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leirin · 3 years ago

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I wanted to apologize that I haven't been able to update Midnight at the Cathedral for a long time (despite it just beginning to get into its first major arc), or stay on top of projects and make art actively in general. Even patreon updates have not always been on time. Keeping things up regularly is very difficult, and even though I moved out, matters like my significantly limited space present a lot of their own challenges. There is no room for my paintings anywhere besides under my bed, which doesn't incline me to paint, because I won't have anywhere to put it...

I am more settled in now than I was a month ago, but I have still basically been coasting by just trying to get what's required of me done every day, mostly in terms of my job and housework. In terms of projects, I've mainly spent my downtime working on revamping my website and designing new keychains, which I hope everyone will look forward to. The problem is I feel so phony when I can't immediately make good on longform projects, especially when I start so many different ones and the scope of a lot of the things I want to do is very big. I have several of these things planned out in detail, but get overwhelmed by how much there is to do with any one thing and that stifles progress. I get to feeling like people are looking at me like I won't ever actually get them done - only say I'm making something big and not ever finishing it.

Some of these expectations might really only be my own expectations for myself rather than what everyone else is thinking, but I still feel deeply frustrated about it in a way i can't exactly put into words. I don't want to be someone whose output stagnates, or who only achieves the bare minimum of their aspirations. It feels pathetic to say, but at this point with how much stress i'm under, I'd rather think of some of my projects as what I will work towards finishing throughout my life instead of as things that need to be finished within the next few years. The pressure is just too much and I don't see a point in personal creations operating on a schedule. They will suffer in the process if I do them that way.

So, both for my sake and for yours, here is something of a calendar of projects, ordered by size and scope (along with an estimation of progress), that I am 100% fully committing to completing, even if this means you may have to wait years to see any of them get finished:

Small: - Paperdoll sheets, stickers, and more paper-based goods. Many of these will be the kind you download digitally like the 2022 calendar. - Keychains. - Add more character profiles to the site - a lot more.

Medium: - Music video animatic. I'd estimate the completion on this to currently be around 65%. - More site-exclusive content. This includes picture stories, small games and interactive stories. The 2022 Calendar's December image teased two characters from one such interactive story I have conceptualized.

Big: - Finishing Midnight at the Cathedral. I estimate the final product to be somewhere around ~200 strips. The story outline is done being drafted. "Finished" also means doing chapter art. - Starting and finishing Magical Millennium. This is a webnovel about the life of Yona and it will have watercolor illustrations periodically. This is my most truly ambitious work and it will need a lot of time, because I want to be as satisfied with it as possible. In the planning stages. - Starting and finishing Gingham Skies. This is a GB Studio game regarding April, May, and other denizens of Cottonwheel. A short metroidvania-style game with rpg elements. This is in the conceptual stages; some graphical elements have been created.

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carmenxjulia · 4 years ago

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Another Duane interview transcript, coming at you! This one was from a smaller Carmen Sandiego chatroom. There were several interviewers, so that’s why the name of the question asker changes. Get the details below the break! Stay tuned, more interview transcripts coming soon.

Duane Capizzi:

HI EVERYONE! I'M IN!

Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the way haha. Then got lost trying to change my PFP

Thanks for gathering! Shall we get started? Let's do some Q&A!

(as long as they are not geography questions haha)

Fuel:

What characters or plot points were cut from the final product?

Duane Capizzi:

Ooo, starting with a right hook to the jaw!

Let me think about that for a moment: I'm hesitant to give too much away because I'm really hoping we can tell more stories in this world at some point

Which is to say, we tend not to waste anything: if we don't use it when we originally planned, we usually find a way to use something later - and there's usually a "karmic" reason that we waited.

I'll also preface by saying this: I know season 3 was more of a mini-drop and some felt season 4 was rushed. But I wish EVERY season were longer. Season 1: ideally, i wanted the Pilot to be its own event and 10 more episodes after that (but we had to tell the post-Pilot story in 7. At the end of the day, that had its benefits: we got to the Shadowsan turn earlier and I think that's when a lot of viewers realized the ride they were truly in for). Season 2: we initially figured we'd need 5 episodes to have Carmen doing the ACME dance with Chief, and wound up doing it in 3 - mostly because it quickly became clear that Rio needed to be a 2 parter, and the Zack and Ivy backstory a rough 2 parter. So we squeezed 3 episodes worth of plot into 209. It was exhilarating!

So, we had hoped to have more episodes for Season 4 of course. We had a ton of ideas and had to compress things a bit. But honestly in many ways it was for the better. I know we all wanted to live in this world longer, but I think sometimes the flip side is true - when you have big ongoing storylines, it can get frustrating when some things drag out too long. But, we got all the "story" we wanted to tell in Season 4 - we just lost some "incident" if that makes sense. We would have taken longer to get there.

So, all that preface to answer the question: we wanted to do more musical numbers! We had a Bollywood dance sequence in a return to India caper with Paperstar. We wanted to do a famous Elvis suit theft in Las Vegas during an Elvis impersonator convention (Shadowsan's an early elvis guy; Brunt likes the Vegas "jumpsuit" era). We also wanted to do a thread where Gunnar gets captured by ACME so that Julia could interrogate him and he could play mind games with her a la Hannibal Lector and Clarice. CAVEAT TO ALL THIS: these were some ideas that were bouncing around, that may not have seen the light of day if we couldn't get them to work. But they were on our wish list.

re: "other stories" - I could live with these characters for another 32 episodes easily and there have of course been discussions. But alas, that is up to the powers that be. Let's keep fingers crossed - and keep the Carmen love alive online so that someone up there takes note

There is more of course, but those are some things that spring to mind.

Fuel:

Were there any scenes cut for time that were your favorite?

Duane Capizzi:

Not much springs to mind: our directors were amazing at getting everything in the scripts to fit naturally (and in fact, I was the one who was usually suggesting trims to let other things breathe, etc). We were limited to 22 minutes of episode time, NOT counting front and end credits so a little longer than the average show. We have a pretty good idea when the SCRIPT is too long, so the cutting usually happens at script stage before it gets to the board crew so that they don't waste efforts over-boarding material that won't be used.

We had hoped to build out Chase and Carmen teaming up for the first time, meeting at Carmen's hotel lobby etc for more scenes of them together; but had to reduce that to get that all to fit in the VERY packed episode 406. But again, tighter was fine considering. That's one area that leaps to mind. (note that when I say packed, I don't mean that in a bad way: we spend a lot of time pouring over details in editing to make sure everything gets its due).

If I think of anything, I'll circle back at a later point. But the simple answer is that scenes were usually trimmed or compressed at script rather than board or animatic. So nothing comes to mind. I know it's hard to believe, but "shorter is usually better."

except for my answers to fan questions of course

Fuel:

We saw that in s4 episode 6 that Julia's mother(?) is wearing a necklace remarkably similar to the one Julia wears all the time. Is this the same necklace and if so, why was it given to Julia?

