FLAGSHIP EXPLOSION

Quite a bit of further tweaking happened to this...It's now much brighter now than before, and the infamous explosion has been really tricky for me to do...I've literally taken about four days on this.


Explosion from Michael J. Dowswell on Vimeo.

THE FLAGSHIP SHOT

This shots been one of these very long going on things that has i feel has gone on for too long...but I think I'm impatient actually...but, it's been real tricky to do with the explosion (which cant be seen here...posting that next)


Flagship from Michael J. Dowswell on Vimeo.

INCREDIBLE AYN RAND QUOTE I FOUND TODAY

“In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it's yours.”
--Ayn Rand - Writer and Novelist (1905-1982)

Just amazing...it's like Ayn Rand tapped into my soul when I found this today, and saved it.

THE TRUTH ABOUT HOW I FEEL ABOUT MY ANIMATION SHORT FILMS PART 1 OF 3

This has to be done...and I hope it doesn’t come off or sound like a rant, because really it isn’t, it's just a series of facts that I want to get out there...make people aware of.

So here I go with it.

I don’t love robots...and I don’t have a particular love for CGA (computer generated animation), really I don’t...and I want this made clear now...lol...I do the short films this way (which, by the way have been made with no money) because I don’t see how I can do a film shot on film with miniatures...well, you know?...big-iatures as they say in New Zealand...(they would be big too) and I don’t see where I would put them or how I would construct them.

I make the films with a view to them being remade with miniatures / big-iatures / real actors / real sets / real light...one day...I just hope...I HOPE that I’m not wasting my time with it all...all of these things I’m making (and this may sound odd) are done with that in mind...I don’t fully understand it myself now...other than I’m compelled to do it...i cant sit around and do nothing, so I do somthing?

And as for the robots...well, the reason I have little peg leg robots that look a bit silly, is because my technical skills are really poor, and the little peg leg robots are quite easy to have walk across the screen...for a long time I want just SOMETHING that would be able to walk across the screen...it all sounds crazy, but it’s the truth.

But don’t let this fool you into thinking I don’t love the process of making these films.

Setting up the shots compositionally, editing the shots together to see the sequence start to be born in front of you, and then putting the music ontop...all of that stuff I LOVE to pieces. And those are definitely the three things that excite me the most (at this stage in my life with making these things) about filmmaking and keep me going. That and of course the lighting...I absolutely love lighting scenes.

GANG PLANK VEHICLE

Couldn't resist putting the old one next to the new one. I’m very happy I made this change to the gang plank vehicle...as you can now see...it badly needed it!

Theres quite a few changes, even the blue itself has been altered because the orrginal was just way too blue. Its funny how little things like that make a big differance.

ANIMATION UPDATE: JUST A LONGER CLIP NOW WITH A RUNTIME OF 02:53

It's finally starting to take better shape I think.


Clip 4 from michael dowswell on Vimeo.

Not exactly sure why I upload in little chunks like this, but I think it's because of the sheer longevity of these animation projects...with every new bit added to it I feel a sense of achievement and want to show it to the internet audience and my very small fan base. I think it’s a good thing in the long run as it has the potential to attract new fans

THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK ARRIVED TODAY

This Year and last year I’ve been gradually buying the things that I love dearly...the original Star Trek films...which, I have seen many, many times and have on VHS recorded off the TV. But, what I’ve not really seen, are the films in their original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio...well truthfully here, I’ve seen them like this once...and it was way back in about the mid nineties (so thats quite a while back there...lord!)

But today a special thing happened because now with the arrival of the Search for Spock...the trilogy is complete...the II, III and IV films are united together...pretty awesome.

On every very excited arrival of a new two set of SE discs (I now at this stage own II, III, IV and VIII) I jump straight to the extras every time...which have been pleasantly wonderful on each film.

II has been very special for me because i hadn;t until the other day there) ever seen the extended version of...so I was sat there seeing things I'd never seen before and in widescreen.

SOME INFORMATION

So what’s going on now?...well, I don’t know if I said...well I think I did say at one point, but the animation cuts from a big outside shot to a huge interior space port sequence...and it's been a endless amount of trouble for me...with me redoing it three times with three different designs...each of which have their nice things about them...and each of which have some darn annoying things about them...I try really hard to get each shot as good as the last shot?...I don’t know if this goal is even reachable?...I’m notoriously fussy about the way things are done.

I’ve also started to draw a lot recently because of a possible music video chance. This has been really wonderful...but knackering as I’ve been doing drawing and my animation at the same time.

