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davidfoxfire β MacGruffin 3.1: Meet Uncle Elias
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Published: 2012-09-27 06:28:40 +0000 UTC; Views: 2520; Favourites: 8; Downloads: 20
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Description
Three cheers for the magic of collaboration: With all the help I've been getting with a previous Deviation [link] , I managed to create a unique and very fitting Chekhov's Gun character for "The Ballad of Johnny Briz." An AI in an iPhone is a good idea. A character from the Classic Era with restored hope for the future is a good idea. A female rabbit is a bad idea, but not a take on Walt Disney and his first major character. And that character isn't Mickey.Say hello to 'Uncle Elias,' my answer to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
The premise is similar, a cartoon character from the 1920s who thought he was forgotten, but found himself reincarnated as a Tron-like Artificial Intelligence in The Lantz Corporation's computer banks. So disillusioned by not just what happened to Dream Maker Studios, as well as recent trends in Cartoons [link] , that he escaped into a more realistic version of the Wasteland: the Cloud. If this ever became a Disney title, it would be replaced with The Grid. It's the same thing.
With the Internet at his reach, he realized that, not only is his old cartoons are perfectly preserved in digital movies, "It's almost as if I've never been forgotten, son." but he also can see some individuals make their hesitant forays into the industry, some with promise, but none touched his digital heart much like Johnny Briz. (He even calls him "Mouse" if not "Sonny" or "The Kid," much like what Oswald would do) So Eli imbedded himself into Johnny's Tablet Phone and slides into the Nicole spot which I filled earlier with Cinnamon.
In spite of some modernization of his Classic Cartoon figure, Eli is an Old Gruff Buck. "Yeah, I'm old, your whippersnapper. Old enough to know your company when it was just three Depression-Era Mousketeers in their Mama's garage!" He'll 'walk' with a cane -and even smoke if stressed. "I'm an artificial intelligence, these stogies are merely glowing ones and zeros, and they're still fricking addicting! I could see my namesake just sitting in heaven puffing away." But even as carcancreous as he is, 'Uncle Eli' does care for Johnny and his friends, and loves to be there to give an old-fashioned perspective and 'Uncle/Fatherly' advice to the group.
In future sequels, like Nicole, he would discover nanotechnology, and find enough of the tiny machines to construct a new body for himself. He'd even go as far as to recreate Dream Makers Park nanite by nanite like the Sonic character used to do. Just don't expect someone like the Iron Queen to hack him into Iron Elias; he's much too wiley and he's aware enough to have security programs installed. As Eli would say to a bunch of security programs who came to shut him down as he hacks back into Lantz's computers. 'This isn't my first Rodeo, boys!'
Edit 01: Uncle Eli needed to be aged considerably, to the point that he's gray and wrinkled. The hard part would be how far grey and how much wrinkles is needed. I figured just a little bit will do him.
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Comments: 30
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Eivi definitely raises some concerning points. It would be very wise to consider just how the transition from suit actors being filmed into animation is made. I haven't done any animation myself, but it seems like an incredibly taxing process; drawing frame by frame an entire cartoon short seems like it would take a great deal of time to do. Pile on designing backgrounds and it gets to be an awful lot for one person to draw. And that is before the voice tracks need to be recorded.
It's asking a lot of your audience to believe you when you say "the videos go viral and he gets an underground following" without providing reasons for it. There are a few things you just can't get away with without explanation, and this seems like one of them. Who are fans of the animations and why do they like it so much? So much to get the attention of corporate suits who see big money in its future? Interviews with fans on the news or video comments online would have to provide believable insight to the show's popularity.
As for the character, he's definitely something out of the Disney books. I would have expected an older character physically; wrinkles, greying hair and the like. Cartoons may not age like we do, but your audience would identify that he's showing his age if he did. I like his concept (for partially narcissistic reasons), but his look is inconsistent with his character.