Duane Capizzi:

Just when I thought I was detail oriented! Wow! You guys blow me away

I can't take credit for that: it was either the board artist or director who added that. They do slip things in! As I've said before, EVERYONE on the crew really brought their A-game and were as deep thinking and as passionate as I was/am about the show.

It's a nice detail and I would say your interpretation works!

It took me three or four reviews before noticing that the team had slipped in baby Carmen near the play set in Mom's front yard at the end of 408. When I caught it, I was like: bravo!

Fuel:

When they first met, Zack and Ivy said to Carmen that they were the only family they had, do you know what happened to the rest of Zack and Ivy's family?

Duane Capizzi:

I don't. At least, I don't yet until such a time that I might have the opportunity to explore that. It was important to their relationship with Carmen that they be orphans, so they had that common bond (aside from being "thieves who steal from bad guys" - even if it was only gonna be one time for Zack and Ivy).

I know there are writers out there who like to do entire bio's for characters up front but i'm not one of them. It could be a trap in many ways. I like to have a general idea but be open to the demands of the ongoing storyline. You discover things along the way - it's like you're taking a journey with the characters by writing them, and the longer you spend, the better you get to know them (that was not a prepared statement by the way - I just made that up but I'll have to use it again :). So in Z/I's case it wasn't important to the story or Carmen's relationship, we felt. Conversely, we STARTED with Shadowsan's family backstory with 203, but more important to me was that we use it as a platform to explain why he stays with Carmen and crew. He really has no home at that point, so it was relevant to the present ongoing story. Which is what made that especially powerful to me.

Also, there's always a push-pull between telling character back stories while balancing them with ongoing episodic plots. You have to service both. If you just tell back story, then you're writing a biography

Arden:

What was the biggest challenge when designing these characters, especially the pre-existing characters from the series in the 90's?

Duane Capizzi:

This is probably more of a question for Chromosphere, re: challenges. But from my standpoint overseeing that process, the first thing I'll say is that we weren't necessarily trying to be "true" to those characters since we reinvented nearly every one from the ground up. (with the exception of Carmen of course - her trademark red hat/coat weren't going anywhere! But mostly the update with Carmen was in the styling of her "outerwear"

ALTHOUGH: I will admit that I was pushing for Carmen to have shorter hair as Carmen. I thought it would be a cool update. Chromosphere were really passionate about giving her long full hair and I have to see that they were right. The short tomboy cut worked so well for Black Sheep anyway. We had a different hair style for each of her ages.

So about the reinventions: Gunnar is in spirit a similar character to the original (old colleague in Vile and an early mentor if I remember), but his presentation completely different. We weren't trying to be "in canon" with the original. The beauty of CSD is that every incarnation has been its own entity so that freed us to reimagine the characters. THE CLEANERS, for instance: gimme some Cleaner love! There were a pair of janitors from the original game named RICK AND NICK ICK. They were literally janitors, it was too silly for our purposes. But, it's one small step to make them "Cleaners" (in the sinister hit men sense) - and lo, our reinvention.

So to summarize the answer to your question, they weren't really challenges to me so much as FUN to creatively reinvent the original characters (many of which were from the game, so not really "characters" per se with dialogue and inner lives). Whenever we could, we tried to use character names from the originals and update their looks and personalities. Where we couldn't find an equivalent for what we needed, we created characters from whole cloth. For instance, it seemed a miss to do a heist show without a tunnel guy and a high rise climber guy. Hence, LC & ET, everyone's favorite taco truck vendors!

(yes, i've seen some short hair carmen fan art on Twitter - someone did a great one recently!)

Arden:

Are there plans to give us more of the characters in, say, novel/graphic novel form?

Duane Capizzi:

I know HMH has done a bunch and no doubt have more in works. There's currently a novelization of the Pilot with some additional material if anyone's interested. I consulted on the second one, Clue for Clue, because it falls in the timeline while Chase was still Interpol/pre-Acme so was tricky.

And depending on whether another series in this canon makes it to air, I may just approach them about writing one or two myself to get some "further adventures" our there. Anything is possible!

Arden:

If you could go back and change anything about the series, what would it be?

Duane Capizzi:

File under anecdote, but there was what I felt was an important expression on Gray that kept me awake at nights, from his graduation ceremony at Vile. When we revisited those flashbacks in the Gray arc in Season 4, I had them change his expression there (to be more evil less innocent). We had it corrected in 404 so was able to get permission to have Netflix "fix" the Pilot by adding that shot in. I am tenacious!

We really poured over everything, it's the series that I have virtually zero complaints with the end product to be honest. But the simple answer is: I would have gone back to 106 and "un-greek'd" Gray's nametag. It's sort of a rule for international that we scramble signage (which is weird for a show that takes place in many countries/languages, I know I know). It's mostly for localization/translation reasons. And I'm sure there are some countries where Gray's name might be spoken differently. But as a proper name, I think we could have made an exception and seen "Gray" on his name tag. See? Details! But that's about the worst of it

there's also like one small line from Chief in 208 where she indicates she knows Carmen is a good guy (something to that effect) which I felt was too absolute and would have tweaked the line to temper it a bit. It's tiny, but looking back it sort of bugs me and I kick myself for not catching it. But this is absolutely the series I wanted and couldn't be happier.

Carmen:

How did Carmen know she could trust Julia? As far as we know, she has not seen or heard Julia defending her, and in the Fashionista Caper, Julia even held up her gas gun to her, saying she was under arrest. Do you have any opinions on this? Was it just intuition?

Duane Capizzi:

I'm gonna go with intuition

Carmen was raised on an island with some hardened criminal types. I think she's a pretty good judge of character. Poor Julia, trying to be tough with Carmen didn't suit her.

But, great observation! I'd have to mentally step through everything to see if Carmen had any earlier indication but i think you're right there.

Yes, sometimes you just gotta follow your heart

Carmen:

Are there any characters that didn't actually interact that you think would get along well?

Duane Capizzi:

Amazing question! First, I'd have to think more about who DIDN'T meet - you're asking the hard questions haha. But "get along well" is very specific! Hmmm, care to volley anyone?

I'll also add that so many smaller moments get lost in the "binge" of it all, but I am surprised how few fans have noted the first meeting between Player and Julia. THAT was a good one IMO! Very sweet!

Before getting back to your question, I also want to add that we were originally going to find a way for Carmen to lose her earring in Stockholm so that Julia could pick it up and be communicating with Player. BUT, I cut it at treatment stage because I knew we didn't have room in that episode to service it. Circling back to questions 1 & 2, another case where it turned out better saved for later IMO (saving Player meeting Julia, not to mention the earring business in 402 with Ivy).

Oh of course, Julia and any of the other Vile members. It would have been Gunnar for my vote, as mentioned earlier. We probably would not have had Julia meet anyone else and mixed it up more. I like that Cleo sort of became J's personal nemesis.

