The Ocean Maker - The Insider Story - Part 3

Continued from Part 1 and Part 2.

So the team set to work on the film. As the point man put in charge of documenting the production I was encouraging everyone else to take pictures and videos... to get coverage while I sunned myself in the corner and watched them work their socks off! ... Ok, not quite... I actually set myself the task of interviewing each team member so that we got everyone's initial impressions. Not an easy thing for everyone to do as we're not all comfortable with the camera and it was something that we all had to get used to. But we got through it and captured a few great conversations as we got to know the team.

While I was doing that, everyone else was setting up. Tray went to task setting up a way for us all to share files. Essentially his laptop acted as the server, and we each pressed a sync button on our laptops that sent all our changes to the server then downloaded any chances to our machines. It was a lot more data than we all really needed but on a local network it worked fine. A dirty but perfectly functional system. There was also something distinctly satisfying about watching the graph of the data uploading and downloading, it acted as a nice little break from the work.

This syncing process also allowed Lucas and I to play tag with the edit. Essentially we had what we started with from our sessions in New York and we told each other who had the latest edit every few hours. Each of us making changes then syncing when we were done. It was an experiment and it could have gone very wrong, having two animation directors putting their mark on the edit. Since it was his project I had to accept that he had the final say but it was important for me to showcase my ideas too and make sure they got a chance shine. Some ideas I put in there didn't fit in with what he wanted, and other things I did were better than what he'd planned for. So it was a give and take. I could also bring workflow techniques to the edit that I'd picked up from years of studio work. Ultimately we got a lot out of it and I feel like the film was a lot better for both of us having had a chance to bat it around and try things out. Some ideas that I put in that got shot down early even came back later on after other approaches had failed, so every little thing you try has a chance to shine eventually.

Getting back into Softimage XSI (the 3D Software) was a challenge for me, and there were a lot of questions flying around between the animators about how to do things. For a while it acts like a creative block, stopping you from greeting your ideas to the screen quickly, but time passes, you stick with it and the barrier lowers and the creative flow speeds up. Eventually we were working at quite a fair pace churning out shots. Now that I'm back from the island and using Maya again for most projects it can be difficult getting back into XSI mode again. It makes you realize how valuable that solid block of time was to focus on one workflow. Switching workflows regularly just slows you down and requires a ramp up time for each, so you tend to get less work done overall when you have to do things that way.

Our Asset/Shot Tracker

Anyway, back to the island and Lucas was having to focus on rigging polish for the main character so that the Animators could get started. So I had a bit of free reign to work on some big sequences on my own, creating the shots in 3D. This is essentially the Previs and Layout stage. I put very little time into finessing the details of the animation and focused instead on the shot setup, the way the shots cut together, the camera movement and what was needed in each shot to tell the story. I'd move on as quickly as I could to get enough footage in the timeline so that we could review the film. Our goal was to get the entire film roughed in over the first couple of weeks and we came in pretty close.

Once the Animators were up to speed and the kinks were out of the character rig, Lucas was able to join in the shot creation process again and we sat on the sofa working side by side. The efficiency in this can not be stressed enough. We bounced ideas back and forth really quickly, saw what each were doing and quickly got on the same page making shots that complimented each other in a similar style. It was a big bonding moment for each of us, I think. We'd circled each other as filmmakers for years and swapped stories but it was really incredible to be working side by side like that for the first time. A very memorable moment for me in my career and it made it all worth while.

I have a pretty large collection of film soundtracks so we had plenty to choose from to flesh out the temporary score. With that and a few key sound effects in place we soon had our first watchable animatic. There were still a few storyboard panels representing the character shots, which could be a bit jarring to people not used to seeing the jump in styles but we converted them over to 3D in due time. We had a TV mounted on the wall and a long HDMI cable so we gathered the team and put it up on the big screen. This was a great chance to record the event and capture everyone's reactions so I would recorded video discreetly while everyone watched the film for the first time. The lights went down and we hit play. Hearts were pounding as we waited to see where all this was going. Was it worth the trip? Were we stuck on an island with a mad man for another month with no way to escape? When were we going to get to see Netflix again? Was it worth missing the latest season of [insert favorite TV show] for? Was my hamster starving for nothing? [kidding].... Patience... all will be revealed.

Part 4 is coming tomorrow and will detail some of the greatest challenges film-making  In the mean time check out the campaign which includes other videos about the project. Please feel free to share the story.

The Ocean Maker - The Insider Story - Part 2

Continued from Part 1.

So the The Ocean Maker was effectively underway in a virtual way, with some team members in Austin. One up in Canada who was just starting to figure it all out. Lucas bouncing around between cities, and me in New York starting to deal with story issues. There was much more to it than that but I'll let the other team members tell you their story. We did get the chance to hangout a little bit and meet up with each other over Google Hangout at one point, which if nothing else, just made it all a little bit more real.

