Preview of MEMOHRI the Monster. Spaceage-fishy-zilla:)

Improved Animatic 'Loser saves the day'

Ok, after the very productive meeting with Jelle and Simon on 22 May where we went through the previous animatic and improved lots of scenes here is the new animatic. I think it has become tighter qua timing and fun factor...

In terms of the storyline Jelle suggested to make the monster bored after destroying yet another alien metropolis and is excited to hear the music coming from the disco, a kind of curiosity kills the cat/monster so to speak....and we added a swinging intro animation of the cocktail being prepared with the ice cubes forming the title. This is all in a sketch form as you can see but the animatic gives a good feeling of the flow and scene set up.

To do:
-Simon is going to work on the Space Monster ch design and the disco people
-Cesare is working on the loser ch design and animation
-Jelle is working on the bgs and disco interior (maybe Menno can come in as production gets on the way?)

I think is probably handy if I make a digital storyboard from the animatic so that we can plan and divide the rest of the work. Will post it asap. Please let me all know what you think as comments are always welcome....

character layouts

Here are some ideas for characters. Maybe one of you has a favorite, so i can work out more poses..or try to animate a walk-cycle?

Flash Backgrounds

Very instructive and super designs flickr site by Bradley Gake, all lovingly 'cleaned up' for Flash use, enjoy! (courtesy of Fons)

Framing

framefilter blog
picturas blog
filmbytes blog

nice blog, they have some animation stills to study.

Mr Jung Stuffed

More inspirational work. Simplistic but nice.

Hello Fons

Here below is a conversation I had via Skype yesterday with Fons Schiedon, hope you all will find it as insightful as I did. If this is not a wake-up call to push us to be serious about working together I don't know then what will....

Hello Fons, how are you? Many compliments for your beautiful music video, really fantastic work! :)

Fons Schiedon says: hey cesare. thanks ver much :)

cesare davolio says: thank you for the inspiration

FS: glad if it did.

You working on something nice?

CD: well, i got together with Simon, Jelle, Menno and Niels to talk about pulling together our resources towards making an amination portfolio, so i am working with Jelle some ideas...and trying to improve my animation skills...

FS: cool. whats the plan?

CD: we've set up a blog, and are posting things that maybe interesting to develop,

CD: that's how i saw your recent masterpiece... :)

FS: the blog is a very nice idea

although I would make it a policy to do all posts in english, because that way if it develops, it becomes accessible to international enthusiasts.

if you can get some animation people to comment on it, I believe that could really be stimulating and pushing the development of your project :)

because - and just shut me up if this bothers you - you are all very nice guys...but if you want to make this good and interesting, you have to stop being nice ;)

CD: how do you mean?

FS: well, and I mean this in general - I don’t know how this is with you guys. BUt, there's a risk in collaborations, especially with people who are more or less working in the same business (illustration), that there's too much consensus...or willingness to be positive and generate mostly happy feedback. But this is bad for animation. haha :)

CD: i was thinking to meet with the ka-ching cartoons guys, know them? i'd like to hear thier experience in animation...

FS: Ive met the ka-ching guys..They're very nice, go meet them

CD: ok! maybe they can share some tips...

FS: very young, but with a strong focus on creating quality material…and much experience already

CD: yes, i followed their work with skunk-fu, liked the animation a lot...

FS: they're good, definitely.

CD: about 'nice', is true, we have to watch out for wrong turns and being honest in our opinions, but at the moment is still about finding out if we can work as a team...for me this initiative has already proved fruitful because i like to have a structure and an 'audience', keeps me focused, so is a good start, i think me and Jelle are going to be the motor, and so far he's coming up strong...

FS: you know what the thing is about being nice? It's about being positive, even when you don't like what's going on.

If an animatic - for instance - is not as good as it could be, you have to go back and change it until it works. Same for backgrounds, characters. I love the animators I work with, but if they deliver a scene that doesnt work, they'll redo it. And if yhey get an animatic from me that they think doesnt work, they'll tell me and I'll go and change it.

The best way to find out if you work as a team is to focus on the work and be honest if you dig it or not, otherwise you're wasting your time

CD: yes, is a good point you make...also about being positive, is to see criticism as a way to become better at what you do...

