Other film festivals

Since we have this finished product, I figured we might as well milk it for all it's worth. Here's a resource to find other short film festivals that we could potentially submit our work to: http://www.shortfilmcentral.com/events/

the part of the script that isn't in the storyboards

Scene: The doodle is made

CLASS SCHEDULE

You! Be at Ha's house at these times! 

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 10pm. 

Friday 3-10 with a break for dinner/SOCA

Saturday 2-10, with a break for dinner

Sunday 11-3 or 4 or 5?


Remember that these set times shouldn't preclude individual work time on the "sets 'n props" to-do list if we have time to spare. Hopefully our legions of volunteers should help us burn through that quickly though!!


Also remember that our goal is to have filming of the Tower Interior scenes and all the Doodleland props/set done by SUNDAY so that we can start filming Doodleland!




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Set #1: The Tower Interior!

We are finished with set #1! We are only...two days behind on our most recent schedule so far. 

Doodle Do

Rolling to do list!

j-make background for Ringo's house in the drawer

j-fill in Lucy’s line after oscar says “strange” in the ship

j-make a clown werewolf mummy with knives for fingers

∞-make watercolor practice flowers

∞-get/make/cut a big piece of paper that will be the fear (for the biggest fear)

e- make windows in doodletown. make some windows for doodles to peek out of (make sure they are big enough) make boarded up things or metal guards to go behind them. If possible have them be able to look out through the slats. They should be removeable (do not glue!) and maybe open in different ways.

je-make background drawings for the little ship to be pulled across. See script for backgrounds.

je-make a spaceship/houses/whatever new things will spring up in doodletown.

Je-think of background for hand show

h- find sock-monkey socks for his close-up hands (ha’s friend???)

Ja-ask Jeff if he’ll narrate for us

a-make/get self portrait of allie’s brother

Deadlines

If we are going to finish this, we have got meet these deadlines come heck or high water!
LET'S DO IT

Here is a list of all the things that need to be made for these scenes. The ones in red need to be finished by Friday the 9th for filming!! The ones with a ∞ by them, anyone can do, but if your initial is next to something, you're the best person for the job.

j-email mr. bennet - Think – using allie’s brother, also using mr. bennet’s class…. Timing concerns!! Also, sophie?

j-make a new tree

j-draw a 2D mini-ship

j-make little inky things for the dresser drawer

j-make ringo

j-fill in Lucy’s line after oscar says “strange” in the ship

j-make a clown werewolf mummy with knives for fingers

∞-email matt king, see if there’s any way to check out the AFO camera on weekends.

∞-make a calendar of everyone’s schedules (including kenny and kelley)

∞-make scribbles

∞-make post-it shrubs

∞-trim doodlelands paper

∞-make and cover front doodlelands hill in pre-ripped paper, then notebook paper. Leave bottom fringe so that it hides the frame edge

∞-make a word balloon for sock monkey. On a stick or wire that is held seperately

∞-patch the sun that’s already there by cutting out a horizon-to-top strip that covers the sun, paint it blue.

∞-buy blue fuzzy gloves the same color as oscar, also find sock-monkey socks (ha’s friend???)

∞-make tiny paper /map that gets printed out of dood

∞-write [kid’s name] Mrs Wittkopf’s class Period 5

∞-get/make/cut a big piece of paper that will be the fear.

∞-make tiny smoothies, maybe a little smoothie machine

e-cover trees with yellow

e- make windows in doodletown. make some windows for doodles to peek out of (make sure they are big enough) make boarded up things or metal guards to go behind them. If possible have them be able to look out through the slats. They should be removeable (do not glue!) and maybe open in different ways.

Je-make a sun w/moveable face

je-make background drawings for the little ship to be pulled across. See script for backgrounds.

Je-draw a fruit bowl full of aaahhhberries

Je-make dood’s bowl (2D) also a bag of scribble kibble to put next to it maybe.

Je-draw a record and player and record cover with swinging arm

je-make tiny pizza cutter

je-make a spaceship/houses/whatever new things will spring up in doodletown.

