October 4, 2011 In late 2010, Amazon.com, Inc. announced their entre into the business of producing movies through a new division, Amazon Studios, and a first look deal with Warner Brothers. Their intent was unabashedly clear: to make commercial feature films, for the people, by the people. Good movie ideas, they claim, could and should come from everywhere, and the closed, insular Hollywood system needed a major rewrite. Instead of tapping established screenwriters, Amazon Studios conducted monthly contests for professionals and non-professionals alike, with large cash rewards for best screenplays, as well as best test movies based on their favorite scripts.

Test movies, you ask?

The Amazon Studios’ team believes there is an important step missing in the current film development process. Since filmmaking and editing tools have become so accessible, they feel that [relatively] inexpensive visualizations should become an integral stage to assess a movie’s potential before millions of dollars are spent to produce and market a film. 

In the past, storyboards have been used in all forms of filmmaking. Scenes are sketched out for animated movies; animatics are tested before advertisers make commercials or buy media time; and film directors use pre-visualizations to map out action sequences or complex special effects. But no one has ever mandated full-length renditions of live action movies…until now.

My screenplay, The Alchemist Agenda, was given Amazon Studios’ first Best Screenplay award in December. Since then, it has gone through several iterations of story development: table reads, writers’ reviews, Amazon Studio notes – inspiring several script revisions. Getting the script as good as it can be is usually the first step in any film project. But good scripts don’t always translate into good movies, and Amazon Studios maintains that test movies will show us why – the missing link needed to better determine which projects are worthy of a green light.

As I studied the early test films made for Amazon Studios, it was clear that they were on to something. It’s easier to assess the potential of a film from a visual expression; strengths and weaknesses are more pronounced, and much could be learned from the process. It also makes sense that a great test film would be a better way to sell a project, a more elaborate and accurate way to prove that a story is ready for production.

Early test movies were made from different mediums such as motion-boards, photo-boards, live action, or some combinations. They had evolved throughout the year, but I wondered if there might be a better approach. If so, would it be genre dependent? Could a test film be too over-produced or under-produced? Could they become complete movies in their own right with a distinctive entertainment value? It took a long time to assess, but I had committed to making the best possible test movie for The Alchemist Agenda, and that’s how I landed here at The Hive.

This [weekday] blog will discuss how we determined our methodology and created a unique style that we hope will become a template for making the most efficient, entertaining and effective test movies in the future. It will discuss story development from script to screen, production process, challenges and solutions, profiles of the artisans involved, and much more. We hope this will be interesting to movie buffs, informative and inspiring to other filmmakers, as well as document the path for The Alchemist Agenda to a theater near you… Welcome to the road to alchemy! October 4, 2011

Posted by Marty Weiss

Tags: Motion Comics, Animatics, Storyboards, Film Editing

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October 5, 2011

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions…

What is filmmaking if it’s not the culmination of thousands of creative decisions? There are three acts in a linear story – beginning, middle and end. And there are three phases to making a movie – writing the script, production, and post-production. Each part is a puzzle that could be put together in any number of ways. Our first challenge was to determine the most effective way to visualize The Alchemist Agenda. We knew it needed to be engaging, communicate clearly, set the right tone, and dramatize the action well. But we didn’t want it to be all about the technique; we didn’t want to use technical gimmicks that could look like a poor rendition of the real thing or be difficult to sustain for a feature length film. We also knew some form of storyboarding would be the best expression for our action adventure story; the flexibility of drawing allows for locations to give the sense of place, emotions to be articulated, and action to play out; and something about drawn images allow the imagination make the leap to what a live action version would be.

We had agreed that we were going to pace this test film like a live action movie. Typically one script page equals one minute of screen time. Other test movies tend to rush through, probably to keep audiences engaged. But we wanted to pace this movie more accurately, and to do so we needed movement, something best served by a Motion Comic. (Sounds like a term for Steve Martin walking.) Since the script called for so much action, we would have to prioritize certain set pieces, must-see scenes, but just the same, we really wanted to strive for a high level of consistency throughout. The artwork needed to have the right detail and depth to give a visceral reaction, certain scenes would require movement within the frames, as well as [simulated camera] editing moves, and selective color would be needed to create the right mood. Time and money were a consideration in all these areas. We had to strike the right balance between how many frames we could produce, how much detail in the artwork, how much color, and how much movement we could accomplish within our production schedule, keeping the essential goal in mind of finding the right tone. When people first read The Alchemist Agenda script, they compared it to Bourne Identity, Indiana Jones, The De Vinci Code, National Treasure, and James Bond movies. People tend to do that with scripts, comparing them to known movies, so there’s a common reference. But few filmmakers set out to make a derivative movie or put their favorite movies in a blender, no matter who or what their influences are.

