Laura's Animation!

New England Aquarium Education Video!

2010-08-25T17:21:00.000-07:00

New England Aquarium Field Trip Orientation Video from New England Aquarium on Vimeo.

This past spring and summer, I worked with Untravel Media and the New England Aquarium to create this 8 minute video for school children and their chaperones to watch before taking a field trip to the aquarium. The purpose of this video was not only to build excitement around the animals and exhibits, but to clarify the rules and logistics, and give helpful hints and ideas for getting the most out of your aquarium visit. The script was written by Michael Epstein, music by Nick Vandenberg and the video, design and animation created by yours truly.

Hansel and Gretel: Consumed

2010-03-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, Andrea Zampitella and I decided to create an installation for the event "Hansel and Gretel: ReImagined" put on by our close friend and VJ artist Zebbler. Our connection to Boston’s electronic music and VJ scene opened our imaginations up to the idea of using live video projection in our own artwork. Andrea is a multimedia artist who is very talented in the areas of sculpture and conceptual art, and I have experience in the areas of animation and documentary storytelling. So with our powers combined we created this cut paper sculpture that comes to life when mapped video/animation feed is projected onto it with sound. Check out this documentation of the finished product (keeping in mind that it was much better in real life with sound and without horrible blogger compression).

We learned a lot while creating this piece, and there are many more possibilities that we haven’t yet explored. For example, we’d like to take this video sculpture technique and use it to tell a more complex story. We think it would be really interesting to have a gallery show where you can walk around the room and experience parts of a story with each sculpture/installation.

Artist Statement - Hansel and Gretel : Consumed

“Our kids don't choose to make food products with tons of sugar and sodium in super-sized portions, and then to have those products marketed to them everywhere they turn.” Michelle Obama, “Let’s Move” Campaign February 2010
Hansel and Gretel: Consumed combines the traditional Grimm’s fairy tale Hansel and Gretel with a modern day commentary on childhood consumerism. In the US, research from the American Psychological Association (APA) shows that children under the age of eight as unable to critically comphrehend televised advertising messages and are prone to accept advertiser messages as truthful, accurate and unbiased. This can lead to unhealthy eating habits as evidenced by today’s youth obesity epidemic. The Journal of the American Medical Association has said that children between the ages of two and seventeen watch an annual average of 15,000 to 18,000 hours of television, compared with 12,000 hours spent per year in school.

The True/False Film Festival

2010-03-05T14:56:00.000-08:00

Last week I was given the opportunity to attend the True False Film festival in Columbia, MO. I don’t get to travel very often so any chance I get I’m out the door... but to be completely honest, as far as places I’d like to go, Missouri never even crossed my mind. I was traveling with Untravel Media collaborator/director Michael Epstein (originally from St.Louis). Michael was invited to speak about our Walking Cinema project on a panel about New Media and the future of documentary storytelling, and I was invited to tag along and film the amazing Timothy “Speed” Levitch (Waking Life, The Cruise) as he gave an off the cuff walking tour of the city of Columbia for the festival. My trip got off to a rough start - waiting 5 hours in the St. Louis airport while Michael got a root canal at his local dentist, and then spending a night in a cockroach infested Travelodge motel. Luckily I was able to switch hotels, and the festival itself quickly made it all worthwhile. I found downtown Columbia – a college town - to be a very quirky artsy community that I quickly warmed up to. The people were exceptionally welcoming and the folk- indie music scene was really fun.

Most importantly I found the quality of the films shown at True/False and the depth of the panel discussions to be really inspiring. What struck me about many of the films we saw was how free they were from the more traditional and overdone aspects of documentary production – talking head interviews with lower thirds, long montages of photographs, reinactments etc. Some of the films we saw were character studies - such as ridiculously funny "Invention of Dr. Nakamats" which followed a Japanese inventor or the more subtle “When we were Boys” which examined the everyday interactions of prep high school boys. Other films followed intense stories such as the heartbreaking "As Lilith".

The most traditional film I saw was the documentary “Waking Sleeping Beauty”which gave a behind the scenes look at Disney animation from 1984 – 1994. As an animator I was obviously completely psyched to see that film. What I loved most about it was the way they juxtaposed emotionally charged clips from Disney animated films with archival footage documenting the highs and lows - struggles and successes of the people who created them.

