Wednesday 21 December 2011

Darlan in Motion, Take 2

I've finished a second paper-cutout short film starring George Darlan, alien inventor and philanthropist.  It's a bit more complex than its predecessor, technically speaking, but not so different in terms of the type of humour involved.  Here, without further ado, is the clip:



Total production time on this one was more than a week, including writing up the script (which I didn't even bother doing last time as it was so short).  The parent webcomic Brothers in Shells is still at http://brothersinshells.webs.com.

Since I finished the film, the word 'trilogy' has presented itself to my brain, but I have no ideas whatsoever for a third story at this stage.  I won't be rushing into making a third film for the sake of it, but I'd be open to doing one if I came up with a decent gag.


- The Colclough

Tuesday 13 December 2011

One Less Light

Farewell, Scribbles - best of rodents and last of the Intergalactic Hamsters.  Thanks for everything.  Rest in peace.


~~~ Scribbles ~~~
August 2009 - 13 December 2011


- The Colclough

Saturday 3 December 2011

That Concludes That

After ten months in the making, I can finally lay Arbitrary Stopframe to rest.  Episode 13, the finale to the group of episodes which I'm calling 'Series 1', is now out on YouTube not just once, but twice.

Monster Movie was guest-written about two months ago by Root Hill veteran and Godzilla buff Sam Arthur, and I've kept it back on purpose because I thought it was one of the better stories/jokes the series has had, and I wanted to make it the closing instalment to send the show off with a bang.  The prospect of Murkum running for his life from a giant, angry DVD amused me.

For the pun to work, the DVD obviously had to be a monster movie.  I might have used my copy of Jurassic Park, but I'd loaned it to a friend, and I'm not sure it counts as a 'monster movie' anyway, in the strictest sense.  So I went on Amazon, and ended up with a copy of The Host, partly because I'd heard good things about it (including a review from Sam), and partly because at £3.99 it was the cheapest out of the ones I looked at.  Which makes Episode 13 the only one with a budget greater than zero pence, and puts the average cost per episode so far at £1.07.61538461538461538461538461538.  Or so my Windows calculator tells me.

Anyway, budget stats aside, here's the finished article:



And then, since I was in Monster Movie territory, I couldn't resist the urge to create a second version, turned monochrome and matted to 2.40:1 cinematic widescreen, as a homage to the monster films of old.  Here's the result of that little tangent:



Judging by the commentary in his latest blog post, it seems that Sam is happy with how his script has translated onto the screen.  Which is good, of course - if your writer isn't happy then you've probably got a problem!

Finally, one more video to round off the project: my sign-off blog, including a montage of some of my favourite moments from the series, and some waffly commentary on the show's future:



There you have it.  End of Series 1.


- The Colclough