So we first looked at The Alchemist Agenda in relation to what those aforementioned movies had in common. They were all in the action adventure genre, and all franchises. Not bad company to be in, but still, we didn’t want to be compared to anyone else. As Yesenia Higuera, our talented editor-producer, said, “In the future, we want people to say that their film is a cross between whatever and The Alchemist Agenda.”

The late Blake Snyder and his Save The Cat books talked about commercial movies being “the same, only different.” And he meant that audiences generally want their genre served up with all the expected courses, but they want to see them disguised in unexpected flavors. And if you’re wondering why I’m using cooking metaphors, it’s because it’s lunchtime and I’m hungry…But seriously folks, that’s how we came to determine a style and tone that would be unique, consistent, and hopefully awesome! And tomorrow I will begin to discuss the process. Posted by Marty Weiss  October 5, 2011

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October 6, 2011

Commence fire!

Once we officially began production, the producers started to break down the script. But according to Benjamin Price, partner at The Hive, breaking down a Motion Comic script is slightly different than a regular movie script. For example, there is no need to organize the usual aspects like wardrobe, hair and makeup, which must all be determined early on. Because the turnaround is so fast, we needed to get right into designing the overall look of the movie during the breakdown process.

Matt Hill is our art director. He’s not only extremely talented, but a perfect fit for The Alchemist Agenda since he has traveled to many of the locations and is well versed in many of the martial arts and weapons used in the story. In the first week, The Hive gave Matt several key scenes to experiment with. Then they presented me with several art styles. And that visceral reaction I was hoping for was immediate.

Here are some examples of Matt’s early sketches. I love the use of background color for the mood of the scene while keeping the subject in black and white for focus. Usually the opposite is done, and I felt this gave it a distinctive vibe.

The next step was for Matt to create character models for the two leads. I gave him magazine references with specific body shapes, hairstyles and wardrobe. Matt came back with multiple options that required only a few rounds of refinement.

 

 

 

 

 

October 6, 2011 Posted by Marty Weiss   Top of the page

October 7, 2011

Preparing the Voice Track…

Jessica Green is a development executive by day, and an actress all other times. She’s also a good friend who helped me cast  an amazing group of actors from The Groundlings Improv Company. Since The Alchemist Agenda script calls for nearly 70 roles with five spoken languages and nearly a dozen dialects, we needed versatile actors with a lot of range. 

Our male lead was played by Jim Kane, a well-trained actor with a valiant voice. And the leading lady was played by Caudia Black (the voice of Angelique in “Rango”), an Australian actress who performed a perfect Israeli accent for us. The rest of our cast had to play multiple roles and did a great job making each character sound different.

 I was lucky to get such a talented group, but the real challenge was working around so many actors’ schedules within such a short window. I had rented an audio studio for a half-day, and I probably could have used two full days for a 115 page script like we’re working with. But like they say, the amount of work fills the time allotted. And I’m not sure who “they”are, but they were right. We got everything recorded (with a little overtime added on).

Directing voices for animation is different than directing actors for live action. It’s important to know that the voices communicate the intended emotions clearly and will match the expressions in the drawings. I
noticed that I closed my eyes or looked away when the voice actors performed so I wouldn’t get swayed by the expressions on their faces. I thought the actors did a great job and I can’t wait to see how their voices play to the drawn images. I plan on coming back to the recording studio one more time when picture is locked to re-record some lines and do a little loop group.

October 7, 2011         Posted by Marty Weiss

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Back To The Hive…

A lot of work has been accomplished in the last week. The Motion Comic breakdown has been completed, as well as the first draft of rough storyboards. The Hive resident editor, Yesenia Higuera, has put all the sketches into Final Cut to create a rough boardomatic with sound fx. Once completed, the “Hive-lings” took me through a sequence viewing. And with the daunting amount of storyboards, it took nearly 4 hours!

