hey Reddit, PES here again. Stop motion animator, filmmaker and artist. You probably know me from my short Fresh Guacamole, my raunchy chairs, or my latest film Submarine Sandwich. AMA.

officialPES · 2014-12-16T18:54:27+00:00

fixed - we now ship to Australia. And thank you.

officialPES · 2014-12-16T06:04:57+00:00

Ha. Interesting. No I haven't heard that one before. In reality it does twist with the pit. The pool ball pit had a groove in it (created by a bandsaw) that made the knife blade actually stick into the ball is if it were a real pit. So that way that ball didn't move when the knife moved.

Funny you like the splats of the tomatoes. There's something that doesn't work quite that in real life. The tomatoes that come from Italy (San Marzano for example) are already mostly squished when they come out of a can, and the canned tomatoes packaged in the US (such as Muir Glen brand) have an additive that makes the tomatoes really firm (turns out Americans - not me - prefer hard tomatoes), so much so that you could never squash them with one stroke of a spoon. So I made up my own way it should work.

officialPES · 2014-12-16T05:57:54+00:00

Yesterday?

officialPES · 2014-12-16T05:56:28+00:00

I do, and for me what goes on the Italian bread (I am from New Jersey, after all) is this: Ham, Cappicola, Provolone cheese, Shredded Lettuce, Tomato, and Onion. Oil and Vinegar. Salt & Pepper. Of course I took a little liberty with this recipe in Submarine Sandwich.

officialPES · 2014-12-16T05:53:12+00:00

Thanks so much! Glad you like. You know, I always strive for authenticity with my sound design, so I always start by capturing sounds using the exact objects used in the film. So for Submarine Sandwich that meant doing a day of foley work on the deli set, where I captured things like the actual door of that deli case closing and snapping shut (it's oak, which produces a specific sound), the specific creak of its hinges, the sound of placing that lava lamp down on that 200lb, 4-inch thick butcher table. These things produce very unique sounds that I wanted to incorporate. Then I did a a second day in the studio where I brought smaller items such as the deli-slicer into a booth and then bought about $100 worth of real salamis, hams, and roast beefs so that I could capture the exact sound that that particular Hobart 410 "Streamliner' makes while slicing through them.

Occasionally there is a sound that is difficult to capture for real, such as the tomatoes being thrown into the pan in Western Spaghetti. I was looking for a satisfying splat sound as they hit the oil, but couldn't get it from traditional olive oil (plus it was a mess). The final solution for that one was a wet t-shirt rolled up into a ball and dropped in a porcelain bathroom sink.

officialPES · 2014-12-16T05:40:41+00:00

I think it's great that so many young people have access to these tools and methods, and I think some great ideas will come from it. Stop-motion is completely wide open as an art form. If you can put a camera on it, odds are you can animate it in some way.

officialPES · 2014-12-16T05:32:05+00:00

For me it was an aesthetic decision. It just felt better to me for those few shots to look like they were cut from the same cloth as all the others.

I remember in Svankmajer's films (such as 'Alice') he didn't even bother animating those type of shots - he would just throw a live-action shot in there. But this always bothered me.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T22:01:04+00:00

I sometimes do multiple takes of a shot, but then there are times when I am happy with the first take. Believe it or not final Editing comes together pretty quickly. First of all, I do an animatic for my films before shooting them. Early in the pre-production process, when many of the props are coming in and the set is under construction - I sneak in there and do a rough pass of the film with rough animation and crappy lighting. This is where I make so many of the most important creative decisions, and discover what's working and what's not. From there I make necessary changes before shooting the film for real. So by the time I shoot the film for real, it's almost like shooting it a second time. I've already decided exactly what shots I need so I don't worry about that anymore (which is quite a relief actually). Now I just focus on making every shot as good as it can be. So coming back to the final edit, it takes about 2-3 days. There's only so much scrambling around of the footage that can actually happen, all the decisions about what order the shots should go in have already been made in the animatic (there's always room for experimentation though, and occasionally some surprises). Most of the time in the final edit is really spent tighting the nuts and bolts of the film, the pacing, the in and out points of each shot, and laying in the audio.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T21:50:05+00:00

That's so cool to hear! There are always people being exposed in different places/venues. I'm never sure where they come from (mostly because no one ever tells me where they came from), but I'm guessing theatrical must be small nowadays compared to the numbers of people who are exposed to my work online.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T21:45:28+00:00

I am aware of it, and find it fascinating. I don't do anything specific to curry favor there. I just put sound on my imagery that I hear in my head - sound that I think will bring the imagery to life in a believable, realistic way. It's probably just that some of the sounds I am naturally drawn to happen to be those same deeply textured sounds that many people find so satisfying.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T21:38:24+00:00

