Giving Life to the Ghost

The Girl and the Ghost has been out there for a little while now.  It seems very odd to type that.  I worked on this project for so long that I don't think I've processed that it's actually finished and available for all to see.
A few nights ago, while working to promote the movie and get the word out, I started thinking about how it all started and thought maybe I should write it out for posterity and for anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes aspect of things.

I think it was Christmas 2006, I was at my Grandma's house and surrounded by family.  Some of my cousins were pretty young at the time and I found myself frustrated that I couldn't show them most of the animated shorts I had worked on.  My most recent projects were Tootsie Blow Pop and Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face and while I'm proud of them, they definitely aren't for little eyes and ears.  I wanted to make something that anybody could watch.  So, I started brainstorming.

My goal was to create an animated short that kids could enjoy, but I didn't want it to be so "kiddy" that it would turn adults off.  I wanted something that would let me play with atmosphere.  In early 2007, I came up with the idea for The Girl and the Ghost.  I liked the idea enough that I went ahead and wrote a script.  The script led to the creation of some concept designs.

I actually started animation almost immediately, even before giving voicework a single thought.  I was trying out ideas and techniques that were new to me and it was exciting!  Time consuming, but exciting.  Even early on, I was pulling off shots and visuals that I didn't think I'd be able to.  Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I'm my own harshest critic, so for me to impress myself like that was rare and surprising.  I had a feeling this project might actually work out and possibly even be something special.

Eventually, the time came when voicework was needed.  Larry and Aaron came onboard.  Larry was set as William and Aaron would be Harold, a character who actually first appeared in a script I wrote back in 2002 or 2003.  I remember Aaron was so excited, he volunteered to do a voice before I even had a chance to ask him.  As for the voices of Annabella and her mother, my friend Laura Segura recorded a test all the way out in LA.  I loved it.  She was in.  The cast was set.

The original cast.

Time passed, I kept working, and I got a good look at a bunch of the speed bumps that pop up during the movie making process.  I was excited to have the cast recording their parts from all over the country (Laura in LA, Aaron in Charlotte, and I recorded Larry here), but I soon saw the problem in that arrangement.  Everyone was in different places and using different equipment, this resulted in the audio quality of their recordings not matching up.  I tried to fix up the audio, but the difference was still jarring when the characters talked to each other.  I'd be able to record Aaron whenever he was back in town, but for my little no budget project, meeting up with Laura or getting her into a studio just wasn't possible.  I hated to make the call, but I was going to have to go another way for Annabella and her mother.
I had no idea who else I would get to play the parts, but the answer came at our premiere for The Greatest Fan Film of All Time and The Wimp Whose Woman Was a Werewolf in the form of my then new friend, Marisa Zakaria.

So, over the course of animating the movie, I'd record Larry, Aaron, and Marisa individually whenever they were free and/or in town.  If any lines ended up needing to be redone for whatever reason, it could be a long time before things lined up for us to get together and try again.  It was tricky, but we made it work.

Our recording studio was my living room.  Most of the dialogue was recorded on my MacBook using my Rock Band microphone.  Credit goes to Marisa for that one.  We were all set to record her lines and the microphone I planned to use wasn't working.  Marisa noticed my Rock Band setup and suggested we try that mic.  It worked beautifully.

For a pop filter, we used a piece of nylon legging stretched over a bent piece of wire hanger.  Fancy?  No.  But it got the job done.

Jake Ruby helped out with sound effects and did a fantastic job.  Everything sounded just how I wanted it to, but one sound eluded me.  In the movie, just before William appears, Annabella hears bumping and scratching sounds coming from her closet.  Jake tried a few things, I searched, but we couldn't find a sound effect that sounded right to me.  So, I took my trusty Rock Band microphone, put it inside a cardboard box, and had my mom scratch and tap on the outside of the box.  Got it.

The ability to work with what's available to you is important.  A little ingenuity can really save the day when you're in a pinch.

Video games to the rescue!

Music is a huge part of movies.  It helps create moods, it amplifies emotion, it helps the story flow.  I wanted great music for this.  Not good, great.  It was very important to me, but I was nervous because I didn't know who to go to that could do what I wanted.  Larry put me in touch with composer Mike Wilkinson.  We emailed back and forth a few times before he came up with a sample of music to suit the story and sent it to me.  It was outstanding.  I was blown away and felt so lucky.  As things went on and the project was delayed a few times (which I'll discuss shortly), our schedules no longer lined up.  By the time the movie was finally ready to be scored, Mike was committed to other projects and couldn't do Ghost.  It was totally understandable, but disappointing to be sure.  I didn't think I'd get that lucky again, but I had to keep looking and hoping.

