Sketchbook: Style Frames I and II

I'm working with style frames instead of an overall style guide as things progress, there's no reason to spend weeks putting together a briefing packet if you're flying solo for most of the production. When I do bring in additional hands it will be colorists and background artists who can work from color guides and rough layouts. The exception, though, is the sound designer. In that case I'll be doing a full cue sheet for sound to work from, something I've neglected to do with my films outside of schooling- and I've seen how the work can suffer from this oversight. Anyways. This post isn't about sound.



A style frame every so often throughout the boards should keep the palette/styles unified. There will be multiple techniques used throughout the piece so when I sit down to a scene I need to know at a glance how it will look and how it will move. Sometimes things get jumbled up in the old noggin' and the references can be invaluable. Of course animators/filmmakers know this already, I thought I'd mention it because... I wanted to.



So here's style frames I and II- these both come from the first 30 seconds of the film. There's earlier posts covering this sequence and hopefully these frames illustrate the stylistic choices I've been discussing. There'll be some animation tests soon but until then it's back to storyboards.

Research : Soaking up History

"The power to define is the power to destroy/ It is the truth for every girl it is the truth for every Goy." -Robert Anton Wilson (paraphrased)


So, in the first two minutes of this film I'm summarizing the history of Rwanda from late pre-colonial to early post-colonial and then jumping to 1977- around the time that baby Mutwale was spared from the elephant "depopulating," "cleansing," or whatever euphemism one might use to describe a massacre. He was subsequently displaced to Akagera Park in Northeast Rwanda near the border of Tanzania. So my timeline is spread across pretty much the whole 20th century and into the 21st, but this bit at the start is really important for establishing just about everything that takes place in the post-colonial timeline.

Lots and lots of research has been done for this, and I've got to give props to my sister. (Props, Jess.) She's been in and out of libraries, gone through entire bibliographies of Rwandan history, memoirs, scientific papers, written eyewitness accounts and a story outline, been in touch with historians and researchers, and yes, even lived in Kigali for 6 months. That last bit is how all this came about, so even more props for stumbling onto this story that I've grown to inhabit. Thanks for being such a fine catalyst. Mad props.

I've been through several briefings on the sequence of events: the prevalent semi-caste system in place before colonization by Germany, the taking of the "territory" (among others) of Rwanda by Belgium after WWI (made official in the "League of Nations Mandate") and the subsequent tidal wave of influence that followed after the Belgian government and Christian missionaries decided to redefine the entire society. One of my favorite little poems by Robert Anton Wilson describes how one's ability to define something, whether or not it fits that description, is one of the most destructive forces available to humanity. I forget which of his books uses it, I believe it's Prometheus Rising. I take his use of "Goy" to be the literal Hebrew translation meaning "nation" or "people," as he was not Jewish and would not likely use its modern, informal connotation. Anyways! Here I must interject with what brought on this post: I was going over the current storyboards with a donor, one that has an interest in European history:

She mentioned that the crucifix I'd used to adorn a wall made the missionary/Belgian conglomerate colonials represented in the scene appear Catholic. She then went too far back in history as a correction, thinking that perhaps I should be looking to the Huguenots (who?) for those who would've been responsible for the colonization, thus changing the relevant symbology. This is totally forgivable as most people don't realize that the first meeting between a Mwami (Rwandan King) and colonial factor (A German Count) was actually in 1894. Germans started entering the country in bulk between 1897-99. That's yesterday in terms of Rwanda's entire history. Anyway, back to Catholicism. I hadn't thought about denomination really, but it dawned on me that the implications (that missionaries essentially caused an irrevocable schism that eventually led to a major genocide- not exactly Jesus' plan, methinks) won't go over too well. With the symbology that I've got going, getting the specifics right isn't nearly as important as not getting them wrong. I decided to follow up a bit.

After some additional fact-checking it turns out the missionaries in question are indeed Roman Catholic. Along with the Belgian government, colonial forces emphasized the distinction between Tutsi and Hutu and Twa so heavily- even to the point of having registration papers that listed the distinction- that the manifesting discrimination eventually becomes the trickle-down-hate that leads to the events of the 100 days of killing. ...Over 800,000 dead in 100 days. Most killed by machete. Christ. I keep meaning to pick up a book of photography that documented the atrocities or the account of the 100 days by the head of the UN peacekeeping mission, but I just can't right now. Some part of me is afraid that the results will alter my film's focus and the rest... is just afraid.

