WHILE THEY SLEPT TRANSPORT GETS MORE DETAIL

I'm actually not sure if i ever posted this or not...but i kept adding detail to it. here it is.

KOALA ONE MIGHT BE FINISHED?

It does feel like i have to stop on it now.

MORE DETAIL TO KOALA ONE

bit more added now...it needed it.

KOALA ONE MAKES IT INTO SKIRMISH AT HARTATHRA

I've now given the film a name....and you can now also see a new sequence on the end here...koala one can be seen.

KOALA ONE GETS SOME MORE CURVES

It was decided that it looked ok, but I needed to tweak some more to get it to look more space shippy....it was important that 1) It look like a Koala (but that it didn't look too much like a koala) 2) It looked like a cool space ship.

KOALA ONE

Here we go.

THE START SEQUENCE OF MY UNTITLED ANIMATION IN 720p HD

Finally managed to redo all the work that was lost...I really wanted this in HD and now I finally do. I've added a shot and also been frustrated at not getting it quite the same as the orriginal...

I CANT AFFORD TO USE THE MUSIC I WANT TO USE ANYMORE

You will only hear music originally composed by myself on everything that is posted from now on (unless I become a professional filmmaker and start to make proper films allowing me to choose what I want)

I will be using the Micro Korg (well it's allready begun as you can see below here in previous posts) the synth sound I've always loved and would even if I became a professional would hunt down certain synth people (who are very simalar to wendy carlos) and get some of their stuff....it's all money though, so ive got to move into a new arena and do my own soundtracks.

It costs too much money to do it any other way...while I’m not really happy about it... I do find that everything in life has two sides...it is a LOT of fun to work away on the Korg doing both music and sound effects...but at the same time I would rather have classical music that I could choose....it’s just not possible though!...this industry is extremely hard and also completely crazy...but I keep on going because doing this is my lifeblood.

TO DOF OR NOT TO DOF?

I really have difficulties deciding on many things....if it was a real film that had real people and real sets I would be overjoyed to have DOF...but I feel I've not quite got it right here.

MORE DETAIL

Yesterday and today I've been adding more (well I actually started off from scratch again but used the basic design that I threw together quickly) detail to the crematorium.

COLOURED

I've gone and coloured it now / tweaked and added some things.

SYNTHESISER VERSION

There's a lot of mistakes in this...

THE ACHAEOLOGIST - FIRST IMAGE

A while back I entered a New Zealand competition with a very rough animatic and a voiceover at the end. I thought that maybe I would turn it into a animation now that I'm in the Scottish Winter and also a few other life changes.

This the first scene in the bedroom.

I DO LOVE THE ATMOSPHERE ON THIS ONE

I also love cats very much, so it's special to me on many levels.

THIS IS PRETTY EXCITING STUFF FOR THE 2001 FAN OR KUBRICK FAN

"Douglas Trumbull, director of Silent Running and Special Effects Supervisor for 2001: A Space Odyssey, is readying a documentary about his time with Stanley Kubrick. The detail in this undertaking is amazing. The filmmakers are literally crawling into never-before-seen-images."

HARD SCIENCE FICTION PROJECT L5

This is looking very good indeed. I was excited to discover it...and it's also very inspiring. If xenoarchaeology excites you then check this out. Director Stanley Von Medvey has done some truly stunning concept art (his site really makes me want to do the same with my own site...I've always had a theory that outstanding images should be all over the place as soon as the viewer arrives on your site...and I’ve always struggled with deciding on wiether to have images or videos (and how many videos and which videos))...but anyway, click his name and see them, and also click below too.

A WONDERFUL MOMENT FOR ME

It’s no secret that I’m somewhat of a huge fan of both Stanely Kubrick and Wendy Carlos...and that I love seeing / hearing things that remind me of they’re work. So I was overjoyed when I found this here by D. Kristensen...



...who is doing some wonderful things with synthesisers over in Denmark. The Bach here works wonderfully and the whole thing has me buzzed like I can’t tell you.

So crank up that bass and hope you enjoy.

CLEVER

Found this via my brother in laws facebook wall...hehe...very clever how it uses Jerry Goldsmiths score...very good indeed.

