Blank: A Vinylmation Love Story is a stop-motion short-film by Vinylmation and Disney Interactive. The project was first announced at the 2013 D23 Expo. The film is created by Gino Roy, Paul Foyder, Greg Shewchuk, Mike Ambs, and Whitfield Scheidegger, with original music composed by Alfred Montejano. The film premiered on February 14, 2014 on Google Play. It played as a double-feature with Lady and the Tramp at the El Capitan Theater in LA on Valentine's Day. Disney Interactive later released Cranes in Love online.
Synopsis
In search of his lost soulmate, an unpainted Vinylmation finds himself on a quest that alters the destiny of his entire world. Blank is an epic adventure in miniature scale, a completely original, heartwarming love story filmed entirely in practical stop motion.
Production and Music
Blank: A Vinylmation Love Story had an extremely small production team, made up of five writer/directors, Mike Ambs, Paul Foyder, Regino Roy III, Whitfield Scheidegger, and Greg Shewchuk, with just a few extra crew members. The creation of the sets and props used throughout the film, as well as the writing and directing, was a collaborative effort. All of their work fit into a single small studio space in Burbank, CA, where even the score was produced in-house by composer Alfred Montejano. “At various points in the project, we had one or two animators assisting us, and then depending on the need we would occasionally bring in a gaffer, or an animation and character design technical consultant. It is a remarkably small team to achieve something of this size.” Matt Wyatt, Creative Director, commented.
The process that went into creating Blank: A Vinylmation Love Story, all started in 2012 when the creators put together a short presentation exploring a story they had been tossing around with each other. “From there we started showing that to people. It had so much heart and creativity, and people were really into it, that it became a much bigger venture at that point. From there the creators got together and started brainstorming, and breaking the story into the pieces it would ultimately become: a much more epic adventure and love story.” explained Wyatt.
Production ran for about 160 days and the team even kept a flip-clock towards the end of production. “The characters and the locations and the props were all hand-crafted under the direction of the directors and production designer. The attention to detail was incredible and all of the guys are really amazing about taking raw materials and making them into things that really come to life. There’s some incredible instances of taking everyday objects and turning them into these mystical worlds.”