It's been over a month since my last post and sorry to say...I'm not dead yet.
However, I do feel sort of "dead" as an artist due my lack of content in the past few years. So I thought I'd take some time to put you to sleep by explaining what's been going on the past few months, and why it would appear I've become useless as an artist.
First and foremost though, I'd like to apologize to anyone that has been involved with my god-awfully slow moving production, Madland. I keep telling everyone (voice actors, poster artists, fans, etc.) "it's just around the corner!". Then two months go by and they hear nothing from me. If I were one of them in that position, I'd be like "yeah, fuck this guy".
As I get older, I feel like there is just no time for ANYTHING anymore. I don't know if this is solely due to getting older and having more responsibilities, or because advancing technology makes time go by super-fast. Either way, it sucks.
I think with online media slowly becoming the "only" media, everyone involved in it thinks they need to generate lots of content REALLY fast to keep their fans satisfied. And this works for many artists. However, I've always spent a great deal of time on lengthier projects. What sucks about that, though, is each project usually takes twice as long to complete as the last one did, because as an artist, you have to keep challenging yourself and improving.
As of now, there are three main things that take up my time: work, school, and a feature length script I have been working on for almost ten years. We shot a scene from it a while ago and treated it like a short film. Here's the trailer:
The script is just about 60% complete. The reason I've been busting ass on it now is because I officially have three different connections that I can hand it off to and I'd hate to lose them because I took too long to write it.
So where does Madland fit into all this?
Good question. It is ridiculously frustrating not being able to work on this thing as much as I'd like to. I'm still chipping away at it in the little bit of free time that I have, but some days I wish I could just drop everything and focus soley on this. This is why I launched a kickstarter so that I might be able to afford to stay at home and work on it non-stop. Yeah, well that was a fail. Here's the campaign trailer we made for it:
So there you have it. That's where I'm at and where all my time is going. Have I given up on Madland? No. Is it going to take alot more time to get done? Sadly, yes. A lot more time. But I promise...it will be worth it.
I have officially launched a Kickstarter campaign for Madland, my cinematic take on the original Madness Combat story. I released the newest trailer this past sunday. Check it out to see what the movie will be like...
Since 2003, Newgrounds has been my go-to place for fan support and feedback. The support/criticism offered by this site is simply unmatched and it is what motivates me to do this stuff in the first place. Now, more than ever, I need that support.
Madland is my passion project and most likely going to be the last flash-animation I ever do. I haven't publicly stated that until today. I've been planning on "retiring" from Newgrounds for a while, but don't want to leave without giving you guys the best experience I can offer.
Check out the Kickstarter page for all the info. There are all kinds of cool rewards for every donation (DVD's, posters, behind-the-scenes access, etc.).
If you don't want to donate, you can still help out by spreading the word. The more people we expose this thing to, the better chance it has of getting funded.
If anyone has any questions, comments, concerns, post them in the comments section of this post or PM me and I will respond to every one of them.
Thank you in advance to anyone who donates or shares!
I've finally started promoting my new short film, "Men Who Run". It is currently in post-production.
Men Who Run is a short story or "chapter" taken from a feature length screenplay we hope to gain funding for eventually. The segment will be treated as a complete short film.
Here is the Official Teaser Trailer:
You can follow the movie here. Like that shit and support us!
You can also follow the MOC Facebook page for other MOC related updates (Madland, etc.).
I have another SHITLOAD of updates. The past few months have been VERY busy. As the title says, MOC is going professional on all levels. Where to begin...
MADLAND
People keep asking me what's going on with this one. I want to assure everyone that it is going to happen. This is my most important animation to date and alot is at stake. We are treating this like a big budget film in every way. I am now working with a team and we are taking it in stages; pre-production, production, and post-production. Pre-prooduction is just about complete so that we can start working efficiently by May 30th. The expected release date is September 22nd, 2013 (Madness Day).
This project is ultimately an homage, not just to Madness Combat, but to the many styles and genres of film I've grown up loving. As I said before, this project is extremely important to me because I am paying tribute to everything that has influenced my style. It's going to be a MOC wankfest really. I promise, there will be a more detailed post on this project once things get moving.