YES, SONIA & XIFENG (and LUPE PELIGRO, if I can add). The intent was (and is, if we ever get to revisit) to see them again in Carmen's travels. We started to expand Carmen's world but when we finally learned the finite number of episodes we had to finish the story, we drilled back down into the essentials. Would love to see them some day!

I'm hesitant to share too many things I have in mind in this forum for hope that they will see the light of day one day. You know, "spoilers"

Julia:

Do you have any opinions on Zari? Just in general? Some thoughts on her backstory would be nice if possible

Duane Capizzi:

I love Zari! I really don't have any back story on her at this point. She was originally just "Agent B" but when the need arose to give story points to another agent, we chose her because she looked so awesome! And Sharon Muthu gave voice to her so wonderfully.

I love when we finally teamed her with Chase. Hopefully the anticipation was that she would give him a hard time. I love that we defied expectation (organically, of course) and had her respect him by the end of that episode (for believing that he foiled Carmen!)

Julia:

Do you have any thoughts on small facts about any character, major or minor, that you think are fun/interesting to think about, but don't necessarily add to the plot itself?

Duane Capizzi:

Bellum, like myself, likes cats. But you knew that!

I try to put everything pertinent on screen, doing double duty to service any given episode's story but also the overarching story. That "journey" thing I mentioned earlier - we had no idea Chase falling on his own car would be a thing when I first came up with it. But as other characters refer to the incident, it took on a life of its own and made the characters feel more real.

Sorta kinda related to this question and some earlier ones, I will say that I DO think there's more to learn about Shadowsan's past vis a vis Lady Dokuso: it's clear to me that they have a history together, and it's something I hope to explore someday soon (maybe in a book if not another series

Julia:

Are the Carmen Sandiego books a part of canon?

Duane Capizzi:

I only consulted on the first two or three (too busy with series!) and have not read them, so hard for me to answer in a definite way. They are definitely in the universe we've created, but not in the timeline that I know of (which would have been too hard to pull off with our script development running concurrently). But do know that the book team at HMH pays close attention to the series and world so they should be perfectly compatible. Look no further to their clever social media on the series for example.

Kenz:

We saw in season 4 that Julia and Carmen helped each other mid to long term; would there ever be a possibility that Julia would permanently or semi-permanently join team Red?

Duane Capizzi:

Of course there's a possibility. But in a sense, with ACME now finally on Carmen's side, in a sense if Carmen were back in the game Julia, Chase, Zack and Ivy would ALL be an extension of Carmen's crew. But, would J remain with ACME or literally come to Carmen's team at her HQ? As they said in an old radio show: "Only The Duane Capizzi knows ..."

Kenz:

Where do you see Carmen in her retirement (if she retires)? Do you think she would still travel the world or settle down somewhere? Similarly, do you have any thoughts on what some other characters could be doing years down the line?

Duane Capizzi:

That is a big question, and one difficult to answer without some potential future spoilers (and yes, I really want to tell more Carmen stories if you can't tell But I'll answer by giving you one "read" on our open-ended ending as seen in 408 (read no further if you haven't seen it - yeah, right haha). The ending suggests to me that Carmen settled down for a spell to forge that relationship with her mother, to make up for lost time. But, if that is indeed Carmen that we see on the rooftop, I think the ending suggests that Carmen doesn't stay still for very long. If Vile is back, there is work to be done! Carmen has a life mission - she's one determined lady.

But of course, it's deliberately ambiguous: "anyone with your heart, wisdom and courage can be Carmen Sandiego." Is it Carmen? Sonia? Someone we haven't met? I think both endings resonate: Caroline and I always said "Carmen is bigger than a person, Carmen is a movement" would be a great message to end the series on. And I think our ending resolves this chapter of Carmen's journey as a person, but also elevates her to mythic status. Which is why I love it!

And, that seems to me a pretty perfect question and answer to end our chat on. Thanks everyone! Again, I cannot tell you how moved I am to see that we have such a passionate, intelligent and talented fan base. THANK YOU.

Take care guys, thanks again for having me! 'night!

#Carmen Sandiego #CS Crew #Duane Capizzi #Interview #Transcript

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signor-signor · 4 years ago

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Pre-S3 Shorts Idea

May 18, 2020 - We’re 40 days away from the 4th anniversary of Wander Over Yonder’s second season finale, and have I got something special to share with you.

You know how there was a series of shorts (directed by @owner-of-wendys) involving Lord Hater’s broadcast of his attempt to destroy Wander taking place between S1 and S2? I just thought of something innovative, and anyone who’s ever worked on the show should also check it out.

Suppose Hater is still chasing Wander and Sylvia around the new galaxy in his Skullship, as depicted at the end of The End of the Galaxy (just before the cliffhanger that still hasn’t been resolved). Meanwhile on the ex-secret planet, Andy the Watchdog has quick interviews with various groups of refugees who provide their own reasons for wanting to get off the planet as soon as Wander and Sylvia return. Some others just give an update on their status. As we might have noticed after Dominator’s ship exploded, other Watchdogs became acquainted with the refugees, so it stands to reason that Andy did the same.

Without further ado, I give you... (drumroll)

The Eye on the Galaxy

The Rulers - Bingleborp, King of Flendar (with Flendarians) King of Sherblorg 7, Beeza (with Ballzerians), an appearance from the queen from The Axe, Cashmere (with Baahallans), Demurra and Dracor (with their guards). Just as Destructor’s about to start, time runs out.

The Elderly - Stella Starbella and Mittens, the lost and found guy, Trudi and her clones, the Slug Boss (with the two mummy thugs), Papa Doom (with his gargoyle companions), a call from Ms. Myrtle, who just saw Wander and Sylvia dashing by with the Skullship in pursuit and having deployed an Eye Drone for Andy to check on anyone and anything too big to sit on the ex-secret planet.

The Teammates - Badlands Dan and his gang, Oink and the Motorhogs, red and blue ants, the Insurgent Generals, maybe a call from the Robomechabotasquad asking what happened to Robomechabotatron.

The Youth - Melodie and the kids who appeared in The Legend, Olive (with her mother), the Slug Boss’s grandsons, rock babies carried by the Rock Lady, Huckleberry Knucklehead (backed by his parents), the smartphone son (with his camera parents), the trio of teens from The Black Cube, maybe Demurra and Dracor’s daughters and son.

The Gutsy - Ripov, Thrax and his cohorts (Andy would have added Thrax to The Business Folks, but that group was fully booked), Harvax and Stok, the Slug Boss’s nephew (with the two mummy thugs from earlier), Ryder being shown via Eye Drone and “trying to free a karate sensei from his chamber,” explaining his abscence in The End of the Galaxy. I’d mention the three bounty hunters from The Bounty, but I’m not too sure about their status.

