Callie is Flying Away...Again!

This week is particularly short (AKA 1 day), because on Thursday I have another plane to catch! It seems like I am always traveling so says Erin, but no matter, because I am up to date with my schedule! And she said it's coolio as long as everything gets finished in the end. Of course I'll stay extra time if I can't finish my project within co op hours, but I'm hoping I don't need to have too many long nights. Last week I added that change to my script about the last scene and modified a background to fit with it, and then today I animated it so I think I'm all done animation.

Even being done animation though, I feel as if I want to fix up a few background closeups. When I was painting in Photoshop, I didn't anticipate how every detail would be very pronounced when the camera zoomed in. So basically anywhere I got sloppy you can really tell. Especially because the main character is a bug so there are plenty of shots that are super zoomed in. Also there was the fact that my first background was a very experimental piece (I didn't know Photoshop at all) and I didn't know all the tricks to make it look clean.

So I'll fix those background issues that are bothering me and review my shots with Darien after. Darien would have reviewed my shots on Thursday but he happens to be on a cruise (lucky guy) and I will also be away visiting grandparents! So we will have to look over everything next week. Adios!

Pippa and the Casting Call

How is it Friday already?! I swear, it was Monday like yesterday.

This week had a lot of casting call stuff for Epic Studios too - and so it should, since the auditions were Tuesday and Wednesday. Which would also explain how I apparently got lost in the space-time continuum.

So Monday was predominantly spent calling agents of anyone who wasn’t confirmed for Epic Studios. Lots of emails, lots of phone calls, lots of voicemails. I’m getting a lot better at making my emails short and to the point. I’ve always struggled with that sort of thing, what with my writer’s nature to make things sound pretty.

I’m really glad that I’m actually becoming less verbose. It only took me sending between twenty and fifty emails of saying pretty much the same thing, when I could have summed it up in a single sentence and made that process a lot less time consuming.

Tuesday and Wednesday took me to Farmhouse Productions to meet the team there, which was pretty cool. I also got to meet a few actors that I knew as I was manning the sign-in sheets for the auditions, which I emailed to ACTRA afterwards. I was surprised to see how quickly auditions actually go.

I also got to do a bit of production scheduling for Epic Studios, and counted how many days each cast member will be needed on set. I got to try some of that in my program, but I’ve been finding that a lot of aspects of a production are easier to wrap my head around when it’s actually attached to a show rather than a school assignment.

Back at Smiley Guy Studios, I started helping with the Vampire Steve weekly meeting schedule, and Erin said next week, meeting notes will be my responsibility. I also got to sit in on a skype interview with one of our future interns from Denmark, so that was cool.

Aside from Smiley Guy stuff, I also helped with a second breakdown for Epic Studios casting which is going to take place Monday. I’ve also finally started compiling that script notes master list for Lisa that I mentioned last week. Working on things for the second casting call is actually why my blog post for this week is going to be late - lots of scheduling and adding and shifting things around. And then I got to make more sides for those characters that didn’t have sides already. There were a lot more emails and phone calls, but we eventually got that all taken care of.

And that was my week.

Callie is Creative!

I thought I would finish animation today but I didn't. Oh well. It was for a good reason. I've realized the final scene in my short was really lame and I didn't like it (it was very anticlimactic) so I brainstormed and brainstormed as to how I could change the last scene using design elements I had already created. It's pretty tricky when you have to confine your creativity to a few flash puppets and like 4 backgrounds. But I discussed with friends and also bothered Lea for about an hour and thus came up with a few ideas. Whoops.

I was wondering if I should set the bug on fire or make him explode but then I went absolutely crazy and figured I should turn Donna, the light bulb into Pacman and have Sam, the Firefly into a little gobbley bit and have the film end with Pacman Donna eating Sam. It's ok though I regained my sanity and chose a different ending. The end to my short will have Sam trying to get to Donna, but then you hear a streetlight flicker on outside and a little “yoo hoo” and Sam will screech to a halt and the camera will cut to outside where a gorgeous streetlight is beckoning him. FIN. This may not be the funniest ending possible but it's much better than the lame pinging against the glass bulb and it works with the design elements I have.

Hopefully it turns out. Have a good weekend!

Pippa is a Busy Bee

Alright, I've had a little time to process everything now. So, to recap, last week was my first week. Depending on the size of the screen you're reading this on, you may be able to see my previous post as well and know that already. And to that I say . . . well played.

So last week I dove headfirst into the world of animation, although my experience in production leans more on the live action side. But, despite diving into the deep end of the pool instead of the where I could at least see the bottom, I managed to tread water long enough to survive my first week. I'll admit, I almost lost it in a sea of casting emails on Friday, but I pushed through and made it back to the surface.

I suppose it's probably not advisable to use so many metaphors involving water in a place with so many electronics, so I'll try to stop the flood of bad jokes here.

Besides helping as a casting assistant for an upcoming web series that Smiley Guy's sister company iThentic is working on (which involves receiving more emails than you do when you subscribe to email updates from your favourite chain stores, except you actually have to answer all of them), I've also been learning about the online database system that Smiley Guy uses for their productions, and I've been working on setting up the database that we'll be using for an upcoming animated web series that Smiley Guy is working on for Teletoon. Since the auditions took up such a large chunk of last week, my work on the Vampire Steve continues this week as well.

