My name is Curtis Wood. I am the lead animator and designer on this project, Norm's Anniversary.
I've worked on the props, the set and the client interactions.
This is the second of two Norm projects that we've worked on for Huntington University
and this one is for the 20th anniversary of the naming of the mascot, Norm.
Music
Norm the puppet, he had a very specific process in how we came to be as a puppet
but the thing about stop motion is that you have to animate straight through.
The process of animation is making something move so what you would do is
move it ever so slightly, take a picture and then move it again so slightly, take a picture and so on.
It's a very tedious process for a lot of people.
You have to paint everything, you have to go and sculpt everything, you have to light those things in physical form.
The whole reason behind bringing back the history of the Forrester Trophy was
when planning for homecoming for 2013, we have a new president on campus.
We were trying to figure out how to build the spirit.
I knew because of looking through old alumni yearbooks that there had been a Forrester Trophy for the Forrester there of the year
and I thought wouldn't it be really neat if we could find one of those trophies.
They thought it would be a good way to bring back some history as well as his present day form.
I happened to call on David Hendrickson at Silvertown and we were talking about homecoming
and then I started saying something about the trophy and it was like there behind David sat the trophy.
The name is David Hendrickson. I live in Winchester, Indiana, always born and raised here.
I received the Forrester the Year Award for the school year 1970-71.
This was the very first Forrester Award that they gave out.
Now we have the trophy, now we need the creator of the trophy.
I believe one of the faculty members asked me to make a sculpture of the Forrester
and they gave me an idea of a lumberjack kind of figure and the original piece.
I gave him dark hair and he had a beard and mustache.
Just remember that this was back in the late 60s and early 70s and there was a lot of hippie influence
and I think the college wanted to avoid that so he became blonde and a clean shaven
so they didn't want that association and so it went from there.
Some people might ask why would you do animation if it was so tedious
but it's incredibly rewarding as the animator to see something that is inanimate
and you've brought it to life.
I'm proud of being from Huntington College and I think maybe just having a mascot
maybe puts a little more personality or an emotional tie.
They gave me the opportunity to excel in what I did.
They gave me the personalized attention that the larger universities wouldn't have given me.
It delighted me to see the surprise and awe and just I would say pride.
The sense of pride in Diana's face and David's face when they saw that Porrester trophy
is what I want to bring back to the students at Huntington University.
It was quite humbling and a big, big honor for me to win this award.
I've kept this all these years.
It's remained on my desk right back here behind my desk since I received the award in 1971.
But Huntington means a lot and I think it means a lot to other people
whether they come out and actually say it or not.
They have a strong tie to Huntington.
Mwah!
Mwah!
