The Big Picture Film

All Things Considered

2009-03-10T07:29:00.001-07:00

Maybe I should get back into this project. What do you think?

"Hello World"

2005-04-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

Today is the day that the lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it... What?!

I presented the the first installation of the The Big Picture film project today in front of fellow peers and faculty members at the School of New Media at Indiana University (Indianapolis). For the first time I feel relieved... The presentation went off without a hitch, and the website, dvd, raw illustrations and entire process were displayed with appropriate goodness. A whole four months of planning just for one day. I guess I've never taken into consideration just how much effort and energy we as people put into doing something we are determined to do.

I had to learn determination pretty damn quick this semester, which is what I've learned from this project. I had to also learn how to manage my time... a fickle idea to some, but the most important to me if I wanted to maintain sanity and get this project done on time. Time.. is something we never have enough of, how cliche. Our clocks are ticking.. are pages turning.. and are days coming and going.. I made something today that made time stop in my heart for .... i would say.. about 30 minutes. The words are useless to describe that.

Two things I would have talked about more are how I took on issues of usability and a slight discussion on copyright and trademark. I want this movie to go somewhere someday, I plan on dropping this movie off to every film festival I can find, every company who wants to see it.. I'm trying to find my calling here, and if this isn't the hugest push I've ever received, I don't know what else there is. I'm sure as hell not goin' back to those mines, I can tell you that right now.

I'm constantly testing my own usability... how do I fit into this big scheme of life? Why did I just graduate college? What am I going to do with my diploma? How am I going to soak that damn piece of paper up for all its worth? And how will I do it without getting a head of myself, or becoming Mr. Fancypants Hollywood? Well, that's an easy one because I never want to be that, so Hollywood is out of the question. I'm talking underground.. independent people.. independent artists that all share the same common bond. What do I want to do after I graduate? I want to play music with my band going from show to show across the world, I want to perform awesome public exhibits, I want to create and illustrate books and magazines and everything else that can use a piece of my art. I want to create a film that will change lives... I want the world to be a bit peaceful. I made this movie to be a positive role model to other artists and to other people who believe that we can create positive change in this world if we tap into positive thoughts in people's minds.

It's all subliminal, baby.... Every last drop.

I would like to not work a desk job my whole life, because my gut is starting to get rounder, and I'm becoming more lazy. These computers I've worked on for so long are starting to wear me thin.. my eyes are glued to the monitor as I type this. I want out, and if this movie is my way out.. then I'm going to put every ounce of energy into it, so that I get out. So that I can finally be to this world what I was made to be... A litte kid drawing pictures.

Thank you and goodnight..... sincerely, kevin fitzpatrick

I see the finish

2005-04-21T00:11:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy trying to get this project done, that i forgot to update my journal. Anyway this weekend was a good benchmark to reach. Myself and my video editor / producer Chris Commons have raw video files in our possession. Chris gave the videos to the musical producer Chris Mathews, and hopefully within a week, we'll have this project wrapped up.

I am also currently working on the website design and integrating the site with the DVD package. Shoot.. the DVD, still something we need to do, and the project is due soon.. And I wasn't procrastinating for this project either, I've been working on it for a good three months. It'll be nice when this part of it is done.. It's shown me a lot of insight into how I work personally, and what drives me to do the things I love to do.. like create a movie, or draw illustrations.

The Big Picture.. a fitting title, for a fitting semester... Graduation soon.

FIRST VIDEOS!!!!

2005-04-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

First renderings of my animation film project are available at Chris Commons .com, you can find them through the 'video' link.

Chris has been workin hard editing the extra cool animations, and we'll soon have a completed movie, once we shoot some real video of the credits scenes. After that, we shoot it off to Chris the soundman, create the DVD, package it, bundle it, present it to the faculty of IUPUI.. April 29th, 12:30pm in the New Media Building.

Rounding the 3rd corner..

2005-04-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted an update, because it's been awhile since I've worked on the film. Plans are in the making for the website and the other stuff I need to present this piece in the upcoming weeks.

Chris Commons started editing the video footage. It's a learning experience at this point, because of the way I shot the film.. Running into a few unexpected curves, but hopefully we'll be able to sail past them in time to show this trailer off.