CHILDRENS PICTURE BOOK CONTINUES...

It’s a long story....one of the biggest problems for me is what to do....solo animation?....solo comic book?....solo children's picture book?. I love all of them and well....much like somthing Peter Sellers said in the film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers...he said “I don’t like choice”....I'm exactly like that too...so deciding which to do tears me apart. What your *meant* to do is choose one and COMPLETE IT. The problem for me and what I’ve come to realise is that this solo business is the problem...it's tough, and it ain't gonna get any easier...well hey, maybe it is...I don’t know. I know that the last six months have been extremely difficult, but finally I seem to be doing something again. You go down and eventually you do start to go up again.

WHAT TO DO?

I refuse to be dishonest with you...I'm not happy about the quality of this film...but want am I going to do about it?...throw it away?...shut up and post it?

NEUROTIC PERFECTIONIST?

I’ve cottoned onto the fact that I seem to be a neurotic perfectionist. It’s not good...it's not good at all...but, to drag a positive into it (hopefully not optimistically but realistically) it’s good to come into the knowledge / awareness of the problem, because you can then fight it.

It’s the reason I’m not happy with any of my animations...it’s the reason I can't find any satisfaction with anything...

So battle has commenced...I don’t know, I’ve always thought that if you gave me a large team and I got onto making the films the way I want them made (sets, miniatures and actors) that I might emerge out of it....I might end up satisfied and happy...but I’m not sure I would. BUT...I want to get to that stage to SEE if I would...surely I would be?...we don't know, we don't know.

But with this knowledge now acquired....it means that it's a mental problem, a mental illness...and so other people enjoy what I’ve done but I cannot....so it means I should not hide what I’ve done....it's all beginning to make a lot of sense because I believe a lot of creative people are like this...it's a huge piece of the puzzle... I've encountered a lot of them (but just never knew what the problem was with all of us)...

EXTRACT FROM MY NEW SHORT STORY

UNTITLED
By Michael J. Dowswell

Ray wakes up...his cell is made of hard plastics...the toilet and sink next to his bed are chrome. Through a port hole we see space outside...stars passing quickly.

Ray is washing his face and overhears a conversation from two inmates in the cell opposite to his. These two are Godfrey and Goddard and they have to share a cell but Ray has one to himself. “But I mean what’s going to happen when we die...I mean think about...just stop and think about it for one moment...our brains will stop working, our bodies are done with...they’re gone, never to be used again...” said Godfrey...“Would you please stop talking...I’m trying to read this...if I have to read this sentence one more time!” said Goddard...“it's so into the unknown...it's actually frightening...I mean...” said Godfrey. “Anish Kapoor seemed to have a thing about shitting.” said Goddard. There was a short pause and then Godfrey started up again “Well...yes...he did, he did...but I think that he got some wondrous shapes there. Peoples shit, or animal shit is smooth surfaced, and when you create something giant...people DO seem to remember it...” said Godfrey "Goddard, all the pain in the world...all the misery and suffering....the people in physical pain, the people in mental pain...they will no longer be in pain anymore...it's lifted out...the brain is history man...and this is where you can see why people suicide...I’ve thought about it all my life...If I suicide it's game over....fade to black!...roll credits!...goodnight Irene!” said Godfrey
“What you mean by mental pain?” said Goddard....“Yeah man...you know how it goes...the loneliness that some people have to face...peoples hearts break out of loneliness....and people have to eventually face death in their lives...peoples mothers and fathers, husbands and wives...and then what next?...you have some widows that live on their own for a whole thirty years” said Godfrey...“I don’t know man...I don’t know, some people are just shits...and have created their own personal hell through being bitter and nasty all the time” said Goddard...“Well then...that’s going to lead to loneliness too....they'll get alienated...you can see how it piles up...the mind is a fucked up place...I always feel sorry for anybody because of this reason...the human condition seems so torturous.” said Godfrey

A prison warden pushes a tray of food through a flap in the door...“Dinner!...” There is a very loud crash and the entire place shakes. A explosion goes off right next to some prison wardens who are sitting at a table built into the wall...one prison wardens arm is on fire and they quickly extinguish it. A lot sparks and smoke quickly fill the place and the emergency lighting kicks in (which is a sort of a yellowish colour) Prison wardens run down the central isle to the small screen by the door.

