Thesis

LA Women's Festival

2010-02-14T07:24:00.000-08:00

Tomboy got into LA Women's Festival!

International Tomboy

2010-02-05T11:26:00.000-08:00

Tomboy will be screening at London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival on March 28, 2010 and at 20th Melbourne Queer Film Festival in Australia. Woo!!

Festival Update

2010-02-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

Tomboy has been screened at the following festivals:

Reeling 2009: Chicago Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, Illinois

- WINNER: Audience Award for "Best Animated or Experimental Film"

Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival, California

Iowa International Film Festival, Iowa

Oxford International Film Festival, Ohio

Birmingham SHOUT 2009, Alabama

UC Davis Feminist Film Festival, California

Treasure Coast Film Festival, Florida

Adobe First Frame, California

Festival Circuit

2008-11-25T13:49:00.000-08:00

Tomboy got into First Look 2009

Today I submitted it to:

Birmingham's gay/lesbian Festival
Fresno Filmworks Film Festival
Miami & Fort Lauderdale Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Mudfest in Australia
Media That Matters Film Festival
PBIFF Student Showcase of Films

so... we'll see... what happens....

First Look DGA screening!

2008-11-07T17:05:00.002-08:00

Tomboy made it into First Look! Tentative date is March 5, 2009!

Mix Date

2008-09-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

My mix date is Sept 28th. Then I will be officially done. Yay!

Almost Finished!

2008-08-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

I'm tweaking everything.. but i'm basically done with the picture. WOO!

I spent a couple weeks revised and amping up the ending. I got help coloring it and am very happy with how everything is turning out. I'll have to post some final shots soon.

Example of colored scenes...

2008-04-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

Here's a sequence from the ending that i colored. the backgrounds are photos taken from my parent's farm in iowa.

Finished Animation...

2008-04-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

I finished the animation, now I'm going through and cleaning up/fixing the animation from scenes that need a little work.. i also have about 40 sec. colored and most scenes have a temporary background (some i used photos, others i painted a wash, and some were created in photoshop). i haven't decided on the final technique for my backgrounds. i'll be painting over the temp. ones... so it may still have some real life elements... i'm thinking the indoor scenes will be completely painted either by hand or in photoshop and the outdoor scenes will be a hybrid of photo and paint.

here's an example.

final countdown

2008-04-01T23:57:00.000-07:00

i have 4 seconds left to animate. i have a few scenes i need to clean up and i've been working on creating rough/temp. backgrounds. i'm on schedule to graduate, which makes me happy. now i just need to keep moving forward. woo.

scene 2

2008-01-23T14:47:00.000-08:00

here's another rough background i did

update

2008-01-23T14:18:00.000-08:00

it's been awhile since i wrote anything. some big things have happened since my last posted, most notably: Tom Kenny is playing the voice of the Dad, one of the counselors, and one of the kids in the beginning.

Sheila mentioned the possibility of him doing the voice weeks before it happened, but I didn't hear anything until after I recorded with Jason. Sheila said Tom was interested, so I talked with him over the phone about the project and sent the script. He was into it, so he came in (while my bro Thomas was visiting which was fun for him) and he recorded for the role. He really nailed it and was incredible to work with. Gave me a little taste of what being a real director would be like, and it was an incredible high. It was awesome having my brother there too because he's a ridiculously huge spongebob fan. he kept his fanboyness inside though until after Tom Kenny left. I tried to be as professional as possible when Tom was around cuz I didn't want to come off as a geeky fanboy and told my brother to do the same. We had lots of geeking out afterward. haha.

In other news, over break I got to teach half of my sister's 7 grade classes. So i showed the film, talked about animation, and answered their questions. (When i told the faculty about this during my review, they thought it was cool and Sheila referred to it as a Focal group screening. it was funny.)the students were excited about Tom Kenny and enjoyed the story. Each class had a question about the same thing: they were all a little unclear about the locket. I've been thinking of different ways to visualize that sequence to make it more clear.

my review today went well. i have about half the animation done and did a couple color scenes. the faculty gave me suggestions and ideas to look into to make the coloring go faster--like using toonboom instead of mirage to color. hopefully that works. i'll need to check with Trixy to see how to do it. sheila said she'll check in with one of the undergrad who using mirage a lot as well.

i also started doing washes for the background. i'll have to play with them more in photoshop, pull out some color and add details to them. but its nice having washes on some of the scenes, gives me a better idea of where i'm going with the film.

my presentation at seminar last semester went well too. again, the biggest thing people pointed out was the locket sequence, so i'll just have to find a way to be more clear about her energy going into the locket so it makes more sense.