Then the Hive producers counted all shots and determined that we would not be able to complete that much art and still make our schedule. They estimated that we’d need to cut nearly 20% from this first draft. And that’s when I informed them that I not only think we need ALL these shots, I’d like to add at least 20% more.

So our first real challenge has arrived: How can we produce more artwork and still meet our deadline? We want to maintain consistency with Matt Hill’s artwork, so if we add another artist, we’d need someone with a similar style, someone who could complete Matt’s rougher sketches so that we can produce frames faster.
Since our animator is starting tomorrow, we decided to see how the workflow goes, assess the completion time for each shot, and then proceed with caution!

 

 

 

 

October 11, 2011         Posted by Marty Weiss
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Workflow…

Our tight schedule requires us to overlap all our tasks as efficiently as possible. Final art started and everything is looking awesome!  Some of Matt Hill’s shots could easily be framed. Our animator, Nick Kunin, has also begun and an additional animation spreadsheet has been created with a list of animation goals.

Nick’s first challenge was figuring out the best way to create rain in the sunken treasure expedition scene. It has to match Matt’s style of art and so we didn’t want to use the stock rain provided in the animation software. It took some time to figure out, but Nick found a great solution. Everyone stayed ‘till 11pm to make sure we hit our daily target. We left a few of the shots rendering overnight. One of the animated shots had over 20 layers of art (which is pretty complex). Luckily The Hive has some powerful equipment to handle the render.

The Alchemist Agenda has a ton of action, and since creating animated sequences is so time consuming, we had to decide where the movie would best be served with animation, and figure out less time consuming ways to keep a sense of movement throughout the rest of the film. We don’t want a handful of animated scenes to be exciting and the rest to feel static; we want consistency. So we spent much of the day discussing ways we can integrate motion so it’s seamless to viewers.

We’re committed to a three-month production schedule, soup to nuts, and have to stay within a strict budget. And because every film has its own unique needs and a style, we know we will have to make fast adjustments as we go. Test films will have to be produced timely and affordably if they’re going to serve their purpose, and we’re all hoping our methodology will serve as a prototype for future test movies.

October 12, 2011         Posted by Marty Weiss

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October 13, 2011

Finding Our Sea-Legs…

The Hive-lings presented the first two test sequences: one animated, one static. The purpose was to determine the level of movement required and the pacing of the edit. It also allowed us to talk more concretely about the kind of consistency we can accomplish, as well as how color will be used.
Even though our selective color will be mostly in background elements, the tone and hues we choose effects the mood and emotions of each scene, and we must also be cognizant of the way the colors juxtapose from scene to scene. Art Director Matt Hill came up with a great idea for a sequence that takes place at dusk, where the sky will transition from yellow to orange until the scene ends in a red explosion.

These early tests also show that we’re still shy in the amount of shots we can produce to make the scenes play well.  Motion Comics typically don’t use traditional cinematic coverage. But since one of our goals is to cut our movie like the live action version, we’re starting to realize that the style of this film is evolving into somewhat of a new form, albeit of a hybrid. Nevertheless, the quantity of artwork will continue to be a challenge. We had budgeted for another artist to come in at some point, and we realize it would be better to do that sooner than later. The artwork is very unique and contains a lot of “cross hatching” line work, rather than solid lines. So it’s important to find another artist who is familiar working this way. And that artist will start tomorrow.

October 13, 2011         Posted by Marty Weiss

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October 14, 2011

More Art, Please…

The first few hours of the day were taken to explain the project to our new artist, Jeremy Arambulo. We want everyone involved to be immersed in the feel of The Alchemist Agenda, as well as the workflow. And it’s also important that we give them inspiration they can relate to. Artists need good references, and that’s where spare Hive-lings come into play. As we prepare for a fight sequence, Benjamin said it best,

“It looks like a lot of fun, especially when you get to pretend to break a co-worker’s neck!”

I hope The Hive has sparring insurance.

Before any scene is animated, the rough storyboards are edited together for pacing. With a Motion Comic that contains this much dialogue, sound effects and music, we have to be sure that the animation is timed to the rough edit.

