Brand New Completely Final Animatic

Well, here it is. Finally the final version of the story. All it needs now is the music and sound effects. Hopefully our sound guy James (aka Jason) can do that for us. Actually, I think all that work paid off. It's much snappier now and it flows much better than before. Great work Smiling' Simon, for getting this done.

Changes to Script

Hi,

Well Mike had a look at the film last week and had lots of nice things to say about it which is good. His one comment was he got a bit confused as to what was on camera and what was off camera. The thing is it's all on camera, the viewer is supposed to be the audience watching it at home on their TV sets, just as they actually would be. He suggested overcoming this issue by having camera men working cameras, out of focusing and slight camera shakes. He also suggested something at the start just to fully indicate to the audience, so I came up with the idea of using a movie clapper board.
Looking at the script again, I have had feelings about it. Considering that it has taken me about a week to animate one 10 second scene, I am now fretting over the length. Will we be able to get this done in time. Considering this, I have gone in with a axe and chopped out anything that is not absolutely necessary. This usually resulted in bits of lines of dialogue going, however it did result in the entire disappearance of the scene where he describes the dental tools. I'm sad to see it go but I'm really worried here. Anyway here is the new script.

Script 09/02/2009

Movie Clapper Board.

Focuses In

Susie-May: Live from the Deep South of America. Brought to you by Aunt Marcie’s (Fatback Bits in Gravy). It’s The Professor!

Camera pans back revealing studio

Audience: Clap! Clap!

Title fades in

Prof: Howdy! Welcome to the show! Woops!

Prof knocks award of shelf.

Man in audience laughs

Prof: You know I keep knocking over this award I won at university for my thesis on the advanced growth of bananas. And this got me thinking…people slip on bananas. And what’s the opposite of slipping, sticking, yes. What do people step on that’s sticky, gum, gum, chewing gum. Thinking about gum, gums, we have gums in our mouths. Which is why today’s topic is dentistry. Whilst I get ready R.A.M why don't you tell the folks at home more about teeth.

R.A.M: Glad to Prof! Teeth are loose bones held to the jaw by soft tissue known as gums. When bacteria enter the gum line it eats away causing diseases.

Bacteria: heh heh heh!

R.A.M: So that's why it is very important to brush and floss your teeth.

Prof realises he needs help from audience

Prof: R.A.M

R.A.M initiates picture generator.

Lights flash over audience.

Stops on Mort.

Mort in first row eating a banana.

Prof grabs Mort.

Mort drops banana.

Mort gets rushed into chair.

Prof: Studying at university I witnessed many dental procedures. I can’t believe I’m doing my first one. Open Wide!

Mort: Hmmmmpfff!

Prof: Look at all these gingivitis filled gums… Isn’t that fascinating! Now let's get started.

Click, Click.

Prof: Hmmm having a bit of trouble here. Maybe if I pull a little. GULP!

Mort’s Tooth pings out

Ram: GASP!

Light falls down on Professor’s head.

Mort’s head swells up!

Mort: EEEE!

R.A.M jumps down, hops over to get Susie

Prof: Don’t worry it’s all part of the procedure I’m competent

RAM brings Susie back

Susie-May: Don’t worry because Aunt Marcie’s (Fatback Bits in Gravy) is not only a tasty snack, it is also an all purpose medical treatment.

Mort’s head swells back down.

Prof: Well we have come to the end of our show see you next time science seekers.

Prof slips on banana peel.

Camera pans out over audience.

Fades to credit sequence-showing stills from other episodes.

Susie-May: This episode was brought to you by Aunt Marcie’s (Fatback Bits in Gravy). Come all back now you here!

New Storyboards

As explained we have reorganised the story to make it shorter and more concise. Here are the new boards to fill in the story. It will make more sense in the new animatic.

