Animation progress - with sneak preview/teaser

I don't work well with deadlines.


Not even self imposed ones.


I should have learnt this a while ago when working on the second in a (not really readable) sequence of books. I told the interested parties (although not very interested, as it turns out) that the second and final part would be done by march that year, because based on previous work and current rate of progress, that was when I expected to have it finished.

Six (or possibly seven) years later, I've lost interest, left it unfinished for two years, lost the file for another year and then found and deleted it. The awful first book remains the only one in its series, with no hope of being joined by any further drivel about angst, werewolves and space travel (I was a teenager. It happens to us all at some point).

The point is not the awful book. The point is deadline fail. .

When I finished animating the critically acclaimed (slight exaggeration for dramatic effect) foreign language short "That Merde Song" (here), which pokes fun at pop artists who sing in foreign languages by sounding like catchy eurotrash while being about a soiled bicyle, I assured the composer that I would have completed the animation for our second video within a couple of weeks.

This was not unrealistic. The second animation is infinitely simpler, consists of only three scenes and tends to have only one element moving at any given time (even if repeated). This is as opposed to the afore-mentioned That Merde Song, which consists of:

• A twenty second intro depicting two dung flies discoving that they were made for each other only to have their hearts broken, Joss Whedon style...
• A twenty-four frame loop and a six-frame loop playing at different speeds for the first two choruses, including sixteen frames where a character's mouth in synched to the music, and several overlaid frames of an asynchronous villain character.
• A first verse divided into three scenes: a) a Lowry-inspired computer-generated cityscape with two moving characters, one of which sings; b) a close up of said character singing and c) a fairly awesome black-and-white parody of Munch's "The Scream", with one character singing.
• A second verse divided into three completely different scenes: 1) two rabbits discussing the title theme; 2) A theologically interesting meme-duck and 3) a character singing while being complimented by an ASDF-inspired stereotyped frenchman (Eiffel Tower included) who then starts smoking before the entire landscape is covered in custard.
• A third chorus integrating the six-frame loop and an asynchronous villain character.
• A short scene on the birth of a burlesque sausage (No idea why...)
• A final chorus set to a Clint Eastwood-esque Wild West showdown between singer and villain, including close ups of two very disparate weapons firing...

Point is, it wasn't simple.
Hence the underlining.

The current project (well, the main current project) is a much simpler hybrid of an ASDF tribute and a campaign for year-long access to Easter-themed Cadbury's Projects. It really should have been doable within a day. If my computer wasn't full up of 60GB or thereabouts of photographs, not to mention hundreds of redundant Windows features and several independent programs.

Even without that, a week was pretty generous. And I finished the main animations within that period (roughly). But the bookends have been stalling... stalling... stalling... and I've taken up Sporcle... and a wierd Risk-style game on my computer... and volunteering... and basically I've been doing everything and anything to put it off.

But, yesterday evening I felt like doing some animation.

And now it's almost finished.

And so, because you are my loyal nonexistent readers, I thought I'd give you a special sneak preview before it goes up on Youtube (whenever that happens). Sound effects and so forth still need a little work on their timing.

Enjoy this 15 second intro.

And if you work for Cadbury, tell them that I really like Mini-Eggs and want them all year round.

Smivel and spread the word that I am awesome beyond compare. For a flake.