Both artists are now producing beautiful work that is separated in preparation for animation. Our animator then prepares files for the process. In a few instances, there are over 40 layers that have to be manipulated at one time. Each layer must be in the correct order or else the artwork will not appear correctly on screen.

It’s great to see our workflow becoming more and more proficient.

October 14, 2011  Posted by Marty Weiss

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English Burritos…?

October 18, 2011 Posted by Marty Weiss

We are getting ready to animate a fight that takes place in the backseat of a taxicab. Working out animated moves and pulling off the intensity in such a confined space is quite a challenge. This sequence also has a birds’ eye top-shot of a car chase through Prague. The file size of the background element is huge and the shot will take about 7 hours to render – so we are going to set it up before we break for lunch. Hive partner Benjamin Price made burritos. They were unusually crunchy and he served them up with the old excuse, “What do you expect when an Englishman cooks Mexican food?” The Hive-lings are getting thinner by the day.

We are also gathering references for an insanely awesome boat chase through Venice. The Alchemist Agenda takes place in several well-known European destinations and we want to make sure that the landmarks are instantly recognizable; and therefore, the Rialto Bridge and many other icons will be accurately represented. We even plan on creating the boat chase in the exact twist and turns of the great Venice Canal.

Our weekly production meeting confirmed that we are on schedule but will certainly need to continue overlapping many of the tasks that are typically done in a more linear way. For example, we won’t have time for a full editor’s cut before I stick my nose in, and will have to polish scenes out of sequence. Editor Yesenia Higuera and I have already begun discussing music placement and style, some original vocals, as well as a credit sequence.

Everyone’s been working really hard and we can really see things starting to take shape. Benjamin offered another round of burritos to show his gratitude, but no one accepted the offer.

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October 20, 2011

Creative Process…

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.”
Steve Jobs

Writers and filmmakers are obsessed with process. We love to talk about our own as well as hear from the masters. Bookstores are stacked with “how to” manuals, which has become an industry in itself. But the reality is that what works for the goose doesn’t necessarily work for the gander.

As a self-described “captain of product design,” Steve Jobs left behind a magnificent body of technological masterpieces, and no shortage of ubiquitous and inspiring quotes. He believed consumers don’t know what they want and it’s the job of the entrepreneur to show them what they cannot live without.

I’m often amazed at how little the filmmaking process has changed even though the technical tools keep coming faster and faster. Oddly, filmmakers have historically been resistant to new processes. Many feature film editors took more than ten years after Avid was in the mainstream to give up their flatbeds. And while many film purists still hold out, directors such as David Fincher and James Cameron have successfully lead the way to fully digital workflow. USC’s renowned film school uses only digital equipment now. That’s the first film school I’ve heard of that has eliminated film from their program. Often we don’t realize the changes we’re going through until they are far behind us; like looking back on trends of the decades, always hard to define until they are tiny specks in our rear view.

While technology changes exponentially, storytelling does not, and maybe that’s one of the reasons movie studios are so cautious to try new things. Fewer and fewer original films are made each year. Some say it’s because of the corporate bureaucracies. In David Mamet’s new book, “The Secret Knowledge,” he says that the film industry has become loaded with unnecessary, unqualified middle-management that impede on and often mangle the movie making process. He uses this example as a comparison to our government, but his point is well taken: Once industries get bloated, they tend not to cut back or change – unless they’re forced to.

We are now far along in the making of this Alchemist Agenda movie, midway blogging about our process, and getting more and more excited about the work. Yesterday I had a conversation with a filmmaker who is also working on a feature length test film for Amazon Studios. We were sharing our enthusiasm, imagining how this medium could evolve as the way original ideas will be proved ready for production, and take much of the guesswork and fear away from the people who have the authority to give a green light. Maybe in the future we will look back in our [proverbial] rear view mirrors and all the major studios will require these “movies-before-movies” as the bridge from script development to production. Maybe they will become something they didn’t know they wanted that turns into something they cannot live without. And maybe, just maybe, they will make movies better. Wouldn’t that be cool…?