LOOKS NICER LIKE THIS I THINK

Just been tweaking the colour balance here, and i think this is a far more larger range of colour going on, and a nice sort of washed out look too.

THE BLUE BRIDGE

I'm starting to progress at a better speed with the animatino...the blue bridge has been done quite fast...it's changed slightly as I've gone along, but is getting there.

THE WHOLE LOSING WEIGHT THING

I saw a really good documentary a while back. What I came away with, the information I came away with from seeing it was that, and this is in the simplest of forms here...are, that, there seems to be about five groups of people.

1) People who love food, and therefore eat it a lot, they eat too much, they put on the weight.

2) People who are apathetic about food, they’re genuinely not fussed about food...don’t really eat much and don’t really put on weight.

3) People who live in a perpetual state of hunger...but are hell bent on not gaining weight...they don’t eat much and are thin.

4) People who love food and eat loads, and don’t put on weight because they dash around a lot during the day.

5) People who are on medication which is making them gain weight.

It is of course much more complicated than all of this, but I find it all quite interesting. I’m trying to lose a bit of weight at the moment, and one thing I’m finding is that if you just try to lessen the amount you eat at dinner time you body does start to get use to it...your stomach starts to remember.

THE DISCOVERY OF THE MINIATURE MODEL MAKER STEVE HOWARTH

On looking at models from the 1994 TV show Space Precinct I discovered miniature model maker Steve Howarth's portfolio site...a man I would hire in a instant if I could. He's exactly the sort of person I would need. His work is extreamly good and his site's a very interesting thing...it even led me to the discovery of the film Moon starring Sam Rockwell which comes out in June 2009.

I hope he’s ok with me taking these two photographs from his site. I'm just amazed at his skill with adding details such as grime, oil, rust. And the below before and after is incredible.

COMING ACROSS OLD WORK, AND THINKING “YEAH, I THINK THAT IS THE BEST WORK I EVER DID”

I don’t normally say this about my work, usually I’m very quick to shoot it all down for one reason or another, but I do believe these two were the best I ever did.

I distinctly remember at the time pushing very hard to really go for detail, taking that extra amount of time. It does of course pay off.

THE MUSIC I'VE DONE WITH KORG AND (AT ONE POINT) BRASS TABLE

Follower of the Blog / internet friend / fellow director Paul Caggegi asked to hear some of my music a while back. I don't think I've ever really talked about how I do music on here, and am only starting to be a bit more forward / open about showing the animation development on here too.

You can listen to the music I've composed here. theres not a huge amount and it's not very long running, but you'll get the idea.

CAKE #02

At this point, your probably thinking “these people eat a lot of cake” but really, we don’t...but, I am known for sometimes going on about cakes a lot...but, cake of course, and tea...are wonderful things.

Well the story about behind this one was this cake cost a staggering fifty pence...because apparently it’s not good enough to be sold full price which would have cost the buyer a one pound and forty pence...all I can say is, there not many things in this life you can get for fifty pence any more that are this good.

MY MOTHERS 60TH BIRTHDAY

My mother turned sixty the other day there. She seems very happy about it...shes very excited about the free bus pass, and for somebody who has a chronic illness seems to be pretty ok...shes not falling apart with depression...and even turning sixty didn;t seem to phase her.

Here is the coffee cake...which I have to say, tasted incredible...there’s actually a history of our family buying these things which spans quite a number of years, but we hadn’t had one in a very long time.

THE WHOLE SELF PORTRAIT THING OR WANTING TO PHOTO YOUR ROOM THING PART 2 OF 2

Also...photographing yourself is completely different to somebody photographing you spontaneously. Much more planned of course, and often I’m not smiling in the photo...which I have to add leads to a common misconception that people (or I least I feel this is the case) respond differently to seeing a photo of a person not smiling. The majority I feel don’t seem to respond well to it...maybe I shouldn;t say that though, because I'm not a mind reader.

THE WHOLE SELF PORTRAIT THING OR WANTING TO PHOTO YOUR ROOM THING PART 1 OF 2

It’s no secret that (or now it isn’t) that I take photos of myself and my room...occasionally.

