8 Hats High Animation & Production Blog of Stuff

CASTING CALL PART 2 !!!

2011-10-19T10:45:00.001-07:00

**click on the flyer below for more info**

Orange County Partnership 2011 Tour Highlights

2011-06-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

What an exciting day for 8 Hats High! Here are some highlights behind the scenes for the Orange County Partnership's 2011 Broker Tour...

Orange County Partnership: Celebrating their 25 Year

Setting up the Equipment

It was a good day. :)

Orange County Partnerships Virtual Tour | TH-Record

2011-06-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we launched a project we completed for OC Partnership. Take a look at the press they recieved...

Congrats Everyone.

Times Harold Record Article

Special Thanks to all that worked on this project. You all Rock.

8 Hats High Casting Call!!!

2011-06-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

Accepting submissions all week long, send in or contact at any time! Mon-Friday 9:00 am - 7:00pm

8 Hats High is shooting a small commercial and are looking for 6 main characters. Please view description and if you or someone you know might be interested please contact me: sonha@hatshigh.com *female child (6-8 yrs. old)
*male child (3-5 yrs. old)
*female (30 yrs. old)
*male (mid- 30's)
*female (elderly)
*male (elderly)
A few notes:
- keep in mind that the female child needs to be very articulate, she will be the main actor of the commercial.
-we prefer to have the talents live close by in and the surrounding orange county ny and hudson valley area (just looking out for the commuters, don't want you guys driving far, but if you're still interested... come on down!).
-this is for a non-for- profit group. :-)
-please submit a headshot with contact information, reliable e-mail is acceptable, no facebook - sorry :-(.... and height info.
-headshot photos do not have to be professional, as long as it's a frontal photo to where the face can be clearly seen would be great! at least a 3 month old photo so it's current.
-any changes in photos should be addressed ie: you had curly hair 3 months ago and now you have dreads... please note that ;-) it might or might not work for our client, you never know..
-we are looking for a diverse group of talent, so no matter what size, age, race or height you are... send over some headshots!
-we know you want to do it, so whether you want to hang out with the 8 Hats High Animation staff for a week, have bragging rights, or want to build a portfolio, send in your headshot. It's a great portfolio builder being that this is for a non-for-profit group, so you will be contributing time to a good cause and gain some face time in the process! either way... you're a winner!

it's the summer time, come do something different! Visiting some relatives for the summer in Orange County and baby cousins getting on your nerves? Send in a headshot. just do it.
- sonha@8hatshigh.com

Designed Around You Commercial

2011-05-26T18:51:00.000-07:00

Orange Regional Medical Center's new hospital is set to open in the summer of 2011. With the design of the hospital based around the needs of their patients, this animated commercial highlights some of the exciting new services coming to the region.

for more information, check out:
www.ormcnewhospital.com

Orange County Partnership's New Website Design

2011-05-12T06:27:00.000-07:00

8 Hats High had the privilege of designing Orange County Partnership's new website which launched today. Teaming up with Belsito Communication to program the site, the website not only boosts the Partnership into todays technology with its new design and functionality, but it has, by far one of the best databases for local business in Orange County.

Please don't be shy - visit them at www.ocpartnership.org and see it for yourself.

EVENTS are happening for sure!

2011-05-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone -

Just dropping a quick line to say that we are ALIVE... The factory is in full production :)

There have been some exciting deliveries that we are about to release into the wild. check back for more updates and events.

We are preparing.... stay tuned.

Stoutridge Vineyard 2D Logo Animation

2011-04-21T14:11:00.000-07:00

StoutRidge Animation

2011-04-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

Animation:

8 Hats High Animation is looking for parents!!!

2011-04-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

8 Hats High is working on a local television commercial for a project that requires a loving, caring family to stand in the foreground of a 3D animated background. There are no dialogues involved, just put on your best and smile! These are the the players that we are looking for: Two adults, 1 male and 1 female in their 30's to early 40's. They are going to play the role of husband and wife holding a child and smiling. And... scene! If you are interested or know someone with a winning smile and wants to be a parent for an hour, please contact Sonha Bowen with head shots and resume at: Sonha@8hatshigh.com Thank you in advanced future family and we will see you soon! Please e-mail at info above for further information.

Creating a welcoming website.

2011-03-01T18:40:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to another exciting blog post :). We recently wrapped up on a Timelapse style animation for the Federation of Jewish Men's Club. And now without further a-DO - the finished project.

Enjoy!!

