Tuesday, November 10, 2009

11 second club follow up

My animation came in at 6 or so from the bottom.

Again.

But I'm okay considering with the amount of time I spent on it.

I just wanted to finish a project. Any project.

And that's what I did.

And I tried some new tricks in Sony Vegas and Toon Boom.

...

Friday, October 30, 2009


I've done another 11 Second Club animation. I just needed to finish some little quick project while I'm working on my other projects.
The lip-sync seems to be off a bit. May have happened in the saving process.
Enjoy!
(I think the sound bite may be from the movie "Network".)

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

RocknRolla and Guy Ritchie

Just rented RocknRolla by Guy Ritchie and decided I want to write "The Next Guy Ritchie Film".

Can I call it that?

I also want to animate a Guy Ritchie synopsis using bumper cars to show how all the convoluted stories collide and connect.

So anyway, a review of sorts: The movie started sloooow for me. I had friends tell me to stick with it so I did. I picked up where I left off and finished it.

And it was good.

What was wrong with the first part for me? I guess I was looking for a main character to be interested in. And there wasn't one for me. I kept trying to make it One-Two's story. Or Archie's story. Or even Johnny Quid's story.

So that's what threw me off. That was my problem.

But the sequences were fascinating. The action was cool when the action started.

So I want to write "The Next Guy Ritchie Film" script.

Anyone want to write it with me? We could use Google Docs to write this thing. I have a situation and some characters in mind. But we could do something else.

Something crazy and complex and delicious and violent and sexy and visual and intelligent and silly.

....

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Dancing Girl

This is a girl dancing that I used in a 30-second animation for a commercial contest last summer.
I may re-use in a gallery scene in an animation I'm working on now involving a rookie photographer and an experienced figure model.
It will be a comedy or it won't get done.
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Monday, July 6, 2009

New Horror Short

Yes, the game is afoot!
I'm off and running on a new horror short for the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival.

2 minutes long. It's based on one of my ideas I wrote down for last year's festival.

So it's written and storyboarded.
Now to create my backgrounds using Google SketchUp!
























I may reuse the evil scientist from one of the 11 second club animations I did earlier this year. I like the eyepatch.






I may reuse the animation girl I've been using the last couple of years. Just change her hair color and her nightgown.
I'm looking at other artist's work for layout and color ideas. I have a Maxfield Parrish book from the library. I've always wanted to do something with his vibrant colors.
...

Saturday, June 13, 2009

deadCENTER Film Festival

Finally got to screen my animation with an audience. The auditorium was nearly full. (It has about 400 seats I'm told.)
My bit was next to last. And the crowd stayed to the end of the venue. (Sometimes crowds leave early.)
And the animation looked good on the big screen. Clear and crisp. The audience laughed at the appropriate places. (My wife always laughs at the "wardrobe malfunction" of the lead character.) The sound was good. The flash of lightning was blinding as it should be. I'm pleased with how it looks on the big screen.

Next, I want to send it to Chicago and New York for their horror festivals.

...

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

deadCenter Film Festival Begins




deadCenter Film Festival 2009 is here.


Today.




I began work on a small graphic novel of the short film. I've taken scenes from the movie and placed them in comic book form.
And I'll have postcards promoting the movie on the display tables at the festival.
...
















Thursday, May 28, 2009

Springboard Storyboard Software

I downloaded a trial version of a storyboard program called Springboard. I'm not sure if it will be the thing I'm looking for. But I love trying out new software.

http://6sys.com/Springboard/index.html

It's like making little mini movies with sound and drawing.

....

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

deadCenter Film Festival

"Where Nightmares Feed" was just accepted to the deadCenter Film Festival in Oklahoma City. (The Festival is in June.)



http://www.deadcenterfilm.org/



This will be my 9th year to show there.

I basically do one animation a year.

This year I started early so I wasn't cramming at the last minute to get into deadCenter.

...

Friday, April 3, 2009

Where Nightmares Feed Trailer

Here's the You Tube Trailer again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVWpJ3UuqU0

(It's buried back in some older posts.)

...

Thursday, April 2, 2009

London Sci-Fi Film Festival

Well, I got my rejection email from London Sci-Fi Film Festival.