Animation progress...

2007-10-24T14:53:00.001-07:00

67 seconds. I just counted. That's how many seconds I animated so far. Woohoo! not bad, not bad. Still not amazing, but I'm on schedule that's all that matters. I may be throwing out a few scenes that I did, unfortunately.. but the cuts should hopefully make the story stronger and clearer. Or at least, that's the hope.

ADR!

2007-10-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

I did my ADR last week, now I've been relistening to everything and pumping it into my Animatic. I'm almost done. I'm going to show Kathy, Sheila, and Christine this week to get their feedback.

And I'm continuing to animate. I haven't counted the exact seconds I've done but I've animated (rough for some) about 13 shots and I've done the background for 3 main shots, but I may need to redo them cuz some of them look stupid. I've probably got around 40 seconds done (not counting still backgrounds.)

Animating

2007-10-09T17:29:00.000-07:00

I started animating. I went over all the scenes I have to do, labeled them easy, medium, or hard... figured out how long each scene is and made a schedule for myself--20 sec. a week. i've been working on some scenes today... they're taking some time because i have multiple characters in them... but they're looking decent so far.

i'm anxious to start animating the dialogue scenes, but i'll have to wait til next week after i have my ADR session.

blah. alright. back to work!

The Cast

2007-10-03T16:31:00.000-07:00

I cast my film. Most of my actors are coming in on Oct. 14th for the ADR session.

Here they are:

Petra.... Sydney Banner
Dad.... Jason Kaine
Teacher.... Adrian Borden
Camp Director.... Noelle Messier
Camp Counselor.... David Simon
Rachel.... Charlotte Barrielle

Auditions are underway!

2007-09-25T16:45:00.001-07:00

I've had three auditions and several auditions over email... some definite potentials. I'm finally getting some great Camp Director takes... but now I'm running out of choices for the Dad. I had two auditions this morning. Both male. One could make a great Camp Counselor.. but neither feel right for the role of the Dad. Too bass, too not-farmer sounding. One could be great for Brittany's film though...

I had an audition last night--her voice is perfect for Ms. Hart... her acting was there and she took direction well, but I wanted her to go even further with the performance. I guess I'll see what I get from other actors though.

Got two great email auditions for the Camp Director--both had similar takes on her, but their voices have different qualities. One sounds how I picture CD.... I sent her notes back, so hopefully she can show a nice range... then I think I'll know for sure...

Anyway, I'm auditioning my first kid tonight. Actually in 7 minutes...

Actors!

2007-09-22T23:15:00.001-07:00

Wow... finding actors is exhausting. I've been listening to demos and scheduling audition for the past three days and I don't know where the time went. Blah. Anyway, there are two people I'm auditioning this week that I have high hopes for. One is for the role of the Dad and the other for Petra. The girl for Petra did a test reading from the script and sent it to me via email... she sounds like how I imagine Petra to sound and she can act. I just need to make sure she can pull off some of the more emotional scenes.

The guy reading for the dad sent me his voice-over reel and he's really really awesomely good... and diverse. He had a nice range of voices and all that good stuff. Hopefully he'll be a perfect fit for the dad character. We'll see though.

I'm having trouble getting voices for the teacher and camp director though... all the woman demo's i've been hearing just don't sound quite right... and the level of acting isn't all that impressive. but i'll keep searching, they're bound to be out there.

the other characters i'm not too worried about since they're minor characters. i'll still look for the best, but i'm most concerned about Petra, the Dad, Teacher, and Camp Director since they're parts have to have more range of emotion and are very vital to the film. Plus I have very specific ideas for those characters and have a right to be picky when I cast them.

So we'll see.

Finding voices...

2007-09-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

I had my thesis review today... which went well. For the most part it was small little things to help my film be a little more clear.

We did talk about actors/voice talent. I asked them what they thought about me playing the lead. They seemed a bit split on the idea... some were supportive, others thought professional voices would be the best bet. So I guess I'll audition people for Petra and see if anyone fits... then I'll also record myself and just see which works the best for the part. =)

Anyway, in the meantime I posted on LA Casting and have gotten quite a few hits. I've emailed a few people back to have their demos sent to me. Not enough of them have samples online, which is frustrating. I don't want to have to call 20 people if their voices aren't even right...

The Story

2007-09-19T22:46:00.000-07:00

Okay. This is it. This is the story...

