The complexities of an evil sandwich...

Nominations and screenings

2005-04-27T23:36:00.000+10:00

Well we must have done something right... LE DELIVERI has been nominated for best animation and will be screening in a couple of weeks. WOO! Go team!

In the meantime I'll be writing another gajillion words on my research paper about Limited Animation. The whole process of trying to cut as many production corners as I could during the making of both my animated films in 2004 (was it THAT long ago?) meant I kind of fell into a research paper relating to it.

Is anyone ever reading this? Please post a comment if you are. If you DON'T you'll get 10 years bad luck in the form of a long string of those annoying chain emails that say if you don't forward them to 88 people in the following 60 seconds a bus will crash through the front of your house and that will cause you to get another long string of emails that will give you bad luck if you don't immediately read my blog... possibly causing the universe to implode. You don't want THAT on your concience, do you?

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I'm pretty sure nobody reads this.

Le Deliveri

2005-03-13T02:24:00.000+11:00

15 hours is a LONG time if you're waiting for someone to rescue you in a blizzard. 15 hours is NOT a lot of time when you're trying to make an animated film but we did it, and I think we did a great job, even if I do say so myself.

The quote to be included in the film was 'where does it go from here?' and the object was a pair of shoe laces. Potentially we would have had a film about a karate rat who wears shoe laces as a headband and a belt, or an indiana jones style mouse following the trail of a mysterious shoelace. We ended up with 'Le Deliveri'. A 2:45 minute piece about a courier who is given the task of delivering an enormous pair of shoelaces to a mystery recipient who he has a bit of trouble finding, as the old lady who gives him the task mumbles and the address is written in gibberish.

McFoolin Parkellowsli productions would like to thank... anyone who did any stuff that may have been related in some way to the making of 'Le deliveri'

OK, so...?

2005-03-10T22:17:00.000+11:00

This Saturday I'm making a film in 15hours and entering it in a film festival.

Am I a sucker for punishment or am I actually nuts. I think to be a good animator one needs to be both. Being borderline alcoholic probably helps too, at least that what the SImpsons tells us and TV never lies. I know because they said so on TV one time.

At 8am, we, (The various counterparts within McFoolin Animation) get given a mystery object and a quote. Both of which must feature in a film that has to be finished and edited by 11pm. Sounds like a blast. WOO!...

Now WHAT!?

2005-03-10T21:45:00.000+11:00

You can watch ELIMINATE DR SANDWICH at http://207.36.233.66/b_files/DrSandwich.mpg courtesy of www.pugamation.com

This site is made by Belinda Bohlken, who helped out with the musical score for the film

In hindsight my very original pitch and script is almost EXACTLY what I ended up with as a final version. Anyone wanting to point out how ironic that is should go to www.getstuffed.org/shutthehellup.

I LIKE my film. After the hamburgers stopped chasing me in my sleep, demanding that I change their dialogue, and I hadn't watched my film for a month or so I sat and watched it again and again and again and I'm really happy to watch it still. I vaguely remember saying to Matt Riley, "Yes Matt, I'm still updating my blog...' but more importantly, that I wished I could erase my memory of ever having made that film so I could look at it with totally unbiased eyes and a fresh point of view.

I'd have a few pointers that I'd write down and email to myself...

• The pacing of the movie DIES almost instantly when DS arrives home and is suprised by his party guests. There is too much dialogue here with not enough action and the whole piece just slows down.

• There's only so many hours you can work in a row, for so many days, before you realise you've aged about 10 years overnight and you look like a garbageman

• If the script had been written more simply right from the beginning, more detail could have been applied to the polished linework I imagined it having when I first thought of the idea.

• You've erased your memory, it's in that file on your hard drive labelled PLEASE DONT TRASH

Then when I had my memory back, I'd make a few notes like

• I think the visual style I designed, although not as polished as I'd have liked, worked well.

• Giant Robots are cool.

• 6 minutes of hand drawn, full colour animation including lipsynched dialogue, soundtrack and hundreds of foley effects is REALLY REALLY HARD. I'm proud of my film and I'm looking forward to the next one. I've learned as much about what NOT to do when making an animated film as I have about what you SHOULD do.

Next time I'll be more logical in my approach to what I can achieve in the time I'm given. I won't be foolish and try to make a movie in less than 20 hours and then enter it in a film festival. That would just be CRAZY!

I was right...

2005-03-10T21:17:00.000+11:00

I quote myself from August 16, 2004... "Someday I'll look back on this project and think one of 2 things… 1) WOW, that was a job well done… or 2) WOW that job would have been much easier to get done well if I didn't always insist on making my stories so damn complicated.