Re-working Story

Yesterday we had to re-work the story again. Kieron felt that it was too big and didn't make sense. So we've shortened it down and moved some scenes around. The problem is new scenes will have to be created for story sense, but I really don't want to bother the voice artists for more dialogue. I'm going to have to be clever about this. This has to be the final time, we need it stable to move into production as soon as possible.

New Boards

Here are the new boards that have been added to the film. I will explain. This first board is just a slight change in the dialogue for Susie's introduction.
This is the biggest change. My brother Lewis and I came up with this Jeff Goldblum Esq. rant for the Professor. It highlights the trophies, showing his intelligence, and hopefully, builds up suspense and surprise.

This is a scene added where the light falls on his head, making him look even more foolish when he states "Don't worry, I'm Competent!" Thanks James.

Character Poses

Simon ask me to draw up some of the key character poses for use in the block out. So I did. Took a while though. I believe he wants to use Elisha's background model, animate the cameras to match the storyboards and composite these on top in Aftereffects. If he can do it, that would be great.

New Animatic

Here's the new animatic. We've shortened it down by a few minutes, it's now about 2 minutes 20 seconds, which is much better. More importantly it feels snappier and better. Now we have just given it to Jason (sound designer) to see what he can do before Friday. What do you think.

New Boards

Here are the new boards. They are not exactly in the correct order, but they are taken out of context anyway. I tried to make the ending much bigger, but I didn't want to go too gross. So I went for a more ridiculous feel to it. We have to record new dialogue and put it in the animatic. I might be too long so edits will have to be made to cut it down to two minutes. Then we can give it to Jason Hodder, the sound designer. We've got to get that done asap.

Inspiration for new ending

To inspire me into creating a new idea for the ending, I decided to watch some Tom and Jerry cartoons. I felt that this type of humour was perfect was big, funny but not gross. Specific cartoons are like "Bowling Alley Cat" and "Mouse Trouble".

Story Crisis

Okay everyone. Early Test screenings have come back we have notes. They feel the camera is too static and the ending needs to be bigger, funnier. It's too safe, pedestrian. We must re-write. Everyone think bigger, funnier. Group pitch is only three weeks away.

First Animatic

Here is the first copy of the animatic with the scratch voice track. Looking at it, I feel that
a) we should pan out to reveal the studio
b) we should cut away to reveal the product
c) the tooth should be shown more under pressure of scaler to build tension and
d) the tooth should be shown at the end to intensify the moment when the tooth is removed.

Animatic Version 2 Coming Up.

Storyboard on my blog

Daryl

Storyboard on my blog. Let's do this.

Greenlit Storyboard

This is the greenlit storyboard. We're heading straight into production. No sleep for me.

Unused Gag Concepts

Here are some unused gag concepts for the film. I was thinking of putting them in but I think time will be against it.
The story has been altered again. I felt he needed to be more professional at the end. Sort of like how this lady conducts herself after her live t.v blunder.

Getting Ready

Getting the story ready for Tuesday. Currently it is running at 2 minutes 15 seconds so I might have to cut some dialogue down. I trying to figure out what is best for the story. Mike Hirsch has been a great help and so has my group (Big Thanks to Simon for dialogue re-write). Hopefully Elisha will do some great backgrounds. I'm thinking of doing R.A.M in 3D. Let's hope it all goes well on Tuesday and I can kick off into production.

Storyboard Pitch on Tuesday!

Ahhhhh! Storyboard Pitch on Tuesday. I'm first one. Gotta get the story ready, got to board it. Got to write essays. Ahhhh!

Re-worked Story Idea

Here is the new rough storyboard thumbnails. As previously mentioned, the three things I got from David Bull's suggestions was

a) to set up that he is a credible scientist
b) to set up that he's read up all about dentistry but has never actually done it before and
c) that it was a live t.v. show.

I was struggling with this until my brother Lewis suggested that I open it like a live t.v show with an announcer and titles. And Susie now gets used, great. Then all I had to do was mention that he has witnessed many procedures in the past at college and that this was his first. Certain dialogue may need to be tweak and camera angles sorted out, but I'm happy.