Big Problems and Small Issues I had with Star Wars Rogue One. Spoilers.

I wanted to like Rogue One. I really did. And I try to go in without reading spoilers or gossips and only watched the trailers released..

 But I left the cinema feeling hollow and unfulfilled. Twice. 

Was it a bad movie ala Transformers or Jurassic World? Hell No! Was it a decent movie worth spending to watch it twice? Yes. The 2nd time to actually get over the jarring CGness and to try and absorb the story. So.. was it great? No. 

It is a mediocre story covered with amazing sets and visual effects well executed . That is the problem.

Or as Nerdwriter1 puts it...

Its an amusement park ride. Not a movie.

That was what I felt like when watching Rogue one. A very well-executed amusement park ride. 

Animation and computer graphics for online media. Aka monetize your content.

With so many schools out there churning out students in software knowledge, animation principles, Teaching maya or animation skillsets have become just the bare necessity for students to be proficient. But then, the next step would be think of themselves as them as creators and even entrepreneurs.

I would even say its a need..

I used to think there is a certain bravado in being able to raise above the competition to secure a job in a decent studio. But obviously that cannot be the end game. Especially when the irony is that online digital content is fighting for an audience's time and eyeballs.

Training students to be animators and artists so that they can be good enough to be hired to work long hours in animation and vfx studios in a ever increasing market place can be rather..... sobering. IF you view it in that context.


“You will always have disgruntled people who feel they have to work long hours, but quite honestly, they should get out of it. We don’t make up the schedules and the budgets for the projects. We live within a commercial environment.”

I agree.. and while other people will advocate unionising or protest.. that is not the purpose of this post.

You need to draw eyeballs to you as an individual or your product/creation.

Why?

Thoughts and experiences on making a movie. WIP.

Why make short films. 

I thought there must be more to life then to make other people's movies. I saw the future that lay ahead of me if I continued the path of where my career was going. Overworked with no life.. Now I am overworked with no life AND no money. But surprising really happier. And I finally made my own short. GODAIZER

My honest intention was that before I get too old to do it, I want to tell a story that is my own. I think I got stories to tell that people might like and I wanted to have a shot at making my own short and seeing where it can take me. But the only way to find out is to do it. I only got one life. I do not want to look back and think of excuses why I didn't do it. I do not want excuses. It is also a escape from the mundane reality of every day living.

There were a hosts of other reason. My ego being one of them. I wanted to make my own movie.  I do not want to be a director or a art director for hire. There are much more talented and capable people out there doing it for a living.

In Singapore, its really hard to find a job and make a living. The stress level is already so damn high. To find job, to get married, to have enough money to pay mortage for a flat etc.. Constant worry and stress. You can consider making the short as an outlet for the stress and a form of expression. 

But the one thing that I did not realise was the connection with people. That people like your work. The stuff you create. That you bring a little bit of enjoyment to people out there. That was something unexpectedly rewarding.

steps.

Steps.

Type down all the things in the head. Story, personalities. etc.. all on paper. Mix and match. Might create happen accident,

Experiment with the personality THEN be clear. Trust gut instinct. Because their personality will dictate their reactions and actions. And for the love of god... Pls write down. DUn just procrastinate blindly. Writing down is very good. because it will help you think!!!! PLS PLS! PLS!!!! AAARRRRGGGGGHHH!!!

Ignore the nonimportant stuff. FOCUS!!!!  Highlight the ones that stand out!!! BOLD it! Or color it.

DO NOT LET The nitty griity details get you DOWN. FOR FUCK SAKE!!!! Get the MAIN IDEAS AND BEATS OUT. ARRGGHHH. They are serious eriouss mind fucks and more importantly time waster.

Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story (talk on TED) transcript

This is one of the best video I have heard about storytelling. The man talking in the video is of course Andrew Stanton.

Below is a transcript of the key points that he made on the video for personal use. 

Story Development in Animated Features

"How much time is typically devoted to the story making/boarding/animatic phase of a movie? How well can you tell if the film will work when it’s in animatic form? . . . do stories come out weakly because they didn’t have enough time to keep tightening them, or because you can’t get a good enough idea of the final product from just the boards?"

The entire process is actually a series of overlapping processes, and while the goal may seem to be to satisfactorily complete one phase before moving on, that never happens.

Inevitably, more story and character changes ensue during the animation process, when the folks in charge figure out the real heart and soul of the film, so that much of the animatic is revised or thrown out as scenes and sequences are reboarded, redesigned, reanimated. The story department is usually still hard at work on a film up right up until shortly before animation finishes.

So how well can you tell if the film will work from the animatic? I’m not sure the animatic is the thing anyone should be judging. The typical animatic, despite how detailed these things have become in just the last ten years, still lacks any acting. In CG features, they’re far less expressive than the storyboards. And the animatic production values (lighting, cloth, effects, score, etc., etc.) are crude at best. So animatics can be deceptive.