Every now and again over the years (I think it all started round about 2001 when I live on my own for two years) (I’ve not done it in a long time now mind you (until two days ago's Korg photo)...but, I’ve always wanted to write about this topic...I cant help but notice that a lot of people in the history books have done this thing of photoing themselves too...is it just something that comes with being a Artist / Director?...for me, if I was to go into explaining about it...I would have to say that there’s two possible reasons behind it. The first being, that, I would really like to photograph some people...because, I think photographs of people are fascinating, you cant beat it...peoples faces are always going to make for interesting photos, because it’s what we as human do on a daily basis, we talk to other talking heads.

But because I’m very shy and hate asking if its ok to photograph another person...that’s another topic, but it’s a real thing I struggle with that one….but anyway, when it comes to photographing yourself, you have the right to do it no questions asked...I honestly kind of feel bad about asking somebody if they want to be photographed...cause your putting them on the spot about it.

Plus...If you photograph yourself or your room occasionally...when you look back at ones six or seven years ago...you do stop and go “wait what, I’m actually getting older aren’t I?”...or... “ha, yes, that’s what my room looked like when I lived there” and that creates a very odd feeling of realisation you know?...and a bit like putting on a track of music, a photograph of a room can spark off memories of the past.

Somebody once told me that your life can basically be looked back upon as being split up into chapters.

And sometimes I think that...well, I think that, I’m one of these people that has to do something each day in order to feel that the day hasn’t been entirely wasted...I seem to have a thing about that...so I go into a thing where it usually turns into a task you can pick...that can be in the shape of all sorts of things...a bit of text, a photo, a 3D set or prop. Each one of these things seems to somehow help.

THE KORG SHOULD BE USED AND I DO WANT TO USE IT

I'm closer I think, to doing some experiments with the Korg, but also recording other instruments and then manipulating the sound files / slowing it down etc. I will be experimenting with guitar, that can be confirmed.

As you can see here it's a beautiful, beautiful piece of equipment, and I’m blown away by how good the sound is on it...it's really seventies synthy sounding.

THINGS THAT COME BACK TO YOU IN YOUR MEMORY PART 3 OF 7

Passing the driving test.

Yep, well you knew this was coming and had to make it onto the list didn’t you?...I actually remember bits of this day very clearly. I remember being extremely nervous, having to go into the Driving test centre (which seemed be like a freakin maze of tight corridors and doors...once you had turned three rights one left, one right and two more lefts...and gone past the chicken soup machine...I was told to sit down and wait in this tiny, tiny sort of hallway that I wouldn’t even really classify as a waiting room, another very nervous person was also there...they seemed friendly, then, two driving examiners appeared...then, I was asked to lead the way to my vehical...so, there’s basically three people behind me at this point, I got completely lost and lead them straight into a cupboard...this was rather embarrassing...but pretty funny.

I finally sit the test, and am really very nervous at this stage...and miraculously, and I’ll never be able to understand this one...PASS the test first time...THEN, the driving instructor gets out of the car and bashes his head on the way out of the vehicle.

THE INSPIRATION FOR MY COLOURS ON THE CURRENT FILM

I really have no secret to hide here on this...the two images below are what did it for me. Such wonderful colour work, that I was very inspired to and had to do a film in colour...I was compelled to. However I think when you film these colours with a real camera on celluloid with real lights...they really show up much better.

STUBBORNNESS AND DETERMINATION POSSIBLY BEING EITHER A VERY GOOD COMBINATION OR VERY BAD

I cant help but think here about well...my parents, and how both of them are very, very stubborn and determined people...and this has led to well, its led to me and my sister turning out to be very, very stubborn and determined people. Now, one side of this I say to myself...If I wasn't this way then I wouldn’t have completed any films at all...or even be doing them you know?...that’s the determination part...and the determination part is very, very good...but on the other side of this thing...I’m damned stubborn...and this means that it takes a long time to get what I want...now that’s either... good or bad.

DEFINITELY FRUSTRATION

This last interior (the second one, and previous blog post) set is really not acceptable to me...so I have been working on a third attempt...there’s still a lot of frustration on this though…I cant seem to get what I have in my head out of there and into the 3d software...I feel I’m slightly closer to what I want...but I feel I’m just not quite there on it...

TAKEN OUT A LIGHT AND SOME DETAILS

It's a common saying in art, that everybody knows or everybody should know, that "less is more"...but at the same time in every director, there should be a nagging thing constantly going on in your head saying "put more detail in this" and "theres not enough detail in this".

I've taken out a light and some details and I think it looks better.

SECOND ATTEMPT

This is the new replacement set for the interior that I wasn't happy with. I'm not sure how I can get some of the shots to work on this without the big window I had in the first set. It may change again knowing me.