July 26, 2011

Thanks for Voting!

Thanks to everyone who voted for my short! Unfortunately I didn't move on to the next round. I didn't get enough votes. I didn't actually realise when the voting period officially started and ended so, maybe if I had been on top of that I would have fared better. If you check out the Sydney Opera House you tube channel, you can see all the shorts that made it to round two in the gallery. They're all looking pretty good, so that's cool!
I'm on a small hiatus from Pickled right now. I'm putting together a storyboarding portfolio! I'm not sure where I'll be or what I'll be doing in a few months ahead, my time in Australia is possibly coming to an end. I will definitely be getting back to Pickled soon enough though!

Several weeks ago I came across a lecture by Jim Capobiano (creator of the Leonardo short which I wrote about on my first post ever!) on the journey of making his short film. I learned some new things so I'm grateful that Creative Talent Network and Jim made the lecture. I'll be taking some of his advice when I hop back onto Pickled.

July 17, 2011

Please vote for my Animated Contest Entry!

I need your help! I have finally finished my animation contest entry and I would really appreciate it if you head over to http://www.youtube.com/sohcompetitions and vote thumbs up on it! It's called "The Great Dinner Party Escape". If I win this round I will need to create another 30 second piece and if I win that I will need to create a final 30 second piece. The final winner will be screened at the Sydney Opera House! There is also a cash prize and I intend to use that to fund a future animated film that I create with a group of artists. It's a lot of work but the opportunity is incredible. Thanks so much for supporting me!
The characters in this short were designed by Deanna Marsigliese. They are the very characters from my short film Pickled. I was killing myself trying to come up with a whole new short idea to fit the theme of escape as per the contest requirements. Finally after boarding and reboarding attempts for 3 days I decided to create a piece with the characters I have already developed for my short. It made sense because, firstly they're gorgeous, but also, the timeframe in which to create this 30 second piece was very brief. My characters already have their motivations and personalities set. I got to continue workshopping these characters for a couple weeks while putting together this piece.

July 1, 2011

Animation Contests

Every now and then I spot a cool animation contest online. Previously I participated in one that Spline Doctor's held this past May. I also put together a whole short for LG film fest in the fall of '09 which my friends Katie and Sean helped me complete. The short for the LG contest was embarassing to me when it was completed... I put as much time into it as I could but there was not enough time to get something done that I was much proud of. Though I did like pieces of it. Check out a background here (which is STILL my twitter account wallpaper) and a very small animation test here. I also started but couldn't finish an 11 second club entry for December 2009. This past February I put a solid two weeks into a proposal to participate in the latest round of NFB's Hothouse program. I remember not leaving the house for 5 days straight just coming up with ideas and working like crazy on that one. I wasn't accepted into that program. Which I was happy about in the end actually. It's frustrating though, to put so much time into a project that you don't "win". I can't say I don't learn something with each project though. At least now when I work on my short film I am going to "win" because I can put the time and heart into it that I want to.

So I've discovered a new contest! This one definitely has hoop jumping. There is a fixed theme, duration and music track. Though I think you can edit the music a bit. And the deadline is fast approaching. Well... the first deadline. There are three. If your first animation is chosen to be a finalist, you have to create another piece and if you make it out of that round there is a third and final animation to be created. The prize is pretty sweet... so... I dunno. I have taken 3 days off Pickled so far to work on a idea. I feel like I am slightly crazy. I keep working on my contest idea and I figure that if I can't keep up with the work schedule I've made up, then I'll scrap the whole thing. It's like "sane until proven crazy". My ideas tend to be very "big". Coming up with short film ideas is tricky for me, I tend to come up with epic ideas and try to trim them down when I need short ideas. At least if I don't win this contest I have a really cool new story idea! I would love to develop it. It's very action/sci-fi.

I would say that the bonuses of entering a contest are coming up with new ideas, developing your brainstorming/creative process, practicing your craft, having other people see your work, making connections,   getting feedback, feeling inspired by yourself and other entrants, learning to time manage and having a new piece of work for your reel or to show your mates. And possibly earning something like a grant or a professional critique of your work or a link to your work on someone's website. My biggest complaint about spending so much time on contests is that I never get to exercise. :P I am going to exercise a lot when my short is finally done.

Come with me to the Ghibli Museum!

I made a video for my youtube channel about my visit to the Ghibli Museum this past March.