Outside shot of Elementary School.
Inside classroom, teacher is writing "Occupation" on the board.
She turns to the class, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Teacher's pet raises their hand first, "I want to be a teacher."
Teach points to other students:
"A doctor."
"A lawyer."
"A firefighter!"

Teacher turns to student busy drawing, "What about you, Petra? What do you want to be?"
Petra stops drawing and looks up, "I wanna be a boy!"
Teacher is taken aback, "A... a what? Don't you mean you want to be an artist or something?"
Petra, "No... I wanna be a boy!"

Cut to: Outside classroom, teacher's voice is heard saying, "So you see the problem--"
Cut to interior. Teacher is sitting behind her desk, Petra and her dad are on the other side.
Teacher: "Obviously Petra can't be a boy when she grows up--"
Dad interjects, "I just want what's best for her--"
Teacher: "You don't her growing up to be one of those freaks you hear about on the news, do you?"
Dad looks defeated, "And this is what you suggest?" He holds up a pamphlet.
Teacher: "Yes, Camp Conformity is exactly the place for kids like Petra..."

Dissolve to beautiful camp grounds. Dada and Petra approach the camp.
Petra: "I don't wanna go, please don't make me!" She hugs him around the waist.
Dad looks heartbroken. He pulls a pocketwatch/locket out of his pocket, "Here take this. Take way when you get homesick, part of me will always be with you..."
Petra takes the locket and puts in around her neck. Two counselors approach her, they are really big muscular guys. They take her to a cabin, her dad waves goodbye.

The cabin is riddled with pink girliness--pink pillows, big stuffed animals, frilly frills and other such things.
Counselor 1: "This is your cabin. Your camp uniform is on the bed."
Petra sees the uniform, its a pink dress. She turns to the counselors, "But its a dress!?"
Counselor 1: "Of course its a dress!"
Counselor 2: "You're a girl, girls wear dresses!"
Petra starts to protest, but they approach her carrying a ribbon and brush.

Cut to outside the cabin. Petra is walking down the hill, tugging on comfortably at her dress. She sees another cabin: PLAYROOM.

CUT TO PLAYROOM
Petra enters the playroom. She looks around and sees something she likes: trucks!

Petra is playing with the trucks, a counselor approaches her and directs her to the other side of the cabin. Petra sees a group of girls playing with dolls and brushing each other's hair. She cringes.

She picks up an ugly baby doll and holds it away from her as if it had cooties. She looks around and sees another girl playing with two dolls as if they wear action figures.

Rachel: "Vroom blam!" She makes the dolls hit each other's heads.
Petra: "You think this is stupid too?"
Rachel: "Yeah..."

Two baby dolls attack each other. Rachel and Petra are violently hitting their dolls. Petra smashes hers to the floor and its head pops off, the girls burst out laughing. Shadows cross over them. They look up and see two counselors.

Counselor 1: "Rachel, the Camp Director needs to see you."
Rachel looks worried. The counselors take her away. Petra is left alone. She looks at the broken doll.

CUT TO Outside the playroom.
The counselors are taking Rachel deeper in the woods. Petra decides to follow them. The counselors approach another cabin. Petra sneaks around the side and finds a window to look through.

The counselors put Rachel in a chair. The Camp Director approaches--she's beautiful, but in a scary evil way. Like the Queen from Snow White.

Camp Director: "We have a 100% success rate here at Camp Conformity. And since you have been here for over 6 weeks with minimal progress, more drastic measures need to be taken... to ensure your cure."

Bars swing down around Rachel's wrist, locking her in the chair. A big domey thing is lowered above her head. The Camp Director wipes open a curtain revealing a big scary 1950s-looking computer. The Camp Director pulls a lever. The machine turns on.

Blue energy is sucked from Rachel leading to the machine. Two large beakers are next to the computer. One containing blue energy, the other pink. After all the blue energy is sucked from Rachel, pink energy starts being pumped into her through the big metal dome thing. After a moment, the Camp Director turns the machine off. A counselor gives Rachel a baby doll. Rachel happily takes it and hugs it close to her.

The Camp Director is pleased: "Send her home, she's cured."

Petra sees this from the window and blurts out, "No!" She trips and falls from the window making a Thump! as she lands. The Camp Director and counselors hear the noise and turn.

Camp Director: "What was that?"

The two counselors run outside and chase Petra into the woods. Petra ducks behind a tree, losing them. As she watches them run past her, a hand grabs her shoulder.

