3D?

I'm facing the big decision of whether to produce this series entirely in 3D. I had made the decision to make the backgrounds in 3d, because painting backgrounds and taking reference photos are too labor intensive for my no/low budget approach. But playing around in 3D led me to make this test of Bradley, and while doing this series in 3D would be more labor intensive for me, it might be cheaper. The pre-production will take longer, but once things get going it should look very good, and the characters will be re-usable.

I would also love to have a small video game made where you drive around campus in a security golf cart running down terrorist hippies, and having the world already made in low polygon 3D will make it much much easier.

Anyway, I'll have to decide within the next week whether to go with Flash or 3D for the characters, and going 3D would be more risky as I try for a September debut of the show...

First After Effects 3D Space Test

This is the first test of compositing the 2D Flash characters in After Effects using 3D space, lighting, and cameras. I'm very happy with the way this came out, and I'm happy to have more RAM to make it easier to work with 3D layers in After Effects. This 3D look will definitely be easier to pull off for night shots like this, and there is still much work to be done in creating the daytime and interior backgrounds.

I can't wait to populate this campus quad with trees, background buildings, and stars in the sky.

New Music For Original Trailer

Mike Cohen of Lucinda Black Bear came up with new music for the trailer, and here's a rough score.

Bradley Character Turn

This is the character turn for Bradley. He was designed by Sam Ferri and Orion Nelson in late 2006, and the turn was completed by Steven Lalonde.

First Things First

I spoke with the agent of a potential Jonesbury writer yesterday, and she had the great suggestion that I focus exclusively on the first episode or two, and then try to find financing, sponsorship, and/or distribution after that.

Because the first two episodes essentially amount to a half hour television pilot episode, we'll produce them both at the same time. We had been planning to work on the scripts for all of the first 10 episodes, and create some art assets for these episodes, while producing episodes one and two. Focusing most of our time and resources on the first two episodes, and getting them done as soon as possible definitely seems like the right thing to do.

I'll still be assigning the scripts for episodes 3 and 4 while producing the first two episodes, so that if funding arrives after episodes one and two are shopped around, we'll be ready to immediately go into production. I will also have established a working relationship with two writers. After I know what kind of budget we'll be looking at, we'll then start writing episodes 5-10 which have already been outlined. The size of the final writing staff remains to be determined.

The goal is to finish the first two episodes by the third week in July, but there is much work to be done. Fortunately, we are already hard at work, and I'll post some updates about the progress we're making, perhaps with art samples from different stages of production.

Alternate Business Plan

Because we're trying to keep the momentum going while looking for funding, instead of just sitting around while September gets closer, I guess you could say we're flying by the seat of our pants, but definitely not flying blind. We'll be making adjustments as necessary. For instance, the design of the secondary characters might be kept more simple than they otherwise would be, and they might not necessarily be full puppets (every movable piece on it's own layer). Fortunately with Flash, it is easy to re-use some assets for various characters, while just making small tweaks to shape and color.

The more things fall into place with the hiring of the writers and animators (and exciting progress is being made), the easier it will be to raise money. I've become aware of a tax incentive that rewards investors generously for investing in film projects that mostly use American production staff.

I'm hoping to have the first episode finished by early August, and to find a distribution company or a connected representative to help me market the show to international markets. Hopefully something happens there, but I'll also be putting the first three or four (or perhaps all 10) episodes up on Youtube, Google Video, etc for free in a medium-low resolution. Fans will have the option of buying hi res versions from itunes, and my website will allow people who pre-order the Volume 1 DVD to sign in and watch streaming high quality episodes before the DVD is shipped in December. My web site will also have every episode in medium-low quality, and we'll have banner ads and perhaps video ads on the site.

I will also be negotiating non-exclusive deals with web sites like AtomFilms, BlipTV, and several other web sites that have ad sharing deals.

Then of course there is the DVDs, sold both in America and internationally. I have confidence that Jonesbury will be able to attract a following that will want to support the show. I will also be selling T-shirts on the web site, and will have fan forums where people can talk about the unfolding mystery, and this will increase traffic and ad revenue.

When the show is about to debut in September, I will be sending sample DVD's of the first two or three episodes to influential blogs and magazines, with custom press releases to maximize free promotion of the show. The participating blogs will mention the web site, and perhaps include the first episode embedded into the blog page.

I also hope to recruit a few students at a few large universities to hand out fliers promoting the show, as students are returning to campus or coming for the first time. This could pay off greatly, and college students will likely be a big part of Jonesbury's audience.

First status update

There have been a few developments in the past few days. A talented composer friend is in the process of re-scoring the music for the old trailer, which will give it a more modern, energetic vibe. Hopefully it proves helpful when I approach potential investors, as well as cast and crew for the show.

I've found our background reference photographer, which I'm thrilled about. He's going to start photography next week, on a campus that should be a perfect fit for the show. He's also a film student, which will definitely help, since there will be a lot of improvising involved. He'll have to imagine animated characters in the viewfinder, and basically be the cinematographer for imaginary stories. I'm in the process of organizing the set lists for each episode, and providing some limited notes.

We plan to have the backgrounds painted at standard resolution because it will be much easier to accomplish, but if the show takes off, we'll still have the high res reference photographs on hand, and the backgrounds and the rest of the show could be re-rendered in Hi Definition, which would look really good.

Today I posted a job notice for playwrights on a few different web sites, and I've been very excited with the quality of applicants and writing samples so far. I look forward to putting together a nice team, and know Jonesbury will be better written than what I could ever do by myself. This collaboration should be very enjoyable and educational.

I've also been organizing the existing Flash art assets created for the trailer. The book Foundation Flash Cartoon Animation has excellent advice about setting up and organizing Flash projects. The authors are an Emmy winning team from Animax, and they use more advanced organizational techniques than I've read about previously.

Tomorrow I'll be posting an ad for a Flash illustrator/character designer to help flesh out the character libraries. For example, I might already have a character's body drawn in front and profile views, but over the course of 20 episodes I'll also need 3/4 front view, 3/4 rear view, and rear view of the characters body. Same goes for all of the characters' faces. I have front, 3/4 front, and profile views for the faces of every main character, but I'll also need the angles when the characters are facing away from the camera.

There are also several secondary characters that need to be designed. Over the next couple months, as scripts 3-10 are written and polished, and as the art assets are finished, we'll be able to put animatics together for the episodes. The animatic will allow us to watch entire episodes, with only still images and an amateur voice track. We'll be able to see how the episode is playing, and see if any changes are needed. The changes can be made efficiently, before the real actors record the characters' voices, and before animators start moving the characters to the actors' voices.

The goal is to have "Jonesbury" debut in early September, and to have DVD Volume 1 (10 episodes) finished in time for the Holiday DVD buying season.

Moving Forward

Things are starting to come together with the series. Completing outlines for all 20 Season One episodes was a major factor. While I'll still be pursuing some financing, having the basic structure of the season down has given me a lot more confidence to move forward with a no budget/deferred payment strategy.

Some of the episode outlines of will undoubtedly be changed, but not flying blind makes the leap towards production less intimidating, and very exciting.

The Original Trailer

This is the trailer from before the series became a crime mystery. These backgrounds are based on low res photographs pulled from the internet. The backgrounds for the series will be based on high res custom photographs, and will be composited in After Effects. Different elements of the backgrounds will be placed on different layers. Lights, camera movement, and focus will affect these layers differently, and the results will be more three dimensional.

Here's an example of Flash animation given 3D depth by compositing with After Effects:
The Boondocks