March Update

A teacher is monitoring my project and recently gave me some feedback on it. Basically he was pretty impressed by my scripts and I was going the right way. =D Of course there were some things I did have to think about in my scripts, but that´s a minor thing. Tomorrow he'll send me the feedback so I can take a look. 

Havent been script writing since episode 5, but will try to pick it up this weekend again.

Also still in the process of casting! So if you're interested , audition! The deadline is in 13 days and I could still use some more. Especially female auditions

Great news!

So I've been analyzing my story and that made me feel more confident about it. 

I'm working on the casting thread right now -> searching for good lines for the auditions.

This means the casting thread will be up tomorrow! 

In a moment, or tomorrow I'll also upload the character bio's. So you have more information than on the casting thread itself. 

Reading books

I´m reading the book: Ideas for a short animation and wow, it taught me a lot.
You should read this if you want to learn more about characters and stories. It does revolve around short animation but you can use it for every story.

I know I have to ask myself a lot of questions now about my characters and stories. To be honest I didn't have a set-up but the characters just came out of nowhere. At the character bio's I actually started thinking about them (and I was at page 10 at that point) and I know I should learn about them more so you know them too. If I ask myself those questions I will know exactly how they will respond in every situation.

I will think through my story a little more before I put it online.
Should have done this earlier.

Here are some questions that may be useful when you have finished a story.

1. Who is your character?
2. What is your character’s goal?
3. What is your inciting moment?
4. Does your confl ict rise?
5. What is your character’s reaction (not action) to the confl ict?
6. What does your character need to learn?
7. Does your ending relate to your beginning?
8. Is your audience entertained?

Getting sick

Aw no. I'm getting a cold >.< That means I can't spend much time on writing script. With the headache I will have limited computer time. This means the cast thread will be posted later.
So sorry guys =( It will at least be posted in february

Scripts, scripts and scripts + Devil may cry update

I don;t have that much time, but i'm doing my best to finish the scripts. At the moment I am at episode 5 o.o and I'm halfway the story. Lol, it will be a long project by the looks of it.

I just got into a new project group and have to go to school from 9 - 4 (home at 5) 

And I have to begin learning 3d so I need to put a lot of time in that. But i'll try to work on my project on evening / nights, just to have a little break from 3d. 

Devil may cry update.

Mission 8

voices: 66%  - one voice actor has a cold so it will be delayed

Mixed - just some footsteps and a door sound effect has to be added, but that will happen as soon as I get the last lines.

Mission 9

Voices: 66%  - 

Mixed: Nearly done. I do want to change the bat sounds.

Story finished

Oh yeah, finally finished the story. It was really hard to write the last few pages. I never know how to end it beautifully >.> It may be changed though during revising. I wasn't fully in the mood writing the last few pages. This is probably because I just wanted to have the story finished and transitioning from idea to idea was never my strongest point.

Now its time to work on the scripts. The story will be different. Lots will be added, but also many things will be deleted as they won't translate well into an audio project. We'll see how it goes and we'll see how far we'll get with this project.

The biggest thing I'm worrying about now is the time I need for composing. I do need the lines before I can start composing as it has to match the story.
I have at least already decided what music I want to do. It will be piano music with some instruments added like strings.

Update

Not much has happened T.T I had a deadline for school and had a lot of stuff to finish for that. Yesterday I had voice acting to do. So from now on I can finally work on The Stranger.
Somewhere next week I have an appointment with a teacher so we can discuss the story and scripts again. Hopefully he can help me further and give me some good advice.

Cast thread just has to be posted in February. I'll work as hard as I can to finish the story this week and finish at least a few more scripts before I have that appointment with the teacher. Then the only thing I have to worry about are the auditions coming in and composing music. Oh and finishing two more character designs ^^

Story progress [4]

I know I said I would finish the story, but I have to write two different endings now as I can't decide which one will fit best. One is just too predictable and maybe unnecessary; the other is better but it depends on my writing. 