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Think Different, narrated by Steve Jobs

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October 21, 2011

“Complications cause conflict, and conflict is born in character.” Lajos Egri

Claudia Black - "The Alchemist Agenda"

The writing gurus say that the second act should be loaded with complications. It’s never as good as it seems at the midpoint and it’s never as bad as it seems at the all-is-lost point. Just before the third act begins, the hero hits rock bottom, wallows in hopelessness, and then somehow breaks through the wall and charges after his dream. And I think the same may be true in the making of a movie, as there are always unexpected obstacles, twists and turns.

We’re in the middle of our production, and because this film is so different – it’s not live action, not quite animatic, not really traditional animation – we’ve had to continually reassess our approach as we go. Part of the ongoing evaluations are numeric. We average the amount of shots we can produce, subtract animation time, add back overtime, subtract color time, add back time for changes…then wallow in hopelessness before we figure out a way to get it all done.

This happened yesterday. And just after we figured out a way to attack our already daunting finish schedule, we heard the good news that our voice track made the semi-finals for Amazon Studios’ dialogue track contest, and five of our actors are up for the best actor awards. Congratulations to Claudia Black, David Jacks, Don Schlossman, Paul Benton, and Samantha Roy!

Yesterday I posted about the creative process, the unrelenting, unpredictable abyss that often comes with the experience of flying high in excitement, falling, trudging through the muck, and picking oneself up – the rollercoaster ride. It reminds me of Woody Allen’s joke in “Annie Hall,” which he borrowed from Groucho Marx:

“A guy tells his doctor that his brother is crazy and thinks he’s a chicken. The doctor asks, ‘Then why don’t you institutionalize him’? And the guys says, ‘I can’t. I need the eggs.’”

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Marty Weiss

November 1, 2011

They Can See The Poster!

Being an adventure film, we put all our animation/motion efforts into the action sequences. And most of that artwork is now complete. So as our animator spends the next two weeks finishing his very detailed layering in After Effects, our artists are cranking away at the rest of our storyboards. Every frame must maintain Matt Hill’s rich style that serves the tone of the story so well, which is extremely time consuming, and we therefore have three additional artists to help make our deadline.

Concurrently, we are editing new scenes and already revising first and second passes. The finishing process from here on out will be exponentially busier, and we still need to leave enough time to record loop group moans and groans, re-record lines of dialogue, layer sound effects, design a title sequence, as well as provide the marketing tools for this project, such as a great poster and a trailer.

Since our editing bay is busy during the week, we will have to cut the trailer over the next few weekends. We’ve discussed the cutting style we think would have the right energy to sell the action and sexy international locations. We agreed on something musically driven, opposed to using a voice over, and maybe intercutting a few phrases that build the intrigue of the concept and sets the tone of the action.

Three of our artists have been working on posters and here’s some examples:

 

They are still working on various taglines to precede The Alchemist Agenda:

-        The formula was buried years ago, but the evil survived…

-        The war was never really over…

-        No one believed them. Now it’s too late.

-        The final solution was just the beginning…

-        They shall inherit the earth…

-        The formula is ready. Are you?

-        No one believes the truth until it’s too late.

-        The legacy awaits.

-        From the one come the many.

-        History had a different plan.

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November 4, 2011

Shameless Promotion

Amazon Studios offered a new contest this month for artists to design posters for a select batch of action films they have in development. As mentioned in yesterday’s post, three of our artists have designed Alchemist Agenda posters and are participating. And since the contest is supposed to find the winners through a fair, democratic process, we’d like to encourage everybody to vote. But we’re only providing links to our artists’ posters. And the reason is because we are not necessarily fair or democratic. We unabashedly prefer our artists to win. But seriously, the links below will take you to the Talenthouse site where you can see lots of cool designs and “like” the posters you dig the most.  

PLEASE CLICK THE POSTER TO VOTE!

 

 

 

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November 9, 2011

The Third Trimester

My wife is in the last leg of the pregnancy, so I thought I’d make a clever parallel to our sprint to the finish line on The Alchemist Agenda project. While my wife is uncomfortable, exhausted, edgy, and often sleepless worrying about the arrival of our new baby, I am sweatin’ bullets, as my neurotic nature over-thinks every aspect of the film…Okay, okay, enough with the bad analogy; she reads this post and I’m toast. Point is, as we head into our last few weeks of production, we are taking all the elements – hundreds of hand drawn frames, sound effects, music and voice tracks – and finally layering them all together to reveal the sum of the parts.