Jeh-make the dresser (non-functional)

h-make life-sized pen

h-make little-sized pen

h-make a cushion that slides onto the stick to become a stool.

h-make badges

h-make the pencil sharpener gun

h-make a tiny pencil

h-make a tiny pen (simpler than the squid pen! For lucy at the end)

Ja-ask Jeff if he’ll narrate for us

a-make/get self portrait of allie’s brother

just a wow picture

New York International Children's Film Festival

In order to get the into the NYICFF, we need to get cracking!
This year, the deadline for Student Short Films (that's us) is OCTOBER 15TH.
That's roughly four months.

Requirements:
Film on DVD (PAL or NTSC) -- I don't know what this means.
$25 entry fee
Entry form -- http://gkids.com/images_submit/NYICFF2012EntryFormShort.pdf

Optional:
Promotional material (high res jpgs, reviews, bios, etc)

For more information: http://www.gkids.com/?section=submit

What's Next?

Hey Y'all,

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on the stage - set - prop - puppet production. My suggestion would be to use what you have to create some still photographs. Let's see something, folks!

Send me some pics!

Din Quixote Soundtrack

As presented by Flavorpill:


Don Quixote de la Mancha is a complex figure. He is at once a rational thinker and a raving madman, a deep romantic trying to create a better world and a sympathy-evoking innocent. He sets off on an imagined quest to win glory for his imagined paramour, and spends the novel trying to distinguish between his hallucinations and his reality in an only slightly exaggerated description of the way we all live our lives. His intentions are forever honorable, though they never seem to come to any good, as he is too often waylaid by his own foolishness. There’s some contention that Quixote knows more than he lets on – that his insanity is an act of sorts, but we interpret him in the middle ground: not totally bonkers, but not self-aware enough to be sly about it either. Here’s what we think he would fight windmills, make declarations, and uphold the code of the knight-errant to.

“Desaparecido” – Manu Chao
The sun-drenched tones of Manu Chao would definitely be Don Quixote’s go-to soundtrack for wandering around with Sancho Panza in the Spanish sun.
“I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times” — The Beach Boys
A perfect song about trying to find your place in a world that doesn’t make sense to you, sung by a classically optimistic band that would appeal to our hero’s innocent enthusiasm. Plus, maybe he could have a moment of self-realization when he hits the lines “They say I got brains/ But they ain’t doing me no good/ I wish they could…”
“Where Do My Bluebird Fly” — The Tallest Man on Earth
We think Don Quixote would appreciate the almost painful beauty of this song, sorrowful fever dream music for his lonely adventuring.
“(Have You Ever Been To) Electric Ladyland” — Jimi Hendrix
We just want to know what Don Quixote would hallucinate Electric Ladyland to be. We think he’d have fun with this song – after all, every lovable lunatic we know is a Hendrix fan.
“This Year” — The Mountain Goats
Any gentleman who has gone mad with chivalry from reading too many books about knights would also have to be into the hyper-literary Mountain Goats. There’s just no other way.
“I Want to Know What Love Is” — Foreigner
Our hero is a hopeless romantic, for sure, and he’d totally be into cheesy 80s rock songs. But his belief in the rigidity of right and wrong and the purity of love is what keeps him going through beatings and giants, through enchantments and humiliations, so there are worse things.
“Blowin’ In The Wind” — Bob Dylan
While Dylan isn’t necessarily the picture of the chivalrous knight in real life, this classic track would definitely appeal to a wandering adventurer trying to instill some good in the world.
“Such Great Heights” — The Postal Service
All idealistic, semi-dorky lovers dig the Postal Service. Also, this is a song about overcoming obstacles in the face of naysayers, something that we think Quixote would probably identify with.
“Love Vigilantes” (New Order Cover) — Iron & Wine
This song manages to be both chivalrous and super wholesome, but not obnoxious, which is something of a feat. We imagine Don Quixote listening to this track and wishing he had a wife and family of his own.
“Hands of Time” — Ron Sexsmith
In a certain sense, Don Quixote is just an aging man looking for an adventure to help him in the fight against his mortality. Like so much else in Quixote’s story, it’s a losing battle.

SciFi music?

This would be great backround music for the sci-fi world maybe?