And speaking of looks, it's pretty clear ol' JB is your favorite. His design (from appearance to personality) is a lot more detailed than anyone else's, which kind of makes everyone else look bad in comparison. If you spend more time with the other characters individually, you can definitely bring everyone else up to par.
Maybe I'm just reading into it a little too much.
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Like I said in the recent guidelines [link] there are a lot of things I haven't fully detailed yet. And most of the stuff I haven't reached yet are in ΒΆs 1 and 2. True, I can't just get away without explanations, but I haven't fully explained the matters yet.
Although I did a little on how she'll make Chromatown. I quote the journal entry:
Sure, you can make something like Steamboat Willie on a single computer and the processor wouldn't even burp. Hell, you can do all of Tron on a single Linux machine today. But you know as well as Amber knows that one person, on one computer, is going to take years to do what Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, and a small army of assistant animators can do in a month. However, she could record a scene in her digicam, put it in said computer, and with a few filters and a general frame by frame edit make that resemble something painstakingly done by 35 animators and do it quite well may I add. Add various people in costume which she can warp on the editing program, blue screen technology to superimpose backgrounds that update in real time, voice changing software--and even the use of something similar to how Volcanoids are made--and you can create something that can have the spirit of a Classic Cartoon and maybe even have the tone of them as well. Amber had to use the tools and the talent she had around her, and by God, she will make lemonade out of these lemons.
This part will be explained first, at length, on panel. The rest I'll be doing along the way.
On ΒΆ3, you and Eivi gave me a lot of tips on on to work Uncle Eli. I've already switched the tron suit and just go for the classic gloves, shorts, and ....shoes? Nah, he's a rabbit. Keep the bare feet. I'll also gray his fur and wrinkles around the eyes. Maybe a beard, perhaps. Make him look like Flynn in Tron Leg....nah, I'll scratch that.
ΒΆ4. Probably the main reason why Johnny looks so detailed because I've worked with him the longest over the years. I want to have some more experience with the other characters, like what I did with Amber and her hair [link] , the various script tests where I focus on other characters, and I'm doing the same with Darrin and Jennifer in an undisclosed commission. They will improve over time and with your help.
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I'll be blunt: your explanation of how Amber somehow turns the Chromatown fursuit shorts into animation makes no sense at all. Not only can I not imagine how you could "warp" live-action fursuits into something that resembled fine-line animation, it all sounds a lot more labor-intensive, expensive, and dangerous than just using modern animation tools to emulate classic styles. If I can be honest, it kind of reads like you're looking for an excuse to write a bunch of fursuiting in and let Johnny do "awesome" action stunts. The biggest problem with this project is your focus on inserting self-fanservice, and this is the most egregious case of it. If Amber can't do it all alone, why doesn't she just find some like-minded animators and figure out how to do good fine-line style in Flash or something? (Don't tell me modern animation tools are verboten when you're having her rotoscoping stuff and the plot now involves a goddamn rogue AI.)
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oh so what your basicly saying is you can beleive in movies like lord of the rings that these actors who appear to be 2-3 feet tall are really that tall but you cant beleive that you cant believe that its possible to turn live action into animation? Dude if we can make a bunch of normal every day humans look like frigging blue cat people i dont see why we cant have the live aciton fursuit stuff made into animation.
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Meiou, Eivi's criticism, as harsh as it may sound, is incredibly valuable at this point in the game. Important points are raised that need to be straightened out.
I think Eivi is more speaking along the lines of how inconsistent the plot point is in itself. Lord of the Rings and Avatar were productions by whole studios; a small army of workers with specialized roles all working in concert to form films of colossal praise. Eivi (not sure if male or female, sorry) is pointing out the inconsistency where Amber is capable of doing all of this herself in an appreciable timeframe, with enough quality that generates massive appeal.
