These three eps of Manatee Mansion almost form a standalone trilogy in some respects, and are a bit more silly and less grim and Cthulhu-ish than some of the others, and not as outright surreal and weird as the first ep.
Basically they advance the conventional murder mystery plot with "Scooby Doo" type hijinks more than the crazy dream sequences and so on.
I wanted to do this mainly to provide a real break from too much of one thing, and also to sort of get the conventionalism out of the way mid season so that from then on to the end of the season it's a blend of the conventional and mythos elements, with a healthy chunk of the mysteries properly wrapped up at the end of the season.
Will I be successful?
I have no idea, honestly. Technically- yes, it will all work well enough, but from a storytelling point of view?
Hm.
Showing posts with label manatee mansion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label manatee mansion. Show all posts
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Book 1 of Manatee Mansion
Hard decisions time... The black and white (grayscale) version would be pretty cheap but look not as nifty.. The color version would run 30-40 bucks... Given that the first book is currently 72 pages, I don't know whether that sort of expense is justified or not.
Solution: I will just do both. Black and white (grayscale) version and the more deluxe and infinitely better color version.
Sigh.
Solution: I will just do both. Black and white (grayscale) version and the more deluxe and infinitely better color version.
Sigh.
Next Town
THE NEXT TOWN
A place we hear about but never see, or that people depart to when written out of a series. Every soap opera has a Next Town, and it is used very frequently in almost all serials and most series at some point as well as in sequel films.
The Next Town concept is broader than a literal "town" however- the Next Town moment occurs when a character previously seen is gone for good out of a serial or series, usually with a quick exposition such as "they went back to the Air Force", "she moved to Yabbie Creek to work as a journalist", "he had to move to Metropolis when his parents moved there for work", and so on. Like all Otherworlds, if the map of a fictional universe expands, then the Next Town shifts as well. For example in Smallville the fictional city of Metropolis invaded the series to the extent that it was no longer possible for people to simply be exiled there. At that point in Smallville continuity one may notice the substitution of the name Metropolis with the phrase "state capital", ie people now vanish to the state capital as once they departed for Metropolis.
The proof that the Next Town is a mystical rather than a purely physical place in secondary worlds is that when a character leaves (presumptively permanently) they are assigned a fate, as well as just being written out or not used any further. To the extent that this fate is final, or in some sense a just dessert, this is a mild fictive form of the Last Judgement, Weighing of the Soul or Fairy Favours trope, and not just a simple wrapping up of loose ends.
The departure for the Next Town is as close to meaningful death as most fictional characters ever come, especially given how monotously often characters return from apparent physical death. This is because the Next Town plot device is almost always necessitated by real world events, whether it be bad ratings, new producers or the firing, resignation or death of a cast member. Thus the finality of death is more emotionally real and conveyed better (with less acting required) by the Next Town event than by the scripted death of a character. Departure for Next Town is a subtextual command to the audience to FORGET whereas scripted death is usually the opposite- the inclusion of a death for a character is almost always a command to REMEMBER.
Source: Next Town entry at the Manatee Mansion wiki
A place we hear about but never see, or that people depart to when written out of a series. Every soap opera has a Next Town, and it is used very frequently in almost all serials and most series at some point as well as in sequel films.
The Next Town concept is broader than a literal "town" however- the Next Town moment occurs when a character previously seen is gone for good out of a serial or series, usually with a quick exposition such as "they went back to the Air Force", "she moved to Yabbie Creek to work as a journalist", "he had to move to Metropolis when his parents moved there for work", and so on. Like all Otherworlds, if the map of a fictional universe expands, then the Next Town shifts as well. For example in Smallville the fictional city of Metropolis invaded the series to the extent that it was no longer possible for people to simply be exiled there. At that point in Smallville continuity one may notice the substitution of the name Metropolis with the phrase "state capital", ie people now vanish to the state capital as once they departed for Metropolis.
The proof that the Next Town is a mystical rather than a purely physical place in secondary worlds is that when a character leaves (presumptively permanently) they are assigned a fate, as well as just being written out or not used any further. To the extent that this fate is final, or in some sense a just dessert, this is a mild fictive form of the Last Judgement, Weighing of the Soul or Fairy Favours trope, and not just a simple wrapping up of loose ends.
The departure for the Next Town is as close to meaningful death as most fictional characters ever come, especially given how monotously often characters return from apparent physical death. This is because the Next Town plot device is almost always necessitated by real world events, whether it be bad ratings, new producers or the firing, resignation or death of a cast member. Thus the finality of death is more emotionally real and conveyed better (with less acting required) by the Next Town event than by the scripted death of a character. Departure for Next Town is a subtextual command to the audience to FORGET whereas scripted death is usually the opposite- the inclusion of a death for a character is almost always a command to REMEMBER.
