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Nobody Home
Description
A 4 minute Sci-Fi anamatic to serve as a "proof of concept" for MOS people. It's not really a story pitch as much as it is a demonstration that one way to present your concept is to animate it. (Of course.) And that such an animation is, these says, well within the realm of possibilities, even for an average fan.
Comments
WOW did you make this?? it's great I love The Animation! I want to learn how to do all that but it's seems Very hard is it? GOOD JOB!!
Tuesday, 02 August 2011 04:52
Think the developers of Sims 3 used the same program? Those people look awfully familiar.
An interesting demonstration of animation as a tool. Thanks for all the info on timing and possibilities!
An interesting demonstration of animation as a tool. Thanks for all the info on timing and possibilities!
Wednesday, 08 December 2010 17:50
Absolutely correct, Dogma. It's all demonstration, and no real substance. I wrote to Steve V about how the LENGTH of the video is precisely 4 minutes, and how that time frame fits into the 30 MINUTE SITCOM format. It deals with the issue of writing for commercial television at its very basis. That being, writing TIMED ACTS.
This video is 4 minutes long, precisely. So, if one were to present a story in the 30 minute mode, which is really NOT conducive for drama, then this would be precisely how long a person has to present their "act 1," the "opening teaser." Plus, at four minutes, it should include an opening theme song and images, like Friends and Gilligan's Island. If, like with Fraiser, you don't have an opening theme song and images, then act-1 is only 3 minutes long.
It's the art of writing for television, be it sitcom, hour long episode, or pilot. It's about writing TIMED ACTS.
There was that one show, can't think of the name of it right now, that was Sci-Fi in the 30-minute format. It was obvious to me and my partners that it had to go longer. Still, my pards are into the sit-com time format --- even as none of them have tried to tackle it yet because they're just having too much fun otherwise, like kids in college.
Still, I figured to get some practice at WRITING TIMED ACTS, if anyone was interested, a group might cook up some stuff on the basis of this vid, and then develop it into a 30 minute format thing, just for practice.
But dealing with reality in regard to an actual TV show that is dramatic as opposed to comedy, that's the 60 minute and 90 minute mode. Feature length films, are of course, the 120 minute mode where the timing is based on something other than "cut to a commercial," the way it is in "commercial television."
So, as with a TV episode in an hour long format, all the acts are precisely timed. Plus, that timing is consistent.
And even if you are writing for HBO or SHOWTIME the producers will still do the episodes so that they can be converted to timed acts for commercial television. That way they have some syndication value without losing anything specific to the story content.
And syndication (reruns) is where writers and producers get rich.
So, if you are writing for television you have to write timed acts. It's as simple as that.
Again, this video is 4 minutes long because that is the MAXIMUM time a person has for act-1 in the 30 minute format.
Once a person understands how much time you have in each timed act, and how many acts you have, then a person can write for that mode, be it 30 minute, 60 or 90 minutes. That is to say, they can shape their story to fit into these timed acts.
The one thing that Gene Roddenberry, Joss Whedon and Robert C. Cooper all have in common was that they learned how to write for the 60 minute format.
If this vid was intended for the 60 minute format then I could have added another 3 minutes to it so that it would accurately represent act-1 in a 60 minute format. As it is, I pretty much just tossed it together as a demonstration of timing --- the story basis being, of course, pretty thin.
Well... ...it was a joke, actually, showing up at MOS and --- nobody's home on the starships. But, as I stated in the dialogue, "Think of the possibilities."
The 30 minute format is kind of fun, plus it is very ingenious once you understand it. Still, the real test for television is writing timed acts for the 60 minute format.
This video is 4 minutes long, precisely. So, if one were to present a story in the 30 minute mode, which is really NOT conducive for drama, then this would be precisely how long a person has to present their "act 1," the "opening teaser." Plus, at four minutes, it should include an opening theme song and images, like Friends and Gilligan's Island. If, like with Fraiser, you don't have an opening theme song and images, then act-1 is only 3 minutes long.
It's the art of writing for television, be it sitcom, hour long episode, or pilot. It's about writing TIMED ACTS.
There was that one show, can't think of the name of it right now, that was Sci-Fi in the 30-minute format. It was obvious to me and my partners that it had to go longer. Still, my pards are into the sit-com time format --- even as none of them have tried to tackle it yet because they're just having too much fun otherwise, like kids in college.
Still, I figured to get some practice at WRITING TIMED ACTS, if anyone was interested, a group might cook up some stuff on the basis of this vid, and then develop it into a 30 minute format thing, just for practice.