All I know for certain is that we’ll end up with a feature length visualization of The Alchemist Agenda (just like my wife knows she’s going to deliver a baby boy), but many aspects won’t be determined until the very end, and I am getting extremely excited, and anxious, to see how the entire thing plays… And if you’re reading this, honey, I’m even more excited to see how our new baby plays, and what he looks like – I hope more like you than me. Now back to the film. It amazes me how many ways a story can be told, especially from the same script. I’ve never seen any interpretation of “Coriolanus,” the last of Shakespeare’s great political tragedies, ever play the same way on a stage. Actually, I’ve never seen, or read, Coriolanus…ever. So that’s a bad example. But in film school we had an exercise where each student would get the same footage to edit into a scene. And of course, everyone came back with a completely different rendition.  So that’s a better example.

The other thing I’m amazed at is how every creative project I’ve ever worked on never feels complete. I always wish I had more time and money. I’m hoping to get to a place where I know exactly what is needed to tell a story flawlessly before the process begins. But I don’t think I ever will. I’m also hoping I’ll get to a place where I know exactly what is needed to raise our children perfectly, so I don’t make any mistakes. But I’m pretty sure that ain’t gonna happen either. Like my mother used to say, “Children grow up in spite of you.” Or maybe she said, “Children grow up to spite you.” I can’t remember. She definitely didn’t tell me to grow up and make films. More like, “Make films, then grow up.” And now I understand why. It’s just like giving birth.

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November 15, 2011

Putting the Pieces Together…

The layers of visuals and sound are starting to work together, and the movie’s really beginning to come to life. While the hive-ling artist are working away to complete the artwork, we had actors come into the recording studio to lay down moans, groans, and cheers for the action sequences and background SFX.

It was really fun to see our images up on a big screen and hear our temp track through large speakers. We also had Lisa Fishman, a talented recording artist with a spectacular voice, come in to sing her two original songs that we’ll be using for the credit sequence, as well as the love scenes. Several scenes have also been sent over to our composer, Gregor Narholz. He’s been working on some scores that reflect the movie’s tone, style and theme, and will show us what he’s come up with in the next few days. We only have a few more weeks to go, and still so much to do!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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November 18, 2011

Details, Details…

Even though this movie is a work of fiction, the suspension of disbelief must be facilitated by reality. I realize how completely incoherent that sounds – so I’ll try to explain. The Alchemist Agenda has a wish fulfillment premise presupposing that there is a formula to unlimited wealth and ultimate power. It also has two lead characters with superior skill sets that qualify them for this adventure, and who are also blessed with significant flaws that they will need to overcome in order to fall in love and save the world. So there’s a lot at stake for two extraordinary people with precarious pasts, and they must forge an unlikely partnership in order to prevent a global catastrophe. Therefore, the world we create must have a good amount of believability for the audience to take the journey – to suspend their disbelief for two hours.

One way to do this is to present easily understood rules in the first act, adhere to them throughout the second act, and reconfigure them (in a plausible way) as we head into the resolution. Remember Gremlins? In the first ten minutes we learn that these new pets cannot get wet, cannot stay up after midnight, and cannot eat certain foods. We know these creatures don’t really exist, but we watch the rest of the movie because we want to see what happens when they break the rules. We also know people don’t really leap tall buildings in a single bound, but we enjoy superhero movies if the rules are clear in the beginning. One of the challenges in The Alchemist Agenda script was to set up rules that the audience is more privy to than the heroes are, at first, but once they overcome all obstacles and reveal their true selves, they will be more privy to the possibilities than the audience, and then fashion a more satisfying resolution than the audience thought possible.

We often hear that a hero must change in order to complete their arc in a story. A former teacher of mine put it in a different context. He used to say, “Characters don’t change, they reveal themselves.” That’s a subtle, but profoundly different way of looking at the character arc. And as long as you don’t pull the rug from under the audience’s feet, if the characters reveal themselves in conceivable ways, the audience will go along with the twists and turns.

