Kickstarter is a Launch!!!

Hello Everyone!

 

 

The project is going good. I’m in the middle of organizing the shots by scene and removing the green screen. Its amazing what you can do with After Effects.

I starter a kickstarter for my
Check it out, spread the word, Help make this happen.project… a little late but still worth it. The money well be for software and hardware that I’m needing to make this project come to life. As well as compensating my actors.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1490448793/cases-in-ink

Every doller helps!

 

Thinking about sound

Sound is going to be a huge component of my film. This is because through sound I’m going to create the illusion of space within my animation.

Because I’m using Adobe After Effects and Premiere I decided to give Adobe’s Audition a try… This seemed like a good idea because it can be used to edit sound from Premiere with relative ease… However, as to be expected with using any new software, its been a learning experience. The main difficulty is that there is no media management aspect in Audition… this makes it really hard to browse effects and find the right one without doing it in the finder window or actually bringing it into the programe and on to the timeline.

I started with a lot of enthusiasm. I started looking for sound effects to use when building my sound environments. I meet with an actor to be the voice of Ian. I started seeing the project coming together.

After working with my Actor Joe Apice we developed a great New York accent for Ian, which is what I have imagined all along.

After bring Joe voice over into Audition I began cutting it up and spacing it out as I imagine it well be when there is the visual element.

This is where my momentum started to fall… a lot of it had to do with the complications of learning a new programe. However, more specifically it had to do with the lack of imagery to put the sound to. Because my film does not have a consistent narration over it, the pauses between lines will be filled with animation (and sound to match it) that will help give the since of time passing. Once I figured out my work flow for how I was going to edit, it became easier but that was only after hours and hours of browsing forms on how to manage media and actually use Audition.

Because of this I wasn’t able to get as much done as I would have liked. However I do have sound effects downloaded and the narration recorded… I do need to get the waitress voice. Its not very much lines, and none of it is lip-sync but it is still is essential to the project.

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On a plus note, I used my momentum of this weekend to set up a green screen (for St Patric day!!!) in my basement which I will be using for the project as well as a back drop for my Kickstarter video, more on that in the next update.

StoryBoards

I have put together a storyboard of my project. Ever thing in black is the images I plan on using, the Red and Blue ink are notes on what will being going on within the frames. Although this is a full collection of the shots I’ll be using it is not definitive in its lay out. Timing and transition will develop after I have recorded sound with Joe, and have a full image recording of my actor Clint.

The last two images are example renderings of the Street Ian walks across and the booth he seats at in the Cafe.

I also put my storyboards together into an Animatic. The timing is not accurate of what the final project will look like, however it does proved an example of how the different shots will work together. It can be viewed at. http://youtu.be/BRkUvb7MeSk

This is a rendered exampled of one of the scenes were Ian walks across the street, absorbed in thought about the cases.

This is an example of the rendered back ground that Ian will be sitting at while he is at the Cafe.

This is a rotoscope test of what Ian will look like in the real world of my animation

Script development

Bellow is two emails shared between me and Joe Apice, who will be acting as the voice of my character Ian.

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Jade,

Thanks for sending me the script.

Have a few questions that came up upon my first read through…

I was under the impression when you told me about the story, that the fake “newspaper files” were something of a dramatic secret, kept from the audience til the end, so that they believe in Ian’s fantasy job.

The way it’s laid out in the beginning, even in the title, this information is far from secretive.

Is this a choice?  if so, what do you intend the audience’s journey to be throughout the piece?

If not, what can be done to ensure the audience is duped from the very beginning into believing they’re hearing a story about a real P.I.?

Also, who is the woman in the park?  What influence does she have on Ian in that scene?

Why doesn’t the newspaper come on day 3?  Does he usually have it delivered every day?

What keeps him from reaching for his coffee in the last scene?  Is his attitude different here?

Is Ian his own caretaker?  On what source of income does he survive?

Good ideas, and I like Ian.  Let me know what you make of all this.

Joe

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My response.

Joe,

As I mentioned last night I am wanting it to be some what of a dramatic  revelation that we find out that Ian is only reading a news paper and not secret case files. After thinking over I believe I need to build up Ian’s credibility. To do this I’m going to add a brief line in the beginning ‘narration’ part that explains what the cases have gone through before Ian is haired.

