You're a Rorschach test on fire :D
So I have this crazy plan to finish up the last 20 pages of this screenplay in two days and also do homework.
WATCH OUT, TL/DR
Have I mentioned this much before? :\ Basically I've been doing storyboards for this one guy for about a year, mostly for music videos based off existing ones ("I want it to have a sequence like this one in this Marilyn Manson video, so copy shots from here....") with small (very small) pay.
Around May I was told that they were planning to make a full length movie (I forget why 8| ) over the summer and that I was going to board it. Obviously boarding a full screenplay is a WAY larger commitment than a music video, but I don't like to turn down projects and accepted, HOPING that I could get to work during summer, on schedule.
Inevitably, around the end of August, I get this screenplay thrown at me--two weeks of email tag later I'm really getting no direction at all--just take the screenplay and go. I had to figure out what these characters looked like, the pacing, the staging--everything that wasn't actually written in the screenplay (and there was VERY little written--they actually never described any of the characters at all, and due to a really weird made-up name I had to ask for the races of these guys).
Most description that WAS there was unrelated to the plot of the story and had to be basically thrown out--for some inane reason, the writer explained every kind of drink the characters drank and when they drank them but neglected to mention--well--everything else. Luckily, since this is live action, I rarely had to use more than one panel for any one shot, since the actors are going to have more control.
In fact I really had to scale it down to the basics. >>; Counting in at page 45 in the screenplay, I had 500 boards done--a ridiculously small amount for a fully boarded movie, I'm sure, but keep in mind that I'm also adjusting to college, taking nine classes, doing commissions, and planning out my first-year film at the same time, and all of those take priority. The only time I really could do these was Wednesday nights, Friday nights, and sometimes weekends. I've been working on them about two months.
With THAT said, I seem to be increasing my workload on an exponential scale for this thing: in the first month I finished the first ten pages of the screenplay. In the next two weeks I did twenty pages. LAST week I ALSO did 20 pages. THIS WEEKEND I'm trying to finish the last 20. 8| I think a large catalyst was one guest lecture from a story artist--I think something just clicked when he did a demo and my brain went, "Hey, I can draw super-fast too!"
Regarding the CONTENT of the screenplay . . . I don't know how safe it would be to state my opinion. 8| I think my feelings towards the story are best expressed in a quick board I did of one character who takes a squidward-like attitude towards everyone else (for good reason):
(please note, not all the boards are this simple, just those really dialogue heavy scenes....also, most of them aren't so "LOLOLOL PLACE PERSON IN CENTER LOLOLOL" Most don't have detailed backgrounds, though, because I have no idea where any of this is going to be shot.)
It looks like, at the end of the script, I'll probably have about a thousand boards I'll have worked on. That means about 25 cents per board. Considering the nasty time constraints, considering the workload, considering the fact that the project was off the original schedule leik woah, would it be at all reasonable to request a pay raise? If so, how would one do so?
Re: weird jobs, I found this on a forum:
By this Friday afternoon (5/30), we need the following:
>
> 1. We start from a shot of a character's hand with a blue-footed booby on
> it (we will provide the initial hand shot), and the camera pulls back very
> slowly away from the earth to reveal galaxies and the universe, all the
> while following the bird as he flies into infinity. This shot will last
> approx. 3 minutes.
>
> 2. We need a fake time-lapse sequence of this same bird hatching from an
> egg and growing into adulthood. Would prefer for the background/environment
> to look like time-lapse, so we'd need the lighting changes of days passing
> and seasons changing, over the course of a year. Keep in mind that his
> feathers will have to go from baby chick feathers to adult ones, through
> several molting stages. Perhaps growing and dying flowers in the
> foreground, to signify the time passing? I don't know if there will be time
> for that.
>
> 3. We need a shot of the Transformers fighting, but we will change their
> faces a bit. Similar style to the movie. Also refer to Narnia as a
> reference (the robot parts, not the animals).
>
>
> These shots will have to be photo-real in order to match the rest of our
> film, which is photographed with a film camera. I still don't know much
> about computers or animation, but I assume we need someone with a good
> familiarity with Photoshop, or maybe Flash or Shockwave Director.
>
> Thanks for your help, and if anyone has time to work on this, please
> have them email me!"
I think my favorite part is that this person seems to think photorealistic animation happens in Photoshop--or FLASH. XDDD "Keep in mind that his feathers will have to go from baby chick feathers to adult ones, through several molting stages." You better be able to show SEVERAL molting stages! SEVERAL.
IN OTHER ANIMATION NEWS
WE'RE STARTING TO WORK ON OUR SEMESTER PROJECTS
*Don Hertzfelt "yaaaaaaaaaay"*
EXCEPT IN COLOR & DESIGN DDDD:
NOT YAAAAAAAY
ALSO I LEARNED HOW TO ATTACH RIGS TO MODELS
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY (no seriously, I'm totally psyched about this)
EXCEPT THEY LOOK HORRIBLE BECAUSE I CAN'T WEIGHT SKINS
NOT YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY
WATCH OUT, TL/DR
Have I mentioned this much before? :\ Basically I've been doing storyboards for this one guy for about a year, mostly for music videos based off existing ones ("I want it to have a sequence like this one in this Marilyn Manson video, so copy shots from here....") with small (very small) pay.