I had met Karen Graves several times over the years, as she frequently plays violin with Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida.  I took a shot and asked her if she might be interested in lending her musical talents to the project.  It was a long shot, but I had to try.  To my extreme surprise, she said yes.  I got lucky again.

What Karen came up with caught me off guard.  I knew she'd create something beautiful, but I never could have dreamed it'd turn out as beautiful as it did.  Every time I hear the music she made, I'm taken aback all over again.  Karen raised the project to a whole new level.

It's a winding road loaded with detours.  Changes can pounce out of the blue and target any number of aspects of a project.  I had to learn how to assess and handle each change in its own way.  I even started making changes on my own.  Originally, there was one more character in the story, an evil shapeshifting shadow creature that was pursuing William and appeared in the finale.  He actually made it into the animation phase, but I realized he slowed things down and wasn't really necessary in the story, so I cut him out.  Change can be scary, but sometimes it can be a blessing and improve the end result in unexpected ways, so don't be afraid to embrace it.

Maybe he'll get his chance in a future project.

I know how long these projects can take, I know how long animation alone takes, but I can say without exaggeration that I had no idea how long The Girl and the Ghost was going to take.  I would get on a roll and make big strides with the animation and then put it on hold when I was needed on another project, or I'd be sick for a while, or life in general would have other plans for me and keep me away from working on it for extended periods of time.

Animation is a slow, tedious process and I'm fully aware that my situation exacerbates that.  Most digital artists use a drawing tablet for their work, but my disability doesn't allow me to do that.  I have very limited movement in my arms and hands, so I can't draw in the traditional way.  Everything I make, I make using only a mouse.  The Girl and the Ghost is 17 minutes long and animated at 24 frames per second.  That's a lot of images.  Drawing and animating with a mouse is time consuming, frustrating, and can really tire me out, but it was the only option available to me, so it's what I did.  Living with a disability, you learn how to adapt to situations that aren't always suited to you.  You have to.  Using a mouse isn't the ideal animation method, my actual techniques may not be the "right" way to do things, but I do what I need to do in order to make it work.

Years have passed and it's finally done.  My cousins are older.  Since I set out to make this movie, I've become an uncle.  My nephew, Matthew grew up watching me animate it.
One of my favorite memories is when I was syncing a character's mouth to the dialogue while Matthew was sitting next to me.  He was maybe two years old at the time.  Hearing the audio playing one individual frame at a time, he started to mimic the choppy sound of it.  "Eh.  Ooh.  Eeh.  Uh."
During one of the project's delays, he would watch the first 6 minutes of the movie over and over again, despite its unfinished state.  My cousins may have inspired me to make this kind of movie, but Matthew fueled me to see it through.  Watch for it and you'll even spot some of his own artwork in the movie.

Over 800 hours of animation, plus voice recording, plus sound editing, plus music creation, plus editing, spread out over nearly 6 years.  If I've done my job well, you won't think of any of that while watching the movie.  You'll only think of Annabella, William, and their story.  I hope I've done my job.

The Girl and the Ghost went online on November 19th, 2012, almost two months ago.  As I write this, it's been viewed 746 times.  In the scope of the internet, that's not great, but for a 17 minute long film by an unknown animator?  I'm happy.  That's 746 more people than had seen it before November 19th.  And far more important than the numbers- the people who have seen it, both child and adult, have responded positively.  That's what matters.  This is what matters.

So, now that it's out there, I'm going to continue to email, tweet, and do whatever I can do to get more people to see the movie.  If you haven't seen The Girl and the Ghost yet or if you just want to help spread the word, here's the link:

http://youtu.be/0R_A8NC6jLM

To those who helped me make it, to those who have watched it, to those who supported me throughout this long haul, to those who have shared it...thank you.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Now, as the Ghost Hunters would say...on to the next.