I also got a chance to view the work of two of the other filmmakers who Michael shared his panel with and was very impressed with their innovative approaches to documentary storytelling. Sam Green performs a live voiceover and music with documentary "Utopia in Four Movements" bringing a more poetic touch to his work .

Adam Curtis’s documentary “It felt like a Kiss” was part of an experiential theatre production put on by England’s Punchdrunk theatre company. Similar to Punchdrunk’s recent production

"Sleep No More" which took place in Boston this fall – audience members are set loose to explore a building filled with intricately constructed rooms – sort of like a sophisticated haunted house. As an audience member you are able to touch anything you like. Sporadic performances by actors add intrigue and encourage the audience to further explore their surroundings. Curtis’s "It felt like a kiss" a documentary video played as a part of such a theatre piece in England, but screened by itself at True/False - I would have loved to have seen the whole piece.

All in all, I got to see some amazing work and meet some really interesting people. So thumbs up to the True/False film fest in Columbia, MO. I’d recommend it in a heartbeat!

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-26T07:48:00.000-08:00

I made this animation for my family and friends this holiday season. It was really nice to work on something purely just for fun! The characters were drawn in flash and the background is a cut paper pop up card. At work, Untravel Media, we just finished creating a tour of historic beacon hill that can be downloaded for iphone and ipod - Walking Cinema: Murder on Beacon Hill I worked on the videos, animations, and objects/props that are hidden along the walking route. One of the objects was a popup book, and is what got me so into cut paper construction. I definitely want to continue exploring the possibilties of paper animation.
I also think I need to keep making things just for fun, so thats my New Year's resolution. Make something cool every week and share it on this blog. It definitely helps that me and my friends have built a kick ass art studio in the basement of my house in Malden...Studio 42. Stay tuned.

Sorry, its been awhile

2009-08-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

Well it's been almost a year since my last post and a lot has happened. I've been working hard as a video producer and animator at Untravel Media in Boston, this takes up alot of my time but still no excuse for an entire year without blogging. At Untravel we create multimedia videos for to be watched on mobile technology in specific locations. To get a better idea of what I'm talking about check out our latest project for the New England Aquarium. It's called Blue Impact and its a series of videos about climate change and its impact on ocean life. Go to: http://www.neaq.org/visit_planning/tours_and_programs/tours/index.php

2008-09-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

Now that I've returned from gallivanting around the globe, it's time to figure out how I'm going to support myself as a working artist. The above image pretty much sums up how I feel about that. I found that creepy little doll in my room and have no idea where she came from. Clearly she is a harbinger of DOOM.

Win!

2008-08-01T02:44:00.000-07:00

I'm in Thailand right now. If you want to know what I've been up to go to tuktuksanuk.blogspot.com

The weekend after I left on this trip my film ECT: The Story of Two Women screened in NYC's animation block party festival. I was really excited to be accepted because its the biggest animation festival in nyc, and I think I'd eventually like to find a job a there. I found out from a post by my on my other blog (from my buddy kara) that I won Best Documentary short. Yay! I wish I could have been there. Check out the link: http://www.animationblockparty.com/about.html

Work Work

2008-07-18T13:44:00.001-07:00

Bakery extraordinaire by day and freelance animator by night.... Its all work and no play until I leave for Thailand next Thursday. At least I'll have a 22 hour flight to catch up on sleep!

Happy Birthday USA

2008-07-05T07:39:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! from Laura Piraino on Vimeo.

I got a new camera (Panasonic Lumix fz50)! Last night I finally got a chance to play with it at the Marblehead fireworks. good times.

School's out forever

2008-06-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

A LOT has happened since I last bothered to write on this thing.
Here are some of the highlights:

1. I graduated from MassArt! Class of 2008!

2. I won the 2008 MassArt Godine travel grant! This summer I will spend an entire month volunteering and adventuring touring in Thailand! July 24- August 23 :)

3. My degree project "ECT: The Story of Two Women" got into two film festivals!

The Chicago Film Brigade
Du Festival du Court Métrage d’animation de Neufchâteau

4. I was hired for my first freelance animation job (along with the amazing Susan Chien and Brian Duffy). We will create 10-15 second animations and title sequences for this documentary:

Herskovits: A Jew at the Heart of Darkness

Some less than exciting news includes moving back to my parent's house in Beverly Ma, and working a crappy part time job at the local supermarket. Hopefully when I get back from my trip I can find some sort of full time work that doesn't involve fry-o-laters.