I think the two ideas (Johnny acting as a live cartoon & the animation project) should be set up so one begets the other; either Johnny's appearance inspires Amber to animate some initial work that gets the rest of the cast's interest, or the animation project ends up inspiring others to fursuit up and join in, allowing Johnny to appear among them. As it stands now, it's a bit confusing as to what is going on.
I would recommend putting the initial animation first. Using Johnny as kind of a "living model" to draw with ink and paint, seamed together in animations done on the computer seems to be a lot less a suspension of disbelief than pulling a possibly experimental shortcutting method that makes people confused. I think the magic pen from the old "Sally Protest" would come across as more believable (and less confusing) than the whole high-tech video conversion process.
About the self-fanservice, I can only say what I've said before: Author Appeal is a powerful motivator. It's clear that fursuiting, Disney/Don Bluth animation and making an artistic stab at Michael Eisner (and people like him) among other things are what motivates David to tell this story. Methinks it's almost autobiographical in a sense: from what I know from research and inquiry, being akin to the next Walt Disney was (or is) the goal, and this story aims to tell a fantasized version of that goal. However, thinly veiled expies of popular characters and poorly explained or contrived plots certainly don't contribute to the success he looks for.
I'm no Gonter-historian, no fanatic. Just one artist with an educational motivation.
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Magic Pen, eh? That's something that caught my eye here. That and I've completely forgotten about the Sally Protest comic. What do you mean 'Magic Pen' and how can we use it here, Pory?
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I know you're a huge fan of the Internet, technology and the various gifts they bring, the whole 'magic pen' idea has a little more of that classic, ink-and-paint Disney magic to it:
A dusty old art shop, perhaps a mom-and-pop-shop going out of business (part of the 'old and whimsical' theme) and is liquidating its inventory. The whole plot gets rolling because Amber buys an old art set that seems innocuous at first but has a magical ability to animate the art drawn as its user commands. It could very easily be brought onto the computer (and subsequently the internet) via recording the animations on video, uploading and all that jazz.
It makes the plot more fundamentally sound because Amber isn't well off financially, so getting art supplies on the cheap would be a great motivation and it provides a little bit of that 'Disney magic' you used to talk about. Technology is expensive and has to be explained. Rationalized. Believable.
There's more to it, I'm sure... But you'll have to tell me what you think, first.
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I might put this part in on Chapter 3. Where Amber's looking out and about for supplies, and thinking of some ways to fill in the missing parts of her plan, when she comes across such a locked set in a thrift shop, and when she brings it home, it opens up for her, revealing the 'magic pen.'
The 'What is does' is self explanatory, but the 'How it does it' will take the whole story to answer (probably will take all three Acts and even then it doesn't explain matters.
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Hmmm. Now that you've explained it, it's a lot better idea than the tablet I thought up (That, and I can easily explain the tablet as something she got during college). Having a 'magical' art set would be just what Amber needs. Let's discuss this further.
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Oh, I have a perfect way to make these two ideas line, and have more 'true' animation in the first act. (Which Amber uses to turn Johnny into a Toon on the screen): Instead of a Magic Pen, a Tablet.
A tablet as an portable animation table!
Take an Ipad with all the Apple trademarks off, and double it in size to laptop like dimensions. It keeps all the iPad features like the camera, Cloud Storage, 4G connections, and so on. I'll also add USB so she can use a keyboard, an off board second camera and of course be able to upload captured video from a digicam.
Amber would carry it around her at all times. It's her drawing pad, portfolio, personal communicator, and everything. And connected to her home computer she uses the tablet as her animation desk as she turns Johnny and her friends into cartoons; using a 21st century technology to recreate an early 20th century art form.
This this idea would work? If so, I can have it put into play in Chapter 2.