The Girl and the Ghost

It's been a long time coming.  Setback after setback kept popping up and delaying the project at every turn.  At this point, it's been five years since I had the idea, wrote the story, and began animating it.  I actually finished it a few months ago, but wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.  A few weeks ago, I thought "it's nearly Halloween, it's the perfect time."  So, I decided that Tuesday, October 30th was going to be the big day.  Then, true to form, just as I was about to upload the movie, another setback popped up.  What was it this time?  Hurricane Sandy.

On Monday, October 29th, at 10:30 PM, an hour and a half before I was going to start the upload, I suddenly found myself sitting in the dark.  The winds proved to be too much and ended up snapping three electrical poles on our street and splitting a fourth in half, not to mention the tree that came down and blocked our street.

So, on October 30th, while everything was supposed to be happening, we were packing up to head over to Grandma's house, where there was still electricity, and more importantly, heat.  And that's where I stayed until November 3rd, along with Mom, Dad, Kris, Jessi, Matthew, and London.  It was an interesting few days.

Then I found myself back at home, but Halloween week, the ideal time to release the project, had passed.  I regrouped and weighed the options, trying to decide when the next best time would be.  One could go nuts trying to plan this stuff, so I decided.  What better time than right now?

At long last, I'm finally able to present to you… The Girl and the Ghost.

http://youtu.be/0R_A8NC6jLM?hd=1

I'd love if you'd let me know what you think of it.  I'd be honored if you shared the film with your friends.  Most importantly, I hope you enjoy it.

Amusing and Creative Entry Title

My brain may explode soon. I've been going nonstop for so long now, I thought I'd take a minute to update the ol' blog. It's been three months since my last entry. Shame on me.

So, what have I been doing?

Shortly after I last wrote, I snuck away for an awesome Toronto trip which will get its own entry (or entries) on here soon. Really. I mean it.

Upon returning, my aunt and uncle came down from way up north in Canada for a visit. It had been a few years since I last saw them, so it was great to spend some time with them.

A few days later, Larry, Aaron, Marisa, and I had our first 4 Reelz production meeting. Hmm... Come to think of it, I don't think I've mentioned 4 Reelz on here yet. Go to 4Reelz.com and take a look-see.

Anyway, the meeting was at Mirabile's, a little family-owned Italian restaurant. The neighborhood's not the best, but the place itself was nice.

After the production meeting, Vince and Travis joined us for some food and a table read-through of Four Tanks and a Healer.

The food was great and they had me drinking homemade wine before noon, which helped numb the ache of actually having to be up before noon.

The read-through went nicely and we were ready.

They recorded all the dialogue for Four Tanks the next day and I went back to working hard on The Girl and the Ghost. I had hoped to finish it before starting Four Tanks, so I would have one less thing to worry about. I got close, but it didn't quite pan out that way.

In the following weeks, Larry drove up and we recorded the last of his dialogue and I directed Aaron's recording session via Skype.

The animation is about 95% finished, but I got to the point where I had to start Four Tanks. So, right now I'm a little over a month in on that.

Here's a little teaser peek at Four Tanks and a Healer...

I'm working hard and putting in long hours so I can make sure this thing is as good as it can be. It's turning my brain to mush, but it must be done.

I'm a machine.

This weekend, I'll be recording the last of Marisa's stuff for The Girl and the Ghost and I'm going to see The Swell Season. Should be a good weekend.

I'll be blogging again soon and I'll be posting some long overdue Ghost goodies, so stay tuned.

Late November Catch Up

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged. Why? Because my days have been pretty boring. My change-of-season-sickness turned into a sore throat/cough/ear infection/sinus infection...thing. It ended up hanging around in some form for about two months. Thankfully, it has FINALLY passed as of recently. I am still fighting with my ear as it continues to randomly plug and unplug. Fun, fun, fun.
Oh, and I also got my swine flu shot two weeks ago today, so hopefully I won't have to worry about sprouting a twirly tail and feeling the urge to roll around in the mud.

So, the major frustration of the long sickness (besides being sick), is that my work on The Girl and the Ghost was delayed. Bigtime. I had hoped to have it finished by the end of the year, at least the actual animation phase, but that's pretty unlikely now. It WILL get done though. This one has been far too long of a journey to turn back now.

Some recent highlights have included Halloween and Thanksgiving. Halloween was great because little Matthew made me proud and dressed up as Superman.
Check this awesome little nugget out.


I also carved a Jeff-Goldblum-O-Lantern.