Lit Episode Set References

Windmill:

Steamboat:

Also so much free clip art: http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/index.htm

Side Scrolling

There is a clear connection between the flat, side scrolling adventure games and our scrolling sets. This is a great example, and it could be a resource for the science fiction city>

Machinarium 1

Machinarium 2

What makes this so successful is the way the vibrant, textured scenery in the middle ground moves against the washed out, more liner scenery in the background. The game's camera mimics the way our eyes would move across a scene: the further away something is, the slower it scrolls across the screen. There are enough objects in the foreground to reinforce a sense of 3 dimensionality, but not so many that is obscures the action.

Synthesize!

Matt King Meeting

Split up into production groups - some script, some sets, some props - meetings more for touching base and seeing what we're all up to.
Mess around, shoot some scenes for funnnn.

borrow camera to test - just let Matt King and he can get it checked out. He'll be in richmond during the summer, so the camera and zoom recorder will both be available.

chroma-key paper (green screen!) - B&H Photo, also Savage (seamless backdrop paper)

stage - big, solid. grid on top for clip lights. power strips on sides to plug stuff in easily, spring clips for the top and side. make it the same ratio as a widescreen (a lot bigger than we need so that we can move the camera without seeing through the edges)Drywall screws by the inch along the top, put several metal conduit lengths between the screws (rigid, won't sag).

Hans Op de Beeck - piece at the hirshhorn, closes on the 27th

http://www.tonyoursler.com/individual_work_slideshow.php?navItem=work&workId=227&startDateStr=Oct.%207,%202010&subSection=Installations&allTextFlg=true&title=Peak - crazy video script

schedule: test camera, see what things look like, but during the school year just prepare and make everything so that during the summer we can relax.

figure out a materials list and dimensions - get our stuff made,

Electric Car!

Electric CAR

The use of 2d and 3d media here? And the layered scenery? Perfect.

Layered backgrounds

http://www.roadsideprojects.com/portfolio/

Whoah man - this guy has got it down. He creates depth in a very shallow space using paper.

Simple simple simple

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.etoday.ru%2F2010%2F03%2Fozhivshie-predmeti-terri-borde.php&h=1064f

Personifying simple objects works here (i think) by using simple backgrounds/props with clearly communicated situations. The short focus and brights colors makes it seem totally self-contained (not overly simple/unfinished).

This seems like it would be useful...

Look at these crazy buildings.

Episode: Literature Outlined

Angela Anaconda, Oliver Herring

LUCY OSCAR: full felt
SOCK MONKEY: sock monkey
MAIN CHARACTER: photo paper puppet
They look through the window and ponder the kid. “This is a classic example of blankety blank blank.” [recognize the problem, computer prints out a stats card for the kid stating age name + problem, acknowledge that they have a new adventure] After they ruminate about the problem and what to do, Lucy says ‘I think I have an idea” knowing smile. They leave, we see them pass the window outside in their cool little vehicle, and then the camera sinks/zooms to the cover of the book she left behind “Don Quixote”

Transition to theme song with flipping pages of book – go through a square that applies to every episode.

KNIGHTS: cut out paper/engraving/things? DONQUIXOTE (large and small) /SANCHO PANZA: full felt? OGRE: hand puppet?

After theme song, we see a forest and their vehicle lands in some tree branches in the top of the screen (we don’t see the top very well) and then it just drops them out of the bottom. Unphased, they stand up and brush themselves off, only to bowled over again by an ogre or whatevs. While they’re standing up again, a group of three knights does the same thing. The knights apologize profusely and ask where the ogre went (they all are jangly and a little ridiculous talk very together and don’t give lucy and oscar much chance to respond between them). They’re very chivalrous but dumb – oscar’s hurt but they’re fussing over Lucy, swearing vengeance on the ogre. Brush them off, Oscar says okay so WHAT are we looking for? Lucy says A Knight! Oscars protests but Lucy’s already headed off towards a loud sound and Oscar is left alone in the clearing looking confused. He looks to the sock monkey for support and sees his retreating form next to Lucy. We hear yelling (aaaa!) and they enter a field to see a horse grazing next to a windmill. They’re confused, they look around, then notice that Don Quixote is hung off screen from the windmill yelling ayuda ayuda. He rotates into view and they help him down. They ask him his name, he answers with his huge official title with various deeds “defeater__, vanquisher of__, considerer of doing x” Then he says that they shouldn’t be wandering alone because there are giants/ogres about! Then he ‘sees’ one and tries to ride off but can’t mount the horse. He needs help, a hand reaches down and helps him, they high five/thumbsup, he’s gone. Sancho Panza comes up, he says have you seen this guy, he’s missing his [insert integral part of the horse paraphernalia]. We hear a crash. Oscar goes off on Don Quixote saying why were looking for him, what screwup. Sancho Panza defends him, saying he’s down to earth, [insert more compliments], the other knights are wack. Oscar remains unconvinied, Lucy steps in like naw man hold on.

