Out of date diaries = Cheap sketchbook.

Okay, first of all, thanks so much to everyone who has commented and contacted me with encouragement, it’s really appreciated! Another quick announcement is this: T-Shirts will go on sale tomorrow! Yes, that’s right, supercool Unikprodukt T-shirts will be available on my Facebook page.

If I am going to make a film then I guess I will need a story. Luckily awesome coincidence is on my side again, apart from starting this project on the Day of the Dead, I’m also starting it in November, which is NaNoWriMo month!

No nostrils? Why did I write that?

In case you haven’t heard of it NaNoWriMo is basically a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. Hmm, if I did that the novel may be rubbish but I would certainly have a lot of material to work with for my film. So yes, I’m going to write a novel in a month. It actually isn’t that bad, I only need to write 1667 words a day and it’s done.

I’ve done my writing for yesterday and am about to start on my writing for tonight. It’s amazing, discovery writing is incredibly fun and powerful. I’ve come up with a ton of new ideas already and they’re already seeping into my art.

Anyone else doing NaNoWriMo?

What am I getting myself into?

So it’s the 1^st of November. According to Wikipedia (because I know nothing about it myself) this is the start of the Day of the Dead, which is a cool coincidence. I now have 12 months to make a feature length animated film. See that bit at the top of the page, underneath where it says ‘unikprodukt’? I’d like to repeat that aaargh. Aaargh!

This blog will document me going through the entire process. I’ll be working everything out as I go along and posting every night about my discoveries, frustrations, accomplishments and failures.

Lists are fun, so here are the terms I’m working under. There will be more, but for now these are the big ones.

1. Honesty.

I’m not going to try and impress anyone. I’ll be confused at the start, the story won’t make sense, and the graphics work will look terrible. If I try and put on some stupid front about how well I’m doing at all this then I’ll be spending all my energy on that rather than the work.

This is a big one for me, I’ve even put a photo of me showing off my bald patch on this post!

2. Do Everything.

I’ll be writing the script, creating all the art, doing all the animation and making all the music. Do you understand the terror I’m feeling now?

3. Open Source Software

I could get pirate copies of fancy pants animation and music software but I’m not. Everything will be done with open source software. Mainly Blender, Processing, Csound, Audacity, and GIMP. When the film is finished and on sale I will make a donation to all these projects.

Okay. You get the outline of what’s going to be happening here. I hope you find it all interesting enough to follow this adventure. It’s probably going to be pretty funny.

Check in tomorrow, when new levels of ridiculous ambition will be revealed.