Thanksgiving was nice, I had fun just chilling out with all the family. On top of that, it was also Matthew's second birthday. It was a blast to watch him open his presents and dive into his cake. Can't believe the little bugger's only been around for two years, it kind of feels like he's always been here.

As one of my gifts to him, I made another video to follow The First Four and The Following Fifteen. Here's Eighteen Through Twenty Four.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly7y7vqqSAQ

Thanksgiving weekend was rounded out with lots of hanging with the gang. It was the first I've gotten to hang with Corey, Eric, Brendan, Jeff, Mikey, and Mo all together in ages.
Twas a good time.

There's also a bit of big news I'm excited to share. A couple weeks ago, Larry, Aaron, and the guys headed out to LA for a week of meetings. On November 19th, I got a text from Larry that read

"Lotr producer just took us to breakfast to tell us he's investing in our new toon"

Mark Ordesky, producer of Lord of the Rings, is investing in our next animated project, Four Tanks and a Healer.

You can read Larry's account of the trip here.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/notes/larry-longstreth/onward-to-awesomeness/207207984601

This is so mind-boggling to me that my brain has yet to fully process it. It'll definitely be interesting to see where our projects go in 2010.

But before that? Christmas. I'm really looking forward to it this year. I'm ready for some Christmas spirit.

Weekend Recap and Beyond

Well, Saturday night came and went, it's high time I update the ol' blogaroo.

The Greatest Fan Film of All Time was finally completed the day before the premiere. We cut it close, but we made it. The premiere, thankfully, went really well. True to fashion, the speedbumps continued right up until showtime. Apparently Larry and the gang were having tech troubles with the projector, but managed to straighten everything out with fifteen minutes to spare.

I arrived at the Kent Stage around 7:30, bought my tickets from Derby, and made my way into the theater. It was a great setup and I was surprised how many people were already in there. And they kept coming. We planned to start the show at 8, but waited a half hour, as there were still people lined up outside.
It was great, a bunch of family came, including cousins Bob & Fran, who made the drive in from Pennsylvania. The biggest surprise was seeing Lindsy, who I haven't seen in about a year and a half. That was awesome.
I was really glad to see Aaron even made it in from the Carolinas.
The theater can seat 600, we had an audience of about 400 to 500. Not too shabby.

Before the lights went out, Larry showed our own version of the pre-movie trivia slideshow. Next up was a series of new skits the guys made. They were sprinkled throughout the night, popping up before, after, and between the movies. You can see them here (not suitable for youngins):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2WAK9xyRM

Next up was the debut of The Wimp Whose Woman Was A Werewolf:

THE WIMP WHOSE WOMAN WAS A WEREWOLF

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=48264163

Finally, it was time for the unveiling of The Greatest Fan Film of All Time (it was even my first time seeing the finished film):

The Greatest Fan Film of All Time
Uploaded by Bullcrank

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7pw7l_the-greatest-fan-film-of-all-time_shortfilms

It was great seeing the films with a crowd and hearing everyone laugh and react at all the right places. Just wild.

After the theater cleared out, I hung in the lobby with the remaining cast and crew for a while and just chatted. Of course, we took the obligatory group shot.

It was a crazy night and went by in such a blur. It still hasn't processed that after all those hours of work, Fan Film is finally done.

It went live on Dailymotion as the premiere was going on and has already been viewed over 11,000 times. Many thanks to Aimee Carlson yet again.

Speaking of Aimee, she gave us another shoutout on Lunchbox over at ifc.com:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1454928837/bctid4691270001

It's been a crazy year, culminating in a crazy weekend.

Next up? I'm taking a break. A nice, relaxing break full of movies, Rock Band, and World of Warcraft. Then I'll push forward and finish The Girl and the Ghost and see what happens after that.

Mmm... downtime...

The Time is Near

I know, it's been nearly a month and I've yet to post anything about the trip yet. I promise I have a good reason, really I do. We have a premiere date for The Wimp Whose Woman Was a Werewolf and The Greatest Fan Film of All Time. On December 13th, the films will finally hit...the silver screen. Yes, we have a real theater booked for the premiere. Fan Film and Wolf will show at 8:00 PM at the Kent Stage in Kent, Ohio. We have an awesome night of entertainment lined up, so be sure to get there early.
Contact me at jacobdrakemail@yahoo.com for ticket information.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjfOlmxh-gk

For you out of towners, fret not. At some point on the same night, The Greatest Fan Film of All Time will go live exclusively at Dailymotion.com

Want some good reading? Of course you do. Felix Vasquez of Cinema-Crazed.com has once again witten an excellent article about our films, in which he interviews Larry and Aaron. Check it out here:
http://www.cinema-crazed.com/0-g/bullcrank-interview.htm

Right. Back to work so we have a movie to show. I'll post vacation stuff soon.

