ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - "MARATHON SWIMMER"

Holy $#@*!!!

The animatic is done (save a minor part)!!!!!!!!

This encapsulates so many firsts for me it's absurd!!!


I'm a nerd for numbers, so, STATS!

105 DAYS STRAIGHT
 I only missed 8 days and that was to work on a rush job for a client.
That's a score of 92%!!!

415 SHOTS ANIMATED
WTF?! I added so many shots to flesh out parts of the boardamatic that were unclear (thanks to my team of trusted screeners) or not explored deeply enough. I was really hoping to cut down on my dreaming big...but everything keeps growing.

40+ MINUTES OF ANIMATION
According to most film festivals, this qualifies FATHOMS as a feature film (gasp)!
Now, this is based on the assembly edit (ie, all the shots laid out on the timeline), the final result may be shorter as there is probably a lot of fat in there.

Thank you so much to everyone for your continued support and patience with this process!
Now on to the rough cut and more private screenings to help tame this beast!

THE MINOR GIFT AND THE MAJOR GIFT

A light shines in the darkness...

Paraphrasing from (and building on) The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell:

I always find frustration when people talk about talent:

There are two kinds of gifts
The minor gift, and the major gift.

The minor gift is the talent someone naturally has to play the piano, or throw a baseball, or access to funding.

The major gift is the love of the game, the passion.

The problem with the minor gift is your start near the top...of the glass ceiling. The person with the major gift may start with no skills, but, there is also no ceiling. With enough hard work, dedication, and passion, they can surpass the skill or talent of the individual with the minor gift...and it is not limited to a singular thing.

Perhaps someone maybe has both, then, who knows!

Especially as technology further democratizes the creative processes...the only thing that will seperate us is dedication, passion, and hard work.


Also, I'm finishing the animatic super soon...there is a lot of other important life stuff happening, but, this train has got to keep on chugging along.