Godfrey quickly leaps off his bed shouting “What the FUCK was that!?”....a prison warden can't get anything out of the screen and violently hits the wall shouting “FUCK!”...

Outside we see the three mile long ship has been damaged by a meteor impact...bodies are being sucked out into space and the ship is heading for a blue green planet.

On the bridge there is chaos... “we’ve lost deck seven to twelve sir!” shouted the first officer... “ I think the damage is too severe to save her, we’re going to have to scuttle the ship!...prepare to disengage!” shouts the captain.

The bridge is actually a smaller part of another ship that's connected to the main ship. Outside we see the detachment slowly happening...at about sixty five feet a meteor sudddenly comes in and destroys it.

Back where Godfrey, Goddard and Ray are the prison wardens are opening the door using the emergency manual release...the prisoners are still stuck in their cells. Prison wardens then get into escape pods and shoot out into space.

Godfrey and Goddard are trying to get out of their cell...their attempts are futile. “it’s useless man...there’s no way we’re going to open this fucking door!” shouts Godfrey...“for fuck sake!” shouts Goddard.

The ship hits the atmosphere, hurtling towards the clouds. She comes out the other side and is now heading straight into a mountain range...she hits a mountain and a large piece breaks off...she then skids for a while and falls into a giant lake. Sixty percent of the ship is now underwater and a lot of damage to the hull is causing water to get inside.

..."You've got to be fucking kidding me...I can hear water heading our way!" shouts Godfrey. "water?...oh shit i hear it too" said Goddard.

"THE VIOLIN" SHORT STORY

THE VIOLIN
By Michael J. Dowswell


NOVEMBER 14TH: 1920s / 1930s (or modern day) (or the future) - SATURDAY MORNING

WE SEE leaves everywhere...it’s a city street, big houses and trees in the streets...one house has a dog kennel outside, the garden is very messy, its neglected (the owner doesn’t like to throw things away...and never gets around to doing any sorting / gardening)...the dog inside the kennel is fierce….there is also a elevated train track that goes very near to the back of the house.

WE SEE two suspicious, scruffy looking men park their van at the other side of the street. One is tall and thin the other is much, much shorter and nervous. They both step out and look at the house with the dog kennel. One man has a hip flask and takes a drink. He looks at the house and long-ish front garden…we hear a organ being played from inside, the two men stop for a moment and stare up at the window...all we see is the very top of a mans bald head behind the organ in front of the window…

Suddenly the dog leaps out of its kennel and barks at the two men. One of the men is scared and hides behind the other...the other is very cool and calm...he looks at the dog with a smile on his face.

FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

MONDAY MORNING

WE SEE a large bald man leave the house and get into a car and drive off down the road...the two men are in their van viewing this then step out of their van...a piece of meat that’s been drugged is thrown to the dog.

-The man that lives in the house is a organ collector and his front room is stuffed with organs...he’s into playing Valvaldi, Handel and Rameau and is a huge colossus of a man...he smokes and there are lots of books and ash trays around the sitting room. He also has large numbers of boxes in the centre of the room filled with papers and magazines...the place has not been cleaned in a long time. He has musical friends who visit the house and they play duets. He also has a cat.

The two break into the house round the back door which is a old conservatory. They know that upstairs in the house is a very valuable violin in a glass cabinet. They go in (it’s a beautiful old wooden conservatory and inside are lots of dead plants and a untidiness) they break in through a second door which leads to the kitchen and into the downstairs hall (which is quite dark)...they move fairly quickly and go up the stairs. Lots of beautiful old paintings are on the walls and a old clock on the first floor landing.

They find themselves on the third floor landing and hear the front door opening. The man has returned (he’s not meant to be back home but seems to have got himself a bad cold)...he goes into his front room and begins to play his favourite organ (very loudly)

The two are now in a upstairs spare bedroom that is extremely cluttered...there’s a old bed with a cat asleep on it...the curtains are closed and the light doesn’t work...the thieves have to switch on their torches. There’s lots of boxes stuffed with paper everywhere and a cloth covering a glass cabinet...the two pull the cloth off and inside is a very old violin...Yehudi Menuhin’s violin.

