Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Constant Questioning? and Failed Successes!

Hey guys,

so...... Ive been super busy trying to finish this film. I am mainly concentrateing on the Little Girl Sequence at the moment. I have been moveing forward well......likeing the finished shots.
Things were going swimmingly!

as me and shel discuss the film .....I express my concerns about some scenes and she expresses her thoughts as an audience member. This points out miscommunication from Director to audience.....so we ask?

What is this scenes purpose? What is the KEY thing we are trying to get across? Is it comeing across? and when the answer is NO........we gota fix it.........

This can be......let me say that again.....THIS IS painfull.....VERY PAINFULL.


I find myself knowing inside that its the right thing to do......but its a blow to the heart. I sometimes catch myself saying its good enough.....but It is colored by the ammount of time invested....Work required and anxiousness of the finishline. Luckily I dont succumb to the pain and can see the end product as the most important thing.

This happened last night for the little girl sequence. We looked at the edit. ...saw what was and was not reading. .....?
Asked ourself what we are striveing to say in the sequence.
Then..................We..............SCRAPPED a good 4 shots.........OUCH!! We of course worked out the NEW best way to get the story across first.
It hurts but I know its going to make the film SO much more POWERFULL!
So now I just want to Take a week off and concentrate on the film.....realize this New vison....
Ha!....Not gona happen......Midnight Madness for me for a little bit longer.

Good thing is that shots are comeing fast!! I shoot 4 nights a week...and the shots havnt been marathon length lately.....not many reshoots either.
Another thing I am feeling is a bit more confidence in the film. Because we are Questioning the very CORE of the story ......and questioning if my acting is showcaseing this.....I feel I will have a good film in the end.......plus you get to see some newly Scrapped shots.


jriggity

8 comments:

Ryan McCulloch said...

Love watching the girl run! Yeah, the hardest thing in the world is cutting a shot you've animated frame by frame, but it's the sign of a responsible storyteller, and shows that the end product, and the audiences connection is the most important thing. The good thing is that those shots can always be dropped into DVD extras, animation reels, and best yet, a trailer for the short that doesn't actually give away all of the footage that made it into the final piece. Keep on truckin!

john hankins said...

I don't know many people that would push on with such determination especially when it comes to cutting out scenes you slaved over. I can't wait to see it. Hang in there.

Shelley Noble said...

Painful to read but so happy you are going for it to the fullest.

Grant's Animation said...

Just noticed the cinder blocks. Perfect way to ensure the set doesn't move. I've been wondering how to lock down my walls but now I know how! Good idea. Thanks for sharing your process so openly.

jriggity said...

Yeah man.....I never thought of the special features angle.

Ill have a decent pile of failed shots before Im finished here.
I can compile them in on big movie.

Thanks a ton for the support guys!

I am definately going for it!!!I want a GOOD film with a clear story....so Im fighting for it.

glad my blog can help anyone with info....I know so many of the communitys blogs helped me on my way.

jriggity

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Hey, I love seeing the MonkeyJam versions of your shots! (even if they're not going to make it in the final movie)

I forgot to mention something, though... PNG in MJ is not very desirable; it is sluggish compared to JPG and BMP. If you can spare the disk space, you might want to go with BMP's, but since this is only your framegrabber and not the final images, JPG works just fine.

I just wanted to toss that out there because I had previously suggested PNG. It's not sure why it's slower to capture, though. Most grabbers I've used don't even have that option.

Tennessee Reid said...

You have entered the realm of the true filmmaker when you sacrifice your art for the sake of the audience.

Well done.