NO STORYBOARDS, SOME CAMPING, AND A LOT OF GUNS

Well, can’t say the work week has been any better. I did get a check that will tie us over for a bit, but a brother needs a nice long-term gig. Six months would be great.

Just spoke with my buddy Darrin Denlinger, a talented colleague who offered his usual good words of encouragement. Always nice to hear. Darrin is on the remake of CLASH OF THE TITANS.

The weekend was good, as I took my son Joshua (12) camping for the first time, and he loved it. Anything to get the kid away from video games, which he has been on a bit too much. Our neighbor Don, road Josh and some other kids on a ten-mile bike ride during the trip, and Joshua had such a sense of pride that he finished it.

A got a nice little surprise when I bought the DVD of YOU DON”T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN, a film I worked on last year for about four months.

On the audio commentary, director Dennis Dugan refers to me as “an idiot savant of martial arts movies” and “the Rain Man of anything martial arts”) which had me laughing out loud.

I guess it beats just being “an idiot”.  As he went on, Dennis was actually very, complimentary with my involvement and helpfulness in the process of designing the stunts for the film.

I bought the DVD at a 2020 DVD store Sunday night, and when I walked out of the place there were about 7 cop cars and a police helicopter outside of the fast food store (I think El Pollo Loco) twenty feet away with two guys already cuffed on the ground.

All of the customers were marched out (hands over their heads) and put against a wall where they were ALL frisked.  Like 20 people!!! I assume cops couldn’t know who was involved (robbery attempt) and may have tried to blend into the crowd (ala INSIDE MAN). Sorry for the film reference.

I had to wait outside for over an hour as I smartly parked my car EXACTLY where the police pulled in kitty corner like to block any escapes.

I knew it was tense when they pulled the pump action shotguns from the police car trunks.

All this for a DVD ego boost!!!

Anyway, props to Eric Ramsey, who boarded the enjoyable RED BELT, which I just saw on video.

 

 

DOING THE LAST MINUTE OVERNIGHT STORYBOARD JOB

It was Monday night at about five-thirty in the evening that I got the call.  There was a nice sounding woman on the phone saying that my good friend Danelle (lovely person and talented fellow storyboard artist) recommended me to her for doing boards.

This woman, worked for a company called THE JONES, and they had a gig where their current storyboards needed to be changed.

The previous artist had to do forty-nine frames in ten hours (a lot), and new frames needed to be drawn, while other frames had to be cleaned or altered.

As work has been extremely slow all the way around, I instantly took the gig.  I was told that I would only work “maybe three or four hours” and the rate would be good.

Well, I got to the office at seven o’clock, set up my computer and Cintiq monitor, and was given digital copies of the old storyboards that I needed to change.

First thing is that it was TWO spots that needed to be worked on.  I actually thought the first artist did a good job, given the time frame he had to work in.

I had to add new frames and keep the style someone consistent.  Well, that wasn’t much of a stretch as I had to legible scribbles just like the first artist.  Boards had to drawn, added to the old frames, re-cut into four frames per page, and then sent to the production team, who then had to type descriptions, run it by the director, then email these boards to the agency.

GOT ALL THAT????

This repeated for both spots, and as I got tired I made mistakes when it got past two o’clock in the morning.

Suffice it to say, I didn’t get home until five o’clock the next morning.  When I got home, my wife Betty had slept in the living room so she could greet me.

Yea, it was freaking hell in terms of the hours and the rushing. The production team were all nice people and very professional and I will get a nice little check in a few weeks.

But, it was one day, and I need a long-term gig. Keeping things in perspective.

NO STORYBOARDS THIS WEEK

Hello all of you out there.

I’m afraid this will be another one of the short blogs as the only

I really didn’t work this week. I did get in a little practice time on

My STORYBOARD PRO software, but besides from that, family

business took over.  My lovely mother, Ruth turned 85!!

 

I am however, taking a little time to clear my workspace, but then,

that is akin to keeping a sandcastle at high tide.

Put a lot of work in, and then it gets wiped out when things get

busy.

 

 Just took my son Josh to see EAGLE EYE.  Yes, it is entertaining,

with an initially interesting premise of an omniscient villain, but if

you are over thirty five (that would be me) you will see elements of

* LIGHT SPOILER*

a certain Kubrick film that takes place oh… SEVEN years ago.  That is, if

this is 2008.  Shia grows on you.

Anyway, if I work this week that means money, right?

MORE ON TOON BOOM’S “STORYBOARD PRO” SOFTWARE

Since last week, I have been trying to immerse myself in the STORYBOARD PRO software. Since there will never be a golden time use it, I decided to try it on some current projects.

One directer wanted some preliminary boards done on a sequence so he could get CGI bids on it. I did the boards on the Storyboard Pro. I tried my best to work out some camera moves (it let’s you PAN, BOOM UP OR DOWN, AND PUSH IN OR OUT) while keeping a flow. Then, I exported the panels into QUICKTIME file, which the program allows you to do.  Storyboard Pro also allows you to time each frame, so some shots will last a second, while you can specifically get other frames (like a PAN) to last longer.

The program is more designed for animation, but it has many uses for LIVE action as PITCHES have been made and jobs won with it.

Another use, if you are tired of writing descriptions after drawing is that you can import the screenplay (Final Draft) on to your project and cut and paste the dialogue and descriptions to match the frames. There are dialogue boxes built in.

When you get good at it, one can import music to your projects (like I TUNES) as well as add vocals.

I’m not good yet. LOL.  When I got into trouble, gentlemen such as Philip (pronounced French way) J.R. and Ron were always an email away. Neither of them could have been nicer or more insightful.

Please contact me via this site if you want to get in touch with the TOON BOOM people, who make Storyboard Pro. They will be much more helpful and knowledgeable on how the software can help your work.