For more information regarding the video above, please visit www.fjmc.org

8 Hats High's Open Studio Event

2010-10-14T15:38:00.000-07:00

8 Hats High Will be open to the public October 16th - October 17th 11:00am - 5:00pm as part of Orange County Arts Council's OPEN STUDIO TOUR. We will display how animation is created for cartoons as well as demonstrate our motion capture stage. All is welcome to come by.

See you there.

Lawyerbid.com Commercials

2010-10-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

8 Hats High animated 4x :15 second spots for lawyerbid.com.

Credits: Love Advertising (Creative), Ell Creative (Production / Sound Design), John Grimaldi Jr. (Animation Producer / Animator), Dan Madia (Character Design / Storyboards), Phillip Krauss (Animator), John Stoltz (Clean-up Artist), Lianna Alberg (Digital Artist), Kyle Bennington (Compositor).

United Way's Imagine: Production Photos / Before and After

2010-09-22T01:30:00.000-07:00

8 Hats High was contacted by the United Way of Orange County to enhance their new marketing campaign for 2011. They were looking for us to produce a commercial that represented how donations were used in the community as well as incorporate an aspect from the donator's perspective. We were given a quick debriefing on what it means to "Live United" and immediately - we began the brainstorming process and came up with some great ideas. Once we solidified an idea we were happy with, we presented it to the United Way and followed it up by creating a rough storyboard animatic.

[ Rough Animatic ]

This gave everyone a good sense of how it felt and look before filming were to began.

Once approved....we assembled our team, scouted locations, cast the talent and we were off.

We decided the best format to shoot this project on was the Canon 5D Mark ii. (what a great camera). We broke out the cranes, steady cam's and the slate. :)

In the wee hours of the morning (6:30am) we set up our first scene on Saturday August 14th.

Our actors remained calm, cool and collected in the hot blazing sun. From Beacon to Chester, Middletown then Pinebush...

We worked our pants off!

[ our crew hard at work... ]

We setup a Green Screen in various locations for compositing reasons.. but as the day grew later, the wind started to pick up. So, we did the best thing we could... we made Phil and Kyle anchors. They were great at it.

[Arrr... Anchor away Maytey]

This scene was broken into 2 different sets. First we filmed the big reveal with nothing but a green screen, the actor and a fence. Second was shot in another location so we can recreate a graduation. [See the Breakdown is below for before and after]

We finished the Day off in Pine Bush around 6pm.... The follow day we filmed the remaining scenes of the spot.

Sunday, At New Paltz, NY - we had quite a challenge in front of us. We had to create a graduation scene, but all we had was approximately 7 extras that showed up.

[our graduates!]

So, we began and made magic happen.... (This was going to be some hardcore coordination)

and from that... after setting up the green screens, prepping the extras, playing musical chairs, eating pizza, drinking redbull and watching the rain turn on turn off... We made it all come together. Check out the 2 clips below for the Before and After.

[Before and After]

We finished out the rest of the remaining video in our studio in middletown, NY.

THEN....

yAAAAAAy! that's a wrap!

We moved right into a few weeks of Compositing, Animation and Finalizing the Music.

8 Hats High is so excited to be a part of the Live United Campaign. It was truly an amazing experience! We really appreciate the patience and traveling that our actors had to do, standing out in the baking heat and our second day shoot - standing out in the rain and being ordered around! Thank you so much everyone for being the "magic" of our project! We also would like to give our "magicians" a big hand for putting this all together. Our crew did an incredible job with equipment, travel, weather and intense last minute situations, you guys all rocked!

United way - Give where you live.

2010-09-22T01:00:00.000-07:00

This was a poster that we designed for the United Way. Theres no place like home, Give where you live.

3D Models

2010-09-21T15:11:00.001-07:00

Orange Regional Medical Center: New Hospital

2010-09-21T07:51:00.000-07:00

Orange Regional Medical Center from Johnny G Junior on Vimeo.

Motion Capture Tests

2010-07-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

Finkelstein and Partners

2010-07-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

These Finkelstein and Partners commercials we animated won a NORI Award

Motion Capture Complete: Common Health.

2010-03-01T07:55:00.000-08:00

8 Hats High completed motion capture work for Common Health. Working with Common health was such a pleasure. It is always great working with such creative people.

We are excited how everything came together. Please visit Common Health's website to see the final product. Great work Common Health.

http://www.commonhealth.com/

8 Hats High New Look

2009-11-25T14:54:00.000-08:00

Getting Ready for a New Year and a New LOOK.

Rising Star Award

2009-11-25T14:43:00.000-08:00

On November 19, John Grimaldi Jr. (8 Hats High) Recieved an Award presented by Orange County Chamber of Commerces as a "Rising Star" in our County.

