my next 2 weeks is going to be hellish. Our little stop motion shoot is no way near the insane complexity and polish production of the high reign likes of Tim Burton and Wallace & Gromit, it is like...as Adam puts it, a highly produced student film. But it's totally not bad for my first stop-motion experience. :D