scene 2

here's another rough background i did

update

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...

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!

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

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

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!

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...