blog

Page 43 - The end of the beginning

2014-09-12T08:06:06Z

Greg Ansin: As this ghastly tale draws to a close, I hope you readers have learned a lesson from our greedy friend. I sure did. The moral of this tale is that selfishness isn’t a shortcut to happiness - and sometimes you pay a high price at the end.

Michael and I have many more bloody tales in the vault. Stay tuned for the next installment...if you dare. Feel free to contact me at any time with horrific tales, bloody work or ghoulish ideas at Greg @ Grimfilms.com

Michael Neel: Well, this has been a great time. It’s been a lot of fun to share this tale with you, and I’ve enjoyed all the insights from everyone involved.

If there’s one thing I’d like you to take away from this, it’s that there’s so much satisfaction in seeing something go from concept to its final form. I’ve experienced it countless times in film production, and it’s the same for this comic book. The value of art is, in part, in its completion. There are many unfinished works out there, be they films, books, stories, comic books, music, whatever. When you’re doing it on an indie level, the process takes a lot of self-motivation, which can wear on you after a while. But it’s important to see it through, because you never really know what it’s going to be until you put down your pen or brush or mouse and send it off into the world. Even if the finished work isn’t what you’d imagined - believe me, this happens to every artist - you can learn from it. It’s a part of who you are creatively, and you never know what these lessons will bring in your future projects.

So to all of you who have unfinished projects, or are going to start a new one, I wish you the best of luck. And remember - the best asset you have is your time. If no one is breathing down your neck to get it done, then just make sure you don’t rush and do it right. I’ll be waiting on the other end to shake your hand...with a severed arm, of course.

If you want some tips on how to make your own indie film, just check out the filmmaker’s blog that Greg and I wrote. And if you want to reach me, you can email me at Mike @ Grimfilms.com

Jerem Morrow: Here at the end of all things, we fade to black, in a fit of uncomfortable laughter. That's my goodbye to DIHS. No egress more fitting. And never sure of finality, leaving feels like returning. Be seeing you.

Shi Blank: And cut! It's a wrap, folks. On behalf of the creators, I bid you, "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

Page 42 - The beginning of the end

2014-09-05T08:06:06Z

And we're back to our regular schedule. Well, not for too long it seems!

I amped up the saturation and grittiness of the remaining pages but still keeping the same techniques found at the beginning of the comic. Jerem's illustrations have taken a darker, grimmer spin if you compare it to his earlier pages; probably signalling a change in perceiving the same characters after reading, "The Good Luck Charm".

Will you keep reading? Would you still follow the Projectionist into the vault of shadowy lurkings after all the bloodshed? There are still pages to be turned, after all.

Now, before I let you go, have you seen Guillermo Del Toro's latest teevee offering, The Strain? It's a bit (a lot) silly, sometimes to the point of eye-rolling, furious eyebrow-furrowing, audible-groaning proportions but it's all for a bit of b-grade (maybe f-grade) fun, really. Here's a teeny trailer for it below.

Ohohoho, wasn't that everything I said?

And finally, if you're like me and sometimes enjoy a bit of audible-only entertainment, here's "The World’s Largest H. P. Lovecraft Audio Links Gateway!" where the only thing more impressive that the overflowing list of wonderful recordings are the tags associated with that blog post.

Ok, so I lied. There's just one more thing I needed to get off my chest - this wonderful short.

Page 47 - Fan Art Special by Tony Maldonado

2014-08-29T08:06:06Z

When I saw that My Creative Brother, Andrew Dimitt, was doing a pin-up for Drive-In Horror Show, I wanted to do one as well. Jerem being the Gracious guy that he is said that I could (so I was onboard).

Part of the Fun of going to the Movies for me was people watching in the concession line. So that's the route I took, using Billy Troll and The Teenage Axe Victim, surrounded by a gaggle of other suspicious looking characters. I also had Fun throwing in a couple of faux movies posters of their films.

Thanks for letting Me play in Your sandbox.

