pullman making of on RTL Boulevard 19:30 Wed night

m0ds · Tue 09/10/2007 15:49:50

Artists also needed! See very bottom of this post if you do NOT animate!

TIME NOT INCLUDED!

But if you can give me some it'll make up for the hour I spent writing this thread & losing it!

The film's £150,000 budget was raised in 2 days

As you may know I've been helping on The Butterfly Tattoo, a low budget film of a book by Philip Pullman which is hopefully going to ride the wave of New Line Cinema's latest trilogy of another series of books by the same author. TBT is being taken to Cannes next year. It is wanted, and gauranteed to be in cinemas. Distributors are already interested - the question is, who will buy it?

New Line distributed Lord Of The Rings

I've been working on the behind the scenes material, for use in promoting it and includsion on the DVD. I have three very specific films to make. Firstly, the one it was funded for - which is actually a documentary on the producers - and how they made it happen. This has to be done by mid-november. The second is something for the DVD. A more general breakdown of just good times & fun moments and what not from the filming. I don't know when this has to be done yet because details on the DVD are sketchy at this stage, but I know the producers will make sure behind the scenes material will go on it (and I'm the only person to have shot any, so buddabing! :p)

New Line's existence apparently relies on their next trilogy. Perhaps they should start using real actors again?

The third piece is a 10 min promotional piece. Originally it was going to feature at the Dutch Film Festival but timing really wasn't great, and it just wasn't possible. So now I'm going to enter it into the BBC blast thingy* to be aired on BBC2 [which is a cool thing!!] around December (if they pick it...December time, big Pullman film being released around then...high chance?

)

So basically what I'm getting at is that there is great potential in some good exposure here. I'm already using fantastic music by Gregjazz who is doing a wonderful job on tunes, and I'd like to be able to showcase more work from people from AGS! Like Greg, although its unpaid, you will be credited. You could see your name on bbc2, youtube & a thousand million Warner Bros. dvd's :p

This is what I'm looking for, and there are multiple choices!

I need some animation. DESPERATLEY. To give the opening titles that real KICK, and to be used in all THREE of the films I have to make. I cannot draw or animate otherwise I would have made an AGS game :p but I know some of you people here can create some AMAZING stuff! But, working with animators I still get a pretty good picture of how long certain things can take.

So I don't want to go over the top. What I'm looking for is a grayscale animation, black & white. Hopefully this will reduce the amount of time it takes to make it, depending on which version YOU think you could manage.

Okay. So it's all about animating butterflies...well, A butterfly. Here is how I want the intro to look. If someone can stick to storyboard I will be over the moon, but I AM also open to other ideas. Basically I'm open to any interpretations of what's below. The way I envisaged it originally was like an animated line drawing, that creates the kind of 3D effect or POV. Well, here's what I had in mind.

1) It's a black screen, the butterfly flutters on, the company logo appears, the butterfly stops by it.
2) Although the butterfly doesn't actually move, the logo does. it looks like the butterfly is flying away from the logo, and is getting higher - closer to the camera.
3) The butterfly is close to the camera, and the angle shifts, from looking down on it to being behind it.
4) Trees, a forest etc becomes visible, the butterfly flutters about it, some flowers/bushes, thru trees etc
5) Comes to a clearing. PART OF TEH FILM SET IS THERE! YAY.
6) it flutters about equipment, people who go awww at it
7) it gets crushed? LOL nah there is no specific end yet. At that point it goes into video footage, so you are allowed to decide where within the film set and how it lands/stops etc. But nothing violent :p

Right, so that's the general concept. Sound intense? Maybe this will make it better; it only needs to be 18 seconds long. If someone thinks they can make a 1 minute 04 version I will gladly drop my intro & let you turn the whole thing into an animation, but realistically I don't think you'd be able to.

I am open to any forms or variations whether you try something in 2D or 3D or whether you just try something butterfly related that doesn't follow the storyboard above. I just need some animation in the intro! Seriously

Oh, and if you want to use Flash that's FINE! But you must remember I will need any animation you create to be sent eventually in AVI (or possible .mov) format. For previews sake then any other format is fine for now.

