The Stubborn Sprout
A 12-second claymation short in three shots: a clay gardener tries everything to make a droopy seedling stand up, and it blooms the moment he gives up.
A tiny clay gardener tries water, then a twig to prop it up, then pleading, and the seedling flops every time. He gives up and turns his back, and behind him it bursts into one big orange flower. The Wavemaker agent made it from a short brief: three shots on one tabletop set, held on twos like hand-animated stop-motion, with clay foley and a light music bed.
To make your own, describe the character, the goal and the shots. Here the agent made reference pictures of the gardener from the front, side and back, the pot before and after the bloom, the watering can and the empty set before any shot, built every shot's start and end frames from them, and kept the can where it was set down for the rest of the film. It scored the music to land on the bloom and the jaw drop, then reviewed the finished file. The download holds the finished film.
How this example was made
- Made reference pictures first The gardener from three sides, the pot before and after the bloom, the can and the empty set.
- Built each shot from them Each shot ran between a designed first and last frame, so the plant, the set and the can stay the same.
- Animated on twos New frames twelve times a second, each held for two, with the clay foley generated with each take.
- Scored the twist A light pizzicato, ukulele and marimba cue bursts on the bloom and lands its button on the jaw drop.
- Reviewed and revised Given a full review of picture, sound and the brief, then revised on the owner's notes until the framing held steady through the last shot.
Real and generated. Generated: the gardener, the set, the motion, the foley and the music.
Known limit. Shots 2 and 3 play slightly fast (1.18x) to fit 12 seconds, and the brim of his hat touches the frame edge for a few frames around 4.2 s.