I Tried, and Now It's Bah! Humbug!

It officially set in last night. The holidays have severely slowed my progress on the latest installment of Really Bad Movie. It was at that moment I sunk back into my loathing for the holiday season. Till then I was doing great. Listening to the obligatory Christmas tunes, downing some egg nog when the chance presented, and shopping like a trophy wife with sugar daddy's credit card.

In the past I had been spoiled with numerous 1 day, all cast included recording sessions. This time around I've had to work within everyone's schedules, not to mention the holidays and set multiple sessions. I am VERY thankful for the wonderful Chris Kooreman at Beat Royalty who has already given up his studio space twice so that I may have cast members come in when time permits. So far the cast has performed with perfection and I look forward to getting the rest of the gang in to do their thing in early 2011. To that note I also have a theme song in the works and it's coming out great! Much thanks to my composer Ryan Brawders on that front! Next year is gonna be a lot of fun and I look forward to sharing my progress with you all.

Merry Christmas, Happy belated Hanukkah, Funky Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year to everyone.

When Fall Hits, It's Always Complicated

I honestly don't know what it is about this time of year but everything, and I mean everything about my life just wants to hit a wall and stay there till temperatures get back to normal. I'd equate it to depression, and in the past I believed it was because it has all the same traits; But this year has me very confused. I know I'm not depressed because to put it quite simply, I'm not. I can't even wrap my head around what this is, but it's seriously messing with a mojo I was gaining back in a major way.

Adding to the complication, this situation has me feeling guilty about the lack of progress on Really Bad Movie. 2 weeks ago I would work for hours, now I just pick at what I need to be doing like the carcass of a post-meal Thanksgiving turkey.

Needless to say, since the animation test below, I don't have much work to show for myself and in my mind and in my bones I know this means trouble if I do not act immediately. This weekend I will focus on getting my head back on straight. This can not stand and I need to get back to work soon.

Shaking Off the Rust

It's been a few weeks since I've updated, I know. At least this time my disappearance has been for pre-production reasons. Since finishing the first pass animatic about 3 weeks ago, I've been taking some time to A) Try out, develop and continue honing some new techniques, and B) shake off the rust that's accumulated over the last couple years in which I have been damn near close to inactive.

This is what I consider the fun time, all out trial and error. I touched upon it in my last post with that 10 second video of the scary, disembodied head of Professor Waxington: Now I get to use what I learned from those series of tests and apply them to actual character animation. This is all on a practice level of course, as I have not gotten my cast together to record just yet. (Though I was fortunate enough to have one of my cast members offer their services by way of crappy quality recording session on my MacBook Pro. Thank you Carlos!) Nor have I gotten my crew together to start animating. Before I can do either I have to figure out exactly what I want this show to look like. What to do, what not to do, and how to do it, will be much easier to explain to those involved once I get a clear understanding of what it is that I want this to be.

The video clip below has been how I've spent the day. It's not without it's issues, I know. (And yes the background I used is from the show "Archer". I in no way intend to use it beyond this test footage, nor do I claim to have had anything to do with it's creation.) All in all it's a very solid first attempt, and man does it have me excited to try out more things!

Again, it's not a finished piece, it's just a test. A very sexy test if you ask me!

Slight of Hand, Foot in Mouth

I'd be lying if I said the initial rough animatic editing process is moving along right on schedule. Fact of the matter is it's starting to drag on longer than I had hoped. I guess it's the way it goes when you've got a small handful of gags and one-liners to rework. Don't get me wrong, this is a solid project. Though like any project, some of my jokes just did not work in front of an audience. With rewrites and their corresponding storyboards behind me, I can at least say progress has been made in the last month. For the time being it's about as tight as it's gonna be till I can get my cast in the studio. It's been a bit of an internal up hill battle, and fatigue is setting in. I am very anxious to get onto the next step, but alas once the final dialogue track is recorded I will have a whole other edit to get though. The one edit I quite frankly hate the most. The final timing edit, and all the math and frame counting that applies.

As with all my posts I try to provide some eye candy. Though I don't have much by way of entertaining tidbits of production work to show quite yet, I have been playing with some new techniques in Flash.

Above you will see the quite stylish head of Really Bad Movie's very own Professor James Waxington. (Though his design may change in the months to come, lets just use this as a teaching example.) Subtle head turn not that exciting you say? Well you're right, BUT! This simple head turn will do wonders for the previously VERY limited animation I once used while pushing out past incarnations of this project. See, when doing limited animation, subtle usually translate to uncreative suit and money bozos as "time consuming" and therefor, expensive. Not so much here though! Notice the head never actually changes shape, but still gives the illusion of movement. That is because there are 4 moving parts that force your eye to think that the character is ever so slightly turning his head. In reality, it's only one drawing. Therein lies the magic of the whole thing. 1 drawing broken into multiple parts, moving together to give the illusion of full and subtle movement. I know it's not much, but damn it has me excited to get onto animation!

Where The Hell Have I Been?