So are you interested? If you are or just want to try something it would really help me

And hopefully by including it I can help you! And you can become famous and work for Disney or something! Or TellTale, or Dave Gilbert Interactive

If you ARE interested, here is what I need you to work on. All animations must be this size (720x576) in order to look right on screen.

And here is the superb intro tune by Gregjazz. The animation runs from roughly 06 seconds to 24 seconds...
http://www.screen7.co.uk/junc/behindthebutterflytattoo.mp3

There is ONE final catch!

If you want your work to appear on the BBC, it must be ready within 7 DAYS A SCKLEPTLIC! I have to submit it VERY VERY SOON! So that is pressure. And I can understand that because you're not getting paid it could be quite hard. But that's why I want something in black and white, minimal colouring!!!! Hopefully more time!!

Anyway. I'm just going to stop talking and wait and see if anyones interested. If you are just post up here, or PM me or email me. The right email address to use is in my profile. GET CREATIVE PEOPLE!

Even if no-one has time, thanks for wasting some reading all this

*LGM, perhaps you could submit pingpong

ManicMatt, you could submit music videos

Yahtzee, you could submit propaganda :

IceMan you could submit cutscenes from DNG2

ARTISTS! I need your help also, you too will recieve a credit everytime your piece is used!

The following logo is too small, and doesn't look right on video:

I need a NEW version that fits nicely into the 720x576 black box above. Ideally I just want to see the facial outline in smooth white on the black box above. But I'm interested to see 3D versions too, I'm also very interested to see some crazy cinematic opening to it :p But REALLY all I need is a bigger, clearer, nicer version. With or without pink! It doesn't have to be a spitting image, and I do NOT want the text in your picture because I will add that later. Oh, and the more it looks as if its from THUNDERBIRDS (Lady Penelope etc) the better!!!! LOL. So again, if anyone has time to rework this logo for screen - please do!!! I need it desperately

THANKS!!!1

ildu · Tue 09/10/2007 17:33:23

Seems like a great opportunity and I congratulate you on everything

!

So, I just wanna get this right. You want:

(a) an 18sec butterfly intro for all three features that more or less introduces the production company.

- Is the animation supposed to partly overlap real footage or what might the background be? If you could show some screencaps, that'd be awesome.
- What restrictions does the real footage give to the animation? Can it be cartoony and funny, or would you rather have something artsy and sleek?
- How early would you able to provide the footage on which to animate?

(b) a new logo design to fit the screen format.

- Do you need an entirely different redesign of the logo, or should it just be identical but functional on screen? If the former, how different is it allowed to be?
- You mentioned animation - is the logo supposed to be animated as well?
- Is it supposed to be black & white or should the pink be included?

I apologize if you already answered these. I just wanted to be sure.

Anyhow, I'm very interested and would like to give it a go

. I'm pretty free for the next seven days so I could force it with the help of instant pizza and Red Bull

. Come to IRC and tell us more.

m0ds · Tue 09/10/2007 17:46:46

Thanks ildu! Unfortunately I don't have time or patience to visit IRC at the moment but I'm happy to answer questions here. So I'll just go over what you've asked...

a) Yep, 18 seconds, it's not to introduce a company though, its to introduce "Behind the scenes of the Butterfly Tattoo". I mentioned in the first post that there is no specific ending, but I might ask for the butterfly to end on a clapperboard or just a title that reads; "Behind Philip Pullman's The Butterfly Tattoo" or similar.

So the animated intro is really just a focus on a butterfly flying about, and hopefully flying past at least one location from the filming. And you can get plenty of inspiration for these at http://www.youtube.com/butterflytattooBTS the canal boat or an extetior location would be best!

- The animation, at 18 seconds, will NOT overlap any footage. It will purely be there on its own. So the background is black. Ideally I want everything you see in the animation to be made up of black and white stuff. Lines, drawings... I'm just interested to see what you might come up with

- Therefore no restrictions. The only restriction is THIS. At the end of the 18 seconds, the butterfly flies off screen. After 18 seconds is when some REAL footage kicks in. At the end of this, and at the point of the creshendo in the music, is probably the best time for the butterfly to re-appear and LAND on the title "behind the scenes" etc. So it may well be split into two parts. One 18 second part and the final 4 or 5 second part. Hope that makes sense!!!

