HAMMERWEEK!

Wow! It's been way too long since an update. We've been going full force on the film these past few weeks and it has eaten away at our school, social lives and sleep. It'll all be worth it though. This week is especially important as I've dubbed it HAMMERWEEK. Basically, HAMMERWEEK means that I will live on campus for the next week in an attempt to maximize productivity. There is still about 1 third of the film left to clean up and that isn't even counting coloring. With less than 5 weeks left to finish this film it will be a much needed bridge to cross.

I'll be sleeping in the Animation labs, my girlfriend's futon (who still lives on campus) and perhaps other places as well. Here are the rule for what I've dubbed HAMMERWEEK:

1) 15 hours of working time in the lab everyday.
2) At least 4 hours of consecutive sleep each day, and a shower.
3) Only one 30-60 minute nap in the middle of the day.
4) I can only leave campus to get food once every two days. All other meals are either delivery or on campus dining.
5) I am only allowed one extracurricular event to attend to during the school week. Once Saturday begins, the rules will be adjusted accordingly.
6) Coloring also needs to start making a head way-whether that be by my hand or someone else that I train to do for me.
7) By the end of the week, the majority of Clean-up should be done. If not, HAMMERWEEK extends into the week after one day of rest.
8) HAMMERWEEK begins at 10pm this Sunday (March 30th) night.

And those are the rules of HAMMERWEEK. Crazy? Yes. Required? Yes. Healthy? .....we'll see.

Wish me luck guys! I'll update through the week on my progress!

And the time keeps crunching

Hey guys. Sorry it's been so long in-between updates lately. The heat of the productions is wearing JJ and I down, but it's nothing we cannot handle. Principle animation is completely done and we are in the middle of cleanup and finalizing backgrounds. There are almost as many backgrounds as there are scenes....so about 150(!)

Due date is about 6 weeks away so things are beginning to come down to the wire. Lots of coloring and sound editing to do. I'm gong to be gone this next weekend because of the holidasy, but that is why I'm busting my ass extra hard this week so that I can stay on track. I just finished cleaning up the hardest shot in the entire film and I would say it looks damn good. I wish we could show you some video but why ruin the surprise. All of you will see it soon enough if you really want to. For now though, ou guys will just have to settle for some screenshots. Here is another one of our beautiful backgrounds from JJ!



Simple yet effective.

A picture's worth what?

Well...THAT didn't happen...

I am not at the 2/3 mark in clean up like I wanted to be at the end of this weekend. I won't make the 2/3 mark by tomorrow. *sigh* These fight scene sequences are HARD. Usually full bodied poses and multiple characters. YIKES! I'm not trying to give any excuses but I just thought I should have an explanation for you guys. It has been a fun week though. I literally was in the lab all day long each day working on scenes. Also, JJ and I broke down and bought the Blockbuster all-access pass so we can check out as many movies as we need to keep us from going crazy.

I'm also told that rough animation is pretty much done. WOW. That's quite a feat considering what this beast of a film is, and it is just that: A Beast. Opening, main animation and credits included, this film is going to run close to 10 minutes-far from the original 5 minute plan and miles away from our teacher's "recommended" 2 minute thesis length. The way I see it, I wanted to tell a fun story and not worry about going all "disneyish" with the animation. Although I think our animation creeps a bit away from the Hanna-Barbera dold-for-4-seconds-and-move-mouth-and-eyes and goes into...well, lets just say that JJ wasn't really taking any shortcuts (that most of you will notice) in his primary animation work.

Anyway, it's late and I have to get up somewhat early tomorrow. Sorry there is no media update this week. I promise we'll have something good next week. Maybe even something for Tuesday if you guys are good and give this site plenty of hits. And no, refreshing your browser doesn't count...I'll know.

Til' next time!

-Matthew

Holy CRAP!

Only 0:59 to go?! Man....I have to catch up. I have plenty to work on this week but I'm hoping to hit a nice 2/3s done mark for our film. All in all things are shaping up.

WHile JJ may have nothing to show, the 0:59 factoid shows that he has clearly been doing something. Me on the other hand, I've been in San Francisco...not doing Hammerfist stuff (Shame on me shame on me)! I'm not happy about it, but that is the way the ball rolls. While I was there, I got to go to that comic shop a top the Sony Metreon. They were having a 35% off sale so I couldn't help myself-I got Young Avengers Hardcover, Madman Vol. 1, and Spyboy Vol. 2. I love Peter David, and I loved the entire first volume of Young Avengers but Madman? Well, it was a shot in the dark for me and I must say it is absolutely FANTASTIC!

Anyway, I thought I'd rant about my weekend a bit to you guys. And hey! You guys got two updates today...Consider yourself lucky.

As for later ths week we should have a solid update as to where we are in Hammerfist. Coloring will be starting this week as well, so we'll be getting finalized images to you guys more and more as time goes on.

Hope you guys have a great week! And feel free to suggest any movies that JJ and I should watch this week. I think I'm going to convince JJ to watch the Robocop movies with me....I have yet to see them.

-Matthew

"Stay on target..."

I've got nothing to show, really, but I do have a little update:

Over the weekend I've watched quite a few things. It keeps me entertained while I work!
1. X-men
2. Suspiria
3. X-Files, season 1 (yes, all of it)

I'll update as time goes on!

-JJ

PS: I've got 0:59 left to animate!

I'll be back....on Tuesday

Hey all,

Well, I'm in San Francisco right now for a journalism conference so I have a couple days off from Hammerfist. While I'm grateful for the downtime, it does feel like I'm wasting my time. With a little over two months until the deadline JJ and I have a lot to do! Thankfully it is spring break this week and once I get back on Tuesday, I'll start on my ridiculous quota of cleaning up 20 scenes.

Speaking of scenes, the film is officially 1/3 cleaned up. Not too shabby. Well, I've go to go, but JJ and I put together something special for this week's media update. You see, up until last week I had never seen Terminator 1 or 2. JJ found that completely unacceptable and we rectified it with a nice little marathon. Gotta admit, they live up to the hype. Anyway, we put together what we like to call........

HAMMERNATOR 2!

enjoy