Rolling Boulders

The view count is rising following the release of Paramedic Robot episode 1. I can see that it is finding its way into search engines, but I can also see that many people are only watching a few seconds of it before moving on. I can only assume many of them discovered it through a link in one of the shorts I’ve released this week and they assumed it would be less than 60 seconds.

A large part of me wants to stop posting videos and allow the pieces to fall where they may. I kind of just want to stop everything related to Paramedic Robot for a while and create some music instead. Sometimes I think about reliving my glory days and returning to my former career path, despite knowing those days are long behind me.

There a passage in scripture that advises one to never look back to the path left behind. It is meant to apply to sinful behavior, and the excitement that may have come with it. I think it also applies to your current venture.

Whether you are stringing together a plot, rhyming a verse, or building a machine, it is always tempting to quit midway due to unforseen circumstances. I saw a recent clip from Joe Rogan where he speaks about persistence and the importance of tenacity. His words always strike me because I remember when he began his show on youtube. He used to get about a hundred views an episode and I felt bad because I remembered him from Fear Factor. At the time, youtube was no place for celebrities – that was for amateurs and people who couldn’t cut it in Hollywood. Now look at him today – any A-lister would be lucky to be featured on his podcast.

I feel certain that the greatest joy in a man’s life is the pursuit of a dream. Whatever goal your after, the joy comes from the journey – not the treasure. When you reach your goal the former obstacles you faced will add to the legend of your eventual triumph.

To put it another, if you pursue a worthy path you will come across roadblocks along the way. It’s imperative you remain creative in spite of these boulders, because what you can’t pick up you can roll, climb, or even blow up.

I hope you greet your obstacles with a smile and step forward even when you’re unsure about the ground ahead.

Keyboard Warriors – Widescreen

This is the same animated short I posted yesterday but the widescreen version. I was hoping to find time to write a meaningful post today but at the moment that time is lost. Looking forward to updating soon.

Gym Gazing

I’ve completed my first animated short. I’m disappointed to learn that youtube requires 1080×1920 aspect ratio for a youtube short but lesson learned for next time.

Safe and Effective

Finished – 3-13-23

I completed the sound mixing Saturday night and rendered the video and audio together yesterday. There are a couple of minor sound adjustments I will make but it is completed. I may add a title animation in the beginning and something at the end. I don’t have a credit scroll as I literally did everything but I would like to add something for the outro music.

I plan to make the episode available free for viewing in 2 weeks, and of course will host a link here. Leading up to that I intend to release short clips and some comics to showcase a few of the main characters. This will be low effort but valuable for generating traffic.

With episode 1 completed I am excited for what the future may bring. Having created an entire set of characters and backgrounds I anticipate future projects using these elements will be 10x more efficient. I will enjoy writing, animating, and mixing again, but more importantly I will be able to steer myself in a specific direction.

It does not require money to produce an animated story, only time. I’m going to treat this series as though it is the foundation for my filmmaking future. By recycling assets I have already created I will be able to distribute content more regularly and grow an audience. As my following increases so will my monetary avenues toward financing a live action film.

I should begin putting together the short clips but won’t be animating anything today. Instead I hope to make a song because it has been far too long since I’ve gotten to work with music.

Hope your week has started strong and you remain courageous in your trials.

All Aboard the Printmaster

After a week and a half since I animated the last scene I’m 75% done with the sound design process. I’m happy I elected to use splice for the majority of the sound effects. Downloading sounds that are already EQed makes everything much easier. Most of the work I’m doing involves bussing different tracks to different reverbs and speaker locations.

Once this is completed I’ll share the full episode with some close friends and put together a short trailer. I think it would be wise to piece together short intro videos for the main characters to build hype for the episodes release. More important than that, I’d like to use the Youtube algorithm to my advantage. Posting regularly for a couple of weeks will increase the likelihood that the cartoon is recommended.

I’m considering splitting the episode up into a few parts. It has a runtime of 28 minutes. I’m undecided about this, but feel I’ll make my final decision based on what will help it receive the most views. Viewers may prefer a 15 minute chunk, but youtube algorithm may favor the longer runtime.

It’s been a joy working with my speakers but I really can’t wait to be done with this. I’d love to work on some music and begin writing a new project. I think it’s equally important to begin work on the second episode immediately, though with one strong caveat.