Tony Maldonado

shi: This guest post is brought you by the awesome, Tony “tmalo” Maldonado, whose work includes comics like P.I. Jane, Chicago 1968 and Lab Bratz.

If you're anywhere near Forest Park, Illinois, you can also support ALS research by purchasing Tony's sketches for Defiant Comics' ALS Charity Drive. 100% of proceeds go directly to ALSA.org.

Follow him on Twitter, DeviantArt and subscribe to his blogposts for more comic goodness. Thank you so much, Tony!

Page 44 - Fan Art Special by Draven Leeman

2014-08-22T08:06:06Z

After the comic was done and dusted, it was suggested that I coloured Draven's fan art so this was more of a secret collab than anything and I couldn't possibly pass up on that. Who could?!

And so, following the footsteps of The Monster Engine, I tried my best to retain the flavour of comic and create something monstrous. As Draven had so wonderfully created a few pieces of fan art, I combined them all into a smorgasbord of sorts in a style that can only be described as a tribute to the old "Tales from the Crypt" comic covers. Lo and behold!

I hope Draven likes it as much as I had such a blast doing this.

In fact, I should really be thanking him. Awesome work, Draven!

Page 46 - Fan Art Special by Jerem Morrow

2014-08-15T08:06:06Z

shi: And now, for something completely different. I present to you, fan art for Infinite Santa 8000 by Jerem Morrow!

Have you seen the movie? It's a delectable tale of killer robots and rabbid mutants (including one really big mutha), all wrapped up in the holiday spirit and to be enjoyed neat or on the rocks. So you know, fun for the whole family. I highly recommend it.

Did I mention it's created by our very own Michael Neel and Greg Ansin?

Get the movie at Midnight Releasing. Grab yer popcorn, sit back and come get some!

Page 41 - Respite

2014-08-08T08:06:06Z

You know that moment, the relief of air after a chokehold, the release of tense arms and shoulders after putting away both hands that shielded eyes from horrific scenes; eyelids almost entirely shut, face crunched up. When the music hits crescendo, when the thunder of cymbals and screams have had their way and all you hear is the next morning of the event - birds chirping.

This page was just like that for me. That first panel with the bell and the completely benign, "Hello?". I thought, "Man, this guy is Evil with a capital E."

This page is purely back and forth discourse, the colours are straight to the point, no effects apart from the dramatic shades to further note the serious tone of the situation. And that second panel. Such an obvious dig from Mr.Evil to Jennie, as if saying - "You know I brought chaos into this household, were there any survivors?"

Evil dude is so blasé about that seemingly innocent question even if the look on his face seems genuine enough! Or maybe that was a taunt? I can't tell evil. The lady of the household, however, remains vigilant. She knows the deal and she's not giving any signs of weaknesses away. Her resilience against this evil remains constant throughout the entire ordeal or maybe she was still coping with the shock.

Nonetheless, that shock came as quickly as it left with this page. Still reeling? You bet I am.

Before I leave, here's something a little different.

LYLE - starring Gaby Hoffmann from Stewart Thorndike. The filmmakers ask you to please share the film and, if you like it, to donate what you want to the Kickstarter campaign for PUTNEY, writer/director Stewart Thorndike's next film: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1966172888/putney-director-of-lyles-new-film-about-a-haunted

Page 40 - How to shock your colourist

2014-08-01T08:06:06Z

As a reader of the comic, I was still rather conflicted about this page due to the shock of the previous one! Part of me was rooting for Jim but part of me wanted him to acknowledge that he was being a jerk. I faltered between making this end scene very bloody or very dark and twisted; I ended up with a somewhat serene looking page which I thought fitted the scene the most.

From the build up of the chaotic nature of the characters' innermost fears and emotions to acceptance and forgiveness to this final release. The reds have been toned down quite a fair bit, at least compared to the previous page, to hopefully evoke the stark difference in mood.

