Paramedic Robot: First Stills

I found myself at a crossroads following the completion of “Doctor with the Red Houseware.” I felt it was the most I could do without a reasonable budget.

I knew my next project would require a budget and would ideally be a feature. I felt that going door to door asking for investments would be a painstaking process. I decided rather than enter into a venture that would consume time & emotion, I would be wiser to dedicate my efforts toward expanding my current audience. A large scale audience could be used for leverage when the time came to request funding for a project.

I started thinking about animation and methods I could use to expedite the process while still delivering a marketable product. But no matter how I organized the production, I accepted the fact that the initial development of a variety of assets would require time and dedication.

I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I am resentful of how long its taken me to get through episode 1. Because I utilize different camera angles for the same thing, I had to create separate character portraits for front, rear, left and right profile views. It sounds simple on the surface, but when you include things like watches and sheers on one wrist or in one pocket it rapidly complicates things – especially when the hand with the watch is capable of holding a variety of objects. Now keep in mind watches have a top and bottom, and I have to apply the same “grabby hand” to all 4 profile views.

I am relieved that I have completed the most time-demanding tasks for the project and can finally begin moving with efficiency. I have developed 13 minutes of animation toward the first episode and the production continues to move faster. My goal is to complete 1 scene in one day. My hypothesis is that if I can develop a new episode each week, or every other week, I will reach an audience. So many bloggers, how to instructors, and reviews gain in popularity due to their ability to constantly produce more content. If you set out to create entertainment for consumers, you typically discover that a quality product is far too demanding to produce with that frequency if you do not have a bankroll.

So I just wanted to provide a brief update for any who cares. I hope that I will be able to post a link to episode 1 here soon. More importantly, I hope to regularly provide new content within the coming months. As the volume of assets grow in my library, so does the ease of building a new background. Hope to update you soon.

Robot Paramedic – First Look

Don’t worry about the mouths or eyes. They look funny because multiple expressions sit atop one another.

I’ve been tirelessly designing an animated web series that I intend to launch before the end of the month. The show is a buddy comedy about Blue, a salty paramedic and Ricky, his enthusiastic robot trainee.

The first episode will be about Blue realizing Ricky was not engineered for immediate success. They will experience their first real call together and it will put Ricky’s to-the-moon expectations through the meat grinder.

I have no intention or desire to be an animator, however I do view it as an effective media for storytelling. I can utilize skills and abilities that I’ve learned through filmmaking, music, and writing to produce short episodes with a high standard of quality. The cool thing about animation is you can constantly reuse assets – facial expressions, backgrounds, character actions. The larger plan is to produce episodes on a weekly basis that allow for greater time efficiency. Once the ball is rolling I hope to write a feature length script. As I build an audience for the show I can use that as leverage for other projects.

Hope all is well and I look forward to updating progress for episode 1 here soon. If you haven’t seen Doctor with the Red houseware yet, feel free to click the link and check it out on TUBI.