These awards recognizes individuals between the ages of 21 and 40 who are up-and-coming leaders in their professional and volunteer lives. Nominees must live, work or volunteer in Orange county. Selection is based on the individual's professional and volunteer activities, demonstrated leadership and the impact the mominee has had on his/her organization or community.

Thank you to Junior League of Orange County, Leadership Orange and the Orange County Chamber of Commerces and the Arts Council of Orange County for recongnizing John Grimaldi Jr. and 8 Hats High. It truely is a honor.

8 Hats High @ Clio Healthcare Awards

2009-11-18T14:26:00.000-08:00

On November 13th, 8 Hats High had the privilage of joining our client (Commonhealth) at the first annual Clio Healthcare Awards . We were asked to setup a mini version of our Motion Capture Stage (thanks to Organic Motion) so that people could experience the process of creating there new Stick figure campaign. Their campaign is set to launch this December.

It was such a great time and our booth that we setup was a hit.

Thanks to Orangic Motion, Dominic, , Phil, Kyle and Commonhealth. It was a huge success.

Summer Workshop 2009

2009-03-26T08:17:00.001-07:00

Its that time of year again.... Time to figure out what to do with all the free summer time. Well heres a thought... JOIN US for our 2009 Traditional Animation Workshop. We will be opening our studio up to young artist from the ages of 13 - 18 who want to learn the fundementals of animation. if you would like to learn more about our workshop, please check out our website for more detail.

http://www.8hatshigh.com

School House Rock :)

2009-02-11T13:59:00.000-08:00

SAVE THE OCEAN - that ones the best one. You will see :) !!!!!!

:}

Chroma Key Is Now... OPEN

2008-11-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

Our Chroma Key Wall is now open to the public for rental services. To find out more...contact us for information regarding services and availability of the chroma key wall!

DeclareYourself Cartoons Complete!

2008-10-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

It is complete... :) to view the cartoons, please go to www.declareyourself.com and click to the multimedia section.

October 16, 2008
Skool House Rock "I Voted Sticker"

October 6, 2008
Skool House Rock "The Vote"

Great Job to Everyone who worked on this...

Want to know more about who worked on this project and who it was for?
check out the press release...

The New York Crew Invades San Diego

2008-09-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

8 Hats High recently invaded the beautiful city of San Diego over the weekend.

We were invited for the introduction of Cindy Coleman's project: "I Know" created by Generation Next, at the San Diego Zoo, in which we created the animation for.
Check out this amazing educational system here:
www.takeprideadventurelearning.com

The Premier was a success and we were all excited to be a part of it.

We also were excited to be invited to spend the day with some friends at the San Diego Zoo.

Thank you to Cindy, Daryl, Fabio and crew for having us! We had a great time and enjoyed all that San Diego had to show us!

See you soon!

Ode to our Cyclo Wall

2008-09-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

You're dimensions are
25' X 25' X 16'
You are bigger than us
but you aren't mean

We dream of dances
in paradise with you
We lie in wait
hoping you'll be ready soon

farscapes with unicorns
it's all possible to do
sliding down rainbows
we want to do it all with you!

We can't wait any longer
so hurry up and get ready
come along with us
as we begin this journey!

We are in the final stages to completing our wall. Just one more step!

Big Eye Dummies

2008-09-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

Finally a toy thats so sick, its lovable. Big Eye Dummies is created by one of our good old friends, Dave Lipson. Dave how dare you make a great lovable toy. If only i knew more about your sewing skills, i wouldnt have thrown out those ragged old army pants of mine. congratulations on all the success. This product truely is great and best of luck in your bright toy making future.

Take a look at these great products

www.bigeyedummies.com

Declare Yourself!

2008-09-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

8 Hats High is proud to annouce our animation already in production. 2 x 2 min cartoons for DeclareYourself.com. Keep your eyes peeled for more information. Declareyourself.com ...

OH YEAH... JUST VOTE ALREADY.

Smart Communications - Animation 1 - 5

2008-09-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

More Animation created by 8 Hats High. Thanks for all the hard work everyone.

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4

Act 5

////////CREDITS ////////
8 Hats High Animation & Production, Inc.

Writer
-------------
Eric Serviss

Director/ Producer
----------------
John Grimaldi Jr

Casting/ Production Coordinator
----------------
Sonha Bowen

Background Design
----------------
Elliot Byrne

Background Painter
----------------
Rob Crump

Music Composer/ SFX
----------------
Quanah Hicks

Animation / Compositor
----------------
Kyle Bennington
Sonha Bowen
Leija Kraai
John Grimaldi Jr.

Orange County has a new look!

2008-08-01T06:51:00.001-07:00

So the truth came out -

if you step on Sonha's shoes... you better run for the hills!