Page 39 - To the gory end

2014-07-25T08:06:06Z

I’m going to keep this short and sweet. When I wrote this part of the story, I imagined the small, creepy beetle slowly pulling its way out of Jim’s forehead. Really gory, painful stuff - we’d film it slowly to draw out the tension and shock the audience. It had never occurred to me that the beetle would grow while inside Jim’s body. When I saw this huge monster erupt from Jim’s skull, I had a huge smile on my face. Great adaptation, Jerem! And kudos to Shi, too, for the excellent blood splatter.

shi: You know, I did not see this coming. At all. When I received this page from Jerem, my mouth fell open as large as the screen.

Page 38 - The unravelling

2014-07-18T08:06:06Z

This was my first chance to fully break from the very structured panel architecture I'd devised to further sell the maybe late 1800s building housing the pawn shop.

Up to this point, we've only seen hints of the shift when we're in the creeping hell Jim's body seems to be becoming. Relying nearly solely on the setting to motion towards the meaty horror of the yarn. Now we're butting up against the penultimate moment of truth for Jim and Jenny.

I took this portion of the script and began to compress several pages into the one. Veering from the intentionally cramped and slow 1st and 2nd acts. Now, the internal and external horrors share the same plane of reality. The page itself is being torn away from the book. What began as a quiet gothic horror story, has taken on a much more 80s, Raimi-ish quick-cut tone. The drama and horror mounting to crescendo.

No matter the outcome ...it won't be long now.

shi: Come to think of it, it was a bit of a coincidence that I started colouring "out of the bounding box" as the comic progressed. Especially now, after reading the thought processes that finalised Jerem's illustrative decisions. On my part, it was mostly reactive. I saw that there were hints of a big reveal (there always is, right?) and I reacted to it in my own way. Of course, Jerem was there approving every step so I knew I was heading in the right direction!

In the spirit of all that gore, I'm going to leave you with 2 things.

First, in Jerem's own words, "It's a SPECIAL kind of horror. Just watch it. Soak all the discomfort in. Jebus fucking xhrist."

And second, a trailer of a sequel that was much better than the original movie. A not so common thing within the industry. Well, in my opinion anyways.

Page 45 - Fan Art Special by Andrew Dimitt

2014-07-11T08:06:06Z

This pin-up was a whole lot of fun to cobble together! :)

Thank you for the invite, Jerem! And Thank You Drive-In Horror Show :)

This piece happened pretty naturally and organically :) I wanted to send some Love to two of the dearest best friends on this planet :) and so I sort'a imagined both of these beautiful, awesome girls ( Meranda & Autumn ) making the most of a world where everyone had become zombies...everyone except Autumn's Manchester terrier ( Gir ) of course! :)

LOVE!!! :):):)

Andrew Dimitt

shi: This guest post is brought you by the awesome, Andrew Dimitt, whose work includes comics like Drockleberry and Flowing Wells amongst many others. Thank you so much, Andrew!

Page 37 - Balancing Tragedy

2014-07-04T08:06:06Z

This is where it's most important that the characters are balanced. It's not tragic unless you care for them. Set up earlier by writing/art/coloring leads up to this.

Writing Jim and Jennie - difficulty in balancing characters. This took a lot of rewriting.

Not make Jim too much of a prick so you can root for him after he gets the monster. He's motivated by money but he's not cruel. It's especially important that Jennie be completely sympathetic to balance out Jim. Write about edited character traits - drinking at party, etc. Not leave the location, either.

Page 36 - Sneaky art references

2014-06-27T08:06:06Z

The way this page was framed, you'd think they were stills from a film. Or rather, a storyboard intended for moving pictures.

Two panels of extreme close-ups starting from where we left of from the last page; the first panel focusing on his hands clutching at or possibly even covering the strange, red trail that has now crawled up to where Jim's heart is. At this point, he was still consoling Jennie and probably himself that nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Loyal to his pride and stubborn nature, Jim's character would rather be dead than be proven wrong.

But then the following panel tells us otherwise.

Reacting to Jennie's discovery, Jim's eyes widened at the realisation that he was hoisted by his own petard. It's time to pay your dues, bucko. I'm sure at this point of the comic, the intention was to have his horror reflected on the reader; a bit of sympathy, if you will, for the doomed man. But it was here that I chuckled, a little indulgence of schadenfreude at Jim's expense for being dishonest, a trait I abhor.

