How long did The Box Man take to make?

About two and a half years.

The Idea was hatched in September of 1999 during my first two weeks at CalArts for Mark Osbourne's stop-motion class. I put production off for a year to focus on making The Three of Us, however, I continued to storyboard and develop the project during this time.  I began to think of The Box Man as a potential thesis project. I started building sets during the summer of 2000. I spent 6 months making the puppet and building sets; and props. It took about 6 weeks just to carve the bricks... that was a lot of fun .:)

The animation was spread over a 7 month period as I tried to get as much studio time from my school as possible, which was difficult because we were limited to two weeks a semester. I scrounged as much studio time as I could, and once paid a student $50 to let me use her two weeks. When I couldn't get studio time for  The Box Man, I was coordinating The 1 Second Film. I graduated CalArts in 2002 with The Box Man still unfinished, and was sneaking into the school's studio at night to film my last few shots. Post Production took another 3 months as I was working around the schedules of lots of nice people helping for free. The film was finally finished in June of 2002.

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Can I buy a copy of The Box Man?

Not right now, sorry. But hope to offer  DVDs via this site when I get some time. Contact me and I'll let you know when the DVDs are available.

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How did you do the water effect?

The water effect was achieved by using KY Jelly and brushing it between each frame. There is a funny story about that...

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Where can I see it?

The festival run is over. A low res  version of The Box Man here on YouTube. I hope to offer some DVDs via this site in the future.

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What was the most difficult shot?

The opening sequence was the most grueling shot; it took 9 days to light and set up the motion-control rig and then another 7 days to animate. It involved an elaborate two part camera move that I wanted to appear seamless. But after the first camera move was over, and then after taking five days to animate the puppet walking into position for the second camera move, a motor in the motion-control rig stopped working! We had to take the camera apart to fiz the motor, and then put the camera back and finish the shot. In animation you don’t want to even touch the camera, yet alone have to take it apart in the middle of a shot, but that’s what we had to do. Believe it or not, we fixed it in post. But I can still see the frame where it happened.

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How is your film related to Kobo Abe's book?

The film is inspired by Kobo Abe’s 1974 novel, The Box Man, which I first read in 1996. I unintentionally thought of my version four years later. I hadn’t meant to deviate from the original, but overtime I simply forgot a lot of the details and invented others. When I went back and reread the novel, I was surprised at how I had changed things, but in a good way; the story accidentally became my own.

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How did you make the sets and props?

The walls were hand carved brick by brick on 1/4 inch sheets of a rigid urethane foam mounted to wood supports. The cobblestone streets and sidewalk were also made out of the same foam, but I used a heavier density that could support the weight of the puppet. I used glossy modge podge and a clear plastic resin to make the sets look wet. Unique props like the Mondrian closet had to be handmade; Todd Hemker helped make the closet and also the little wooden chair. The closet doors took me a long time. The slats were made from coffee stir sticks. The satchel was made of foam pressed with latex and had a piece of aluminum wire running through the strap attached to the puppets shoulder. The blinds were made from a plastic propoxy tube. The hard wood floors were made from paint stir sticks (free from Home Depot).

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How big is the puppet?

About 8 inches high. I built him to fit inside a trench coat that I took from a doll. The trench coat was the most important prop to find; after I found one that worked, I built the sets and puppet to fit the scale of the trench coat. The puppet had a ball and socket armature donated by The Chiodo Brothers. The bulk of the body was made of foam, the hands are silicone, the head is sculpey with clay eyebrows, the eyes are beads.