Of course it's all more complicated than this, but it's a pretty clear path from here. Cause. Effect. Though, this film isn't about the genocide. The history I'm squashing into two minutes is kept pretty broad. It's important to understand that the history of this nation isn't just these atrocities. Though you could also look to the Hutu's precolonial treatment of the Twa as an argument that colonials aren't such a singular source of negative influence- hell, look at Japan's treatment of the natives of the northern island of Hokkaido or the disenfranchisement (how's that for a euphemism?) of the Native Americans by... Well, I guess that's colonists too. Still though, this history- It's more. One of the things my sister mentioned time and time again is how much information there is on the Rwandan genocide and how little available information there is on Rwanda. How little tangible documentation exists that isn't seen through the lens of colonialism or the prism of genocide. Maybe some of this is due to the market for information and maybe some is due to the... spectacle. Gods know some of it is due to the lack of recorded history for the area. In my case, in the case of my work, I don't think I need to point fingers or even stick to the history too closely. Then again I don't want any glaring discrepancies either. This often feels like a tightrope walk.

I'd already known that missionaries and government pushed the caste distinction because they thought the Tutsis- being taller- were sons of Ham, literal descendants of Noah (via his son, Ham.) Yes, the 'Arc' Noah. Helluva tale. I wonder if the author knew about this particular historical interpretation.

Anyway, my first instinct (the traditional Christ-on-a-Cross adornment) is actually historically accurate, whether it lends recognizable context or not. It does, I think. Stroke of luck or brilliant coincidence, I think it's a good sign. Angles are lining up. Pieces are fitting into place.

More exciting posts soon. Take that "more" to mean both quantity and degree.

Inspiration/Influence: Иван Максимов

It's always nice to discover a body of work that consistently rocks, but one that does so with a unique style and incomparable intelligence is a rare thing. I think I stumbled upon Ivan Maximov by accident when youtubing around for Alexander Petrov clips. I'll be sure to cover Petrov in this blog when I get closer to a working paint-on-glass rig, but right now Maximov's interesting combination of simple geometry and texture is a great place to stop and visit.



Niti ("Strings") is a fantastic little piece. Simple shapes and colors make it easy to discern key players and goings-on almost immediately. The layout/blocking is particularly interesting- it feels as though the abstract landscape is a real place. The story moves through the populated world pretty seamlessly. And of course the tale itself is poignant, resonant... uplifting and bleak at the same time. The love story ends happily, all is well. That final shot, though, of those strings bereft all ownership- all these connections and relationships dead with time. Spent and useless. Littering the world. It's an abstract sort of symbology that neither slaps you in the face nor becomes so elusive you can't grasp the meaning. Such imposed ambivalence is the stuff of true contemporary storytellers, IMHO. You'll find that the films of Petrov often fall victim to a kind of sappy sentimentality that often accompanies flights from reality to the fantastic; this is a tendency Maximov has never visibly been prey to.



You can tell from this Bolero short that Maximov has a distinct grasp of consciousness as the Gödelian self-referential strange-loop. (In short the model exists within the model ∴ the model defines itself; an inescapable gap of logic that Kurt Gödel proved mathematically. This destroyed the Principia Mathematica text and changed the face of logic and philosophy forever. It, like a fugue, is a perfect analogy for consciousness.) Something about this film, too, has that odd Kafkaesque sense of horrific inescapable monotony- simultaneously fear-inducing and comedic. The psychology behind both of these stories (as different as they are) isn't your average Freud-quoting superficial skim over the top of the psyche. These films dive deeply into what it means to live as a conscious being and they do it without words, imposed context, or forced didacticism. I think he even sneaked a toilet joke into that Bolero piece. Nice. By the by, I suspect this Bolero piece is Replacement Animation (using shaped cutouts) but I'm not sure.



And who doesn't need an occasional bizarre multicolored trip through a surreal wasteland led by a dog that turns the moon into many-threaded strands of taffy creatures? Nobody in their right mind, that's who.

I LUV the sound and music in that final piece.

Thumbnails Complete, Onward to Boards

Thumbnails are complete and full-on storyboards are under way.

5 notebooks of approximately 1096 little frames and the basic story is locked in. I'll have full breakdowns only after the storyboards and animatic are complete but so far I'm happy with the outcome of the preliminaries.

Announcement: Mutwale Site Live!