I took my crap and went home! That's what I did! When I say home, I mean I moved back to North Hollywood and boy does it feel good to be back! I'm in a neighborhood I know inside and out, and more importantly I'm within blocks of nearly all my creative cohorts. Needless to say I have had quite the full plate over the last 2 months, but on the plus side I did manage to get a hell of a lot of work done on the current Really Bad Movie while maintaining a workout routine and dealing with a pretty hectic professional workload. Mind and body seem to be in tune right now and I'm feeling as productive as ever!

In trying to maintain a "by the book" style of production on this one, I completed an animatic with temporary audio track. With this I did some re-writes and adjusted my storyboards accordingly. My next to last test before recording with the cast comes Sunday when a group of my trusted few will view said animatic and provide notes. Barring any blaring issues with story, and the adjusting of a joke or two, I should get an idea of when I can record very soon. From there it's timing sheets (my least favorite part of production involving lots of math) and onto animation!



The picture at the top of the post you ask? Well that happens to be my new loft/home office in my brand new 2+2+loft! That's right for the first time in years I have NO creative work related paraphernalia in my bedroom, living room, or dining room. What has this meant to me? Well I have started reading a bit before bedtime again, and I have been getting solid nights sleep. Both of which do wonders for a guy who can only be described as "not a morning person".

All in all, things are good and always getting better. Now all that's left is to live up to my end bargain with the universe and finish this cartoon over the next year!

Scanning? What Scanning?

It took me longer to set up the new scanner, than it did to scan the ENTIRE FREAKING SHOW!

What I thought was at least 2 days worth of work turned out to be about 40 minutes worth, thanks to my brand new Brother MFC 7340.

In a word, I'm shocked. This machine made all other scanners I've had till now look like steaming piles of crap!

(Cue the cheesy announcer voice) That's right kids, the Brother MFC 7340 not only scans at lighting speeds, it can also print 21 pages per minute at a whopping HQ1200 dpi (laser) and fax those important documents with the same precision and quality you've come to know and love in the scanner you've had for all of a week. (clears throat)

Honestly I can't say enough about this machine so far and tonight was it's first night out of the box. It's going to make things move a lot smoother in the weeks to come, that is for sure!

Now we're on to cropping. Time to limber up those old key pad working fingers!

This Is How We Do it!

8 weeks

3 acts

459 pages in total

310 scenes in total

2 weeks ahead of the goal

Right hand, right thumb completely numb

Feels good. As a matter of fact, I'm going in for more! Next stop, ANIMATIC!

The Nubbins of Progress

The photo above will demonstrate the level to which I have been drawing. The nubbin pencil was once as long as it's brand new counterpart exactly 1 month and 1 week ago when I started this massive endeavor. The odd way in which I work requires 1 very sharp pencil and one very dull. The nubbin you see above is what is left of the sharp one. The dull one is about an inch, maybe inch and a half bigger. (Yes, size does matter)

Now the moment you've all been waiting for; This week's numbers!

4.5 weeks down

137 pages total and counting for Act II

134 scenes boarded

A total of 182 scenes of 308 completed.

And as of today I have one month left to complete the rest of Act II and all of Act III.

Um...holy crap I did 134 scenes in a week and a half! Jesus! Hadn't crunched the numbers till right now! I'm kinda stunned! I mean that's like pre-union, Uncle Walt with a whip, golden age of animation level of output! No wonder my hands hurt! haha

Till next week you can just refer to me as Amazing. Thank you universe.

Tony Clifton, Hospitals, Stress and Adversity

How to describe the last week in so many words. For one, at this point Andy Kaufman is probably dead. None the less his former protege Tony Clifton can still put on a great show. (And do one of the greatest covers of "Rhinestone Cowboy" since Dolly and Sly) Truly a great show with more boobs and vagina than I have ever seen in person in my entire life.

The week rolled on and we get to Wednesday when once again my father lands himself in the hospital. Why you may ask? Oh well when you're diabetic, go figure, blood sugar levels become an issue. When you stop taking your meds and stop checking your blood sugar on a daily basis, things health wise can go south. Harsh tone you say? I make no qualms about the less-than-fantastic relationship he and I have, but the reverse father/son relationship we have always had has gotten old.

And this would be where the adversity comes in. Between the B.S., and everything else that went down this week, I have once again stayed far ahead of my self established schedule. As of tonight the storyboarding process remains 6 days ahead of schedule. From Sunday to Sunday I find myself in another self fulfilling position. I don't think in the last batch of boards I accomplished what I did this week.

And your count for the week: ACT II Storybaords

3 weeks down

74 pages done

48 scenes boarded

137 of 308 scenes completed.

Not bad for what a shitty week it was. Gripe and grief over. Next week will be a better week.

14 Days of Drawing = Results and Ego

14 days is all it's taken me to get 1/3 of the way though this monumental task.

14 days straight in which I woke up, picked up a pencil, and sat my ass in a chair all day doing what I once did best. What I once did best, and what I will once again strive to do better. Feels good to be myself again. I'm trying to keep my ego in check, but it does have a way of sneaking up on me once in a while.

136 pages of pure, unadulterated gold in recycled paper form, my people:

To quote the great Bender Bending Rodriguez: "I'm back, baby!"

