WISH ME LUCK!

The Animwatch website ( www.animwatch.com ) has issued their animation challenge for September and I am going to go for it. The way it works is they present a piece of dialogue and we have to animate it. the piece I'm doing is only 16 seconds long. That's not too bad. Consider this: On video, there are 30 frames per second. Animation on video is shot on threes, compared to film which is 24 frames per second and done on twos. So this means there are at least 10 drawings per second on video. At 16 seconds that's about 160 drawings. I can do that. The tough part is syncing up the dialogue. I've never done dialogue. Well, I did it once but it was only five words and I just eyeballed it. It worked. So I downloaded the dialogue and analyzed it second by second. I wrote it down on a simple exposure sheet. Theoretically it should work. I've got the layout done. I've got the characters. I've sketched out a mouth movement to each sound on the x-sheet. I have an idea for the acting. I video taped myself acting it out. I even videoed my mouth saying the words to see if I get the write poses.

Here is the dialogue I am working on:

VOICE ONE:Charlie is Pure Management Material.

VOICE TWO:Well, I'm sure he is, but don't you think that the job of Creative Director should go to someone with some creative experience? I mean, he was a road foreman for God's sake!

VOICE ONE:I know you want that promotion, but... hell, I can't even remember your name!

VOICE TWO: It's JEFF!

It has a business tone to it so I immediately got images in my head of "The Office." Here are a couple of my sketches. These are the characters and this is the layout.

The deadline it September 24. Of course I decide to take the new challenge a day or two before my vacation ended last week. So here I am, as usual, rushing and hoping to get it done in time. I need to get the animation done by Monday or Wednesday at the latest. Then I can start shooting it to video and editing the whole thing.

I'm really excited about the whole thing. This is the sort of thing I need to get me going. Combine this with the feedback I've been receiving from mytoons.com, I am really enjoying this all!

WISH ME LUCK!