One key thing we had to deal with before we set off to the Caribbean was hardware. One or two of us had laptops powerful enough to work on but many didn't and Lucas opted to buy a laptop for each of us to use. They were very respectable machines, nothing special but very capable for what they cost and had a large screen. Henning and I both got one and began setting them up ready for use. It wouldn't have been possible for Lucas to bring over all the hardware himself as that would have complicated things a lot, so we each took one in our hand luggage.

The next step was to get to Belize... or it would have been if my rent wasn't so much in New York! Yes Lucas was able to pay for all our expenses going to the island, and living there, but since we weren't going to get paid for our time the rent still had to be paid. So the two people coming from New York, Henning and I, both made an effort to find friends and sub-letters for our apartments. Unfortunately it was a lot of stress and I only managed to get half the costs of the place covered. So essentially I still had to pay quite a lot in rent and bills while I was away while earning nothing and potentially passing on paid jobs. Not ideal, but it shows just how dedicated we all were to the cause that we each had at least part of that to contend with in order to take part.

Finally I headed over to Henning's place with a suitcase and we caught a taxi to the airport super early in the morning. Two flights later we were arriving in Belize. We were met by Lucas in the airport where we met George Renner coming from Canada, the youngest of our team. I didn't know what he looked like at all, but as soon as I saw the him wandering out of the airport looking clueless I nudged Lucas convinced it was him. Lucas ran to give the usual manly Austin bear hug, and I totally failed to capture the moment on film. Documentary fail number one... actually we were so tired I didn't catch much of the flight there either. Oh well.

We rode in a car and a boat to meet Christina Martell on the island of Caye Caulker. Christina and I know each other well, but the other two were meeting her in person for the first time (if you don't count the video chat). She was in top form as she guided us via a trip on a golf cart (the transport of choice on this tiny island) to our new home and office for the duration of our stay, and so began the battle for who got what room!

As the oldest of the household I was graciously given the other downstairs bedroom (mostly because I stayed quiet and let the other two battle it out). Lucas and Christina had a similar room, while Henning and George figured out who was going to get the double room with the bathroom and who was going to get the not so private (wall-less) room in the loft. In the end they both did a stint in each room to make things a little fairer. There were sacrifices to be made for our little pleasure trip!

In time we all met with the other team members, Tad Catalano (who I had met before very briefly watching Lucas play Saxophone), Tray Duncan (who I'd heard a lot about but never met) and his wife Kathryn Nowlin. The three of them had another house to themselves around the corner from the main one the rest of us where in. It didn't come with a pool but it did give them the luxury of a place to retreat to, escaping the main work space in our house. We all went out for a meal together, and enjoyed the local fish dishes.

The main house had a large open area with a dinning table, two sofas and a number of extra chairs. We setup one small desk for Tad and the rest of us spread out across the sofas and dinning table. There was some speeches from Lucas and Christina to get everyone on the same level and sort out how the expenses were going to be handled but we quickly got to work setting up equipment. Having lived out of a suitcase before in Australia I knew I was going to be comfortable on the sofa with my Wacom to one side, freeing up the dining table for most of the rest of the team for a more traditional desk working space. Lucas actually set himself up in several spots over the course of our stay. Sometimes he was next to me so that we could bounce story, layout and animation ideas around. Other times he setup on the dinning table or even on a shelf standing up.

Beginning the following day we started our routine, and really got to work. These are all dedicated and passionate artists and we were all excited to get started. If anything Christina and Lucas were surprised at just how quick we got to work and started pulling some long days. They actually had to re-iterate several times that we were free to relax, acclimatize and take advantage of the island before starting... but it was too late, the creative bug had hit and we were off!

Part 3 coming soon. In the mean time check out the campaign which includes other videos about the project. Please feel free to share the story.

The Ocean Maker - The Insider Story - Part 1

The Ocean Maker started it's IndieGoGo crowd-funding campaign and the Director, Lucas Martell, has been posting videos, news, interviews and much more related to the project giving everyone a sneak peak at the film and the unique production that created it. I thought I'd chip in and tell a little of my story surrounding the film.

Way back in 2008, I first contacted Lucas when I was researching my move to Austin, Texas. He was not far from completing his short film Pigeon Impossible while I was simultaneously getting up to speed developing Devils, Angels and Dating. We got to know each other over the years and became firm friends.

Jump to 2012 and Lucas was working in the same studio as me in New York. He told me he wanted to have a chat about an independent project and we met to discuss this outlandish concept of forming a team to make a short film in a remote location. He does a great introduction to the concept in his video for the crowd-funding campaign so I won't go into too many details. Suffice to say, it wasn't an easy sell initially and there were plenty of problems to anticipate. But he was pretty passionate about the idea, and considering how long I'd waited to find an excuse to work with him on something, I was already more than a little disappointed that I couldn't (at that time) commit a chunk of time to work on it. Regardless I read the script and offered my notes and assistance with recruiting a team to fit his needs.

Lucas had chosen and idea that was surprisingly manageable for a small team to get done in a limited amount of time. It had hard surface objects flying around in a sparse environment with only one character seen form the waist up. All in all the only scary thing about it was the the interaction with the clouds... that was a bit of a gamble and required a specialist to come on board to make sure we addressed that. But otherwise it was a smart choice for a small team.

