Getting There

Well, this week started out looking like it was going to be infinitely worse than the last one. In fact, it got so bad a one point that I really started to think about taking an incomplete in this class, or possibly even failing.

Yeah, things were that bad.

But, just as things seem to being going well and then bad, so to do bad things suddenly turn around and work out well. There's a great quote from “Shakespeare in Love” about this. I've used it before, but it bears repeating:

Philip Henslowe: Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.

Hugh Fennyman: So what do we do?

Philip Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.

Hugh Fennyman: How?

Philip Henslowe: I don't know. It's a mystery.

So, I've been back to work with a bit of renewed vigor. I animated the proposed “revised ending” with the zoom into the the eye of the astronaut. Unfortunately, I couldn't reuse any of the previous footage, but I sat down today and cranked it out. I think it looks pretty good, but I need to check the timing – it may be a bit rushed. Also, I started working on all the innumerable little things. Things like making sure the paper runs over the the edge of the screen in the final shot, and going through all the photoshop files to make sure that all the backgrounds are cleaned up. It's those little things that will really make the film work, and it's just plain sloppy to leave them.

Also, I came up with a final list of things to do. There are eleven little things, and four big things. Of those big things, only one is intense – the animation of shot 021 (the Astronaut freaking out). However, in the recut, I have shortened that shot so it shouldn't be that bad at this point. The other big things are coloring shots 020, 021, and the new bits of 024. So, I have my work cut out for me, but it's not as overwhelming as it has been in the past.

I'm going to get through this.

It feels really good to say that. Well, I have to get back to work. Stay tuned...