Close to Starting Day 6

Don't get me wrong, when I started Moon Diary, I intended it to be epic, but it keeps increasing in intensity at an accelerating acceleration. Just spent the last month brainstorming the script for day 6, which included reading half of Godel, Escher, Bach, to increase my understanding of what it means to mean something. The team held weekly brainstorming sessions where we would mix the ideas we had come up with since last week. I specifically spent hours researching paradoxes, both visual and literal, and despite everything we're not even really done yet. We've only nailed down the structure, not the details. I guess we'll try to work that out in story boarding to try and streamline a bit.

The one year anniversary of starting this project is vaguely around this month. Originally I intended it to be a short project that would only take a couple months. Woo yeah! All my efforts to reduce my workload just encourage me to get obsessive about other aspects! Moon Diary might not be done this Summer as the trailer suggests. How embarrassing.

NAESA International Company Profile

Just finished the NAESA International company profile earlier today, just uploaded it to YouTube 10 minutes ago. Been working on this thing rather than Moon Diary for a while now, but I just got ahold of "Godel, Escher, Bach" and as soon as I've started making some good progress on that I'll be starting the storyboards for days 6 and 7, meaning the beginning of the end.

Any way, enjoy this informative diversion!

Can you believe I'm being paid to make stuff like this?

1.6 Terabyte CDs

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8060082.stm

Huh. It's seeming clearer and clearer to me that the benefit of Flash, that being small file size, is becoming a rapidly diminishing concern. In fact, I don't think any one really cares at all any more. A terabyte?? I wouldn't know what to do with that if I tried. I might as well switch to another program soon since they are generally better in every other way. As far as I understand it.

Cinco De Mayo Update

Day 4 is DONE, as of several weeks ago, which means there's only day 6 and 7 left. I estimate day 6 to be two minutes long and day 7 to be three to four. Moon Diary is currently 12 minutes long, and once you add titles and chapter transitions that means this thing is going to be just under 20 minutes when it's done. It's already the longest thing I've ever made.

I got commissioned to do an infomercial type animation for naesai.org. That means that, for now any way, I am a PROFESSIONAL animator, in the literal sense. There is absolutely no mistaking it for a hobby any more, I'm being reimbursed for work with money. Since I've decided to post fewer screenshots from Moon Diary I might be focusing more on this paid animation on the blog for a while.  

Here's the character design for the narrator.

Wolves

Moon Diary has been progressing well the last couple of weeks. We got a sound guy who has been working on foley art, and we had a company picnic at wolf haven where we all got to observe real wolves in action. They didn't move too much while we were there, no surprise, but I feel like the experience has lead to a sense of authenticity in the wolf movement none the less, they have been turning out really well. Chris Duncan, our sound guy, tried to get some wolf howling while we were there but all we got was a bunch of ravens screeching, and the tour lady talking.

Like I said, work has been progressing nicely. If all goes well, Day 4 might be done by the end of this week.

Charlie's Back

Charlie Daugherty has already been a major part of Moon Diary by drawing the teeth and candy in day 2, animating the ridiculous rotting ooze of the same day, drawing multiple backgrounds throughout, and being another animator for consultation in general. He's been busy being the TA for an animation class, and thus virtually animating every student's project for them. There's been a change of schedule though, and now he's back! He's starting off with some touch up work on previous animation, but is going to be animating wolves with me and soon as he's caught up to speed.

Also, I managed to get 3 day weekends for my work. Moon Diary has never had such facility for actualization! Prepare to be amazed as we animate multiple seconds in less than a week!

Sita Sings the Blues

Nina Paley recently decided to release her full feature length flash animation, which she made by herself, for free on the internet. Not just to watch, but also to appropriate, without paying fees or even asking permission.

Check it all out. It's real good.

Her work has been somewhat of an inspiration for the aesthetic of Moon Diary. She manages to create very powerful ideas using very simple animation, not trying to hide from the "flash" look and instead embracing it as a medium. I feel like I'm not as good at it, I've started dabbling more and more into realism as I learn how to, but I'm going to try and get out of that as soon as this city scene is done. I realized I've been working on this 3 minutes of animation for nearly 4 months now, and I've got to speed it up a bit. Granted, I've had a part time job most of that time, and it's been cold all the time because my roommates don't turn on the heat, but I got the first two minutes done in about 3 weeks and I've got to get back to a pace closer to that.

It's not impossible, someone out there is doing it.

Super Speed

I recorded myself drawing in the latest background over the course of 3 and a half hours, and then sped it up about a hundred times to see it all happen at once. I only recorded the drawing part, I didn't bother with the animating part since that would have been extremely repetitive and plus I wouldn't have had something big to end on. I probably spent another 3 or 4 hours animating and tweaking to get the final 5 seconds of animation. I didn't realize all that much about my process, except that I spend a lot of time tweaking and that windows take forever.

I just decided it would be a good idea to flood the entire city, so I spent two hours going back and adding as much as 20 feet of water at the base of the buildings. It's okay though, because everyone is flying any way...