Script and Storyboard Completed!

In a word: Huzzah.

It may have resulted in only getting two hours sleep and battling the biggest bee I have ever seen at 5.30am but it got done, and in time for a short trip to Dundee so that documents could be passed over to the ever talented Ciaran Murphy for updates and criticism.

The character designs in it have to be ignored as they are basically stick figures blocking out the actions. I used Ciaran's characters to decorate the corners for constant reference and because I couldn't help it! The script has also been passed onto Kieran Baxter for comment and criticism.

Many of the shots I feel have to be more lively and at more interesting angles and I feel parts of the story will have to be edited and rewritten. I've had many problems trying to export an animatic from After Effects but as soon as I do I'll get it uploaded.

This Project's On A Roll!

Another from Ciaran. Truly he is the hero of the week.

If only I owned a third class diner in outback America his mugshot would be on the wall.

Not only is this drawing fun and a good representation of their characters but without him knowing its close to one of my favourite anime scenes from honey and clover [ about disenchanted art student relationships as they study for their final year... similarities? non? ]

Honey and Clover [no I don't own the image rights but neither did the website I stole it from] :

and the *more fun* Leap Year version:

Bringing Up The Rear

I am becoming more convinced that Ciaran Murphy when he wants can be a poetic genius. Further thanks to him.

Scanning Complete

And presenting: Le Storyboard v.1.0

All scanned, present and correct ready for a laborious Sunday of lazy animatic making. So many frames, so few of them drawn well.

In the name of unnecessary ambition and reckless previewing here's one of the more pointless panels I scanned earlier.

Stickman Tom looking over the pier cannot see Ada in the sea, only doodled fish.

More On That Now!

Again from and in the words of Ciaran:

" she isn't the only one who can sit on the invisible ground "

These are turning into a really handsome collection of designs, really glad with the way its working out. The script has now been edited and its great to start picturing these designs in the scenes, its just a shame my stick figures in the basic storyboard cant do Ciaran's lovely pictures justice!

Breaking News

Hot off the press!

Ada has a new nickname. In the words of Ciaran Murphy [character designer extraordinaire] who sent this through not ten minutes previous...

"Ada Seated, because even mystical inter-dimensional cyber pixies need a rest"

Nice. And a lovely drawing too. Gold star.

now with eyebrows. . . x

Darker Driveway

Updated darker version of the Halloween driveway background for Eleanor's A Sweet Disposition. It's still not finished as I'm still unsure as to what and where the action is taking place and it's possible now too dark but I thought I'd try to play with it while I remember the Photoshop layer system.I'm suggesting that the pumpkin light be animated to cast an eerie glow and sinister shadows...

The Next Twelve Months

The schedule for Leap Year has been revised!

The major deadlines at present are:

- Bulk of Dissertation Written By End of August

- Production Bible Completed By Mid September

- At Least One Completed Shot By September

- 45 Second Trailer Ready For Degree Show

- Finish Film by Autumn / Winter 2011

Critical Evaluation

Firstly, although I don't have anything up here to show for it yet, the initial provisional storyboard is done! I may have cheated by cutting the end, still have no idea how to rough out the title sequence, the characters are basic sticks and the story is confused and overly complicated but it's all blocked out. Roll on infinite scanning later today after some sleep!

More excitingly and visible are the profile character designs I got from Ciaran who came up with a good idea : He would send me the original, I'd draw over it with how I like it changed and then send it back. I didn't want to draw directly on top so photoshopped what you see below. It's hard to stress why and how I really like what he is doing with them so it was a challenge to find things I didn't. All my suggestions were minor and I'm not convinced if they are better or just different. But it was a fun task and here they are so spot the difference...

TAKE 1: THE ORIGINAL

TAKE 2: THE SUGGESTIONS

Characters!

Exciting times!

Ciaran Murphy of [Mneme] has just emailed me some coloured concepts for the designs of Tom and Ada round two. Round two because I am not good at naming things and so seeing as over+out has been shelved for now I'm just going to carry the character names over. I have given him a more detailed crit via email but the general consensus is a unanimous thumbs up. Also for ease the project is now called "Leap Year" which will be modified on the blog as soon as I change the title on the schedule. This is beginning to feel like a real project..

Many thanks Ciaran!

Halloween Driveway

This is a provisionally coloured background for A Sweet Disposition showing a driveway/ front garden at halloween in Suburbia.

I'm not entirely sure what time of day or how dark this background needs to be and I am intending to work back into it at a later date and possibly change the colours as they seem to be rather garish, despite it being a children's animation. I'm also not convinced by the floor or the door and want to add more detail to the wall but I'm unsure what sort of action or movement is taking place across it. These will be modified once I'm more familiar with the shot and get directions from Eleanor...

Supplementary Cityscapes and Character Chatter

A further two [Mneme] cityscape/ skyline doodles which I did last week after finding a spare few hours because they are rather fun to do. The next mission is to do a large coloured A3 one in shades of grey which will be fun so watch this space.

Ciaran has also started work on Character Designs for Utopia whose title may shortly be changing to Leap Year. Sadly I don't have a copy of them to upload yet but so far they are looking *rather gorgeous* and are exactly the kind of characters I was imagining and would love to be able to draw. I can't wait to see the final designs.

Storyboarding for Utopia is slow but going so an animatic will hopefully be completed by the end of this week. Watch this space...

Taming The Mouse-tache Script

Ashley Burns emailed me the mouse-tache script asking if I could look over it and suggest any changes/ possible edits we could do to cut it down. At present it stands at an epic 3 mins 42 seconds. Ideally the aim is to get it down to 3 mins 15 secs which involves losing around 30 seconds of scripting. This is no easy feat but hopefully some of the things I have suggested will help to make it more manageable...

Here is a rather dull, unsexy jpg showing the script and my suggestions..

[Mneme] Doodles Take Two

Some new images for Ciaran's shiny project [Mneme].

More building doodles the aim was to create an organic feel as if each urban block was a growing organic entity with no one building clearly separate from the others. Originally drawn in pen and ink these have been loosely and quickly photoshopped in a vain attempt to make each block stand out. I have attached one just as a simple scanned file as in many ways I think I prefer it...

Shot 6 v.2.0

Updated shot based on some comments, more

comments are welcome...