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The Animation Cafe

Alright, Citizen Unicorn asked me in another thread if I created anything for the Star Wars Atomfilms contest, and I did! I have entered it, and someone from the competition has contacted me. They haven't told me if I am a finalist yet, but judging by the wording in the emails, I think I might be! I"m keeping my fingers crossed and not assuming anything, especially after entering last year's competition and not making it in at all as a finalist.:(

I have only shared the link to the cartoon with family and friends so far, and wasn't planning on linking to it on a message board, but it would be fun to show all of you, since it's always great to get feedback from fellow artists! If all goes well, I will have to take it down from my site and it will only be shown on Atomfilms site.

Here is the link to the cartoon:

http://www.starwarsspoofs.com/entry.html

Here is the link to the competition:
http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/spotlight/collections/starwars/index.html

bluehickey's picture
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jchap 03's picture
Submitted by jchap 03 on

HA!

Great work Hickey! I agree, if one of your finest yet. I don't think I change a thing. The timing and pacing is great. Art direction is mighty fine. The concept is short and sweet. Most of all, it was extremely well executed. Kudos! That's great news about the email as well. Best of luck with that. I'll keep my eyes open for it.

Well Done!

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grega's picture
Submitted by grega on

Nice one!

Good idea, well executed. Good luck in the comp.

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Citizen Unicron's picture

Great cartoon BlueHickey! Very funny. :D

The character designs and facial animation are very appealing. Good caricatures too.

It's definitely better than the entries they showed on the StarWars.com. Those were pretty weak. I think the only thing that would hold your piece back is that it is short time wise. Regardless, you did a nice job and should be proud. Thanks for sharing with us.

I would love to do Star Wars fan film. If there was only more time in the day and less bills to pay. The short I'm working on right now is so Star Wars derived that it might as well be a fan film :rolleyes:

-Colby

bluehickey's picture
Submitted by bluehickey on

Thanks for the kind words guys!

Yeah, I agree that it's short. I think the only place I could have lengthened it out a bit was the scene where Solo is thawed from the carbonite, and falls out of screen. The reason I kept it short is because the longer I made the scene, with all those gradients and alpha channels on the animated beams of light, the animation just chugged! That is definitely a limitation of flash that I hate. So I had to choose between smoother animation, which meant leaving the shot earlier, or leaving the scene longer in length, but everyone watching it has to sit through animating that is chugging so bad that it looks more like a slide show than animation. I obviously went for the shorter route, mainly because I felt that sitting through choppy movements takes you out of the moment and can pull you out of getting into the story and what is happening. Even as it is, it is slightly choppy, but not nearly as bad as it could be. Boy I hope flash gets better at handling that in the future!

Also, it's limitations like that, that have currently pushed me even more into deciding to use my spare time from now on, improving my 3D animation skills. I'm ready for something with a fuller look to it. Of couse I realize that a fuller look depends a lot on my animation!

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Splatman's picture
Submitted by Splatman on

but sweet!

It was a one-liner, but darn funny!

Your animation and design were spot on!

Good show, and good luck...you know your Starwars!

Cheers!
Splatman :D

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SPLAT digital

Graphiteman's picture

Aces as usual! Your sound is also great. How do you record your voices so clean?

Wade K's picture
Submitted by Wade K on

Loved the concept and art work. I don't know what kind of competition you are up against, but I have a suspicion that it will we animation hobbiests who cannot animate very well. I am sure you will win it, as something that professionally done will not go unnoticed.

Hey, what will you win, anyways (I have not checked the site for the contest)?

Cheers

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"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon

Adam Duff's picture
Submitted by Adam Duff on

I LOOOVE IT!!

I've watched all the Star Wars spoofs, and even sent all the links to my friends. They all get a great laugh out of me. You have a fantastic sense of humor. I'm also a huge indiana jones fan, and the mix-up between Indiana jones and star wars is just perfect. You have those ideas that just work.

Nothing but keep em coming. I love them. It's like my Saturday morning cartoons. I can't wait for the next episode.

Adam

motionmilitia's picture

Thats some fine Flash animation my man. Great job on the thawing shot too!

Dancing Cavy's picture

OMG that was awesome!!! I am a fan of both movies and laughed out loud. Excellent work! Best of luck to you in the competition. Do let us know how it goes. :)

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bluehickey's picture
Submitted by bluehickey on

Thanks for all the glowing comments! Wow, I didn't expect them to all be so positive! :)

Graphiteman: I didn't record the voices, so I'm not sure how to tell you how they are recorded so clean. All I know is that Andy (the voice talent) recorded all the voices on his end and emailed them to me. He must have a good setup because they do sound fabulous!

Wade: As for the prizes here is a list of what is up for grabs:

[b]AWARDS:
[/b](A) George Lucas Selects Award (one recipient)
+ $2,000 cash prize
+ A custom Fan Film Awards trophy from Lucasfilm
+ Official recognition at Comic-Con, on the StarWars.com Web site, and on the Fan Film Awards Web site -- including a taped message from George Lucas announcing the winner.

