The final Garbage Monster Video!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tom Knight is moving to Northampton!
You may have heard a rumor about me. It’s true! I’ll be moving from Ithaca, NY to Northampton, MA on August 1st, 2009. Photos from a recent trip.
Why am I moving? I'm still working on the answer to this question. Basically, I feel like I need a change in my life. It will be 24 years in August since I arrived. It's been a great town, but I feel like I've done everything I want to do here. I want to shake up my life, meet new people, write new songs, find new collaborators. I'm already talking to a puppeteer I hope to collaborate with and create an entirely new puppet show.
Why Northampton? Once I started thinking about moving, the question was, where should I go? I love the East Coast - the seasons. I don't want to cut myself off completely from Ithaca by moving very far away.
I looked around Boston, where I have friends and relatives, but didn't really find any place that felt like "home." A good friend suggested I might like Northampton, so I decided to visit. When I got there and walked along the street, I felt my heart racing. It just felt exciting and new, yet familiar. This is a place I want to be!
It's a town full of artists, musicians, students, cafes, theaters, and liberal politics. It seems like there are many like-minded people there. Even though I don’t really know anyone there yet, it feels like I can easily make new friends.
From a career perspective, I think it's a good move because Boston and other cities are close by. I'll have easy access to new performing venues.
I plan to continue doing shows in Ithaca and central New York, since it's only about 5 hours away, but I'll try to put all the shows together in a tour. Some of my Ithaca fans might not even know I've left.
In the meantime, I’ve started booking shows in Northampton, and made some great professional contacts. It seems like no one else in Northampton is doing exactly the kind of thing I do, so I should be a welcome addition to the landscape.
So far, everything has been going incredibly smoothly. The people I've met have been really inspiring, and feel like kindred spirits.
There's a lot I will miss about Ithaca. But I am very excited to try this new adventure. Thanks for your support and encouragement!
Sincerely, Tom Knight
Monday, December 15, 2008
The Elephant's Lullaby on Yahoo Video
This is a high quality version of the video from Yahoo.
The Elephant's Lullaby
The Elephant's Lullaby
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Elephant's Lullaby Online Now!
The Elephant's Lullaby is now up and running on the web!
The Elephant's Lullaby (Flash Animation Version)
Click on the monkey's face where is says "Watch this Movie!"
I'm hoping it will be on YouTube later today!
- Tom
The Elephant's Lullaby (Flash Animation Version)
Click on the monkey's face where is says "Watch this Movie!"
I'm hoping it will be on YouTube later today!
- Tom
Saturday, November 1, 2008
The Elephant's Lullaby Intro
Here's the intro from the Elephant's Lullaby Cartoon. That's me there on the left, with Marika the monkey. I'm teaching the motions to the song.
Artists - Liz McLelland, Wright Rickman, Chris Davidson.
Artists - Liz McLelland, Wright Rickman, Chris Davidson.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
3rd day of filming
We didn't get all the shots we needed from the exterior film shoot with the Garbage Monster on Oct. 10th, so we needed to come back and shoot a few more things. On Oct. 22nd, we went back to my friend Mihal's house to film the ending of the story.
I was a a bit worried that the yard wouldn't look the same. The temperature had gotten much colder, and leaves had fallen off of trees. Things can change fast this time of year.
Luckily, it didn't look too different, in the dark and with the lights set up.
A few things were different about this shoot. It was much colder - about 35 degrees Fahrenheit. On Oct. 10th, I think it was probably about 60 degrees.
The other thing that was different was that Steve Yale-Loehr was not able to be the Garbage Monster again. After asking around a little bit, we couldn't find a suitable replacement. I decided I would try to fill the Garbage Monster's Ginger Ale Shoes myself!
I'm a little shorter than Steve, but I thought it wouldn't be too noticeable. I knew that the original King Kong movie used models that had very different scales from one scene to the next, so that the Gorilla would appear to be 40 feet tall in one scene, and 25 feet tall in another. A couple inches shouldn't make much difference in this case.
It took about 30 minutes to get the costume on. We weren't sure exactly where all the stuff went, but used our best guess. I think when you watch the video, it will be fun to see how the tomato container is on the right arm in one scene, but on the left arm in the scene. But on the other hand, it's supposed to be a pile of garbage. Cans can shift around in a pile of garbage, right?
Erin arrived, all bundled up, and we began shooting. The first thing we did was a chase scene. I chased Erin. Then we switched, and she chased me. I could only see a little out of one eye, so it was a bit challenging. Also, the mask covered my mouth, so I couldn't breathe very well either.
Later, we needed to shoot a scene of the garbage monster emerging from the trash can. Since Erin was small enough to fit in the can, we asked her to put the mask on. She did great!
The final scene was the garbage monster walking down the driveway. Again, Erin was the Garbage Monster. We put the mask on her, and dressed her in an oversize garbage bag, and filmed her walking away from the camera, down the driveway.
We wrapped at 9:15 PM - an early night compared to last time!
We still have a few more shots to catch, but they are interior shots. Then the editing will begin!
I was a a bit worried that the yard wouldn't look the same. The temperature had gotten much colder, and leaves had fallen off of trees. Things can change fast this time of year.
Luckily, it didn't look too different, in the dark and with the lights set up.
A few things were different about this shoot. It was much colder - about 35 degrees Fahrenheit. On Oct. 10th, I think it was probably about 60 degrees.
The other thing that was different was that Steve Yale-Loehr was not able to be the Garbage Monster again. After asking around a little bit, we couldn't find a suitable replacement. I decided I would try to fill the Garbage Monster's Ginger Ale Shoes myself!
I'm a little shorter than Steve, but I thought it wouldn't be too noticeable. I knew that the original King Kong movie used models that had very different scales from one scene to the next, so that the Gorilla would appear to be 40 feet tall in one scene, and 25 feet tall in another. A couple inches shouldn't make much difference in this case.
It took about 30 minutes to get the costume on. We weren't sure exactly where all the stuff went, but used our best guess. I think when you watch the video, it will be fun to see how the tomato container is on the right arm in one scene, but on the left arm in the scene. But on the other hand, it's supposed to be a pile of garbage. Cans can shift around in a pile of garbage, right?
Erin arrived, all bundled up, and we began shooting. The first thing we did was a chase scene. I chased Erin. Then we switched, and she chased me. I could only see a little out of one eye, so it was a bit challenging. Also, the mask covered my mouth, so I couldn't breathe very well either.
Later, we needed to shoot a scene of the garbage monster emerging from the trash can. Since Erin was small enough to fit in the can, we asked her to put the mask on. She did great!
The final scene was the garbage monster walking down the driveway. Again, Erin was the Garbage Monster. We put the mask on her, and dressed her in an oversize garbage bag, and filmed her walking away from the camera, down the driveway.
We wrapped at 9:15 PM - an early night compared to last time!
We still have a few more shots to catch, but they are interior shots. Then the editing will begin!
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