THE SIMPSONS NEWS

It’s good to be back drawing storyboards again.  I’m back on show 20. The story reel screening went really well and the writers and producers liked it.  So much so, that the rewrite was lite.

I was assigned ONE shot to fix in Act 1, but I couldn’t help myself and started revising the whole Act.  I was  done by the end of Wednesday, which hardly ever happens.

Like I said, very lite rewrite. I’m working on Act 2 now.

ART/VIDEOS

One of my favorite artists is Adam Hughes. He’s an incredible draftsman. I’m in awe of his YEARS of finely honed drawing skills.  Below are three videos of him explaining some of this thoughts and the way he approaches some drawing problems.  They don’t exactly teach you HOW to draw but it’s great to see his process.  It’s also great to hear his thoughts on light, tone and technique. WARNING: These videos skip a lot of basic drawing fundamentals and go straight to the flashy parts. There’s a lot of stuff here that is being thought and not shown or talked about. You’ll get more out of these videos if you know what fundamentals are being skipped over. In other words, they are pretty advanced drawing videos. That said, they are really COOL:

WRITING

I think I’m done using DRAMATICA for the time being. I’ve used it as far as it can go. DRAMATICA is good for setting you up to write but now I’m actually going into the writing process itself.  Without abandoning the DRAMATICA themes and structure, I’m going to be using Robert Mckee’s book Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting to guide me and compliment the work I’ve already done.

Alright, it’s time to stop breaking things down and time to start expanding things out. This week I’m taking Scene 1 and expanding it into a more fleshed out “treatment” using Robert Mckee’s advice. According to Mckee, the point of the treatment is to create…

“…the subtext–the true thoughts and feeling underneath what is said and done. We may think we know what our characters are thinking and feeling, but we don’t know we know until we write it down”

Keeping this in mind, I tried to write as much subtext as I could.

Below, I put my short paragraph description of the scene:

Scene 1 (Equity/Projection)

• Rob waits for his hot dog impatiently as his stomach grumbles. Once he gets it he sits down and to eat it. He decides to share it with is White Raven.He’s about to cut it in half when he sees the Sorcerers coming toward him and gets bummed out, knowing he’s in for a bad time. (Introducing the characters)

Now, I expand it:

Outdoor Shopping Area – Day

Rob’s stomach grumbles. He looks up from his stomach and he sees his hot dogs getting prepared by the hot dog vendor. The ache of his empty stomach is visible in his face.  He tells his Raven (who’s on his shoulder) that their wait will soon be over, but it’s obvious that he’s just trying to reassure himself.

The hot dog vendor comes up to the counter and sets down the hot dog.  Rob places down some folded up and crumpled bills, and slowly counts out a bunch of change on the counter.  He comes up short. He’s shocked.  He could have sworn he had enough.  The Raven flies off Rob’s shoulder as he searches himself frantically, only to finds nothing. He empties his pockets only to find lint.

Rob smiles pleadingly at the hot dog vendor, hoping he will take pity. The vendor, who’s a bit gruff and burly looking, looks at Rob unamused.  He’s not the generous type and won’t give Rob any slack over a couple of missing cents.  He’s got bills to pay. The guys seems like the type of person who’s not moved by much.

Horrified, Rob looks desperately around for the last bit of money. He worked so hard to get it and now some of it is missing. He takes off his backpack and starts searching through the clothes inside and the pockets on it. Hearing a squawk he looks down behind him and he breaths a sigh of relief. The Raven stands in front of the missing change he was looking for.

Rob thanks his friend for saving him yet again, turns back to the hot dog booth and puts down the rest of the money.  The vendor hands him the hot dog expressionless. Rob smiles at the vendor, gratefully and thanks him. The vendor just grumbles something and walks away. Lousy, good for nothing, lazy kids, kinda of grumble. The vendor thinks kids these days are too sheltered. Rob grabs a plastic knife from the booth’s plastic utensils carries his hot dog to a nearby table, as if he’s carrying something sacred. The Raven follows.

In the distance, three ominous figures stare at Rob and his bird. They then look at each other knowingly.

Rob sets down his backpack on the table and  sits down.  He then closes his eyes, crosses himself, and says a silent prayer of thanks. Once he’s done, he turns to the Raven, and offers to share the hot dog with him. The ominous figures begin walking up to Rob. Rob doesn’t notice. He happily picks up the plastic knife, glad that he can finally eat. He’s about to cut the hot dog in twain in order to share the food with his bird when a shadow crosses over him.  He looks up to see three hate filled people looking down on him.

Seeing them, Rob feels like screaming in frustration.  Not again. Not here. Not now.

END OF SCENE

I added a character moment with Rob and his money in order to try to create empathy with Rob. It was one of those ideas that just popped into my head and I went along with to see where it led.

Also, I’m hoping that the whole grumbling stomach bit makes his situation relatable. Who HASN’T been hungry at some point in their life? Isn’t that a time honored plot device? Chaplin comes to mind.

I also have him pray. Not because I want to be preachy but because I want people to know he’s a “good guy”.  I’m hoping that a character praying, symbolizes a person who has absolute moral values, to an audience.  That way, when you hear the Sorcerers accuse him of being evil, you don’t assume it’s true. This was also an idea that just happened and I went with it. Not sure if it will work as intended…we’ll see.

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