IZ:TDM! - General Update (and semi-exciting news!)

Hey there, all! Long time, no see. Kinda. Anyway, it's been a while since I've done an update, so - here ya go - here's an update! Yay!

PROJECT STATUS

Alright, so, currently, things aren't going as smoothly as I want them to. I think there are areas we could use more help in, and pick up the pace with. But as far as all else goes, things are on a pretty good trajectory.

Voice acting is great. We only have two characters left - ZIM and Purple - and they've only got Act III left in their lines. So that's good. As soon as all lines of dialogue are recorded, I'll be getting to work editing them together for use in the final product. That will be great.

Concept art is one of the areas we're lagging in. It's unfortunate, but the fact remains that concept art takes a lot of effort, and - generally speaking - volunteers do need constant reminders to ensure work gets done. Now, don't misunderstand me - this is not a jab at anyone, it's a mere statement of fact. If I could pay people in money, I would, because that ensures a more fastidious job. As it is, though, I find that I haven't gotten concept art in over a week, and that's mainly because I haven't poked, prodded, and reminded the few concept artists I have working that we need stuff done. So, that's something that needs to be taken care of.

Another thing currently going on is test animations for alternate animation styles. I'll be honest, guys, traditional 2D animation is not easy. It's hard, challenging, and time-consuming as is. The only way we'll be able to pull it off for a full-length feature film is with a crew of many animators, but that requires supervision, and I shudder to think of the way volunteers could manage to mess up shots, angles, and continuity simply by fact that I'm inexperienced as a director. To help, I'm experimenting with different animation styles which we will show at a later date. If all goes well, we'll demonstrate an accurate representation of how these different items could work to make a good animation in spite of it being a different style.

STORYBOARDING

Storyboarding is going to be interesting, to say the least. On one hand, I have an idiotic urge to do everything myself ("if you want it done right" and all that), but - on the other hand - I'm sane, and know that I cannot do it all on my own. Hence, I need help.

I'm planning to grab as many storyboard artists as I can (ideally eight to eleven members), and have us divy up scenes amongst ourselves based off of rough thumbnails. The storyboards will be refined, accurate, and work well. The only hangup is vision - I don't think many will share the same one I have, and I do not want to overstep a boundary and restrict their creativity. It will be a challenge to strike a balance there, but - hopefully - making a video dedicated to what I'm expecting in storyboards will alleviate this problem.

As for thumbnails, those will need a video as well. You can think of them as rough storyboards, and I would love to do them all by myself, but - in the interest of saving time and keeping the project moved along - I'm going to start staggering the workload (i.e. focuisng all efforts on one sequence at a time) so that actual progress is made (at least up to a finalized animatic).

IZ:TDM! AUDIO DRAMA

I intend to release an audio-only version of IZ:TDM! (complete with a deliberately cheesy narrator) alongside the animated version. There are two reasons for this.

First of all, if someone can't accesss YouTube videos easily, or if they're blind, or whatever the reason is, they can still enjoy the doomy madness via an audiodrama that I can be working on in my spare time.

Secondly, if the animation crashes and burns, well, this is a good backup plan. I'm an inexperienced director, after all, and so it's good to have a gameplan in place.

1,000 SUBSCRIBERS

Alright, this is it! This is the super exciting thing I wanted to talk about: IZ:TDM! has reached over 1,000 subscribers on YouTube! I'm so super pumped for this, guys! You have no idea! :D

Are a sizeable chunk spambots and content creators just subscribing to random channels in hopes to get more attention? Yes, very likely, but who cares? They helped get the number up that high, so I'm happy! ^_^

This is exciting for me, because it feels vindictive, in a way. It feels like I finally have a solidified base of supporters out saying "yes, we want an IZ finale, and we like the approach you're taking." To me, that's profoundly important, as it helps me mentally latch onto this. Every time something like this happens - be it a nice new comment, or a new volunteer, or (as here) a milestone of some sort - I feel more energy come in and pump me up for the project.

To celebrate it, I fully intend to do a livestream sometime in the future, where I answer questions about IZ:TDM! and prove my utter inept n00bishness with livestreaming tech. Should be great.

I Feel Good About How Today Went.

Seriously, today was fantastic! I got done with everything I set out to do at the start and then some!

The Concept Art department is running terrifically, and the manager's computer is almost finished being updated, so she can use it again. This means that I will soon be able to see what progress has been made concept art wise. Additionally, I got wind that one of our concept artists is improving his skills so that he's prepped for storyboards come 2016. If you're reading this, keep up the good work! I've heard about how you've been improving, and I can only say that I'm thrilled. Also in the Concept Art side of things, the department is getting an assistant manager. The best part? It turns out that the manager and assistant manager know each other! This will, obviously, save time on introductions.

Also, I'm finally ready to commence background roughs. I know I keep saying that, but I keep getting delayed. No longer! I have a checklist printed out featuring each and every single background that I need to rough out for our artists. I also found a long-lost list that details what each character and prop should be described as for our Concept Art department - that should be very helpful for our Concept Art manager.

Coming up soon, I'll be having another Skype session with all of our VA's so we can schedule a timeframe to record sequences in. Once that's running, voice takes should be churned out very quickly. I'm looking forward to how wonderful the progress will be, like a perfectly-oiled machine!

