Pitched and script developments

Yesterday I gave my pitch, and people seemed pretty interested. It must have been pretty harrowing because I was nervous at the time, and as soon as I got home I slept for half a day, hence why I'm writing this at four in the morning.

Importantly, I also caught up with Charlie Strachan and we discussed my film's script. Draft 2 is currently underway and it's shorter, tighter and a lot more 'focused'. I predict the length will easily be cut in half and possibly down to one third. I still have every intention of making this film 'short but sweet' as opposed to long, drawn out, and worst of all, rushed.

Second page of storyboards done

There we are. I'll save the third page for after my Thursday pitch just to give it a bit of a 'cliffhanger' feel. For the time being I am going to try and pump out a number of mockups (like the one with Hatticus and Victor on the bed) to give a clearer picture on the overall look and feel of the film.

In other news, Kuba Komorowski, a Polish musician who is a friend of mine, has had a read of the script and is already assisting me by composing some pretty impressive music. With his permission, I will be posting samples of it here once it starts reaching a more completed level.

Charlie Strachan is currently looking over the script and has promised to get a critique to me by Thursday. All is shaping up well for me to give a killer pitch.

A couple more frames

I didn't get as much done today as I probably would have liked, but I've been working pretty hard at this so far so I guess I needed a break. However, I did manage to crank out another two panels for the next page of the storyboard.

Script completed and a colour rough

I have completed version one of my script. I intend to go over it with Charlie Strachan as soon as possible (I have Television Screenplay on Monday) and get it edited down because it is currently sitting at nine pages. However, I can rest easy knowing I have put my story together.

It's... intense.

Here is a scene I've roughed up from it (again, from the Kaiser's memory) that should give you an idea of just how disturbing the film is currently looking to be.

First page of colour storyboard finished!

Just a quick update, the first page of colour storyboards is complete.

First shot of the colour layout/storyboard

Clearly I have only just begun, but it's a start. For my pitch next week, I am going to put together a few pages of the most important scenes of the film as I have imagined them in a format that combines storyboard with colour layout roughs. In this way they will be similar to a design board.

Kaiser Fate

Over the holidays, I have come up with an idea for a short film called "Kaiser Fate", which draws from a rather expansive project I have been working on for quite some time.
It details the development of a mad dictator called Kaiser Fate, showing formative moments of his childhood that transformed him into the man he is today.

"Kaiser Fate" is an alternate-history science fiction piece with fantasy elements and a dark feel. It is aimed at an adult audience.

The film is a complex narrative that alternates between the present, when the Kaiser is leading the assault against a small town in Hungary, flashing back regularly to key impressions from his youth, his strongest memories tied to his ferocious behaviour in present day. The goal of the film is to show, with no more information than is needed, how a man can be made evil.
The two time-lines are stylistically divided. Both are drawn in a stylistic, semi-realistic approach, though the actual rendering of the scenes is more realistic in the present-day sequences while the flashbacks are more abstract. The flashback scenes are also compositionally exaggerated, and contain much stronger mood lighting. The visual style of the flashback scenes will be quite creative in their construction, whereas the current day time-line will draw inspiration from science fiction artwork from publications such as ImagineFX and Exposé. These will be the triggers for inspiration regarding rendering, lighting and composition in the "real world" scenes.

"Kaiser Fate" contains three major characters, Kaiser Fate himself, his father, Kaiser Fé Tournier, and Hatticus Doomsbury. Kaiser Fé Tournier only appears in the past sequences, while Kaiser Fate and Hatticus Doomsbury change looks and forms as they age.

By next week, I intend to have a rudimentary pre-production pack put together for display in my five minute pitch to be given on the 12th of March.