I spent a considerable amount of time making sure that the delicate nature of the scene is maintained whilst keeping the suspense by using loads of extreme shadows with hints of light, appropriately.

Yes, this was a delicate scene. It needed to be delicate so that the final scene would be more malicious.

The third panel haunted me in its familiarity of setting. Almost classical in its approach, the way Jennie was illustrated, head slightly tilted towards Jim and left hand gesturing apologetically, it reminded me so much of a painting of similar subject matter and I can't, for the life of me, remember where it's from. Knowing Jerem and his sneaky art references, it's probably another epic masterpiece similar to Géricault's "The Raft of the Medusa" which featured on Page 22 and then again on Page 23. Oh, those were fun to colour.

So come on then, Jerem, fess up. What was it?

Page 35 - Ups and Downs

2014-06-20T08:06:06Z

By this point, we’re really getting the sense that the creature is causing serious harm to Jim, from inside his body. The tension here is that we can see that something is happening, but we don’t know exactly what. It engages our imagination, which creates what we don’t see. This is a classic technique of horror storytelling: let the audience fill in the gaps in the story, because what they imagine is often as creepy as what’s on the page or screen (and sometimes more so). Here’s what strikes me about how Jerem and Shi achieved this:

- Starting with Jim’s hands and teeth clenched conveys a sudden, intense pain that sets up the rest of the page. Jennie’s worried face behind him is very prominent and creates some sympathy - or at least concern - for Jim since she’s a sympathetic character. I like how big everything is in this panel - her face, his face, his hands. The most important parts are the biggest.

- Speaking of big, on the second panel I like how we just see a few parts of the creature - the head and other spiny parts (the claws, I believe). Again, just showing the most important parts to the story.

- And then in the third panel, the perspective pulls back. It seems the pain has passed - or lessened, at least - and this gives us, as a reader, a chance to breathe. These kinds of ups and downs are an effective method to tell this part of the story. For one, it keeps the reader on edge because it’s hard to know what’s going to happen next. For another, the greater the difference between lulls and sudden pains, the more dramatic it is: the highs seem higher and the lows seem lower. If the story is told with just highs, it can be very draining to experience and can wear out the audience. I don’t think that approach works for this part of the story.

- The red splotches from the center frame bleed into the neighboring panels on the top and bottom. I like this - creative way of indicating the destruction inside Jim’s body.

- Speaking of red, the red glow in Jim’s eyes is a nice touch. This is a completely unnatural element and shows a progression of whatever the creature’s doing inside his body. Whether his eyes are bleeding or something else is going on, we don’t know - and that’s a good thing. As I mentioned at the beginning, it tells you just enough to know that Jim’s in trouble and lets us fill in the gaps - in this case, with more questions than answers.

Page 34 - Tricky Characters

2014-06-13T08:06:06Z

A while ago, I wrote about the importance of getting the dynamic between Jim and Jennie just right. If he’s too much of a miser he’s not likable, and here’s where getting that balance pays off.

This story is, at its heart, a drama told like a fairy tale. Jim does something he isn’t supposed to (stealing the jewel), and he is punished for it. No matter how it ends (and there’s no way I’m going to spoil it here!), the setup is the same and acts on the same set of morals. Stealing is bad, and therefore must be punished. Whether the punishment is just or not depends on how the story progresses, but ultimately it’s dealing with the same issue.

So it’s critical that, despite Jim’s greed, you still care for him at this point in the story. This was a very tricky part of this script, and I realized as I wrote that the audience needed to believe that Jennie could still love him despite his faults. She is so sweet and good-natured, and if the reader/viewer can believe that she genuinely cares for him then they can also care for him. She’s critical in this scene, and upset - but not mean. That’s a big difference.

