First off, let me say that this project is very important to me. It's almost a "re-branding" of sorts, in both style and presentation of my work. In the past, I've relied heavily on weird character designs and nonsense storytelling to create a kind of mash-up of comedy. Although elements of this will of course stay true, I'm moving on to more advanced technical outings, such as actual musical scoring, a true color-pallet and theme, and more professional-sounding audio quality for voice-overs. The overall goal to be achieved is different here, as well. Instead of a "doing this for my own edification" motif that I've led my self along for the past 4 years I've been animating, the goal here is to create a short that is high enough quality to be entered into, and receive attention from, one or many film festivals. So far the vision is clear and moving along smoothly, albeit slowly... as animation production tends to do.
I'm currently in the storyboarding phase of the project, which is always a fun time because I get to see the first (although very sloppy and color-less) images of what the final product will be. I can set up shots, direct future editing, and write dialog. It's also a great time to get acquainted with the characters that I'll be drawing hundreds of little pictures of; not so much their personality (although that too, to an extent) but more like getting that "muscle memory" of the hand that is required for animating. I can add, subtract, change, anything goes in the storyboarding phase. I'm not sure how everyone else works, but this is basically the second step in my production theory, just one after what I call the "percolating" phase.
The next phase will be to transcribe all the dialog to screenplay format, so that it's easier to read and follow when my actors and I go and record it all. This is the most boring of phases and if I had an assistant or secretary I would totally pawn this shit off on them. Sadly, I do not and am forced to endure it myself.
The actual recording phase is where I get nit-picky. If you've worked with me before (which you most likely have not) then you know I do at least 5 takes per line, often times more... but sometimes less. I like to have options and it's one of those "I'll know it when I hear it" things. This upcoming project has plenty of openings, so if you're interested and somehow reading this, let me know. Obviously, I will not pay you... but it's a great addition to an acting portfolio if you're into that sort of thing.
Then, of course, the actual art of it all. In the past I have done all my own layouts for the backgrounds, but I would love to not do that this time around. I'm a focused character artist, and although my backdrops are functional, they are often wonky as I will cut corners with my overall lack of skill of drawing varied environments.
The animation will be a little more groundbreaking this time around for me. The characters will be much less static, with more frames of animation and in-betweens and the whole gambit of shit I generally just don't do because of time constraints. (Keep in mind, all of this will take place over the next year or so). Of course moving lips will return, which... for some reason independent animators avoid at all costs. I never got that because syncing animation is the easiest thing in the world. "At 1:23:44 he says 'often,' so I will make his lips start with an o." I basically break down the frames to how many drawings a second (for me it's generally 12) and BAM... it's really that simple, and in the many animated shorts I've seen either people do it poorly, or avoid it all together.
Well, thats all I really feel like writing on the subject. Back to work! I've got a long road ahead...
