FAQ Are you hiring staff or willing to take 'work experience' placements? No.
Are you hiring staff or willing to take 'work experience' placements? No.
Who are you? We are Spite Your Face Productions. Spite Your Face are belong to us.
What is Spite Your Face Productions? Spite Your Face Productions is a succesful London animation collective, formed to represent the talents and services of directors Tony Mines and Tim Drage. Our directors can be contacted individualy for work as freelance artists, or you can contact us directly to employ the full SYF team.
What do you do? We are a versatile unit experienced in full production of all animation forms from stop-motion to 2D, web to theatrical. If you like what you've seen here and have a project in mind, please contact us.
What don't you do? We are not a web design company, nor are we a studio accepting scripts.
Can my company hire your individual members in a freelance capacity? Please do. Be it as directors or fulfilling a range of artworker roles from animation to storyboard work, our members are always happy to be contacted with potential projects. See the contact page for details.
What's all this about lego? SYF have produced a number of high profile animated shorts for clients including Python Pictures, SONY, Lucasfilm and of course LEGO. Our films are featured on commercial DVD, in broadcast, in exhibition and print the world over - while continuing to top leading video sites after many years. You can watch the best of these films on this site, and you will also find extensive information about their production and history. Enjoy!
So can you make a lego film for my organisation? Our ongoing relationship with The LEGO Group, means that all outside lego exploits have to enjoy their cooperation at some level. But we have an open dialogue with them and it is worth contacting us about it.
How much do you guys charge for animation, lego or otherwise? We operate to competitive professional rates, so how much 'some animation' costs is dependent upon the specifics of your project. The three main considerations are man power, complexity of work, and practical costs. If you let us know enough about the project to quantify these factors, we may be able to offer a rough number, though budgets are preferably considered after initial discussions.
And lego animation, how much is that? Lego animation, specifically, is produced using the traditional stop-motion process. This means there are established practical costs involved, such as studio time and hardware, which do not apply to most other animation options. This does not make it prohibitive, but it should neither be considered as 'the cheap option'.
How long will a project take you to complete? Again, this depends on the complexity of the project, and the man power your budget allocates. We ask our clients to provide us with as clear an outline of their proposal as possible, before we can estimate a timescale or work out a schedule.
I am not prepared to give you any money, can I still have some animation? Ummmmm... No. We are working professionals with working professional overheads, and are quite unprepared to work as a charity.
Can I show your work on (name of website, tv show or event) Our work is broadcast and featured in all sorts of places all the time, so it is likely we can arrange something. Broadcast quality materials are available on request. If you choose to distribute our work without our permission, you will be acting in breach of our copyrights and those of our clients, and we will follow accordingly.
Do you have a showreel available to send? We only send out hardcopy showreels for serious professional requests, the same goes for broadcast quality materials. For all other concerns,the best of our work can all be viewed right here.
Will you consider my script for production? No, but please do keep sending us your unintelligable, badly formatted ramblings. We need something to read on the toilet...
Did you do that White Stripes video? No, like all music videos, that was Michel Gondry.
Are you hiring? Still not.
And do you take on work experience placements? Nuh uh.
Film Making FAQ
I am a film maker and have a technical question about an effect in one of your films, can I ask you about it? We prefer not to receive such questions, because we are mean. You can find 'Behind the Scenes' videos and articles across the site and on our Youtube channel. If you do not find your solution there, we probably want to keep the answers secret.
In ONE: A Space Odyssey, how did you animate the faces? Alchemy. Stop asking.
What camera do I need for animation? This used to be a very grey area, but presently we only recommend the Canon 5D MkII for professional shoots and professional results. Though for other uses, any combination of camera and computer which works for you, will suffice. Your best and only solution for specific answers, is to do some hard research on internet forums, where experienced users are debating the merits of specific models. We will not help you in this respect. Any basic animation set-up, consists of a camera to produce the images, and a computer which stores and sequences them - so you can use a video camera just as well as a stills camera. In either case you will need to connect the camera to a computer with animation capture software installed. Your essential hardware options are: Firewire - All DV and HD video cameras output firewire, so you will need a firewire card (modern Macs have these built in) and then you just have to find software which allows you to capture high-quality frames without ugly compression artifacts. Recommended software options include, Framethief or Dragon. What you are looking for in an ideal camera is total manual control, particularly over aperture, and a model which can be left on indefinately and will not go to 'sleep' when idle. Digital Stills Camera - This is the professional option. As mentioned, we presently advocate the Canon 5D MkII, since at time of writing it is the only SLR on the market, offering video-feed output from the lens. This means that you can receive a live video 'preview' image while animating, the images from which are true to the lens, and will match the angle of the digital photos you will finally compile and use. Without this, you are animating 'blind' unless you can arrange a second camera to literally point at the viewfinder on the back of the SLR. Even then, only a couple of other SLR models are remotely pro-animation ready. No non-SLR's are suited. Webcam - the cheapest and easiest option, and probably best for learning/experimenting with animation. The disadvantage of webcams is their lack of manual controls and the low image quality and resolution. But they are very small, which is a bonus, especially for LEGO filmaking. The grown up alternative is to shoot on film. Super-8 cine cameras can be picked up cheaply at second-hand shops worldwide. Though film is fairly expensive and getting it onto video/computer to edit is even more so, it is still far superior in image to any video. If you don't know what film even is and had never heard of Super-8 until just now then you'd better either stick to video or do lots of reading up on the subject first. That's already far more help than you deserve, so please do not email us further about this.