Around May I was told that they were planning to make a full length movie (I forget why 8| ) over the summer and that I was going to board it. Obviously boarding a full screenplay is a WAY larger commitment than a music video, but I don't like to turn down projects and accepted, HOPING that I could get to work during summer, on schedule.
Inevitably, around the end of August, I get this screenplay thrown at me--two weeks of email tag later I'm really getting no direction at all--just take the screenplay and go. I had to figure out what these characters looked like, the pacing, the staging--everything that wasn't actually written in the screenplay (and there was VERY little written--they actually never described any of the characters at all, and due to a really weird made-up name I had to ask for the races of these guys).
Most description that WAS there was unrelated to the plot of the story and had to be basically thrown out--for some inane reason, the writer explained every kind of drink the characters drank and when they drank them but neglected to mention--well--everything else. Luckily, since this is live action, I rarely had to use more than one panel for any one shot, since the actors are going to have more control.
In fact I really had to scale it down to the basics. >>; Counting in at page 45 in the screenplay, I had 500 boards done--a ridiculously small amount for a fully boarded movie, I'm sure, but keep in mind that I'm also adjusting to college, taking nine classes, doing commissions, and planning out my first-year film at the same time, and all of those take priority. The only time I really could do these was Wednesday nights, Friday nights, and sometimes weekends. I've been working on them about two months.
With THAT said, I seem to be increasing my workload on an exponential scale for this thing: in the first month I finished the first ten pages of the screenplay. In the next two weeks I did twenty pages. LAST week I ALSO did 20 pages. THIS WEEKEND I'm trying to finish the last 20. 8| I think a large catalyst was one guest lecture from a story artist--I think something just clicked when he did a demo and my brain went, "Hey, I can draw super-fast too!"
Regarding the CONTENT of the screenplay . . . I don't know how safe it would be to state my opinion. 8| I think my feelings towards the story are best expressed in a quick board I did of one character who takes a squidward-like attitude towards everyone else (for good reason):
(please note, not all the boards are this simple, just those really dialogue heavy scenes....also, most of them aren't so "LOLOLOL PLACE PERSON IN CENTER LOLOLOL" Most don't have detailed backgrounds, though, because I have no idea where any of this is going to be shot.)
It looks like, at the end of the script, I'll probably have about a thousand boards I'll have worked on. That means about 25 cents per board. Considering the nasty time constraints, considering the workload, considering the fact that the project was off the original schedule leik woah, would it be at all reasonable to request a pay raise? If so, how would one do so?
Re: weird jobs, I found this on a forum:
By this Friday afternoon (5/30), we need the following:
>
> 1. We start from a shot of a character's hand with a blue-footed booby on
> it (we will provide the initial hand shot), and the camera pulls back very
> slowly away from the earth to reveal galaxies and the universe, all the
> while following the bird as he flies into infinity. This shot will last
> approx. 3 minutes.
>
> 2. We need a fake time-lapse sequence of this same bird hatching from an
> egg and growing into adulthood. Would prefer for the background/environment
> to look like time-lapse, so we'd need the lighting changes of days passing
> and seasons changing, over the course of a year. Keep in mind that his
> feathers will have to go from baby chick feathers to adult ones, through
> several molting stages. Perhaps growing and dying flowers in the
> foreground, to signify the time passing? I don't know if there will be time
> for that.
>
> 3. We need a shot of the Transformers fighting, but we will change their
> faces a bit. Similar style to the movie. Also refer to Narnia as a
> reference (the robot parts, not the animals).
>
>
> These shots will have to be photo-real in order to match the rest of our
> film, which is photographed with a film camera. I still don't know much
> about computers or animation, but I assume we need someone with a good
> familiarity with Photoshop, or maybe Flash or Shockwave Director.
>
> Thanks for your help, and if anyone has time to work on this, please
> have them email me!"
I think my favorite part is that this person seems to think photorealistic animation happens in Photoshop--or FLASH. XDDD "Keep in mind that his feathers will have to go from baby chick feathers to adult ones, through several molting stages." You better be able to show SEVERAL molting stages! SEVERAL.
IN OTHER ANIMATION NEWS
WE'RE STARTING TO WORK ON OUR SEMESTER PROJECTS
*Don Hertzfelt "yaaaaaaaaaay"*
EXCEPT IN COLOR & DESIGN DDDD:
NOT YAAAAAAAY
ALSO I LEARNED HOW TO ATTACH RIGS TO MODELS
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY (no seriously, I'm totally psyched about this)
EXCEPT THEY LOOK HORRIBLE BECAUSE I CAN'T WEIGHT SKINS
NOT YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY