First animated film

[Liam]

Not very complicated animation, but it worked to tell the story I think. And some good practice for my next stuff hopefully.

Also, not super relevant for this forum maybe haha

I was sitting on it for a while just to see if anything else came to mind on how to work it differently, but I think I'm done with it now.

Feedback welcome

 

[mercer]

Cool. It looks like something you'd see on Adult Swim. This genre works so well with your dialogue.

Did you do all of the voices?

I loved how I never felt anything for the characters, they just existed.

It was almost so off it was genius. Banal yet edgy. When they were in bed, it went to a different level and I loved it. Would like to see these characters at the supermarket or whispering at Church. Or stuck in traffic.

At first I wished their mouths moved more and then I enjoyed the lack of movement. However, I would have liked a blink or eyebrow lift once in a while.

Make another one but change the main character's name. Linus is too famous a cartoon character to use. 

[Liam]

7 hours ago, mercer said:

Cool. It looks like something you'd see on Adult Swim. This genre works so well with your dialogue.

Did you do all of the voices?

I loved how I never felt anything for the characters, they just existed.

It was almost so off it was genius. Banal yet edgy. When they were in bed, it went to a different level and I loved it. Would like to see these characters at the supermarket or whispering at Church. Or stuck in traffic.

At first I wished their mouths moved more and then I enjoyed the lack of movement. However, I would have liked a blink or eyebrow lift once in a while.

Make another one but change the main character's name. Linus is too famous a cartoon character to use. 

Thanks Mercer!

Yeahh, I did all the voices.. mostly with a voice changer program though. Hope it wasn't tooo obvious and weird haha

I'm looking at slightly more complicated animation for my next one

Good point on the name, damn. It was between Linus and Popeye

[mercer]

Actually, I was going to commend you with the voices. In your first short, although distinct, it was still obvious both voices were yours. This is not definitively obvious and you controlled the performance(s) very well. If you do continue doing animation, there are a lot of voice actors online involved with audio dramas and most usually have the equipment and ability to record high quality clips.

Well it's definitely weird, but that's right in your wheelhouse. But what I've learned about you and your work, from our discussions on screenwriting and from your shorts, is that your work is weird yet charming. This piece exemplifies that. I think you're real close here... keep at it. 

How difficult was the animation?

[Liam]

37 minutes ago, mercer said:

Actually, I was going to commend you with the voices. In your first short, although distinct, it was still obvious both voices were yours. This is not definitively obvious and you controlled the performance(s) very well. If you do continue doing animation, there are a lot of voice actors online involved with audio dramas and most usually have the equipment and ability to record high quality clips.

Well it's definitely weird, but that's right in your wheelhouse. But what I've learned about you and your work, from our discussions on screenwriting and from your shorts, is that your work is weird yet charming. This piece exemplifies that. I think you're real close here... keep at it. 

How difficult was the animation?

Excellent news about the voices. I was definitely going through some paranoia about that.

I've bee trying to look at voice actors.. mostly I feel like no one will actually care about my work where I'm at right now, and I feel super weird about crediting someone in my film who only helped for the $50 or whatever.

The animation was pretty simple. I drew them all by hand, then just traced them into the computer, a puppet for each character, with variations with the mouths open, eyes blinking, added color, composed each of the full pictures I would need (often just back and forth between a couple), and did the actual animation, like timing, in my NLE over the audio track.

[mercer]

1 hour ago, Liam said:

Excellent news about the voices. I was definitely going through some paranoia about that.

I've bee trying to look at voice actors.. mostly I feel like no one will actually care about my work where I'm at right now, and I feel super weird about crediting someone in my film who only helped for the $50 or whatever.

The animation was pretty simple. I drew them all by hand, then just traced them into the computer, a puppet for each character, with variations with the mouths open, eyes blinking, added color, composed each of the full pictures I would need (often just back and forth between a couple), and did the actual animation, like timing, in my NLE over the audio track.

Honestly at first I was put off by the simplicity of the animation but after 30 seconds or so, the rhythm of the back and forth banter sucked me in and I appreciated the basic animation.