My early drafts missed the mark on this in many ways. One that stands out to me was a scene that took place earlier in the story: they went to a party where Jim drinks too much and insults the other party-goers. This changed Jennie and Jim’s relationship in such a way that she seemed like the submissive wife who apologizes for her husband’s bad behavior. You felt sorry for her and, consequently, felt her embarrassment, shame, and anger. So as the story progressed and the creature moved through Jim’s veins, the audience had no sympathy for him.

Getting this dynamic right was the final part getting this story to work. It was a huge learning process, and taught me a lot about storytelling.

One final note: there was another great reason to cut the scene at the party, even if it had worked well. As soon as the story left the antique shop, the tone completely changed. I realized that the antique shop itself was a central part of the story, because it gave the tale atmosphere. Atmosphere is one of the most important parts of horror, because it sets a mood that influences how the viewer experiences the story - creating a sense of foreboding, mystery, tension, etc. Jason killing teenagers on a bright sunny day isn’t nearly as scary as in a pitch-black thunderstorm. There’s a reason a lot of horror tales start with “On a dark and stormy night…”

Page 33 - Out of the panels

2014-06-06T08:06:06Z

Probably one of my favourite pages to colour - Jerem did such a great job with the panels, it's almost poetic. Also, the moment when Michael Caine's cameo was realised. I had suspicions previously but it became official on this page (It's true!).

Reading the previous posts by the scriptwriters, I wondered how specific Mike and Greg were with the direction of this page. I bring this up only because the frames were more familiar to me as storyboards for moving pictures rather than the still medium of comics.

Although now I see it more as a really effective use of comic paneling more than anything else; the quiet despair of Jim at the fragility of his existence in the grand scheme of things. It's like realising you are not the main character of a movie so waiting for the inevitable becomes the focus of all lingering thoughts.

Combine this with the sudden surge of red punching its way through the triptych of Jim's portrait, quite literally. You can see why Jim is so utterly distressed.

Page 32 - Déjà vu? More like clever roulette.

2014-05-30T08:06:06Z

Notice anything similar between the previous page and this one? Take a look.

Not I, at first and surprisingly too for someone who has been at very close proximity with the project, quite literally. But you'll have to forgive me. I found that there exists very separate roles for the task at hand - storyteller, scripwriter, illustrator, colorist, graphic design - and these are just generalising them. There is a chain of command as the process goes from an unfiltered concept to the finished product and in between those, a myriad of interpretation.

As I've mentioned before, I received the artwork a few at a time with no forecast of what's to come so colouring started from a different mindset; you gave what you knew and sometimes, expected. This meant, you were both working in the past and towards the future scenes. Of course, I had tremendous help from the illustrator, Jerem who gave hints along the way and steered me in the right path if I meandered too far off.

So reading through the comic again has me looking at different things, in different ways. I'm the audience now; no longer do I need to pixel hunt for smudges or make sure the pages are in the correct order and size or if the colours are telling the right story at the right time.

And we're back to the two pages again. The visual narrative continues with the same "passage of time" theme before the frame is punctured by Jennie's discovery and her ultimate realisation, clearly unaware of Jim's quiet despair in the previous scene; neither spared by the flash of what's to come.

Now for something completely different:

The Drive-In Horrorshow needs our fans! Robert Fitz, one of the creepy folks who brought us our ultra-gory special fx, is raising money for "Blessid," an indie film he directed. The film is made, but needs an extra 5 grand to pay for film festival fees, PR, marketing, etc.

Among the Sleep is a first person horror adventure, in which you play a two year old child. After waking up in the middle of the night to mysterious sounds, you start exploring the dark looking for comfort. Freshly released yesterday.

Page 31 - A Big Surprise in an Unlikely Place

2014-05-23T08:06:06Z

When I first saw this page, I laughed out loud - in a good way.

Let me explain.

As I’ve mentioned before, I write in a very sparse style. I believe it lets the action move at a quick pace, and pace is by far one of the hardest things to convey in a script. What is one sentence in a script - “Luke stares at the setting sun” in Star Wars, for example - might be a huge, moving moment that goes on for much longer than it reads (note - I don’t know if that is actually in the script, but it works for this example. I’m sure a Star Wars fan can correct me).

