Skip to main content

I'm happy to present to you.....

The unveiling of HEART STRING MARIONETTE!
Since you've been following along all this time please leave me a comment to let me know what you think.

HEART STRING MARIONETTE teaser trailer #1 from M dot Strange on Vimeo.



Thanks to everyone for your support! And thanks to everyone who helps me along so I can make these films! BestesT to yall! AND THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING! ^_^

Comments

  1. It's so much more than I could have ever hoped for. Everything looks so smooth and disturbing. There's hardly one frame that doesn't give you an eyegasm and I'm super happy that you found someone who can make the perfect music for it.
    I also can't get over the amount of progress you've made. You're my hero.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I literally teared up and got shivers down my spine when I saw this in my subscription box! THANK YOU MDOT!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. @dieA

    I'm glad! If I can make your discriminating eyes happy than I know I'm doing my job ^ ^

    Yeh with the visual style I went for...with everything looking organic and old... electronic based music won't work... The music I have gotten from Endika so far is GREAT and fits perfectly...

    ^ ^ As far as progress goes I just reap the rewards of having "no life" haha... All I do is work, research, learn and work some more... and I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. @malkamar91

    ^ ^ Thanks for watching! And I can't wait to show you the whole film!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Whoa, nice surprise drop in the middle of the night!

    Just curious: why does it say "USA/Iceland" on the poster? Is that where Endika is from?

    ReplyDelete
  6. @stormko

    I did some of the modeling, rigging and practical shots in Iceland so technically its a country of production...actually I didn't make the film at all... I have a sweatshop full of faires, elves and hidden people who make the stuff for me muahahahaa

    ReplyDelete
  7. everyone should go here

    http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/gwyw5/1st_teaser_for_heart_string_marionette_lets_get/

    sign up and UPVOTE ...
    this gets to Reddit Frontpage and you will literally gain thousands of new fans and sell books in the hundreds.

    trailer is intense .. love the VG style sword trails ... groovey indeed.

    www.madreagent.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Holy smokes. Some of the wallpapers, especially, look pretty phenomenal.

    ReplyDelete
  9. No words can even begin to describe this, it's just...wow, it's amazing O.O...can't wait!..

    ReplyDelete
  10. dude.. im speachless, i thought you'd stick with the WATS look and 8 bit music, this blew me away

    it's feels exactly the same when you're waiting for your fav bands new cd.. you don't want to see the same formula but you want to see something familiar

    i loved the music! it sounded very depressing dude, you teamed up with the perfect guy

    congratulations dude, i wanna be like you in some years

    ReplyDelete
  11. That's just plain beautiful! Finally it's here! And it looks great, lighting and composition look especially stood out to me. And Endika did a great job too, congrats to you guys!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Epic & soulful.

    Thanks M Dot and Endika!

    Adam

    ReplyDelete
  13. looks amazing, m dot. the music is fantastic too.

    just finished reading b book and i enjoyed it so much that i immediately ordered a book.

    again, the hsm teaser looks and sounds amazing.

    congratulations.

    ReplyDelete
  14. @everyone

    Thanks! I'm glad you aren't disappointed after all this time...and of course I haven't shown any of the best stuff so stay tuned ^ ^

    ReplyDelete
  15. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8TN7rEfvt8

    hehehe.
    read the comments as well .
    (unlisted video: only people given this link can view it.)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I can't believe it.... the wait is almost over. I have been waiting, reading this blog for years.... and now it's almost here. Ah, the anticipation... the expectation...

    ReplyDelete
  17. absolutely beautiful!

    It looks amazing dude and Endikas score(from what i've just heard) is plain genius. The timbre and melody...... ffffffffffffffff!

    I'm really glad to see my favourite filmmaker develop so much in such a short amount of time.

    Now... i need to know the story... agH!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Looking great, so cool to finally see!!!! ^__^

    ReplyDelete
  19. Awesome...master Dot. The music mathes perfectlly. Lets wait...keep on editing.

    ReplyDelete
  20. M dot, its fucking insane. Insanely beautiful!!!! I was creeped out, I actually felt like there was someone running around my apartment after those creepy ass 20 seconds, and I live all by my lonesome self...please, please release it as soon as possible and let us know how we can help. Cause we´re not legion or anything but...we kinda are...so thanks for your awesome work man!!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Mixed comment here(I'll expect a little back flame but that's fine because its part of giving your opinion).

    For one, I have been a relatively long term follower, having waited for We Are the Strange to come out(not as long as others here) and even got some friends together to have a Halloween party watching it. What I mean is that I am already in your market and have been checking this blog at least once a week(some days 50 times) for at least the last year. As a fan of your work, I think the new footage is great, I'm psyched as anything and have re-watched the teaser part of the video about 20 times so far.