Drawings finale

2005-03-12T03:40:00.000-08:00

So I've been avoiding the city scenes, because the scenes I had already done for that weren't all that wonderful, but tonight I pulled an all-nighter.. it is now 6:45am, and I am completely done with the drawing portion of this project.. for now at least, if I need extra animations.

Anyway, the point is... I can move on now and give Chris the film to start editing. I have to create storyboards and a script so that this runs smoothly. I've never done that before, so we'll see how it goes. I'm severely tired, and I'm relieved that I am done with the drawings.. weight off my shoulders.

We're already 12 days into March.. where has the time gone?

Getting there

2005-02-25T06:35:00.000-08:00

I have filled up 3 hours worth of recording, and will continue to film more shortly.. I have to get more tapes, expensive procedure. The last few scenes I drew were the shots after the bridge is built. The road continues into the countryside, or what not.. and then into this huge building, and a big skyline in the background. This is the big City scene, that I foresee being a TON bigger when I actually do this film, then when I do it now for the trailer. I still have to draw snippets of the balloon ride, and the massive telephone pole, and a final shot of a city. The viewpoint will be from the top of a tower.. from the bridge. Confusing.. so it seems. The final shot will also have a painting or two in the background.. I'm not sure where I want to put paintings, but I want to try sneak them in there.. as a challenge. So it's all production and editing after this point. See you there.

Just the fax m'am..

2005-02-16T05:24:00.000-08:00

I've started the video taping of the first illustrated scene. It's turning out a lot less complex than I thought.. The drawings are smaller and less detailed than I thought as well.. although they do include some wicked detail. Movie 1 : Scenes 1-3 are taped, and they've brought some insight into this project that I didn't expect. I needed a place to start the illustration part.. I didn't know where in the storyline to start. But as luck has it, Chris so kindly extracted some ideas out of my brain, and somehow the bridge scene was completed in just 3 shots.. no more, no less (at least for this portion of the project).

Which brings me to a quick thing I wanted to say. The purpose of my senior project (the big picture film) has drastically reduced in size at the moment, for a good reason. Two months is not enough to finish an entire movie, I have a feeling it'll take at least a year, so for this 2 month project, I'm creating a movie trailer equipped with a window into the world of what The Big Picture is really about. So far I'm not sure how it's going to turn out, but it'll be somewhat cool, if not exciting. So until I draw again, see you in the future.

Hold the phone!

2005-02-10T23:28:00.000-08:00

This is where things get interesting. This is nothing like i've thought of before, so bear with me if it sounds a bit confusing at first. This is no longer 'thee film' but instead this is part 1 of the film.. the making of the idea. I'm creating this piece as my resume, as my demo reel.. if you will. I'd like to take this after I'm done and send it to supposed big companies and try to get some sort of kickass job because of this project. Oh, I'm such a smalltown kid with big dreams sort of sappy story.. isn't it brave? There's got to be some sort of romanticism in it as well for good measure. Back to the what's happening:

The part 1 inclusive look at the making of the big picture, and the brain behind such an elaborate scheme to take over the world with one pen. Or 200, depending on how many it takes to draw this movie. I'm ready to start drawing now, that's a huge thing.. I was feeling jittery, but now the nerves are settled.. commence firing.

people round the world... come on... join hands... join the love train.. the love train.

Camera/Lighting

2005-02-09T22:23:00.000-08:00

Camera/Lighting
Posted by thebigpicturefilm.

We have the camera rig setup as was mentioned, so I thought I would post the pictures from that day's events. Enjoy them.. they are but a snapshot in the scope of this project, yet history that is worth soaking up for future generations of imaginators. More vcr tape and I should be set to record very soon.

Virgin Animations

2005-02-07T21:11:00.000-08:00

That's right, the cherry has been penetrated, and I mean that in the most multimedia minded way. These first two animations are turning out a million times cooler than I ever could have imagined. They look super sweet in fast forward. What I think I'm going to do is run these short tests as website teasers, and have the score producer come up with quick music for these teasers. Not sure if the world is ready for this magnitude of an earthquake. We'll see... the camera ran out of tape for the night, so it's quittin time until tomorrow night.. I can already tell this is going to be habit forming. I'll have this website up and running soon. Keep the spirits high everyone.

