Monday, December 16, 2013

Baltimore Orioles Scoreboard Animation 2013 - New and Improved!

Stop motion and the Baltimore Orioles: Two of my favorite things in the world. Since the last time I'd created any new animated rally sequences for the JumboTron, the Orioles had come back and broken a 14-year streak of losing seasons and made it to the postseason. The new, invigorated team needed some new, invigorated animated clips and I was thrilled to lend a hand.

Finally, for the 2013 animation, I was able to use the cardboard set that was never used for the animation back in 2010. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice some little Baltimore shout-outs: a "Why Not?" sign, a small billboard for "Floyd Rayford: Attorney at Law", and other little fun details. John Sumner lead the way in building the cardboard stadium set (Oriole Park at Cardboard Yards?) and I added some little touches to it like the turf made out of dishtowels and the sequins used for stadium lights.

As much as I loved my original Bird puppet from 2010, we decided the Bird needed a makeover, too. Sumner created a new Bird, this time with shoes, a stronger armature, and a set of replacement beaks and eyelids to convey a wider range of emotions.

One of my favorite things about this new series of animated segments was getting a chance to do some prop-building. In the one, I made The Bird's jetpack from a dollar store toy truck, a couple of kazoos, and some miniature golf clubs. I went for the vintage 1980's elastic-belted uniform look:

I had fun making the Camden Yards-style brick Noise-O-Meter for this one. Check out those 1989-era birds on top!


A big thanks to all the guys at Orioles Productions for giving me the chance to put my fingerprint on a small piece of the Baltimore Orioles experience!


Looks like the fans dug the spots, too! Amazing!!

4 comments:

  1. Hi Pete, looks like someone got the above picture to you of our crabs! We got some great pictures with them at Fanfest this year with The Bird himself and Bud Norris, along with some of the minor league mascots, let me know if you want me to email the pictures, and thanks for the inspiration!

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  2. Michael, that's amazing!! I hope it's alright that I posted those pictures of you. I'd love to see the rest of the pictures. You can e-mail me at petelevin@gmail.com

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  3. PS -- working on some new animated spots this year that will hopefully be taking it to the next level!!

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  4. Everyone has always been very professional, and they make it so easy. In working with D&S Sheetmetal for over 25 years, their quality of work and attention to detail have been second high precision machining to none. With D&S, I stroll Mark or considered one of his guys through the project, even when it is typically in a conceptual stage, and it is a carried out deal. I really respect them as a associate on the tasks that I am responsible for—one less thing that really have} to fret about. Thanks for all the onerous work and dedication to quality, D&S. •For stainless steels, aluminium and titanium alloys sometimes.

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