TRANSITION to historical explanation:

-insert Jonathan’s sketchbook pages- flat flat imagery. Figure out Lucy’s speech behind it – research Cervantes process
Lucy's speech characters - flat profile paper/silhouettes characters

Sancho Panza is like yup, Oscar says something pithy applying the lesson: personalize, draw from your own life, easy to draw from your own experience, think of your character as a person – make it 3D. Okay so you just need to look at yourself – Oscar has a thought bubble with a mirror and lucy says what a great idea! And grabs the mirror out of his thought bubble. They thank him and ask him for ideas for more storytellers. He says I have JUST the guy, and they go to a pier at the end of the field and round some trees to reveal the steampowered paddleboat. They get on the small version, then it cuts to the inbetween set walking along the top of the steamboat amidst crowds etc. We hear some powerful oration and our heads turn. We head towards some tighter concentration of people and the talking gets louder. Then we cut to seeing the crowd from the front and we can see just his hands gesturing, and then we see us push through the crowds in front (CROWDS: paper cutouts in back, simple felt literary characters in front (harry potter with lightbulb?) He finishes his story, switch shots from Mark twain view to our view, and the crowd reveals him (still on hands and then pan up to face.) Mark Twain is relaxing, Lucy and Oscar approach him. Mark Twain recognizes them as Imaginauts “Oh! Hello! How are things? How can I help you?” They say well! We have this kid with this problem. Can you tell us how to write stories stories? And he cuts them off, answering, "Say no more! Just a little castor oil and a good whupping will get him right as rain!" (LOL dark humor?) Mark Twain tells them to look for the everyday ridiculous and talks to the Imaginauts about satire. MT uses passerby on the boat to illustrate how to tell stories, using their actions and narrating over them. His last piece of advice should be comical, irrelevant, and maybe irreverent. The Imaginauts ask him if there might be anything else they need to do, and MT responds: "Oh well I happen to have an appointment in the Sci Fi City, if you'd like to accompany me, I can reveal to you the secret of the sages on the way. Would you like to join me on my aerial transportation basket? [hot air balloon]" We end up with an object (magnifying glass? Ear trumpet? Telescope?) While Mark Twain is talking, he’s not just addressing us, he’s addressing his friends around him (crowds around, anansi sitting across from him/near him).

We can inflate the balloon in real time, and have deus ex machina hands from above tie it off. MT says, "Thanks Hans!" The three enter the hot air balloon.

There should be a transition scene from the Sci Fi City where the three of them are talking on the hot air balloon.

CROWD FOREGROUND/CROWD BACKGROUND: brer rabbit, chicken little, aesop fable characters, etc. Paper cutouts, connected (foreground) paper cutouts/silhouetted. Maybe individual papers of huck finn and jim wandering through
MARK TWAIN: full felt
ANANSI: felt balls and pipe cleaners

Explore ideas of science fiction: take something new/around them, expand it to its logical conclusion combined with human nature. H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Poe, ? - WHAT IF?
-look inside
-look outside
-synthesize something new

Kirsten: Research Mark Twain’s anecdotes? How to write stories.
HA: READ DON QUIXOTE
Jonathan: Research cervantes’ process for lucy’s speech.
Allie: ?

Mark Twain says okay guys - I have an appointment to make with an old friend. Would you like to come along for the ride? (OF COURSE!) There is a balloon pad on the end of the paddle boat which they climb into and sail off into the blue . Rise through the clouds, pop out the top, 'we're so high!' 'nay it's chill'. no one sees anything, rocket cars drive by. Zoom way out/cut way out and see them directly below the enormous city. Then cut to them already docked and exiting the balloon. Mark Twain spies/is spied by/ Isaac Asimov accompanied by robot and investigator. Isaac hails him "oh i am so glad you are here!" the robot and investigator start asking questions and they all bustle off with some short goodbye like 'you guys are fine here, right?' oh wait! you will need this: mark twain grabs the magnifying glass from the detective and gives it to them. The imaginauts are left alone in this new city.

