20081124

Research and Pachyderms

The closest social unit is the "family," a group of a dozen or so related females and their offspring. Certain families have a strong preference for each other's company. The families so affiliated are a "bond group." Families and bond groups are often expanded by the visits of adult males, but on the whole males live rather separately from the families, in bachelor herds and independently.

-
Katy Payne, Silent Thunder: In the Presence of Elephants.

One of the greatest lessons I took from my storyboarding class with John Canemaker: Research, Research, Research. Going into a scene, know as much as possible about set and setting as you can and the visual details will fall into place. Many filmmakers write/create from what they know. I would imagine the Kevin Smiths of the world often don't often dive into a subject with much depth because they live it. They write stories that come from the shit they talk with their mates and the porn they watch every night. Or afternoon as the case may be. And bravo, that stuff's amusing.

I've never been this type of filmmaker, though. I work from a palette of whatever I can imagine and this dictates the types of stories I want to tell. And while some would scoff at it, I've been suffering from a veritable onslaught of too many viable ideas and no way to do anything with them. 3 Shorts, 5 feature loglines, and an amazing series written by Patrick Udomsak that deserves a bigger fanbase. The latter of which has grown into a fortress of data and development rivaling the mythos of the LOTR. Well, our planet is younger than Middle-Earth but let's not get into it.

In any case, I'm moving forward as of today. Should end up between 7-12 minutes but I'm aiming for less to keep production time down. Still, the priority will be quality and if it wants to be longer, I'll let it breathe. For the first time, I'm not even writing a script. Straight to simple thumbs and boards, and into pencil and media as quickly as I can get there. I'll deal with sound and post when those ships sail. For now, though, filling out this outline that my sister and I worked through, and lots of research on African elephants.

The more I learn, the more I love these animals.

20081110

h4x0red!?!

Some nefarious blackhat has been attempting to infiltrate one of my sites! My web host was kind enough to warn me. Who would do such a thing? An acquaintance scorned? A stalker? A porn monger looking for free hosting? Whatever the case, if the attempts continue these cocksuckers will soon find themselves staring down the barrel of "We just fucked with exactly the wrong sort of person."

That out of the way, welcome to my production blog. I will update it regularly with goings-on in my work as well as my experiences in the entertainment industry, which aside from a few friendly acquaintances in indie film and the arts, has proven to be a broken-down rancid pit of absolute grade-A American bullshit. Enjoy your stay and hey! Come on back anytime now.

My next film is gearing up. Its conception and birth will be chronicled here. I will be spending considerably more effort on the animation this go round.

Peace.