ECT: The Story of Two Women

2008-06-03T12:30:00.000-07:00

ECT: The Story of Two Women from Laura Piraino on Vimeo.

World Premier!

2008-05-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my degree project! It screened on Friday at the Mass Art animation show. I was a bit nervous because the women whose personal stories I portrayed in the film were both in the audience seeing it for the first time. It went over really well and I had an awesome time celebrating all of the great films that my classmates have made this year. To the right is a picture of me with some of the people I interviewed for my film. My grandmother as well as Kitty and Mike Dukakis.

Into the light......

2008-04-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

I'm finally in the end stages of my degree project!! Sound, Titles, and nit picky editing. I haven't posted in awhile because I decided to reshoot the entire project. It wasn't exactly fun but I'm glad I did it. The colors look way better this time. I also spent some time messing around with watercolors under the camera and came up with this for the shock scene and titles.

Animator for hire!

2008-04-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

My degree project is due in all too the near future, graduation is rapidly approaching, and I'm getting ready to apply for jobs. In portfolio class, we're working on business cards, postcards,and DVD's to give out. My teacher Dave Schlafman helped me pimp out my designs with some textures and fun fonts. I like.

2008-03-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I convinced my dad to help me paint this scene.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about it

Spring Break

2008-03-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

While other college students are running around drunk on the warm sandy beaches of places like Cancun and Key west.. I've spent the majority of my spring break deep inside Massart tower, locked up in the cold windowless animation classroom. woe is me.

I'm incredibly close to finishing the flash animation for my Degree Project. I've started to print, cut out, punch holes, etc so I can start painting..no small task as my animation is

5 minutes long = 3,600 frames. Even though I have some amazing underclassmen that have signed up to help me I'm still wondering how I'm going to pull it all off.

Heres a clip of some of the flash animation (for your viewing pleasure)

Cards

2008-03-02T08:24:00.000-08:00

I've been working on my business card designs for my shameless self promotion campaign (aka portfolio). I think these are ok. I like the chickadee because it matches my montage, but I'm thinking I might color it with real art supplies instead of on the computer. Same with the animated intro I made. Although its a major pain, I think I'll probably print it out, color it (with colored pencils?) and shoot it.

Chickadee

2008-02-22T16:57:00.001-08:00

Today was a snow day! My class was cancelled so I spent the entire day curled up on the couch animating on my laptop. I made this intro for my montage. I think it needs color, but I have sooo much other work to do (degree project.. blegh) there probably won't be time.

Happy President's Day!

2008-02-18T17:08:00.001-08:00

I really have nothing to say....

2008-02-16T08:13:00.001-08:00

Well I guess its good we're required to write on this thing. If we weren't it may have already landed up like one of the diaries I attempted to keep as a kid. I would write in it for about 2 days and then totally forget about it or lose the key. I was probably too busy trying to eat gummy worms with a mouth full of braces.

Montage (1st Draft)

2008-02-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

Bits and pieces of all the animations I've made at MassArt.
Set to the tune of "coffee in the pot" by Supergrass.

Eww I hate how Blogger makes my work look all fuzzy.

work work work

2008-02-04T16:55:00.000-08:00

So I'm in my last semester at Mass Art and this blog is a requirement for the portfolio class I'm taking. It's a good class - all about finding work as animators. I often find myself feeling really unsure about my work and lack the ego and confidence to show it off. Unfortunately it seems finding success in the animation world involves a lot of shameless self promotion and networking eeeeek!

Anyways... I posted the PSA I made last semester for Food Not Bombs. I had a lot fun animating two of my favorite things: bug eyed creatures and delicious food. Soon it will be up on their website!

My degree project is completely different in every way. Its a serious documentary style animation on the subject of Electroconvulsive therapy. I've spent the past few months interviewing people and editing 4 hours of audio into 4 minutes. Now I'm creating the visuals in flash, printing out the frames, and painting them with watercolor. It's really wearing me down especially since absurdist humor and bug eyed characters are off limits with this type subject matter. oh well... there's no turning back now. Heres a clip:

Food Not Bombs!

2008-01-31T19:34:00.001-08:00