Making <em>Havoc</em>: A Stop Motion-Sci Fi Epic

With three out of five of this year's Academy Award nominees for best animated feature being Frankenweenie, The Pirates! and ParaNorman, I am happy to report that stop-motion is alive and well, having cemented its place in the competitive animation landscape. With that in mind, I feel the time is right to push the medium further and explore an arena previously untouched by stop-motion animation – the action/adventure genre. Havoc will potentially be the first film of its kind, a stop-motion action film...but who is Havoc?

Havoc is a lone warrior, forced into battle against a legion of vicious mutants. At stake: his survival AND the fate of humankind! Part human, part genetic mutation, Havoc is a man at odds with the brutal, post-apocalyptic landscape he calls home. He’s an underdog you can’t help but root for, a hero who won’t truly succeed until learns to embrace his own humanity. Havoc is everything that I love about stop-motion animation – incredible detail, rich storytelling, kick-ass characters. It’s the culmination of a dream of mine that spans decades.

To realize this dream I’ve recently launched a Kickstarter campaign [1]. Investment in this project will go towards the production of a three minute film which will introduce Havoc, the character, as well as the tone and visual style of the world he lives in. Once complete, this “proof of concept” film will be shopped to studios in order to secure a backer for a feature length version of the film. As I am essentially breaking new ground in stop-motion animation -- inventing a world and characters that are totally unique -- the short film will be essential in allowing studio execs to visualize the movie.

I’ve been in the business long enough to know that creating something new and different is never easy but always worth it. So if you love stop-motion animation as much as I do, or you're a Celebrity Deathmatch fan, or maybe you just get excited about being part of something wholly original, (or all of the above!) then please support HAVOC!