Working From Home

I've begun the slow but steady process of getting past copious degrees of burn-out and picking back up where I last left off, working on Caravan. From here on out I'm taking its production, I've decided, entirely at my own pace. The speed at which I was working on the film this past year was, to be completely honest, to the point of being a little inhumane even by my nutcase-workaholic-and-loving-it standards, and I'm thrilled to be able to work on this thing now at a steady stride that is healthy for myself both physically and emotionally. And I mean, really, this film has been a dear friend for a year and a half now - it deserves calm, healthy attentiveness over frazzled anxiety attacks any day. So, Caravan'll "get there" when it gets there, and I'll be keeping you all updated every step of the way! :D

As I'd mentioned beforehand, I'll be working on the film almost entirely from home how, so a fair chunk of my time recently has been spent getting everything installed, organized, set up and switched about at the house to make for a solid little film-producing environment... I do believe I'm officially "there" in this set-up process, too. I finished seven seconds of clean-up this past week, and the work flow went very smoothly with the new at-home space as it stands: Awesome news indeed. Thought I'd share those work spaces with you here:

Animation work desk

The above is where most of my time will be spend from here on out, doing tie-down and clean-up. To the right of the desk is the film itself on an IKEA shelf kindly donated by my roommate, and upon the desk my light table, copious supplies, a mirror for acting, etc. As with any work space of mine, I try to decorate it to the best of my ability simply to feel comfortable and inspired. Alot of my decorations from Senior Studio are up here as well, combined with many things from home - including concept art from a long-running personal project of mine, which has been sharing equal parts of my passion again since graduation. I've also got my TV nearby for entertainment's sake... Law & Order SVU marathons on Tuesdays are a must after all, not that I'm actually around to watch them! :D And yes, those are kitty food and water bowls beside me, so I get routine visits from the FurKids... when they're not trying to crawl all over me or my animation paper, of course!

Caravan's new home!

The film itself, rather meticulously organized on shelves - what an upgrade, let me tell you! This is SUCH an improvement from my work space at school for the fact that I can have everything out and at my disposal and organized now - there was only so much organization I could manage on campus, as I had to keep everything packed safely into my locker - a bit of a pain in the butt. Now, with proper shelving, it's smooth sailing in terms of finding what I need when I need it, thank goodness! At current, the top shelf is fully animated shots waiting for clean-up, second shelf down are shots still in need of some level of in-betweening, third down are shots immediately in-line for clean up in the order that I plan on working on them, fourth down is blank cut and hole-punched paper, and the bottom shelf, spanning nearly to the floor (though you can hardly see it here) is completed film: shots I'll never have to address again, thank goodness, and a stack of which is, blessedly, already quite huge.

Compie! ♥

My home computer will now, of course, be the main hub for my portions of the remaining digital aspects of the film's production. Not to mention the copious iTunes playlists I have to keep my mind sharp while I work - one of which is specifically geared towards Caravan inspirational tunes.

The downshooter!

Last but not least (Though I'm pretty sure I've shared this one before) is our home-made downshooter set-up for pencil tests.

And there you have it - Caravan's new production home for the immediate future. Onward and upward, with more updates to come! Cheers.

♥Mel

Transitions

So, I spent the better part of my day deconstructing my work space in Senior Studio, cutting and hole-punching three reams of paper and loading the entire lot of into my car. Tomorrow, I'll be clearing my locker out of all of my Caravan animation and hauling it home as well. Somehow, I think I should be more tore up about having to vacate the work place I've been holed up in for so many months - that would be the typical reaction, I guess - but as with so many transitions in my life (and there have been a plethora) I find myself looking at it quite evenly as just another step, and focusing more on how I'm going to make the next phase of things work - How I'll be able to produce the rest of this film from home, store and sort the metric ton of animation and paper, and have a feasible work space in general back at the house (though granted, I'm blessed to live with three other animators, so I'm certain we'll make it work) - as opposed to how things are changing - i.e., the sudden lack of Senior Studio and the lovely people in it.

I guess I relate rather well to the Travelers in Caravan in that manner. I've gotten almost too used to being able to drop things and places at the drop of a hat, and look immediately look upon the next place as home instead - little to no emotional transition between them, because the constant change is just the way things are. Life's a trip like that.

Though at least this time around I can say I will genuinely miss the people involved - classmates and professors alike. I adore every one of them, and there isn't a single person involved who hasn't left an indelible impact on me in one fashion or another. I owe them a lot for that.

I'll update more again soon - the Senior Show and graduation are next week and I, blessedly, have been given honored with the spot of runner-up to Senior Select this year, which is completely and totally awesome. (Means a huge show space! Whoohoo! Thank you, Professors!) For now, here's a few of the last work photos I took in Senior Studio, on the tail end of Finals all-nighters.



-Mel

I kill trees for fun.

Caravan, so far.
More again, after I've slept ;)

-Mel

Re-Organization and Numbers

My roommate Pat, and a little love for the white board.

Yes, ladies and germs, it's that time of the semester. As is part of the game, I'm burnt out, exhausted, having moments of epic flailing and fatigue, and finding it time for re-evaluating the scope of Caravan's production.