But dealing with reality in regard to an actual TV show that is dramatic as opposed to comedy, that's the 60 minute and 90 minute mode. Feature length films, are of course, the 120 minute mode where the timing is based on something other than "cut to a commercial," the way it is in "commercial television."
So, as with a TV episode in an hour long format, all the acts are precisely timed. Plus, that timing is consistent.
And even if you are writing for HBO or SHOWTIME the producers will still do the episodes so that they can be converted to timed acts for commercial television. That way they have some syndication value without losing anything specific to the story content.
And syndication (reruns) is where writers and producers get rich.
So, if you are writing for television you have to write timed acts. It's as simple as that.
Again, this video is 4 minutes long because that is the MAXIMUM time a person has for act-1 in the 30 minute format.
Once a person understands how much time you have in each timed act, and how many acts you have, then a person can write for that mode, be it 30 minute, 60 or 90 minutes. That is to say, they can shape their story to fit into these timed acts.
The one thing that Gene Roddenberry, Joss Whedon and Robert C. Cooper all have in common was that they learned how to write for the 60 minute format.
If this vid was intended for the 60 minute format then I could have added another 3 minutes to it so that it would accurately represent act-1 in a 60 minute format. As it is, I pretty much just tossed it together as a demonstration of timing --- the story basis being, of course, pretty thin.
Well... ...it was a joke, actually, showing up at MOS and --- nobody's home on the starships. But, as I stated in the dialogue, "Think of the possibilities."
The 30 minute format is kind of fun, plus it is very ingenious once you understand it. Still, the real test for television is writing timed acts for the 60 minute format.
Wednesday, 08 December 2010 11:46
The graphics are well done and seem to illustrate a story idea, but it really doesn't give the outline of a particular story. The voices do comment that the basic idea is one that could give birth to lots of stories... and in fact it has.
Real ships/ledgends: Flying Dutchman, Mary Celeste, the Octavius, the Ourang Medan, Kaz II and lots more.
Movies/TV: Ghost Ship, Virus, The Haunted Sea, Warp Speed, the "Alien" franchise used it a couple of times, Dracula 3000, The Fog, Death Ship, Pandorum, Sunshine, Star Trek Voyager- Macrocosm, Next Gen --Genesis, Star Trek Enterprise- "Fight or Flight", "Impulse", Blakes Seven-"Space Fall" and "Killer", The X Files- "Dod Kalm,", Doctor Who- "The Ark in Space", "Silence in the Library" and "The Girl in the Fireplace", Firefly-"Bushwhacked", Farscape -(several episodes including "PK Tech Girl"), MacGyver- "Ghost Ship", The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Warhammer 40000, and finally the king of odd haunted house movies in space "Event Horizon".
The fact that the concept is not new or has been done before does not matter a nit. It's what you do with it. What new perspective. What new twist. that is what a good story needs and what a good storyboard keeps on track shaking out the kinks before it costs real money. Animatics are not as new as you might think. flip book anamatics are as old as animation itself. Their use for live action features is more recent. Using them to sell a film concept to investors is newer yet. And they need not be as sophisticated as what you have here, but they must covey the story convincingly. Adding some dialog and music also helps.
Otherwise you have the classic pitfall, all flash and no substance.
Be Well.
Real ships/ledgends: Flying Dutchman, Mary Celeste, the Octavius, the Ourang Medan, Kaz II and lots more.
Movies/TV: Ghost Ship, Virus, The Haunted Sea, Warp Speed, the "Alien" franchise used it a couple of times, Dracula 3000, The Fog, Death Ship, Pandorum, Sunshine, Star Trek Voyager- Macrocosm, Next Gen --Genesis, Star Trek Enterprise- "Fight or Flight", "Impulse", Blakes Seven-"Space Fall" and "Killer", The X Files- "Dod Kalm,", Doctor Who- "The Ark in Space", "Silence in the Library" and "The Girl in the Fireplace", Firefly-"Bushwhacked", Farscape -(several episodes including "PK Tech Girl"), MacGyver- "Ghost Ship", The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Warhammer 40000, and finally the king of odd haunted house movies in space "Event Horizon".
The fact that the concept is not new or has been done before does not matter a nit. It's what you do with it. What new perspective. What new twist. that is what a good story needs and what a good storyboard keeps on track shaking out the kinks before it costs real money. Animatics are not as new as you might think. flip book anamatics are as old as animation itself. Their use for live action features is more recent. Using them to sell a film concept to investors is newer yet. And they need not be as sophisticated as what you have here, but they must covey the story convincingly. Adding some dialog and music also helps.
Otherwise you have the classic pitfall, all flash and no substance.
Be Well.
Tuesday, 07 December 2010 18:36