I was almost totally right. How FREAKIN annoying!!!! That was MEANT to be funny. You know... like if I'd said, wouldn't it be FUNNY if I made a 6 minute cartoon that was so damn complicated that I'd need to write 23 versions of the script, make 19 detailed and different animatics in order to nearly go blind by drawing almost 7500 drawings, then scanning about 3200 of them, then colouring them all in (individually), so I could composite them in a bunch of software I don't really know how to use. Course, that would only take me literally 20 - 22 hours a day for several months, so I thought "HEY!... Let's make this interesting, I'll write 6 minutes of dialogue (trimmed down from 9 mins), requiring voice talent to audition and be available for several recording sessions each!"

No problem!... while I'm at it, I'll drink about 2 litres of coffee every day, spend all my waking hours wondering why I can't sleep and then have nightmares about talking hamburgers. If I follow this plan EXACTLY, I should get this done easily. I might even go to fiji for a week, just for laughs...

In the end I was torn between calling the film. "ELIMINATE DR SANDWICH" or "How I became a strange jittery hermit like guy and all I have to show for it is this lousy cartoon..." The first one was easier to say in one breath, so I stuck with it.

I awoke the morning after the screening on the sound booth floor, in only my australia flag boxer shorts, still very drunk. Several hours later, when I was sure no-one had any photos of me in my severely alcohol induced slumber, I started talking out loud to myself. I WAS trying to talk to other people, but as I wasn't making any sense, nobody was really listening. The world seemed very strange that day. The last inklings of 18 weeks of blood, sweat, tears and coffee faded quietly into my head. I took a breath and thought... "Ah crap, I don't think I've written in my blog since August'

Animatics and voice overs

2004-08-29T00:17:00.000+10:00

It's annoying when someone points out an aspect of your work that you really like as being a problem with the story. My usual reaction is…

WHAT!… I'm not changing THAT! I LIKE that bit. It's not my FAVOURITE bit, but I LIKE IT and I'm keeping it there because this is MY film and I don't have to change it if I don't want to. YEAH, this is MY movie and nobody is going to make me change my mind about it. YEAH. SO WHAT if it doesn't make sense and reveals gaping holes in the plot. I MEANT it to be that way. I DELIBERATELY wanted that bit to confuse the audience and that's why I wrote it like that. It was INTENTIONAL and… uh… you know it IS pretty confusing. Maybe I could just rework it a little bit, not CHANGE it, just rework it. If I change that and then that other bit then that will probably make more sense and look better and improve the overall story. Of course I ALWAYS intended to change that part right from the beginning. I just wanted to keep it in there to see if anyone noticed, I'm glad I noticed it there before it stuffed up my film.

I go through that process about 10 times a week. I usually spans a few hours.

OK. So I have been working on the animatic. I watched an animatic of the pilot episode of FUTURAMA and it made me realise how much help doing a good detailed job of it can be. I am becoming MILDLY concerned that my movie has broken the 6 minute barrier, and is still climbing.

I had a few days of auditions and then a few days of actual recording of voice overs. Having done the 8th draft of my animatic means I will need to RE record some bits and change some other bits, (see above) but it's better to get all these things ironed out now rather than further down the line.

The complexities of the island

2004-08-16T19:03:00.000+10:00

Dr Sandwich in his helicopter.

Someday I'll look back on this project and think one of 2 things… 1) WOW, that was a job well done… or 2) WOW that job would have been much easier to get done well if I didn't always insist on making my stories so damn complicated.

I can't help it. I LIKE to watch a movie and be confused so that I can't see what's coming up. My favourite cartoons are seemingly needlessly silly. It hurts one's brain to think seriously about tieing a 5 minute animation together, incorporating a ninja, a 15 billion year old super intelligent evil sandwich, a time machine, a UFO, a suprise party and a military conspiracy. It almost takes 5 minutes just to say that sentence.

I've completed the initial animatic, then 2 more versions, including the rough dialogue. I'm looking at somewhere between 5 and 6 minutes. I have several people auditioning for the spoken roles tomorrow and I'm still tightening the script. I'm getting there, at least I think I am.

Back on the island

2004-08-02T01:28:00.000+10:00

I haven't changed my mind and I'm happy with the way the Island of Dr Sandwich is going now. There is much more potential for quick visual gags and more silliness. I think cartoons SHOULD be silly. At least THIS one will be.

