This is my latest short Labeouf, a stopmotion animation about a goblin called Norman stuck down a hole. The name came from Shia Labeouf as his Just do it green screen video was going around at the time. I wanted subtler name than Just do it so thought this would be a fun name. The puppet is made with a wire armature and painted with latex, the set is made from MDF wood, recycled and found objects. The budget was zero so everything used was either self funded, found or donated. The film was worked on part time for about a year, stopping when other projects were on.
The story is about a goblin (called Norman) who is stuck down a hole, but he's to distracted to escape. It's also about the endless possibilities available to us all to shape our future, to seize the moment but we're so distracted with social media, boxsets and video games etc that these opportunities are slowly fading with darker more sinister times ahead.
Social Media is represented by the bucket, through colours, sounds and the idea that we can fill Facebook with our lives. I didn't want to use a blue book as it seemed too obvious. Boxsets are represented via the blue crystals, ie Breaking Bad as everyone seems so obsessed with wasting time watching it. Gaming is represented with the cork painted like a Pikachu. The sky darkening is time running out, in life, for the planet and the human race, through age, pollution, segregation and war. The longer we wait to act the smaller the opportunity we have to affect change in our own lives and on the world around us.
The film began life as a showreel piece but once it had been made I decided to turn it into a short animation. It was a good experience making the short and I learnt a lot, there's lots of things I'd do differently in future but as it is I've finished working on it. Specifically make the puppet larger with a more expressive face, improve the sky animation (oil on glass) and reshoot a couple of shots. I'd rate it at a 2.5 out of 5.