So, to sum up, my checklist for tomorrow is:

• Send my Concept Art manager the list of descriptions.
• Email my Voice Acting department and begin scheduling a Skype session.
• Find someone to create a background for a demonstration on my Background overview video.
  OR
• Recreate one of the normal Invader Zim backgrounds to use as a demonstration.
• Begin creating rough backgrounds of every Background Key, thereby laying the foundation work for my artists.
• Go into a Skype session with one of my VA's regarding some microphone issues.
• Record more of Smoots's lines with my brother.
• (non-IZ:TDM!) Sketch out the torso of one of the characters for that short film, to test my skills and send in some more drawings I did today.
• (optional) Create a Storyboard Tutorial video.
• (optional and non-IZ:TDM!) Submit another Fanfic just for fun.

So, that's it! :) I'm so happy!

Mission Accomplished for the Day! :)

Well, the concept art has been assigned, the voices have been listened to, and the Skype sessions have been had. I have successfully done everything (and more) that I set out to do today! It's a good feeling to have accomplished something, and it's an even better feeling when you stay on schedule. If things keep running this smoothly, IZ:TDM! might actually be done ahead of schedule...

...but let's not count our chickens until after they hatch.

Still, I'm very satisfied with how things turned out. The Skype call sorted out technical issues with some of Red's lines, Lard Nar's voice actor busted out an epic opening take for the character (seriously, guys - I can't wait to share it with you - the dude literally sounds exactly like Lard Nar), I've managed to draw a few things for that short film that turned out pleasing to the director, and I have got a Skype session arranged with my concept art manager to overview the entire department and streamline things.

Yes, things are terrific. Here's to an even better day tomorrow!

Back In Action

Alright, so I recently had to take a two-week-long break from IZ:TDM! simply because the stress was getting to me. During that time I had quite a lot of fun and relaxation and whatnot, but now I'm ready. The itch has returned, and I am back to working on Invader ZIM: the DOOM Movie! stuff. Hooray!

So, in the upcoming weeks, here's what I plan to get done.

First, I want to get in touch and plan Skype sessions with my Voice Acting manager and Concept Art manager, to discuss how things went in each department during my absence. Hopefully, there weren't any issues, but - if there were - then we can identify them and iron them out before they get to be too much of a nuisance. By 2016, I want all the voices recorded and all the concept art created.

Secondly, I do have my eyes on the future in terms of the next phase of preproduction - namely, storyboards. Soon I'll need storyboard artists who are skilled enough to take my cruddy thumbnails* and convert them to high-quality storyboards that can be used as a foundation for animators. To help get things set up, I intend to upload a tutorial (or series of tutorials, should the need arise) on what I'm expecting from Storyboard Artists, including everything from technical terms to perspectives to working with the concept art. That should be fun.

I also have exciting news in regards to animation. I'll be helping a friend (specifically the voice of Red for IZ:TDM!) create a short film. The film - which I will talk more about later - will mostly be stop-animated, but one character is a cartoon (my responsibility is to animate said character). This will be a golden opportunity to create a detailed rundown of the animation process, which - in turn - should help me demonstrate what I'm wanting from my minions when the time comes to animate.

Sort of relating to the previous point, I'll be getting a Newgrounds account soon, I believe. It would be a good avenue to explore and should help me get connections with animators and artists who want to assist me with Invader ZIM: the DOOM Movie! Now, whether or not that will actually happen remains to be seen, but oh well, time will tell.

I have a few other things I'm doing (fanfics, minor projects, etc), but none so big as this fan film, and I wouldn't have it any other way. So, as of today, I plan to blog at least once a day and just get my thoughts out there; it's a good habit to get into, I think.

Behold: Checklist.

☑ Critique Skoodge Audio
☑ Critique Tak Audio
☑ Rerecord Toll Guard Mockup Lines
☑ Contact ToonBoom with software questions
☑ Compile Prop Concept Art List
☑ Post Prop Concept List
☑ Post BG Concept List
☑ Critique Irken Pilot Lines (Take One)
☑ Create Mockup lines for extras
☑ Adjust BG Concept Art List
☑ Adjust Prop Concept Art List
☑ Critique Gaz's VA's First Takes
☐ Upload BG Concept Art Video
☐ Upload Prop Concept Art Video
☑ Complete Smoots's Concept Art☑ Revise Concept Art of Zim's Stilts
☑ Record Bob and Larry Audio
☐ Complete Robotic Substitute Concept Art
☑ Approve Tallest's servants Concept Art
☑ Critique Tallest Purple Audition
☑ Skype Call with 3 of the VA's

You best behold it.

You beholdin' it?

Good.

Another Day, Some More Work...

Well, looking forward to getting more work done for IZ:TDM! today. Specifically, working on Smoots's concept art and creating a revised concept art video for my concept artists to work on. Yes.

It might sound strange, but this is actually a critical stage in the animation process (concept art creation) - without artwork to refer to, all the characters and settings and props would look totally different when animators do different scenes. Concept art is vital, but it's not the only vital stage. Oh, no - here's the catch:

Every stage of animation is critical; scriptwriting, voice acting, concept art, storyboard, layout, posing tests, animatic, rough animation, inked keyframes, inbetweening, coloring, shading, special effects, compositing... I could go on and on. It's all very important, and - without it - no animation would get done on this film.

But the key isn't to worry about all these steps at once. The key is to just focus on the steps you need right now, and wait for the rest to follow.