Example:

IAN (NARRATOR)

“In order for me to  be hired for Cases, I request that the Information has been collected, and that investigators have spent at least a hundred hours piecing the facts together, When they have fallen short thats when I’m hired… It’s delivered each morning at  7’oclock sharp. Folded in half, bounded by a tight rubber band.”

I’m hoping that this would set Ian up to be seen as a true investigator. I am also going to add some shots of Ian writing down notes after he reads the paper/files in order to show that he has worked through some of the facts.

I have also changed the working title to “Cases in Ink” or maybe “Written in Ink” Both of these options add to the possibility of him being an investigator as well as adding to the twist at the end, in that ‘Ink’ refers to being in a news paper.

The significance of the woman in the park is that she’s sitting in Ian’s spot. If my animation was longer I would show Ian’s routine a couple of times before it is disrupted (both by the rubber band breaking and the bench being occupied. However because of my time restraint I’m needing to only show it once. Because his routine is disrupted he is thrown of from being in his world of solving the case. and thus end his though process.

The reason that the news paper doesn’t come on the third day could be endless. It could be that Ian doesn’t hear the knock, or that its a holiday? What is more important is that it shows how much of Ian’s life revolves around the paper being delivered. During that day we see Ian waiting and waiting for the paper. He doesn’t eat anything, nor does he really move from the chair.

I am now thinking of having Ian reach of the coffee at the end and put sugar into it before the pulls the paper in font of him. This is to show what he is back in his routine, and then when we see the paper we see a crossword half filled out on it. Thus hinting that the cases are apart of the crossword that Ian does each day.

My thought is that Ian is his own caretaker, He’s able to do this because he has such a strict routine. However when it is disrupted he is exposed to his inability to fully take care of himself.

I hope this answered some of your questions. If you have any more shoot me an email. I’m more than happy to share and develop more of Ian’s character for you.

Cheers

Jade

“Newspaper Cases” Treatment and Timeline

My story is about an elderly man, Ian, who lives in a large metropolis city.

Each morning Ian is delivered a file with top-secret information about a case that has been deemed unsolvable by his employers.  His job is to prove them wrong by piecing the facts together and solving it for the authorities.

We follow Ian through 4 days of his life. We hear his thoughts as he works thought the case. However on the 3^rd day the papers are not delivered. Causing Ian to say at home all day. On the 4^th day we find out that the “top-secret” case files is actual the newspaper, during the last scene we learn that he creates the cases in his head, by connecting words that he sees in the paper.

I will be giving the animation a graph novel look to it while we are interacting with Ian. The animation of his thoughts will have a collage aesthetic to them, however produced primarily in aftereffects. I have chosen this story because of the continues looping that it suggest of Ian’s life.

I have chosen to call the film “Newspaper Cases”.

 

I have been doing a lot of research on the noir genre, graphic storytelling, and visual narrative. I have also been exploring different animations aesthetics that I like such as the works by Miwa Matreyek ( ww.youtube.com/watch?v=FPWjA8nAmuo ) and Lawrence Jordan. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GJhIZK_yIM )

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My current time line is:

Feb 15— time line / research presentation

Feb 19— complete script/story

Feb 25— Storyboard, outline of shots

Feb 27— organization of scene/project files

Mar 5— visual presentation, script

Presentation of what I have collected for

-Animations of his thoughts.

-Ian— back grounds decided and created/ing

Mar 8— Record narration

Begin sound edit…. rough

Mar 19— Sound project

Sample of final sound

Mar 30— finish Ian’s animation

April 9— Work in Progress Critique

April 20— finish animation of Ian’s thoughts.

April 25— picture lock begin sound mix

April 30— Final Critique

– near finished edit

-working on exporting

May 10— Final Class Screening!

 

I’m feeling behind but I feel good about this story and am ready to see it all the way through!

As I search my mind for good metaphors to have my character use. Things that let my character stand on his own two feet and have a life of his own, even in my 3min movie. I found this and want to share it as an example of the feeling i would like my film to have. may be not directly but underneath. Hope you enjoy it as much as i do.

Dangerous Habits Blog

So you want to know what I do. Well I’ll tell you a story. It happened the other week. It’s a short story, but still as depressing as some of the other stuff I’ve seen in my career. You might want to refresh your drink.

It was dark. It was cold too. A whole night outside would have killed a man. The snow created a pretty contrast to the harshness of the cold, a nice effect that would almost make us not dread winter. But we still do.

