This is a frame from one of the shots I've been working on this week for IIUM/KUS. Probably the most effects heavy shot of the whole short. I've said it before, but the whole short doesn't look like this, I don't want to do any false advertising. Well, really I just don't want anyone to be disappointed, and be like ". . .oh, I thought this was going to look different when it was moving and stuff. . . stop IMing me all these links."
This whole week I've been fixing and rendering out what are hopefully the final shots for the short. I'm sure I messed something up though.
We decided to make the short HD or make it IN HD- how would you phrase that? The reasoning was that it would look nice if it were ever projected for a festival or something. But I don't know if this short would really interest festival programmers, I think it's better suited for an internet audience who's avoiding doing work/homework/socializing at all costs. I wonder if there are laurels for that I could put on a poster.
Anyways, being primarily viewed on the internet (and this is assuming people don't gouge their eyes out in the first 30 seconds) means that the majority of viewers are going to watch this short mildly compressed at half it's resolution. This on top of the hard drive space and render time makes you start to question things. Why we tried to meddle with HD in the first place!? Who were we to play god!? You at least need to go to grad school for that type of thing.
Robot Rights & All's Right (With The World)
Wow, it's been a month since I last updated. Well, I've been working my ass off and I've got the pictures to prove it. Any photographic evidence you see otherwise is a blatant Stalinist forgery.
We're in the belly of the beast right now, three projects going on at once, so first things first. The pick up shots for the new nerdy ass short, codenamed: IIUM/KUS, are done and should be cleaned and colored by tomorrow. So hopefully a shit load of After Effects work will get that thing to picture lock either this week or next week.
Next up at bat is the music video I'm animating for the Ben Weasel song "Got My Number" off his new album "These Ones Are Bitter". If you like Screeching Weasel and/or pop punk tunes go here and download it.
These are some of the more interesting storyboards from the animatic.
Can you figure out what music video is about? Get out your special Ben Levin decoder rings and mail in your theories to :
"The Astounding Confounding Storyboard Mystery & Great American Anal Portrait Contest"
c/o The American Family Association
PO Box Drawer 2440
Tupelo, MS 38803
Finally, my partner in crime, Matt, and I finished storyboarding a short we're working on with improviser/comedienne extraordinaire Jackie Clarke. We've learned from our sins with IIUM/KUS and are making animatics for everything now. It's really crucial to storyboard AND make an animatic because it helps to see how long to hold each shot, how angles pair up, and if you've got everything running smoothly with your dialogue track- blah blah blah.
Thus we've started this system of buying stacks of blank index cards to storyboard on. The theory being that we can in turn use these cards as rough layouts for the actual animation and that the smaller size of the drawings will help us cut down on pencil mileage. Plus it's nice to hold a fat stack of smudgy cards strapped together with rubber bands and feel like you actually did something with your life.
Here's what the stacks for the Ben Weasel short and the Jackie Clarke short look like:
And in an effort to make this post ridiculously long- my old short, "She She She She's A Bombshell", got a mention on this podcast GeekNights. Check it out:
http://www.frontrowcrew.com/?p=391
Trotsky's Cous Cous Delight & Robot Rights
Anyways, being primarily viewed on the internet (and this is assuming people don't gouge their eyes out in the first 30 seconds) means that the majority of viewers are going to watch this short mildly compressed at half it's resolution. This on top of the hard drive space and render time makes you start to question things. Why we tried to meddle with HD in the first place!? Who were we to play god!? You at least need to go to grad school for that type of thing.