Camp Director: "Hello my dear..."

The return to the cabin.

Camp Director: "Put her in the holding cell while the machine recharges."

Petra is alone in a small room by herself. She pulls out her dad's locket and opens it, crying. Suddenly the image of her dad blinks. Petra looks at it more carefully and sees a strange blue glowiness inside the locket. She touches it and it starts to suck her energy into the locket. After all her energy has been transferred, the locket closes and Petra passes out.

The counselors enter.

CUTTO Petra is sitting at the machine, seemingly dazed. The Director pulls the blue lever and the machine starts. Nothing happens. The Director tries again. Still nothing. The Director pulls the pink lever anyway and pink energy is pumped into Petra.

CUTTO outside a farmhouse.

Dad greets Petra with balloons and open arms, "Petra! I've missed you!" She is unresponsive. He gives her a huge bear hug, again she doesn't respond. He notices this and pulls away.

Dad: "Petra? You okay?" He studies her face.

Dad: "Here I got you a present!" He hands her a baby doll. She robotically takes it in her arms staring blankly at it.

Dad: "It even has a pretty bow on like yours!" He looks at her more carefully and sees that something is wrong. He gets up and turns from her.

Dad: "I don't know what they did to you at that place... but I just want you back. Tomboy or not..." He takes the doll away and replaces it with a football. Petra still doesn't respond.

Dad: "I just want you to be happy... cuz you're my little girl, my Petra..."

The locket around Petra's neck starts to glow blue. Dad notices this and takes it in his hands. He opens it slowly, Petra's energy is released and slowly reenters her body, pink energy floats out.

After a moment Petra's glossy eyes appear focused again. She looks around, confused for a moment. Then she sees the football in her arms. She hugs it to her chest and sees her dad.

Petra: "Daddy?"
Dad: "Petra?" They embrace.

Credits
Two action figures are fighting. Dad and Petra are playing together. Petra puts down her figure and grabs the football. She tosses it to her dad. He catches it and she tries to tackle him. He grabs her instead and picks her up, putting her on his shoulders...

Story Behind Tomboy

2007-09-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

When I was in second grade we learned what the word "Occupation" was. My teacher, Miss Hart, went around the classroom and asked each of us what we wanted to be when we grew up. Everyone before me gave the typical 2nd grade answers, teacher, doctor, laywer, etc. When it was my turn, I said I wanted to be a boy. Miss Hart called me into the hallway after class and told me I couldn't be a boy when I grew up. I shrugged it off pretending I was joking and made up another occupation that I "really" wanted to be.

In the film, Petra is sent away to a camp to change who she is. I was never "sent away" physically, but in a lot of ways I experienced an emotional equivalent to her experience.

When I was little, I loved Boy George and told my aunt I was going to marry him someday. She made a face. Then I said I'll wear the tux and he can wear the dress.

For most of my early child hood, I dressed like a boy--and often didn't wear a shirt, like boys do. One of these times, my aunt pulled me aside and gave me a lecture about how girls should dress. She said I'm a girl and I have to start wearing a shirt, what would I think if she or my mom didn't wear shirts. The idea seemed really disturbing to me, but I didn't think of myself like them so it seemed irrelevant.

My older sister and I would constantly fight when we were growing up. She'd tried to continually force me to wear girl clothes, to style my hair, to wear make-up... anything. She'd even on occasion tackle me down and force the girly products on me.

On one such occasion, our cousin was visiting, my sister had convinced me to play a game when I pretend to be one of my sister's friends. I liked playing games, so I went along with it. My sister dressed me in her clothes, styled my hair, and caked me with make-up. When my cousin arrived, she played along. But I knew after a few minutes, that she wasn't fooled. But I played along as they did. Once the game seemed to wear off, I was stuck dressed looking like my sister... and I started to physically feel sick. I didn't want to wear this mask, I needed to be in my own clothes, to be myself. So I changed back into me, taking off my sister's clothes and make-up. I could tell my sister was disappointed that her "experiment" didn't seem to work permenantly on me. I would never be the sister she'd want me to be.

As I got older, her prompts and pushiness, seemed to have its toll on me. I was going through puberty and could no longer be the boy I wanted to be... not with the bras and other "wonderful" things that go along with being a teenage girl. By the end of 4th grade, I had to quit playing football because catching the ball hurt too much.. plus at school the other kids started noticing I was changing. I was an early developer. The boys in my class seemed to think I was their personal petting toy. They'd grab at me--pinch my butt, grab my breasts. I started fighting back by 6th grade. When a classmate pretended to be reaching for a pencil he dropped, he would "accidently" reach over and grab my breast. I grabbed him by the shirt and pushed him against the wall and told him never to touch me again.