My Training Wheels

The first day of the shoot was an experience, to say the least. I woke around noon (early) to the sound of my phone and confirmed what time I had to be there. Things went as they usually do, not as planned, and I fell a bit behind schedule.

Mom, Aunt Karen, and I hit the road and arrived at the set around 4 PM, but not before getting lost and driving past the building twice.

The Bullcrank boys had everything set up inside. They had lights and cameras, but the action was still a couple hours off. I roamed the maze of cubicles, trying to familiarize myself with it and take everything in.

Hanging with Larry, Travis, and Aaron


Clint, me, and Ian

We all ended up hanging out for a while and had some spaghetti, thanks to Mom and Aunt Karen.

As we finished, more crew and the cast started trickling in. I saw lots of familiar faces and met a few new ones. Everyone scurried about the set doing what had to be done: getting into costume, troubleshooting the sound equipment, etc. That's when I began to wonder what I should be doing. And that's when my first directorial duty arose as our lead actress, Marisa Tomasic, came to me asking which outfit she should wear. A fairly easy first task.

Marisa displaying outfit options


Donna puts Larry's face on


Rick being all suave

Minutes later, everyone was ready and I was set up in front of my monitor behind camera one. Things looked good, Larry and Rick were ready to go and I called "Action!". With that utterance, my complete inexperience was revealed. Apparently the cameras have to be rolling before action gets called. Who knew?

Aaron, Ian, and Andy were a huge help the whole time, I think I'd have been pretty lost and miserable otherwise.

The night went on, not without its bumps, but everything kept moving forward. I know I must have looked like a deer in headlights, as that's exactly how I felt, but I'm glad I was there. The long day ended as we headed home at 2 AM, after ten hours on set. That's nothing, compared to the others, who were there for thirteen hours and doing a lot more than me.

The foggy road home seemed fitting at the end of the first day of filming this werewolf movie.

Day two began around 4:30, after a rainy drive back to the set. I was more on track with everyone else, as they were just setting up when I got there. The days shoot involved much simpler shots, which made things much easier and less chaotic. There was also excitement in the air, as this was the day we were filming with Cleveland legend, Big Chuck Schodowski.

Day two


Big Chuck and Larry

Chuck arrived and donned his security guard uniform. Ian called for the cameras to roll, I called action, Marisa rushed through the doorway, and Chuck greeted her with "...I didn't hear 'action.'"

I spoke up and it was smoother from then on.

Big Chuck and Lil' Jay

I enjoyed the second day much more than the first. Communication was better, the setup was better, Chuck was hilarious, and I think we got some great stuff. Aaron's lighting was especially awesome looking. I can't wait to see the whole thing put together.

Directing Big Chuck


Kickin' it with the stars


Vince works the camera

We wrapped up around 9 PM and did the obligatory group photo before anyone left. The remaining crew dismantled the set and returned the building to its usual state while pausing for sloppy joes.

The Brothers Longstreth relax after a long day


"Leave no evidence we were here!"

We all ended up leaving at about 10, ending my time on this movie. Back at home, I relaxed by watching the Werewolf episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The rest of the gang will continue filming over the next several weekends, including a trip to New York City to film with Lloyd Kaufman. Meanwhile, I'll be here hammering on The Greatest Fan Film of All Time.

It was a crazy weekend that initially left me a little wary of the whole filmmaking process, but I feel like I learned a lot and when the opportunity arises again, I think I'll be ready for more.

The Girl and the Ghost (Trailer)

No more delaying, here's the preview for my upcoming animated short.

Doubled Up

Another hundred plus hours have flown by already. Last night, I surpassed the total amount of time I spent on Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face. No turning back now, eh? I really need to post an image or a trailer soon.

Aaron's recording his part today out in North Carolina. He seems really pumped to do it and I'm excited to hear how it turns out. The first actual voice work for this short, it's taking shape.

Short blog. No rest for the animator, baby.

