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Showing posts from July, 2011

Like ClockworK

Since it seems like the Badassery kickstarter campaign is probably going to fail because I didn't include a good enough sob story or like touching music haha... It seems the next animation I will do is a music video for the new Rabbit Junk song "What doesn't kill you will make you a killer" I finished the storyboard, concept art, modeling, layout, and lighting... did some new style tests and it's almost good to go... just need to model a character I forgot tomorrow... Since the video only has 21 main shots and I have the time... I'm going to lower my shot/day quota and go nuts on the animation... when working on Heart String Marionette my quota was 7 shots/day... for this video I'm going to lower it to 2 shots/day.... so it'll be fun to not have to press so much when animating... Also I won't use any animation cycles or motion clips... After I put this video out... imma bounce from the interneTS for awhile... proB a couple months... I need

It's just a moviE

This may sound like common sense or an easy thing for most people to accept BUT since I got into making films from an artist's point of view and I invest large chunks of my life into each project it took me a long time to get it 0_o IT'S JUST A MOVIE As I was writing the script for the next film I kept this in mind and it made it SOOOO much easier... there's no pressure to create like holy scripture...artistic expression...blah blah blah...  at the end of the day... it's a bunch of scenes that should work together to develop the characters, tell the story, create the drama... get in and get out... BUT these characters are based on X?!?!... and the story is based on real experiences of Y?! And it's all influenced by Z?!?! NOBODY FUCKING CARES! IT'S JUST A MOVIE All the stuff that's behind the film doesn't matter... all that matter is what it on the screen...or when it comes to the script.. all that matters is what is on the page... IT'S JUST A M

Writing a first draft is like building a Roller coaster in realtime

This is just how I work... I'm not some academy award winning writer or anything... just sharing my workflow... Create a bunch of notes about a particular set of ideas that could become a theme for a film... write them down in a text file or in a real notebook... write them all as fast as you can think of them... have fun and be crazy with the ideas... write them in no particular order... they can be scenes... character quirks... locations...anything... Spend a day or two doing this... -------------- Look over those notes... is there enough to make a film from? Is any theme or story idea grabbing you and nudging you to go further? If the answer is no, start making new notes based around a new film idea... If the answer is yes then move on... -------------- Now after studying your notes that have bits of characters, scenes, events...locations... write a short outline for a film based on those notes... make it very rough... your just laying out a very flexible rough form of wh

Writing and the like

So I just finished the first draft of the script for what will probably be my next animated feature... first draft is 80 pages long and took 7 days to write as I did it in about 10 page increments... I could have wrote more each day but I just did what felt right... I want to have a working draft of the script within a month or two and have the boards and concept art done before the end of the year.... if I really hustle I might be able to get some modeling done before the years end as well... Since I still have no work I can do on HSM as of right now... I'll keep on writing... next I'll write the script for the live action BIGFOOT feature I want to shoot in Northern California next year... its like a totally insane/fucked up comedy so it'll be fun to write... As a creative person you've got to keep moving... you can't let things grow stagnant... I can't remember where I found this quote...but when I find myself waiting and not working I always go back t

Some gif's for your internetting

The Accidental Creative book

From the book THE ACCIDENTAL CREATIVE by Todd Henry As a follower of the Accidental Creative podcast since episode 1.... of course I got  his first book the day it was released ... as I think we should try to support the people we believe in...especially if they have been helpful to us attaining our goals and ultimately help us do what makes us happy... which the AC has done for me through the years... So yeah its a great book.

The next movie ^_^

I know! I know! Yer probably waiting for HEART STRING MARIONETTE! As soon as I get the rest of the music I will finish it...... all the work I can do on it is done... so instead of just waiting... I've been working on the script for my next animated feature amongst other things... I'm halfway through the script... this time I didn't outline ferever and make mindmaps like a psycho because on HSM I ended up not using any of that stuff 0_o So I outlined for a few days then I got to writing the script.... its VERY dark and very sad so far... I've forced myself to add 10 pages to the script everyday so the first rough draft will be done very soon... I've found that you can try and THINK your way into making a character and a situation in a script BUT until you start writing scenes it doesn't happen... then while writing the characters start to get a life of their own and tell you who they are THEN you go back through the script and update their dialogue actions to

BADASSERY@Kickstarter!