A gunshot sounded off far away, showing me that even in the harshest of conditions, people still need to work. Now, you can either be a criminal, or you can be anything else. There’s only a small fine line between the two you know. So I stay as close to it as possible. Anyway, the gunshot interrupted the quiet night where the…

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An Ambiguous Detective Story

It is hard to come up with a good detective story. And thats why I like the idea of keeping the case ambiguous. This allows for the story to go just about any where and evolve with the animation. At the end the audience is able to piece together the case and assume what its about on there own. its engaging because its ambiguous.  

Everything about the case that the audience sees is animated. Crudely and with out direct connection to what its about. like whats in the detectives mind, his thought process. I like the idea of him being at a desk or eating breakfast. or both… because i would be animating his thought process it would be of the little things he’s trying to work out in his mind.  Between narration lines there might not need to be any narration because we would be seeing it…. and then cut back to him at the desk/tabel and then another thought…

I do want to give it a feel as thought its not the first time he’s thought about the case… or that it a reoccurring thing… a loop never really ending.

I do care about the story in that it needs to at a basic level make since. I like the idea of a murder. The first animation of his thoughts would be him thinking of what happened (a gun going off. a person laying on the floor, dead. and person running from the scene.) this would set up the base of the case for the audience but not limiting me in possibilities in any way. 

after a cut away to the man seating (coffee cup or poking food) we would then here him thinking about the possible suspects… maybe a cross stamping over them as he lists there definite or not definite alibis. maybe with a simple animation of what they are. yet all the imager that is given and the narration must lend its self to the ambiguity of the case… we cant hint that detective might have a chance in solving it with the knowledge that he does have. if that makes sense?

As i said earlier i like the idea of the detective being trapped in a circular routine. I don’t think i would loop the film, but i would end it the same way that i started. (animation of a city sky line and the sound of a beeping alarm clock bing heard over the noises of the city.)

A Dilemma Between Storys.

Some where on the blog ( 1 of 5 places) I mentioned how when i first walked into my 4500 class I had a plan. It was a simple story that had resinated with me. I have spent a lot of time trying to come up with an idea for my 4500 film over the last 4 years, ever since being excepted into the BFA spring of ’09. Yet for some reason I haven’t been able to come up with one. Its not that I haven’t had ideas, cause I have… a lot of them. However each one of them was connected to a certain style or effect that I wanted to use or do. So the full “story” wasn’t there, and when I would try and develop a story I get distracted from the story thinking/worrying about how i’m going to make it…silly I know but its something I’m struggling with.

The story that I walked into class thinking i would do was about making decisions that at first wouldn’t have been the one made. The theme came to me when I was recently looking for a place to move to. I transferred  this theme to the idea of a young child needing to pick a toy to bring to show-and tell. I internalized the idea and spent a good amount thinking about it before i wrote it down in a letter to my girlfriend. I was excited for it. It was a story that had a beginning to end. it had a theme that i connected to and felt like i would be interested in until the end of the projects. However when i expressed this story to some close friends it wasn’t met with the same ethucseasum. I was asked the large question of “why do it in animations” which is a valed question but not hugely supportive seeing as I’ve been struggling with coming up with a solid idea for so long now. However it got me thinking about other options…

The second idea that i’ve been currently bouncing around with arose from a class i’m in right now called ‘The Art of Travel’. I spent last year studying abroad in Lancaster, England, and did a lot of travel while I was over on that side of the pond. This got me thinking about doing a film that would utilise my experiences traveling.  I thought about doing a personal film illustrating where i went and what i did. This idea came from the fact that i lost all of my edited photos upon my return, and subsequently haven’t been able to share my travels beyond the photos that I had already uploaded to Facebook. But I’m not wanting to make a personal film about my life or what i’ve done. I want this project to be a personal film on a deeper level than that. Thinking about the film ‘Slacker’ I thought about how I could connect that to what I did while i was traveling, and thats people watch.

At first I thought that a good way for me to incorporate this would to do a film about someone people watching, and imagining about where the people are going or doing. This then evolved into using the camera as the person doing the watching and flouting between different people traveling but shifting to someone eles just as we see the first person beginning the next part of there travels. I would be capturing moments of different peoples trips. This idea would also allow for the film be come a circle in its structure, returning us to the first person that we viewed. However then thinking about the power that animation holds and how he looping effect/aesthetic could be developed through the transition of pencil animation, and the cross fades between images.