FS: yes, I believe so.

you are all very talented, so that's great. But it's not like it adds up by default, you know what I mean? To unleash that potential, you have to challenge what you're doing.

And…I believe there's a role for you, being most experienced and - I mean this in the best way possible - "the man in the other room". :D

CD: that's a great line, 'the man in the other room'....for sure none of the guys lack talent, so for that we're covered, and i feel i have a lot to learn if i want to grow professionally but i believe i have the human experience to be the 'glue' for the projects, and to keep continuity in what we should do and keep the communication flowing...

FS: absolutely, that's it

CD: i have to head out to pick up Eliot from school, this has been a great little conversation, do you mind if i post it on the blog?

FS: thought so too.

yeah, no problem, just beep out any swear words ;)

CD: Ciao!

FS: see ya later

CD: what can i say? you're one of a kind, thanks also for the tip about the robot anima walk cycle!

Loser Saves the day (Establishing Shot)

Here is the establishing shot for 'Loser saves the day' animation, see previous animatic. I tried to make the urban setting as less human as possible as it is a sort of 'martian' agglomerate.I have taken on some of Jelle's comments but feedback is always welcome.
The main shape is the round 'disco' with a lit roof with the light bleeping off with the music. It kind of looks like a giant brain, i like that... The atmosphere is late night, if there is even ever daylight in such place :-). Next I will make an interior shot of the 'disco place and then I have some ideas for the main chs. I hope you all like it and inspires you all to join forces in completing this project.

Jelle's very good robot design was the starting point for an animation test, which we worked on together. I have uploaded the flash file, please see the cycle here

inspiratie 2

VOICST Feel Like A Rocket (HD) from Fons Schiedon on Vimeo.

blub blub weird fishies

scuba diving

hier een flickr site met toffe scuba illustarties old skool style.

inspiratie 1

http://sebastianbarreirofondos.blogspot.com/
http://jambonbeurre.blogspot.com/
http://klangley.blogspot.com/
http://cookedart.blogspot.com/

binnenkort meer inspirerend werk...
grt Simon

'De Kapiteinshoed': what if?...

After admiring the gorgeous pics below, I started to think about sea explorations, how men have dared the deepest depths of the sea to conquer this liquid universe, and how civilizations have used the sea to flourish and expand their domains.

Since dawn of man, endless vessels have sank at the bottom of the sea in an attempt to traverse it.

Imagine if 'De kapitienshoed' had the property to make you travel through time. The little boy has this amazing hat, and travels the seas with its supercool sub.

All the 'baddies' that live in the city of the future-Rotterdam want it, because they want to go back in time and steal all those treasures that are at the bottom of the sea. Sometime the 'baddies' even join forces together to defeat the boy-kapitein and steal his hat. The drawing I made is just to represent hats from different times that the little boy finds himself wearing in its exciting time travel adventures.

Inspiratie 'De Kapiteinshoed'

I found this beautifully illustrated book yesterday, from 1972, and I thought it offers many inspiring ideas for 'De Kapiteinshoed' project.


The submarine, sea explorations, science mixed with fiction, danger, myths and facts, sea monsters, hidden treasures, it is a powerful mix of ingredients that we should study to extract narrative food for our story....

De kapiteinshoed op zolder...

Dit is mijn shizzle :)

Ik had nog meer schetsen maar die waren in het blauw en die kon mijn scanner niet goed lezen.

Het verhaaltje dat ik heb verzonnen is:
Een jongentje vindt op zolder een kapiteinshoed met daarin een briefje/schatkaartje. Dit schatkaartje leidt hem naar de havens van rotterdam door allerlei legubere steegjes, fabriekshallen, duistere plekjes, you get the idea. In de haven komt ie ergens terecht bij een ouwe loods waar een kleine onderzeeër verborgen ligt. Met deze onderzeeër beleefd hij allerlei avonturen.

Alles in een futuristische setting. Rotterdam nadat alle mileurampen van nu zijn uitgekomen. Dikke laag smog, waterpeil is dusdanig gestegen dat de helft van rotterdam onder water staat etc.





