WEEK 3 - SO CLOSE!

Fathoms will be on Kickstarter, hopefully by June

 
It's been a busy and hectic week. I took a little time to actually sleep last night, which puts me behind about a half day. I'd rather get sleep and not get sick though, so, I think it was a necessary delay.

Week 4 will consist entirely of modeling sets...so, I have to be careful not to get too caught up in the details and focus my time more on lighting and general layout. Your imagination can do the rest!


PS - Kickstarter has accepted my pitch for Fathoms...so, in the coming weeks I will be putting together a video and rewards for the big push! I'm pretty stoked to get the word out (finally).


Keep on swimmin!

I HATE RIGGING, SERIOUSLY

Even though I'm using constraints instead of skinning, rigging is still such a bitch (for me).

The individual steps don't bother me, it's more that if you screw up any step along the way, you essentially have to start all over.

VERY FRUSTRATING...but I'm chopping my way through the brush!


Just have to keep on swimmin!

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! - SCAVENGER ARKEN

A WIP of the Scavenger Arken....now with underwater greenhouse!

more soon!

WEEK 2 - STILL HERE!

Working in a nearly silent environment is wonderful. I've had a few days to myself at my home office this week, and it's been a wonderfully zen-like, distraction-free environment...very good for the creative soul!

So, I'm solidly ahead on some things...

like the dive suit (as seen above)

and a tiny bit behind on others...so I'm about on schedule!

Just gotta keep on swimmin!

WEEK 1 - RIGHT ON SCHEDULE

click to view fullsize

Somehow I've managed to stay on track this week (even with a lot of hurdles).

I assume that's because I've done little else and I've split my day into three working shifts. This helps deal with distractions (which there are many in modern life) and gives me a little breathing room, while still maintaining a 10 hour+ (minimum) work day.

My work routine:

Morning - 9:30ish - lunch time
Midday - lunchtime to dinner time, with a short snack break
Evening - (after dinner to about an hour past my bed time

If I'm ahead of schedule (hah), then I will take some personal time.

Also, with every significant milestone, I reward myself with a less complex task. Something to cleanse the mental palate.

So, the animatic is more or less ready to go, and I will probably get a few trusted eyes to check it out...make sure it all adds up, while I work away on designing and modeling things.

Not sure if it's too cheesy, or too bloated, or what, but, I'll get whip it into shape in due time!

DAY 1 - THE PAST IS PROLOGUE

Thusly we begin our journey

A journey of the mind and body

A journey of the soul


...also, I did a ton of storyboard frames today...not sexy, but, important (see above).

HERE WE GO!

In a few short weeks I will be taking time off from my day gig. I will be militantly dedicated for 6 weeks to getting Fathoms up and running.

I will be doing all the final pre-production, and if my militant schedule is realistic and I succeed, then I should be animating shots by the end of the 6 week period.

I will then nibble away on shots, animating a few hours after work...into the fall, and then I will take another 3-6 weeks off to finish the post-production work for Fathoms.

I am equal parts excited and terrified.
Great power. Great responsibility. You know the drill.

But, good, bad, mediocre, mind-blowing...it's going to be done (done-done), and then I'll move forward from there.


Keep on swimming!

TIME IS A RIVER

I WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING,

FROM WITHIN MYSELF

(POTENTIALLY) GREATER THAN MYSELF

VOICES OF FUTURE'S PAST

When it comes to the dialogue for Fathoms I'm all business.

So I'm starting work on the storyboards and getting the dialogue locked and recorded.

I'm taking what I would consider the american approach, and recording dialogue first, making sure it works in the boardamatic, then building the animation roughly around those timings.

I'm going for what would probably be considered a hyper-realistic angle.

I imagine Fathoms as a stage play, with an emotional maturity that follows that line. I don't know that the end result will fall there, but that's something I keep deep in the recesses of my mind as a target to aim for.

I want this to feel involved, and authentic, messy and visceral - human.

Some people use the Japanese approach - fitting the voice to the animation after the fact. But I prefer to let the human expression dictate the pacing.

I'm very lucky to have two amazing actors filling the pants (or lungs) of Evan and Sam.
More soon!

SIDE NOTE - ANATOMY IN MOTION

This is maybe seemingly unrelated, but, it is highly related. Because I'm a very small army.

I finally completed Anatomy in Motion, for the iPhone and iPad. I submitted it last night (Sunday, Jan 9, 2011). I started this project about a year and a half ago with my girlfriend, (who is awesome, by the way).

I delivered about a week behind schedule, but, it's delivered, and now I can finally move on to Fathoms.

This next week is for planning my whole schedule for Fathoms which involves finding a really useful and flexible scheduling program to help me keep on task. I'm thinking of it as my virtual producer......so it needs to be really smart.

I'm also working with my awesome voice talent on getting the dialogue together...more on that soon!

I've got a lot going on this year, and I'm going to try to hit a September deadline for the Sundance festival if I can...it's probably unrealistic, but I'm hoping aggressive scheduling might make it possible. If it's not ready to ship by then, it's not, but, I'm going to do the best I can to hit that milestone!

Keep on swimming