However before either of these ideas I was really wanting to make a noir/crime influenced animation. I thought about it for almost all of last fall. I wanted to give it a kinda graphic novel feel to it. I came up with a short script and was a kind of Odyssey feel to it. In which a tired detective was stuck at  working on a case that is left ambiguous for the audience. He is distracted from this case to work on an urgent kidnaping case… which ends up being a wast of time…

I like the idea of the detective not finishing the case, and is in some ways stuck in a loop of trying to figure it out, day in and day out….

Finding a Narrative Form

Although my final project might be more “experimental” than a normal narrative film I still think it will be more then flashing lights, or scratches on films. Not because I don’t like those films but because its not the style that I’m after. Although I choose to put experimental in quotations marks because I’m a student at the University of Colorado Boulder. And when we think of experimental we think of Stan Brakhage, and for me personal “Moth Light”. If you’re unfamiliar with who Brakhage is, I recommend looking him up.

Anyways, even experimental films hold some type of narrative in them. It is simply the form, or structure of that narrative that is experimental. Something i find fascinating in both film and literature is the playing with the discoures of the storys. I like to think of this as the difference in the ‘How’ and the ‘What’. The ‘what’ being the story, the cause and effect of the narrative events. And the ‘How’ being the discourse of the story. Theres a lot of essays on the difference of these two and how they work together. I’ve written some on it, and believe (as of 2011) if i was going to go to get a masters it would be in the comparing of literature and film, with a focus on narrative theory. But one again off topic.

I have been very interested in playing with the form of my narrative for a long time. It began with an interested in the embedding of storys-within-storys like Christopher Nolan did in “Inception”. But taking it a step farther would be Richard Linklater’s 1991 “Slacker”.

Slacker (1991)

The wikipedia for the film says that it is a plotless film, which I would agree is true. However the film allows for the viewer to become involved with in a characters story (background or topic that their talking about ect) and then shifs to another character, and then another character and then another and another…

A similar structure is used in the Liberty Mutual Commercials. Where one person is seen helping someone, and then that persone helps someone else. Some one sees that act and then returens it to someone eles… its a similar chain of events. The commercials end with the person that first saw to good act being then the person that is helped, or something along those lines.

By returning to the  first person the commercials create a loop between ever thing that is has happend. Its this return to the beginning that i find interesting. In Richard Linklater’s film the film seems to die off. (it becomes very self reflective and ends with the ending of a super8mm film being filmed. While in the commercials the collection of unrelated characters are woven together into a loop.

I would love to incorporate this type of style into my project. Allowing for the audance to see a group of unrelated characters. Get to know a little bit about them. And then move to another character… and then another… until we come back to the first character, who is in a slightly different place, yet we gain a little bit more about them. The closing of the loop would be the closing of the story…

Giving it a Visual Style

I might not be to sure about what my final story will be but I do have a good idea of my aesthetic.

I would like to use a number of forms and styles of animations. I believe I will primarily us hand drawn, however I am interested in collage stop-motion as well.

(looks better in motion)

As for color I would like to give my hand drawn works a watercolor look to them.

This is a link to a hand drawn animation i did a couple of years ago. I share it because of its simplicity. which is something that i’m interested in as I create my film world. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t-dWpfKX5w

As for color I would like to give my hand drawn works a watercolor look to them. The music video Truth by Chiddy Bang (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAfKc9x01_k)  is an example of kinda what i’m looking for. I would use it for giving the characters clothes and maybe for giving the back ground an aesthetic as well. I would like the colors to alternate from frame to frame. This will cause there to be a lot of photoshop time but i’m ready for the challenge.

taken form Truth - Chiddy Bang

As for the mix-media part of the project I have in mind the an animation that was used by Orson Wells in “F for Fake”. In this film the animation is done through montage more then it is done through stop-motion effects. I’m not sure if its really the way i would use it as of now. But enjoy it as a means of telling story.

Taken form "F for Fake"

Taken form "Satellite" by Guster

Another form of stopmotion/mix media i would be interested in using is that of cut outs. Such as form the music video “Satellite” by Guster. If you haven’t seen this animation then I fully recommend it.

As for true stop-motion animation, I’m a fan of all of PESFilms. Specify  “Western Spaghetti” and “KaBoom!”. Both of which can be seen at EatPES.com

The Visual style will grow and expand… but hopefully become more defended as the project progresses. But this is the starting block from which I’m jumping from.