The Reformed - Destructor (picking up from The Rulers), Major Threat, the Black Cube accompanied by his new girlfriend Tracy (plus Stacy and her new boyfriend, both of whom have already realized the Cube turned over a new leaf), a postcard from Westley (found by Barry), maybe the half-torn picture strip of Wander and Bot 13/Beep Boop (found by Jerry when he was sent to check on Dominator and Emperor Awesome in The Rival), Something the So-and-So, who gets cut short like Destructor did previously.

The Business Folks - Blarpee’s cashier, Okeydokian restaurant manager and his employee Michelle, apple-and-lemon-headed bartender, landlord and fast food manager/fry cook, garbage collector, Dr. Scrivellix (the dentist), Clancy and Nancy Shmancy, the plumber, curator of MOGA, Weasel, the two Okeydokian movie directors, hat shop owner, the locksmith.

The Mysterious - Neckbeard, Lords of Illumination, fortune teller, Mooplexians, Keister von Derrière and the other Gnees (with censored heads), the Eye Drone checking on the planet where the currently closed structure of the celestial star being stands, a special one-time visit from the Intergalactic Guru via hologram.

The Creatures - The bunny rabbit from The Good Deed, the pit monster from The Birthday Boy, the fire lion, Grizzlocks, Giant Hoarder Scorpion, Trigrex of Nil, electric bird mother and three chicks, the Frankenstein monster, squills from The Wanders, the Hufflerumples, animals from The Breakfast, animals from The Night (the centipede being the only one from the episode to speak), Frederick, maybe a doom dragon or two, the mother and child from The Egg. Seen via Eye Drone are the Gracknore, Buster, and the giant worm from The Hat that promptly gobbles up the Drone.

The So-and-So - You can guess who the interviewee is in this one. Just like The Whatever, this short foreshadows what’s next for Wander, Sylvia, Hater, and Peepers.

The Rest - Of all the shorts, this one has the most interviewees, each one taking 2-3 seconds to give an answer. Cluckons, hogs, Bobbles, Zetuons, Flankarians, Tiki beings, rabbit-like folks from The Showstopper, Mr. and Mrs. Brittle, ornament beings from The Gift, the balloon man, Dragor the Distractible, Galactia, Veronicron and her husband Jim (the Neon Knight of Nalpraxis), Gelatinous Bob animatronic, Fleeblebort and Marsha and the two hillbilly families, flower-headed birds, any notable residents of Okeydokia, cloaked refugees from the end of The Secret Planet, Brad Starlight and his wife Remora having returned from their honeymoon, his cousin Chad, anyone I might have left out. Lastly, the hooded refugees, also from The Secret Planet.

DISCLAIMER: If these shorts should happen, some of the refugees mentioned here but not seen in The End of the Galaxy may or may not appear.

We can all relate to the refugees in some way. The refugees (most of them) have to wait for Wander and Sylvia to get them back home so they can go about their normal lives. At the start of S3, that’s where the Star Nomad, the ship allegedly made from the one that appeared in The Secret Planet, would come in. We have to wait for the COVID-19 pandemic to be over so we can go about our normal lives. Considering those who worked on the plans for S3 still haven’t given us more clues even in these difficult times, I think the time is right to make more people aware of WOY with this particular idea.

Of course, there is the matter of which medium to use. Animation will probably be time consuming, and much to the perpetual dismay of Wander fans, Disney still doesn’t want to pay to make more WOY. Heck, if there’s no time for animation, animatics might do. A much cheaper method might be the podcast - this way, no visual art has to be made. Hey, it worked for Futurama doing an audio episode titled “Radiorama,” not to mention The Loud House having a podcast titled “Listen Out Loud.” Then again, there’d have to be multiple voice actors reprising their roles, and I doubt they’d do it for free. In the case where visual art is needed, we could do what @suspendersofdisbelief and @benbalistreri did for Star Wanderer and make a comic version of the shorts with help from them and the other writers and illustrators, assuming they’re not too busy with their own projects. We don’t really need Disney’s permission to know exactly what’s supposed to happen after S2, do we?

Regardless of circumstances, I still think it’s a great idea, one @crackmccraigen and the crew could take into consideration whether or not Disney gives them a chance to properly close out the show after Kid Cosmic is done. After all, I am a Disney employee and the only one to come up with this particular idea as far as I know. The only question is, why didn’t anyone else in the fandom think of it before? Also, if @andydaly knew about my idea, maybe he’d be all for it, what with the country still in lockdown.

Look, many of us are still bummed WOY got canceled before S3 could get made, but moping about it and not doing anything to save it won’t get us anywhere. Formerly canceled shows like Hey Arnold!, Samurai Jack, and The Clone Wars got true closure, so I don’t see why WOY can’t do the same. If we all work together, we’ll make history.

To all you pessimists, cynics, and skeptics out there...

Hopelessness stops now.

#Wander Over Yonder #SaveWOY #WOY Season 3 #Long Reads #Eye on the Galaxy

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patrick-yates · 5 years ago

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Progress Report: Week 1 (28/05/19)

First of all, I would like to present the current state of my Gantt chart, from when the project was signed off.

Desktop readers may have trouble reading, but ultimately this indicates 3 main stages, separated for the most part by the stages of animation I will be conducting: roughs, lines, and colour. I have nearly finished my first week working on this project. So far, here are my key achievements: - Revised/trimmed storyboard - Created working animatic (currently ~2min10secs - manageable) - Got started on roughs (about 15 seconds) - Messaged actors - Charted the following things to research/address/factor in: lip syncing techniques; shot length and ease;

The things on my timetable I have neglected/failed to do: - behind on roughs - work on presentation & video

And things I need to do besides: - formalise my blogging structure - finalise my music composition

In terms of what I haven’t done, I don’t think it is that serious at this point: I have plenty more time in my ‘roughs’ stage (Stage 1) to finish what I haven’t done yet, and the more I am able to do, one hopes the more I will get in the swing of timings. The video and presentation material feels, at this point, inessential: I will get round to it once I have my foot more firmly in the door of the artefact, and it will be the better for it, but right now I have bigger things to worry about.

Here is a short rough clip of a scene from the first sequence of the film.

I have learned, as outlined in an earlier post, that there are inevitably parts of my schedule which will be untenable, or at least unrealistic. What this demands is an active appreciation for flexibility and not too deteminedly sticking to the script. Rather than abandon the script altogether, though (as it is largely very helpful to know where one stands), the art appears to me to be in realigning - that is, constantly remaining aware of what is to be done, whether I am ahead or behind, and what that means I will have to adjust. Not only will this process help me develop my work in a more organised and on-top-of-things sort of way, thinking actively about timing will be an instrumental learning tool; I may discover, for example, that animation doesn’t take me as long as I thought, but backgrounds take forever; perhaps I will relearn the value of contacting other contributors ahead of time. Either way, recognising and overcoming those barriers through self-criticism and good planning will be the best way to improve.