Through all of this my mom seemed the most understanding. I never felt she wanted me to be anyone other than who I was. She'd tell me no one had a right to touch me if I didn't want them too and encouraged me to "fight" back if need be.

My dad also seemed to enjoy having a tomboy for a daughter. I have three brothers, but somehow I always felt like my dad's favorite son. He and I would do chores together, he'd buy me ice cream cones, GI Joes, and comic books. None of my other siblings got this special dad time. I think its because I was the most like my dad. My brothers didn't like to do chores, they didn't play with action figures, they weren't typical rough and rowdy boys. But I was. My dad even told me years ago that I was the best son he ever had.

At some point in junior high, I seemed to give in to fate. My body was betraying me. I really wasn't the boy I always felt I was. I started to grow my hair long and wore my sister's hand-me-downs. I would even on occasion wear make-up. This continued into High School, I tried being the girl everyone wanted me to be...

The brainwashing worked.

In college I went through a long difficult struggle of coming out. I was in deep catholic-guilt denial and had loads of depression and anxiety. I was confused, I didn't want to be a boy anymore, I liked being a woman, but why was I attracted to girls? It didn't make sense to me. I tried to make myself like boys... but by my junior year in college, I realized that just isn't who I am. I'm not the girl everyone wants me to be. I'm not going to marry the perfect guy and start popping out babies. I'm just me. I started to accept myself... I knew who I was... and I felt like the kid in me--the Tomboy--had come back after being hidden for years...

And so while the story of Petra and Camp Conformity isn't a literal retelling of my childhood, it is an emotional/psychological one.

Mini-Boards

2007-09-16T19:22:00.001-07:00

So... I printed all my boards out small and put them on post-its... on a poster board and have just written descriptions under each of them--like you would a board. you know, like Action/Dialogue etc. Right... So, now i'm going to look over them and restart revising it. Christine said its a good way to see how the boards are working together and to see what can be cut, etc.

Also I want to revise the compositions to make them less flat. I've done some so far, but have lots more to revise. Its all good though... i feel like its getting there. like, everythings there. now just playing around with the shots to make them flow all nice into each other and to edit out shots that aren't really needed... and to make them look awesome and cool so places like Pixar will want to hire me.

I've been studying this storyboarding thing by Brad Bird and trying to digest as much of it as possible so all his awesome awesomeness will spew outta my finger tips when i re-compose my shots...

Storyboard Mania

2007-09-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

So... for the last couple days, I've been redrawing sections of my boards to make them more awesome looking. like, i'm adding more upshot/downshots... and drawing some of the backgrounds in more details, so we have more a sense of where Petra is in certain establishing shots.

i'll eventually take these more detailed boards and paint the backgrounds from them. ... i've actually been in a mood to start painting backgrounds, but it's probably too early, cause i'm still revamping scenes and throwing out shots... and i don't want to spend time painting a background only to throw it out in a week. even so... i may do some just to "feel out" the final look of the film.

hehe, this is the exciting part of the process for me... i have the basic boards done and the story basically worked out, so now i can go in and play with things to make them even awesomer.

woo! i love pre-production. happy feelings.

Plot summary

2007-09-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

so... here's a quick plot summary:

My film is about a girl (Petra) who wants to be a boy, so she is sent away to a camp to make her "normal." Ultimately she escapes the camp and her dad accepts her for who she is.

Thesis!

2007-09-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

So... I decided to start a blog for my Thesis film.. which is right now called "tomboy"... though I'm also toying with "camp conformity" though that sounds stupid. but maybe if i come up with a more clever name for the camp, then i'll use that as a title. or "Petra" after the main character, but.. i don't know. the title is the least of my worries, i guess.

okay. so, so far i've got some rough boards of the thing done. they still need more work. like, i want to reboard certain sections to make them a little better, more dramatic and such... i've been looking at Iron Giant for inspiration. in particular, the sequence where he discovers the Giant. its pretty sweet and i think will help influence my sequence where Petra follows the camp counselors into the woods.

yarp. just looking to make things awesome.

i've also have been playing around with the Final Look. it'll be similar to Androgyrl and Mankind as far as look goes... colored in Mirage, backgrounds hand painted in my loose washy style.

anyway, i guess that's it for now... i'll try to figure out how to post images...

~j