Thehurricanekid is revising the last written pages so I'm waiting on that before I continue. Why? Because I want to make sure the previous pages sound good. xD He will also help me decide which ending will be chosen eventually.

So yeah there will be a delay =( I don't have that much writing left (except for working on the ending) The casting thread will probably be posted in february. Hopefully earlier. I do have some days off at the end of January. 

No worries yet, not that much behind on schedule. 

Story progress [3]

Finally wrote something on the story yesterday. I also know exactly now how to write the story.
I'm pretty close to the ending come to think of it. Some things will be different than I imagined before starting this blog. Don't want to make it too long as I already have three scripts before the real plot begins.
Will try to finish it this week. When I start casting I'll also ask if people want to read the story. If so, I'll post it on here soon.

edit: Another 5 pages done. Been writing for two hours now =D Now I'm really close to the end. Will finish it this week; I'm sure of it.

Happy new year! and updates on projects.

Happy new year to everyone who reads my blog! XD
Hope 2012 will be an awesome year for you.

Script update: Episode 2 is revised, only need to think of more lines for The stranger, Episode 3 is almost finished. Just have to edit a few things, get rid of narrating and such.

Mixing update; Started test mixing. I have episode 1 partly and now I am working on episode 2. It's still hard to use certain sound effects as they don't let you know what is going on x.x For example someone is hitting the camera, it just sounds like someone hits the mic XD

Music update: Working on some songs, I have two short songs finished and they will be used in the first episodes =D

Devil may cry update: Episode 5 and 6 will hopefully be released this week. Only still waiting on the Dante lines. Also waiting on two more character lines for episode 7. =D Still have to mix the fighting scenes between Dante and Vergil as well, but will do that when Dante's lines are in so it's easier. ^^

Scripts and sound effects

Finished the second script! Almost have chapter 1 scripted. The episodes will be around 10 minutes. The first two episodes won't be that exciting as it is an introduction. In episode 3 the real plot begins :P

I'm also looking for the right sound effects now. Been looking for camera sounds. I had to record my own as well and it doesn't sound that good, but that's okay. The camera sounds need to be subtle.

Also finished a sad song for the project. It's only 1 minute long so I have to extend it if needed. I'll make more music after i Have done a test recording, that will make things easier :P

Main theme song finished and script update

I have finished the main theme song. I've decided to keep it in a piano version as it will add sadness. I was planning to sing with it and add more instruments, but my singing will not really fit in the project, so I will just leave it instrumental. You will hear more songs in the project (I still have to make them) and they will have a small part of this song in it.

So yeah, hope you like it ^^ '

No one can see the real me - piano version finished
(edit: The quality sucks a little on 4shared and I realize the melody volume changes.)

Also I'm writing on the scripts. I havet he second script almost finished. I will also record all the lines at night and will add the sound effects to see how it sounds. Plus making songs for it when needed. =)

Script writing goes faster, starting casting soon?

I am working on the script for episode 1 now and I already have 6 pages filled! That means it's 6 minutes already XD I have only introduced the characters at this point and explained their goal.
Didn't know it would turn out to be a few hour audio play. I really judged this wrong before I started this.
If I keep up this pace this means I can have more episodes done with Christmas Break.
Then I can start casting in january! Yaay! I already have most designs ready for the main characters so they will at least be posted.

So excited for this =D

Edit: Episode 1 is finished. Wooo!

Did start script writing after all, design and music

I opened celtx yesterday and have two pages filled already while not much happened XD Didn´t know writing scripts would take that much time and would turn out that long. When it´s Christmas break I´ll record everything I have and will edit it this way. Then I can finally send it to thehurricanekid.
At the moment I´ll also work on it at school as I have finished most of my tasks and still have to be at school from 9-4:30 x.x

Wish me luck! Hopefully I have a few episodes done at the end of the year and can start casting :D

You'll also see more designs appear soon. Cathy is next and then I'll draw the characters that have a minor part. Like the friends from Ryan who appear at the beginning and maybe half way the story. These will not be edited in photoshop, but this way the auditioners at least know how they look like.

