WHAT IS HEART STRING MARIONETTE ALL ABOUT?
A child, a samurai mime, and a stripper with more cleavage then common sense try to stop the WOR LORD and evil clown that have turned the countryside into a never ending nightmare filled with horrible monsters.
When you died inside... the last tears your inner child cried... Heart String Marionette is a 121 minute narrative death poem dedicated to the DEATH and systematic destruction
of innocence, art and life in modern society.
An animated cinemusical experience unlike any the world has ever Experienced….
M dot Strange and Endika present the HEART STRING MARIONETTE.
You will die... inside.
WHO MADE HEART STRING MARIONETTE?!
UBERECTOR M DOT STRANGE
When M dot Strange touched down in Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007 for the world premiere of his first animated feature, We Are the Strange, thousands of Internet-obsessed teens and twentysomethings already knew more about the film than any buyer at the festival. For months M dot had been leaking footage and behind-the-scenes featurettes of the film to YouTube, and once he was accepted to Sundance he put up the trailer. It got 500,000 views in four days. Not bad for a guy who made a movie in his bedroom. With a love for 8-bit video games and stop-motion animation, the San Jose–based M dot has been honing his bizarre brand of stories since the late '90s. "I've never taken a film class or an art class ever," he says. "I learned everything through the Internet and reading books — the Internet was my film school." M dot is currently working on his next animated feature film - a 3d Samurai film entitled Heart String Marionette.M dot Strange is also an electronic musician and rapper who has produced 19 albums in the past ten years..(Check my greatest songs you never heard album ^ ^)... he also has a bike.
YEH YEH WHATEVER M DOT WHO MADE HEART STRING MARIONETTE?!
Heart String Marionette was Uberected by virtuoso filmmaker M dot Strange, who is like...me. The myriad of tasks involved that I completed on my own go FAR AND BEYOND what a normal film “director” does. I did the work of 20-50 people in a normal animated film production. I had to create the title “Uberector” because what I do is much more complex and much more demanding than what a simple “director” does. So I am not a “director” I am an UBERECTOR... a true FILM-MAKER.
Myself, Jeff Lew, and Dave Krupicz are the only people in the world that have made 3d animated feature films on our own...so WE are the UBERECTOR’s. To learn more about the uberector get my A_BOOK
I am a complete 3d feature film animation studio as one man. The jobs I did include writer, director, concept artist, modeler, texture artist, rigger, compositor, director of photography, editor, visual fx artist, hardware/software tech, animator etc... What typically is done with a crew of fifty or more, for millions of dollars I did on my own for under $20,000 in a similar time frame. The actual production of HSM took me only 12 months to complete over 1,600 fully animated shots. This has never been done before by a single artist in the history of 3d animated filmmaking.
I am here to realize my cinematic vision and to push the boundaries in regard to what a single artist can do. I did not make HSM to simply challenge myself and push boundaries, I have something to say and these films are my way of saying it. The things I have to say are so important to me I’m forced to realize these visions and create them by any means necessary.
Contact M dot Strange: helpmdot@gmail.com
M dot's Blog chock full of multimedia goodness and insane texts!
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| Polymath Composer ENDIKA |
All the music in HSM was done by ENDIKA and was performed by his group PANTHELION. Endika is my friend and the most talented person I have ever met so I’m beyond excited to have all the music and sound done by him.
ENDIKA a.k.a. Andrew Currier is the composer, bassist and driving musical force behind Panthelion and the nu class movement. Panthelion takes its name from an ancient Macedonian word used to describe a temple dedicated to the worship of all Gods which reflects Currier’s music in how it bridges the gap between the concert hall and the street. Currier’s music has been called “The Evolution of Jazz” by the Palo Alto Weekly and has earned Panthelion several weeks in the No.1 position in over 20 international radio markets.
Contact Endika: Panthelion@gmail.com
Check out Endika's blog for his band Panthelion
Get his AWESOME live DVD edited by me M dot
Check out his album LIFE AFTER 339 on Itunes
WHAT HARDWARE/SOFTWARE WAS USED TO MAKE IT M DOT?
SOFTWARE
Heart String Marionette was created using Cinema 4d, 3d animation software created by Maxon Computer. This is the second feature film I have created with Cinema 4d but the first ALL 3D feature as my last film utilized a mixed media approach. I can say with confidence that Cinema 4d is THE premier software to use for solo artists to maximize their ultimate potential. Cinema 4d balances ease of use and power so that its very easy for a solo artist to create huge complex projects on their own and render them this decade. My filmography is the living proof, there is no other artist using no other software in the world that has made two 3d animated feature films as solo efforts. If you want to work for yourself and MAKE YOUR FILMS Cinema 4d is the way to go says me! It was a JOY to use C4d everyday to make this film, its a great tool that feels like a natural extension of my creativity... it’s also ROCK SOLID when it comes to stability.