I avoided the use of dialogue as much as possible in the Living Bread, which is another reason why I think the Island is working better. I've surrendered the urge to avoid dialogue and I'm actually glad. It adds another dimension to the silliness that I like.

Logic holes and weak links

2004-07-29T16:08:00.000+10:00

Holes in the logic in the 'Night of the living bread' are making me want to revert back to the island of Dr Sandwich. The reason I changed the idea in the first place was because the NOTLB seemed a lot simpler than TIODS. The more I got into it the more it seemed I was straying away from the type of cartoon I wanted to make, which is supposed to be much more light hearted and sillier.

Give me a few days and hopefully I won't change my mind again.

Story board pics

2004-07-26T13:39:00.000+10:00

These images are part of the story board (Draft 1).

The dog sitting in his car.

The mountain road leading to the sandwich's house.

The sandwich opens his front door.

Sandwich offers dog a drink.

Images of FOCACCIA DELALOCO on TV.

Night of the living bread!

2004-07-26T00:32:00.000+10:00

That's the new working title for the moment.

I've scripted a first draft, a second draft and about 3/4 of my storyboard which after putting down for a while I've already made changes to in several places. A rough estimate comes up with about 4.5 mins... which means I'm probably looking at about 5 - 5.5 minutes if my last animation is anything to go by.

Having settled on a visual style, I've been working on the concept of animating everywhere without actually animating everywhere. I know that doesn't make sense, but either does an evil sandwich. I site the chewbacca defense...

What I mean is that I'm trying to remain concious of using foley and spot effects to elude to offscreen action whilst animating the action ON screen. I'm trying some weird camera angles and combining moving the subject around the screen with moving the environment around the subject...

The other idea I had was to build the cartoonish tension of the piece by using music and a ticking clock. There is a clock on the wall in the sandwich's house. Lightning is striking outside, signalling an oncoming storm. As the tension builds, the ticking clock, combined with the dog's heartbeat and possibly a leaking roof (dripping) might be a nice effect.

The new look

2004-07-22T16:18:00.000+10:00

In terms of visual style I'm looking to combine POWERPUFF GIRLS, DEXTER'S LABORATORY (CARTOON NETWORK) and POTATOES AND DRAGONS (ABC)...

The dog's car.

The road to the sandwich's house.

The sandwich.

My usual illustrating style is a bit like this...

... but this is more appropriate for this piece.

The ROBOT policeman who can also transform into a motorbike.

The new and improved Sandwich story

2004-07-22T01:07:00.000+10:00

The new story goes a little something like this...

A dog driving along in a car on a lonely highway, nearly runs over and picks up a sandwich whose car has broken down, and gives him and his piano a ride home. The sandwich lives alone in the Spooky mountains and when they arrive at the house offers the dog some dinner for his troubles. The dog declines at first, but his stomach is growling loudly so he stays for a meal. The sandwich seems very happy to have some company and fusses over him pedantically as if he’s never had a guest before, or doesn’t entertain guests very often.

Radio and TV news flashes report of an armed and dangerous sandwich on the loose last sighted heading for Spooky mountain ridge. Is this the sandwich the police are after? When alone for a moment, the dog makes a quick call to the police who race to the scene.

It appears as if the dog is being lined up as the sandwich’s next victim. The sandwich offers him some cake but as he approaches the dog, his shadow on the wall appears to be sneaking up to stab him. Is the dog’s mind playing tricks on him or is he really in trouble?

The police arrive in the nick of time and save the dog’s life. As the door is broken down by the police the sandwich is seen holding a revolver. There is a single shot fired but it’s not till the next day after the dog has left and the police robot is examining the scene that it’s evident that the sandwich was shot.

But it seems as if the police have made a mistake. A fact realised a little too late, as there is a dead sandwich lying on the floor, and the ‘dog’ is long gone. A few quick deductions and the discovery of the dogs collar on the floor near the piano reveal the truth.

The dog was actually an evil sandwich in disguise as a dog and he has escaped.

----------------

I know this still sounds complicated by it's really much simpler than it sounds.

Practical solutions vs. complex ideas

2004-07-21T00:59:00.000+10:00

I began drafting my scripts yesterday and I got past the very first part and it was already way too long. So I spent about 3 hours reworking it and it was still too long. So I cut out a lot of the details that I really wanted to put in. It was still too long. So I cut out everything that wasn't absolutely necessary to the plot development. It was still a little bit long, but it wasn't funny anymore and it was no longer the story I was trying to tell. I've concluded that my writing style to date, is well suited to movies or animations that are no less than 20 minutes in length. If I was to make the Island of Dr Sandwich, exactly how I see it, I would need about 6 months and a team of helper monkeys...

