As I’m being completely transparent as to my short and medium term goals – well aware that they are likely to draw criticism – it is only fair that I also let you in on some of the difficulties and opportinuties which are complicating matters. Full disclosure is probably unwise, but this is cathartic as much as anything. Do you have any idea how stressful it is to attempt to keep things on the quiet? I’ve been downplaying things, and… I’m not sure how successful – if at all successful – any reassurances given out have been.
The new laptop isn’t ideal. It isn’t the fault of the laptop itself, but rather the overall design choices which are dominating the current generation of laptops. I’m probably going to have to buy a more substantial external keyboard at some point, as writing around a hundred thousand words a day on this is going to wear out the keys in no time at all. I’m also slightly concerned about the tracker pad, which was never designed for such extensive use.
The only reason I’m able to do so much right now is the insomnia flaring up – with only around four hours sleep a night at the moment, and not good sleep either, I’m somehow increasing my workflow substantially. There should be a knock-on effect of exhaustion, but I’m concentrating hard on Blender and getting excited at the notion of getting a film made. The current situation does afford me more time than I would otherwise have, so I’m portioning out that time as well as I can. I’m keeping – more or less – on schedule, with the only limiting factor being my comfort with Blender.
The rest of the time…
Well, there are short stories, scripts, and designs to figure out. While I’m not sure quite how much material I’m going to have to create in order to fund all the steps along the way to the previously mentioned projects, there’s likely enough wiggle room to play in if I keep on budget. I’m not going to borrow money, or go into debt, in achieving any of this, and I don’t want to ask anyone for help – that would probably be the smart thing to do, but I want my fingerprints on everything. It is ego, pure and simple. I can do all this if I put my mind to it.
The funding, as far as financing is concerned, has always been intended to spring from me, and me alone, as asking anyone to chip in seems too much like begging.
Actually there’s another reason why I have to do everything on my own, and that is for what comes next.
Building on what I’m working on now, moving forward with concepts which intrigue me, has to follow certain specific constraints. It would be both arrogant and unrealistic to expect others to adhere to such limitations, so there really isn’t any point in frustrating anyone with them – and as I have no interest whatsoever in creating franchises, and little interest in playing within the worlds others have created, I’m largely stuck doing the best I can with what I have.
There has to be a certain sensibility in all these things. Not that I want to impose a look on things, or that everything has to be willfully clever (there are enough stoner gags in the film script to keep everyone happy), but that they come from a certain place – the understanding that they all originate from one source. Despite the complications which tackling everything creates, having one hand behind all aspects involved is the best way to maintain that sense of auteurship.
Like I said – rampant ego.
I’m not tackling everything completely alone, as there are people who are absolutely vital to get on board. There’s a certain director – semipro, with a great visual style – who seems as if he could cope with the level of interference I would bring, and I’ve been on the look-out for people to fill other key positions. There’s no cast in mind yet, which is going to make me really, really nervous when thing move forwards, but I figure that there’s plenty of time to deal with that yet.
And before anyone asks, yes – I did all the storyboards myself. Any opportunity to cut down on the overall cost is to be grabbed with both hands, especially when there are so many specific things to keep in focus. As soon as I can figure out how to get the animation properly rendered, I also have a vanity plate ready, for which the letters were specially done. Everything has to be mine, otherwise I’m going to look back on the finished article and regret not spending the time to do it right.
Whatever else, this should be interesting. Hell, even if things go completely mad and I end up stuck in the desert for longer than anticipated, at least it will make for great blog posts, right? There’s no way I would leave you hanging while I’m doing something so ambitious.
There is one small, yet crucial, aspect of this that I’m not even going to attempt to tackle solo – the soundtrack has to be completely right for the story. That means, unfortunately, that there can’t be any synths used. Nor pianos, or guitars, or anything remotely familiar. When I was working out the story, and trying to find as much information as possible on artifacts which originated in the right place, at the right time, I found a few possibilities – and there are at least three instruments I want to track down replicas of, if any have actually been created.
Putting the sounds together, and mixing them in a way which doesn’t detract from the visuals, is a whole world of technical nightmare. I wrote a few scenes to specifically play out in a manner in which the audio leads narrative development, so the pacing, mood, and intent has to be right as well. Soundscapes have to possess so many factors that it would really stretch my abilities, and I’m not comfortable tackling so demanding a role when there are people around who not only do this stuff for a living, but are far, far more talented than me when it comes to sound.
There’s one thing that really tipped the balance for me when it came to the decision I would make this film: there aren’t really any combat sequences. Yes, there is some action involved, adhering to the original concept “Conan meets Cheech and Chong,” but no bloodshed. For that matter, the computer game will be mostly free of physical violence as well.
I told you that I wasn’t thinking with my commercial brain.
There really isn’t a need to add violence for the sake of it, nor is there any need for nudity. Well… I may throw in a naked background cameo if nobody objects, but mostly because it would be extremely amusing to do so, and not for any artistic reasoning. Don’t worry, I’ve been working out. I’m not saying that I’m gonna look like Chris Evans anytime soon, but at least there’s muscle definition.
Changing the nature of the discourse between standard fantasy fare and audience is something that has been bugging me a lot, and as nobody else is willing (or able) to step back from the popular concepts to examine more important aspects, then it is largely down to those who need to do so. In this case, yeah, me. That there is such a broad canvas from which to draw fantasy from, but so little making its way from the archetypes to what is presented on screen, means that there is an audience which has never really been exposed to some of the fundamental ideas.
While I’m always going to love the Conan films, and even films such as the Ator sequence (especially Iron Warrior), I can’t help feeling that there is room for something greater than that which we are so often presented with. There’s little exploration of the spiritual, or even just the social structure, of these societies, and stepping back to look at how life might have been forty-something thousand years ago – well, forty-something thousand years ago with added weirdness – is far more interesting than seeing guys chop each other to bits with swords.
Something I mentioned on the digital blog keeps being repeated in what I want to do – to break out of the way which everyone else seems to be thinking and do something new. I’ve tried my best to write whatever might be beloved by all, and to fashion characters which can be made into toys, and cartoons, and all the rest of the noise, but there’s always something soulless about such work. It doesn’t speak to me the same way that crafting an entire little world, self-contained, and living, does.
There’s a lot to do over the next few months, and I desperately want to be shooting in August or September – when the desert is going to be cool enough to film in during the day. By that time I can have the animatic up somewhere, then start figuring out the effects which are needed. I was smart enough to include a couple of scenes which could be filmed anywhere, and those are the ones I want to get done and dusted first (although these are also heavy on magic) to have at least a little headway before venturing forth into the wilderness.
And I’m going to have to paint a poster, because all films should have proper posters and not horrible Photoshop monstrosities. Gouache is probably better than oils for this, as I’m pretty certain that a lot of 70s and 80s posters used them for their art. It will need to be something slightly in the style of Frazetta, though not so much a parody as it is inspired by his style. While this may sound like the easiest of the things needed for the preparation, it is going to have to look like the characters – something that will have to wait until I’ve gone through the casting process.
As far as art is concerned, I’m also going to do the comic adaptation – script, art, lettering, and possibly the coloring. That last one is still questionable, as I don’t want it to look too rough and ready, and I can’t help but fill in detail where I can. My tendency has always been to put in more details than are really required, and it would probably work better with a looser, more traditional, style. That’s way, way into the process, though, and something which I’m not even going to ponder until I get other things done.
Before I get too far into all that, there’s a test shoot required on a beach somewhere.
I’m not sure that I’m going to post a full schedule, as having people arrive unannounced wherever I decide to use might be annoying, but all other information is likely to end up here.
The Graveyard 