Something Left, Something Taken by Max Porter & Ru Kuwahata

Something Left, Something Taken is a charming and funny tale about paranoia in the Bay Area. It’s made by the Brooklyn-based husband-and-wife team of Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata, who are better known as Tiny Inventions. They worked on the film for nearly two-and-a-half years in between commercial jobs like this “Davy Crockett” music video for They Might Be Giants.

Max and Ru used nearly every trick in the bag to make this including stop-motion, pixilation, drawn animation on paper, After Effects, Flash and live-action puppets. The film mixes together these elements in a seamless manner to create a whimsical hand-crafted world featuring lots of felt, fabric, rope, and cardboard. My favorite touch is the crocheted eyelids of the characters.

A comprehensive “making of” blog post with videos and images is available on their website.

CREDITS
Direction/Animation/Design/Writing:
Max Porter & Ru Kuwahata

Sound Design/ Mix: Greg Sextro (East West Audio)
Voice recording: Erin Kilkenny
Music:
Erin Kilkenny
Andrew Landry
Andy Kennedy
Panic Bomber
Alex & Alison
Peter Squires

Voice:
Ru Kuwahata as Ru
Max Porter as Max
Kyle McKeveny as Artie the driver
Mickey Ryan as Dr. Janno
Tatiana Gomberg as Leslie
Erin Kilkenny as Scientist
Mike DiBenedetto as Steward
Veronica Taylor as Extra
Marc Diraison as Extra

Friends who helped us:
Sean Mcbride for rigging characters
Will Krause for prop making
Jene Wallace for prop making
Mary Bakija for sewing
Susie Porter for knitting
Noella Borie for interning
Sara Maysles for voice recording