With music production things don't go that fast. I play soundtracks whenever I can so I can listen to how they build up the songs. But they are all so different. Choosing the right instruments is hard too.
A program crashing on you doesn;t help as well.
I do have a melody in mind for the main theme. It will be a sad one. I'm trying to write lyrics for it and will eventually record my voice for that song.
I'm planning to have the melody of the main theme return at certain parts in the audio play.

I still need to take a look at other audio plays so I know how others handle the music and sound effects.

Another update

So, I wanted to let you know that I have started working on Ryan's design. It's half way done.
Here is a picture of it:

Also I had a talk with a teacher and he gave me some helpful tips on script writing, so before I'll continue with that I'll listen to other audio projects and see how they handled it. Then I can completely focus on the scripts and do it better than I did before xD I at least know that I shouldn't have a narrator at the beginning of an audio story. It takes away the excitement and suspense.

Scripts / story

thehurricanekid revised parts of chapter 3 and 4 and gave me some tips on writing. I was planning to write a lot on the story again within a week, but the problem is. I'm not in the mood. x.x On weekends it's my moment to write things down, but what I've thought of, doesn't look that good on paper.
Aaah, this frustrates me so much! My goal is to finish the story in december, so I can set up auditions in januari, but with this pace I won;t succeed ^^;;

Also started on writing the script for the first episode, but it's harder than expected (especially when you're not in the mood) xD Not sure how much to add in a script. Luckily I have a talk with a teacher who does storytelling on tuesday. So I can ask him some questions and hopefully he approves this story so I can score some points for school :D

Hopefully I can get some things done this week. If not writing, then finishing designs. =3

Time to update! story and design plus the Lady recast,

Alright, so I finally got some inspiration and just wrote a lot on the story <3 I kinda know how the story goes but writing towards that moment is quite difficult. I hope I can keep up this pace so I can be halfway the story somewhere next week (yup I have a list I'm working with, with what I want to include in the story)

I'm also working on the designs, thanks to the movie into the wild I know how Ryan looks like. (You should totally watch that movie, it's really touching) I just finished his face and now have to scan it and continue with photoshop.
It's simple but it's helpful for photoshop.

Also I got 4 lady auditions, yaay! No need to scout as I had wonderful auditions. It's really hard to choose already xD

Story progress [2]

I have decided how to write the story. I know what will happen from the part I am now until the end. =D
Now I only need some inspiration and hurry it up. I wrote one page in a few days so I need to find more time to write so we can start scripting soon.

In the story Raina will not narrate, but only in the audio project. This is gonna be challenging to still tell the story like it is now, but then in audio.

I also know how Ryan will look like and  Raina;s friend - Lisa. I'll start designing them this week.

Script writing

We haven't started script writing yet, but I do know now how to translate the story to an audio project.
So far I know people won't understand the story if we translate it to sound effects and voices. We need more than that, so I have decided to let Raina narrate her story, so people will understand it more.
Also at the end of the story it is clear that she has written this as a story (and her voice was just telling parts of the story she wrote)

The end lines will look something like this:

"I've written a lot, haven't I. It is enough to publish it as a book Might not be a bad idea actually. Hmm, I've already thought of a name for if that happens : The stranger."

Hope I didn't confuse you, I have it clear in my head but can't really write it down xD
I'll be back for more updates!

Character biographies editing

Ah, a learning moment. Thehurricanekid has revised the character bios and added some helpful questions so I can write even more about the characters. For example, Raina has a ring, but where is that ring coming from? how does it look? I didn't even think about that. xD and more questions are added about the character's personality and history. I thought I had already written a lot in it xD But I should be explaining more how the character has become like he is now and not with just one word. Will keep that in mind.