Source: Next Town entry at the Manatee Mansion wiki
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Comicbook tidings
Creating the panel art for the comic isn't difficult given that it is Blender driven computer art for the most part, but certainly the process of handling the software swap over could be easier. The hand drawn art which I am also doing is going to take much longer but I feel it's essential. The comic is not the animated serial and vice versa and I want them to be two different enjoyable experiences, independent of each other in terms of how they satisfy their audiences, who will themselves be different from each other, I am sure.
My comicbook imprint is still Zodiac Comics so once again after far too long there will be Zodiac comicbooks making their way out into the wider world. Hopefully this time via Diamond as well as all the normal direct routes. :)
Once there's some artwork to post, you KNOW I'll post it. :)
My comicbook imprint is still Zodiac Comics so once again after far too long there will be Zodiac comicbooks making their way out into the wider world. Hopefully this time via Diamond as well as all the normal direct routes. :)
Once there's some artwork to post, you KNOW I'll post it. :)
Radical new look for site, huh?
And it is going to get much, much worse. First up I am going to join the Comic Blog Elite. Two out of three ain't bad. :) That will be a little button lurking somewhere nearby, when it is up please click on it to boost my ranking with those peeps too. :)
Why am I joining that? Because I am publishing a black and white (by which we in the twenty-first century of the Humanian Era mean grayscale) comicbook of (amongst other things) Manatee Mansion. :)
So off we go to the races children!
Why am I joining that? Because I am publishing a black and white (by which we in the twenty-first century of the Humanian Era mean grayscale) comicbook of (amongst other things) Manatee Mansion. :)
So off we go to the races children!
Film Festivals
So I am hitting the festival circuits in a big way, since it is not very expensive, a good thing until the swine pay me my fortune, and also it's time to reconnect with my peers and refresh myself. Also remind myself why the fuck we labour so long without hope of reward...
Although I most certainly am hoping for commercial reward for the current projects because, admitting the bias of being the creator of these derivative secondary worlds, I think they're fun and interesting.
If I was watching them, rather than making them- I'd at least be a mild fan. :)
Although I most certainly am hoping for commercial reward for the current projects because, admitting the bias of being the creator of these derivative secondary worlds, I think they're fun and interesting.
If I was watching them, rather than making them- I'd at least be a mild fan. :)
Manatee Mansion Ep A5 and A6
This pair of episodes are definitely the most Scooby Doo-ish / Doctor Who-ish of any to date since the first. With Agatha and the Stranger exploring and having pretty conventional adventures my plan is to have the audience's feet hit the ground again, so that when some more conventional shocks and surprises happen it helps move along the plot and give a break from all the particularly freaky Lovecraft stuff that came before (and will come again ia ia etc.)
After 4 episodes of Manatee Mansion...
Manatee Mansion is easy to write and make and I am enjoying it. I want to see what this sort of low end animation can DO in the marketplace, when linked to a conventional but hopefully original and entertaining story.
The challenge is to maintain the impetus whilst still changing up the episodes somewhat to give a varied experience.
Once it's formatted for DVD, the episodes as the chapters of that DVD will allow a viewer to pick and choose or just play them all. I am also going to edit it into a feature, which means removing the individual credits sequences of course, and with them gone I think it will lose a little bit of its charm.
Manatee Mansion is being entered in every festival and competition we can find too. :)
The challenge is to maintain the impetus whilst still changing up the episodes somewhat to give a varied experience.
Once it's formatted for DVD, the episodes as the chapters of that DVD will allow a viewer to pick and choose or just play them all. I am also going to edit it into a feature, which means removing the individual credits sequences of course, and with them gone I think it will lose a little bit of its charm.
Manatee Mansion is being entered in every festival and competition we can find too. :)
Monday, June 29, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Frauds, Fads and Waiting for a lot of money to come...
Things are gradually returning to normal for me. Just waiting for a large payout to come. From the looks of things I will be bringing legal actions against a fair few different folks but I have zero risk of losing the actions due to the grossly inappropriate actions of the people involved. Yay.
In actual news, Manatee Mansion is steaming along, ep A3 will be finished and uploaded soon, then I will be doing the preview DVD, the PK booklet and the comicbook. :)
In actual news, Manatee Mansion is steaming along, ep A3 will be finished and uploaded soon, then I will be doing the preview DVD, the PK booklet and the comicbook. :)
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Manatee Mansion is now open for business!
Click here to go straight to the project page on IndieGoGo. :) The deal offered is US1000 for Exec Producer credit which returns a %5 royalty in perpetuity on the "A" series episodes, which will be released as a full season DVD as soon as all are completed. Distribution is in place (but could still be a whole lot more and better- I'm working on it).
There are also cheaper options to invest, or as IndieGoGo calls it "sponsor".
And remember, I have reserved my intellectual property rights but still given a free licence for anyone to use the shared universe of Manatee Mansion in their own projects... just check out the Wiki for details. :)
There are also cheaper options to invest, or as IndieGoGo calls it "sponsor".
And remember, I have reserved my intellectual property rights but still given a free licence for anyone to use the shared universe of Manatee Mansion in their own projects... just check out the Wiki for details. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
