Its Hot .....

It was eight years ago, when an idea I created for a short film was returned to me just before I was laid off after 5 years of employment. Shortly after this, we moved to Los Angeles...



And yet the story has still been floating in my head ever since.

I think good ideas and stories are like fine wines. All really good tales take time to develop and grow and should be picked before the story gets too complicated or confusing. And so, when my idea was just a funny little thought, I let it grow stronger to see if it would be fruitful and still hold up over time. After the first few versions of the storyboards, I put the final versions away for a few months. The time away from the boards allowed me to later see it with fresh eyes and made story problems were easier to see and fix.
A few years ago, I sat down and created an animatic of the final boards along with a temp track of sound. Again, this animatic was filed away and unearthed again to see if the story worked or not. I did find a few shots to improved and I think I've got the film as good as I can get it without medical science issues. And so, here's how it begins....

The story begins near sunset with a Farmer putting up a "For Sale" sign on his old tracker and then calling for his lost pig. He finds him in a nearby corn field and we discover that the pig is his friend and must do this thing all the time. Just then, the pig notices something in the sky and then the Farmer spots it too. A saucer shaped space ship lands nearby, both Farmer and pig stand still not knowing what to do next.

The ship's doors lower to reveal 3 odd looking backlit shadowy figures standing inside the ship. The Ship is hugh as it dwarfs the Farmer and his pig. The Alien visitors slowly approach and begin to speak an unknown language. The Farmer thinks they are talking about the pig he is holding and hands it to the leader of the group. The Alien looks confused and chuckles, he returns the pig to the ground and gestures to something else, something the Aliens really want.

I don't want to spoil it for you, especially the ending, but I will leave it there for now as I begin reveal more production notes along the way. The film will be about 43 shots long and is less than 5 minutes in length.

Since this is my first attempt at blogging, please feel free to ask me any questions along the way as I take you through this process and madness.

In this day and age, it is possible to do everything on a computer and not draw anything onto paper. I could accomplish this using a wonderful device known as a "Cintiq" made by Wacom.

If any Wacom representives would like to let me borrow a Cintiq to use on this project, I will greatly sing the praises of all your Wacom products, give you screen credit, name one of my children "Cintiq" or anything you like, to be able to use one and impress other animators in my neighborhood. Otherwise, I can't afford one right now, and so, I will be creating this film by scanning in the final drawings as old school as it can get.