Community Project Musings

[Ilidrake]

Was wondering how interesting would it be to see another community movie based on James and the Giant Peach? I know Burton did a version, but how cool would it to see a version done in CG. especially powered by AM.

[Rodney]

based on James and the Giant Peach?

 

 

Is there a particular reason that property appeals to you or an approach that would make it an ideal community production?

In other words, why 'James and the Giant Peach' as opposed to another property?

 

Added: Unless creating an homage of sorts I don't expect gaining the rights to the property would be cheap.

I'm not sure how it would work but perhaps such a thing might fall into the realm of a 'play' adaptation (link).

Although note that royalties for play production outside of K-12 schools is driven by estimated ticket sales.

 

Regarding how the film got made I find this snippet:

Roald Dahl declined numerous offers to have a film version of James and the Giant Peach produced during his lifetime. His widow, Liccy, approved an offer to have a live action version produced.

 

[Ilidrake]

Just me considering things James and the Giant Peach captured my imagination years ago when I read it. There are of course numerous good stories out there, Woke Up Dead being my all time favorite LOL (sorry, had to plug it).

Of course Moby Dick is a good tale. The dynamics of creating ocean scenes and water dynamics would make that a truly interesting story to animate. But then again doing some fairy tale adaptions would also make for a cool project. Jack and the Beanstalk. Little Red RidingHood. Heck, Robinhood would be fun to alter and do. One that I think could use a redo would be the Tale of Peter Rabbit, which is a true classic.

 

Anyone else have any input or interest? I ask because it's been a while since I saw a true stirring on the forums. I know large projects like this cause some to cringe, and everyone out there has a life. But then again AM has become more powerful in recent years. Please refrain from taking this forum and using it as an excuse to tell me WHY this is a bad idea. I don't want to hear them. If you just want to slam ideas around please feel free to let me know.

[fae_alba]

i have lost of ideas! But, And I Mean But:

 

We still have one in the offing that I have been trying to complete; Namely "Rear Window". Before any other projects, I'd like this one put to bed (or in the can). I had asked , here for some help in creating some additional clips to tie the story together, but got only one response. Perhaps you'd be interested in helping with this as a warm up?

[Ilidrake]

Well originally the Rear Window project started with more musings from me. But it didn't take the route I envisioned so I backed out. Sorry about that. It's the director in me I suppose but it became bigger than I originally saw it. I wanted simple but the set and setup bloomed into a beast. I would like to see it finished so I think you should take the clips tie them together with a simple text transition between clips and call it good.

What I'm speaking about now is a large scale movie project that I am more than willing to take charge of. I am of course speaking in terms of directing and coordinating here. I really enjoyed working on the tinman movie, though I only did a set and props I still had a good time doing it. And if there is anyone out there with ideas and perhaps think it'd be fun to do let me know. I envision something along the idea of merry melodies or something. Shorts linked together that do tell funny simple stories.

[Rodney]

Lloyd,

I know I'm off topic but...

 

One of the best stories I've heard told of late happens to be your tale 'Woke Up Dead'.

I won't say it's perfect... what is? But it's a very good tale.

 

My suggestion would be to take a (short) sequence from 'Woke Up Dead' and treat that as if it were the most important production needing to be made.

Perhaps more practically, that sequence would be used to refine the style, lighting, characters, etc. of the larger movie you hope someday will be created.

 

While you could certainly pick from a host of sequences (there are some really nice moments in the script!) I'd say the best sequence to focus on would be where Latimer enters The Raven and first meets Edgar.

 

Now, just that sequence between Latimer and Edgar would be enough to accomplish a lot but assuming you have good success there you could expand the project to encompass the arrival of Death. That would allow you to perfect your three primary characters, their primary setting (The Raven) and test all kind of moody lighting, texturing etc. This 'proof of concept' would also thoroughly test your styling and workflow without committing to five years plus worth of feature film production. The setting *inside The Raven* would also be much more finitely definable than that of the broader scope of settings in the story (in both the lands of the living and of the dead).

 

Now, assuming that short sequence goes really well, you could expand the sequence to include the arrival of Cleo.... and note I'm suggesting just her arrival with perhaps only a short piece of dialogue (if any)... and that'd be a great place to end the sequence because folks would be intrigued and want to find out more about these characters, their environment and how things got to be the way they are. This would work well production-wise because you aren't introducing any new settings... the entire production being confined to the interior of The Raven.

 

And... assuming all of this goes really really well, you could then select a few short sequences from pivotal moments in the story to flash through to tease the audience more and to really crank up the excitement level in anticipation of future endeavors. The goal of these flash scenes would actually be to define, build and refine the assets for those sequences more than actually tell much of the (longer form) story. But then... you'd have the assets available to be able to tell those parts of the tale.

 

And assuming all of this goes well... well, you'd have a pretty decent 'Woke Up Dead' trailer.

 

So, yeah. My suggestion would be to put your energy and focus into something of personal interest to you... something you can post publicly without giving all the juiciest stuff away... something you can entice others to contribute to... to toss feedback your way...you know... something like 'Woke Up Dead'.

[Ilidrake]

Good point Rodney. Perhaps a trailer could garner community interest in contributing.