Wednesday, January 16th

Dearest Investors,

Thank you for supporting my thesis film, Day By Day. Your contributions and dialogue have been much appreciated. I’m sorry to say, but this project is a little more complicated than I thought it would be. Moving large puppets around and animating them in unpredictable weather is proving to be too tough, and I’m in danger of not completing the requirements of my thesis on time. This project is at a point in time where I need to come up with a more practical way of accomplishing it.

Originally, the main idea of the film was to animate life-sized puppets in real-world settings, which would bring animation closer to the “real world” for the audience, and compliment the film’s theme of fabrication versus nature. Many of you have invested money in this film expecting to see just that… I was planning on bringing the giant puppets out to the shoot locations. In the interest of getting this project completed in time, I have decided to animate the puppets on green screen and composite them into time-lapsed environments, instead. Daylight is a fleeting medium.

Rest assured, your investments have been used only in the creation of Day By Day. I’ve been saving the receipts! If you feel disappointed by this change in production, please let me know, and we can talk about it. I’m still planning on distributing the rewards as they were described on the Kickstarter page.

Thank you for understanding, and for your continued support.

Anna Whistler
Student, RIT SoFA
(908)334-3167
annatheanimator@gmail.com

Hello everyone!

I've completed the deer puppet and taken it out for a test shot this morning. Here's a screenshot from the shoot: http://annatheanimator.tumblr.com/tagged/anna-w%27s-thesis

The video will be up in a few days at the most. I have to mask myself and the rig out of it. 

There's also an older photo there of the deer before I put the fabric on. 

What do you guys think? annatheanimator@gmail.com

Hello again!

I've got all my deer legs built (last week!) and am now pouring the foam for the ribcages, heads, and pelvic bones. There are photos on the tumblr page:

http://annatheanimator.tumblr.com/tagged/anna-w%27s-thesis

I've been making a lot of claims about getting things done earlier than was possible. I tend to promise too much, and put unrealistic pressure on myself. Now that I'm back in RIT, my thesis adviser Charles Bandla is helping me pace better. I'm working on the deer first because they're the largest and most expensive facet of the project. By the end of Fall quarter (shortly before Thanksgiving), I will have an animatic and all of the puppets built, plus a test shot of the deer walking outdoors. Filming will take place in Winter quarter. 

Thanks again for your continued interest. If you have any questions, feel free to message me on Kickstarter or email me directly at annatheanimator@gmail.com.

Thank you!