So Lucas began the process of planning the production, picking up an animator we'd worked with in New York along the way. As it turned out that animator wasn't going to be available. Since most people in this business are working on last minute bookings it can be very tricky to plan any trips, so it wasn't a great surprise. But we were able to get Henning Koczy instead, a great animator I'd worked with for a few months on a previous project. He almost certainly had to sacrifice a few paid bookings to do the project but didn't we all?

So the production started to build momentum and I was still in the loop to some extent, cheering from the side-lines. To my surprise, along the way I found myself with time in my schedule as business slowed down in New York. I had a few things I could have done with my time but I knew this opportunity wasn't going to present itself again and couldn't be passed up. I contacted Lucas and begged on my hands and knees to boot someone off the team and take me! Ok, it wasn't that dramatic. There was one official space left on the crew, he needed someone to act as a documentary filmmaker to shoot all the behind the scenes footage. That was the cover story anyway, and he could use me in other ways as well. :P

I missed most of the design process, which I was bummed about as I'd have loved to do some concept work. I did actually do a few plane and net designs. I even did a load of hair designs for the lead character and offered a few notes on the her model but the main design period had passed so it was onto the animatic next.

I made a start storyboarding a few things and timing them out in an edit. Lucas was already doing a few rough shots in 3D, but coming from a 2D background I knew I was going to get more ideas down quicker in sketches. I did a few flight shots in storyboard form, but ultimately came to the conclusion that it was best to focus on the character shots. 3D is great for blocking out the action scenes with planes, but there's no short hand for roughing out character performances better than storyboarding. So I jumped from one character shot to the next, skipping most of the exterior shots outside the cockpit.

The 3D was actually being done in Softimage XSI as that has been Lucas's main package over the years. I was incredibly lucky to work for Animal Logic on the first Happy Feet and I was trained in XSI on company time by some really good mentors. Later I used XSI again for a number of projects at Passion Pictures and Glassworks in London. So I knew enough to help out in certain areas. But still, that only adds up to a couple of years experience relative to over a decade of Maya use, so I wasn't able to bring my full skill-set to the project, which was a minor frustration for me. As it turned out two other teammates didn't know XSI at all so they had to learn from scratch, and suddenly I didn't feel so bad. Initially though I waited to refresh my skills in XSI and focused on drawing storyboards ahead of our trip to Belize.

Yes... I just said, Belize... if you missed that little detail, it's time to watch the intro video above. But essentially Lucas and his wife Christina Martell (taking on the role of Co-Producer and Event Planner) took on all the heavy lifting to make the trip to Belize as easy as possible. They made sure to cover every eventuality. Not least of which, I'm British, and that comes with additional complications when travelling in and out of the US. I actually discovered I had to have six months left on my passport in order to return to the country after the trip and my passport didn't have that much left on it so I suddenly had to rush a new British passport from the States. It was close but I got it back in time and everything was in place.

Lucas (normally based out of Austin) finished his project in New York a number of months ahead of mine, but he took a couple of weeks before the trip to Belize to come back to New York and we brainstormed the early stages of the film. He worked on 3D elements and monitored the team members working on building assets while I story-boarded. This was also the first time we had to really knock out the film-making essentials and anticipate any problems. It was a great warm up session for what was to come.

Here's Part 2... Also check out the campaign which includes other videos about the project. Please feel free to share the story.

The Devils Team - Where did they go from here?

Since they worked on 'Devils, Angels and Dating', where have the team moved onto?

I was recently asked what I'd say to a University aged version of me if I could, and one of the top tips I'd give is to keep working on personal projects in your free time to compliment your day job. This ensures that your portfolio grows (even when the work you get paid for is canned, or kept from the public for years). One fantastic way to do that is to work on short films, and it's something I wish I'd gotten into much earlier. While directing your own film can be a bit of overkill, contributing to other projects is a much more manageable way to get motivated to do something new for your portfolio. I'm really fortunate to have had some great talents pass through my little project over the years but I thought it was important to show where those talents moved onto afterwards. We can't assume that their work on Devils was entirely to credit for these opportunities, but no-doubt it formed part of a broader body of strong work from each artist. Here's a condensed list of some of the companies the team members went on to work for. 

Walt Disney Animation Studios
DreamWorks Animation
Blue Sky
Reel FX
MPC
Rhythm and Hues
Sony Pictures Imageworks
Digital Domain
Third Floor
Nickelodeon Animation Studios
Passion Pictures
Bardel
Luma Pictures
Insomniac Games
Panda Panther
Meinbender
Duncan Studio
Disney Interactive
Fox TV Animation
Crest Animation Studios
Logan
The Mill
Gravity
Hydraulx
Sony Computer Entertainment America
Technicolor
Liquid Development
Blue-Zoo Productions
Eight Bit Strange
Toys For Bob
Blitz Games
House of Moves
Ragdoll
Animation Mentor
iAnimate

May there be many more creative challenges ahead for our intrepid team mates!

The Film's Development Diary