In addition to character behaviors, the details of their journey should also be as credible as possible. Charlie Rocklin is the hero in The Alchemist Agenda who has been in hiding since his tour in Iraq had gone bad. He has masterful Team 6 abilities, but he also has several enemies who still want to eliminate him. Ariel Ellis is the heroine, now a history professor with the most in-depth knowledge of the alchemy legend, but she is also a former Mossad agent who still needs to avenge the wrongs done to her family, and she won’t be content until her revenge is complete. These starting points create conflict and obstacles, and in order to sell them to the audience, the character backgrounds, as well as their actions, must be accurately represented. To help with authenticity, I reached out to Dave Powers, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces “Green Beret” combat veteran and Navy SEAL Dive Supervisor qualified operator. He is also a federal agent. I could tell you how I found him, but then I’d have to kill you…

Mr. Powers had poured through the details of The Alchemist Agenda script with enthusiasm and gave much insight about military procedures, spec ops inputs and intelligence community (IC) jargon – everything from special op processes to types of weapons and equipment. Our artists have stayed true to these details, just as they have consistently drawn accurate locations where the story takes place.

One other visual element that has helped create our world is the colors we’re using, and the way we’re using them. Early on in the planning of this movie, we decided that color would have an important impact. But we didn’t want to use color in a traditional way. We really liked the black and white style of the drawings, and didn’t want to do use conventional full color, which could feel too cartoonish. So we decided to keep the focus of each frame in black and white, but color in the backgrounds to reflect the emotion in every scene, as well as the location and time of day. Color has had such an impact on our process that we have regarded it as an important “character” in this movie. This, of course, carries over into all the mise en scène, all elements added to the film, and is especially significant as we work away on our music score.

After all, it’s all in the details…

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November 29, 2011

Thanksgiving…

…is probably my favorite holiday. I love the food, the crisp, cool hints of the year winding down – an American celebration of gratitude. And I have much to be grateful for this year, especially on this project. I’d like to thank our dedicated team for all their great work and dedication. They have been tirelessly sprinting to make our deadline, haven’t taken a weekend off in months, and have literally worked around the clock in shifts since early last week. With a schedule this tight, so many elements have had to converge at the very end. We are still composing our original score and tweaking and our sound design, even though we’re already mixing. And we’re still drawing frames and animating the credit sequence, even though our picture should be locked.

Just two days from the finish line, it’s still too early to exhale, but I believe we have accomplished something quite unique. Driving home last night, I was thinking about what we originally set out to do – and I was remembering all the questions I had had about technique, style, consistency, and impact. We’ve made a lot of untraditional choices along the way, and as it comes together, I realize we have broken some new ground.

The Motion Comics/motion storyboards/board-o-matics, and their various forms, have been used for years, but only recently as an emerging style of entertainment. Warner Bros. created a prequel for Will Smith’s “I Am Legend” and a motion comic version of the graphic novel “Watchman,” but I’m not aware of anybody who has used the format for an original feature length movie with original artwork (not based on any preexisting material). Motion Comics have been called the Cliff’s Notes of the comic industry; they don’t have the nuances of the graphic novel, and don’t have the articulated movement of an animated film. But as a precursor to a live action film, especially big ones, I think they may prove to be the ideal tool – more cinematic than animatics, and more dramatic than pre-viz programs – especially when they have stunning artwork, fluid editing, a well-performed dialogue track, rich sound design, and a stellar score.

Several other people who have been making projects for Amazon Studios have reached out recently to discuss our approach, their approach, and thoughts about what will ultimately make the best test movies. Every year we hear complaints about movie award shows, that picking one movie over another is like picking an orange over an apple (flagrant paraphrase). Every film should be produced with its own distinctiveness in mind, so I don’t think there is any “best way,” but I’m pretty sure we can all agree that there’s nothing better than a great story, well executed, and that shared experience of being transported into another world. After all, that’s what we strive for, the reason we all work so hard to tell stories.

I am thankful to all of you for following our project, and to those who have sent words of encouragement. I am very excited to present The Alchemist Agenda movie this week. I truly hope you will be “transported,” and if that’s too grandiose, I hope you at the very least have fun watching it.

We will continue to post here about the movie’s progress and hope you will occasionally check in.

Now back to The Hive!

Posted by Marty Weiss Top of the page

Tags: Motion Comics, Animatics, Storyboards, Film Editing