Background sketches - 1&2

Alleyway, facing inward.  There will probably be trash cans or dumpsters too.  I'll be adding the smaller details later.

Inside of dry cleaner, facing toward Lisa/toward the door.

Animatic Stuff - 10/27/11

Act I -

Scene 1 –

Lisa picks up a paper at the news stand and pays for it.  As she walks away, she begins to read it.

Scene 2 –

Lisa: Kittens?  What’s next? [pause] Gosh, it’s already late!

A man bumps into Lisa while she’s reading the paper and checking the time.  He steals her purse.  Lisa takes chase after the man. 

Lisa: That was—My purse!  Hey!  Stop!  Come back thief!

After a few seconds, she bumps into someone and knocks her on the ground.  Being a good person, Lisa stops to help her up, event though she is in a hurry.

Lisa: Oh man.  Are you ok?  Here.  Sorry.

Lisa continues to chase after the thief.

Lisa: Hey!  Come back here!

Scene 3 -

She rounds the corner, following the thief into an alleyway.  She is surrounded both front and back, and backed against a wall.  She braces herself just as a dashing, but pompous-looking superhero comes to the scene.

Act II -

Scene 1 -

Gusty: Hold on there!  Leave this good lady be and turn back from your evil ways!  There are better ways than turning to crime.  Helping people is the only fulfilling thing in this life.  Take the older lady down the street.  She lost her cat the other day. 

Scene 2 -

The hot air from his mouth is literally keeping the thugs at bay.

Gusty: You could be helping just such a person instead of harming this poor helpless woman.  So that is why I have come here today.  This poor woman would have been in a world of hurt if I hadn’t come to save her. 

Scene 3 -

Lisa: I have to get that bag back!

Lisa takes the situation into her own hands and begins beating up the thugs herself.

Lee: Take my example and go and help the population of this city.  But you don’t have to thank me.  This is just what I do.  From now on, I bet you’ll think twice before you resort to crime, am I right?

Scene 4 -

She dusts herself off afterwards and grabs her purse.

Lisa: Much better.

Lee: Wait.

Lisa: Sorry!

Lisa Leaves, and it fades out to where she opens the door to the dry cleaners.

Act III -

Scene 1 -

Lisa: I’m here!

Clerk: We’re closed.

Lisa: Oh no you’re not!  There are still two minutes left!

Clerk: We’re closed when I say we’re closed.

Lisa: No you’re not!  I have my ticket!  I got here in time, now give me my clothes!

Lisa give her ticket to the Clerk.

Clerk: *grumbles* Oh alright.  You know, you’re lucky that I don’t tell all these people who you really are…

Clerk hands her a super hero outfit and she turns to leave.

Something interesting

Here's a very interesting link: http://www.everythingisaremix.info/.  It shows how nothing is truly original.  In fact, some are exact rip-offs of other works.  For example, there's an extended part in the Matrix which is a scene for scene rip-off of the anime series Ghost In the Shell.  Who knew...

But if that's true... wouldn't things like youtube channels that use copyrighted material and re-edit them suddenly be okay?  Hmm... if only it worked that way.

Behanced - Research

Part I - Demo Reels

So most of these were kinda weird.  Take this for example: Triada Studio .  It's very commercial, but the content and placement of that content just weirds me out.  I did find an intro to one that I just had to share though: MagicLab .

I like the fluid nature of this reel: http://www.behance.net/gallery/REEL-2010/440675
It feels like it's always in motion.

What I really like about this reel is the quality and the detail: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Ronaldas-Buozis-Reel/874376 .  Definitely something to strive for in my own pieces and reels, especially in the future.

Part II - Other Artist & Organization of Designs

I think http://brianhaiderstudio.com/ is nice because unlike many of the other portfolio sites I've seen, the scrolling is restricted only to the right side with the pictures.  The links don't actually move.  I like that instant access without having to scroll all the way back up.

I like http://jordannielsen.com/ because the initial layout really doesn't change that much, and there are only four main links which makes me feel more comfortable about clicking on the content of the site.

I don't like http://mosaad.com/18995/home . It reminds me of those pages you get when you're trying to get to a particular website like facebook and you accidently misspell something and end up in some other weird half-assed web-page.  I makes me not want to click on the links because I'm afraid they'll swarm my computer with pop-ups.