    However, as a perspective word of mouth person and book buyer, I'm a little disgusted. I just went through your "Power to the Pixel" presentation and you even talk about people getting jaded when you try to push products on them. Well, when I see a trailer that is 3:30 long with about 30 seconds of pure footage on it, I'm turned off. I mean I showed it to my friend who also bought WATS and followed a bit and my first response i get back is "This looks like shit". Not the video content, but the whole teaser together.

    I mean I respect the crowd quoting but the "buy my book" transition from the trailer is just a little counterproductive for hooking a new person. If it was a video response aside from the trailer, i can get that, but forcing anyone watching the trailer into it, gets people defensive.

    Furthermore, when it comes to sharing the video, Some times it can take days to get someone to watch a youtube video that is 3 minutes long. I feel awkward saying "watch this!... its only 30 seconds, but you need to skip to second forty and don't get turned off by the book ad that it transitions to!" I mean personally, I don't like to buy a side product before I know the real product. I trust you enough that I would probably buy a movie poster as soon as I can, but a 30 dollar book about a movie that isn't even fully produced yet? If this movie meets(and hopefully exceeds) my expectations I have for it, i will happily buy the book. So with that perspective, I'm not going to want to make my friends feel like I'm forcing them to buy something I wouldn't myself(yet).

    Anyway, keep up the good production and I hope you can get the publicity you managed from WATS with this film because it seems a more serious piece that could really create a larger fanbase for yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  22. @Sri

    I understand your concern and I can see how you would perceive the friends comment of "this looks like shit" being because of me pushing the book etc... BUT maybe the bloke just doesn't like the film? 0_0

    Part of my strategy is to empower people to make their own animated films and the point of pushing the book with the teaser is to let them know if they are interested in doing it themselves that the book can help them in doing so...

    And its not like the book thing is BEFORE the teaser its after...so they could simply not watch it...

    People may not realize and not even care and thats fine BUT there's no company or business behind me supporting me... if I don't sell stuff I won't be able to make any more films....I cannot simply exist on the good will of others... and I think theres people in my audience who understand this and do their best to support me however they can...

    If someone is so self absorbed and selfish to be turned off by an INDIVIDUAL who makes animated films BY THEM SELF simply letting them know how they can learn more about the film and help to support the cause then I don't really give a fuck what that person thinks hence I will not change my approach for them.

    Also if prospective fan A cannot even sit through an unknown 3 minute video then they will NEVER watch a whole film so why should I bother trying to cater to such fickle people lacking any attention span?

    I thank you for following my work for so long... but if me selling a book before the film is out which is common practice for most all studio films makes you "disgusted" I'm not sure what I can say to you bruh

    Maybe your just a way better business person than I am... so if not selling the book right now at the end of the teaser... How am I supposed to make money? And if I am to sell SOMETHING..poster etc...where/when would I sell it? Wouldn't I try to sell it in a place where the most people are likely to see? Most of those people are not going to come to this blog or even the films site...

    You might see it as me "pushing product" but to the people that bought the book out of the gate... it was something they were waiting for...and they were happy to be exposed to it and get it... I guess they just believe in me a lot more than you do bruh...

    To the people that really do believe in me I THANK YOU GREATLY... to everyone else sitting on the fence or hatin... I guess you'll just have to wait to see...

    ReplyDelete
  23. Word.

    Actually, I liked the intro. It reminded me of how they used to do that in trailers for old films. The director or producer or actors would talk to the audience before showing footage. Even Hitchcock and Walt Disney would introduce trailers sometimes. I think having you intro the teaser made the experience better, more personal than the cold sell we only get from Hollywood these days.

    ReplyDelete
  24. @Stormko

    Yeh I always thought the ones with Hitchcock sitting in his directors chair were awesome ^ ^ When he would walk around and show you the set like for Psycho... hmmm I should do that for the 3d sets eh? I already did it for the "actors" and will upload soon ^ ^

    ReplyDelete
  25. Ooo, good idea.

    By the way, how are you planning to release this? Are you considering Blu-ray? Just curious.

    Also, I think I remember in one of your talks you said that you were going to do something to tell back-stories using paper characters...something along those lines. Do you know what I'm talking about? If so, are you still planning to do this?

    ReplyDelete
  26. No, I can say that my friend actually had nothing wrong with the content of the film in the teaser(I made sure of this with him). He just reacted as strongly as i did(or more so) against the book part.

