My First “Movie”

I finished my first “movie” yesterday! (5/9/23) Well, actually, technically it’s an animatic.

That is, I drew drawings and put them into iMovie. Then I added music and sound effects (from artlist.io, recommended) as well as voiced the characters.

Also, it’s a short, not a feature-length.

I had written a short based on the feature last year (October – November, 2022). Why?

I want to shoot a short before the feature to gain experience. And maybe I could use the short to help find the lead actress (for Amara), and possibly attract financing.

Besides, I’m spending my own money to shoot this short, so I wanted to see if it worked first.

That’s why I storyboarded the script (December, 2022 – first week of April, 2023). And put the drawings together in iMovie—which took me a month (longer than I thought it would take).

I know people would be more likely to watch a 2-minute trailer than a 15-minute short. But I can cut a 2-minute trailer from the material I shoot for the short.

So, even though this thing is technically an animatic (not a movie per se), it still felt like my first movie because…

…When I drew the drawings I had to make decisions on composition, costumes, set, emotion. Isn’t that what a director does?

Also, it was an awesome (and illuminating) experience editing. Drawings have to do with space, editing has to do with time. It was surprising how much editing is like music.

I finished my 15 minute animatic last week and showed it to my girlfriend. I’m glad I did.

She was confused by the short because the “story” jumped around like a movie trailer. As I answered her questions, I began to see maybe adding narration might be a good idea. Like the way animation studios narrate their storyboards before beginning animation.

I’m super glad I asked her to watch it, someone with fresh eyes. (I’m also super grateful she took the time to watch it.) I wouldn’t have known parts of it were confusing otherwise.

This was a great lesson in itself. Fresh eyes are needed before getting a work out there. That’s true of wiring, and it’s definitely true of a movie. I knew this lesson intellectually in terms of movies, but it’s another thing to experience it.

So, I spent the last 6 days adding narration to the 15:15 short.

The animatic is now 28:45 minutes with the narration, but I do think it’s better because the story might be clearer.

But will the short be confusing when I shoot it with live actors?

I don’t think so. I’m hoping actors with distinct voices and faces will make the short movie clear without needing narration.

It’s incredible that something that will take 28:15 to watch took 7 months to put together.

(Again, two months to write, Oct – Nov, 2022. Four months to draw, Dec, 2022 – March 2023. One month to edit, basically April, 2023 with a bit of May.)

Another thing I learned from the experience is how important editing is. You always think production is where it’s at. Of course production is important. But it seems editing is where the movie is truly made.

It’s like like Aristotle’s Four Causes. The drawings were the marble (the material). Editing is the sculpting it (the “efficient cause”). And of course the script was simply the blue print (the form). (The final cause or “purpose” is to help get the feature made.)

Anyway, phew. And excited! I am so excited about this thing.

Not only did I finish the animatic, but I’m now writing the first post for this blog, and I began overhauling the blog, too. I haven’t changed this blog since I began it in 2019.

Jeez, excitement is like fuel.

I’m also excited to shoot the short with actors, and I can’t wait to shoot the feature. The desire to shoot this feature has probably taken a decade of my life.

Anyway, in case you’re curious, here’s the animatic with the narration:

And here’s the animatic without the narration. The one with narration might be less confusing.