Wednesday, April 28, 2010

animation script for documentary

I worked for over a decade as a story-board artist in New York. These drawings below are part of a short script for a proposed animated segment in the documentary. I was eager to quickly get some complex ideas across to the audience.

I found these drawings and the script while digging thru some old files. This stuff was written (and drawn) in Sept of 2008, and I had forgotten about it completely.

The entire 6-page script is posted below.


I have to admit, I like these three frames. Despite the overt goofy quality, they accurately define (at least to me) the messy quandary of this phenomenon. I'm proud that I got Jesus and Horus (and Tinkerbell) all in one cartoon image!

The script was written in a caffeine induced flurry. I "borrowed" heavily from a list created by Brad Steiger. There is also a point in the text where I ask Mac Tonnies to chime in. We were emailing during the writing process, and he is a much better writer than I am, and I was bugging him to help.

In the three frames above, I added some handwritten text (that may or may not be in the script) and it's curious to note I used the word trickster twice.

These frames don't really match the script all that well. Guess I was more interested in concept ideas. That said, I think the drawings are funny!

An image of a hand written flow chart. The visuals start tidy and organized. Using simple flash animation, boxes with lines flow from this starting point.

The voice over dialog continues, and more and more boxes get added to the chart. The narrative speeds up and so do the visuals.

The camera continues to pull back to contain a more and more crowded frame. Little cartoon images appear in the chart, and more boxes as the dialog quickens.

This segment ends with a frame so crowded that it's impossible to comprehend. The boxes and lines are purposely insane.


6 comments:

Red Pill Junkie said...

Dude! what you already have would make a fine 2-3 minute Flash animation vid. You could even include a voice over of Mac. You know what would be great, too? to include an animation showing Mac's metaphor of the cat playing with the laser pointer. That could be the climax, with an image of an alien moving a UFO 'pointer' in front of confused humans ;)

I follow the blogs of some animators. Maybe one of them would be interested in the project.

Red Pill Junkie said...

PS: In frame 3, the flying saucer could turn on its axis, join a black triangle, and become the all-seeing eye, to give a nod to the NWO crowd ;)

Ankka said...

Love your illustrations! Don't see that particular grouping of entities together very often.. :D

James said...

Where is that documentary... is it still 'on hold'... or are you working on it again..?

This is a fantastic summary of the range of ideas involved... does it end there 'What is happening?'..?

Red Pill's black triangle etc is a nice idea... the other thing that strikes me is the range of humanoids and/or ufo shpaes involved... in might be interesting to 'throw that in'... but I am not even sure if you still plan on finishing this documentary or not... tho from what I remember the answer to that is a big yes.... you have quite a talent with illustration!

Wow... I thought I'd read the Scribd text before I ended this comment... it is really really good! The range of ideas is almost intoxicating... and that comes through your text and visuals a little bit I think.

The only thing- beyond what you have- I can think to add is maybe something about how 'quirky' is our 'interface' with this thing...

My suggestions arent really meant for anything... just comments.

You have done an incredible job trying to summarize something that is 'all over the place'...

The Secret Sun said...

This is awesome, Mike. Make the dream a reality- I love the energy!

Peter Bernard said...

I ued to draw storyboards too and then one day I started just making films instead pf drawing storyboards. You should do this project.