Lilliput is a very short DV film about the Lilliput robot. Manufactured in the 1940s, the Lilliput robot is believed to be the first mass-produced robot toy in Japan. The Lilliput in Lilliput is a replica and yes, he/she/it does have a hard time walking. That, however, is the Lilliput’s charm.
Besides being about a Lilliput, the idea behind shooting the film was to try some lighting techniques. Boo-beep-boop.
I REALLY liked that movie! The lighting was great – very cool how the background was a little blurry as a result. I’m not sure where in the house you filmed this, but it looked like natural light was coming in. Closeups on Lilliput were very good. I especially liked the music; much more subtle than your other musical endeavors. Do you think his foot was caught on something, or is his left leg bad? He seemed to be leaning a bit to the left. If so, I’m sorry I gave you the defective robot.
Wow – I’m glad you liked it.
The film was shot on the stairs. I’m also really happy that it looked like natural lighting (though… to be honest I’m not too sure if we meant to do this… Tim???). We achieved the lighting effect on the wall with a cookie (a piece of card w/ holes cut in it, so that when a light is shined through the cookie, a dappled effect is achieved). The blurry background was done with shallow focus, a technique I am now obsessed with. Shallow focus is pretty easy to do on film, but not so easy to do on video or DV. To do it in video/DV, you have to place your subject far away from the background. Next, you need to place your camera far away from your subject, zoom in on the subject, and focus. When you do, the background will look out of focus.
The music is fractal music. It is about three songs, laid over one another, and started at various times. I want to write more fractal music, but I can never figure out how to work the programs. Math.
Unfortunately, I don’t know why the Lilliput doesn’t walk to well. I tried him on a couple different surfaces, and he always had trouble. But he’s a nice defective robot. I like him.
The robot isn’t walking so well cos you’ve been walking him on stairs, which then typically involves the robot falling down the stairs. This can’t be healthy for the poor things gait.
About the film, awesome! Okay, I can clearly see where you guys have one hell of a camera. I was completely wowed by the lighting and focus too. The music was great. All around – I give it two canes up.
Best shots so far with the new camera.
I just thought of something… It would have been really cool to see a shot of the key winding him up. However, that would mean a human hand would have been in the shot, which would have detracted from the “robotness” of the film. Too bad he’s not made so that the key could remain in him, turning as he walked.