If you want more episodes of BADASSERY(Project Sooperman) now's the time to make it happen! I just launched the kickstarter for it here . So please share it with anyone and anywhere you think people would be interested in it...thanks! Now let's see how much BADASSERY the internets wants me to make ^ ^

I never even knew my books had multiple uses?!

Thanks to Sergio from Spain for pointing out that A_BOOK and B_BOOK are so handy ^ ^ Awesome photo Sergio thanks! ^_^

Rabid Rabbit People

Rabid Rabbit People Just screwin around with Zbrush and C4d testin new tools and techniques for future productions... so I made these two characters which I hope to use for a music video soon... You know the way I make 3d characters is much like I used to do with stopmotion..its just like playing with doll parts... you've got a bunch of doll body parts laying around... you assemble them in a new way... retexture them... sculpt a new head and slap it on with some accessories and you now have a new character!

Making films is the best "film school"

If you just want to learn something JUST to learn it....your desire and drive can be lacking... You need to know exactly WHY you need to learn it.... Just doing tutorials to learn new things isn't the best way IF you don't know WHY you would need or want to learn things... I've always thought that the best way to learn is THROUGH NECESSITY... So if you want to learn the ins and outs of 3d animation THEN MAKE A 3D ANIMATED FILM... don't sit around simply amassing tutorials and abilities you might use one day... as you don't know what your abilities are even worth UNLESS you put them through the paces of a real production... We all have this "I'm not ready yet" thing going on... "when I'm ready I'll start" Well in my experience YOU NEVER FEEL "READY" you just have to go anyway... If you make a 3d animated film with animated characters you will be FORCED to learn all aspects of production... AND you will have a reaso

M dot does Rabbit Junk 2.0

So it 2008 it took me one night to make this character for a little Rabbit Junk video I did... Now three years later in 2011... I took a few hours and made this character for a new Rabbit Junk video I'm doing... I made a little progress the past 3 years eh? ^_^ I can't to see what I'm making in 3 years from now!!! So yeh I haven't gotten the song yet but I'm doing a music video for a yet to be released Rabbit Junk song... I hope to have this guy smashing the brains out of a bunch of clones of himself with that hammer he has... I want to have him smashing mirrors and a bunch of shit as well... WHAT CAN I SAY?! I'm aggro in 3d?! ^ ^ I also finished the Kickstarter for BADASSERY and will launch that REAL SOON!

Crowdfunding when your not social hmmmm?

As I find myself still waiting for things to get done so I can finish HSM I need to start working on something else... as I start to go crazy when I don't have enough challenging work to do... I'm working on the script for my next animated feature and some live action films BUT that's not HARD enough work so I need something more to do... I've seen so much stuff being funded on Kickstarter these days I want to give it a try... I was happy to see that Fathom's ... which I posted about a week or so ago was funded ^_^ Good for you Joe! Now being a nobody indie... when making films or music or whatever the problem these days is like making money on your thing when it's done BUT I think perhaps that's doing it ALL WRONG... it seems the way to do is to try to crowdfund it on Kickstarter... raise enough money so that it'll be worth it for you from the start... then give it all away free when its done as you already made your money on it at the start...