I like the uniformity of http://nadyarodionenko.com/.  I don't like the really bland color choice, and the fact that everything is only one color.  It feels very corporate, which could be okay if that's what you're going for.  But it isn't for me.

The layout for http://magnusrex.com/ isn't particularly special, but I do like that the links are at the top.  I also love that the most colorful things are at the top.  It immediately catches my eye and makes me excited to look at the site in more detail.  I do, however, wish the primary image navigation would stay towards the top when you click on a project instead of being forced to the bottom.

Pitch Line Revision - Again

I HAVE IT AT LAST!!!  

Well... I hope.

Here's my elevator pitch: This piece is about a woman who is on a mission on a crazy day, and she has an equally crazy secret.

Revised Calendar

So... this weekend was quite possibly the most unproductive weekend yet.  And the irony is that  did homework every day, but essentially didn't get anything done.  So, right now I'm looking at the possibility of pushing back the deadlines a little.  It puts me further back on animation, but there is no way that I'm going to have assets finished on the 1st.  The backgrounds themselves take about 3 hours per panel, and that's without small details like trash cans, bricks, and windows.  Which is okay, but I'm being set back because of it.  It's looking more and more as if I'm going to be animating over Christmas or during the 2nd semester.  I've left time in my schedule to cushion that, but I really need to get with it.

25th - Start sketching Hand-painted backgrounds

27th - Finish resume

November 1st - have half of backgrounds sketched, work on assets

3rd - have list of potential voice actors

8th - have demo reels completed & finished revising resume.

10th - Have all assets completed, and begin basic loop animations

15th - Begin main animation, confirm & start recording voices, revised demo reels

Presentation Self Evaluation

So... I'll start off my saying that the beginning of that presentation was a complete disaster.  I'm well aware that I hate pubic speaking.  In fact, I get so nervous that I'm actually taking something for it.  I think it goes way back to a vocal competition that I was in during middle school--truly a crazy story.  But in this case, there was no help for it.  What I can give myself props for was somehow managing to get to the demo reel and collect myself while the video was playing.  And from there is was relatively smooth sailing.  So, I'd omit most of what was said at the beginning, because I'm aware that about 50% of if was me freaking the hell out.  Anyway, the childhood stuff will probably go away.  Most of my major influences happened in high school, except for getting into Science fiction & Fantasy as a genre.  I probably will add that the start of my fantasy movie watching began with a movie called Willow back in the 90s.  I think that would be a good lead-in to the Lord of the Rings, without making it seem so prominent--even if it is my happy place.  I also might add that I was a rather picky, but avid fan of the Star Trek series, which later interested me in things like Star Wars and Doctor Who--yes Star Trek came first.  I was about three years old when I started watching it, who can blame me.

I think the transition between the two videos was nice.

My pitch... gosh... that thing.  I dunno.  No matter how I phrase this project, it's just not funny until you watch it.  It's funny in my head at least.  I think I need to talk to some of the comic people to figure out how they would describe this story.  They might have much better luck coming up with an answer than me.

The reels and sketches I think need to be put in one big long movie project so I can just press play whenever necessary.  A build folder would also be a great idea.  Everything would be grouped together, but I could still easily control the presentation.

For the end.  No more travel.  That was me trying to talk about something that isn't relevant to where I am in my life at the moment.  I probably should talk a little more about where I would like to work or go to school in the future.

Overall, I just need to learn to find more to say.  I'm pretty chatty in the more casual parts of class sometimes, but as a whole I'm an extremely quiet person, which means I often don't have a lot to say.  Words often fail me because I'm too busy trying to figure out exactly the right thing to say.  Tell me to write on paper and I'll speak my mind.  Tell me to talk to a crowd of people and I have nothing to say.

So, yeah.  This presentation was mediocre at best.

Calendar Revisions - Yet Again

So, for me, fall break was just adding exactly one extra day on to my weekend, which actually didn't help me very much, considering I was already behind.  So considering that I tried to plan too much  on top of that just means that I'm still behind.  Go figure.