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Well to me it sounded like he was saying he couldn't believe at all that it was possible to make live action into animation. So I was making points showing that it was more than possible to do that with modern day tech. Yes those were big companies with alot of money and state of the art software and lots of people but it doesn't mean that its not possible for one really good person to do something simialer. sure it could take a very long time just with 1 person but its plausible. I wouldn't so much say hes a living cartoon as a smart mouse that got anthroized. The shorts that star Johnny at first would be Amber making him look like a toon. (this is what ive gathered from talking with Dave ) It's only later when Amber realizes this is way too much for her handle by herself that she starts bringing in a couple friends and then others inspired by Johnny join up.
As for the last part I couldn't say if that's the case or not. To me it just seems like a story he would like to really tell.
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True enough on all points, Meiou. But the discussion at least is better off made here than when I'm publishing the strips. Besides, it's out of this debate that I was about to make Amber's own MacGruffin: Her Tablet. The Hard Science answer to that Magic Brush I thought up (without drugs to my horror, You'd think that things would get wonkier when I got on these meds.) in the Sally Protest comic.
Side note: Imagine what that protest would've been now with Sally roboticized. Good thing I left that fandom long ago. It's my hope that I can woo the disillusioned Sonic Comic fans to this alternative.
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Yeah its best here. Wasn't trying to imply otherwise.
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I'm sure that Amber will have acceess to Flash. She has a Mac, after all. (And Rotoscoping is not a modern tool.) And finding some like-minded animators will be achieved in the middle of Act 1. But the problem remains what Amber would have at the start. She needs to start off with the tools and the talent she has now--and that does not include other like-minded animators--and work from there. Along the way, she does find other animators, as her presence grows.
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Okay, so, a few things come to mind:
1) The AI wearing a Tron suit makes no diegetic sense -- it's just fanservice, and pretty nonsensical fanservice at that (are the same people who are nostalgic for mid-century cartoons really nostalgic for Tron?). Why not just have him wear what the character wore?
2) If Uncle Elias is supposed to be an early-20th-centry cartoon character, this design just doesn't work for him at all. I'm not an early-cartoon nut (or, indeed, in your target audience at all), but to me, this design looks completely modern -- it also looks more or less exactly in line with the other modern designs, as well as Johnny, who isn't even a diegetic cartoon character. I'd really try to do a more thoughtful style mimicry exercise here and not just a standard "toony" anthro.
3) The bit about Uncle Elias revering Johnny for his work in the "classic cartoon" industry reminds me of something that really bothers me about this project in general -- that everyone is falling over themselves to praise Johnny and co. for their efforts for animation, when in fact, nothing is being animated! The Chromatown shorts are live-action fursuit stunt shorts, not cartoons. Nobody, not even the character who's supposed to be an aspiring animator, is ever creating animation. Frankly, it makes the entire analogy fall flat, and it makes the bizarre fixation of the rest of the cast on what great cartoonists they are bizarre. If I write a novel in a cinematic style, nobody's going to praise me as the next great American filmmaker, because I haven't made a film. Johnny being praised as a "cartoon star" when he's not remotely in a cartoon is like that... or like somebody being praised for cooking when they bought and microwaved a Lean Cuisine. If there is any artistry at play in the Chromatown shorts (and the story summaries you've posted so far don't suggest there is), it's still not animation artistry.
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1 and 2) You have a valid point there. I'll change the image to that he'll have a more traditional look. Solid Black eyes and just pants for clothes, perhaps.
3) The procedure Amber uses to turn fursuit stunt shorts into films resembling classic cartoons will be discussed first in the Pitch Bible. (The breakdown of the first act, no less) Also, having humans in animation is not new. Walt Disney did it himself in a series that predates Oswald, and I can think of another series with a dinosaur.
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What would Uncle Eli think of Susan when he first sees her?
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At first sight of Susan: (Pause to make sure he's not staring at her boobs) At least you got them covered. [He'll try not to be a letch, although I would see him chase pretty girls in his youth.]
At first sight of Susan and JB's relationship: Augh! Put this phone in sleep mode, will ya? Or get a fricking room! I can't nosebleed at this state!
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