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Something Left, Something Taken

I am smitten with this highly inventive and entertaining animated film: Something Left, Something Taken.

It was created by husband-and-wife team Max Poter and Ru Kuwahata of Tiny Inventions. What’s special about the short is how it blends so many types of animation — hand-drawn, stop motion, After Effects, and even some good old fashioned puppetry — all with a charming hand-made crafty feel. Throw in a little forensic science and serial killer storyline, and you’ve got yourself CSI: Little Big Planet.

What’s more, the two have prepared an exhaustive behind-the-scenes making-of post on their website. They’ve documented just about every process, from the felty padded gloves photographed as the characters’ hands to the water made of Jell-O.

08hands.jpg

As someone who has done his share of very limited puppet-style animation in After Effects, this video on how the digital puppets were rigged and controlled using little proxies was a revelation:

via Cartoon Brew.

  • http://tumblr.luclatulippe.com/ Luc Latulippe

    Blown. Away. This is fabulous!

  • http://twitter.com/thiagobuzzy Thiago Buzzi

    Oh my… I wish I could use After Effects like that. =C

  • http://www.facebook.com/inhale13 Jim White

    So Much FUN! Loved this!

  • http://www.facebook.com/inhale13 Jim White

    So Much fun!

  • Illustrationtown

    Really interesting. Thank you for sharing!

  • http://www.justkyle.com Kyle Jones

    Fantastic. Quite an impressive after effects rig!

  • Roccoplanet

    I've been a fan of their work for a while now. Everything “Tiny inventions” does is so unique and so delicious.

  • saya4

    Watching the process and see the final movie, shows how much attention paid to details. Great job.

  • llama

    I cannot possibly thank you enough for posting this masterpiece.
    My mind hasn't been this overcome with joy and wonder since I witnessed my first film at a cinema (James & the Giant Peach). Well… maybe there's been other moments, but this is definitely added to the list!
    I'm now settling in to watch the rest of their work. Oh boy!

  • Hello

    great posts but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE update more frequently!! i keep coming back but new posts are so sparse! this is such a great resource site for illustrators and as we all know drawing all day can get a bit lonely sometimes, so we need to see more of life on here at least!!! thanks a lot and lots of love

  • http://www.davidkamp.de David Kamp

    Incredibly awesome!

  • Ben

    wow! Thanks so much for posting the tutorial, it was very inspirational, and the film itself is really amazing. Thanks again

  • http://twitter.com/mcfoilnthrxarms Phillip Bercot

    the music is excellent.

  • http://cookiebite.blogspot.com/ Tali

    This is one of the cutest animation i've seen in ages! Technically and aesthetically fantastic! Love it.