A few blogs back I mentioned I had settled on a version of the script - oh boy how wrong was I. As feedback started to flow in it was a resounding "I like the earlier script", this was unexpected feedback to say the least. Firstly I decided to go the Frankenstein route and mash together various parts of the old script and the new script to make one "ULTIMATE SCRIPT!!!..script...script...script". Several re-write later things went way off course with the major problem being plot points were lost in the script (but remained in my head). This in turn destroyed the flow of the script and confused even more people...........ah Solution 'REWIND'. Yeah I went back to a crude old draft (8 version back to be exact) and just tweaked that. This version I have now is a lot more simpler and doesn't explain as much to the viewer, for one I only have 10min to establish characters, create empathy, make a call to adventure, have a final push then reveal an aftermath that will tie everything together nicely......mmmmm too easy.
Well I have been reading the draft over and over and I feel it sits right to create a great animated short, guess only time will tell.
Pre Production - few things have happened.
Kate has completed all the expression sheets for Monty Biggs (main character in my short 'Welcome to the Biggs'). Check it out
Monty - ROOKIE
Monty - ALL STAR
Monty - HAS BEEN
These are priceless and
Kate has done an awesome job working off Kyle's original concepts. Having these sheets assists the modelling greatly and
Eoin and I can really pick out what is needed most in the topology of the mesh and what shapes I want
Eoin to hit.
And welcome to another person on the team -
Carl Knox my evil nemesis whom I used to work with at Yomp Studios. Carl has an incredible knack of poking the bear (me) in just the right way to invoke irrational outbursts that involve flying fruit (but that's another story). Carl has done a quick blockout rig for me in Maya. You will see I have not skinned the mesh but instead have cut it up into pieces. For the blockout stage this is fine to work with.
I already have the sets blocked out and with the Monty character low res mesh rigged ,an animatic is next on the agenda. Speaking of animatic - I meet with
Dan Fothers the other day and discussed the possibility of him doing some animation for monty biggs. If you havn't seen his reel it's worth checking it out. We have discussed a trade of talents - he will help me block out the animatic and I will model some high res characters for a short hes working on. This trade made a lot of sense and running with your strengths is the only way to go when your doing something so ambitious.
It's funny the more I work on it the more I enjoy this creative process. There's nothing like it - working with talented artist on your idea is an incredible high. I want more and more every day, and I have to stop myself from asking these guys every hour "hey done any more for Monty" baaahaha. They make me want to write a better script just to do their concept work justice, how funny is that. With that said I have to leave this blog now and get back into it.
cheers,
Potter
