• Currently 4.75/5
  • By: Penta
  • Location: Ireland
  • Joined: December 27, 2008

Topic: Breakdown Blues (THAC XVI)

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Breakdown Blues

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Created in 24 hours for THAC XVI. A man gets stranded in the desert, and with the light fading fast, he must attempt to find a fix for his truck.

This is my first film at 12fps. I wanted to use THAC to get some practice at 12, so the attention went into the animation primarily. I really couldn't come up with a better ending, but this one made me laugh, at least.

This is also my first film with a DSLR and Dragonframe. As is typical for THAC, I began to experience technical difficulties, and the camera stopped talking to the computer when it came time to film the last shot. For this reason, I had to go back to the C920 for just one shot. Now that is THAC for you. Also big thanks to rioforce and thistof, who saved me from what was seeming to be a game-ending Vegas problem.

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Penta's Website

  • Location: United States
  • Joined: June 21, 2011

Re: Breakdown Blues (THAC XVI)

Haha! This is particularly impactful for me as I just spend all of yesterday afternoon fixing my own truck. Thankfully, my repairs were slightly more successful. mini/wink

The animation is lovely! Stepping out of the truck (0:23) and the shot at 0:33 were special highlights. Pacing of each movement was spot-on, perfectly hammering home the humor.  While I didn't notice it at first, you did a marvelous job of darkening the lighting as the short continued. Even as the scene grows darker and murkier, objects remain lit well and there's hardly any graininess.

While the rest of the short was quite amusing, I didn't get the ending joke at all. Thankfully, somebody in the Youtube comments explained it.

Strangely, the film seems heavily compressed. (See 1:13) The entire shot seems to be split into lots of squares. Was that just Youtube, or something Vegas did?

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Pritchard Studios's Website

  • Penta
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  • Location: Ireland
  • Joined: December 27, 2008

Re: Breakdown Blues (THAC XVI)

Thank you very much. I think the compression is YouTube, because watching the original file looks nicer. The shot you pointed to in particular though is the one shot I filmed with the C920, and I think my C920 has been degrading for a while.

Edit: I have two monitors, and the film looks much blockier on YouTube when played on one versus the other. Interesting.

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Penta's Website

  • Location: Oregon
  • Joined: December 29, 2012

Re: Breakdown Blues (THAC XVI)

Even as someone who didn't know the reference until it was pointed out, I still enjoyed the comedic misfortune.  The animals were a great touch.

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BrickTective Productions's Website

  • Joined: December 4, 2012

Re: Breakdown Blues (THAC XVI)

Very nice work here. I'd say animating at 12 fps was a success. Your animation style shines through and both the man and the animals have a lot of life to them.

Brickfilms set in the desert are some of my absolute favorites. Breakdown Blues is right up there!

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