No Original Ideas

This was an especially productive week for my original short film (Hunted), side projects, and even client work. In addition to all of that, I was thinking about my next edited short, and I had this idea that I thought was extra clever. After a few hours of work on it, I decided to see if someone else had tried something like this before, and sure enough someone already had. What's more, they had used the same music! My enthusiasm drained, and I paused the video. But then I decided to watch the rest of it, to see how good it was. Alas, the video was mediocre. Whoever had made it had taken the easy way out for most of the video, and hadn't spent the necessary time to develop a good edit.

So, I was left with a conundrum. Here was this cool idea, just exploding with potential. And while I was beaten to the punch by nearly 4 years, I felt deep in my heart that I could deliver something worth watching. If this unknown creator had made something excellent, I would have been forced to tip my hat in respect and move on to a different idea. But I can't. This idea is just teeming with potential glee, and no one has delivered on it yet.

After sleeping on it, I decided I'm going to make it anyway. This is a side project, so I won't feel too bad if it's not successful, or if people criticize me for repeating an idea.

Here's a teaser of what the "idea" has to do with (yes, I'm being somewhat secretive):

I'm planning a release in June or July, depending on my schedule. :)

Bailey

The Conflict

Here's the 4th installment in my series of edited shorts. I only did the editing here. The movies and the music are property of their respective owners. Hope y'all enjoy (and please share it if you do)!

This short took a while to make. When I do these, I try my best to keep things clear. It's not perfect, but that's okay. It takes a long time to find bits of action movies that don't have shaky cameras, confusing focus, premature cuts, and other personal no-nos of mine. I like clean frames, stable shots, and simple (yet stylish) movements. And once I find those things, there's no guarantee that it will work from an editing or emotional standpoint. Simply put, there were countless minutes of edited footage that had to be left on the cutting room floor.

Of course, I know that I still have much to learn. And hopefully I can find a way to better integrate this searing passion of mine into my economic engine. That would be nice.

Bottom line, I love editing films, so I don't intend to stop anytime soon. In many ways choreography is my favorite activity. As much as I love design and animation, I'm happiest when I'm working with both music and visuals. I like trying to connect ideas together in that bigger picture sort of way.

I personally know lots of artists. But film choreographers are a rare breed. If you're one of these people, or know someone who is, email me. It would be cool to know more people who do this kind of thing.

info@formapictures.com

Also, I can't believe I began this weekly blog 6 months ago! I haven't missed a week yet!

Bailey

Laying the Groundwork

This week is one of those weeks where there's not a lot to show. Frankly there was a lot of business and prep work being done. However, that's not to say that there isn't anything new to see. I'm still creating daily sketches in the sketchbook. With each sketch, I learn a new technical thing. Most suck overall, but here are two of the better ones where I tried different ways of getting stylized atmospheric perspective.

Forma Pictures has more than a few projects lined up for release in the coming months. And each of them will serve the company in different ways. Some are client gigs and others are original IPs that will be produced by the company. Hunted, the film that's had the most attention, is but one of them. One of the other projects in an early stage of development is a more stylized, lighthearted adventure.

Hunted

And lest you forgot, all the updates for the progress of my short film have been moved to a different blog. And it updates every Tuesday right HERE. Two painted concepts are already over there just waiting to be looked at! What'r'ya waiting for? :)

Coming Soon

Next week I'm launching my 4th edited short. It's been a labor of love, so I'm excited to finally share it! In the meantime, take a stroll down memory lane with the first edited short I made a while back:

Stay tuned, lovelies.

Bailey

Standards Unmet

I have a confession to make... I'm not going to release my most recent animated video that I've been saying I would. The reason is simple: I decided it's not good enough. I try my darnedest to make things I'm proud of, but I sure do fail a lot. 

Of course I like a lot of things about it, but on the whole, I just don't feel that it's up to snuff. Not that any of my past work is very good either, it's just some things are releasable and other things aren't. It's subjective, but I wish I had had the opportunity to make it more musical and animated.

I have released crap before. Just look at the horrific cube dancing videos I make. Or the sketchbook. But those are meant to be throw-away content. I force myself to publicize those in the attempt to toughen up my skin. They're awful, I know it, you know it, and that's fine. But I just can't bring myself to release this video. Do any of you have similar stories? Any advice? I can't be the only one who struggles with these dilemmas.

On the plus side, progress on my 4th EDITED SHORT is going well. You can watch my past edited shorts HERE. I'll tell you, it's so much fun to work on these. Choreographing visuals to music is my favorite way to spend my time. Period. The best thing about these projects is that I do not release them until I'm completely satisfied. Here are some sneak peeks:

ES4 will feature sword choreography...

Around 33% there. This is extremely time consuming. If I don't love a sequence, I scrap it.

Bailey

The Action Movie

It's that time of week again. Last week I promised you an edited short. My work here was just editing. Music and movie clips are property of their respective owners. Crank the music up, and I hope you enjoy!

Originally intended to be about twice the length, this work languished on my hard drive for some time. A couple weeks ago I decided to tighten it up and share it.

In other news, today and tomorrow I am attending 2014's CTN Expo. Gonna see and talk to artists and animators, look at cool art, and learn! I couldn't be more excited. In preparation, I decided it was time to get some business cards in order. I'm pretty pleased with how they came out. Heavy paper weight, silky smooth, and bright blue. And if you're going and you see a guy wearing a Forma Pictures t-shirt, that's me!

Bailey