Atomic Trousers Studio Presents Buck Marshal Inner Space Commando

A stop motion animated film

Behind the Scenes

On this page you will find a video and 3 photo galleries. If you are interested in a deeper dive into the production process (and who wouldn't!) just click the "Deep Dive" links that appear in different sections below. The "Deep Dive" pages were written to be part of a Production Blog that I planned but I never really had time to set that up. On the Deep Dive pages I ramble on a lot about the minutia of the creation of the characters and the production. Some might find it interesting, others might not, which is why it's offered as an option. Thanks for taking a look at the Behind the Scenes pages. I hope you find something interesting.
-Enjoy!

Behind the scenes video

The video shows a timelapse of me animating two different scenes of the puppets on the stage. The timelapse clip is immediately followed by the clip from the finished film.

 

 

 

 

Behind the Scenes Gallery A

Creating the Buck Marshal animation puppet.

First scetch of the team
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First armature into the mold
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First puppet featuring unused clay sculpted head
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Puppet with first assembled 3D printed head
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Unpainted costume details
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Unpainted boots
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Digital color test before painting boots
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So many faces
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A specific mouth for each specific face
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Making a bunch of tiny eyebrow
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Faces ready for production
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Almost finished puppets on set
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Behind the Scenes Gallery B

Creating the Max Houdini animation puppet

Sketches of Max Houdini
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Max's unused clay head with replacement mouths
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Max with his new armature and 3D printed head
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Early scale comparison between characters
04 / 12
Assembling Max's costume
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Painting in the details
06 / 12
Max fully costumed with fiber hair
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Many replacement hands
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Hair scult, changing to latex hair
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Latex hair coming out of the mold
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Max and Buck with new latex hair
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Faces ready for production
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Behind the Scenes Gallery C

Photos of creating the set for the film.

Sketches of the set
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First set of beams
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Just out of the mold, Buck visits the set
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Doors and floors
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The main control console
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LED lighting on the main console
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Adding all the little details
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Hallway and airlock
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Computer console with fiber optic lighting
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Hallway doors
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Sadly, the robot character got cut
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The set is ready for filming
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Behind the Scenes Gallery D

Photos from the production of the film.

Camera is on Max in the storage closet
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The set is actually pretty small
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Over the shoulder shot of Buck
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Looks like Max is learning to dance
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Max in motion
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A chair swivel is smooth, if you mark the floor
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First rule of animation, puppets break
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Not everything is in scale with the puppets
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Close-ups require larger props
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Villains don't get pants
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The live action shoot
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Filming Buck's ship
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