Every single frame of the film was modeled, animated and rendered in Cinema 4d versions 11 and 11.5 using Cinema 4d’s own Advanced Render module and network rendered using C4d’s own Net Render module. All the materials were created using C4d’s native material system or hand painted with the included Bodypaint module.
I used the following C4d plug-ins as well: Cactus Dan Suite, C4d Jack Suite, Zblur, Degamma, PlugEllo, and Harvester. Cactus Dan’s and C4d Jack’s plugins were used in EVERY shot in HSM as well as Per Ander’s great Degamma plugin...I’d like to thank them and all the other great c4d plugin developers out there for their hard work.
Most all of the organic models in the film were sculped in Zbrush 3. This was the first time I had used Zbrush in a production and I must say that it has brought my art up to a new level that I never through I could reach using normal polygonal modelling techniques. Subpolygon displacement maps were generated in Zbrush and rendered using C4d’s advanced render module yielding great results. Zbrush and Cinema 4d work very well together and they ended up being the perfect combo for me to use on HSM. I sculpted %90 of the masks and models with a Wacom Graphire 3 tablet, I bought an Intuos4 late in the construction phase and only got to use it on a few models but a Wacom tablet is a neccessity for use with both Zbrush and C4d’s Bodypaint.
I composited the film with Adobe After Effects Cs5. The 3d shots were rendered as Linear Exr sequences and composited in 32 bit space. I’ve been using AE since version 4.1 and am very comfortable working in it. I exported my 3d lights and cameras from C4d for use in AE to add in the 2.5 skies and matte paintings.
I used the following AE plugins: Frischluft LensCare and Reelsmart motion blur. Lenscare is THE BEST bokeh/lens blur plugin out there and I’d like to thank Philip from Frischluft for making such an awesome plugin ^ ^
The film was edited with Adobe Premiere Pro Cs5.
HARDWARE
I put together and managed all the computers I used for the film...its a hobby of mine like many a geek ^ ^
My main workstation I used to Animate HSM had the following specs:
Shuttle Barebones Case/Mobo
Intel i7 920 OC’d to 3.2ghz
8gb ram
Ati 4870 gfx card
Patriot Torqx SSD boot drive
4 x Hitachi 2Tb sata
1 x Hitachi 1tb sata
Windows xp64---->Windows 7x64
2 x 24” lcd’s
My render server/render node 1 had the following specs:
Coolermaster Case
Tyan mobo
Dual Xeon 5410 OC to 2.8ghz
8 gb ram
Ati 4850 gfx card
4 x Hitachi 1tb sata
Dual Gig ethernet
Windows xp64
My 4 node little render farm systems had the following specs
Inwin Barebones MiniAtx Case/mobo
Intel Q9300 OC’d to 3.2ghz
8 gb ram
Windows xp64
One of my render nodes also doubled as my audio computer and editing sytem... it had an 8800gt gfx card it and 2 x 20” lcd’s.
All of my systems are plugged into an APC UPS which saved me from power outages a few times. I used two 8 port Netgear gigabit switches to connect my lil intranet for rendering etc.
FOR MUCH MUCH MORE INFO and images about HEART STRING MARIONETTE and to learn about HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN 3d ANIMATED FEATURE FILMS GET M dot Strange's A_BOOK AVAILABLE NOW!
YOU SOUND LIKE A KNOW IT ALL! I HATE YOU, YOU DOUCHEBAG! FIX YOUR HAT!
Haters gone hate... if you want to learn what I doeS and how I does it check my tutorials or film skool vids... AND you can always GET MY BOOK ^_^ Uberectors gotta eat yall!
2 hours LONG WTF?! WHY ISN'T IT SHORTER LIKE ALL THE HAWTEST ONLINE VIDEOS THAT ARE SOOO POPULAR?
I have something more to say... a lot more apparently.
PAST PRESS, AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS AND APPEARANCES
Awards and Accolades
Official Selection, 2007 Sundance Film Festival
Animated feature film “We are the Strange” chosen over 3000 other entries to premiere at the festival.
