third day

we've chosen a story, written it out.
my task today is to turn in into a screenplay.
we will have an asset list, production art,
start on thumbnails and an animatic (for timing), by days-end.

the class is now in full-blow production.

after the tension of creating the story, choosing between many strong ideas, and debating the possibilities, sometimes with a passion, when the decision was finally made, there was a mild bemused applause. then we broke into teams, chose team leads, and got down to business.

there are some cynical students (tho this is subtle, and not malicious), there are some waiting for their turn to come up (yet they still give input), but all are now engaged in the creative process. there are some bumps, some doubts, especially when some consider the extremely close deadline that is looming. but we will not give in to doubt nor fear. I have maintained that we would not let technical considerations determine our story choices (and I'm the technician amongst all of them, if there ever was a naming-convention, directory-structuring, name-every-node, complex-shader-hierarchy, process-driven, attribute-connecting, script-stringing fool, it is me!), but rather, use the script to drive creative solutions to technical impossibilities.

i've scheduled meetings for the rest of the week. departments will form, do their work, and disolve. some will remain. some will split. i've got responsible individuals in areas of authority, and everyone is learning the value of criticism and open debate. a difference of opinion is not a negative nor personal thing, as long as the facts are discussed, and everyone defers to the responsible decision-maker.

we will have a high-calibre, quality animated short told in one voice. i can see it in my head (and have had glimpses of it since Clint first started telling the story). There are scenes and camera angles that demand themselves to be made. there are rich and engaging characters, each with their own pasts. i feel a bit like Christian Lorenz-Scheurer (www.christianlorenzscheurer.com/), inventing worlds by the sheer power of speech and line. And the students are full of ideas, a great group of advisors. we've got a good team.