Back with a Vengeance! (Sort of)

Well here it is, another long gap in posting and this time I truly have been busy! After years of false starts and trying to get a puppet project up and running I finally did it!

Here is all the pertinent information you need to connect up with my new buddies Widget and Poptop as they take to the web with beer reviews, sports insight and general manliness!

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Please like, follow and watch! We'll be posting EVERY WEEK!

Here is our latest post, our first ever Beer Vlog, featuring Ireland's very own, Guinness!

"Really Bad Movie!" A film by Jasin Sloan

It's finally finished and online for the world to see! Here it is in all it's campy glory! 4 years of blood, sweat, tears and a lot of whiskey! Please enjoy "Really Bad Movie!" a Jasin Sloan film.

Monkster'ing Again

Going back to my first love. Here is a test frame for what I'm considering my next project. "The Monkster"

It's Almost Here!

I'm currently finishing up sound and music...well I'M not, but my amazingly talented and hard working composer/sound designer is. The film should be done soon. Till then here is something to hold you over...

"Really Bad Movie!" Turnarounds

A brief update: I am currently working on another, and hopefully FINAL cut of "Really Bad Movie!" I had locked picture a couple months back, but was not happy with what at the time was the end result. The current cut however is looking and flowing great. Still making the push for early 2013 premiere date. For that I will keep you posted as events unfold. 

To fill the void for now, here are turnarounds for each of the RBM characters. They are essentially Flash based puppets, broken down at key joint points. Hope you enjoy them! 

Poster Perfect

Pretty proud of this. Now to get some printed up!

7 Months, 13 days = 30 Minutes of Animation

I did it. Single handedly to boot. Here is our cast riding off into the sunset, as I set my sights on post-production.

Yay me!

Tired Animator

I just pulled off what very few can. Singlehandedly I've animated 10 minutes of cartoon in just under a month. Not sure how I did it, and more importantly I find myself wanting to keep going.

More to come. As always, check out Really Bad Movie!'s Facebook page and newly created Twitter @ReallyBadTwit or more info and up to date eye candy.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Great Kickstarter Experiment Begins!

Usually not one to jump on board something like this, I follow suit after hearing of a number of my fellow independent animated filmmakers raising substantial funds to help finish their films. I don't know if I'll get to my established goal, moreover I'm just glad to continue spreading the word about my project. If you are so inclined, drop by to donate at my new Kickstarter "Really Bad Movie!" page and earn yourself some really cool "Really Bad Movie!" swag!

The World Spins Madly On

The year has gotten off to an interesting start. Not quite sure how to describe 2012 to date, but I find it best at the moment to keep my head down and keep working. That being said, animation production is not exciting work. More often than not, it's just me working away on my laptop, checking scenes off my list as I complete them. There will not be much in the way of updates for awhile, as I am indeed animating away.

In the mean time, have some official "Really Bad Movie" trailer!

I don't really get around to updating this blog as much as I should, and find it much easier to throw up some production art here and there on Facebook. So if you want to see more goodies more often, come on over and like my "Really Bad Movie!" Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Really-Bad-Movie-The-Animated-Short/202523216457233

Oh Yeah, My Blog. Yeah.....

I did not forget about my blog, I swear. Determined to buck the annual fall depression I seem to latch onto every year, I have been working my butt off on some Really Bad Movie opening credits! Working so much to the extent that said credits are FINISHED credits!

That's just the cards themselves. Without giving too much away, there are giant robots, giant squids, slime monsters, flying saucers on string, zombies, and oh so much more. Next up on the production slate? The 5 scenes that make up our official trailer! Till then, enjoy the credit sequence eye candy!

Giant Robots Make a Crap Month Somewhat Better

Well there isn't much good I can say about the past month. Only halfway in and I can honestly say it's been the most challenging month of the year so far. All in all, my life has changed in a pretty big way and as far as the future goes, only time will tell. I'm still pulling for a positive and grown up outcome to the whole situation, though I sadly fear things will never be what they once were.