I have started using my phone as a mini-progress diary, reminding myself what to do when and what I will need to do to plan my time better in future. These are the things I have ‘charted’ above - techniques to figure out how my time is best allocated. I will have to get my voice recordings sorted before attempting lip syncs, so in the meantime will set aside some time for them + learning how best to approach them; I am also considering which shots will be easiest to animate, these mainly being static or single-movement shots, and which will be difficult, being long, dynamic or ensemble shots.

As for my blog structure, I will henceforth be making these progress posts every Tuesday to reflect on the week, a self-reflective post every Friday to take a deeper look at some choices I have made/am making, and Forefront posts every weekend.

#progress #final project

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seansacm320productionblog-blog · 6 years ago

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WEEK 12 (Catatonic)

I really need help.

My animatic is good, but damnit I am terrible at animating. I’ve barely done a frame since 3 weeks prior. As I’ve titled this post above, I am in near catatonic phase now with this animation. I cannot work on it. It is all so overwhelming. Sure maybe if I had organized better I would have been better off MAYBE. But I need help. I really do. It’s so unfortunate that there is only 1 teacher and so many of us. If there was some way I could get personal help with this project, it would do SO much to help my confidence as well as give me the knowledge I need to really make this. I have talked to other colleagues who are not in the same class, but they are able to have 1 on 1 meetings with our professor to help them with their projects. Why can’t we have this for our class? I do not know what is discussed in those 1 on 1s, but there really is no other way for someone like me to progress forward in this vein of art without peer help. I don’t have the same passion as everyone else, and that is because I am an individual who is still VERY new to art as a whole. I am still discovering my voice. While many of if not all of my fellow colleagues have already blossomed into an art style that fits them. I just think it is unfortunate that my grade may suffer from simply just not being as confident enough to produce art as others. The mental battles are enormous. I go through mood swings almost everyday. As soon as I think about animating, that’s it. My mind jumps off the realm of sanity. It is so hard to create your own animation when you have never really had the time to focus on it and to grow that skill. My personal reasons being a college student having to take so many other classes and still be expected to dish out an animated short. I’m too afraid to ask anyone for help out of fear of looking like an idiot. I keep thinking how a simple animated scene would have been such a great work idea for me for this class. Then I could really hone in on a very small area but still practice so much. It is just too debilitating now to work on this project with a positive mindset. I just keep hitting snags. I have no progress to show, no backgrounds, nothing. And one has to understand, this isn’t a work ethic issue anymore, it is a will issue. It is a mental issue. It is a life issue. And yet, I will still be even further mentally reprimanded for my ‘lack of work’. I promise you, whoever reads this. I have tried to sit down everyday and do this animation, but it is just too, horrifying to work on. And I do not think that is too strong a word either. It is just very sad that people cannot be given breaks from working on things like this. There is a set due date. What happens if one cannot continue on due to personal reasons such as confidence issues which drastically affect workflow. I just need a whole day where a peer can sit down with me and really help me through this. I do not think I can mentally do this alone at this point. I need a foundation. I need a rock in which I can center myself on and build myself up. I certainly cannot use myself. I need help. My mental resolve has faded. It is even harder to work in class when you KNOW how much better everyone else is compared to you. And you know it’s true. It is. I am the lowest cog in the machine. I love art, but I cannot grow currently in an environment surrounded by colleagues that are A) much more set on their future plans than myself and B) have developed an art skill that is truly unique and well refined. It’s killing me. And it has been for the last 2 years almost now. That’s the truth. It’s hard to write, but it’s true. I need to be alone or at least work in an environment which suits me. Alas, I’m but one measly student in the giant pool that is college. This would never happen for one person. I remember hearing the term Sabbatical Leave from a friend. If only this was a choice for students as well as those already in their careers. I am sure there are countless others in my situation who wish to voice their opinions such as I, but that shouldn’t make my voice any less significant right? I just don’t think I can work on this in a group setting at the moment. At home, I am able to further my drawing practice (not related to school). But I just cannot enjoy my own work when surrounded by other who outperform me so much. My mindset is just too toxic to continue this way. I really try. I do. But I cannot breathe anymore. I am drowning in the cold darkness of the abyss which is my mind. I need advice, I need 1 on 1 help to progress forward. I need a reshaping of my outlook on this animation major. If not, I will only become more stressed and worried for my future. And understand that this is as simple as just being too stressed this semester. But in a way that I would argue clearly nobody else is. They are all strong. I guarantee I am the only one leaving these types of entries for their journals. I am the weak one. And I am weak for good reason. I have yet to strengthen my skills and knowledge in a way that would allow me to succeed like my fellow colleagues will undoubtedly do. I just, need more time to grow. Unfortunately, this class is not a healthy way mentally for me to go about improving my individual self image as an artist. All I see is a shattered world view in the realm of art. It is so hard to progress in a world that never sleeps. In a world that is always demanding your time and money and energy to survive. There is no option in my life to ‘just take a break’ from school. This is my sentence. And it must be carried out as quickly as possible. Well, I’ve gone on long enough I think. Apologies to anyone reading for the lengthy passage. But this has been a longtime coming. I’m so exhausted. And what singles me out from the rest is that I have unfortunately also exhausted my passion. And that will need time to recuperate, most definitely.

#help

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sweet-star-storybook · 5 years ago

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Hey all, back at it again with the random posts, aha. I have been working on something that will formally address the month long art / comic hiatus I’ve been on, but that’s taking a bit longer than I expected. So as a break (I guess?) I took it upon myself to update what I call my Original Stories Timeline, i.e. a chronological list of all of my story ideas (as of October 2019 anyway). I have not posted this list anywhere, but I like to update it on my laptop every now and again.

There is a bit of ambiguity with some of the years that these were made, as sometimes there’s a difference between coming up with the title or lead character for a story versus actually making it a “thing” with an idea or scenes attached. As an example, Moth to the Flame technically began when I first drew Kiida in April of 2015, but aside from a snippet of reasoning for why she was an archer, the story as it is now did not start to take form until I drew Zander in December of 2017. Other times I flat out can’t remember when some of these stories were made, and digital files don’t always have the correct dates.

For this post (and for curiosity’s sake), I wanted to add up and categorize them to see just how many stories I have in this brain of mine. It was actually quite a fascinating exercise, so I thought I’d share! I might as well list the titles for each category too, even if some of these are only titles at this point. I’ve renamed a few over the years and others are still working titles, but if any pique your interest at all, feel free to send me an ask about them! I love chatting about this stuff. :)

This got quite long once again so I’ll put it under the cut. Enjoy!

Stories that are old and/or need revamping: 6

Titles in this category: Pasha & Marley (2003), Sonora (2004), Billy and the Rainbow Fish (2005), Spirit Fire (2006), The Darkest Light (2013), Polarity (2013).

These are stories that I’ve either had since I was a kid and would need overhauls to make them usable, or are simply dormant stories that I haven’t touched in a while and may need similar upgrades. This doesn’t mean that I will revamp all of them, but either way they serve as an interesting look at my progression as a story writer and character designer. My oldest story dates back to around 2003, and to put that into perspective, I was 8 years old that year.