In de haven komt onze Boy allemaal gevaarlijke havenrobots tegen! Misschien is in de haven ook wel een rebellerende-havenrobot-mastermind als een van de badguys in de vele avonturen van onze held :P




De haven ziet er gevaarlijk uit 's nachts...





Dit is een overview van de stad in de future. Links een beetje de "jetsons"achtige binnenstad, die ruim boven de smoglaag uitsteekt, hier wonen de jetsetters (hahaha woordgrapje, snapje? Jetsons-->jetsetters?)
Diep verborgen in de smoglaag heb je ghetto. Misschien komt onze held hier vandaan? Of juist niet? En in de futuristiche haven (rechts) liggen allemaal rare space-boten maar zijn ook de enge , duistere, met nasty-ass robots gevulde fabriekshallen...


Het is allemaal natuurlijk wat ruimer opgezet als de dingen van cesare en menno maar het leek me leuk om ook na te denken over een lange termijn projekt/cartoon en deze futuristische setting in combinatie met onze kleine kapitein in zijn onderzeeboot leek me een mooie voedingsbodem voor veel spannende, grappige etc avonturen... (shorts, langere animaties, een openingsfilmpje die uit kan groeien in de toekomst... In elk geval iets waar een breede basis ligt om op uit te breiden)

Ik ga komende week met cesare een beetje aan animatie dingentjes beginnen voor zijn animatic-filmpje en ik probeer tussendoor ook nog wat verder te schetsen aan het bovenstaande idee.
Ga vooral met alle dingen die je hier ziet aan de loop! Als je iets ziet waar je wilt inhaken of een design van wilt maken doe dat :D (ik zou zelf erg benieuwd zijn naar hoe onze kapitein eruit ziet met zijn grote kapiteinshoed, of zijn onderzeeboot)

Nou goed, enjoy :)
Jelly

Loser saves the day (Animatic)

This is an animatic I made in Flash. As it is quiet advanced we should work on it to animate it asap.

It's night: a giant monster comes to wreck havoc in a futuristic city. In its destructive path he suddenly hears the thumping beat of a technodisco and goes to check it out. While he's peeping through the opening we see a guy sitting at the bar, clearly unhappy and drunk and intending to get really smashed. Another partygoer next to him throws some cigarette ashes in his drink. He gags and spits it out of the window, which lands right in the eye of the monster. Blinded by the spitting guy, he turns around and runs away in pain into the distance. The final scene we see the only building standing is the disco amongst the ruins, nobody has noticed anything weird going on inside, not even our involuntary hero, that saved the day, despite being a loser. He just belches and continues to drink as the disco beat goes on ....

Comments on the timing of the animation are welcome, with Jelle and Menno we decided we're going to go ahead and start develop this animation.

Simon and Niels, it would be great if you made some concept sketches for the chs, they are all weird creatures. Me and Menno can make some bg sketches, and together with Jelle we think about how it can all be animated.

I hope you like it and I wait for feedback and ???

ps: yes, there's no sound, that's why I made a synopsis above...

Nu hebben we een doel!

The meeting today with Jelle and Menno was very instructive, we clarified many aspects of what we want to achieve with our collaboration and where we want to go with our work, now the goal is clear, as perfectly represented by Jelle in this self-explanatory drawing....;-) for further infos see the man...

Washing wonder

Hello hello!! I have the honor to be the first one to upload a storyboard.

It is about a very enthousiastic salesman that tries a little too hard to sell a brand new washing machine to a very hard to convince bored shoppersand gets in the end, well, 'wahsed out'.....the setting is a sort of mediamarkt place, huge, and the shoppers are for this reason in a daze with so much stuff to buy.

Today at the meeting I have shown this board without any dialogue, sort of mime style, but in posting it I thought it would be better to push it with some nonsensical lines of dialogue, just to make it more absurd. The whole idea is made to exploit the funny elements in the gags and sure to test style and approach in how to animate it. I see a lot of squash and stretch and all is fluid and exaggerated.
With good direction and well made chs this is a nice little project, and comments are welcome.