Erin taught me how to organize a workback schedule in spreadsheet format. We learned how to make workback schedules on a spreadsheet in my college program, but I could never fully wrap my head around how the spreadsheet thing worked until I saw how Erin made the one for Vampire Steve.

Also, on Friday, I got a moment to try a Virtual Reality gaming system – which was super cool. I accidentally punched Joel in the process, which I still feel bad about, but other than that, only a few virtual characters perished during that particular adventure.

This week, I've done more casting. I've become better acquainted with the Casting Workbook system (finally!) and I finally feel like I'm riding the accompanying wave of emails instead of getting bowled over by it. Which is good, because Lisa's warned me that when we send out the prospective audition times, everyone is going to want to change their time.

Okay, so timeskip and now it's Friday again. The bulk of my week consisted of casting emails. Audition schedules, audition re-schedules and chasing agents to confirm their clients' scheduled audition. I've also been working on cast reports, which was the first time I'd ever used Final Draft, but it was user-friendly enough. I believe next week I'll be back using Final Draft to work on some script note compilations that Lisa wants me to make.

In the time that I haven't been working on the casting call, I've either been in meetings or adding concept links to the Vampire Steve database. I think I've pretty much got the latter just about finished for the first three episodes – I just have to go over them one last time and then I'll be ready to start parenting builds (which I think is the next step?).

And I'm at a full page so I should call it for this entry. Tune in next week for chapter 3!

Callie is Caught Up!

I can't believe it, but I've caught up in my schedule. I might even be ahead of schedule and I never thought that would happen because of how long I spent in design. It's crazy. I think it is a lot to do with the simplicity of my characters and film, but even so I thought animation would take forever!!! It's very strange to think that I have been working on this project for over half a year (slash even that school is almost over!! This is insanity). Everything has gone by so quickly and I'll be leaving Smiley Guy in less than two months :((


I am being too sad too quickly!! I still have 2 months left! Ish! That is plenty of time to use my new key card and be in this super cool environment. I still have maybe a third of animation left to do and then after that I will have to pick out cool music. I'm excited for that part because having a musical element will add so much to it. There's this trailer for The Shining which has been remade so that it looks like a rom com and it's seriously baffling because it's the exact same movie (like the trailer uses movie clips straight from The Shining) but just through music, one of the most classic horror films has been revamped to look like a romantic comedy. Absolutely ridiculous is what it is, and very funny, but it shows just how much music can do so I can't wait to add it to my film. See you Monday!!

Introducing Pippa Marvin!

I'm new to the Smiley Guy Blogisphere, so hello to everyone reading. For those that I haven't had the opportunity to meet yet, my name is Pippa and I'm a Television and New Media Student on internship from Loyalist College in Belleville. You've probably never heard of it. I'm a Production Coordinator Intern here at Smiley Guy, which means I'll be predominantly working with the wonderful Erin English for my internship.

April 4^th was my very first day at Smiley Guy Studios, and I absolutely love it here. This week was pretty intense, but I already don't want to leave. I'm learning so much all the time – production scheduling, how to work the database, and of course, all the different aspects of the animation pipeline that live action productions don't really have – like nat pauses!

A lot of my work so far has been with Lisa Baylin on casting for a new web series, and even though I've done some casting before for school projects, I had hardly even scratched the surface of the casting process. Casting definitely has been the most stressful thing I've worked on so far, but I think I'm one of those people who thrives on stress. And Lisa has been very patient when fielding my many questions as I figure out how Casting Workbook actually works.

Everyone here is absolutely amazing. I'm really excited to be involved in all the projects that Smiley Guy has on their slate – there is so much to learn here.

I had intended to write a more comprehensive overview of my week, but I've got a lot of casting emails I still have to reply to, so I'll save that for next week. And hey, maybe by next Friday, my brain will have actually finished rendering everything I've learned this week. Fingers crossed!

Callie Makes 40,000 Birthday Cards!

This post is going to be fairly short because I must run home to make 40000 birthday cards. Why do all my friends have their birthdays in April??? This week has been very efficient, and I have also mastered half paying attention to my Netflix show and animating at the same time. Whenever I try to watch while I'm doing math it doesn't work because I just watch the screen all the time, but it just so happens that I am more interested in animating than I am in watching the show, so it works out really nicely.

I've started animation, and contrary to my previous belief it is not the longest part of the process (thank god or I wouldn't have finished). There are so many little tricks to use that speed up the process. I probably have around 15 seconds animated which is around half the film, but I think the timing in the animatic is a bit off. Either way, I am getting closer to reaching my goal (and at the same time closer to leaving Smiley Guy :(((). I will think about that later though, have a good weekend!!

Callie Learns to Fly

I haven't done a blog post in forever so I'm making up for it a little bit by writing one for last week (even though I was only at co op for one day). My school schedule was all messed up because of Easter and the grade 10 literacy test. I think I went to school for 3 days that week. I love holidays!! It seems that my brain is too full recently or I'm turning into Dory from Nemo because I literally have no idea what I did on the one day I was here. Actually I have an inkling sort of?

I know that sometime in the past week I learned about Motion guides and tweens from Darien to start me off with animation. I sat down with him for quite a while and he humoured me while I asked thousands of questions because oh my gosh it's a lot to take in. All the shortcuts in Flash are pretty cool and I feel like once I have a grasp on it, the whole animation process will get much quicker which is what I'm hoping for. I have a small clip of Sam flying put together with my background and I know it's small but it's a step in the right direction. Adios!