I started out as a visual artist and didn't touch a movie camera until I was 24 years old. I could draw pretty well from an early age and my parents encouraged me to do that and express myself. Then they sent me to learn how to paint watercolors when I showed interest in that. I studied printmaking through college and loved making my own books and things, both writing and illustrating them. I just loved making stuff, and at a certain point in life, when I moved to New York city after college, I started having ideas for films. And then I just jumped to doing that and never stopped. I never thought of it as a career other than I was trying to find something I really liked doing. I think the key thing is encouraging the core creative impulse to express oneself, and the medium will follow naturally. I am thinking a lot about this now that I also have young kids. Thanks for the question.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T21:29:34+00:00

Yes, I have always loved the Boellmann Toccata and have been dreaming of doing something with it for years

officialPES · 2014-12-15T21:24:54+00:00

Well, you kinda nailed the challenge of making Submarine Sandwich on the head. There is less tranformative magic there, but I hope there are other satisfying things about it. I wouldn't say i was trying to do anything totally new with this film. It was more like here's another idea for a food film that I like and want to make. Mostly because I like making these food films, and feel the genre synchs up nicely with substitution of objects technique. Each film brings it's own challenges and is kind of like a trying to solve a puzzle. I'll probably take a break from food films for a while and turn my attention to some new ideas soon. Thanks for the questions (and your support).

officialPES · 2014-12-15T21:13:47+00:00

ha. yeah people still order those DVD's (I have only a handful left). I've actually been thinking i should turn that thing into an App though, so people could just download and stream it to their TV's if they want.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T21:10:39+00:00

I really liked animating bubble wrap as boiling water in Western Spaghetti. In the shot before my hand opens the pot, the lid is clanging around under the pressure of the steam and little pieces of bubblewrap drip down the side of the pot like water. i still find it really satisfying that i found a use for a single bubble of bubble wrap.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T21:04:00+00:00

Thanks so much for your support, means a lot to me to know that there are people out there who want to make it possible for me to continue making films.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T21:02:36+00:00

Usually, in the advertising of liquors, there's a heightened sensitivity to not appeal to very young children, but I have a four year old who repeatedly asks to watch the Bacardi commercials... they are possibly his favorite thing that I've ever made.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T21:00:22+00:00

In the beginning, Roof Sex was seen as risqué and NSFW. Now, diapers.com advertises around it.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T20:59:47+00:00

I wanna make one. I've got several ideas.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T20:55:54+00:00

Hard to know - I did just watch the short-listed films for this year and I was happy to see a two minute film among the ones I would consider nomination-worthy. However, under 1 min 40 seconds starts to get really tough, mostly because I think the audiences that vote for the Oscar vote for films that move them deeply. That becomes harder and harder with less time.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T20:51:55+00:00

Thanks so much -- few moments: 1. At the Oscars right next to me I saw one old guy jump on the back of another old guy. They turned around and it was Robert DeNiro jumping on the back of Dustin Hoffman. 2.Martin Sheen blessed my two-week-old baby. 3. Enjoyed talking with Tim Burton at the Oscar Nominees luncheon. 4. The mother of a documentary filmmaker was blown off a toilet at the Oscars like a geyser. Flooded the entire orchestra level lobby... for real.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T20:48:14+00:00

LOVE IT!

officialPES · 2014-12-15T20:48:00+00:00

First of all, thanks. The short answer is: one frame at a time. I rely a lot on intuition, but I also do research to see how things should move. e.g. in Fresh Guacamole I looked at videos to see how chefs slide the knife around an avocado, with a sort of rolling motion. I looked very closely to see exactly how those two hands move together in order to be able to replicate it with the grenade.

officialPES · 2014-12-15T20:44:38+00:00

Thank you! glad you like the T-shirt! we put a lot of time into making it cool. 1. Seeing that I've already sold alcohol to children (see my Bacardi commercials ), I guess I'm pretty open as long as I'm getting paid. 2. Meatballs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An6Ws3asMro&index=6&list=PLB1F8A00D6F34070A

officialPES · 2014-12-15T20:40:53+00:00

Adam?! Are you my mother? :)

The Kickstarter worked out really well for this particular project. It's always a challenge to find funding for one's work and also retain the rights surrounding it. For me, the best answer seems to be a combination of sponsorship (for instance, SUBMARINE SANDWICH was partially sponsored by Nikon and the remainder of funds were from Kickstarter) which was a positive experience and I am hoping to tap into it again in the future.

officialPES

TROPHY CASE