The thief in charge opens the door and takes the violin out...he inspects it and then puts it into a box (not violin shaped on the outside) (but violin shaped on the inside)

A huge thunder storm starts up and it goes very dark outside...there is a power cut and the mans organ stops working….he then here’s a sound from the attic….and gets up to investigate. He gets a torch as its quite dark now and starts to climb the stairs.

The two men are now out on the landing and see the light coming up the stair...they go back into the room they came from and go out the window onto the ledge.

WE SEE them at the top of a long sloping section of ledge...a woman across in opposite flat screams. They can see that its not far to jump from the ledge to the train track and do so.

A train soon appears and they have to get off the track and hang down the side...its not possible to bring the case with them and it gets left on the track. Its perched just on the edge and the train knocks it off and it falls all the way down into the naghbours swimming pool.

The police arrive and arrest the thieves.

IMAX FILM "FIGHTER PILOT: OPERATION RED FLAG"

I read a couple of very damning reviews of this film saying that it was completely dumbed down (simplified) and that some bits are completely fake. You could see watching it that this was indeed the case...

...but, I still think, that it’s wonderful to see 70mm films in high definition (especially if your new to it too) the quality on the footage is so very clear and detailed….again its very nicely edited with long takes. There’s a wonderful sense of being up there flying...its really quite scary actually!

It’s a problematic film definitely, but I still have to recommend it because of the detail in it that the 70mm cameras get...there is after all not many films made in this format too...so they are rare things.

I can completely understand people being upset about it...being a expert in something and *then* seeing a film about your specialist subject and that film missing the mark completely is very, very annoying...so I do understand it.

THE BAD: the person doing the narration is very monotone and that was very unfortunate.

THE GOOD: It’s a heck of a experience with the detail this high. It's a spectacle.

IMAX FILM "ROVING MARS"

I do love these IMAX movies. It's very nice to see films that are EDITED properly and it's a real joy to see EDITING like this. This one has music that seems to be identical to Fog of War! It's good music though.

THE BAD: for something that is meant to be 100% real...why have they put sound on the outer space stuff?

THE GOOD: There's never a dull moment in this documentary. It's really fascinating seeing how the rover unfolds itself and moves around the terrain. Plus the elaborate way in which they got it onto the martian surface in the first place! These films have a way of brightening up your day because they are so positive and exciting. You leave the film feeling good...and that HAS to be a good thing.

IMAX FILM “SPACE STATION”

Incredible film...I can't recommend this one enough. But see it in high definition and sit close up to your TV. I was worried at the start of the film because there’s a brief tiny bit of 3D stuff and I was starting to get uneasy in my chair about it because it ran for about three minutes I think...but once you get past that it doesn’t go near 3D again and is simply amazing quality wise with real shots of what goes on inside (and outside) the space station. You get to see two launches in beautiful detail and sound. This film gains momentum at exactly the right pace.

This is very much like the five star documentaries I love from the late 70s / early 80s. It also reminds me of Kubrick (I think he would have loved this movie)

My only critism is that its pretty dumbed down (simplified) and there is also no section on the space station toilet although we do get to see sleeping and eating. 2001 A Space Odyssey has a funny shot of the man looking at the toilet instructions and I think they could have included this in the movie (it would have been good)

This is only my second ever IMAX film I’ve seen...the first one was called Everest and I saw that in the actual IMAX cinema...it was really amazing I remember….a experience everybody should have.

VIOLENCE AND OR GORE IN CINEMA

I’ve just recently had a three week holiday of film viewing and in amongst the long list of films I saw were three films that were really quite violent and gory...the films were Outpost, Zombieland and Doomsday. Please bare in mind that I also saw 2012, Avatar, Fog of War, Gates of Heaven, Burden of Dreams, Hearts of Darkness, Shackleton, Hancock, I Am Legend, The Omega Man, Colossus: The Forbin Project, Android and many, many more.