- I can show you a WIP intro as it is after dinner, so in about 10 minutes. You can see where the blank black area is for an animation to sit.

b) Yup

- Not necessarily a redesign, it still has to look like the one I've showed you! What I really meant was just a way for it to look much nicer against black. Because that version really does not! Even if its turned into a 3D version or something. I dunno. Again I want you to play around, make some designs!

- It's not meant to be animated. That'd just be a bonus. But it's only on screen for 2 or 3 seconds, so not worth animating really.

- Black and white, pink if you can get pink in there will really make the producers smile!

Hope this helps, it'd be great to have you do this animation dude!!! Anyway must eat, back in a bit!!!!1

m0ds · Tue 09/10/2007 18:11:27

Ildu, here's my intro wip. You can see where the Lady Productions logo would need to go. Just before or after that fades out the butterfly flies on and lands next to the bigphat films logo. You can then see the motion you would need to animate too briefly, of the butterfly flapping. Once it's into complete black then you're free to do whatever you want with the animation. Then, when the footage kicks in, the animation will have stopped. The transition from animation to footage will probably be as simple as fade out last held frame of animation and fade into real footage. But maybe other ideas will crop up?

http://www.screen7.co.uk/junc/bts_bbc_intro_wip.wmv
(if you see nothing, right click & save as somewhere)

Anyway let me know if you think its possible. I may even be able to donate something towards that much needed pizza you require

hehe

radiowaves · Tue 09/10/2007 18:52:28

Ugh, you call that pink oval on a white background even a logo??? I could try putting it together, since I am learning the arts of media. Just E-MAIL me your requirements, ideas, moto etc.
I probably know some guys who know a guy who can animate butterflys

who did the butterfly to our amateur movie this year: http://www.freewebs.com/omafilmid -- yes, the butterflies at the beginning are 3D animations. And ending animations in here: http://akamai.kolhoos.ee/ukproductions/lindeberg2005/Vanameeste_N%C3%A4ppaja_xvid.avi (I had nothing to do with that movie)
Ofcourse, I doubt he will do it since its only 7 days and right now its hard to catch him anyway...

And don't tell me you don't read PMs, especially the one I sent to you recently!

And ofcourse, I think it could be solved with the easier way. The white titles could be created by flat white (matching the style of text) flying butterfly. You could draw the butterfly on paper and vecotorize it in illustrator or something or do it directly if you can

The titles could run through the whole beginning (ofcourse if there are any..

)

m0ds · Tue 09/10/2007 19:20:46

Great butterflies!! Unfortunately I'm looking for instant solutions, dude. I will simply not include an animation and do something completely different if this doesn't work out. But I want to give the animation a chance and preferably by someone who works within the AGS community

I do have your latest PM, which I will reply to once I've gotten through all the replies I have to write slowly!

This film thing is immense, and I've been given a lot of great further duties that I'm determined to see through. But OUR stuff is still a definite! I will PM you back tomorrow, I have to work now, but so you know I've seen your latest and it's great! But we do need to chat, so hold out!

Thanks for the advice! Time to go to work...

m0ds · Thu 11/10/2007 14:10:33

Awesomeo - well Miez is kindly handling the static Lady Productions graphic.

All that's needed now is someone crazy enough to make the 18 second animation

Da_Elf · Tue 16/10/2007 18:18:23

just thought id announce that i was the one crazy enough to do the animation hehe. although i think it was more like 24 seconds than 18

m0ds · Tue 16/10/2007 19:19:37

Yes indeed, many thanks dude, its looking superb!!! And it works really nicely with the footage, too!

Thanks to ildu and Stefan for offering to help also (and I apologise for not emailing you back Stefan, been a busy few days) but Da_Elf has done a fantastic job!

