Dodo Blog » Teddy

The making of Teddy

Ninja Dodo — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:20:06 +0000

I’ve finished writing the “post mortem” on my short film. It feels like saying a long goodbye to the project, sad but satisfying. I tried to cover what I would find interesting if it were someone else’s film:

Main – Research – Story – Production – Thoughts

YES!

Ninja Dodo — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:56:08 +0000

Teddy is DONE!

I’ll be fleshing out the site in the next couple of days with some behind the scenes thoughts, clips, lessons learned, et cetera…

Shades

Ninja Dodo — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:38:58 +0000

Perhaps an update on the short film is in order. Still on the sound, but I got to experimenting with some shading on a shot or two and got a touch carried away, so now I’m trying it on a few others…

Current progress in the usual place.

Short film update

Ninja Dodo — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:25:39 +0000

Still working away at sound and final tweaks. Current version can be found at:

http://www.ninjadodo.net/teddy/

Audio

Ninja Dodo — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:05:39 +0000

So right now I’m experimenting some with putting sound into my short film and there’s a few sites I’ve been finding instructive…

Walter Murch – Transom Talk

Randy Thom – Designing A Movie For Sound

Gamasutra – Audio Features

Obviously I’m not going to come to a full understanding of sound design overnight, but at least I feel like I’m not totally stumbling around in the dark now. The end result certainly will be better for it.

The new microphone also helps.

Tidings

Ninja Dodo — Sun, 25 May 2008 19:21:03 +0000

I finally had a chance to play Assassin’s Creed (on PC) which was a largely compelling experience. It’s a pity about the semi-futuristic framework… ‘genetic memory’ and all that, but if you ever wanted to know what it would be like to stroll through the streets of ancient Jerusalem during the time of the Third Crusade (and discreetly dispatch lots of Templars) this is the game for you.

In other news, I sent my film “Teddy” in for a critique at Animation Mentor and got some solid feedback, so I’ll be getting back to work on that.

Close

Ninja Dodo — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:58:57 +0000

Still working on sound and doing some final tweaks, but here it is:

Also, this month marks my first year in Lyon! Good times.

Getting there

Ninja Dodo — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:00:17 +0000

Did a bunch of work on a number of shots, 030 among others… Some more polish needed here and there, but it’s coming along.

In other animation-related news, The Animation Podcast has a new interview up with James Baxter and 11 second club is the place to be if you want to practice your dialogue animating skills…

Enjoy.

Short film update #4

Ninja Dodo — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:02:55 +0000

Various tweaks… Replaced the title placeholder, did some work on the background smoke in the establishing shot outside, changed the framing, experimenting with widescreen, shot 030 still the bane of my existence – Will sit down and blast through that soon. Very soon.

Short film update #3

Ninja Dodo — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:39:46 +0000

Clearly, when I say weeks, I mean months. Between work and other things my short film has not progressed as much as I intended, but progress there is. I really need to sort out that third shot and there’s plenty to refine across the rest, but I’m getting somewhere. I re-worked the character being held at gunpoint by the soldier as this was something that was unclear to a lot of people and I fixed a bunch of other things.

In other news, I’ve been – oh shock – playing some games. Okami on the PS2 is a lot of fun. Coming to the Wii as well now apparently, a platform more obviously suited to the game’s magical calligraphy. While in many ways it is a traditional action-adventure dressed in water-colours, it’s this painting that makes it unique. You use your celestial brush to slash through rock, make trees bloom again, turn night to day and otherwise bend the forces of nature to your will.

You are the sun-godess Amaterasu walking the earth in the form of a white wolf tasked with restoring the world to its natural beauty after a horrible darkness has swept over it. It’s a very beautiful game. And long, also. I’m not even halfway into it, much left still to be discovered…

The Orange Box is another game worth a mention, or three mentions. It continues the fine story of Half Life 2 in Episode 2, completely re-imagines the multiplayer classic Team Fortress and contains one of the most surprisingly excellent gems in years: Portal… and cake.

As you can see from the banner I also managed to get out of the city for a bit and explore the countryside. Unplug!