New Tumblr Gallery
I recently created a new tumblr that I’m using as a gallery for random workings of the film. I post something at least once a week of things I’m currently working on, experimenting with or just little teaser insights.
Check it out: http://kmog.tumblr.com
Film Update 2012
Hello, it’s been a little while since the last post here on the blog so I thought I’d do a little update on the film and it’s progress entering 2012.
We currently have two actors attached to the film:
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Steve Speirs as ‘Ryan’
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and Laura Bridgwater as ‘Jean’.
I’ve already recorded Steve’s dialogue which went great. My current plans for the casting/recording of the remaining parts: to be focused on later in the year.
The past few months my main focus has been on learning as much as I can to do with the technical side of the film: the 3D software. I’ve in particular spent most time my learning through books, tutorials and tests how to model and rig characters ready for animation.
This is really the crux of it all in my mind as once the characters are digitally created and set up ready to go, I feel, in a way, the hardest job will be done and although the animation and modelling of other assets will be a much longer task, it will also be a much easier and more enjoyable task.
With modelling, I now have the first set created. Today I’ve been playing around with the look and feel for the film (or that set at least) I’ve lately been leaning towards a black and white look but that could change in time. I’ve also tested and defined what render settings and workflow I’m using with the film and finding out alternative routes for time-intensive render options like DOF and Motion Blur which I need, but don’t want to waste time doing natively if I can get them as-good in post in a tenth of the time.
Anyway time for me to return to isolation. No resolutions for me, I just want to keep on the same track going forward.
Happy New Year!
Fourth Draft, Storyboarding and Moving Forward
So last week was the first week since the blog’s launch that I’ve missed posting something. I’d like to know people’s opinions if you would about the scheduled post-day, do you like that format, knowing that there is to be expected a post on that day. Or would you prefer to see a much more casual, as they come, surprise me format?
I had spent a lot of this following week down my caravan in the Gower, my dog had been unwell so it was a bit back and forth more than I would have liked but it was out of concern for the little guy. My birthday was on the fourth and after seeing the vet I went back down the van to finally get some work done on this fourth draft of the script. It had been a while since I’d last worked on it through other commitments that have been taking up my time, but on that notion, I’m all freed up now on the time front to work on the film (after my full-time job’s hours of course).
Anyway I managed to print off the current state of the third draft, as I much prefer to read on paper when I can and I re-read the whole thing making notes and little storyboards on the pages when inspiration struck to do so. I had this nagging feeling that a lot of the middle-story was somewhat superfluous – which is something that I didn’t want (both having filler and/or taking it out). So I reworked a lot of that stuff making it more key to the plot, driving it forward and making each scene important to the overall story. I also added some more tension throughout and ambiguity too. I like ambiguity in stories as it allows multiple interpretations, even if I as the writer know the hard facts about the reality of what happened or what is. I think because with ambiguity you have to
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think
, it makes a story last, as it stays with you after watching/reading. But it can be a balancing act as too many questions and who cares?
Right now as it stands, I’m so much more happy with the script as a whole, it feels more of a whole piece too, not just sections as I felt it once did.
In between writing I bought a book on storyboarding after giving it an amazon quick look. Originally I was quite close-minded about the subject of needing a book about storyboarding as I’ve focused on composition for years now and feel like my grasp of it is pretty strong. But this book: ‘The Art of the Storyboard‘ even through the quick look gave me some great ideas, and I even storyboarded certain shots which have gotten me really excited about actually creating them. I think this book which has a lot of theory (which I love more than practical, which it does have too) will really take the film’s visual style forward. I’ve already through reading through the script again been watching it in my mind differently, the shots, the edits are much better this time around – I just need to get them into the boards and into the animatic to solidify that. Which is what I’ll be working on next.
M dot Strange's Heart String Marionette Teaser
HEART STRING MARIONETTE teaser trailer #1 from M dot Strange on Vimeo.
I posted one of this guy’s youtube videos a few months back. I found his site through searching for 3D tutorials on youtube/google. M dot Strange has almost finished his 2nd feature 3D animated film and has published his first teaser trailer for the new film online today. Check it out.
You can also watch his previous film, ‘We are the Strange‘, in it’s entirety on youtube. Impressive.
Plodding along and new deadline's set.
So I’ve had a decently productive weekend. I managed to do some big edits to the script, including one of the scenes (a dialogue one) that I wasn’t very happy with. I’ve been watching a lot of odd and unconventional movies lately I want to try and take inspiration from those and make the script as a whole more ambiguous and open to interpretation, or just maybe not hammer the plot points so hard, let there be more of a subtle experience to it all. So the current draft I was working on is now done and I just want to look at the script from some other perspectives and see how I can really make what I want, something that I could still be proud of in 20+ years. This next draft will be the one where I’ll be going over with a fine tooth comb and asking myself what I want and don’t want, what is my goal and intention for the story and getting there. I’ve set a deadline for May 8th for that draft. Once that draft is complete I’m going to move forward with both showing the script around to a select few and creating the animatic as I wrote earlier.
This weekend I’ve also been keeping up with more 3D tutorials and putting into practice some of the things I’ve learned, mainly modelling and concepts to do with modelling, getting comfortable with starting with a primitive shape such as a cube and turning it in to a set piece, or anything imaginable. There’s this tool called Zbrush which is a modelling application that I’ve seen a lot of lately, it allows for really easily creating characters, props and so on that can be imported into your 3D program of choice. I saw this cool mini tutorial which shows how you can set up different facial expressions inside of Zbrush and then link them to sliders inside of Cinema 4D. Now as a workflow of creating expressions and phonemes. It really looks achievable with a little bit of upfront effort and basic learning of Zbrush. I think I’m getting to the stage where I put the lessons into practice and create from scratch a simple 3D character that can do basic things such as walk and talk and render out a short 30 second test clip. I think I need that exploration and practice as a jumping off point. Things can be made gradually and in an ‘as they’re needed’ situation, when a scene calls for a prop or an ancillary characters (not that there’s too many of each) they can be made when needed and a lot of animation can be produced beforehand with what is already at hand. It’s cool to learn about cheating too, for instance, I’m not gonna waste time modelling an entire object if I only ever see the said object from one angle, this can really cut down a lot of wasted time and detail on something that is never seen by someone other than myself.
