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Welcome to the Upstart & Rummage Blog.
Hi, and welcome. I'm Graham White and I'm making an animated film. All by my ownsome.
This is a quick first introduction to the film and so will probably be the longest entry... just so you know what the blog is all about.
I'm writing this blog as a diary to share with you what goes into the making of an animated movie. Not everybody will be interested in that, but I'm intending to go further than telling you about how it's all done. I'd like to make it into a journey of my feelings and frustrations, successes and failures along the way, in short..... to share an experience with you.
For a start, I've been told my goal is impossible... not by family and friends, but by film producers, industry professionals and others who actually know what they are on about.
So my journey really does begin right at the foot of a massive mountain which I have to climb.
You see, my film is a CGI animation in a similar style to "Toy Story", "Up", "Wall-E" etc. which have been produced by the likes of Disney Pixar, Dreamworks, Sony and other big players.
These companies have many incredibly talented specialists in every department of film production...... animators, riggers, texture artists, modellers, compositors, lighting technicians, editors etc. They are simply the best in the world, and as we all know, their films cost millions and are perfection in every detail.
So you get my drift, I should expect some scepticism I guess.
Just to really get my point across, if I did somehow manage to spend 6 lifetimes to produce the required files for a film such as "Finding Nemo" or similar, the computers I have would take around 5000 years to render them! (yep, that's years)
So.... where am I coming from? What the hell am I thinking?
Well there's two things here. Firstly, yes, it's pretty obvious I can't compete visually. My animation will have mistakes..... loads of mistakes. My efforts will be laughable to the experts, but I will try throughout the film to make it watchable. I'll try hard to reach up to the highest standards that I possibly can, and only surrender to compromise when I just simply have to, to get the job done. Hopefully, by then, it will only be the experts who notice the difference!
But the second thing is really the key. The key is in the story. I personally believe the story is everything.
To engage an audience into a world you have created, to feel the emotions of the characters and bond with their hopes and feel their conflicts, is the thing that I believe deems a film to be successful or not. That's why Pixar and co spend so long on story.
If you like my story and love my characters, I'm hoping you will kindly overlook the imperfections of production, and just enjoy it for what it is.
One more thing......
Why am I setting about such a task? Well I'll tell you. Honestly.
No, it's not to prove a point. Everybody says it can't be done and I'm not doing this to be a clever clogs and prove everybody wrong. To be honest I think they're probably right.
I do know however, that I've produced well over an hour and a half's animation in the last four years, which shows that I could possibly do a feature of my own in that time again.
But what if I were to tell you that for the animations I've done, I've been paid and made a living from them?
No-one is paying me for Upstart & Rummage, so I have the problem of working on it for the next 4 years without eating. Now I'm no doctor, but that can't be good for you.
But fortunately it's not about survival or earning a living.
I'm making this film because it's something I have to do. I wake up every morning looking forward to that time of day (or middle of the night) when I can, at last, spend some time creating another second or two of my passion. It keeps me sane. I've been out on a limb working freelance all my life. Many times I've had no work and no income and it's hard, but I know I can now turn to Upstart and Rummage to keep me going. I owe those two little characters my sanity. I might die trying to make this film, but I will die happy
At the start of this blog I said I'm making a film on my own. But as you know, behind every nutter with a dream, there's a generous and patient rock to keep them propped up. Thankfully my partner Gilly gives me the space and time to continue with this nonsense while still being there for me. (Love you so much for that xx). I must say though, she's the only person who's ever managed to persuade me that a full night's sleep now and again is also beneficial to the making of the film. (yep, she's a crafty one).
So, that's a bit about me to start with. I'm sure there will be more as we progress and I don't intend it to be just film talk. If things go wrong (as if) I'll be quite candid about telling you how I feel about it, so I hope you'ready for that.
My last attempt at film making was called "Santa's Gift", a lovely heartwarming Christmas story. I accidentally deleted it (about 2 years work), so it's just as well I wasn't doing a blog then.
Did I mention a full night's sleep? Ooops, we're well into tomorrow already, so I'd better go sneak my backside into bed without waking her again.
Nite nite.
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