Odds and Ends- Ghosts, Batman, and Ric Flair

Seems I've suddenly got a surge of creative energy as of late. I've now got two new animated projects on my plate. Currently, I'm tweaking one I'm writing on my own, tentatively titled The Girl and the Ghost. It's just a weird little ghost story I came up with that actually loosely ties in with an older script of mine.

The other project lined up is...brace yourself...an unofficial sequel to Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face. It's gonna be crazy, nerdy, and a sight to behold. We've got some wild stuff lined up for it, just wait and see.

I recently did a tiny bit of animation for a skit Aaron was working on. Well, that skit's now finished and online, so check out WOO! and prepare yourselves for this random ode to wrestling legend Ric Flair.

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2827436

And now I'll be quoting a bit of insanely cool news from Larry's blog:

I was on page 12 last night when I told Jake (our animator) that I hadn't checked my bullcrank.com email in weeks and that I was about to. I opened it and flipped out. There was an e-mail from Mark Ordesky, the Vice President of New Line Cinema and executive producer of Lord of the Rings. If you remember or have read the other blogs, you know that Aaron and I met him in LA and that he's been a fan of our stuff ever since.

He had seen "Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face" and "The Losers Have a Junkyard" upon returning from the UK where he was working on Nicole Kidman's "Golden Compass" trilogy. He loved both, as well as "Nintendo: Oldschool Revolution" and "Blow Pop" and he asked me to send every short film I do to his office from now on on DVD. Also, he reminded me that he's waiting to read the script to our feature film. Here I am with the damn second draft open in front of me and I'm so amazingly happy with it and I get an e-mail from Ordesky reminding me that he wants a copy right away. I flipped out. I didn't even read the other emails until a few minutes later.

While reading the other emails I spotted one from a college student in Texas. He asked permission to show "Nintendo: Oldschool Revolution" locally and on Time Warner Cable. I said of course he could as long as he credited Jake, myself, and Bullcrank.com

How's that for awesome?

You might notice (but probably not) that I've played with the site's layout a little bit. Only the sidebar really. Now links to my various projects are more easily available just under my little bio box to the right. Below that, you'll find my recent ramblings, then links to my stuff and friends' websites, and finally, the blog archives. I think it's a bit more user friendly, let me know if you think otherwise.

It's looking like spring is finally in the air. The sun's out, it's warm(er), and the snow is melting rapidly. I even heard birds on a couple mornings this week. I did some running around to stores with Mom yesterday and barely even had to bundle up, it was nice. I may head out with Jeff tonight to see 300.

It's nice knowing summer's not that far off.

Films A-Plenty

Get comfy, buttercup. Lots of video heading your way right about...now.

First up, Raine Maida's MySpace page has the video for Sex, Love, and Honey uploaded and the quality's better than on YouTube, in my opinion. You can see it here:

Raine Maida Sex Love and Honey

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Next up, loads of Bullcrank goodness. Larry just put the finishing touches on the gang's short film entry for Fox's upcoming TV show, On the Lot. They did some great work on this one in a surprisingly short amount of time. There's even a few seconds of animation by yours truly.
Check out Harvey Daggit and the Devil's Olives here:

Aaron Longstreth's been keeping extremely busy and making short films like crazy. He just made 7 more in the time it took me to type this sentence. Check out his recent shorts here:

Security

The Common Truth

Kira's Office

Man on the Street Interviews

Holiday Recap

I hope anyone reading this had themselves a nice holiday. Mine was enjoyable, I'd say it started for me on the Wednesday before Christmas with the Bullcrank Christmas party.

It was about an hour's drive and we got lost along the way, but we eventually found the place. Due to some miscalculations regarding the door to the house and my wheelchair, the party was moved out to the garage, which was surprisingly enjoyable. It was really nice just hanging out with the whole crew, chit chatting and watching Aaron's new short film.
A lot of the gang has been a bit down lately, so Larry secretly cut together a video to rally the troops and showed it at the party. I gave him a hand with some animation for it. It's funny, I wasn't even present for most of the stuff in the video and it still makes me sentimental. You can check it out here.

Corey drove in from Pittsburgh on Thursday, so we chilled out several times throughout the weekend. We had ourselves a big Christmas-time game night on that Friday, the last one with the whole gang for a while as Brendan moved down to Florida this weekend for an internship at Disney World. He'll be down there until August. Not a bad gig, eh?

