<Projects
HIKE (2021)
Writer/Director/Actor/Animator/Editor: Josh Lange
Time on project: August-September 2021
HIKE (2021)
Writer/Director/Actor/Animator/Editor: Josh Lange
Time on project: August-September 2021
Week Two: August 8th-14th Start the Engine, Find the Story
Classes: Blueprints for Virtual Production, Quickstart Sequencer, Intro to Animation, Intro to Lighting, Intro to Control Rig
In week two, I took more time to refine my story. While I was working on the story I kept in mind these two main allegories for writing:
1) Writing a story is like climbing a mountain in the dark; you can't ever see it in its entirety, and you will struggle at times and sometimes you will even end up going backwards despite your best efforts. With tenacity and focus, however, you can find enough dependable holds that you can use to get all the way up to the end.
2) Ask yourself: who is in charge of a film? Is it the writer, who starts the film off with his ideas? Is it the director, who can rewrite what is written and can change how it is all presented by how it is filmed? Could it be the producer, who hires the director and the rest of the crew? No, in actuality it is the STORY that is in charge of a film. Everyone involved in the crew follows the story wherever it takes them. It is this truth that I tried to honor as I handled all the filmmaking responsibilities. The story must be kept in the driver's seat.
So with those concepts in mind, I refined my idea as much as I could amidst getting all the paperwork together for the new house, which remained looming in the background. I also prepared slides for my "pitch deck" presentation to my mentor group as well was the rest of the Fellowship later for my Weeklies debut.
Classes: Blueprints for Virtual Production, Quickstart Sequencer, Intro to Animation, Intro to Lighting, Intro to Control Rig
In week two, I took more time to refine my story. While I was working on the story I kept in mind these two main allegories for writing:
1) Writing a story is like climbing a mountain in the dark; you can't ever see it in its entirety, and you will struggle at times and sometimes you will even end up going backwards despite your best efforts. With tenacity and focus, however, you can find enough dependable holds that you can use to get all the way up to the end.
2) Ask yourself: who is in charge of a film? Is it the writer, who starts the film off with his ideas? Is it the director, who can rewrite what is written and can change how it is all presented by how it is filmed? Could it be the producer, who hires the director and the rest of the crew? No, in actuality it is the STORY that is in charge of a film. Everyone involved in the crew follows the story wherever it takes them. It is this truth that I tried to honor as I handled all the filmmaking responsibilities. The story must be kept in the driver's seat.
So with those concepts in mind, I refined my idea as much as I could amidst getting all the paperwork together for the new house, which remained looming in the background. I also prepared slides for my "pitch deck" presentation to my mentor group as well was the rest of the Fellowship later for my Weeklies debut.
Project Pitch Deck
Lighting Reference
When I reviewed in Monday's Scrum, David noticed my scope crept up, and thought I should cut out the Princess Bride bedroom intro and cut down to 30 shots. Paul gave really nice feedback, commending the heart it was showing and how to play with suspending the reality, and Joe liked it as well, and agreed with cutting the intro. Although I was nervous about not having touched Unreal much even two weeks into the fellowship, David said it would be ok if I still only got into a few shots by the time of the Weeklies presentation. I made the call to avoid Maya work and do it fully in the engine, and it turned out I never needed to work with Maya at all for my film.
On Friday, it was time for Weeklies. Our mentor group went last, and that gave me plenty of time to see how much progress other students were making with their films. Many had been getting deep into Unreal, and it took some perspective to take a breath and have faith that I would catch up with the time remaining, and have confidence that with a well-tested story I wouldn't have doubts or hit fundamental problems with my short later on after making progress with the engine.
Week 2 Animatic
The Fellowship feedback was really good! Brian knew my previs background so he did not seem concerned about that lagging a bit, and I had the assurance I needed to go ahead and be sure that I could execute on an appealing idea. Mentor Nikki Tomaino had a good point about the father running away coming across more as cruel than like fitting in a nightmare.
In a stroke of luck, our offer had been approved on the house, so even though I knew I'd be splitting my time with the escrow work and raising a family, it felt like the right challenge at the right time. On to Week Three!
In a stroke of luck, our offer had been approved on the house, so even though I knew I'd be splitting my time with the escrow work and raising a family, it felt like the right challenge at the right time. On to Week Three!
The start of a very full month.