The Start

2005-02-07T11:14:00.000-08:00

So it all begins.. I somehow managed to talk someone into putting a rigging for a camera in my closet.. To put it simpler, I can now shoot the animation video for this project. I took pictures of the assembly and will put them online, and eventually on the dvd as extras. I foresee the progress of this project speeding up to all sorts of speeds. I have just around two months to do this, which isn't long at all, but I think we'll get it done just in time.

I started thinking of the dvd packaging.. two cd's. One will have the movie with all the commentary, music clips, and basic movie stuff.. And disc two will have all the production notes, photos, video, behind the scenes sort of thing. Perhaps look into 'hiring' someone for that.. Ok.. this project is underway.

Sections In Detail

2005-01-30T13:00:00.000-08:00

Everyone has a point B.. point B tells you where you're going, where you're headed, and if you're headed in the right direction. Where you stand now is your point A; your origin.. your starting point. But eventually you will look to your point B, with every step headed towards it. This is a story about a person stuck in between point A and B.. while exploring questions of space, time, life, death, history and perspective.

I'm using the bridge to connect the audience with the world in which I'm going to explore. I'm going to try and take these people on an adventure into the city, into the vast countryside, through mountains, above clouds, through deep conversations and perhaps they'll come away with something else on their mind besides the troubles of everyday life.

What I've been doing with the project lately: I've been researching some bridges, and I've found many different angles of bridges and many different kinds of bridges. I think the way I'll draw this is.. Close ups of detailed construction of the bridge, and cut to larger views to show progression.. draw from the viewpoint of on the bridge as it's being built. As the bridge is near to completion, a slow hum of traffic sounds comes up in the audio. Right as the last piece is connected to the mainland, the traffic noise keeps to a strong medium level.

The same process will appy for the city shots. Many different vantage points of buildings being drawn from the ground up... perhaps drawing the metal frame in, and the real building draws in from the bottom. This will look like the construction is chasing itself up to the top. (the same as a sped up video of a skyscraper being built). I'll need to do some practice on this one... perhaps use Flash, we never know. But as the city gets bigger the sounds of people walking and cars honking and loud traffic noise becomes louder and louder.. A large shot of the city continuing to grow as the noise tops to a really friggin loud level... drowning out the musical score. Zoom out to a view of the world.. the city noise will shutter to a slow whisper... enter dialogue. p.s. show views of other bridges, freeways.. from eye level, above, and below views.. wrapping around the city.. buildings rise above it. Night views, window views of many buildings (ie. 50th floor), roof top perspectives, famous skyscrapers from around the world. Resemble the city as the entire world.

The idea of the balloon leaving the city is the escape from the world entirely, to go out and find what the person is looking for. He's looking for something other than this physical world, he's looking for answers for questions he has yet to ask... Mentally he thinks that god must be the only one who has the answers, so he sets out to look for god. Passing every piece of awesome scenery this world has to offer, he still doesn't find what he's looking for. He becomes frustrated, just then a low hum of telephone pole electricity appears in the audio track. He looks outside his balloon to find he's floating close to HUGE power lines. The balloon floats slowly to the hand holding the powerline. (audio track example.. working on living the living would be a good mood for this transition from city to telephone pole.. approx. length as well.) From here the person attaches his balloon to the hand and walks out of the balloon to inspect the humming... as it gets louder the closer he gets to it. Close up of electricity flowing through the powerline... sort of like how a vein pumps blood. (this section starts the scene by scene animation of certain elements) Looks up to see the sideview of a face.. Starts the conversation with a hello... keeps saying hello, starts to question hello. (?) Face finally turns and apologizes.. I'm sorry, I was in the middle of something. How are you doing? - I'm doing alright, I'v been cramped inside this little bubble for a long time now. - What little bubble? - The balloon.. right over th-- (turns to look and the balloon is gone, it has drifted off into the distance..) Oh Shoot! - transition - So what brings you out here? .. enter discusion.

Discussion Thought: Are you God? - (the figure chuckles a bit).. What makes you say that? - I don't know.. just seems like the right setting for an encounter with god scene. - No, I'm not god, my name is mike. - That's so weird, I have 5 close friends named mike. - I'm just kidding.. yes I'm god, but please call me Mike, it sounds better. But i'm not thee god, i'm just the god you made up.