On Saturday night, Eric and Aaron visited along with Corey for a bit before they headed out for a night of barhopping. Aaron was the hero of the night, letting us have his old TV to replace the tiny one we've had standing in for our broken one.
Sharon visited on Christmas Eve and then Corey swung by for a little Madden football and a couple episodes of Trailer Park Boys.

Christmas morning was nice, everyone seemed to be happy with their gifts, I know I was. You can't go wrong with CDs (Gnarls Barkley, Regina Spektor, KT Tunstall, and Our Lady Peace), DVDs (Justice League Unlimited: Season 1, The Chronicles of Narnia: Extended Edition Gift Set, and Short Circuit- also, Corey got me Over the Hedge and The DaVinci Code), Superman stuff, and iPod accessories.

After unwrapping, we ate and Kris & I played The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, courtesy of Brendan and Mikey. A little bit later, we were off to Granny's.

It was a good time hanging out with everyone there and just relaxing. I'd have to say the highlight of the night was Jeff messing with Aunt Karen. He broke out some classic word play and wrote down "I am sofa king wee Todd did" and had her read it out loud. It was hilarious listening to her read it over and over until it finally sunk in. The moment of realization was priceless.

This Christmas was nice, but it felt slightly...off. Everything we did was 100% Christmas, but for some reason it didn't really feel like Christmas. I can't quite put my finger on it. Even so, I did have fun and I hope you all did too.

The Premier

Wow. What a day.

I don't even know where to begin.

Nervous energy prevented me from getting much sleep last night, so I'm running on fumes as I type this.

We got to Classic Fairways fairly easily, only making one wrong turn along the way. As soon as I got there, the meeting and greeting began. I said hello to everyone in Larry's group I had met before as well as those I hadn't, which was a bit odd, I've seen their films so many times I wasn't 100% sure whether or not I had met a few of them.

The place itself was really nice. Lots of space, really clean, big couches, a bar, and a bunch of enormous projection screens all around.

Shortly after 6 PM, the show began. Larry said a few words and The Losers Have a Junkyard started playing on all the screens.
The hard work put into Losers wasn't hard to see, Larry and his crew should be proud of themselves. The atmosphere, the music, every bit of it made for a really cool and fun short film.

Next up was Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face. Larry started to introduce it, I could hear him on the microphone, but I couldn't see him. I leaned over and whispered to Mom, "Where is he?"
She responded by pointing, behind me. I spun around and he was right there. Before I knew it, I had the mic and I was rambling off my thoughts on the cartoon. Considering I hate public speaking, I think I did alright on the mic, except I didn't have time to position myself, so I sort of had my back to most of the audience. Ah well, let's just say it was an artist's eccentricity.
After a brief hunt for the remote control, Batman began on the screens.
That was a very surreal moment. The project created entirely on my little 13" laptop was now being projected onto giant screens in every direction in front of over 100 people. And the people were loving it. They were laughing at all the right places, some even had tears in their eyes from laughing. The laughter was followed by applause, which was interrupted by the last joke during the credits, which was followed by more applause.
That was such a rush and absolutely worth all of the work.

The cast of Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face

After that, Larry had all of the other films playing. Zombies in My Neighborhood, Nintendo: OldSchool Revolution, Real Men of the Mat, The Eyeball Papercuts, and Tootsie Blow Pop along with some behind the scenes stuff and deleted clips.

Another surreal moment was watching the Johnny McCocky skit from Eyeball Papercuts with Andy Larsen, Johnny McCocky himself, standing 5 feet away.

In the hour or so following Batman, I said "Thank you" more than I ever have before. People kept congratulating me and saying how much they enjoyed the cartoon. What really caught me off guard was when people would introduce themselves as fans of my work.

I really don't even feel like I've done that much yet. I haven't even been doing this for a full year yet and I have fans? Cool!

Surrounding me from left to right- Allan Derby, Aaron Longstreth, Larry Longstreth, Clint George, and Vince Bruno

What a crazy and awesome day. I want to thank Larry again for bringing me into all of this wonderful madness. I also want to that everyone who came out to support us and see what we've been working on, I hope you all enjoyed myself.

The films should be online sometime tomorrow.

Now I'm gonna go kick back and relax.

PS- Sorry about the dark pictures, I'm looking into getting a new camera.