The animatic was started.... it's kind of rough.  I don't feel confident with using storyboard pro, so I'm going to use my own method.  If that's a problem for people, sorry, but you'll just have to live with it.  I'm not using toonboom in animation anyway, so it kind of all works out.  I had it so that my scratch track would be recorded on the 25th.  I actually already have the voices and a few basic sounds recorded now.  It's not pretty or anything, but it'll work.

Now, here's what I'm behind on.  I haven't even started on my assets... digital or the hand drawn backgrounds.  I know that'll bite me later, but what can I say... working in after effects is mostly about building the assets.  The thing I'm most disappointed with is the fact that the Hand backgrounds didn't even really get started.  That partly had to do with the fact that I forgot I had to gesso all the panels first... which took a while.

Anyway, yeah.... I haven't been at my best lately.  Truth be told, I am totally tired of this semester, and I'm running out of will power on this project...

So I'm moving back the backgrounds.  I hope to still have them sketched out on the due date that I've set to have them all done.  And the rest of the assets.... I hope those will be done soon.  My plan is to still have them done on time, and to spend my time working on them, rather than the scratch track for the 25th... but my hopes may be dashed come tomorrow afternoon.  So I'll just have to wait and see...

Gadsby's Comments on Revised Resume

So, I sent Gadsby my resume and she gave it back to me in my box.  At the top she marked "Excellent," and crossed out the "s" after both words "Edit."  And she didn't touch anything else on the resume.  So... Here's the question... does that mean that once I delete the two "s"es, my resume is done?

Hmm... Something to ask later I guess...

Travel Fellowships

1. So right off the bat, what concerns me is the requirements as far as art goes.  The fact that they're asking for images specifically suggests that they definitely aren't looking for film or animation media... or even its biproducts.  Which makes me a little skeptical about how the digital department qualifies for this fellowship.  Indeed, something to be taken up with Ken Strickland...

2. Brainstorming - Old school special effects from BBC (Weather Effects Studios) - see > alleffects.com, Gobelins animation studio/school, European pyrotechnics, Schufftan process in Germany, cinematic gas-based blasting without explosives (Germany) - Filmowe Efekty Specjalne

Possible Countries:

Austria

Czech Republic

Germany

Holland

Ireland

UK

Norway

France

3. I think, since I would like to eventually work in some form of special effects, the opportunities in Germany would be the most helpful.  Explosions that are projected upwards, rather than outwards and are flameless is a concept not often used in modern Hollywood cinema, except in period-based war movies.  Gobelins would be a great way to see how storylines are made correctly and successfully in a condensed format, while keeping quality as the highest priority.  I'm most interested in the Schufftan process (one of the first forms of Matte Painting and manual special effects.)  In the end, it would give me a jumping off point to see where effects originated so that I can be inspired when I get to use modern effects.

As far as qualifications go... I've taken film and animation courses.  I have a strong desire to learn and a will to see stuff through.  As far as experiences I've had, there's a lot of stuff I still have left to do.  End of story.  But yeah... not sure what else I can say...

Revisions - Storyboard

Okay, so I finally had some time to think about the revisions that I made on the 6th.  Long story short.  They don't work.  So I'm scrapping the entire set except for maybe a few frames before the alley scene.  I tried making her a shy character, and what I realized was that she became too timid.  So timid in fact that her character's punyness was starting to piss me off.  She's not Miss Manners.  She is a sarcastic, firey, but soft-spoken woman.  She may have manners, but it's only a side effect from a proper upbringing.  It doesn't define her.  I think it would be a mistake to think that it does.  I designed her after my own moral code.  She sees what's wrong with the world, so she is a superhero.  No person with the level of manners that was brought up in class would have the drive to become a superhero.  They would be too afraid of hurting someone.  Their solution would never be violence.  More to that effect, people with an extreme set of manners often come off as weak and "helpless."  She's anything but that, otherwise she'd be asking the thugs to "please" leave her alone, and she'd be having Lee do the ass-kicking.  And I gotta say, I'd rather throw this animation out and start over with a completely different story than animate her acting that way.  So, while I respect the opinions of the class, my answer at this point is "hell no."  And I won't compromise this time.  End of story. Now, I'm off to revise my storyboards yet again...

Calendar - Final Form

So, after spending nearly this entire weekend (Sat - Mon all day) Working nearly non-stop on stuff for this class and web design, I've come to the conclusion that there's no way I'm going to get everything done the way I have it arranged right now.  I know that animation for this class should be priority, but at the moment, I'm much more concerned with being able to build nice assets and backgrounds for the animation.  Still, the backgrounds I know can come later for the most part if I hand-paint them.