The discussion will keep going and the godlike figure will explain to kevin through visuals that the big picture is what matters. And little things like loosing a balloon, losing anything, losing something that has helped you for so long.. really seems so small compared to the big picture. Confusing.. but discussion in death, parting, solitude.. that sort of thing. But not so cheesy, and with fewer words. Talk about the right way to go back into the world to make a difference.. through actions and with fewer words. man this is sounding like the end of a thundercats episode.

This is the turning point of the movie, in which the person sees the big picture for what it is, and realizes what he needs to do in order to get to his point B... so that he can find point C. Afterall life isn't just about getting to Point B, there's every other letter to find. Takes the powerline (elevator) down through the clouds and the powerline turns into the bridge wire.. character goes back into the city.

Finally this storyline is coming together.

the end

2005-01-24T13:06:00.000-08:00

storyboard4
Posted by thebigpicturefilm.

The end of the movie will show the character walking down from the arm of god down the telephone wire... The wire turns into a pathway leading away from the sun, to a bridge. The simple foot bridge turns into the bridge at the beginning, with traffic loading the streets... city sounds come back again, but not as loud. The ending represents leaving his little "fantasy land" and coming back to real life.

the not-official storyline

2005-01-20T14:11:00.000-08:00

So the story goes like this. A real life character (myself) sits down to draw an animated movie. The two worlds of real and sketch are mingled in and out, throughout the movie. The drawing portion will go like this. A bridge is drawn connecting life to the untouched landscape. Soon after, a city is built and loud sounds of traffic overcome our main character. After it is too much to bare, the character will be flown away in an air balloon. The next stretch of movie will explore the heights he soars, and the countryside that he sees, crossing mountains, plains, dessert, and water. He comes across a powerline and starts talking to it as if it were god. I should just stop there.. it's confusing. But the main point is that he's going out in search of god, but what he's really searching for is himself... something that he can connect with and learn from, that knows the right things to say. He's been told that god can do that, so he believes the telephone pole to be god. I'll continue more later.

storyboard telling

2005-01-19T08:31:00.000-08:00

Posted by thebigpicturefilm.

Out of nowhere I started drawing storyboards for the movie... instead of traditional storyboard boxes, I'm trying to go beyond the bounds of lines and trying to bleed the images all together, yet have their own spaces. Eh.. I'm just making storyboards. This is the overall feel for my movie.. view the other storyboards for further details.

Pre-Production

2005-01-16T13:29:00.000-08:00

Gathering this movie together is like finding the perfect pieces of a puzzle to fit together. I'm establishing the marketing side of this project.. with ideas on posters, teasers, trailers, website, and a dvd with cool stuff. We're looking for this project to be big.. so with it comes big ambitions.

As of late, I've been trying to solidify the storyline, so that when we get to shooting the video, it'll be a quick process.. very planned out. So far there are four major parts/scenes.. which just wreaks of a great plot.

Andy measured my closet so that he can set up a camera mount for the animation footage. We're designating my closet as the main work area for the animation footage.. so I have to move all my stuff into my room.... pleasant. So all that is left for now at this stage in the game.. is wait for the rig to be setup, finalize a basic storyline, and get shooting.

The Conversation

2005-01-11T22:47:00.000-08:00

So I'm working on the conversation between the character and god.. I think I've come to a grand conclusion. God explains that he's not the only god, and asks the main character to look around. Scene changes to a large view behind character, of the entire landscape.. with a bunch of telephone poles/god figures. Further explains that each god has it's own purpose.. to connect each one of us, and to provide energy and communication. Perhaps a drawing of the sun behind it. The character gets it without a question, and the rest of the story flows from there.

The Big Bridge

2005-01-09T16:52:00.000-08:00

bridge_18x24
Posted by thebigpicturefilm.

This is how the idea for the movie started. A bridge which connects an unknown land to a land that is raw and untouched. The land becomes overpopulated, and our main character eventually leaves in a hot air balloon. This will get drawn again when we shoot for the video, but here is the preliminary sketch.