Congratulations Superstar!

We've done it again - Psych!

2008-07-31T17:45:00.000-07:00

J.J. Sedelmaier Production Inc. (JJSP) and 8 Hats High team up to do it again. All new episodes |8) of lil shawn and gus are airing now. check it out.

USA NETWORK

:}

Berkeley College Animation

2008-06-05T19:07:00.000-07:00

8 Hats High is to Animate 5 x 1.5 Min cartoons focusing on educating young adults about proper Etiquette in the real world.

Stay Tooned for images and video.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for an Infinity Cyclorama Wall! Aaaaahhh!

2008-06-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

So, here we are, early summer and the weather is juuuust right to dip your feet into a cool lake on a hot day, enjoy a relaxing breeze and go boating, get a nice glowing tan at the beach, slump into a comfortable chair and read a good book while sipping on some refreshing home made lemonade, enjoy some music while relaxing under a shady tree, play hide 'n seek with your cousins, even though you are 12 years older than them and you leave to go out to eat while they're still hiding or....

build a 25x25x16 cyclorama wall in our studio. Here is proof of our progress:

The beginning stages of framing and forming the wall. The beginning stages of framing and forming the wall.

Look at that wonderfully crafted scaffold.

Under structure

Whew! This is just about done!

So far, so good. As we begin to prepare for the summer, the Cyc wall is preparing to take on 8 Hats High. Cyc should be just about ready to Keep watch upon completion and more exciting adventures of the Cyc wall!

Stay Tooned!

MoCap has arrived!!!

2008-06-02T12:41:00.000-07:00

It’s a MOCAP!

MOCAP (which in industry term is short for "motion capture") has finally arrived at 8 Hats High. The CEO of Organic Motion along with software engineers of MOCAP Stage came by on May 15^th to install our MOCAP system. It was a 2 day process to set up which was fully complete on May 16^th. Part of the system first arrived via delivery truck on the 14^th carrying 230 pounds of aluminum frames.

Setting up the frames was no problem at all.

Go Team, Go!

We had some rough times....

We had some good times...

And we had some cool times!

Motion Capture Stage does not use markers.

Stage uses lights and cameras to track a subject’s movement in real time.

MOCAP is coming!!!!

2008-03-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

Decision: After many months of heavy, sometimes even violent deliberation and careful planning.... 8 Hats High has decided to add another member to the family. Finally, towards the end of April, we will be getting our first Motion Capture Unit called Stage!
Preparation:
We have been redesigning the studio getting it prepared for the arrival of the MoCap system and alongside that, continued building our cyclorama wall which is near its completion: (if you don't believe, check out the pic below for proof)

The other side of this studio, which in total is 3200 square feet., is where our system will be placed. We are also preparing ourselves by learning new techniques and exploring the exciting innovative world that is called 3D animation. Come step into the 3D world with us, it's amazing here!
I will keep pics posted so check us out!
Arrival: Sometime after April Fools Day!

Psych Cartoon... :)

2008-01-26T10:32:00.000-08:00

J.J. Sedelmaier Production Inc (JJSP) and 8 Hats High team up to complete Animated shorts for USA Network's "Psych" called The big adventures of lil shawn and gus.

View Cartoons on usanetwork.com.

Bobby B Well - New Adventures

2008-01-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

8 Hats High creates 2 x(4 min) brand new animated adventure of "Bobby B. Well" for Moses Anshell and the Arizona Department of Health Services. Both cartoons titled "Grocery Store Adventure" and "Bobbycize!" focus on educating children how to shop healthy with mom and how to excercise while having fun. Both cartoons were also animated in both English and Spanish to reach out to a broader enviroment. You can view some other exciting activites and videos on their website www.eatwellbewell.org

Bobbycize

Grocery Store Adventure

Client: Arizona Department of Health
Agency: Moses Anshell
Animation Production: 8 Hats High Animation & Production
Director: Glen Steinmacher
Producer: John Grimaldi Jr.

Take Pride Adventure Learning

2008-01-01T10:38:00.000-08:00

8 Hats High completes animation for a new educational program called "Iread". Created by Generation Next Education, 8 Hats High was responsible for creating animation of Animals and enviroments that would help kids learn Letter recognition using shapes and sound, rhyming, segmentation, phonemic awareness, and animals from Rain forest, Africa and the San Diego Zoo.

To learn more check out their website www.takeprideadventurelearning.com

Zwinky Commercial

2007-08-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

8 Hats High directs and animates a new national commercial for Zwinky.com. This :30 second spot features lil' Mama and Jason Fox.

2007 Reel

2007-02-01T22:24:00.000-08:00