Now when I watch them (the gory violent movies) I get a feeling of “this is wrong” or something that I struggle greatly to put into words... which I don’t know...well actually I think that I do know...I THINK that it has something to do with how I’ve been raised.

There are people out there and my father is definitely one of them who have a very strong opinion of violence and gore in cinema...he does not like or approve of gangster films and zombie films….anything where somebody is beating up somebody else with a baseball bat is for him too much and I can certainly understand this….by that I mean that I have a uncomfortable-ness when I see scenes like that. But I think this is completely normal...OF COURSE your going to feel uncomfortable watching a scene like that...but does this mean that a scene like this should never be filmed?...Werner Herzog would say yes….and Stanley Kubrick felt he had gone too far with Clockwork Orange…he also however had the very unfortunate thing of copy cat cases on that film and that would be very upsetting and possibly would change his mind on the topic...but, all of this aside I’m not sure about it because he did have the towel beating sequence in Full Metal Jacket which is quite painful to watch.

What I will say is this. My father wont watch a film like Day of the Dead...and I feel this is unfortunate because it’s one with a really good social commentary...Romero was particularly intelligent on this picture.

I myself come from a background where I was given the computer game Resident Evil at a early age by a friend of my sisters….I remember being kind of shocked at how violent it was...but being completely sucked into the story line...you wanted to know what was going to happen next and the atmosphere was great. It was kinda one of these situations where I absolutely loved it but it also scared the crap of me at times...I completed the game though and loved how it gradually mixed sci-fi with horror. I later learned that Germany changed the colour of the blood to green...which I still to this day find very interesting.

I then ended up getting the fright experience somewhat elevated to extremes with the computer game “Silent Hill”...but that game was too much for me and my mother had to return the game...we had to decide which game was going to replace it and that ended up being Resident Evil 2 (a game that was a real joy to play at the time too)...for some reason where Silent Hill was too much Resident Evil 2 wasn’t...I cant quite explain that even. Its certainly given me a insight into how there are lots of different levels of intensity.

I’ve noticed in the last five years that I seem to be a huge fan of post apocalyptic stories and so naturally even when it comes to zombie films I’m still very curious to see what the filmmaker comes up with.

Zombieland was special because (if you can get past how very violent and gory it is) it touched on a lot of topics that were close to my heart...in some ways it was a bit like one of those much loved black comedies about dysfunctional people...I love those movies because I am dysfunctional myself so the narration in Zombieland is brilliant to me...not to mention very funny.

AGNOSTICISM

I joined the facebook agnosticism group.

Some of the atheists are as bad as some of the full on believers. There is nothing to be ashamed of with the answer “I don’t know”...somebody once said “wisdom starts with I don’t know” which I think is a wonderful quote. And the fact remains that there are nice atheists and nasty atheists...nice believers and nasty believers...and so on and so on.

"Really glad to see "often mistakenly put forth as a middle ground between theism and atheism" on the info page. Why do so many people miss that point? "Atheist" and "agnostic" address two different questions. Not that hard."
--Ryan Schneider

This reminds me greatly of the other three things….optimistic, pessimistic and realistic….I find that some people seem to put pessimistic and realistic into the same category which they certainly aren’t at all. But...I will admit that it is perhaps hard for people when dealing with somebody like me who is probably displaying all three things at once. To be realistic I think you have to have a lot of knowledge, experience and be able to see where you went wrong in the past with something.

V: THE BEGINNING IN 720p

Finally got the internet to work again. So heres the 720p I've taken off the effects for the moment...I'm one of these people who doesn't know what I want.

UPDATE ON V: THE BEGINNING

I’ve taken down the previous entry because I’ll soon have a better clip to put up instead. As per usual with all of my projects they soon get really heavy...a massive wieght on your shoulders that eventually gets too much.

SOME GOOD NEWS AND SOME BAD NEWS

So the latest thing to happen is a really very nasty virus has attacked one of my machines taking it completely out, it seems to have got into the system files. So we're going to try taking the hard disc out and putting it into another computer with all the latest virus software install. Don’t fear, we will be building a special machine for it...well, resurrecting one for the job.