Ze Birthday Boy

2005-01-04T02:00:00.000-08:00

Hello, it is currently 1:45am on January 4th.. yes.. it's my birthday, and with it comes some interesting finds.

Ideas: Movie needs commentary, subtle and light.. behind the animation. With each movement in the animation, the commentary explains why shapes are being placed where they are, and what the interaction between the animations will be. Very hard to explain in words.. but it'll be like I'm explaining the animations, and how and what they all mean. It'll be put in lay man's terms, I promise. That means mom and dad will be able to understand it, and perhaps even end up liking it. I'm secretly making this movie for my parents.. or at least with them in mind. They are my targeted audience if you will. The rest of the audience is just a lucky bystander..

Ideas: Create long shot of entire animation.. must be drawn from left-bottom-corner to the right.. and left-top-corner to the right. So that animations can be added behind, and after, the hands. This will be useful when putting more than one hand in the frame.. We can start the bottom corner to the right.... and then the second hand can be used at the same pace.... but it'll be behind the first hand animation.. man that is confusing.. but i think it makes total sense.

Ideas: Instead of the city angle I'm using right now.. Go for more of a flat shot looking straight on, but the buildings warp outside and bend and expand from a focal point. And the subway will come straight through the bottom of the city... easier to animate.. As blossom's brother Joey always used to say.. Whoa.... The skyline behind the city will be a scene by scene animation. Of clouds moving and the sun setting.. but not really vibrant.. just a simple sphere passing between lines.. creating a broad shadow. And then the night time comes from one single dot that continues to grow.. (use scene by scene animation for this as well)

Next to do: I need to create a timeline with all the points of production that I need to exist. Create tight deadlines and go for an early film release. But keep it simple or you're going to hell.

Anyway, so you're probably wondering what the hell just happened.. so am i.

p.s. don't kill anybody

The End

2005-01-02T13:33:00.000-08:00

Here's how the movie is going to be setup. A person comes home from work.. gets creative and starts to draw.. the view is then cut to video animation. The bridge scene will happen.. and then take a break. person goes to bathroom or something.. comes back to balloon scene leaving city.. Finds the god figure.. has intense conversation with g. o. double d. Talks about needing to cover a lot of ground... discussion of the big picture.. then flies down the powerline chords into a baptism of colored water. Walks up to beach.. waiting there are a large set up stairs.... Person looks back to god and fares thee well... The person walking is the same size as the stairs at first.. and then.. enlarge view of walking up stairs normal.. with background fading away.. Scenes are being colored in as he's leaving... .. .. ... .. awesome.

Air Balloon

2005-01-01T22:03:00.000-08:00

I've been drawing some pre-sketches for the project.. and today I've drawn out two very significant pieces to the storyline. I've developed a nifty air balloon used for travel out of the city... and i've also drawn the 'god' figure, powerline.. sort of thing. Starting to realize that my thoughts for this project might be larger than what I can physically get done in the time allowed. Anyway, the pre-sketches are looking great so far.. Next up is testing a camera rig for use in the animations.

Film Posters

2004-12-31T01:25:00.000-08:00

I started creating the preliminary drawings of what each scene is going to look like. I have a piece I drew for the bridge scene, and I thought it would look cool as a poster. So I've taken that idea and thought about making the pre-sketches into posters as promo for the film. I have to fit the promo/marketing angle into the project because I have an indepenedent study tacked on to this senior capstone project. So I'm looking ahead to the end product and preparing what I need in advance. The pre-sketches also give me some practice for the scenes I have to draw in front of a camera.

Chris Commons, my assistant with this film, told me about a sculptor he knows that will rig us a camera mount. He also told me about someone who could create original music for the film. So far, I'm working on getting all the key elements it will take to complete this project. I'm preparing my ideas for how this film will work out.

The First Post

2004-12-29T01:13:00.000-08:00

Today marked the first official day of working on this film. I have previously been brainstorming ideas, and sketches for storylines, but today I'm starting to document it online. This journal will be somewhat of an archive of all the events, thoughts, timelines, and progress that occurs during the making of this film. So without further a-do.. I give you The Big Picture Film's online journal. May your thoughts be sturdy, and your pen always mighty... Project due in May.. just in time for graduation. Thanks one million times in advance to chris commons..