With chaos swirling around me, I have managed to get quite a few things done and learn a few things I've needed to pick up to complete the project. First of those things being Google Sketch-Up. Keeping in mind, this would mark my first experience with 3-D, as to this point I've been a staunch and hard lining 2-D man. Thinking in full 3 dimensions is far different than thinking in 3 dimensions for 2-D and I am proud to say I've made it through the other side. Needless to say there were nights where even a sailor would have blushed at the language I was using.

The green windows are for compositing purposes of course, and though this background is simple, it was the one that gave me my 3-D crash course. I followed this one up with a damn near authentic recreation of the White House's Eisenhower hallway. Heavily intricate and detailed, as it will be the background of 2 very long moving shots.

Next up, I'm getting reacquainted with Flash, and it's new toys. Now prior to the use of CS4, the last version of Flash I was using was MX 2004. A lot has changed, and thankfully one of the things that hasn't is the program's basic interface. Long and geeky story short, the bone tool works wonders, and the ability to move items with a bitmap fill without Flash crashing on you non-stop is a godsend.

Here is a test shot from my new opening credit sequence. All items drawn in flash with bitmap and texture fills. When it's done and composited in After Effects the whole thing will have a far more stop motion/paper cut out feel, but for now you can surely get the point.

As usual I will keep things short and sweet. Back with more as "Really Bad Movie" continues rolling, albeit slowly, along.

Here Comes a Quickie!

Quick update, as it's late and I need to go to sleep. I'm very excited for this, as it's the first time I get to see my characters against one of my 3-D backgrounds. This is just a test for right now, but I figured I would share.

If the final product looks this sexy, I think I got something here! Anyway, that's all for now. Another update soon. Thanks for looking.

And Then There Were Five

Yeah lack of posting again, so shoot me. I've been busy trying to get the latest "Really Bad Movie" into animation ready shape. Final animatic edit, done! Main character Flash libraries as of tonight, done! I still have 6 to 7 other secondary characters to do, and hands for every character. Got my hands full that is for sure. (pun intended)

Anyway! Enough yapping! Onto what you're really here for:

Pretty snazzy, right? They all came out great this attempt. I've sure learned a hell of a lot about building libraries in Flash over the last year. These are fully workable Flash puppets, ready for some animating! Now to blast through the last of the busy work and get to the fun stuff!

The Case For "Paper"

Taking the time to ponder other contributing aspects of this new short film version of Really Bad Movie while awaiting opportunities to record with all my actors; I decided the updated version of this project needed an equally updated version of opening credits. So when our gifted new composer Ryan Brawders signed on to help transform the musical side of this short film, I took many angles into thought. Since this short is a celebration of the classic 50's b-movie, I wanted to incorporate as many b-movie monster scenarios as I could. Alien abduction, flying saucers, giant sea creatures, zombies, giant robots, slime creatures are what I set on and in passing this information onto Ryan I was totally blown away by what he returned with. Instantly I set to storyboarding and what I ended up with is far better than what I had envisioned. Still 2 weeks after completing the animatic I watch over and over in total amazement.

That being said, I must now set out to establish the visual aspects of my new credits. Currently I take inspiration from the classic early 60's paper animation credits from directors Bill Justice and X. Atencio. Their work can be seen in the opening credits of such Disney films as "The Mis-Adventures of Merlin Jones" and "The Parent Trap". Their style has come to find new found popularity with kitch artists of today.

Now there is no way I will have the time to do old school stop motion animation because, well if I'm gonna make 2012 film festival deadlines I've gotta have this thing in the can by December at the latest. What I am considering is using bitmap fills with my already constructed Flash animation character components. I played around with this idea all morning today and this is what I came up with:

Not finalized yet, but most assuredly in the running. Flash hates working with bitmap fills, and animating with them would prove to be a program crashing nightmare. The image you see above as a matter of fact is a second attempt as Flash crashed on my first attempt. Small update, but an update none the less. In a few short weeks I should have all my actors recorded, and a locked animatic in place. At that point it will be onto animation. A process that will consume at least the summer.

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!