Stories that are just titles / a smattering of ideas right now: 10

Titles in this category: Fletcher (2016), The Dragons of Kitevale (2016), King Ace (2017), Ochako & Mai (2018), Psychanimate (2018), Mage Lights (2019), Trickster’s Gambit (2019), Switching Gears (2019), The Owlands (2019), Goodnight, Starlie (2019).

I always have too many of these for my own good, but this happens a lot if I have stray character designs that I think could maybe go together, and then before I know it the gears start turning in my head to add something more. I’m also really good at coming up with titles and logos to make me love the idea even more, even if there’s not much else to it. I guess you can blame my affinity for wordplay and clever puns for that, haha. Coming up with titles is really fun, but at this point I don’t know what kinds of stories these will be if I choose to develop them, so I gave them a separate category. Making this timeline reminded me of how many logos I still need to make!

Short films / animatics that I could also make into short comics: 7

Titles in this category: The Aurora’s Child (2016), Blue (2016), Harpy (2017), Hearth & Lantern (2017), Leif & Shel (2018), The Healer (2019), In Your Orbit (2019).

My background in animation has afforded me the skills of writing for animation, specifically short films. I have always loved short films that communicate their story through little or no dialogue, and using the character’s actions and emotions to do the talking instead. Unfortunately my dreams of making a short film during school did not come to fruition, but that doesn’t mean the ideas have to go away, regardless of what form they take. I’ve made too many at this point to stop now anyway! I will likely do both a comic and an animatic for each one I decide to flesh out, as I want to practice both kinds of storytelling and they each have their advantages. Plus I could potentially make a comic anthology of these shorter stories in the future. Much like the animatics, the comics would likely be “silent”, in that they communicate more with action than dialogue.

Things I call “illustration worlds”: 2

Titles in this category: Fruit Bats (2017), Lucky Stars (2019)

This one is a bit strange to explain, honestly. I picture these as more of a series of character interactions rather than a cohesive narrative, i.e. snippets of ideas carried out in a bunch of individual scenes, portrayed via illustrations. I am reminded a lot of the character interactions that exist in concept art for games and movies (the ones from Spyro: Reignited Trilogy come to mind). These illustrations would feature characters that could be in any sort of environment or setting, and we learn more about their personalities through each one, whether it’s a simple domestic scene or a fantasy world. There may not be anything much deeper than that, but there doesn’t have to be. A great deal of energy and expression can still be shown with these, and I love illustrations that have their own little stories contained within them. I could even compile them as a series of themed illustrations, hence why I still gave them titles (and once again, titles are fun).

Novels / story ideas I don’t plan on making into comics: 2

Titles in this category: Shining Trigger (2014), A Mightier Pen (2017)

I’ve always loved writing long-form prose ever since I was a kid, and based on how many words these posts end up having, I can’t say much has changed! As such, I’ve always wanted to write a novel someday, but it does require a different skill set than script writing. With my background in animation and my new love of comics added in, I’ve done a bit of both. I might do novelizations of some of my comics later on, but these stories are, for the most part, better suited as written prose in my mind. They focus more on the characters and dialogue, rather than an imagined visual design. Not to say that novelists can’t paint detailed pictures of a character or world’s attributes, but it is communicated differently via words than pictures, especially when you consider the mind’s eye of a novel reader. That “design” has to be malleable enough for the mind’s eye to interpret, but clear enough so the reader knows what it is. I’d have to make sure that any reader could picture what I’m describing with my writing alone, and that’s a difficult balance to strike for a primarily visual storyteller such as myself, but a challenge worth taking nonetheless.

Large comic stories that have big worlds, a lot of characters, etc.: 3

Titles in this category: Starglass Zodiac (2015), Id Pariah (2015), Feather Knights (2017).

I call these “The Big Three”, as they are the stories that will take the most world building, character creation, and story development to complete. They will have multiple chapters, expansive lore, several character arcs, you name it. I am very excited to tackle all of this development of course, but I want to make sure these are given the time they need to come to fruition. These projects will take me years to complete, which is why I choose to balance them with smaller projects in between. The potential these stories have is not something I want to squander, so even if the production moves slower, I feel it’ll be worth it in the end.

Smaller comic stories with fewer characters, simpler concepts, etc.: 5

Titles in this category: Moth to the Flame (2015), The Onomancer (2015), Demon Exchange (2018), Take Wing! Emilia’s Tale (2018), Ashes (2018).

This is worded kind of strangely, but this category is meant for stories that have a smaller “scope” than the larger comic stories I mentioned. That doesn’t mean I love them any less or that they’ll be less developed, but they are far simpler in concept and rely less on the development of a massive world and lore and more on individual character experiences. I feel like any creator needs these smaller projects to tackle every so often, especially when tackling the behemoths gets tough. These stories will also have a faster turnover when it comes to completion, and I hope to complete one of these stories in the near future. These will also help me practice writing good foundations for stories, like proper character motivation, pacing, and relationship development that would translate into investment for the reader. There’s a great degree of skill required to do this correctly for any kind of story, but starting smaller in this regard is usually better.

Smaller stories that are supplements or spin-offs of other stories: 3

Titles in this category: Counting Hearts (2019), The Serpent and the Sun (2019), Riders of Eldrigar (2019).

I know it probably seems a bit early to be thinking about stuff like this, but I do like thinking about the extended stories or supplements that I could add to my pre-existing projects, especially with characters or ideas that would best be told separate from the main story, be they backstories or another perspective on something. I also like the idea of stories that could exist in the same worlds, but can function independently of them as well. It’s a lot of fun to see how these could connect with each other, like having your own equivalent to a cinematic universe. This category currently only has smaller supplements to my comic stuff rather than fully fledged sequels, but who knows what might happen later on? I need to make the beginnings of these stories first!

And with that, the grand total is: 38!

-me after reading this total and spending way too much time on this post-

In all seriousness though, while it is a bit daunting to see just how many things my brain keeps tossing at me and how much that number has increased in recent years, it does make me excited for the future, even if I panic about time a lot. It tells me that I always have stories to tell, and new ones could be right around the corner. I’ll always have something to work on at least! I might periodically update this post as I edit the timeline as well, but for now, thanks for coming along on this little journey with me! :D I hope it was at least entertaining, haha.