MOC OFFICE
This is where much of my time as gone the past few months. We have worked tirelessly to turn my garage into a professional production studio/office and it is turning out quite nicely. We have just finished installing our home theater within it. This way, when editing, I can view the footage in it's purest form; on a big screen with surround sound. A complete cinematic experience. There are more details on the MOC facebook page.
MEN WHO RUN
This is the short film that we spent months planning (like pros) and went EXTREMELY well. I haven't even started editing and I know it's going to be the best short film I've ever done. I've been doing films for a long time and this is the one where I feel like I corrected almost all the mistakes I've made in the past. It's a very character/dialogue oriented story. I've always felt that the character development aspect was my greatest weakness. I'll leave it to you guys to decide once it's released, but I think I conquered that here. There will be more details on this closer to the film's release.
MOCPRODUCTIONS.COM
This is a fairly recent development. I have hired a very talented web developer to design a MOC website. It will hopefully be up and running by July, but we'll see. You can see the "under construction" page here.
I'm sure there are a million things I'm missing, but I'm on a huge time-crunch and barely had enough time to write this. If any of you have questions regarding these projects, feel free to respond to this post or PM me.
The screenshot below is from my short film, "Men Who Run".
Long ago, I talked about a film I was working on called "Venaticus". It was a student film for my Moving Image Production II class. We were assigned to make a short film paying homage to a director of our choice. I chose David Fincher.
Before anything, I just want to say that making this movie was ABSOLUTE FUCKING HELL.
It was one of those experiences where I had a clear vision in my head and then immediately had to make countless changes once filming started. As any filmmaker will tell you, nothing ever goes according to plan. However, they will also tell you a good filmmaker is a good problem-solver. And that's what making this movie was: a series of problems that needed to be solved.
The first problem was, of course, time. We had three days to shoot and just couldn't get every single little thing I would've liked. Luckily we were able to improvise and make most of it work.
Most of the other problems came during post-production. My class had forced us to edit on Final Cut Pro X. I want this to be abundantly clear: I fucking HATE Final Cut Pro X. In my opinion, it is an oversimplified, laggy, garbage-ridden program that I wouldn't use if you paid me at this point. I couldn't stand working with it, but had to. So around this time last year, I slaved through the first cut and turned it in for class. My teacher enjoyed it, I didn't.
From that point until now, I went through a total of six edits, landing on the current. I switched back to Adobe Premiere for the 5th and 6th re-edits because the class was over and I was free to do what I wanted with the movie.
I spent countless nights cutting and recutting, changing color, enhancing filters, mixing/editing sound. It was a grueling experience. I wanted to construct the best possible version 1: for myself, and 2: so I could turn it in to my school's annual Big Screen Film Festival...only for them to reject it.
Upon realizing this thing wouldn't make it to the Big Screen and wouldn't be seen by film critics, staff, and students alike, I thought "who gives a shit? I didn't make it for them". And it's true. I didn't make it for them. I made it because I like making films and that's exactly what I did.
With that, I hand the film over to you guys, free from all the red-tape bullshit. It is now 100% public for anyone to see and judge. I've been listening to what you guys have to say for 10 years now and I'm not about to stop now.
Today (technically yesterday now) marks my 10 year anniversary here on Newgrounds. So I thought I'd sit down, grab a beer, turn on some Beastie Boys, and reflect on Newgroundian experiences over the years. If you've already read past the first two sentences without moving on to something more important, it means at least I have your curiosity.
Year One
Don't worry, I'm not going to go year by year. I just thought Year One sounded cool because...you know, Batman. But this was a very important year.
It was 2003 and Newgrounds was booming. Yes, Newgrounds started in '99, but this was the point where you could drop the name "Newgrounds" to your friends and they'd actually know what you were talking about. I spent hours on this site with my friends watching Retarded Animal Babies and Madness Combat. It was mostly those, but there were alot of gems in between, like Hostage Situation 2. That got me into flash.
All that being said, I'm just going to talk in terms of projects, and the things that came with them...
