'Bear' Update 25/7

Hey hey! How’s it going? Yes, you’re quite correct, there was not one off these last week due to having a holiday- now how about that! We (partner and I) had a wonderful week on the South Coast near Worthing (and beyond) for some architecture gazing, walking and of course, watching football (including a couple of the Women’s Euros games #ItsComingHome)!

Me and Ben on Worthing Pier

Before I bore you all with any more holiday snaps, I’ll get on with writing about what we’re really here for- an update on ‘Bear’.

I’m still getting on with the backgrounds and the colouring. Some of which are taking a while due to the complexity (there are moving parts like doors to contend with), though I feel on the whole, progress is being made- quite a few large and important sequences are complete and a few are near complete bar a logistical problem or two!

Despite the progress, I did have a little motivational crisis this week. It’s one of the first times I’ve felt like this in a big way about the project since that first week where I had a dip in confidence. I think this has happened this week because it’s at the stage where it’s nearly done yet it still feels like there are a lot of hurdles to get over (and hard ones, too) before I can say it’s complete. Some of the stuff left to do feels a little daunting, but I know I have to do it or the film won’t ever get finished. I think as well due to having been working on it since February almost non-stop and I kind of imagined I would have completed it by now, it feels a bit like I’m a fair way off being able to carry out the other creative ideas I want to pursue (including any football photography which I’ve been forfeiting for a while now, due to not wanting to lose a day of animating to editing the photos).

In addition to the above, I know I won’t have the film finished by my original 29th July deadline unless I rush parts of it (something I really don’t want to do due to having put so much time and effort into it already), leaving it a piece I’m not proud of and not the best it could be. Luckily Manchester Animation Festival (the deadline I was aiming for) accepts rough cuts/ works in progress (providing you can complete it by September), so I’ll see what state it’s in by Friday and if I feel I’ve done enough by then, I’ll send it in as even at this stage I’ll definitely be able to finish it by September. If not, then I guess I’ll have to wait another year. The ‘knowing I wouldn’t hit my original deadline’ was also a part to play towards my motivation dropping.

Anyway, that aside, I’ll share a behind the scenes image:

This is probably one of my favourite BTS images as it fully shows the beauty of the rotoscope medium. It also demonstrates what you can do with limited resources if you put your mind to it. Thanks to a super low budget (i.e. my own money) and therefore not having access to a proper sound stage/ studio or anything, the room I shot most of the reference material in didn’t have enough space to get this shot which I really wanted. Soooo, without willing to compromise on this occasion, I filmed it in the park where I shot some of the car scenes. And I absolutely love the result. Luckily it wasn’t really windy or anything or this shot might not have looked very realistic once comped with the background!

I think the above is a good example of knowing when not to compromise in indie filmmaking if you’re able to make it happen in a DIY fashion. This is another reason why I absolutely love rotoscoping, because it feels you can do pretty much anything with the medium, whereas in live action, it might not be possible without a huge budget, a crew, lighting, sound and a super producer who can obtain all those locations you need on the budget you have.

See you in the next one xo