#rambles #projects #stories #titles #random #don't worry I'm not tagging all of the story titles lol #long post #oh boy this took me hours and i don't know why lmao #i rant about my stories too much i guess

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amaranormananimations · 6 years ago

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Weekly Summary

04/03/19 - 08/03/19

We had our personal portfolio brief this week. I think having this briefing really finalised for me that this is the final year, and we only have 2 months left! Helen had spoken to us and given us some advice on our futures after university and where to find various alternatives. We also talked about different kinds of festivals and support groups we could find about life after university which was cool - I’ve been struggling a little on what to do after university, and to find a place where I fit, as I don’t really know what to focus on, and I am scared about job opportunities after graduation, but Helen had helped me see that we will be able to figure these things out in the next few weeks, and that failure/rejection is something that comes to all graduates after university. It will take some months or even years to find work, but as long as I keep busy and improving my skills I will get there. I have been looking at a few online portfolio examples online of stop motion artists and it’s given me confidence and inspiration on how to carry mine out. I’ve started to think about the changes I want to make to my current website from the second year, but I may change the whole thing overall, and start anew. I’ve also been thinking about the animated sequence we have to produce too.

After talking to Peter about what my showreel should consist of, and what about Stop Motion that I want to focus on - I have decided that I really want to focus on movement within Stop Motion. Since coming to university and taking an interest in Stop Motion/the other art forms I’ve enjoyed, it’s always been about the movement of my character, and me being able to manipulate it in any way I can to make materials come to life. So I thought of doing a few short exercises/gifs that demonstrate my understanding of movement. I wanted each to be different, and have it’s own style, and I thought claymation would be a really cool and easy way of me being able to get that motion in the short time that I have! It’s something to keep planning and work on.

This week I finished the city background for the collaboration project. Its taken a little while for some feedback, but it’s finally done and coloured. I’ve done a few tests on the parallax for that scene, trying to determine whether it would be better to animate the entire background as one layer, or as separate layers as Ive drawn them.From experimenting, I’ve found it’s better to animate with separate layers to get a good sense of movement and depth of field. Now that I’ve done this, my next task is to animate in time with the animatic, and add in the textured wall once it’s done and the drone. After this, I’m going to start on some animation tests for the holograms, as I know how to animate some glitches after a little research and some testing i did for my fables project.

We also had a talk with Peter about our degree show - another scary concept! We were told some key dates to remember, inclduing submission and results day, which was handy. We were also told about opportunities after graduation with Aylsham High, which seemed really interesting. I quite liked the idea of teaching students animation and helping them create scenes that would be stitched together to make one big film. I’ve been doing the ambassador job for a while, and taken part in some teaching roles, and it’s been really fun to do! So I may apply for it! We were also told what happens during the degree show and how we can attract the industry to our podiums and what we can include, it’s all very exciting!

#weeklysummaries

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pa0231michelletsang · 8 years ago

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evaluation

In order to create an idea that is conceptually strong and engaging to the audience. It’s crucial to learn and understand the key fundamentals of story creation. These of which were themes, stories and genres that had been summed up by author Philip Parker, it allowed us to understand the true definitions and how they connect to each other through the three acts (Syd field 1984), known as exposition, conflict and resolution that all classic narratives follow.

By using the knowledge obtained from the lectures that followed Philip Parkers understanding of film concepts, we were required to use this to generate a strong idea that could work for a short film lasting 5-10 minutes.

Brain-storming the idea consisted of selected themes that I particularly enjoyed the most and what I felt would be much more captivating to the audience. The following themes I decided to focus on were “Injustice” “Desire for Order or truth” and “The pursuit of self-validation”. All of which involves the character to deal with personal conflict and over-come either themselves or the world around them. This made me come up with the idea about self-validation about a character who may appear threatening from the exterior that has caused them to be isolated from others, however they want to change this as they are more than what they look. With self-validation he would then be able to break out of isolation and therefore be accepted into his society. Other stories that I’ve created followed the same narrative, “A girl is cursed by her mother’s spirit and is unwilling to let go and therefore controls her”. However with these stories, I felt like they were cliché and finding a resolution may be hard.

After research on Paul Wells and his articles about symbolism and metaphors, I then start to think about how characters may not necessarily need to be a person, that they could perhaps be an inanimate object in which could be the protagonist,, that perhaps the world could be a character who is an external force to the protagonist. I found that this was quite similar to how society can be today in certain aspects, whether we like to be aware of it or not. We as citizens are quite helpless and can feel controlled when major negative changes are happening in the world and we are unable to make a strong positive difference. By connecting today’s society with exaggerated antagonists, I would be able to create a world that is mundane, dull and emotionless. After several drafts and help from my peers this helped me come up with an idea that I worked.

“A violin awakens in a black and white world futuristic world with people who are controlled by a “system” and their freedom being taken away, they are brain-washed to believe the money and success are the way to evolve. The violin and its’ bow that this is wrong and wants to make a difference, she uses her traits (her passion for music) to change people’s hearts and for them to realise that having fun and leisure is okay. Her side-kick, the gramophone comes to life and goes to the centre of town with her, plays music together until the tallest building known as the system awakens, and it then alerts the crowds of people to confiscate her prized possession. Saddened by this, she then attempts to find her partner in a scrap yard shop, who she then finds other instruments that could help her break the system. They then climb on top of the system building, sing and play music on the top of their voices. Spreading both music and colour to the world”

I was very much inspired by the visual style and concept from the Pixar short inner workings, which focuses on a man who goes to work every-day, disconnecting himself from the happy and outgoing world to a workplace that’s very robotic and emotionless.

The system character in my story is inspired by the book 1984, a novel that focuses on a futuristic world where citizens are under heavily surveillance and controlled by bringing this inspirations together to form the message that I want to put across to the audience is that.

The message that I want to put across to the audience is that “By having the passion and will to change the world, having one voice may not be enough. However by coming together with a group of people, the voices will therefore be heard.”

After writing the plot out, I began to build the story together by identifying the genre and its’ story, finding it’s’ connections to the theme. I found that a personal conflict is evident as the protagonist’s has the desire to escape this world, in which they try and bring happiness into it, however this fails and realises that not all things can be done solo but in a group which allows them to work together and changes the world. The story is very much the gift being taken away, we watch as the character mourns but becomes stronger as they find the power to bring them back and is able to bring colour to themselves through the power of friendship.

However, the story was not always about a violin as it was originally about a girl from the 1970’s who woke up in this world and had a gramophone as a side-kick, following the same acts and narrative.

So at its’ earlier stage feedback that I received for the story pitch was generally positive, as the character is seen to be strong willed and positive and is exposed into a world that reflects our current society and that music was a good plot device to lure the audience into the musical journey that can change the world. The most helpful feedback was to change the side-kick to something a bit more related, perhaps have something that is more tangible compared to a gramophone. In which I have exchanged for a violin, something that is small, curvy and has a counterpart in order to play (the bow).

I was asked a few questions during my feedback and had made me realise more about the world, about which parts I would exaggerate that would make the contrast stronger between the character and the world. I was asked how I would be able to portray success and money in a bad light and how what they look compared to humans. I decided to go for a much more futuristic approach and made research about the negative impacts of success and money and change the concept of the citizens into robotic humans with angular shapes. While doing this, I began to think about the environment and how I would be able to capture the dark and evilness and put this into contrast to the pure character that will change all of this. Another strong question that was asked from my tutor was, why is the girl there? It wasn’t until then that I realised that the violin has the exact same characteristics as the girl. Strong willed, musical and wanting to change the world. This caused me to re-write the story, replacing the girl with the violin. So instead of the girl losing the violin, the violin could lose its’ bow. This is a strong reference to the idea of anthropometrism (Paul Wells 1998), as the violin is being given the same human characteristics as the girl did in the previous draft of the story.