So I try to be conscious about how the words look on the page, avoiding huge blocks of text when writing action - ideally, no more than four or five lines at a time (it’s not usually an issue with dialogue, unless it’s a monologue). Large blocks of action can be difficult to read in a script, which is one of the huge differences between screenwriting and other kinds of writing where larger blocks of text are acceptable (prose, non-fiction, etc). I try, whenever possible, to write as little as possible.

Which brings me to this page. When I wrote it, I imagined a series of dissolves as the clock ticked by, intercut with Jim sleeping and the rest of the action. And because of my sparse writing style, I wrote it like this:

Which I why when I saw this page, I laughed. My script structure was adapted directly to the the comic book page, in a way I had never intended. I’m not sure if Jerem did this consciously or not, but I love it. During this project, I expected to see my writing interpreted in a new medium, but I never thought that this, of all things, would make it through. It’s a great lesson about the process of adapting a script into a comic book - at least from the perspective of a screenwriter who knows almost nothing about the comic book world - and it’s one of my favorite things in the entire comic book.

Page 30 - More Influences

2014-05-16T08:06:06Z

Way back on page 7, I wrote about the influence that EC comics (Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, etc) and the Amicus films (such as From Beyond the Grave) had on this story. Well, there was one other huge influence, that, for reasons that will soon become obvious, I haven’t discussed until now: “The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan,” a short story by Clark Ashton Smith (try saying that title five times fast).

Smith, a contemporary of H.P. Lovecraft, was a terrific writer of fantasy and horror (often mixing both genres in the same tale), who wrote in the 1930s and ‘40s. He published short stories in magazines like “Weird Tales” and “Amazing Stories,” and would often set a series of stories in fictional places like Poseidonis (his version of Atlantis) or Hyperborea (a legendary, pre-historic arctic continent). In “The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan,” Avoosl, a greedy money-lender in Hyperborea, lends money to a shady character in exchange for a large bag of incredibly valuable jewels. The jewels are worth much more than what Avoosl has lent the shady character, but Avoosl is certain that the jewels are stolen and the shady character won’t be back for them - so Avoosl has made a fortune. But the jewels have a mind of their own, and when two large emeralds roll out the door and down the street - seemingly under their own power - Avoosl greedily follows them, oblivious to whatever magic is at work...and it doesn’t end well. Sound familiar? The specifics are very different in The Good Luck Charm, but the basic ideas - the pawn shop, the incredibly valuable jewel, greed - were heavily influenced by Smith’s story.

I read this story, and the rest of Smith’s Hyperborean tales, around the same time that Greg and I were watching the Amicus films. “The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan” has a strong sense of poetic justice that is very much in the vein of EC Comics, and for whatever reason the two influences mixed together in my brain...and this story came out.

At this part in the script, I originally had a dream sequence where Jim reaches for the jewel, but it slides just beyond his grasp. Jim reaches again, and the jewel escapes again. Jim chases the jewel, never quite getting it, until he is led into some sort of peril (I can’t remember what any more) and wakes up in a cold sweat. It’s pretty obviously influenced by “The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan,” and I tried to make it my own without completely ripping off Smith’s story. I thought it could be a good illustration of Jim’s obsession, and a chance to do something different stylistically when we filmed it, since it was a dream. I never quite got it right, despite a few revisions, and at some point Greg said that the story probably didn’t even need it - and he was right. So out it went.

I don’t miss the dream sequence. I think the story is better without it - the dream would have slowed things down, and not told us much that we didn’t know already. Sometimes it’s better to cut things out.

shi: This is such an amazing trivia, I just have to recommend The Double Shadow, a podcast covering the weird fiction writings of American author Clark Ashton Smith. A new recording for Seedlings of Mars will be up soon! Good stuff :}

Page 29 - Show, Don’t Tell

2014-05-09T08:06:06Z

A few observations about the last few pages:

I love how the panels for the monster have been changing. The frames seem to be bursting apart as the creature rips through Jim’s body. It mirrors the progress of the story.

