EPIC MILESTONE!

Whoa, the animation is complete! Over 18 minutes of animation and too many shots to count.

For more info, check out the Kickstarter update...

EPIC MILESTONE!!!

SOCIAL MEDIA CONFUSION

I never know where to post stuff when it comes to social media.
With Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, and the Kickstarter project page it's all very confusing!
And I definitely don't want to post the same thing on every page, because then it feels like I'm just spamming every one....sheesh!

Sooooo, I think I'm going to try to make posts that are just images on the Facebook page for now.
Feel free to check it out (or follow us) here.

ANIMATION / IMAGE OF THE DAY - MY FIRST WALK CYCLE

My first walk cycle...gotta start somewhere!

This is my first project doing full character animation, so, it's going to be rough around the edges. I'm still hoping my storytelling and overall mood can captivate the audience so they focus on the story and can avoid getting boggedd down in how technically sophisticated (or not) the character animation is.

A GLIMPSE INTO DARKNESS

A finalized and composited shot from scene 5!

IRA GLASS ON THAT ELUSIVE THING WE CALL TASTE

This is the most succinct explanation of the concept of 'taste' I have ever read...and it doesn't hurt that it's coming from the massively talented Ira Glass. Fathoms is that daily struggle for me...trying to be good.

IMAGE OF THE DAY - SCENE 1

A quick peek at a Cinema 4D viewport screengrab from scene 1.

FINAL EVERYTHING + NO DOUBT

Final animation + rendering + compositing has begun!

Making a film (really, any artistic endeavor) is a doubt-filled process. A LOT of self-doubt!

The problem is - if you are without doubt, you usually end up with a lazy/masturbatory film. If you have too much doubt, you end up stripping the film of any personality (design by committee), and mediocrity is the new failure.

Food for thought.

IMAGE OF THE DAY - KIDS IN THE HALL

This is a rough render test from a scene I was editing. At the top you can see the geometry as viewed from Cinema 4D. Below you can roughly see what the final render will look like; complete with lighting, textures, and outlines.

I want to show you guys a lot more from the film, but, I don't want to spoil(er) it!

STORYTELLING

 


An incredible TED talk from Andrew Stanton (Toy Story, Wall-E, etc)!

This is a 20-minute-storytelling master class.

WATCH!

DIRECTORS

Some great insights that I find useful from Oscar-nominated directors:


Alexander Payne
“editing is the ongoing process of disguising how bad the film really is.”


Steve McQueen
"I want to work WITH people, I don't necessarily want to work FOR people."

Also refers to film (specifically editing) as a [rewarding] conversation.

“I’m running, I”m not chasing… I’m trying to do as much as I can before I fall down. I’m interested in stuff which is in the air, that you can’t see. But how can you put it on film? It’s like catching butterflies.”

Mike Mills
“If I’m going to die tomorrow, this is the best story I’ve got. This is my best chance to try to communicate something about being human.”

Borrowed from NoFilmSchool

TWENTY TWO!!!

I just completed the rough edit of the animatic mere moments ago!

The edit (without credits) is right around twenty-two minutes in length, and lots of shots. I'd love for the film to fit a feature length (40+ mins), but, I'd much rather the film be the right length to tell the story than be artificially long just to fill a quota.

I'm going to watch the film all the way through tonight, take some initial notes, probably tweak the edit slightly, and then I'll be sending out a few private screeners to make sure it's not a total disaster.
 
Many steps to go, but, yay!

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.

THE VERY FIRST

It's my first full day back on Fathoms (vs cramming it into whatever pocket of the day I can stuff)!

So here is the very first image of Fathoms (at far as I can tell).

I was cleaning my work space (and apartment) this past weekend and came across a very old sketchbook in a box I labeled "Hope".

Here's to 2012 being full of even more great stuff!

45 DAYS

Still going!

I'm working on some very slow scenes (a lot of characters and technical stuff all animating and interacting), but slowly making progress. So I'm estimating I can complete the animatic in January (fingers crossed).

Swim that mighty ocean!

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - "OVER THE HUMP"

We did it!

Well, half did it....!?!

The animatic is over half-way complete!
This is a big deal. A HUGE DEAL!

This represents a ton of work of which I have never attempted or completed before (it's scary!). I've made some great additions to the story in terms of clarity (for the viewer) of my themes and story.


Nerd details - this represents about 200 SHOTS and aproximately 10 MINUTES OF ANIMATION...INSANE!

Now of course, some shots will not make it to final edit/animation, and a lot will be shortened (or lengthened) as necessary. A lot of shots are being added and refined, though, at this stage, animation remains limited and mostly loose.

PS - I'm at 16 days straight without breaking the chain (more on that in another post). I'll consider it significant when I've made it to 30.

Keep on swimmin!

DON'T BREAK THE CHAIN

Thanks to Norb for the great suggestion (and article) about working every day.
I think this is a great approach for the long term, so I'm using the calendar to make sure I'm working every day.

My current days are filled with lots of other work in addition to Fathoms. So I'm making my requirements for counting a day of work as - at least one hour of animation.

I'm only two days in, so, no major hurdles yet. My first milestone is 30 days...I know there's a ton of stuff coming up that will limit my working time, so, it's going to be a fun challenge!

I had a dream about my father last night...

He was still around, and he had set up a small work shop in an old concrete building.
I came to visit his shop one day only to find the door had been boarded up.
All of his things were in boxes outside.
I knew what this meant.

He was gone.



I have these dreams, these feelings of sadness, emptiness, around this time every year.

My father died on November 19, 1999.

It's not an arresting burden, but, it is a presence that colors my life.

I am lucky to have so much love and support in my life, and it makes me all the more thankful for all the opportunities I have, and the choices I get to make.

Now back to our regularly televised submersibles, already in progress.

GETTING CRITICAL ABOUT CRITIQUE

This used to be a face...oops!

When people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

~Neil Gaiman


'Nuff said! Meanwhile, work has been nuts, so, I've had almost no time to work on Fathoms the past two weeks...trying to move the ball forward this week though.

FWD: DEFEATING THE ENEMY WITHIN

From many, one

"We ALL have something we're trying to accomplish that lies outside the realm of basic human survival... whether it be some personal project or accomplishment... to get it DONE we've got to fight with and DEFEAT ourselves...

What will you do? Who/what do you want to become? Are you willing to fight for it?

How long/hard are you willing to fight?"

 ~MDOTSTRANGE from Defeating the enemy within