Caravan Official Trailer (Updated!)

Caravan Official Trailer (Updated!) from Mel Miller on Vimeo.

Caravan's first official trailer, (Now with two new shots!) compiled both for the CCS 2010 Senior Show, and for use by the Stratton Foundation, who was recently kind enough to award the film and myself a generous scholarship. A film (Concept, Animation, Backgrounds and Color) by Mel Miller. Compositing by Niles Bontrager. Music by Larry Larson.

New shots include Mia and Kelsey dancing by the campfire and Charlie debating whether or not to cold clock Ethan... a hard decision indeed.

-Mel

First Official Trailer (And To Do's!)

Caravan Official Trailer from Mel Miller on Vimeo.

Caravan's first official trailer, compiled both for the CCS 2010 Senior Show, and for use by the Stratton Foundation, who was recently kind enough to award the film and myself a generous scholarship. Music by Larry Larson.

So, I'm in my last week of classes at CCS. While Caravan's production will span well into the next couple of months I'm wrapping up my classes as efficiently as I can manage. Helping to do so, I've chalked up a hefty to-do list to follow where Caravan is concerned. I'll continue to update it here as I get things completed.

Monday:

• Finish clean-up on S070
• Finish Rough on everyone walking out of the house
• Reserve sound recording equipment for Friday
• Get feedback on Demo Reel, Resume, and what to work on next for final review reel.

Tuesday:

• Make edits to Resume as suggested by Steve
  
• Work on final leica reel for presentation at home
• Make a trailer, both for presentation and for Stratton youtube posting
  
• Tie down and clean up girls dancing loop from home and at work.

Wednesday:

• Rough animate girls walking up path.
• Tie down Ethan rearing to strike Mia (so Mia actually exists)
• Work on girls dancing loop clean-up.
• Update Leica Reel again
  

Thursday:

• Update Leica Reel again
• Work on girls dancing loop clean-up.
  

Friday

• Rent Sound recording equipment.
• Shoot whatever clean-up is available.
• Nab one of the editing suites or sound recording studio to record additional sound FX

Saturday

• Save JPEGs of all 64 backgrounds for final presentation.
• Batch and Color shot animation
  
• Niles composites whatever new color shots are available
  

Sunday

• Compile final Leica Reel for presentation
• Last-Minute Updates for Demo Reel
• Last-Minute Updates of Trailer
  
• Type up Reel Break-Down List
• Render out final Leica, Demo Reel, Trailer
  

Cheers,
Mel

Shot 80 Completed

Caravan Shot 80 Complete from Mel Miller on Vimeo.

I do love how this shot turned out - it was nice to animate Mia truly happy and at peace (albeit wearily so) for once! Animation, background and color by myself, Mel Miller. Composite and camera FX by my wonderful beau, Niles Bontrager.

-Mel

More New, Completed Shots!

More New Caravan Shots 3-30 from Mel Miller on Vimeo.

A couple new favorites from the 35 completed to color & final composite shots from Caravan so far. Music by the tremendously awesome Larry Larson. Onward!

Cheers,
Mel

Shot 26 Progression

Shot 26 Progression from Mel Miller on Vimeo.

Rough animation, clean-up, and final color for shot 26 of Caravan.

-Mel

Another Glimpse of Caravan

A Glimpse of Caravan from Mel Miller on Vimeo.

Another set of completed shots for Caravan. We're still tweaking these here and there with timing in terms of the SFX, but they're definitely coming along! The music included is bay the wonderful mister Larry Larson, whom I am privileged to know - used with permission.

Work on the film remains steady, and entertaining as ever, and while I rest little, I'm maintaining confidence and excitement in the project as a whole. Having great friends to work alongside while they chip away at their own films is also a plus. Good company most certainly makes the more stressful times much more pleasant to deal with.

... Even if your buddy in question is a total creeper.
Oh, silly Patar.

Last but not least, the latest tune to receive chronic airplay amidst Caravan's production? "Caravan" by Van Morrison. Sadly, I cannot seem to find a video copy of the original recording anywhere online to share with you here, but this will certainly do for now:

"Caravan" by Van Morrison

Cheers,
Mel

Composited Caravan Clips

Composited Caravan Clips from Mel Miller on Vimeo.

As I mentioned previously, I've come far along enough in Caravan's production that Niles has been able to begin compositing a couple of shots from the film together - very exciting! We've got just over a minute of the film put together so far, an will be compiling ore this weekend. Through all of these shots, Niles is beginning to address a number of visual effects that he is interested in adding to the film - smoke, fire, water, film effects, among other things. For anyone interested, the character animation and backgrounds are entirely hand-drawn, and colored digitally. Hooray for quality Vimeo video! :D

-Mel