Oct. 11th - major character sketches, finish last half of last revised storyboards

13th - Clean-up storyboards and turn into slideshow.

15th-18th Fall Break - Detailed Sketch of at least five of the Hand-Painted Backgrounds, begin animatic

20th - Have all basic assets in production

25th - have a draft of scratch track recorded, finish animatic

27th - completed resume

November 1st - have all backgrounds sketched out, Have all assets (except for backgrounds) completed.

3rd - have a list of potential voice actors, begin animation

8th - continue animation, completed demo reels, revised resume

10th - continue animation

15th - Continue animation, confirm and start recording voices, revised demo reels

17th - Continue animation, begin animation lip sync

22nd - Continue animation

24th Thanksgiving Break- Thanksgiving (Spending time with family... not working today.)

29th - continue animation

December 1st - Finish recording voices

6th - continue animation

8th - Have bulk of animation finished, demo reels finished, and resume finished

Winter Break - Hand Paint All Background Panels

January 17th - Have organized presentation to show on first/second day.

19th - continue animation, begin drafting cover letters

24th - continue animation

26th - continue animation

31st - Finish animation

February 2nd - Finish Coloring any uncolored assets, Rerecord voices to animation

7th - Begin animation revision animation revision, begin sending out for job positions

9th - continue animation revision, add revised voices to animation

14th - continue animation revision

16th - continue animation revision

21st - continue animation revision, and begin adding any effects deemed necessary

23rd - continue animation revision and cleaning, continue effects

28th - continue animation and cleaning, finish effects

March 1st - Record sound, continue animation cleaning

6th - Begin sound mixing, continue animation cleaning

8th - Mix sound, finish animation cleaning

13th - Mix sound

15th - Mix sound

20th - Finished Product - Draft

22nd - 1st Revision - Finished Product

27th - 2nd Revision Finished Product

29th - Finished animation, be ready to turn in.

Lee's Character Sketch

So this is Lee's sketch.  I wanted him to be a little more arrogant looking, but still friendly.

Lisa Character Sketches

Here are Lisa's character sketches.  I added her superhero costume as well so people could get an idea of what she looks like, as well as to give myself an idea of personality and the kind of fabrics that will be in the dry cleaning bag.

Storyboard Revisions 10/6

So I decided to break the storyboards up into chunks in my calendar once they started to get this long.  I haven't revised past this point, but the beginning now has a major revision.  I'm still very skeptical about what good this might do my piece.  I'm not quite sure it will help much, but we'll see what everyone says in class.

Revised Calendar

So this is the revised calendar.  I made some changes to some minor deadlines as well, just to help me actually get my work done on time.

October 4th - Revise Storyboards

Oct. 6th - finish first half of last revised storyboards

Oct. 11th - Begin animatic, major and minor character sketches, finish last half of last revised storyboards

13th - continue animatic

15th-18th Fall Break - Detailed Sketch of all Hand-Painted Backgrounds

20th - Have all basic assets completed, and completed animatic, have draft of scratch track recorded

25th - Have all assets (except for backgrounds) completed and opening scene animated, revise scratch track

27th - Continue animation, completed resume

November 1st - Continue animation

3rd - Continue animation, have a list of potential voice actors

8th - Continue animation, completed demo reels, revised resume

10th - Continue animation

15th - Continue animation, confirm and start recording voices, revised demo reels

17th - Continue animation, begin animation lip sync

22nd - Continue animation

24th Thanksgiving Break- Thanksgiving (Spending time with family... not working today.)

29th - continue animation

December 1st - Finish recording voices

6th - continue animation

8th - Have bulk of animation finished, demo reels finished, and resume finished

Winter Break - Hand Paint All Background Panels

January 17th - Have organized presentation to show on first day.