Things are going well. I've gotten a ridiculous amount done. What was going to be a film chocked full of limited animation has turned into a film that is flooded instead with full animation. All 82 scenes of my rough animation are complete save for, I believe, two, which will be done before the semester's done. Over half of the film's 6 and a half minutes will be fully completed to final color and composite, and all of its 64 fully colored backgrounds are complete. For what, for the most part, has been a one-woman show, I'm pretty pleased with what I've managed to accomplish in a school year, on top classes, 1-2 jobs, and the ridiculous hamster wheel that is life in general.

Sufficient to say, however, there is no way Caravan will be completed by graduation in about 2 weeks. I still have a tremendous mound of clean-up, shooting and color to do. ;)

That said, for my own well-being, and the quality assurance of this project, I've, as of the past week, pushed the projected completion date of the film to early September 2010, giving myself the summer months to come to wrap it up and give it the time it deserves, and myself the time needed to account for proper health, hygiene, and re-acquainting myself with rarities on the CCS campus like the presence of loved ones, a decent diet, and more then 2 and a half hours of sleep a night. This will be done, of course, amidst the beginnings of unleashing a massive wave of resume and demo reels to the working world, and planning for relocation that will inevitably land my other half and I in Southern California.

Caravan's entire of load of animation so far. The beginning of my "re-organization day" on Wednesday, sorted (L-R): "Re-Shoot," "Inbetween," "For Clean-Up," and "DONE M#$%@rF#?@#r!"

The same organization piles by the end of the day, with a substantial portion of the "Inbetween" work done and moved into the "Re-Shoot" or "For Clean-Up" piles. Also added a pile for background assets at the end there for posterity... actually, they just looked lonely sitting in my locker all by themselves.

This past week, I began re-organizing my work into various piles, as seen above. My main goals between now and Final Presentations on May 3rd are to color and fully composite one last 5-second shot (shot 70, to be exact) finish up addressing whatever I can and should with the existing rough animation, reshoot at least half of said rough animation in better-quality resolution then the webcam down-shooter I have at home, and compiling all of these things into a finalized leica reel, with more "official" sound. If, on top of everything else, I manage to get back to clean up again, I'll take it from there.

Cold, hard facts... and a pretty genuine reaction to them, care of Mr. McFace.

So, today, I did the math. By the time Caravan is finished, I'll have done 13,024+ drawings. This was an oddly mixed moment for me. On one hand, it established that I am, in fact, completely nuts for having a go at this film. This is in no way a bad thing - it's nice to have the validation, really. It also, however, made me, finally, see just HOW much work I've placed on my plate, making me, on one hand, a bit irritated that I've been so hard on myself for not getting "FARTHER, FASTER, STRONGER!" (I do this all of the time. What artist can resist being their worst critic?) On the other, it, in all honesty, makes me pretty damn pleased with how far I've gotten so far. This was a nice point to hit, finally, even if it took me nearly 30 weeks and a terrific amount of artistic angst to get there.

Last but not least, I thought I'd note one thing I will certainly miss about CCS... The collaborative spirit of classmates, even to the most awesomely silly degrees. By this morning, the sketch I initially did of ANGRY MIA (see the first image up there) was met with a slew of fun additional doodles... it made my day awesome. Thanks guys!

Doodles by (Clockwise from above Mia's head): Josiah Sarr, Christina Harper, Kerry Newill, Kate Burk, and Patrick Stannard.

-Mel

Half Way There :)

Mia: ORLY? from Mel Miller on Vimeo.

I thought I'd share another animated clip of Mia, wherein she realizes that, in fact, Kelsey doesn't bite after all.

I do apologize for the scant updates over the past few days, but there's really nothing new to report - I'm still working tremendously hard on the film, almost to a fault at times - proper rest is a scarce commodity. It's nearly halfway complete however, which is fantastic. I also plan on compiling an up-to-date leica reel of the film this upcoming weekend, and I'm quite excited for that. All the while, oddly, I've gotten completely and unabashedly hooked on Lost (started from season 1 this past weekend and am already halfway through season 2!) It's proven consummate, albeit rather strange company while I animate.

Also for he fun of it, my new favorite tee, which gets worn to Senior Studio quite often:


Onward and upward!

-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

More Camp Site Inspiration

I spent the day at the camp site that is currently "nearest and dearest" this past Friday, and took a number of photos to look back on while working on Caravan. It's late in the season for casual visitors by now - slowly but surely, the long-term residents (whether by choice or unforseen cercumstance) are being weeded out from those left. While I love these shots, fall is in the air - I'm admittedly rather ecited to get another photo op when the entire woods are on fire in whatever shades of crimson and gold.

One of the various things I love about visual camping aesthetics: even the propane tank gets a little love. It becomes more then an unsightly white heap. It's part of "home" wherever home may be at the time. Flower pots and decorative wiring give it a little spirit of its own.

Indoor decorative rugs on hard-packed dirt, bonfire smoke, and a slight chill in the air.

Dad.

Dad is a tremendous inspiration for Charlie Kavenaugh: The gentle spirit, relentless protector, steadfast supporter - well traveled, and road weary, who's strength of spirit and compassionate smile have inspired me for as long as I can recall.