The Feel Good Blog Posting of the Year

Oh no lets not let the bottle of Walker Black fool you. The photo above are just the simple tools of the animation trade and I for one am a slave to tradition. So folks, let me tell you about this past week. Page 100 has officially been hit. We're well on our way to double digit scene count, and as of this afternoon, half of Thursday's boards have been done. By Thursday, I mean this coming Thursday. Thursday the 13th...of May. That's right, I am 4; Count them 4 days ahead of schedule. This is a good thing considering next weekend's schedule looks like I've climbed the ranks of the social elite. But alas current status still remains. So without further delay, I present to you this week's count:

2 weeks down

12 weeks to go

70 of 308 scenes done

100 pages completed so far

Not bad considering I was near panic attacks last weekend being half a day behind. My task this week, KEEP THIS TRAIN A' ROLLIN!

More to come. Happy Jasin. Happy, happy Jasin.

Update Quickie!

The above picture is where the magic happens. Although I normally reserve short comments for Facebook and Twitter, I promised to keep up with posting here and dammit that's what I'm gonna do!

The count so far:

1 full week down

13 weeks to go

308 scenes total

30 scenes done as of tonight

2 scenes behind right now of the pace I need to keep but my right thumb is a constant shade of purple and the writing callus on my right middle finger has an odd blister/hardened coating over it. Painful, yes. But I am fighting through the pain.

That is all for now. More to come.

The First of Many Pages

So I know I disappeared again. I promise to get over this insensate believe that without visual work to show, my blog isn't worth updating. Unlike in the past, this time my disappearance meant results. Serious results in the form of an entire short film/pilot script and it's corresponding shot list! This may just be the fastest I've ever turned page around, and I am dedicated to doing so with the storyboards. Boarding deadline set at July 1, I am well on my way. The shot list presently contains 308 scenes. Starting April 26 and going to June 30, that means I must complete 4.5 scenes a day if I am to keep on task. That may sound like a piece of cake, but in some scenes we could be talking up to 15 drawings. I'm already starting to sweat, but I view this as my only way back to the road I want to be on.

I apologize for the crappy phone pic ahead of time, but with that I give you the very first storyboard page!

Yeah I know it's no masterpiece by far, but it's a storyboard. It's not suppose to look finished. Not bad for a guy who hasn't drawn anything in over six months. By the end of today I'll be on page 12 of god knows how many pages.

On the casting front, we've had a bit of a shuffle and change about. Taking over for me as the voice of Professor Waxington, (the fine chap sipping his coffee on the page you most recently saw) is venerable actor of stage and screen, and former Henson Muppetteer, Carlos Larkin! Taking over the role of Jenna Knockersworth is Las Vegas' own 98.5 KLUC Morning Zoo member Lauren Michaels! And in the role switch and change department, actor Curt Clendenin (of former Dirk Malone fame) will be taking the part of brand new character, General Principle; And actor Layton Matthews will be assuming the part of Dirk Malone, allowing filmmaker Tyrell Ventura to assume the role of the legendary Dr. Tikiforaheadwithafez.

So as you can see I presently have my work cut out for me. Feels good to be back to work on a project. Especially one that has finally found it's voice after having taken so many forms over the last few years. I promise I will try to update as I work through the gazillion pages of boards spewing out of me at the moment, but in all likelihood your next update on this particular project will come in video form, with rough audio track.

In other quick update news, Kids Eating Paste is in the midst of a technical upgrade. New camera, new lights, website 2.0, the works. Good stuff from there forthcoming, and Bowie! You'll know more shortly. And in the mean time you need to buy one of these fine KIDS EATING PASTE SHIRTS!

Thanks for reading. And if you're one of those lame Twit kids, you can follow me on Twitter @JasinAmodeo.

The Long Awaited Kids Eating Paste PSA, Starring ME!

On my way to the nut house I've decided to start turning all the random thought in my head that I find funny, (luckily my writing partner Brandon finds them funny too, so at least I know I'm not all crazy. That or Brandon is total bat shit crazy. Either way...) into comedy sketches. Those sketches have turned from fun, into yet another business endeavor of sorts, in the form of www.kidseatingpaste.com. This also means I'll be taking turns in front of and behind the camera as needed. I've found doing wacky shit like this has been a great way to blow off the steam that so often prevents creativity from easing out in animated form.

So with that, I am proud to present not just my newly posted PSA, but also a sketch we shot last August, starring me and the multi-talented NoHo legend Curt Clendenin.

Is This Thing On?

Wow where has the time gone since I last updated?

SWAG Entertainment is no more and has morphed into the new creative powerhouse Delicious Mayhem Productions. The new company was formed with former SWAG parter Andy Smith and my long time writing partner Brandon Alexander.

Here is our logo goodness:

Want to know what we're up to? Go to www.deliciousmayhem.net for more info.

Yeah I know this update is half assed. I'm just brushing you off to a site with more info, but what do you want from me? Oh, a proper update, right. Well sit tight. I'll have one for you soon, and I promise it will be a lot sooner than this update was in relation to the previous.