I have a couple more festivals to send off to, then I'll be ready to start a new round of rejections, er... I mean, entries for my next Horror Film.

....

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Sydney, Australia

My now international animation is screening this Saturday at 4 pm at A Night of Horror Film Festival in Sydney. It's in a block of animations.


I'm in some good company.

Joshua Long starts the program with "EM". Then they're showing Bill Plympton's "Shut Eye Hotel." And Devi Snively's "Death in Charge." John Lustig has a stop-motion animation "C/O Flap Jackson". Graham Rathlin from the UK has "Little Snaps of Horror". Tom Flynn has his "Soul Mates". Yun Wang screens "Evil Twin." Fernando Huerto has a funny video, "Aim for the Heart" where demonstrates how to kill a vampire. Kyla Ward screens "Bad Reception." Jason Eisener shows his "Treevenge" to round out the set.

Oh, yeah, my "Where Nightmares Feed" is slipped in there somewhere.

Sounds like fun!
...

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

A Night of Horror Film Festival





I've gone international!
Just received my acceptance to A Night of Horror Film Festival in Sydney, Australia.

http://www.anightofhorror.com/

Happy happy happy.
Add that to my resume!
(And no, I'm not going to Sydney. Not this year anyway.)

...

Monday, March 2, 2009

11 Second Club March 09

Here's my Work-in-progress for the March 2009 competition.

It's got Zombies!


Sunday, March 1, 2009

Film Festivals

Just checked my Film Festival submission status at Without A Box. Looks like I didn't get into Paranoia Horror Fest in LA.

Time to submit to Fantastic Festval in Austin in a couple of days.

Then Another Hole in the Head Film Festival in San Fran about mid-March.

I've already begun pre-production on another horror/fantasy/sci-fi bit for this year's H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival.

It's good to start early.

Trust me, it's gonna be scary!

...

Thursday, February 5, 2009

11 second club Placement

Well... I didn't make the top 25... or the top 50
... or the top 100...

I was 123 out of 128.

Sting.

http://www.11secondclub.com/

Even the ones I gave my highest marks to did not perform well overall.

Most of the comments had to do with the "limited animation" and how quick and unclear the ending was.

I am NOT an animator's animator.

I'm still doing one for this month. And hopefully one for next month.

I'm not going for complete animation domination.

I am going for entertainment.

The competition just gives the entertainment some framework.

...

Sunday, February 1, 2009

New animation for February

Here is my Work-in-Progress for February 2009.

I'll let you know in a couple of days how my robot faired for the January competition. There were a lot of good animations, both 2D and 3D. There were 128 or so entries in all. I hope to be in the top 25 but we'll see.

http://www.11secondclub.com

It's hard for me to judge mine. I liked the initial idea but got tired of it by the end of the month. I tried to be real involved in the forums for January. This month I think I might be less involved so I can spend more time writing on my screenplay.

I like the idea of a monthly competition. I want to get better in going from idea to execution of a story.

I'm a storyteller.

A filmmaker.

I do more than just write. Or just animate. Or just direct.

I'm a storyteller. So I'm going to finish a story this month.

I must write... I must write...

...

Thursday, January 22, 2009

4th Work in Progress

Here is my latest update for the January 11 Second Club animation competition.

Some more polishing needs to be done before the end of next week.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

3rd Work in Progress

Here's my 3rd WIP for this month's animation contest.

I've reduced the number of camera moves.

"Sync-ing loose lips" and animating the characters is next up for this weekend.

...

Friday, January 9, 2009

2nd Work in Progress

Here's my 2nd version of my 11Second Club Work in Progress. The ending action still needs to be clearer.

...

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Animation Sketches










Here are some of my first sketches for the 11Second Club animation:







New Animation Contest

It's a new year.

I'm working on an animation for the 11Second Club. It's got a huge robot and a little man. The man, a scientist of sorts, has an eye patch. (The eye affliction worked for John Wayne and it'll get Tom C. his Oscar this year.)

I'll try to post some of my sketches. This is a VERY rough idea of what it will be like:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2610703780662851924
...