-Mel

Work Space (Part 2)

I finally got the chance to add just enough to my workspace to really make it feel comfortable and reflective. Here's a few shots of its latest incarnations.

Added a quilt for curtains - needed some privacy from that window! - more lights, and random bits on the table.

The general Space. Patrick and I commandeered the corner of the studio (He's got a Renaissance theme to his film, Mine's Gypsy traveler-inspired.)

Patrick rather sneakily snapped this shot while I was sketching my take on one of the characters in his film.

I especially love this space in the evening - the lighting is really comfortable.

-Mel

Work Space (Part 1)

My roomate/classmate/epicbuddyofkiltedawesomeness Patrick and I have taken to decorating our adopted space in the Senior Studio classroom to build a vibe and atmosphere that helps to both reflect and inspire each of our senior films. My stab at said decoration is going rather slowly, admittedly, as I've been so completely embroiled with background layouts, but it's getting there. Today saw to the addition of a lovely set of colored lights kindly lent by Kerry, as well as a few recent thrift store finds. A couple of photos of what I have so far are below - I'll post more as this "inspiration side-project" of sorts continues to grow. Perhaps by the end of the school year, my workspace will have become a bit of an assemblage piece all of its own?

The mat on my work table - a thrift store find - intrigues the hell out of me: hand stitched, with little mirror bits sewn into it throughout. Lovely as it is visually though, and weird as this may sound, it's the scent of the thing that gets my mind racing. It has that sort of musty air of too-long spent in a damp attic - a thick smell of great age. Handling it in the store nights ago, I was thrown back to a childhood memory I'd actually forgotten entirely until then - and one who's relevance to this whole cobbled production struck soundly.

My mother has always loved yard sales. My little brother and I would get carted around to them chronically on Saturday mornings as kids. In one instance, we visited a particularly rural home on a soggy, rainy day - I was about eight at the time. I recall the ground - huge patches of dirt paths being dark and damp and thickly scented, and the leaves and grass, post-storm to be almost unnaturally vivid. Bored with the sale - the attention span of a child - I wandered to explore the rickety old pull barn catty-cornered to the sellers' home. A tremendously aged old fellow - whether he was the homeowner, or perhaps a relative I do not know - spotted me there, and from the mounds of old things in the yard sale, he handed me a positively ancient looking rag doll. I was reluctant to take the thing - it was dirty, darkened from age, and in the grasp of what were, back then, rather frightening looking knotty old hands. But I did - bid my thanks, and skirted off as quickly.

It was a little peasant in the form of a doll. I remember instinctively the hand-sewn, patterned dress that it was wearing; A dress that was, at one time, likely incredibly vibrant. I have no idea how old that thing must of been. It was popping at the seems in areas - stuffed too tightly, to the point of great stiffness, its stuffing looking almost like wooden bits and other odd fibers I'd never seen before. It also quite thoroughly reeked of that unmistakable too-long-gone attic must. I was fascinated with the doll, for however brief a span - studying what felt like an impossibly old artifact in my hands, standing on a dirt path in the middle of fuck-nowhere central Florida. That creepy little Gypsy doll and I.

I missed that memory - am rather pleased to have it back. Needless to say, I had to get that table mat. It was $2.18 cents worth of childhood recollection, after all.

Concept art, photos of intrigue, schedules, and little snippets of anything I can find that's of interest. Some of the bulbs of my lovely strands of lights are blown... but I rather like the imperfection of it.

... My next goal? Finding a proper makeshift shade for this window!

-Mel

Sights and Sounds: Inspiration

Countless things have contributed to the inspiration for the aesthetics of this film as a whole. Family, life experience. A tremendous love for camping. he feeling of renewal that comes with each change of season - something I only discovered in the past decade or so, having grown up in the deep south. One of my greatest artistic drives personally, at all times, tends to be music. I find that, for myself at least, music - the sounds and textures of it moreso, even, then lyrical content - has such an incredibly visceral feel to it that so often lends itself to furthering ideas or even spawning them in little notes of inspiration.

Every original personal project I take on tends to land itself with a playlist of its own - a sort of psuedo soundtrack that gets a positively unreasonable amount of airtime on my MP3 Player whenever I'm working on the piece. Caravan's, at the moment, is over two hours long; intermingled sounds of bluegrass, acoustic guitar, violins, and the occassional banjo. For fun, here are a few selected tracks from that current playlist, if for no other reason, to share the visual, visceral texture from the sound that I'm hoping to lend to this film.

• Ritual Dance from the August Rush Soundtrack
• Smoothie Song by Nickel Creek
• Road by Nick Drake
• Please Read the Letter by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
  

I mentioned camping. For reasons I will not mention here just yet - perhaps not ever, for the sake of those involved - I have had a tremendously intimate, extended, and dually unexpected amount of time spent residing amongst the deep sting of campfire smoke and the perpetual swatting of mosquitoes that camping in the woods lends itself to over the summer. Every bit of this has, in turn, infused little bits of inspiration into this project... least of all, through the occassional snapped photograph.

-Mel