If you scope its recently created website you'll see that Mutwale is quickly approaching full on production. I'd like to take this time to mention that technically the spelling of the Kinyarwanda word for "chief" is "Mutware." However, due to an R/L substitution it is pronounced "Mutwale." Having studied enough Japanese to feel strongly that Romanization is a load of crap however you cut it, I've decided to spell it closer to the phonetic pronunciation than the colonial-influenced Romanized form.

The film itself! It seems like I've stuck in prepro for ages but if one cuts corners in this phase one will to pay for it later with mistakes in everything from blocking to prop continuity. Animation isn't immune to the problems that show up in Live Action- though most animators treat the medium like a sandbox with very few constraints. This makes sense- it's one of the strengths of animation- but often the story falls back behind the craft. I will likely rant on this later.

This is not how I roll. I just hit my 5th thumbnail book and the end is in sight. The story is cohesive, engaging, endearing, and best of all, it pulls no bloody punches. Don't get me wrong- I love things by, say, Disney, but you have to admit the worldview of the Magic Kingdom's films is pretty naïve.



I've been working on thumbs for this story since Oct2008. Not every day. Not even every week (gotsta get paid, son!) but little by little it's been coming together. Usually I race through thumbs and hit quickly-drawn boards in order to get an animatic going as soon as possible. Here though, I never wrote a script and therefore thumbs have become crucially important to breaking the production down into a proper workflow. Not only this, I'm trying something new by doing all the boards digitally with Toon Boom Storyboard Pro. I don't go for vector-based software very often but this is a nice little suite that offers layer-based single frames, script importing and dialogue/script note per-frame options, realtime playback, multiple timeline schematics, sound import, simple camera move playback, etc etc on and on. My favorite thing about this software, and the only reason I switched over from tradish storyboards, is that once you're finished boarding you've practically got a finished animatic. From there you can time and pace everything out and get an accurate running time for each shot. No scanning, no composites, no renders, no extra files and folders. My one complaint is that the frame cache is limited to 25 and the performance of the software is a bit slow for running on the desktop I've got. Lots of colored-pinwheel beachball spinning between frames.

In any case, the story is nearly locked- and it's looking good. Real good. My largest concern at this point is the length of the thing. I'm aiming (hoping, praying) for under 12 minutes. Thus far I think it's... Not under 12 minutes.

Sketchbook: Warmups, More Fishermen

Often my daily warmups yield morsels that can grow into new paintings or projects. I think this is because warmups don't have the immediate restrictions of concept. I've noticed my experimental roots are really starting to split rock. In particular my obsession with the neurological sparks spread by optical illusion. It's like a visual form of garden path parsing. Often artists that use advanced optics become pigeonholed as novelties but if one looks to Italian futurism or even some cubism, the illusory confundus is a recurring techinique. I <3 it with so much <3tred.

In any case, to replace that last round of the fisherman, which I find less than inspired, this latest round from the sketchbook is getting closer in both anatomical and stylistic choices.

Sketchbook: Fisherman and Animals

These sketches are from a few weeks back. I'm finally honing in on the Fisherman character's look and got around to some brief practice with gazelles and wildebeests. BBC's Planet Earth on BluRay (not my setup) provided some fantastic reference material. Gotta luv the Beeb.

Finally set up with all my gear. Not to mention some wicked fast internet action. I think this is the fastest connection I've ever had the pleasure of using. Maybe I should boot up Q3A or some QW for old time's -- NO. No. no. .......no. I'm here to work, not to pwn.


Antelopes are like mini-yaks crossed with demons. I love the skin on their face and the shape of their heads. May have to throw one in there even if it's not true to the wildlife region.

more o so soon.

Inspiration/Influence: The Street Sweeper

Couldn't let March fly by without a single post.

My favorite short. I saw this on Liquid Television when I was in elementary school and I've never been quite as enraptured since. Why the hell has there been nothing to replace Liquid TV?



Almost back in working order after a most hellish move. Yes, it's taken over a month so far. The marathon continues. Until the next.

State of the the State of Things

There are certain realities that I've been facing for the longest time; now ranks among the more palpable of them. I've worked for many others- a dishwasher was my first job. One of my favorite things from that was playing with all the leftover wasabi from the sushi platters. From there I graduated to busboy- and aside from breaking a glass in the ice chest one night (complete service-job snafu followed by madness and chaos) I excelled. It was expected that I move on to server and that through high-school I would move on to assist the chef and possibly stay on for managerial or even chef positions. Alas, my artistic skills got in the way.

