New Stuff

ok, quite a bit has happened since my last post…..

1 – i managed to finish my dissertartion draft, i made it to 2,000 words

2 – i finally finished my storyboard, im quite pleased with it but i still think there are a few things that may/will need changing

3 – finished a newly updated version of my animatic, its still very rough, but this one has more movement and sense of timing than the previous

and lastly….

4 – just spent a week at Holbrooks Films doing work experience with Tom Brown and Daniel Gray, graduates of UWN Newport, makers of the famous little film T.O.M (thats the one about the boy getting naked on his way to school) and just generally pretty dope guys! it was pretty fun, we were working on a film for Nike and i actually got to animate stuff rather than just make tea for everyone, which was nice :) they also took a look at my film and gave me pointers and advice, they seemed to like it which gave me a confidence boost and an urge to just get on with it and make the bloody thing!!! – check out their website – http://www.holbrooksfilms.com/

I shall post up my animatic on the next post, also – its almost christmas!!!!!

Been working on my dissertation so not much going on…thats a real spanner in the works

Test

So this is a rough test i made in flash, the final film will mostly be done on paper, including this scene. I’m waiting the arrival of a new light box so i decided to try out some digital tests…this is a test for the intro, i wanted to try out animating camera movements, i think it works quite well, the hand needs to come in slower maybe, or maybe hold it for a while before opening the book to give it some anticipation. currently working on a final storyboard….

Diariamente – Marisa Monte

this is a video for the song Diariamente (Daily) by Brazilian singer Marisa Monte….i cant find who made the animation, but anyways, i like the use of metamorphosis, although it is very literal to what is being sung, it still works

Very, very, very, very, very rough animatic

Here’s the first animatic which i showed in class today, I didn’t finish it until about 5am this morning, it’s just basically a really rough storyboard with the narration on top of it. the reception i got was pretty positive which I’m pleased with, just waiting on feedback from my tutors. these aren’t going to be the final visuals or anything…ive written some directions on the storyboard to indicate movement etc…

First Draft

I’ve finally finished my first draft of the script and I’m quite pleased with it. We have to present a full animatic on Monday and i don’t really have any visuals as Ive been concentrating on the narration so much. I feel Ive done the right thing as i think the narration is the most important part of the film. i took it round to Ben and Pete’s and they were both impressed. they said it had a combination of humour and sadness. which is good, because this is what Ive been trying to create all along….I’m going to have to narrate the script for the rough animatic, but that’s fine, ive been told by my lecturers numerous times not to narrate it myself and get an actor to do it, my classmates say the opposite. i feel that if i don’t narrate it, the film will lose part of its identity and i will feel less connected to the story making it less poignant for the audience…we shall see

anyways, here’s my first draft of the script, just gotta see what the lecturers say.

Grandad

This is my grandad, or vovô as we say in Brazil

We used to hang out every weekend

He was bald with some liver spots on his head…he had a massive moustache…thick and bristly, a bit like a broom

I remember looking at the crocodile on his shirts

He had to take pills with every meal; grandma said he wasn’t allowed to have things with sugar in them. He took sweeteners instead.

I once caught him sneaking chocolate from the fridge…he gave me a piece and said ‘não conta pra sua vó’…so I didn’t. I felt guilty

I enjoyed sitting behind him in the car, watching him check his teeth in the mirror. He’d share cream crackers with me…he smelt like them sometimes

We would go for walks in the gardens by the house where he grew up and he would show me the fish in the river…he’d hold my hand so I wouldn’t fall in

He loved birds and for every birthday he’d ask my grandma for a Belgian Canary…he liked the way they sung, and he’d name them after singers, Frank Sinatra, Luciano Pavarotti and even Roberto Carlos, a Brazilian singer with a wooden leg

Grandad was an important man and had an important piece of paper, when he retired he became an artist and used to paint naked women. I once drew a naked woman in my schoolbook, and my teacher said it was rude. My grandad couldn’t understand why

He couldn’t speak English very well and when trying to show us something he’d often mispronounce words…google, jean wayney, Jurassique parke

I remember he wore a ring with a red stone on it, he said he would give it to me one day

It was father’s day and he called me into his office to show me something he’d read in the paper, I was busy, so I told him I’d be there in a minute…I never went

That night, he woke up, got dressed and told my grandmother he needed to go to hospital

I didn’t see him again until three days later

They had dressed him in a suit and combed his hair. I watched him lying on the cushion, he looked smaller than I remember, I wondered if he was comfortable…I stared at his face for a while, his moustache neatly covering his top lip, I held his hand. I wondered what it was that he wanted to show me…ill ask him another time

He’s just resting his eyes.

Script

So I’ve been trying to write my script and I’m finding it pretty hard, everytime I sit down with pen and paper in my hand I feel like i should write in a really formal way that is constructed really sophisticated (not that i don’t want it to be sophisticated, i just don’t want to be ripping someone off, i want it to be a bit original) and i cant get Adam Elliot’s style of narration out of my head and i end up with lots of anecdotes scribbled on paper…so anyways, i went over the Pete and Ben’s again and talked to them about it and showed them my first few drafts, they helped me re-establish what i want to do and reminded me that the film should be something that shows who i am, to make something that is, without sounding self indulgent, ME! I’m beginning to get bogged down about my idea (once again) but i guess i best persevere, its like skateboarding, you don’t get anywhere unless you try…

Inspiration

We were shown a film by Jonathan Hodgson a few weeks back called ‘The Man With the Beautiful Eyes’, its based on a poem by Charles Bukowski. It really gave me an idea of how I wanted my film to flow, I like his use of metamorphosis and the way he uses image to indicate meaning as well as words and gives the audience a chance to interpret the story whichever way they want to.

Dr. Luiz Alexandre Lafayette Stockler

Just some photos of my grandad that I’ve used to help me with some character designs I’ve had to do for a quick pitch

The above photo was taken the day he went to hospital, he died three days later

Vovô (Grandad)

So I decided to make a film about my grandad, I think I’m going to call it Vovô as it’s the Portuguese translation of the word. it also makes sense as he was Brazilian, i want this to be clear in the film as i think it is important part of his identity as well as mine.

I did some brainstorming so I could get an idea of what I could talk about in my narration. I was very close to my grandad growing up in Rio and some of the best memories I have from my childhood are ones I shared with him. He was an integral part of my growing up and my interest in animation and art as he, himself was an artist after retiring from the police. I feel that once I establish these themes I can move onto my narration which I feel is the most important part of the film, if its unsuccessful then the film will be a disaster…and we don’t want that.

I also phoned my grandma in Brazil and asked her a few questions about him just to refresh some things in my memory, this was helpful and gave me more direction to work with.