Future project involving the characters must be produced with far greater efficiency. I will treat what I’ve already created as if they are chess pieces on a chess board. The amount of moves they can make are limited and must always remain within the confines of the board. Even with these limitations, there is an infinite number of combination moves that can be made. By refraining from creating a whole new set of assets I will be able to complete production of a second episode much more rapidly. Entertainment favors minutes of content over quality, and I must keep that in mind if I am to gain viewership and eventually a budget for a live action production.

Hope your week is going well and you keep your nose to the grindstone. Life is empty without purpose, and purpose is empty without strife.

No More Drawing

Today is sound design day 1 after finally completing animation for Paramedic Robot ep 1. I spent most of yesterday setting up my new surround sound studio monitors. Once they were placed and plugged in, it took a few hours before I could confidently confirmed that the arrangement would even work. I hope to export one scene today that would fulfill the requirements of both a surround and stereo format. By doing this before I am heavy in the trenches I can avoid costly mistakes later on down the road.

I had the joy and fulfillment of watching the entire episode with Kelly last night. It was awesome to watch her laugh at something I created. You can spend an entire lifetime pursuing fame and fortune only to discover the only opinions that truly matter belong to those who already love you.

I am eager to release the episode in full but here is where I must be wise. It is always a thrill to race toward the finish line but I must begin building a platform. Spending more time on social media, short teasers, and weekly comments are a few steps I can take to ensure an audience is present when it debuts. Building a soundscape will enhance the overall experience and is worth the fraction of time it requires (in comparison to drawing and animating each scene from scratch).

When I began this project I naively thought I could complete one episode each week. Of course at its inception I also believed 1 episode would be 10 minutes. Episode 1 is currently 28 minutes (a 3 act story needs more time. It can be done in 15, but a short film of 5 minutes lives and dies by its gimmick).

I have added 18 minutes to the episode since December. I believe I can create a single scene – from voiceover recording to rendered animation – in 3 days. This means I will need some assistance to create future episodes more efficiently. To have assistance requires money, and to earn money you need an audience. I’m not sure what to make of all this but I know this is reality.

Anyways, I’m excited to FINALLY work with sound today. I hope your Wednesday is equally joyful.

Finishing Up – 2-17-23

I’ve got 2 scenes left to animate and have 25 minutes fully animated. The process continues to move along faster each day. I have created my final character for the episode, Nurse Becky, which took the bulk of my week. I have to say that created a new character is by far the most time consuming part of the process.

I have some ideas for how I’m going to promote the episode prior to its release. I believe animating a short 1 minute clip for each main character and releasing them as daily youtube shorts will do much to get the ball rolling. I’m going to limit myself to 1 character and one background angle per short.

My final 2 speakers should be arriving in the next two days. This will enable me to begin editing in surround sound. I believe the sound effects and foley design may move very fast. I will be using sound effects from “splice” in order to avoid spending time recording and editing sounds. The fun part is choosing the reverb, delay, speaker placement, and panning for the sounds. These tasks are simple and quick but allow me to be more creative than simply dragging and dropping the sounds into place.

The final part of the project will be adding music. I imagine at most using 1-3 songs for the entire episode. The more important “music” will be sounds that assist emotional transition. If you watch Southpark, there are several musical cues that indicate a scene transition or emotional moment. I hope to design high quality sounds that I can reuse for each episode.

I am very excited about what is to come and even more excited about watching my hypothesis of repeatability play out. When I begin work on the next episode, I will already have 12 main characters fully drawn and programmed. I will have 3 primary locations with a wide variety of camera angles.

I have chosen to make this comedy about private paramedic workers because the setting is relatively simple – each episode will feature the same 3 principle locations and 12 main characters for 90% of it. That means I may only have to create 1 new background and 1 new character each time I set out to create a new show.

Looking forward to the future and I hope you’re doing the same.

Quick Update – 2/5/23

I only have a few minutes to write this so I’ll keep it brief. I have 3 remaining scenes to animate and then it is on to audio. I did wind up deciding to purchase 3 additional speakers, I will have the option to mix the episode in surround sound. I intend to use splice for sound effects as they’re sounds do not inhibit monetization or commercial use for a reasonable price.

I greatly miss creating music and working with anything other than animation. The good news is I have been able to turn out a scene in a day or two lately – meaning recording the dialogue, animating the characters, and mixing them in with a background. The countless assets I created are working great, especially the vehicles and background characters. I am very excited to be done with this project soon.

I am still determined to put out short scenes but have not yet begun recording them. Once I am done animating the episode and take up work on the audio I will routinely create short 1 minute clips in the hopes of promoting the launch of episode 1. I hope all is well and you have a great day.

Comic #7 – Aliens