|
 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Click thumbnail to view. 26mb file - please be patient while it loads. DF: Here was the biggie. Probably the biggest step we took was to initiate a mock-trailer for one of the conventions we did. I was completely intimidated. But even in this big step, there were a series of smaller steps. Just by coincidence (or by plan), Daniel S.'s script lent itself to being ramped up, with the animation starting out fairly simple, then moving towards higher complexity. But here's the kicker — this time we needed the character to talk. So not only were things moving, the guy needed a mouth that spoke. Since this is beyond an animated GIF, I had to move to Flash, a program I really knew nothing about. And there were only three weeks to the convention. Again, everything was pencilled, scanned in and colored in Photoshop. I tried to plan out only what I needed to draw. If only the arm moved, then I only drew the rest of the body once and did multiples of the arm, only. That cut down significantly on production time. None of the character drawings had a mouth. I drew 6 different mouths on a separate "cel", scanned them in and swapped them out as I needed to in the final animated file. This helped to create the illusion of speech. Everything else got pieced together at a breakneck pace to create a full 4-5 minute animation clip, with full audio, music, sound effects and moving parts. Again, it was still a bit rough, but through the process I learned how to use Flash well enough to get me a job doing it for a living. And we finished all that in 3 weeks. And not constantly, either... I only got to work on it on weekends and after work on the weekdays. But it was moving and it was talking and people laughed at all the right places. So we count that as a proud success! DS: Biggie is a good word for it. From the beginning, I knew this (making a movie) was a lot to ask, so I tried to keep it interesting for the team by injecting an element of surprise and humor into the trailer that would inspire us all to finish it, so we could see the look on the audience's faces when they saw it. The other goal was very practical — to give a presentation so memorable that those who saw it would talk about it for the rest of the day. Word of mouth is everything. Plus, as Dan said — we had NO time to make this. Originally, we wanted to do the Raul fight scene we are working on now, but it just was not possible then. Worse, we had promised the promoters of AnimeFest a fully-animated movie trailer, and we weren't going to have one. I was sure we would get yelled at. In my mind, it would happen right in front of everyone. I envisioned that even if we WERE able to put characters on-screen, THEY would probably yell at us, too. Hmmmm... Being yelled at sitting at the panelist table by one of our own on-screen characters... The interactivity made me laugh. And I was overcome with the irrisistable urge to pull a fast one over the eager viewers. What if we don't tell the audience we didn't make the trailer, act as if we really DID have it but the projector malfunctioned right as it got going? What made that even funnier to me was the thought that we would act like the filmstrip broke, even though it would be obvious we were running off a laptop, just to see how many people would turn around in their seats looking for a reel-to-reel projector. Once that was decided, I wrote the script in less than an hour one morning before work, and laughed the whole drive in. I convinced the gang to each be "in it", and promised Dan F that I would build the actual opening titles and create the broken filmstrip effect, so he just had to animate the narrator. (I say "just" — it was still an incredible amount of work on his part. Much more than on mine) And Serdar was invaluable in putting the whole thing together. I watched him create the "preview" green screen in less than five minutes, from memory, on the laptop at our table the morning of our presentation. He also created the filmstrip that we placed the logo on, complete with all the accurate labels up the sides, in less than ten. Then he mixed and output the entire file. Incredible. So you can get a sense of what it was like live, here is the script as originally written. Before you read it, I feel compelled to tell you just how important voice casting is to a movie. Think of the best and worst anime overdubs you've ever heard. Which would you rather have? A good voice can bring it all to life, and more importantly, is a tremendous inspiration to animating the sequence. Suddenly, the character is real. We cast at almost every con we attend, and truly struck gold with Josh Strong as the voice of the narrator. He is not British, but you would never know it by his relaxed, easy tone. This is one of the most imortant things I can say about making your own movie. Spend the time to find the right actor. It makes all the difference. And now, without further ado... ------------------------ THE SCRIPT OPEN: British host on backdrop of hills of Spain, holding microphone. HOST: Good evening, and welcome to the set of the new independent American animated film "The Nine". Tonight we have something rather special for you—the premiere of the first chapter in this exciting saga, as well as behind-the-scenes interviews with the entire cast and the creative minds behind this amazing project. So, without further ado, I give you... "THE NINE!" TRAILER: Screen goes black, music starts, logo morphs in, etc. Suddenly, right where it looks like the episode will begin, the filmstrip malfunctions in the old-time way where you see the ripped film. Screen goes white for a few seconds. The wait is very uncomfortable. (Off-screen, we should look very embarrassed at the table.) Eventually, the HOST comes back on screen, hesitantly, because now there isn't even the Spanish backdrop, and looks around this big expanse of white. He knows he has to do his job, but doesn't know how. He stands up straight and speaks. HOST: Yes. Well. Um... We appear to have had some... technical difficulties... which I'm sure are being remedied as we speak. (Regains his composure) When you shoot film, as all cinema of quality is, you have to expect the odd mishap. However, as you can see, the chaps are working very hard to fix the film... on their very modern and extremely shiny laptop, so everything will soon be right as... (Sudden look of comprehension. Does double-take at us) HOST: Hang ON... Walks over to the side of the screen and peers over at us, suspiciously. HOST: What's all this, then? SERDAR: We're fixing the film. HOST: No, you're not. SERDAR: Yes, we are. HOST: No, you're not. You haven't even got a projector. SERDAR: Yes, we do. HOST: Where? Serdar looks around. He's so busted. SERDAR: My God! Someone stole our projector! HOST: (rolls his eyes) Oh, yeah. Right. Look, what is this? Where's the film? Dan is drawing feverishly at the table. DAN: It's coming, it's coming... Dan finishes another drawing and quickly shoves the sheet of paper into DANIEL's chest. Daniel panics and tries to hide it behind his back. HOST: What was that? DANIEL: Nothing. HOST: Yes, it was. DANIEL: No, it wasn't. HOST: Look, I'm not a child. You have something behind your back. Let me see it. Daniel shakes his head "no" like a 4-year old. HOST: Now! Daniel slowly brings it out and shows it to the Host. HOST: Is that a drawing? That's from the opening scene, isn't it? Good GOD, Man! That's as far as you've gotten? What have you been doing since A-Kon? DANIEL: Well... see... I met this girl... Host slaps his forehead in frustration. Really hard. HOST: Look... I don't know if you've noticed, but there are bloody PEOPLE here! They've been promised a movie. There's no movie. They were promised interviews with the cast. Where are the interviews with the cast? We all just look at each other. HOST: Well? In unison, we each put on a pre-made mask of one of the characters and turn and look at the Host, hoping desperately that he'll buy it. HOST: (totally exasperated with us now) Oh, that's dash clever of you. We nod to each other, all proud of ourselves. HOST: Look, do you have the movie or not? We all stop celebrating and hang our heads in shame. HOST: When will you have the movie? We take our masks off. Whisper to each other for a moment. Then all nod in agreement. DANIEL: UshiCon. Host just stands there in shock and blinks at us. It's very uncomfortable again. DANIEL: Definitely UshiCon. HOST: Oh, bloody hell. I'm going to the cosplay. Host drops microphone. You hear the feedback squeal. He walks off-screen to the right in a huff. Then you hear a loud crash. Obviously, he's tripped over something on our messy set and fallen down. HOST: (yelling from off-screen) Yankee BUGGERS! Screen goes black and shows the T9 logo. Then Raul pokes his head in from the corner of the screen, like he snuck into the TV, flashes that Latin smile, raises an eyebrow and gives the audience a great big "thumbs up". Screen to black. THE END
| 
