HEATWAVE - Animated Short Film

Congratulations to everyone at the Heatwave team! The film has been staff picked @vimeo . Thank you for choosing our film! Go watch it now with the link at the bio!! #vimeostaffpick #vimeo #heatwaveanimation #nfts #animation #stopmotion #claymation #heatwave #nfts

Experimenting with Super sculpey @sculpey_official gave me the opportunity to develop the unique look of the film. The idea was to recreate what I was making digitally on the multiplaner; having flexible “handrawn” pieces with raw sculpey and fixed detailed ones as baked parts. I needed to focus on the characters. Splitting them in different layers gave me the opportunity to give depth and complexity to the movement. Green screen made that possible for me! #heatwaveanimation #heatwave #animation #sculpey #greenscreen #instaart #stopmotion #puppet #claymation #cutout #fly #flyswatter #behindthescenes

A little French boy at a Q&A asked me through a 60 year old Lady Translator: “Why do you have a naked man in your film?” 😳 After an awkward pause I answered “Because even though I am 30 now I still like silly things😅. Did you laugh when you saw him?” “Oh Yes! It was the best part of the film! 😁” @poitiersfilmfestival #heatwaveanimation #heatwave #animation #stopmotion #towel #swimsuit #penis #naked #beach #summer #claymation #loop #exposed #akward #instaart #instagood

Bucket boy was the loop that we figured out how to translate drawings to flat cutout pieces! It is the only loop I tried to make the puppet work with paper just to test how hard would it be to animate. Here are some more photos of the process. In addition our DOP @brendenfreedman and lead model maker @thanos_kantzavelos convinced me to make the backgrounds physical dioramas! This was our blueprint for the rest of the film! #heatwaveanimation #heatwave #animationstopmotion #behind thescenes #claymation #rostrumcamera #bucket #sandcastle #nfts

The cool thing about beach racket is that it is a cooperative sport. The bad thing is that not all people can cooperate! This idea came from people being a bit too eager to play but sucking at it. The first concept had another character taking the ball to the face while reading a book. We decided that three characters on screen was quite a lot for the rhythmic nature of the film. Me and @stellaheathkeir knew this loop would be perfect to set the rhythmic nature of the ‘heat’ scene. Here is the whole process from concept to the rostrum animation! #heatwaveanimation #heatwave #rackets #beach #summer #claymation #beachsports #stopmotion #puppet #frame #instaart #loop #summer #tennis #tennis🎾

Fantastic news! Heatwave will be screened at kiddomatic virtual film festival at Roxy Theatre Montana! Thank you to the festival and everyone involved! #heatwaveanimation #heatwave #animation #stopmotion #festivals #kiddomatic #missoula #montana #children

Heatwave is all about loops! Here is the process to make the flat puppets. From concept, to @apostolakesalexandros amazing animation and finally to the construction of the replacement pieces and tests. #heatwaveanimation #heatwave #animation #puppet #flat #icecream #drip #girl #lick #stopmotion #claymation #supersculpey #ovenbakedclay #plastecine

Heatwave premieres online @shortoftheweek ! SUMMER IS NEVER OVER! Share to keep the SUMMER GOING! /2020/08/31/heatwave/ Thank you to the fantastic people Shortoftheweek for handling our Online premiere! it has been a fantastic Festival tour that will keep going for a little more. However we believed it would be the best time to keep the summer lingering a bit longer in peoples minds. A Huge thanks goes to the excellent team that made heatwave possible of course! Animated and Directed by Fokion Xenos @fokion.xenos Written by Fokion Xenos and Stella Heath Keir Edited by Stella Heath Keir @stellaheathkeir Cinematography by Brenden Freedman @brendenfreedman Produced by Priya K. Dosanjh @onemorewish Music by Andreas Gutuen Aaser @aasercomposer Sound Design by Kevin Langhamer @kevlanji Model Making by Thanos Katzavelos @thanos_kantzavelos Production Design by Antonio Niculae @antonio_niculae Character Design and Additional Animation Alexandros Apostolakis @apostolakesalexandros Colour by Liz Glennard Production Assistants Amy Veracombe Pia Kaiser Sets and Props by Harry Saxon Thanos Kantzavelos Animation & Modelmaking Assistants Georgie Beattie George Carman Lottie Buchanan Matte Paintings by Stefanos Pletsis Graphics & Titles Christos Panagiotou Keying & Compositing Max Murray Daniel Quirke Production Co - Ordinator Alessandra Gonella Marketing & Publicity Executive Alexandre Ermakov Additional Props & Models Evan Nyack Gemma Byrne

Fantastic news! Heatwave wins Ancã Kids award for 2020 at @fest_anca festival at Slovakia! Thank you so much to everyone involved and all our friends there for letting us know! #heatwaveanimation #heatwave #festanca #festival #slovakia #stopmotion #animation #claymation

Really happy to screen Heatwave @goldenkuker animation festival at Sofia! Thank you to the festivals and everyone involved! #heatwaveanimation #festival #kuker #sofia #animation #stopmotion #claymation #festival

Great news! Heatwave is going to screen at @ficbueu ! Thank you to the festival and everyone involved! #heatwaveanimation #festivals #bueu #spain #animation #stopmotion #heatwave #nfts

More fantastic news! Heatwave is selected third among 121 the best animation films at @cilect , the association of film and television schools around the world! Thank you to everyone that voted for our film! @nftsfilmtv #heatwaveanimation #cilect #animation #stopmotion #nfts #claymation