Any basic animation set-up, consists of a camera to produce the images, and a computer which stores and sequences them - so you can use a video camera just as well as a stills camera. In either case you will need to connect the camera to a computer with animation capture software installed. Your essential hardware options are:
Firewire - All DV and HD video cameras output firewire, so you will need a firewire card (modern Macs have these built in) and then you just have to find software which allows you to capture high-quality frames without ugly compression artifacts. Recommended software options include, Framethief or Dragon. What you are looking for in an ideal camera is total manual control, particularly over aperture, and a model which can be left on indefinately and will not go to 'sleep' when idle.
Digital Stills Camera - This is the professional option. As mentioned, we presently advocate the Canon 5D MkII, since at time of writing it is the only SLR on the market, offering video-feed output from the lens. This means that you can receive a live video 'preview' image while animating, the images from which are true to the lens, and will match the angle of the digital photos you will finally compile and use. Without this, you are animating 'blind' unless you can arrange a second camera to literally point at the viewfinder on the back of the SLR. Even then, only a couple of other SLR models are remotely pro-animation ready. No non-SLR's are suited.
Webcam - the cheapest and easiest option, and probably best for learning/experimenting with animation. The disadvantage of webcams is their lack of manual controls and the low image quality and resolution. But they are very small, which is a bonus, especially for LEGO filmaking.
The grown up alternative is to shoot on film. Super-8 cine cameras can be picked up cheaply at second-hand shops worldwide. Though film is fairly expensive and getting it onto video/computer to edit is even more so, it is still far superior in image to any video. If you don't know what film even is and had never heard of Super-8 until just now then you'd better either stick to video or do lots of reading up on the subject first. That's already far more help than you deserve, so please do not email us further about this.
How do I shoot on film? You don't. If you are here, now, asking us this, then you should never ever shoot on film. At least not until far into the future when you will look back on this question and feel ashamed.
Exactly what software/hardware/camera should I use? We could tell you what we personally use, but would that really help? Obviously you need one of the above mentioned solutions for capturing frames, an editing package to edit the animation, some sound software of some sort, and probably a paint/image program for titles, effects etc. We use what we use and have no knowledge of alternative packages, so have no basis for comparison. We don't want to advise you to use something which wouldn't actually suit your requirements. Any software which does the basic job will suffice, it's creativity and lateral thinking which gets you good results within the limitations of technology!
Exactly what PC software should I use? A Mac.
Where can I get the software/hardware I need? You see that box arrangement all around these words? Thats a browser. You can use that for starters. Alternately, go to the shops.
Are there official Monty Python Lego sets? No, don't be silly.
In the Python Movie, where is Bedevere's helmet from? If you even know what this question means, you will know that the Python movie was an official commission from The LEGO Group.
Now, to fully understand the story surrounding Bedevere's helmet (if you really care that much), you have to understand something about how The LEGO Group works internally. All of the retail models ever (for System anyway) are designed in a high-security superbase in an extinct volcano in Denmark, which is full of cupboards and draws and boxes and bins and vaults of LEGO, and futuristic golf carts full of LEGO driving down silver LEGO corridors. Said LEGO consists of every single brick or element currently available, or available in the last three years in every single colour they have the facilities to produce. There are no bricks older than three or four years old. All old lego is thrown out. There is no one place in the world where all the LEGO ever can be found. It doesn't exist. There is no Eldorado, no Avalon and no Santa. Even the people at Legoland have to scour the yard sales like the rest of us for old parts. Sorry to be the ones to tell you.
Subsequently, the place is littered with random parts just lying around in draws. Mostly new, some in non-retail colours, some that have never (and will never) be released, and even a few random old parts that people have horded from previous 'purges'.
It is from this source that the props for the Python movie were gathered, including Bedevere's helmet. We at SYF do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of every brick ever produced, and assumed (if we even though about it at all) that this visor (which was just in our pile of stuff) was from an old old Castle set. A theory supported by the fact that it fits an old helmet and not the more recent post M-Tron ones. Maybe it is from an old range. Maybe it was never released. Maybe it never will be. We have it, so we used it.
In the Python Movie, where is Bedevere's helmet from? Dunno.
In the Python Movie, where did you get the mace? See above.
In the Python Movie, where did you get the helmets for the dancers? "Doesn't anyone want to know how the drug works chemically?" Those are the bat winged knights helmets with the wings cut off. Shocking isn't it. We understand that only black versions of this helmet were ever released, and yet ours are grey. But then we work for LEGO and you don't.
I am a competent and experienced film maker who understands the basic principles of film production and I have a very specific question about one particular aspect of your films. Can I ask you about it or will you shout at me?
All perfectly sensible questions are very welcome. Just don't ask us how we did the faces in ONE: A Space Odyssey, or where that helmet came from.
How can I become an animator? You have to be born with a sinister sociopathic disease that makes spending a long period alone in a dark room, moving stuff very very slowly or drawing the same thing hundreds and hundreds of times seem to you not only like an excellent career choice, but like an absolute necessity to your very being, a valuable use of your time and of great importance to humanity. If these symptoms sound familiar then you are already an animator. If you are not already an animator you will come to realise this for yourself within hours of giving it a try. Becoming a director or film producer is something you can learn and achieve. Animators are just born that way. If you have survived the rigours of our FAQ and still feel your question hasn't been answered, then please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.
If you have survived the rigours of our FAQ and still feel your question hasn't been answered, then please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.
