Stop Motion Course

For Rain, short film.



The concept began with a Maya warrior coming back from battle. Tired, somehow beaten as he lost some friends, and just wanting to wash away the blood and the feelings attached to it. But no matter how bad things, they always can get worse. He finds no water, battle against that and knows what to do. Life goes on and you just need to keep on enjoying the ride.



This is the first story board/tumbnails ever created. It shows the original concept. The warrior comes back home from battle. He is carrying his weapons and is putting them in place. After getting rid of the elements of war, he feels somehow free. He has seen a bath in his mind from quite long now, so he stretches out and anticipates for the water washing his body and mind. When he pulls down the string, no water is found. He is intrigued by that and fights with the system, but there is no water there. He feels beaten as he remembers that no rain has fallen in days. But he is a warrior. He does not know how to give up and starts searching for something. Suddenly, something has been found. What it is?!? who knows; only him. He puts it on, and a mask is revealed. What good will this mask bring? He starts performing a ritual, trying to reach the mighty Chac, God of Rain. Did he make it?



This is the set and background concept art for the short. As there would not be any camera movements, there was a need to relate the character with the settings. Different shots were studied once the set was built, but this was the best to showed all the scene. A Mayan style could be easilly identified and its unique value was so strong that it existed without the character. This concept came through and it somehow was brought to life as seen here from the initial idea.





These are some concept sketches for the main and only character. These however, are more battle and warrior oriented than what the short concept needed. It was the ordinary, normal human part of these warrior what was needed. I think that part and side, is what is strongest about every single person and individual that wonders this world.


There was too much to learn from the conception to the creation of this short film. There are lots of ideas and concepts, imagination and illusion just go and go. When I tried to bring to life what I had in mind, I faced up with quite a lot of constrains. Time was not on my side, so I had to broke down the activities and make a unique schedule for them. The first concepts were too complicated to be brought to life in terms of budget and time, so I had to adjust the animation and the physical elements to be able to tell it without modifying the story. Building the complete set and character was tough and it was too time consuming. It now feels that it didn't leave me any left to dedicate to the animation. Working with clay is tough, and filming it in one shot taught me a bunch of things. You need to take care of the scene as a whole. Character and set are one. No one can work without the other one. Building techniques were more obvious, had more sense and meaning when I was filming than when I was creating for it.

I went nuts about it, I was thrilled and still am about the complete experience. Animation is within me now!!