Film is, at it’s foundation, a storytelling medium of visuals and non-dialogue sound. Early filmmakers could only use visuals and music to tell the story, and I still believe to this day (as Hitchcock did) that the best storytelling is often done without any dialogue at all. There’s a saying in a film to show and not tell - the basic idea is that it’s more exciting to see something happen and not have the storyteller tell it to you. For example, if this page only consisted of Jim telling Jennie that something was hurting him, but we didn’t see much of the monster (or any of it), there wouldn’t be as much tension.

If you’re not careful as a storyteller, dialogue can crowd a scene - in any medium. When Jerem adapted this story, he cut out a bunch of the dialogue (I can’t remember if it’s on this page or other ones) - trimming it to the essentials - and I think it gives him (and Shi) the freedom to tell the story with visual means.

This is also where his concept of the creature started to further branch off from the one I saw in my head. As I mentioned earlier, I never imagined that the creature had eyes - it was kind of like a blind automaton. At this stage in the story, it was just doing what it had to do, like a clock passing time - something that can’t be stopped, and just as impersonal. But I really like the direction that Jerem took it. There is so much movement and attitude as the creature bursts through Jim’s veins and the eyes create an expression that says a lot about the creature’s personality. It’s a very different idea than I had, and I think it fits with the visual and storytelling style well. It’s cool to see, yet again, how someone can take an idea and change it into something else - yet still keep the essence of the story intact.

Page 28 - The Prized Antagonist

2014-05-02T08:06:06Z

Suggesting the notion of Jim receding, whilst the stone extends its territory and influence. Half obscuring him. Perhaps literally.

I thought Mike and Greg's initial script did all the heavy lifting here. They nailed this sterling trichotomy of Jim/Jenny/Stone as solid individual characters, wherein the stone is this hyper present, seemingly unswayable doom out of the ages, without the stone detracting from or overshadowing the Jim/Jenny relationship.

I spent a good deal of time just getting out of their way.

Likewise, Shi's colors are tip top. Just look, Jenny's book is beaten and weathered, but so too is the entire comic page. The comic itself seems to waste away before the reader.

p.s. This page was also my chance at an homage to Evil Dead.

UNF.

Page 27 - Collaboration: Giving Feedback on a Script

2014-04-25T08:06:06Z

In the creative world, it is very important to get feedback on your work. I find that the things I like people usually think are just okay, and the things I'm not keen on people will love. So you’re usually not the best judge of your own material.

Feedback is one of the most important tools in screenwriting, and Michael Neel and I have given feedback to each other on a ton of projects. I really like Michael’s opinions. We have worked together for ten-plus years now on everything from hip-hop videos to political documentaries to horror films. We have similar interests in film and in life. He speaks his mind and gives honest feedback. So it's easy.

Here are some basic rules for giving feedback on a script:

- Print it out. Personally, I hate reading scripts on the computer, but even if you enjoy it you are liable to miss things if you never read a printed version.

- Make sure you have time for it. Don't try to do it while you are watching a game or in a meeting. Find a quiet place. Make sure that you have time to read the whole script - if you start and stop you won’t get an accurate sense of the flow of the story.

- Write notes in the margins as you go. Make checks for things you like. Make minuses for things you don't. What characters do you like? Do the script need more of something (dialogue, action, gore, etc)? Do it need less?

- First impressions are big, so write down what hits you on the first read.

- If you can let the script rest, do it. Read it again in day or two. You usually get a better sense of perspective when you do.

- Write detailed notes: what you liked, what you and didn't, and why. If something doesn’t make sense or seems out of character, or if you find a huge plot hole, make sure to say so. Now is the time to fix it, not during production or post-production.

- And be honest. Feedback isn’t always easy to hear but if you aren’t honest then you’re not really helping.

For “The Good Luck Charm,” the script was written a long time ago, so I’m not one hundred percent sure about my exact notes. Michael wrote most of this script, while I mainly gave feedback and brainstorming ideas. I do remember that my main point was that Michael needed to make sure the relationship of the husband and wife was right - he was a cheapskate and she was a sweetheart. Their relationship evolved over many rewrites, as Michael mentioned before.

