Channel Frederator Blog

Eben Zboch, director of “Walter’s Bed”, tells us a little about his Oren Lavie inspired stop-motion short.

Channel Frederator: Where did you get your animation education?

Eben Zboch: At a young age, my animation education began as trial and error. As I got older, I began to realize what I was doing and gained a passion for animation and film. I am now taking classes at my local community college on film and I am applying what I learn to my newer films.

CF: Who or what has influenced your work the most?

EZ: I am influenced by films and studying them helps me progress in my work. A local animator here in Charlotte , John Lemmon, who has worked on many commercials, has been a mentor and friend in my progression.

CF: How did you develop the concept for this film?

EZ: I developed the concept of this film through studies of a music video by the musician Oren Lavie. I found the techniques in the video fascinating and wanted to try them out for myself.

CF: Does using a human body with stop-motion animation pose any problems during production?

EZ: A lot of aches and pains. I would have to keep certain parts of my body not supported for long periods of time. Through three days of shooting, exact reposition played a key roll in the production. Onion skinning played a big part in this also.

CF: If that’s you in the video, who was manning the camera?

EZ: I had my “mom” press the enter key on Stop Motion Pro, as I would move the blanket between each frame whether it was behind me or under me. She then would look at the onion skin and tell me weather to lift my head, hand, or leg (my 3 main problems) off the bed, that’s when I would tell her to click the picture. That would go on for several hundred frames at 12.5 fps. Sure, it’s not generic but it runs smooth….

After that I put it in Final Cut and finished it off by adding the song “Carlos Walter Wendy Stanley” by The Chap.

CF: Are you working on any new projects you can tell us about?

EZ: The current video you saw will be put into my reel and portfolio for presentation to the North Carolina School of Arts, which I am in the process of applying for. Film wise, I am working on a live action zombie short entitled, Exponential Zombies and I am starring in a film called, Relax.

Thank you, Eben!

You can watch Eben’s short film “Walter’s Bed” right here on Channel Frederator!

-Bailee DesRocher