Friday, September 12, 2008

Beer Robot

The new recruit for the disco scene in the 'Loser' animation!


Monday, September 1, 2008

Meeting with Ramon and Michiel

I don't know if you feel the same, but the blog has gone very quiet, and I am afraid that without a clear direction and objectives it becomes impossible to go forward.

That is why last friday I met with Ramon Verberne and Michiel Snjiders . I wanted to ask their advice for applying to the Film fonds for story development subsidy.

Before the meeting, I reworked the storyboard of 'Loser saves the day', switched scenes around, reworked a couple of panels and generally made it more compact, and I used the storyboard of the alien abduction gag as the intro. I printed some of the artwork and research picture material and wrote a motivation, as well as a 'logline', what would appear on the tv guide if this animation would be featured.

The meeting went very well, short and intense, and both liked the story and settings. I suggested a running time of 5 minutes, which Michiel said is right, if we go above that it becomes trickier to ask for funds, and can be showcased in different ways, for example as intro to a main feature at the cinema. The funny nature of the story is also easily geared towards a young audience of teenagers, 12 years up.

Because we are a group of people instead of an individual, it works to our advantage and Ramon can play the Kika & Bob card to show them that we have worked together as a team before.

Their remarks on the story were very useful, and suggested to apply for funding by the deadline sometime in november. That can give us enough time to tweak the story until we're all satisfied and develop some of the main characters.

Here are some of the remarks, I hope I have written them down correctly afterwards on the journey back in the train:

1-The story misses anticipation, that is, the build up to the meeting between the monster and the loser.

2-Need to bring more contrast and make more extreme the nasty traits of the monster versus the miserable state of the loser. Also make the choice clear for who we root for.

3-Define funny situations that accentaute the 'loser' state of our main ch: funny appearance, dumped by his girlfriend, lost his job, lost his house, alos Michiel's suggestion that other aliens pick on him, talk behind his back, maybe someone pisses in his drink instead of cigarette ashes....

4-Think about developing a few chs that may come back in later episodes.

5-The monster could be created out of some chemical reaction, or some funny weird alien phenomenon. Maybe he needs a nemesis, perfect example is Superman, his nemesis is kryptonite :-)

Ramon can help us with feedback on the story, and Michiel can also advise what the best options are. As I understand from their response, the basic of the story works, the look and feel, flash as being the format, the characters etc, but we need to add some punches and smart/funny situations.

If we can develop the story by november, add a moving storyboard and some modelsheet, it is possible to apply for Realisation Funds, instead of Development funds. That means the budget to finalise and execute the animation. The money is not great but we can get funds to work comfortably for a few months ;-)

Soooo... their last suggestion was to spend sometime on the story and write our ideas on the blog (like Maarten suggested). I know we are all busy with work, or as in my case a shortage of, and that this is a long term project, but it is also a great opportunity to invest in our future, and judging by Ramon and Michiel's busy schedule, there is no lack of funded animation projects.

I will upload some story ideas as soon as possible. Sorry for the looooong post, but ther's a lot of catching up to do...;-)

I really hope you all want to take part in this project. I know there was a lot of constructive criticism and that some people found the story not funny or too complex to execute. However, this is an opportunity, and it would be great to see all your suggestions soon. If something is unclear, please do not hesitate to contact me.

This is my Motivation I have written for the Funds:
While working on the Kika & Bob animation project I worked with a group of talented illustrators and character designers, all passionate about one thing: animation.
After the project was finished I realized that without a structure that provides and nurture for the talents of the people involved, the knowledge and energy that has been accumulated would be lost.

This is why I would like to encourage a culture of animation, where from the first concept to the final execution there can be an exchange between people with different skills.