And again, writer - write!

Page 26 - Lines

2014-04-18T08:06:06Z

Furiously pencilled vertical lines feature permanently on the background of every frame. At first, I wasn't sure how or what to make of it - should I make them lighter so the colours are more visible? Should I ignore them and colour as usual or should I just colour the backgrounds a really dark colour so the characters and foreground stand out? - Just a few of the many questions that plagued me during the project. I made the decision to use really dark colours at the start of the comic - it wasn't a fully formed decision, just one that became a constant. Thankfully, it didn't stay that way.

Instead of ignoring the lines altogether, I decided to work with it; proudly displaying it as the underlying tones of claustrophobia and chaos, imminent throughout the story, almost merging into the characters. Perhaps this was what Jerem intended all along! I toned the reds right down on the main characters and the overall colours are made more subdued, almost dreamlike, with increased layers of brush strokes and filters as if more care was applied to the treatment of both protagonists. I needed to draw the readers into the frame, closer to the conversation that Jim and Jenny were having and hopefully even seeing them as more than characters with sealed fates.

The pages from the second half of the comic took considerably more time to colour than the first half. I spent about an entire day on each page instead of the previous 4 pages a day. It also helped that I had more time to work on the pages as I was right on schedule for the deadlines with days to spare. Hopefully this shows in the coming frames and frames above.

In other news, one of the things I wanted to feature alongside the comic and blog are interesting things on horror that could be shared with anyone reading. Both of these links below are to games that are upcoming and they look rather appetising.

Alien: Isolation looks to me like the people behind it know almost exactly why I love the franchise in the first place - survival sci-fi horror and I hope it plays as well as it looks.

For those of you wanting something more brutal, take a look at The Evil Within, naturally from the creator of Resident Evil.

Page 25 - Creature feature

2014-04-11T08:06:06Z

I love the framing of this page; so simple but effective. The look on Jim's face, full of pencil scratches, is a fascinating contrast to the calm in the previous pages leading up to it.

Horror invokes a specific human emotion that is not so commonly exorcised in my daily rituals, that adrenaline rush when I'm inundated with ennui. And with the usual busy-ness of everything that one faces, it becomes a welcoming retreat piercing through the veil of the everyday. I particular like a certain type of horror - one that involves creatures and preferably peppered with (very) dark humour with lashings of science fiction. This combination of horror is very specific so when I find it, it gets lapped up pretty voraciously with finger hovering over the repeat button.

When the monstrosity above appeared to me on the page, I got both very excited and annoyed. There it was, tearing out of the page waiting to unleash whatever fearful intentions it has been written to do and there I was with the tether, holding what felt to me was the potential to either let it fulfil those promises or outright destroy any credibility it could have as the fearsome thing it should be.

I pussyfooted about with the colours; carefully colouring within the confines of the box and page, totally ignoring my previous revelations about preciousness. There was also this niggling concern if I could erase, replace or colour over any bit of inking that Jerem had done. The pages I received had to be cleaned up even more to get the pristine and high contrast base it needed to be before any colours could be added. This involved meticulous zooming in and fine erasing of any pencil marks not intended to be there and leaving the ones that should. All pencil marks were then turned into ink and had to retain the same degree of black and white throughout all pages which were then resized to make sure they aligned the same in terms of margin from the edges and that they were ultimately, the same dimensions for the printers.

I suppose you could say I got precious about colouring after all that work!

In any case, there were inks that Jerem had specifically wanted to retain to convey the story and I came in as another layer and made my mark with my own interpretation of what that story was and I did not want it to end up as a case of too many cooks spoiling the soup.

And so I researched tonnes of Giger on how to approach this page. I remember Jerem stressing that I go RED all the way for this piece and it took several tries of trying steel blues and other hues before returning to crimson, mostly to compare and contrast the options. You never know until you try. In the end, after many re-colourings, I literally splashed out with new brushes and filters, colouring out of the confines of Jerem's inks to the point where I probably got carried away in the later pages.