The good news is that I noticed Studio Tacitus has come back. Meaning that Chris must have just been reshuffling things or updating. I would imagine that one day I'll get a bill for it all...just wondering how much that is gonna cost, but anyway its really very good that its back because I genuinely feel that I get traffic from the site because I’ve carried out experiments to prove it.

V FAN FILM

I'm making a attempt to do a promotional short (though really I probably shouldn't have chosen V to do this with probably because the numbers on the fan facebook pages aren't as high as say Star Wars or Batman) if I do a star wars one then the potential publicity factor is huge. The thing is though, I really love V!...I love the idea of the entire thing. I know it sounds like I'm doing it for the wrong reasons...but I'm having a blast here and across the whole of art is important that you have fun whilst you create somthing.

Also...to my knowledge (at least I cant find one on youtube) there has not been a V fan film made. Please if you know of one contact me and show it to me cause I love seeing these things.

I love science fiction and so it really doesn't matter what I work on...(as long as it's science fiction) plus the amount of people who see my work is so very, very tiny that I feel I need to do this.

Here's the first image.

STUDIO TACITUS WEBSITE GOES DOWN

Well I just want to put out a huge Thank you to a man called Chris McNeill who was a really nice guy (really intelligent too) who moved to New Zealand (but myself and my father knew him locally) he had a company that did all sorts of things (one of which was web hosting) and well I decided to go there and get the hosting for www.studiotacitus.co.uk with his company. So I did and it happened nice and fast...

...and he never charged me for www.studiotacitus.co.uk and I don’t know why exactly he never charged me but maybe he knew I wasn’t making any money. My site appears to be gone now...but I don’t know...it may or may not come back….but I was very, very lucky to have a site that didn’t cost any money for such a long time. I don’t know if this is wrong on my part or not...it’s a bit like a creature attached to a huge whale perhaps. But I’ve not earned any money in seven years now...so basically things are done on the extreme cheap side...I even buy VHS tapes now for 20 pence in order to see new films.

In the meantime I think I’m just going to have this blog as the main place and if I need to direct somebody to a video I’ve made then I can post it on here and tell them to go to the top of the page...I’m thinking that the huge banner at the top of this blog is a bit too big though and I do believe it causes confusion.

I think people despise me for this sort of a story that I tell and want me to get a job...but you cannot work a nine to five job when you are chronically ill.

SO MARCHING ON

My latest effort...trying to remake While They Slept with humans in it. I wanted to give it a go...don’t know if it’s a good idea or not, but then it’s not the first time I’ve done this...I’ve actually in the past tried to remake Rocket-Man and Errans Ruber…Errans Ruber even moved into a second remake...its crazy yes, but I seem to keep doing it.

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

...for Your Big Break - New Zealand...Tim McLachlan, Rajneel Singh, Andrés Borghi, Kristi Simkins and Aya Tanimura all get to make their three minute ideas into films.

YOUR BIG BREAK IS NOW CLOSED FOR ENTRIES

Thanks for participating in Your Big Break! The call for entries is officially closed, so if you submitted before January 15, 12-noon Pacific Time, you will be considered in our judging process. For all those who made their submissions just under the wire, don’t worry if you can’t see your video on the site – we have received all entries submitted on time, and if there is anything irregular about the sound or video we will contact you shortly. We received nearly 1,000 entries filled with incredible creativity, vision and passion, and our panel of judges are hard at work searching for the finalists who will fly to New Zealand to shoot their films with Peter Jackson and Barrie Osborn! Stay tuned next week when we announce the finalists, which will include the aspiring filmmaker whose submission received the most votes. Once again, good luck, and hope to see you in New Zealand! - Your Big Break team

MY SECOND ENTRY

So here is the second entry for Your Big Break New Zealand. It's a basic science fiction story with no special effects, would just need costumes and props...and of course the skeleton again.

You can see the video animatic and script HERE

I HAVE ENTERED THE NEW ZEALAND FILM COMPETITION CALLED YOUR BIG BREAK

Thats one of my entries into the New Zealand Your Big Break competition...another one going in soon. You can check it out HERE.