You can check out the animation here, though this isn't the final version!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB-8obhJrM8

Da_Elf · Wed 17/10/2007 04:52:05

this is with the more painted filter its not as noticable at this kind of resolution though
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH7uogz26wk

TheMagician · Thu 18/10/2007 17:01:01

Quoteand I apologise for not emailing you back Stefan

Not a problem. I can imagine your tight schedule in the last days.
And I agree that Da_Elf's animation is top. Looking forward to see the final product.

Neil Dnuma · Thu 18/10/2007 18:20:51

Nice job, but I feel the butterfly is to stiff and the wings to slow. Check out this for a slow motion study, and this for some speed/movement observations. The wings should be more affected by their movement. Also this is a rather long intro, and might get boring if watched several times. The first 3 seconds are superfluous, and the camera tracking (and taking note of) the lamp before panning to the clapper board is messy. Maybe showing the lamp isn't really necessary.

Sorry if crits are not appreciated, just my observations. Either way this looks pretty.

m0ds · Thu 18/10/2007 18:35:55

For 10 minutes notice and 2 days work I think he did a smashing job. There are imperfections but the fact he stood up & just got on with it is exactly what I was looking for. I wasn't that bothered by quality, just someone actually stepping in & taking care of it. Which has been done.

So yeah, criticisms not really appropriate... :p But thanks none the less. Next time I'll hire Pixar and make sure everything matches A Bugs Life!

TheMagician · Sat 20/10/2007 17:44:28

Well m0ds, for my email to you and the third of an afternoon I spent to do the test you could be so very kind and tell me what software and especially which instrument library your composer used for this great intro-tune

m0ds · Thu 13/12/2007 01:59:18

Thank you dude. Sorry if I didn't get back to you - been quite distant lately, only dropping by online when absolutely necessary! The simple thing to do is ask our own member Gregjazz

I'd also like to know what kind of software he uses!!!

Just a little update on this! The animation - given the very short time span Da_Elf had to make it was a complete success! Very very awesome

Sadly the BBC, who kept in regular contact, decided not to air it. Which is a shame! But Blast is focussing on drama, music & animation (tho they also asked for documentaries originally too) DANG. anyway I'm also glad cos I had to VO it and its shit & snotty :p This video is really just about the young producers making the philm happen, acted as a test for the 40 minute version Im working on :p Still you can see the 10 minute bts episode online now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOz0AYLlImY

Also, they just released the teaser trailer for the film itself today, which is nice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTu0EWG3tmo

And of course the Golden Compass is in cinemas so please let me know what you think of it if you've seen it, because I haven't yet!!!1

Greg, Elfy, miez, magican - everyone who has helped or just shown interest - thank you!! Couldn't be possible without j00! ETC.

ps. The animation will be re-used for the video diary, the version I hope will be included on dvd's n stuff

and something will hopefully be arranged for a soundtrack release in conjunction with the gregmeister! its been great fun so far! lets see where it goes from here!

anyway...BUSYNESS!

Gregjazz · Thu 13/12/2007 04:56:18

Wow, looks great!! I can't wait to see the film.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Thu 13/12/2007 05:19:08

Yay! Looks good.

Ali · Sat 15/12/2007 10:45:34

I'm on a computer without speakers, so I've only had an opportunity to skim-watch those links, but it all looks very interesting. Hopefully I'll get a chance to sit down and watch the doc properly soon!

Congratulations!

I think you should probably give the Golden Compass a miss if you liked the books, or enjoy well made films. It was well cast, beautifully filmed, poorly shot and clumsily scripted affair. I found it to be atmospheric and exciting in places, but I think that was largely due to my love of the books.

Miez · Sat 15/12/2007 14:48:46

Quote from: Ali on Sat 15/12/2007 10:45:34
I think you should probably give the Golden Compass a miss if you liked the books, or enjoy well made films. It was well cast, beautifully filmed, poorly shot and clumsily scripted affair. I found it to be atmospheric and exciting in places, but I think that was largely due to my love of the books.

Couldn't agree more...

And the movies look super, m0ds! Total awesomenessity...

SSH · Sat 15/12/2007 17:02:40

How wierd, I just read this book without knowing what you were up to, Mark!!