INVESTIGATOR+ROBOT INVESTIGATOR: rectangles - fold-out arms - paper - cereal boxes?
BUS DRIVER: silhouette paper
BACKGROUND CROWD: modified riverboat crowd
FRONT CROWD/CROWD: individual paper puppets (sketchy alley dude/talking fish/leaking robot/slimy dude)

A sci fi bus comes, and the driver stops to ask if they're getting on. Not sure what to do in this strange, new city, they hop on! Oscar and Lucy sit next to a robot guy who's leaking oil, so they freak out and move seats, only to realize they're sitting next to a gross slimey guy. LOL. Very uncomfortable, the Imaginauts look out the bus window to concentrate on something a little more pleasant.

This is a great transition to the sci fi city in the sky! We see images blur by at bus speed that introduces us to the various goings on of the city. Possibilities: sketch alley dude selling lungs to a talking fish! etc etc The Imaginauts are lost in excitement seeing all these new things, and end up at the end of the line, which is a junkyard.

The Imaginauts get off the bus, totally lost and confused. Lucy is kind of upset and unhappy, thinking that the sci fi city in the sky is rather unsophisticated and too ridiculous. She thinks that this world is rather cramped, a shout-out to an Isaac Asimov novel about agoraphobia. "This place is so ungrounded in reality!" They take out their handheld tech to find their location (like a mini Computer) but it's broken. They look around the junkyard trying to find parts that would fix it, and at the junkyard they find this mechanic fixer upper of broken things, like that guy in astroboy!

MECHANIC: full felt/other massive

The mechanic explains to the Imaginauts that sci fi literature is like a crystal ball to see into the future.
Lucy: But we can never predict the future
Mechanic: But we gotta start somewhere!
Mechanic explains how technology today is just an idea/dream from the past. Cellphone?

Imaginauts pick up important object: an old school lightbulb. Getitgetit LOL.
They explain how being able to capture light into a bulb was once only a dream for the people of the past. Lesson, lesson, lesson. Imaginauts realize they need to get back to the problem character of the episode!
Oscar: Hey I think we need to get back now. Thanks!
Mechanic: Oh, do you want to take my shortcut?
Some crazy jetpack, sex, violence, crazy.

Back to the tower!
They get literally kicked out of the junkyard - they fall off screen, we cut to the tower and hear faint screaming getting louder, tower looks up, leans out, sticks its tongue out just in time to catch them and slurp them back in. shebam. They check in on the kid on the computer - kid's still struggling, got crazy scribbling and paper all over everything - quick cuts to *DUNN* piece of paper *DUNN* scribbles *DUNN* kid slumped over at the desk, pencil poised. We see them in a poster in reality-suits, cut to ear close up, sound effects tell us they've dropped down and they're climbing his shoulder, they enter the shot with the ear, an arm shoots out with each object, as they are announced, zoom out to see oscar and the sock monkey holding them, lucy saves him from falling off. they say a ceremonial rhyme to sum up each object as they throw the things in - pause and replay the important scene for each object as it goes in. follow the last object down into the blackness, blackness resolves itself into shapes of frantic busy people, someone catches the objects, puts them in a container, shoves it into a processing unit, spark spark zap quick zoom out to kid's wide-open eyes (quick fluid simple), eyes look down, he starts writing furiously. In the background the imaginauts go back into the picture frame and high five. Credits roll and we see them hanging the kid's ID on a wall full of them.

KID: cut paper pictures (2D? 3D? Oliver herring?)
KID EAR CLOSE-UP: paper mache

Some ideas:
-The Imaginauts encounter a stop sign for a crosswalk. Pause for 20 sec waiting for it to changes. They walk.
-scorpion and frog in background on river boat
-don't forget: mention the kid at some point again.
-sock monkey has to do the rhyme one time
-important quotes are emphasized and appear on scrolls and then are collected by a little quote creature.

Music maker

Check it out:
http://www.drumbot.com/projects/key_chords/

Robert showed me the other day, it's an easy way for us to make some musical experiments without musical skill!