February 20, 2009

Bullies StoryBoard Reworked

Finally the board is done! It was a bit of a 'behind the scenes' operation and I'm sorry for it. Thanks goes to all the test-readers: your comments were of priceless value and is highly appreciated! For the time to come posting will come much easier, because it doesn't need to go through this unavoidable 1 person 'secret' funnel any more. Now we all know what we are talking about. So let the games begin!



9 comments:

  1. It seems to flow well now, your perseverance has paid off, curious to see how Mustafa works the animatic :)

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  2. It rocks bigtime!
    Awesome work you guys :)

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  3. I dont know when the jacket replaced the furry creatures but I care more about a character when he loses his fur then his jacket and its much funnier.

    And i still think you dont need the first scene where the bullies steal a ticket. Its more confusing then adding something to the gag.

    what do you guys think?

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  4. I agree with the jacket part. I can understand it's nice to have some kind of opening-shot/scene But maybe it's better to show more of the furry-planet, or where the bullies come from. (just a thought)

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  5. The jacket stays for two reasons:
    -a philosophical (maybe commercial) one: I don't want the Bullies to become plain ass-holes. If they would rip off the hair or shave the alien, to me it's a bridge too far from funny. If we do not give a possible 'escape' to be able to turn it right again, no-one will root for the Bullies and no-one will ever buy a shirt, or mug, or underwear. It's important for everyone involved to have characters people CAN like. Even if it's Bullies.
    -The other reason is a more practical one: with the hair translated into a coat you don't need to be a grown-up Einstein to get what's going on. It brings the situation back to real schoolyard bully-ing too: "Give me your coat, it's cold". If we would want to de-hair the alien, it would cause a complicated situation which would need more shots to have it come across. Probably complicated animation and scary tools too.

    The openingsshot is just an extended titel-card. Nobody really needs to understand it. It's an 'extra' to shake the audience awake to pay attention from there on. And if people DID understand immediately what was going on they get the bonus knowledge of how the Bullies get their invitation: by bully-ing it out of somebody. Or get the audience rewind the short again, that's fine with me too :)
    Also, the whole shot is designed to jump-start the real first (classic) shot: 'Bullies hoovering through the air searching'. To have this shot hectic and confusing CONFIRMS the quite opening by contrast. The show literally starts with a boom.

    Obviously, there are 1001 variations to a concept as this one. I would say 'save it for the next episode'. I'm sticking with this one.

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. (oops accidentaly deleted so posted again)
    I would advise to stay away from animation a bit longer: First translate the board's camera and movement indications into a timed reel. At this time DO NOT invest in creating animation apart from moving around (storyboard) layers and objects. Also add a temp soundtrack.
    More than anything this process will reveal to you if your story communicates in timed media. And I don't mean so much if a gag is funny or not or if an idea is the best it could be. That's very much a matter of taste and (I'm sure) will be fuel for many more discussions. The reel's main purpose is that it will tell you if your story communicates itself well. The proof is in the pudding. I predict you will find problems with the clarity of scene 16 (Disco entrance). Seems to me the necessary steps to understand what is going on there, especially in relations of the reject
    customers, are not present yet.

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  8. But of course Wilbert, first we will have to check if the plot works against time. I'm convinced we will find some 'issues' to take care of too. Mustafa Kandaz is working on the animatic and he takes the board just as guidance.

    It will most likely just look like moving shapes.

    Certainly some elements in the board again will be tweaked, so THEN I can start working on the modelpack-wish-list for the designers.

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