Golden Prize, Most Groundbreaking film, 2007 Fantasia Film festival, Montreal
Silver Prize, Best Animated film, 2007 Fantasia Film festival, Montreal
Animated feature film “We are the Strange” beats out studio films from Japan and Korea to win these prizes.(link)
25 New Faces of Independent Film, Filmmaker Magazine 2007
Chosen in the class on 2007. (link)
Best Director, Best Feature Film, HDFEST, 2007
Press Highlights
New York Times, M dot Strange Finds a Way at Sundance , 1-27-07
EXCERPT- Wearing a black stocking cap and sporting a wisp of hair under his lip, M dot Strange, whose actual name is Michael Belmont, looks more like a snowboarder who wandered over from the nearby chairlift than a big deal filmmaker, but he represents a new paradigm of filmmaking that could have a profound effect on the traditional models of film production, distribution and animation. The money is not there yet — M dot Strange is doing a brisk business in T-shirts associated with the film — but the Web has proved that if you produce something the consumer wants, a business model might follow. (link)
Wired Magazine, Strange + 8-Bit + Anime = Str8nime. Learn DIY Filmmaking from M dot Strange, September 2007 issue
EXCERPT- It's anime on amphetamines — with a throbbing techno beat and a dash of Kabuki. Most of all, M dot Strange's berserk and beautiful We Are the Strange is a triptastic triumph of DIY filmmaking. Strange (former Web designer Michael Belmont) spent three years and roughly $20,000 crafting his feature-length debut — learning animation, creating virtual landscapes, and scouring gutters for props.
New York Times "Carpetbagger" interview, Youtube's growing influence , January 2007
M dot Strange's first feature, "We Are The Strange," came to Sundance with a huge YouTube audience. The Carpetbagger sits down with him. (link)
Liberacion , Mon film est un message encodé pour les humains des années 3010 , March 2007
EXCERPT-Etrange film, étrale d’histoire que celle de We are the Strange, long métrage d’animation 100% fait maison par l’énigmatique geekM Dot Strange, alias Mike Belmont. Pendant trois ans, le jeune homme de 27 ans, basé à San José en Californie, s’est enfermé avec sa Gameboy dans sa chambre bourrée d’ordinateurs, travaillant comme un forçat à la réalisation de cet ovni hypnotique. (link)
Triple-J- National Australian youth radio, Str8nime, 12-2-07
We are the Strange profiled by host Mark Fennel. (link)
ABC World News, Sundance Sucks: Is Youtube Its Successor?, 12-2-07
On camera interview about my experience at Sundance 2007. (link)
Speaking Engagement/Workshop Highlights
Resfest Brazil, Sao Paolo, Brazil, March 2007
Two solo lectures about DIY filmmaking and mixed media animation. (link)
Picnic Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands, October 2007
One solo lecture on next generation filmmaking and one panel about online film distribution. (link)
Berlin Talent Campus, Berlin, Germany, February 2008, 2009
Guest “Expert” Two solo workshops on internet distribution and DIY filmmaking, also hosted one event and was on two panels. (link)
BAVC Innovation Salon, San Francisco, Ca, March 2008
On a panel about independent filmmaking
South by Southwest Film Festival, Austin, Texas, March 2008
On a panel about online film piracy. (link)
Final Cut Pro Supermeet, Las Vegas, Nevada, April 2008
Featured Speaker. Solo workshop getting into the details of high definition mixed media animation production. (link)
DIY DAYS LA/SF, Los Angeles, San Francisco, May 2008
Featured Speaker. Two solo workshops about internet film distribution + 2 panels. (link)
Youtube Filmmakers Event, Los Angeles, Ca, June 2008
Featured Speaker. Panel about my experiences as a filmmaker on Youtube. (link)
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, July 2008
Featured Speaker. Solo workshop about creativity and developing your own style. (link)
Acko Film Festival, Bratislava, Slovakia, October 2008
Featured Speaker. Two solo workshops about internet film distribution and mixed media animation. (link)
Power to the Pixel, London, England, November 2008
World Gone Digital, Rome, Italy, November 2008
Featured Speaker on a panel about self distribution.
Macworld Supermeet, San Francisco, Ca, January 2009
Featured Speaker. Presentation about 3d character animation techniques. (link)
Fresh Film Festival, Limerick, Ireland March 2009
Special guest speaker. Workshop about 3d character animation techniques and did stop motion animation with a classroom of 10 year olds. (link)
Edinburgh Film Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland June 2009
Special guest speaker. Workshop about online film distribution and building audiences. (link)
PIXEL conference, Paris, France December 2009
Special guest speaker. Workshop about online film distribution and building audiences. (link)