Happy with the feedback I have taken, along with the adjustments made to the story I was motivated and looking forward to creating this into an animatic.

The hardest parts I found during the creation of this module was not the story-creating, I believe it was how I executed it, especially with how the acts were introduced. At times when I was working on the animatic I felt lost finding the transition between the acts as these frames were blank-fillers. In which has made me wished I worked the key-frames better with act 1, act 2 and act 3. I do feel like the beginning and end worked well but I was missing a dramatic effect between the world and the protagonist. Which many agreed in the feedback I received. Act 2 was the weakest act as it was hard to tell if the bow was dead or just taken away, I also feel like there wasn’t enough conflict or drama , this might be due to because the system character wasn’t well developed or translated well from the story to the animatic.

I admit, I felt like I was being a bit over ambitious with the world development and trying to allow the main characters to have room to breathe, again I feel like it was translated incorrectly

Despite these flaws, the animatic has been somewhat successful in my eyes. I was able to bring these instruments to life through anthropometrism and bring a metaphorical meaning into my work as we see the violin progress as a character, it produces music but not enough to change its’ surroundings and not enough to make it have its’ own kind of life as it continues to remain black and white. However with friends, they provide a power to all of them as they whisk through the city with their musical powers, enough to bring him to rescue his friend. It goes back to the meaning of the story that I wanted, that one voice may not get the message fully across but a group of voices can make a difference with support and positivity. I feel like using music was a good drive, it allowed me to visually show its’ power and its’ colourful effect to the dull world.

Acts one and three work out well enough I feel, as the character was well exposed to the dull world attempts to play music, loses its’ possession whilst not strong I feel the resolution allowed the character to realise life lessons.

What else I could have done in my work, is create stronger acts and spend more time planning the animatic rather than jumping straight into it. I feel like this was my weakness, I was too involved in the work and not looking at the bigger picture. I could have also made the contrast stronger between the characters, such as planning the shot when the creature building awakened and make this obvious to the audience.

What I thought I could have done better was consciously be aware that I am making the acts obvious in the story, perhaps as well make the contrast stronger between the protagonist and the antagonist. Make the antagonist appear much more threatening and make the audience feel the danger the violin is going through and therefore the loss would have been a lot more effective. With these being the things I could of done better are how I feel towards to what I would of done to make the animatic better.

If given the chance to redo this, the things I would change in the work done in this module is making the acts more obvious, perhaps be a bit more experimental as I feel like my work wasn’t powerful enough when displaying the evil-ness of the monstrous building, I may have held myself back while working on this. I’d also put more time into the environment as this plays a big part in the story. However despite all this, I am happy with the work I have created and whilst not perfect, the module has taught me the key elements of story-telling, how it is structured and how all of these devices are crucial. With the mistakes I have made, I am glad that I am able to look back at them when making my new ideas and see myself progress. It has inspired me to learn more about the art of story-building and enabling me to make a story much more effective and emotionally moving to my audience.

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sophyeaman-blog · 8 years ago

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Self Reflection

What is going well/to plan so far?

My progress on my blog is on track and I am happy with the quality of the majority of my posts that I have uploaded. This a positive development as I have been able to focus on the production of my short film.

What piece of work/which post are you most pleased with?

I am most proud of Post I: Short Film Research as I gained a lot of insight and inspiration from watching those films. I think the post is very in depth, for example, it includes time references within the clips so that it is easier to find the clip that I am analysing. They layout is easy to read and I have looked into every category in each film and wrote about what was significant. I am equally as proud of Post L: Synopsis and Script as I put a lot of work into scripts and made many re-drafts in order for it to be the best that it can be. It is very detailed and formatted correctly which made it look very professional.

What has not gone well/to plan so far?

I have been struggling with the practical elements such as the production of my short film. Not through lack of trying, scheduled filming dates are frequently disrupted, cut short or cancelled due to actors being unavailable, the weather or unavailability of the equipment. However, I have pushed through this and did manage to get a whole scene shot and edited earlier on during the planning stages.

What do you still have to do that should already be completed?

This is the progress chart I have filled out. Currently, (between week 9-10) this is the progress I have made:

Green = Completed

Amber = In progress/needs improvements

Red = Not complete

I am mostly up to date with my posts.

Post K could be improved, for example, I don’t think my risk assessment analysis is to a high enough standard. Also, due to filming complications, I have been unable to get my actors to sign the talent release forms which means they haven’t been uploaded.

Post M has not been started yet but will be completed next.

Post O is a work in progress. Due to filming complications, not all filming dates have been arranged. There is one date on there but it will need the future dates adding on to there as well so it hasn’t been fully completed yet.

Filming is underway and I have a full scene filmed and edited. However, I was not pleased with my first edit of the scene and want to improve it and upload the new version, however, the blog has the old edit on it which is why Post P is in amber as it needs the new version put on it.

What are your next steps?

My next steps are to continue editing the scene that I have and upload the new edit to my blog. I also need to arrange filming dates with my actors so that I can fully complete Post O. I need to start creating my storyboard and animatic for Post M so that it can be completed. I will then improve my risk assessment and get my actors to sign the talent release forms so that I can update Post K and complete it.

Feedback from the class

Alex Drysdale said:

“I like your blog because you have thought about everything and included it. I think that you could change the layout of your blog because it makes it hard to read and I think you need to include your storyboard into it.”

From Alex’s feedback, I did look at my blog from a viewers point of view and agreed with her on the layout so I changed it to a much more clearer layout. My top priority, at the moment, is to make sure I have done my storyboard and animatic and uploaded it onto my blog.

Liam Pattinson said:

“I love your short film research post and the little time stamps, it shows that you have paid close attention when analysing them. Your images of your script are quite blurry and I can’t really read it and I don’t like the layout of your blog, it’s really confusing.”

From Liam’s feedback, I decided that I would change the images of my scripts to much clearer ones. Due to Tumblr��s settings, it automatically reshapes the image so it is hard to get it perfect but now it is much clearer but a little misshapen but I can live with that. Also, I have changed the layout of my blog to a much clearer one to make it easier to read because I have had a lot of comments on it.

Lola Tyrell said:

“I like your genre post and that you have put in the movie posters as visuals. I think you could add notable actors to that post though to make it more in depth. You could also make your script easier to read.”

From Lola’s feedback, I have added adding notable actors to the genre post on my list of improvements to make which will be completed soon. I have also make the images of my script clearer, I wasn’t aware that they were blurry so I am glad she has pointed it out.

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