SO... After a serious reworking, my new concept has no time machines, no ninja monkeys, no helicopters, no suprise parties and no top secret briefings from the military. I'm glad to say that it DOES, however, have a criminally insane sandwich. It also has a piano, a futuristic hover car, a spooky looking haunted house in the mountains, a robot police officer who can transform into a motorbike and a TV news reporter... See, now that's much better!!!

Enter the sandwich

2004-07-20T11:35:00.000+10:00

These are the first concept images of the Dr and the ninja...

The pitch

2004-07-19T21:08:00.000+10:00

As a kid I would never have imagined that later on in my life I'd be sitting in a room of people discussing evil sandwiches and time machines. I guess there's a first time for everything, huh? I pitched my idea to my class and lecturers today. I think it went as well as can be expected.

I've been looking into villains and they're kind. I want to elude as to Dr Sandwich being an evil kind of guy, because he IS, but he's not an idiot, so of course he's going to PRETEND to not be evil. If I was going to take over the world tomorrow, and it was my birthday and a monkey ninja broke into my house and tried to kill me, I'd probably kill him, but this is a zero fatality cartoon, plus there's more potential to do something funnier by not killing him.

Dr Sandwich should also have a helicopter.

Trust no-one...

2004-07-16T18:04:00.000+10:00

The underlying theme throughout the island of Dr_sandwich, if one exists, is that appearances can be deceiving. After a briefing from some kind of top secret military organisation, a ninja is sent to infiltrate a mysterious castle on the island of Focaccia del loco, locate Dr Sandwich and eliminate him. Upon his arrival he discovers that it is Dr Sandwich's birthday. Before he can eliminate Dr Sandwich, the ninja learns that he hasn't been told the whole story of Dr Sandwich's creation. Convinced that the doctor is not as evil as he's made out to be, the ninja joins the party celebrations and gets drunk. Some days later, the ninja (who turns out to be a monkey) is debriefing his superiors on the situation but before he can finish an enormous robot being driven by a maniacal Dr Sandwich smashes through the roof and laughs at those within, declaring that they're foolish to assume that a 15 billion year old super intelligent sandwich would be dumb enough to reveal his plans to some idiot monkey who breaks into his house trying to kill him. The aftermath of the story tells of Dr Sandwich's reign of terror lasting for only a few brief weeks before he was eaten by a cute little puppy.

According to some stuff I read about supervillains and what makes a good one, they should always be cool, calm and wherever possible quote shakespeare.

A villain needs a motive

2004-07-15T16:59:00.000+10:00

I've thought about an evil sandwich as a character for a long time. It has taught me that sometimes one's own imagination can be one's own worst enemy. Every time I thought of a new situation to put him into, it never seemed quite right. I have wanted to include the origins of Dr sandwich as well as putting him into a story of some sort. Over the past few days I made the decision to make this freakin sandwich story once and for all and then I can move on with my life... or don't make it and not think about it again for a long long time.

So I spent some time last night and today coming up with a whole new idea invloving cats and dogs and so on and so forth. Then it suddenly made sense to me... The sandwich has no motivation. It's not nearly enough to simply exist, ne needs something to do. So what's the motivation for an evil sandwich?...

Take over the world... what else. But Dr_sandwich has been floating in space for 15 billion years, so he's not going to be one of those 'reveal my plans to the world and place my nemesis in an easily escapeable situation, before leaving the room and assuming everything goes according to plan' type villains. So I thought, what would I do if I were a supervillain? Among other things, I wouldn't go around broadcasting it to the world and telling every secret agent that broke into my mansion exactly what I intended to do. I'd either shoot him on the spot, or just simply deny my evilness and get him drunk so he thinks I'm a harmless and fabulously wealthy 15 billion year old talking sandwich...

The other problem has been deciding on a visual style to adhere to for this project. I'm intending to combine several styles of hand drawn animation with a balance of movement and still images. The justification also being that the story line will jump through several periods of time, location and action, each with their own colour and line types...

The complexities of an evil sandwich

2004-07-14T20:53:00.000+10:00

Welcome to my blog.

The purpose of it's existence is to keep track of the ongoing production process for an animated film I'm making. I'm studying Animation and Interactive media at RMIT university, Melbourne. The animated piece I'm making is my major project for this course.

I've spent some of my spare time over the past few years writing and drawing bits and pieces which I hoped would one day be published in one way or another. I wanted to do a piece about a supervillain who is an evil sandwich, but at this point I'm still keeping my options open. We'll have to wait and see...