Not that refined.

That's how Michael Farris describes the style of Chop-Motion Films. While the end result may appear choppy, the execution of composition,

lighting and color, is not.

Michael, 30, and his three siblings Sean, 25, Juliana, 22, and Evan, 15, are evolving a style of filmmaking that applies techniques of stop-motion animation to a surreal combination of animation and live action. It's already proving successful, the quartet is churning out music videos for a growing list of regional and international talent out of their home in Aumsville.

"We're all sort of like co-directors," Michael said. "It takes all of us to put together a scene. It's not that we don't have disagreements, but we have similar sensibilities. Once someone throws out an idea it's like a snowball effect."

Movies have been a part of the Farris family for as long as any of them can remember. Michael started out writing scripts and working on independent projects in Portland and the Mid-Valley, and the bug trickled down to the rest of the family.

After putting together a string of family-produced shorts, they were approached by Julian Snow of Mill Race to create a video for their song "Garden Gnome." Shortly thereafter, the Farrises realized that music video and commercial projects could fuel their personal productions.

"We just started messaging artists all over the place and got the chance to to do 'Rainbow Mixtures' for Julian Berntzen, a Norwegian musician," Sean said.

Each of their videos relies heavily on animation, but the Berntzen video is a mix of pixelation and stop-motion animation that they hope to incorporate into a full-length feature at some point in the future. One of the most recent side jobs was creating a new intro segment for "Reel Film Snobs," a film review program produced for Capital Community Television.

The side projects are a favorite of Juliana, who does a lot of the model-making for the animated projects.

"They actually have deadlines which means we just have to get it done," she said, a nod to the sometimes interminable process of working on personal projects.

The Farrises are currently working on their fourth music video for the group Buddy.

While much of the process is the result of collaboration, the camerawork is left to the youngest, Evan.

"Evan is just really, really talented," Sean said.

The wise-beyond-his-years Evan has already had a film selected to show at an international film festival in Rome, Italy. However, he remains modest about how he came by such talent.

"Whenever we would watch films, I would always pay attention to the way characters looked," Evan said. "For me, each film is a stepping stone. I get to use the things I learn from each piece we do in the next one."

Their biggest challenge, as with most art pursuits, is funding.

"Everything we've done up to this point has been a mix of what we have on hand and what we can acquire," Sean said. "We can deliver

something of quality and full of ideas at a low budget, but more money

would free us to explore those ideas."

One of the acquisitions has been friends interested in the same pursuits.

"Given that we're all siblings, I think we tend to feel a bit clannish, but when we put out a casting call for the Berntzen video we had people showing up from all over," Michael said.

It's been fun to invite others into their playground, but their ambitions are fueled most by each other.

"There's a great value and joy in using other people's thoughts and ideas to create something none of us could do on our own," Sean said.

Those interested in collaborating with the Chop-Motion filmmakers can contact them via e-mail at chopmotion@gmail.com.