Not including the trailer, this was my first attempt at creating a flash series. It's complete dogshit. I went into flash blind and gradually taught myself how to use it through completing this series...and you can tell. I thought I could get away with using 12 FPS. As embarrassed as I am by it and as badly as I want to delete it from the site, this is the only place that can prove it even exists. I lost the original file. It's shit, but it holds sentimental value, so fuck you. It stays.
This is when I took a step back and went with a more simplistic style so I could get more done cinematically...at least that's what I thought. My animation was still pretty shitty. Sound effects and Copyright Hollywood music are the only things that make these worth watching. These were done at 18FPS; an upgrade, but still noticeably shitty.
After these, I took a short break and planned a series (Damage Factor 2) that fell through and never got made. This was the first of many, which leads me to the next project:
Tactical Directive - Part 1(2008)
Yes, a nice four year gap with almost no submissions in between. This is because I didn't touch flash for a good 2 years. I fell into a slump where I had no motivation and just didn't care about anything in general. Upon growing out of that, I started Tactical Directive. This one ran at 20 FPS with a really tiny stage size. At the time, I thought making the stage smaller would mean an easier work space...wrong. On the flip side, this was the first project where I used NG voice actors.
Even though this series didn't make it past Part 1 (of 3), I don't want to say it was a complete waste of time. I spent almost a year on it. It was the first movie I did where I was entirely conscious of the film influence. I really wanted to present it like an epic, 3 act film. It works on some levels, fails on others.
Gotham Heat(2010)
This one got daily feature, which isn't as big of a deal these days, but I grew up in a time where getting daily feature was like getting a blowjob from two chicks at the same time. It was a free ticket to the front page. And who doesn't like seeing their shit on the front page?
Another year of doing nothing, mostly from being discouraged Tactical Directive's mediocre reception. Nonetheless, rather than quit, I just decided to let that one go and do a more self-contained story. Thus, I landed on Gotham Heat. My friend and I had this idea for a little "episode" for Batman, taking place after The Dark Knight. We had just seen TDK at least four times so our Batman boners were raging. I actually did research for this one. We wanted to have alot of Batman: The Animated Series influence, so I watched a shitload of episodes back-to-back.
Six months later, Gotham Heat is created. This is when I discovered the awesomeness of David J. Dixon (Shock-Dingo) and Xander Mobus (Motley-Fool). Dixon's uncanny Harvey Bullock voice made me realize there is some serious talent on Newgrounds waiting to be tapped in to. This helped spawn Madness Heist.
Madness Heist(2011)
I've talked enough about this one. Odds are, if you know who I am and have actually read this far, it's probably because of this movie. The only thing I want to emphasize here is how incredible it was working with an ALL-STAR voice cast. I got to work with the now-famous Mick Lauer (RicePirate) who played the lead. It was crazy hearing all his other stuff, then witnessing a complete 180 when he did his dramatic, bad-ass voice for Red. I had Xander Mobus for a second time, but with a much more central role. He took an otherwise generic character and really made it his own. That villain would not be the same if it weren't for his creativity and skill. I had the versatile Zach Holzman (Apatheria) who I wish I could work with more often. He generated incredible tension with only a few lines. And of course, David J. Dixon, who I've already expressed my appreciation for. But just in case you forgot, he's the fuckin' man. Work with him. Work with all these guys. I've said it before and I'll say it again, they'll turn your movie to gold.
This was for Movie Jam 2...I don't know. Just watch it.
Madland (2013)
I've been working my balls off on Madland. I'll save info on that for another post. It's one of those long passion projects where I can finally pay proper tribute to the series that inspired me to do flash in the first place.
So that's that. My first decade on Newgrounds. It's been much less eventful lately, but that will change soon. My experience as a whole here has been awesome. I can't think of another website where I can get something so crucial to art: criticism. The amount of constructive criticism and overall creativity that flows through this place is incredible. The best part being is it's completely user-oriented. It's just a bunch of regular dudes trading ideas/art...and a fuckload of dick jokes.
Thank you Newgrounds, for staying awesome.
I'll end this post with the work of the beloved cock/tits/ass/vag loving Shadman, who made this awesome Madness Heist poster for me. He's another artist on here I'm glad I got to work with.