19th - continue animation, begin drafting cover letters

24th - Finish animation

26th - Rerecord voices

31st - Add revised voices to animation

February 2nd - Finish Coloring any uncolored assets, Begin animation revision

7th - continue animation revision, begin sending out for job positions

9th - continue animation revision

14th - continue animation revision

16th - continue animation revision

21st - continue animation revision, and begin adding any effects deemed necessary

23rd - continue animation revision and cleaning, continue effects

28th - continue animation cleaning, finish effects

March 1st - Record sound, continue animation cleaning

6th - Begin sound mixing, continue animation cleaning

8th - Mix sound, finish animation cleaning

13th - Mix sound

15th - Mix sound

20th - Finished Product - Draft

22nd - 1st Revision - Finished Product

27th - 2nd Revision Finished Product

29th - Finished animation, be ready to turn in.

Job Write-up

My first post is about a job at FOX:

I like the idea of working at FOX because many of its shows project a lighter-hearted environment.  I also would like the opportunity (if I could move up the ranks), to finally influence their decisions on what gets cancelled.  FOX has had a wonderful array of great shows, but it's also one of the most guilty when it comes to canceling the best ones.  So, not only would I love to eventually work on the sets of those shows, but I would love to eventually keep them on the air.


My Second Job Posting I almost hesitated to add because I really desire to go to a school associated with this studio, but I just couldn't get away without adding this:

Universal Studios has been and still is one of the most college/graduate friendly studios I think I've ever come across.  Not only have they built Dave School which is entirely designed to teach students the ins and outs of visual effects, but they also have a program dedicated to helping people get into entry level positions in the industry, teaching them the basic need-to-knows.  This program is an amazing loophole into a world that most film graduates can only dream about.

The Third Posting isn't so much a job opening as a company.  Przyborski Productions is a studio in Pittsburgh, PA (one of my choice cities after school) that is largely commercial.  Only, they focus more on the "people" aspect of commercial, than the industry side.  This studio is known for things like making promotional videos for the state fairs, which to me is more acceptable than a lot of the commercial companies.  Another thing that draws me to this company is their great cinematography.  I think this would be a great experience.


In short, I don't want a cold, sterile atmosphere where everyone sits in a room and only talks to each other when they need to change something (something one of my family members has recently experienced in a seemingly "dream" job).  I want imagination, a little freedom, and someone who isn't going to fire me if I accidently mess up a time or two.  It's a lot to ask for, but I'd rather work in a totally different profession than be miserable in something that I love doing so much.

Calendar - Linear Format

Here it is... the calendar for this project for until I assume we have to turn it in.  I do expect to deviate a little from it, but I've left plenty of time at the end to make sure everything gets done:

October 4th - Revise Storyboards and begin work on animatic

Oct. 6th - Continue work on animatic, finish first half of last revised storyboards

Oct. 11th - Continue animatic, have draft of scratch track recorded, major and minor character sketches

13th - continue animatic, finish last half of last revised storyboards

15th-18th Fall Break - Detailed Sketch of all Hand-Painted Backgrounds, revise scratch track

20th - Have all basic assets completed, and completed animatic

25th - Have all assets (except for backgrounds) completed and opening scene animated.

27th - Continue animation, completed resume

November 1st - Continue animation

3rd - Continue animation, have a list of potential voice actors

8th - Continue animation, completed demo reels

10th - Continue animation

15th - Continue animation, confirm and start recording voices

17th - Continue animation, begin animation lip sync

22nd - Continue animation

24th Thanksgiving Break- Thanksgiving (Spending time with family... not working today.)

29th - continue animation

December 1st - Finish recording voices

6th - continue animation

8th - Have bulk of animation finished

Winter Break - Hand Paint All Background Panels

January 17th - Have organized presentation to show on first day.

19th - continue animation

24th - Finish animation

26th - Rerecord voices

31st - Add revised voices to animation

February 2nd - Finish Coloring any uncolored assets, Begin animation revision

7th - continue animation revision

9th - continue animation revision

14th - continue animation revision

16th - continue animation revision

21st - continue animation revision, and begin adding any effects deemed necessary

23rd - continue animation revision and cleaning, continue effects

28th - continue animation cleaning, finish effects

March 1st - Record sound, continue animation cleaning

6th - Begin sound mixing, continue animation cleaning

8th - Mix sound, finish animation cleaning

13th - Mix sound

15th - Mix sound

20th - Finished Product - Draft

22nd - 1st Revision - Finished Product

27th - 2nd Revision Finished Product

29th - Finished animation, be ready to turn in.