I understand your point about voice actors, but don't sell your work short. Obviously you wouldn't be doing it if you didn't believe in it. So own it and be proud of it. Also, there are plenty of beginner voice actors that would work for free and if you sell your intentions with pride, they'll be happy to jump onboard. 

Remember, most people lack creativity... even people pursuing creative endeavors, and when they see quirky work, they believe it's very artistic and want to be a part of it. Use that... exploit the shit out of your quirkiness.

I've never done any animation, so out of curiosity... how long did it take to produce? Are you planning on entering it in any contests?

[Liam]

1 minute ago, mercer said:

Honestly at first I was put off by the simplicity of the animation but after 30 seconds or so, the rhythm of the back and forth banter sucked me in and I appreciated the basic animation.

I understand your point about voice actors, but don't sell your work short. Obviously you wouldn't be doing it if you didn't believe in it. So own it and be proud of it. Also, there are plenty of beginner voice actors that would work for free and if you sell your intentions with pride, they'll be happy to jump onboard. 

Remember, most people lack creativity... even people pursuing creative endeavors, and when they see quirky work, they believe it's very artistic and want to be a part of it. Use that... exploit the shit out of your quirkiness.

I've never done any animation, so out of curiosity... how long did it take to produce? Are you planning on entering it in any contests?

the actual animation probably only took like a week or two - including making the puppets. film festivals kinda put a bad taste in my mouth with my last film, and I didn't see this one being any more of a smash hit. And it's incredibly not fun just to hang out for a year while you occasionally get rejection emails. So I just went to vimeo this time, adding it to some groups and channels. I guess I'm hoping for that to kind of get me somewhere on its own, but yeahh...

[mercer]

I think what's really interesting about it is that it seems like a comic strip. So keep making them and keep them short. Maybe try and get one out every few weeks or a month. And then I guess spread them across the internet. Post them on Facebook and Twitter and YouTube and Instagram along with Vimeo. I assume there is a huge following for 2D animation, so I would assume you can get it seen, if you find your audience. Hell Adult Swim may have some type of Forum or comment section, at least a Facebook page. Post a link there. Either way, nice work and keep at it, I look forward to the next installation.

If you go forward with it. 

[Liam]

2 minutes ago, mercer said:

I think what's really interesting about it is that it seems like a comic strip. So keep making them and keep them short. Maybe try and get one out every few weeks or a month. And then I guess spread them across the internet. Post them on Facebook and Twitter and YouTube and Instagram along with Vimeo. I assume there is a huge following for 2D animation, so I would assume you can get it seen, if you find your audience. Hell Adult Swim may have some type of Forum or comment section, at least a Facebook page. Post a link there. Either way, nice work and keep at it, I look forward to the next installation.

If you go forward with it. 

Thanks again! I have about one Twitter follower, so that might not benefit me, haha. my plan is like a webseries next. Just finished the rough draft of the script for it. slightly ambitious though, so we will see how this goes.

[mercer]

Live action or animated?

[Liam]

1 minute ago, mercer said:

Live action or animated?

one of each! but the animated one seems more doable right now

[Aussie Ash]

Well done Liam !!! a finished project ,it sure made me laugh !

I am surprised that you did both the female voices ,they sure sound like ladies but some of their words are sort of slurred and hard to understand.

Have you done any work with normal puppets like Seasame st or "Yoda" some of them are very convincing characters

[Liam]

15 minutes ago, Aussie Ash said:

Well done Liam !!! a finished project ,it sure made me laugh !

I am surprised that you did both the female voices ,they sure sound like ladies but some of their words are sort of slurred and hard to understand.

Have you done any work with normal puppets like Seasame st or "Yoda" some of them are very convincing characters

thanks!

Yeah  was pretty pleased over all with the voice changer I found. I'm looking at new audio equipment for sure though...

yeah, I was looking a little bit at real puppets, since I have no actors haha. drawing made a little more sense to me, but I do love muppets