pencil test - rough draft shot/sequence 1

this is the start of it -
needs re-timimg, plenty of inbetweening...and a fair whack of editing/re-framing i think...
but in general it works..
downloaded a video converter but is only a trial version (hence the watermark)...looking for other ones...dunno what's good and what's not so good,..
maybe just use quicktime pro for all this stuff... and will re-post this so it looks prettier.
the first pencil test - shot 1 - intro

meanwhile, working on the animatic.. (still) (it's taking so long - so much stufferizing around that is distracting me!
have just whacked in all the images from the original storyboard and now realise how many Holes there are in it!
and how much needs re-arranging - and re-editing, and LOTS of re-timing,
plus more shots added in the scenes and sequences.
Currently around 5 minutes for the whole project... but i Always do things too fast.. it should come to about 7 minutes all up
there is no time to 'breathe' as such - to contemplate - to let the ideas sink in.
especially when it is largely text-less or dialogue-less - even voice-less..
though it does REALLY need a voice-over...probably some text-on-screen stuff too ...like i originally wanted to incorporate - it IS my 'thing' - being deaf and all.
so i gotta find a good voice-actor.
maybe somebody that's had PND..like the 'famous' doco/interview thing with Jessica Rowe...
Maybe Brooke Shields! - but it MUST have an australian voice i think
(does this matter? - yers, i think it does to me)
what about Elle McPherson???

so - next step is get the animatic workign more effectively - which also means drawing out all the scenes..in both senses of the word.
re-drawing the concept shots, and also extending the length...and also adding elements as I work.

this has been an important part of the 'methodology'
the review/reflection bit...
as I started just working on the visuals...from a shot that had played itself out in my head for so long, it weas important to get it on screen - animating straight out...
and then it came to the next shot - realised that this too was pretty clear in my head...
but really needed extending/workshopping...
as i worked on it (the shot where she is holding the baby and then descends into the black hole) there were lots of thoughts in my head (retrieved from way back) about the referential nature of the image...the madonna and child pics...how she would be thinkging that when you have a babay it all looks so cheezily romantic..like those beautiful elegaic paintings of the madonna and child...how simple and perfect and easy it all looks...
so these things flash through her head...
two references here... obviously the content of the images... but also that treatment of flashing multiple images in quick sequence...roughly 6 frames per image is a reference to "Frank Film" by my most wonderful colleagues and over-the-seas friends Frank and Caroline Mouris.
there's another clearer version here, plus they also made a further film in this style called "Frankly Caroline"
So - this film was a seminal influence when i was a young ducky someday-to-be animator - it TOTALLY changed my whole view of animation - it made me realise that THIS is what i wanted to be...it reminded me of how much i loved Sesame Street - even when i was 10 years old and I finally got to see it...i discovered that there WAS a world of artist-animation and i just synched with my brain in a very special way.
this is not to say I didn't love the "Jungle Book" and "Dumbo" et al...but I also adored "Fantasia" even though it was a combination of the unintelligible and cheezy.
funnily enough - i ended up spending a lot of my commercial career doing those 'straight' animating jobs (I really wanted to eat) (plus I loved gaining all those 'craft' skills) (plus - to tell you the truth, I think i was pretty gutless and didn't have any ideas of my own - or any that i believed inb - or that other people believed in - or so i thought...)
but that's an aside...

so
back to the methodology.
I found a bunch of 'creative commons' images of the Madonna and Child -- must be Very mindful of copyright...it seems that so many of the famous images are  owned by dealers or galleries... nonetheless - there is a great collection i can use.
so popped then together in a big jumble - needs to be done properly - but the concept works...
Trish 'got it' in a big way - so pleased...
but after this i also realised i needed to get back to that structure...the 'story' part...ie the 'writing/' - hence the animatic..
which as I said, highlights the flaws...
so now i am back to image-making again (drawing it out)
which will fill some gaps
and add some serendipitous aspects to the 'story'...
as in - the Image itself is what generates the creativity - which generates the details in the Story - and fleshes out the Writing
must find a way to clarify this concept...
and patent it ;-)