A Pumpkin Pan

Over the last month or two we've been moving house back to the USA, and feverishly finishing up the text, and gathering image with the fine folks at Chronicle books for the upcoming "The Noble Approach: Maurice Noble and the Zen of Animation Design." And thus have been unable to create many new posts. As of today, all the material is in the hands of the publisher... and the lights in our house turn on.

While unpacking I came across an old scene from one of my short films "The Pumpkin Of Nyefar."  I'd always wanted to try a super long pan of a countryside with sheep. Pumpkin provided the perfect opportunity. The above is a scan of a reference printout which is 2 inches (5.08 cm) tall... and 6 feet (182.9 cm) long.  The shot itself is a massive 3 seconds long.

The end of the pan goes from the fertile fields of the rich prince, to the more desolate dunes of his true love... Violet the Pumpkin. A three week trip to Turkey provided the main inspiration for the landscapes of the film.