D D D D D D D D D

The first anime feature film I ever saw that got me into anime as a fan was NINJA SCROLL directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri who later directed VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST which I was lucky enough to see on the big screen at a cinema in Westwood when I lived in L.A.... I saw the last screening on the last day it was playing and it made a HUGE impression on me... after I saw it I was like I WANT TO MAKE EPIC ANIMATED FILMS! I remember taking the bus home from the theater with character ideas in my head... A few weeks ago one of the voice actors Ricky from HSM, who is also a friend of this blog^ ^ ... gave me one of the Vampire Hunter D novels... I read it on a flight to London... then I bought two more to read on my back... and I just finished reading #16 this week ^ ^ To me, D is like THE BEST CHARACTER EVER IN ANYTHING ^_^ In my career I hope I can create a character that's like half as awesome as D! D has influenced me a lot so far... Rain and Ori's relationship is kinda lik

M dot Strange@Bandcamp

So you probably didn't know but I'm some obscure electro-rapper I don't wtf d00d with like 17 albums... I finally got my shit together so now there's 12 albums up on Bandcamp here So if want to embed tracks on yer social wha eveR you can do so now easily...just like this ^ ^ <p><p><a href="http://mdotstrange.bandcamp.com/track/stare-through-you">Stare through you by M dot Strange</a></p></p>

Reading about writing?!

My last got post me thinking about screenwriting... NOW I'm not claiming to be some great writer or screenwriter as I'm still learning like all of you... BUT before I made HSM I bought and read all the "writing" and "screenwriting" books I could find... I read through them all... took tons of notes... started applying the theories... wrote some drafts of the HSM screenplay... now by definition it was a "good script" according to these books BUT it felt LIFELESS to me... and IT LACKED my UNIQUE VOICE... Then I started researching the authors of the screenwriting books... NOT ONE OF THEM has EVER written a script that ended up being a GREAT FILM... so ummmm I thought WAIT why should I follow the "rules" of these people who have never made anything great?! The answer was... I SHOULDN'T! Now in these books they try to reverse engineer scripts from great films BUT that is bullshit! Its all conjecture... they don't know if the scri

About replay value

I was thinking about replay value... ya know how we can listen to the same music over and over... replay the same game over and over... yet with film it seems MOST of the time we only want to experience it once... I think it is all about MOOD... we like music because it sets a certain tone or mood which we enjoy being in... same with a game... I enjoyed the mood that Resident Evil 2,3 and 4 set so I played them over and over like way too much ^ ^ but most films I only want to watch once... why is that? What do some films have that others do not? I've watched ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK numerous times as well as VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST...Why? I thought about that myself and it's because I like the mood.... MOST films are a chain of cause and effect events... that does not create mood... Some films are like card tricks and once you see how the trick was done you don't want to see the trick again... think INCEPTION or MEMENTO... I liked those films but I have no desire to

Ok we got the HOW but where is the WHY?

Nowadays there's tons of tutorials and discussion about the technical aspects of filmmaking and animation BUT next to nothing about the actual real creative side... coming up with ideas... story...... how to create mood+ emotion.... developing characters....editing decisions...etc... To sum it up there's tons of info about the HOW but next to nothing about the WHY...  As far as the HOW goes if you take Video Copilot, Freddie Wong, and Greyscale Gorilla tutorials and learn those techniques... you'd be able to make some great looking visual fx and shiny stuff for the films you want to make BUT then WHY would you want to do those things? If you just have the visual fx and visual gags you are making demo reels...  Now it seems short videos with nothing but one or two visual gags or fx are very popular and are making lots of people lots of money... so if that's as far as you want to go fine... but I'm not talkin bout the Michael Bay school of filmmaking...  If you wan

INSIDE

Ever have those nightmares where your terrified and trying to scream yet no sound comes out? Is it like your trying to express yourself but no one hears you? I feel as an artist... this is what our whole life is like... we are trying to say something yet no matter how hard we try it never comes out right... or no one hears it... was anyone even listening? Is it the fault of the artist if what they are trying to say is too complex? Would their existence be much easier if they were to just try to say something simple? Would they be more successful if they simply said something that were said before... but just in a new way? I don't think we have a choice in the matter... our very essence is what dictates our "scream"...our "message".... fight it as we may... that's what we are and what we have to say to the world... Your "scream" or "words" or "statement" or "message" may keep echoing through time long after y