(B) Animation Award, presented by Code 3 Collectibles (one recipient) http://www.code3.net/starwars/
+ $500 cash prize and a $500 gift certicate to shop at http://www.starwarsshop.com.
+ A custom Fan Film Awards trophy from Lucasfilm
+ Official recognition at Comic-Con, on the StarWars.com Web site, and on
the Fan Film Awards Web site.

(C) Spirit of Fandom Award, presented by the Anthony Grandio Company (one recipient) http://www.anthonygrandio.com/starwars/
+ $1,000 cash prize
+ A custom Fan Film Awards trophy from Lucasfilm
+ Official recognition at Comic-Con, on the StarWars.com Web site, and on
the Fan Film Awards Web site.

(D) Audience Choice Award (one recipient)
+ A custom Fan Film Awards trophy from Lucasfilm
+ Official recognition at Comic-Con, on the StarWars.com Web site, and on the Fan Film Awards Web site.
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Personally, I would love to win the animation award! I would love to be able to put that on my resume! HeeHee!:D

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Wade K's picture
Submitted by Wade K on

Teehee... Good luck, man. I am sure you don't need it, but good luck anyways... I am sure you have that all wrapped up.

Cheers

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"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon

dakar's picture
Submitted by dakar on

Great work, both of you. May you win first place and hire me in 5 years.... :D

I don't have the experience and background that these other guys/gals do..., but excellent work all the same. Colors were great, timing seemed spot on and the music worked well. Good luck to you both in the future.

bluehickey's picture
Submitted by bluehickey on

I'm glad to see Andy (ABvox) join in! I would strongly suggest to anyone looking for good voice work, to use Andy! He is simply amazing, and extremely professional! He usually gets me the sound files I need that day or the day after! Very fast. I've used him on my Captain Needa spoof as well:

http://www.starwarsspoofs.com/needa.html

Watch the Carbonite Confusion cartoon again, and just pay attention to the voices, and ask yourself if you know anyone else who can do such awesome voice impersonations of Sean Connery and Harrison Ford! That's my shameless plug, which he deserves. I think that the overall product wouldn't be nearly as good if the voices were shotty and didn't sound like the actors!

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abvox's picture
Submitted by abvox on

Thanks, Ryan! You're far too kind. :D

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abvox: Voice and Sound Design Services
abVoices.com

keenasmustard's picture

Fantastic! Well done to both of you. You guys really nail both the caricatures and the voices! Best of luck with the comp.

bluehickey's picture
Submitted by bluehickey on

Glad to see that so many of you are enjoying the idea/concept! Andy and I have felt that that aspect is probably the weakest out of all the elements. Maybe because the joke isn't new to us anymore! I did show the cartoon to one of my best friends over the weekend for the first time, and as soon as he saw Henry Jones appear, he laughed out loud and even snorted shortly there after! Whew! What a relief!:p

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bluehickey's picture
Submitted by bluehickey on

Just wanted to let you all know that I just got the confirmation email that I am going to be a finalist in the competition!!!!

I am soo excited!!!!!

I"ll let everyone know when it is posted on the competition's website so they can check it out!

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abvox's picture
Submitted by abvox on

That's EXCELLENT news! (he says, as if this is the first time he's hearing it...) ;)

Boy...now the nervous tension can *really* kick into high gear!

:D

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abvox: Voice and Sound Design Services
abVoices.com

Adam Duff's picture
Submitted by Adam Duff on

Of course you are. What? You had doubts?

Adam

bluehickey's picture
Submitted by bluehickey on

Of course I had doubts, when I entered last year's competition and didn't make it as a finalist. My only experience with the competition previously had been failure, so you better believe I wasn't going to assume anything!

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Adam Duff's picture
Submitted by Adam Duff on

Ahhh, then this is clearly a story, not only of victory, but bravery as well. It shows big cahoonas to go up against the same tiger twice in a row.

Congradulations,

Adam

bluehickey's picture
Submitted by bluehickey on

Thanks guys! The films go up on the Atomfilms site on June 29th. I'll be sure to post a link to it.

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Wade K's picture
Submitted by Wade K on

Gabe... It is Flash.

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"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon

abvox's picture
Submitted by abvox on

Aces as usual! Your sound is also great. How do you record your voices so clean?

Greetings all, I'm Andy, the voice guy behind "Carbonite Confusion."

First of all, thanks to Ryan for all his kind words. To work with Ryan is a joy and a priviledge, I can assure you.

To answer your question, Graphiteman, I used a broadcast-grade production facility. I prefer the ElectroVoice RE-20 microphone, but used a Shure for this project (the model number escapes me at the moment.) I filter everything through a mic processor and then compress and boost everything through Cool Edit Pro (now Adobe Audition.) I recorded the voices at 44,100 Hz, 16-bit, MONO. Then sent them to bluehickey as a 128 kbps .mp3 file.

Now, all that being said, how the voice reproduction came out sounding so fine in the final cartoon while the file size was still so reasonably low is beyond me. "Me know sound, me not know Flash..."

You have a great forum here! I hope you don't mind if I poke around from time to time...

ab

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abvox: Voice and Sound Design Services
abVoices.com