Since then I've worked many jobs. I worked retail at the extinct video game shop Multimedia 1.0, a staple of St. Marks until the lowlife owner with many fine children fled the scene of his enormous debt, selling the store to a compadre of what I can only assume has similar sinister conceit. Offer under 10% of value on something then mark it up to about 150%. Jerks. The sad fact of this job was that again, I was very good at it. I know video games and could sell the proverbial sand to the proverbial desert-dweller. I rarely did this as game taste is easily measured in just a few questions. Just the same; not to be. Not unlike the relationship I was in at the time (psycho much?)

After that was freelancing: nonlinear cutting of promos, shooting some corporate videos, interning at an animation house, nominations for some films, and freelancing at an NYC design firm of note. Sadly all this has come to an end, the economy is bunk, the United States will collapse if the Obama administration doesn't have a perfect run, and I'm staring down the barrel of the blogosphere.

I regret nothing. I know my potential and I know I've not yet scratched the surface of it. I know that there are those that believe in me. I know that they are right to, and thank them for it.

I am a few days away from packing up and about a week away from leaving NYC. Balls!

Production on this film will continue regardless of where I am so tune in anytime.

Industry Rant : "The Information Economy"

Lots of people think they know lots of things. In my experience they know half as much as they'd expect, and expect they know about twice as much as you'd guess of them during a conversation. Well, I'm not one to judge but I've had this conversation with too many people who don't know what they're talking about when it comes to media. Essentially they the argument is that the models of digital downloads will replace retail and in many cases, the need for retail and manufacturing altogether.

Here's why that's not going to happen for at least a decade, if at all.

First, people aren't taking into account quality. Anyone who knows anything about data knows that the highest file sizes in media come from two places: sound and moving image. With audio, compression can save you a good amount of space at the expense of quality, but hi-quality audio gets pretty massive. And in first place of course is video. Moving pictures, even at a compressed rate, become absolutely astronomical very quickly. Codecs (compression/decompression algorithms) aren't going to save you that much space when you're talking about delivery of quality assets- 1080p HD video with 5.1 or 7.1 surround is what people want to fucking watch, alright? Hell, they expect it. And when you talk about digital media downloads, of films and such, you're not only talking about taxing storage solutions, but you're also talking about dealing with the [unnecessary] bandwidth caps of most American ISPs.

Second, people are forgetting ownership. If you buy a film digitally, it's sitting on a hard drive. If you buy a film in stores, it's palpable. It's on your shelf. It's unique in that it is your copy of something. It's a tangible purchase. Whether or not you think this is a good thing, you can't ignore the fact that having a tangible collection will always be more reliable, accessible, and collectible than digital media. Or, in some cases, some studios are bright enough to include a lower-res copy of the film for ipods/itunes on the disc(s) as well.

Third, Look at Apple TV. This is essentially the same thing you're talking about. So far it's been a dud in the Apple lineup. This comes back to quality. Why buy a movie if it's going to be 640X480 resolution? And still push 300-600 megs a film! Storage is getting cheaper, but that doesn't make these look any better when you full-screen the thing. Sure, they'll play on an ipod but nobody crowds around the ipod to take in a good flick.

People expect some kind of information revolution to whisk away the need for stores and hard copies of things on disc, but they don't realize that what they're talking about would be another product to replace a computer or DVR that essentially does the same thing in one concentrated place. (Another box on the shelf that does stuff? Good luck, Marketing.) I just need something that plays movies, man. Console movie downloads, iTunes movie downloads and rentals, instant viewing on Netflix- these things are a step in the direction for the so-called 'information economy' taking over media distribution. But completely replaceing cold, hard hi-quality media is pretty far away for those three reasons above and more.

To be fair, the people I talk to about this don't work in, on, or with this media. They're actors, journalists, writers. They'be never had to allot hard disk space for HD renders or spend hours tweaking compression for download and then cringing at the inevitable picture/sound degradation. They also don't realize that for the last 10 years, DVD sales have been 46% or more of the revenue stream for the major studios. For a good reason. Reliable, good picture quality, disc-based, attractive replacement for VHS, simple to use.

I could be proven wrong. Someone could blow Apple's h.264 codec out of the water and combine it with a solid-state storage solution with a low-cost fixed-rate fiber optic delivery system and a sleek, fast UI that puts every movie ever at people's fingertips. But if the quality isn't top-notch it won't go anywhere and lots of investors will lose lots of money on phantomware.

I was just writing a post to those people and those who agree with them blindly, saying, basically, it's like flying cars. Don't hold your breath.

A self-indulgent post? Maybe. But media is in the half of what I think I know that I do actually know. I think.