    About "prospective fan A" not making it through a 3 minute trailer, meaning they can't handle a full film, i disagree. People act completely different towards something they care about even to a minor degree. The primacy effect means that the more completely you can get a hook into people, the easier they are to work with afterwards. If the music won't be complete for another month, you probably have some time to capitalize on impatient people not getting enough from the teaser.

    In context of judging your book compared to major studios, before Star Wars, studios did not have their current merchandising obsession, and personally I have enough general dislike of what a lot of major studios do, that I ignore their work entirely unless I see positive comments regarding from people i trust, or actually have friends tell me about them.

    As for the needing to support yourself, I actually can understand where you are coming from. However, a more spreadable and subtly advertised teaser might achieve this as well. The intro works well with the trailer, but transitioning from the soft and sad acoustic to a very loud and digital 8-bit(with the first talking of the entire trailer as well) is a complete shift in mood from what I think was a VERY effective end to your teaser. You could easily at the beginning or any time throughout done a small youtube caption with a link to a more advertising based video or even directly to the book itself.

    To quote you from January: "I'm like %99 art %1 business and schmooze..." and that is part of what has kept me following you. Call me crazy, but in the interest of a more artistic trailer(one that ended on the frame with "Inside") I would happily paypal $20 (or Buy your book now, though I am likely already to purchase it upon movie release). I am sure the request seems fickle and absurd, but I'm just saying that i trust you artistically, and if you need funding before the movie is out, I'm not against contributing as I can. But to me, the book is a product that i have no current demand for, and i would rather donate than buy something i don't need yet.

    ReplyDelete
  27. @Sri

    I see_eth... I will just have to repeat an all too common and true cliche.... you can't please everyone ^ ^ and if I were to TRY I would become A_BITCH and you know Too Short and E-40 said "That's why i'll never be a BITCH"

    And the old me with my %99 %1 thing was naive... I won't be able to survive like that... I'm always learning and evolving...changing... and I gotta HUSTLE

    We can could-of should-of forever BUT the fact is I do all this on my own... if you want to form a board of directors to invest in me and advise me on what I should do go right ahead ^ ^

    ReplyDelete
  28. Not even arguing anymore, but Something tells me you would downright ignore any type investing board of directors =P

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What format should I render out of Cinema 4d with?

UPDATED 2_27_13!  RENDER USING EXR Lossy Zip16! Since I'm working on a new feature film that will generate over 1500 shots made up of image sequences I need to make sure I choose the right file format to render to lest my hard drives explode. What I need from my format is  at least 16bit, an alpha included and preferably small size. I rendered out a frame from my film tallied up all the file sizes here- their all different types of codecs listed from smallest file size to largest. The render includes an RGBA pass, Depth pass, and Material Luminance pass because thats what I always render out. 1.00mb 8bit-Photo Jpeg %100 1.27mb 8bit-PNG 4.65mb 16bit- EXR lossy ZIP16 5.75mb 8bit-PSD 6.23mb 16bit-EXR lossy PLZ 6.44mb 16bit-PNG 7.94mb 8bit-TIFF 8.50mb 16bit-EXR Lossy 24 9.05mb 16bit-EXR Lossy Run Length 14.6mb 8bit-TARGA 22.4mb 32bit-EXR ZIP16 24.6mb 32bit-EXR Zip1 25.6mb 32bit-EXR PLZ 29.3mb 16bit-TIFF 29.3mb 16bit-PSD 40.0mb 32bit-EXR Run Length 58.7mb 16

Aggregated feedZ

So I totally aggregated all meh rss feedZ...So in this one handy like feed thing you can get... -Meh blog posts -Meh EXCITING Facebook status updates (ex. "I'm so FACE") -Meh youtube videos -Meh Vimeo videos -Meh Blogtalk radio episodes - and much more (actually just like some other xml code that i don't understand) Just subscribe via this link and you can get all that for a low low price of...oh wait it's totally FREE ^ ^

So a guy is trying to take credit for my film...

TLDR- Scroll down to THE THIEVERY My name is Mike- I make films under the name "M dot Strange" and I have done so for the past 10+ years- this is my story as a filmmaker culminating in a recent event wherein a "filmmaker" tried to take credit for my life's work Here's my imdb page with my film credits  My web site Here's a reel with stuff from my original films in which I wrote/created/designed/animated etc everything that you see- I can and have performed all aspects of animated film production on my films- thats sort of how I made a name for myself- by being a one man animated film studio Here's a presentation from 2014 with me discussing the production of my last film My first animated feature film "We Are The Strange" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 Sundance archives link Article about the film Link to the film Film's site Because of the buzz that film generated I was given offers to sell the