For the past few weeks, I've been designing the first "official" poster for Madland alongside a wonderful sketch artist named StopSignal. The sketch is ready. All we need now is an experienced color artist.
If interested, PM me or post in this thread and we can discuss things.
Once this poster is finished, expect a number of updates for Madland (new trailer/promo material soon).
I thought I'd take a moment to map out what I'm going to be working on throughout this year. This way, people will know why my news posts are so infrequent now (as if anyone's really looking anyway).
Very busy year ahead...
Now through September: MADLAND
Admittedly, I should be working alot harder on this thing. Although great progress has been made. I actually have a "co-animator" this time. A buddy of mine is helping with templates and backgrounds. Hopefully this will speed up the process.
The musical score by MrRedstone has actually made more progress than anything. I really wish I could show you guys some samples, but he won't allow it. Right now, we've just about finished the pre-production "template design" stage. I like to get all my character/objects drawn from all angles BEFORE getting into the actual animation stage. It helps make the process go alot faster and allows for more freedom in my opinion.
I also have StopSignal working on the first official poster. It's almost complete and from what I've seen so far, it's badass. Still need a colorist though.
Expect a new trailer around April/May.
March through May - FEATURE FILM TEST SCENE
Right now, we are in the pre-production stage of a "vignette" type scene that belongs to a feature length script which we intend to film upon the acquisition of finances. The goal here is to film the scene as if it were part of the full production. When the scene is finished, we will put it online (close to the release of Madland) and initiate a Kickstarter fund. Hopefully people will see the scene and want to see more, thus donating to the cause. I've already invested almost $3000 into this project because when the time comes, I want people to know my team is serious about making this movie.
also MOC OFFICE
To help make these projects more organized, we will be tearing apart my garage and remodeling it into the official MOC Productions office. This way, my brother, co-artist, and myself will all have optimal work-stations tailored to our needs. Sure it's still working from home and making almost no profit, but I think it's a step in the right direction of professionalism.
These are just a few of the many things on my plate right now. I also have work and school to deal with in between all these things. The way I look at it, balancing all this work is something I have to get used to if I want to get anywhere in the film business.
As is tradition with most of my unnecessarily long news posts, I'll leave you guys with a sneak peak at the upcoming Madland poster art by StopSignal. Will need a color artist (hint hint).
I've been off work for 5 days now and have been working my balls off on Madland (trailer at the bottom). With all this re-energizing and such, I want to get started on the posters.
With my last project, Shadman designed and illustrated this. Needless to say, I was quite satisfied.
My goal is and always has been to present my flash movies like films. I think the whole poster idea is a nice touch. So what I want to do with this one is create a three-poster set, released at three different times during the "promotional" period. Then I thought it would be REALLY cool to have each poster done by a different artist here on NG. I still plan on contacting TheShadling to do a "final" poster of his own design, but for these three, I want to get more people involved to show the diversity here on Newgrounds.
So what I'm proposing is simple: Three artists. Three posters. I have a rough sketch of each poster so people know what is needed. If you're interested, simply comment here or send me a PM. I should note that I'd prefer people who are "scouted" as artists so I can at least look over some examples of their work. However, if you aren't scouted, but still feel you're the person for the job, PM with what you're capable of.
And it case anyone is wondering, yes I will pay for it if payment is what you desire, but that means it has to be fuckin awesome.
UPDATE: Here's the sketch for poster #1 If anyone's interested.
So I've been really inactive on this site again. What a surprise. Although I have been pretty productive overall. One of the things I've been doing in my spare time is assisting my neighbor with his custom poster manipulations. But I'll post more on that when there's stuff to show off.
Speaking of posters, I finally got the Madness Heist poster printed to official 24x36 size. I think it turned out awesome for something that cost $20 at Walgreens. Check it out at the bottom.
I also just finished a poster concept for my short film, Venaticus (check out the trailer) and threw it in the art portal. You can check it out here. It's got that old-school noir look.
Aside from that, I just heard about a Newgrounds Commercial Contest that I may be able to squeeze some time in for. Could be fun. Haven't thought of a solid idea yet so if anyone wants to toss ideas around, PM me.
That's all I've got for now. I'll have more Madland updates in my next post.
