One Day with My Brother Al

A few years before his death, we interviewed my grandfather about his life. During the interview we discovered many stories about his life that were new to us. One of the stories he told was about his older brother Al.

At the time of the story, my grandfather was a little boy and Al was still in high school. Told with my grandfather’s dry sense of humor, this new old story tells an amazing act of courage with a slight twist on the ending. 

Frog Prince

Frog Prince is a short poem that redirects the old adage, "kiss a frog, meet your prince."  I wanted to try and swap characters giving the agenda of the poem more meaning.  Maybe I should have called it Gay Frog Prince, because the underlying theme here is that, "someday my prince will come ... even if I have to kiss a frog".

Enjoy,
James Martin

Dragonhearted by: Rachel St.Pierre

Dragonhearted by: Rachel St.Pierre from Rachel St.Pierre on Vimeo.

This is a video collaboration between myself and the 11-Year old girl that I am honored to nanny.  The poem (authored solely by 11-Year old Anjali) was inspired by a conversation we shared on the topic of authenticity and growing up.

GENESIS: A Pop Stop-Motion Creation Poem

GENESIS: A Pop Stop-Motion Creation Poem

A modern take on the creation narrative, 

this icon-filled film brings life to brands and pop-items that make consumers come alive. 

This work colorfully illustrates the moving cycles of consumption 

and the energizing, yet fleeting qualities of our pleasures. 

It acts as a metaphor to humanity's greater impression on earth.

Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10G0Dao2NKo&feature=youtu.be

Music Copyright License: 

"Adventure, Darling" by Gillicuddy is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Germany License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/de/

Gun Fun

"Every day, eight American children are killed by guns."

Children can be easily affected by their environment, their friends, and especially their parents. They learn by watching people interact with the world and take it as a model of their behavior. Our video reflects how powerful a gun or other violence could be to change a child’s life, even if they don’t witness the actual violence.

Blake storyboard

Moving image poem

Script: The clip will be about a child's ideals of what she believes to be peace within her environment.

This is a poem written by my friends daughter. She is 7 years old and wrote this poem in response to a class assignment titled: How to create change in your environment. She wrote about peace and her hopes for the world she lives in in poem form. Her older sister will be playing a violin tune that she had created and I will use art to create images that will bring the poem to life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA4xMaVmk1Y

RachelSt.Pierre Storyboad

Script

My project is entitled “Dragon Song”.  The animation is based on a poem written by the 11 year old girl that I nanny for.  The poem is inspired by the influence I have had on her as a mentor and the impact she has had on me as a young, innovative girl.  The main theme of the poem focuses on the infinite power and potential of freethinking passionate of young women.  I will be using lots of paper throughout the animation in cutout form, origami and paper dolls.  

Production Plan

I will shooting this film on a Cannon rebel camera and using a desk lamp for fill lighting.  I am using props such as origami, paper cutouts (hearts, text and backgrounds) and these gorgeous paper dolls that I purchased on Etsy. (Examples Shown Below)  I will be using the SAM animation studio and attaching my camera to a USB cord. I prefer to use the SAM software because I love the onion skin it provides to help with continuity.  Since I am shooting more than one “scene” I will be uploading all the footage onto iMovie and doing the final edit on there.  

URL Example

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06dAqSFn1lk