Getting Packed

My Stuttgart trip is drawing near and, predictably, the main thing on my mind is "How oh how can I best whore myself until I'm literally somewhat chafed?". Last week I officially gladhanded the last of many "Naughty List" promotional business cards to...I dunno, probably some Caffe Gusto barista I was trying to flirt with, that's where most of my cards end up. So I took the opportunity of a free evening to whip up some new "Bullies" cards in their stead. Hey, I bet that's where the word 'instead' comes from, right? I just taught myself something about my first language. Go me.

Technically it should read 'In lengthy, awkward, uncertain, self-doubt-plagued pre-production' but, y'know, font size...

Also, before I changed my mind and went with my "Naughty List" xmas card campaign, I'd designed a DVD showreel cover that went unused, so I've whipped up a quick DVD with my films and showreels to pass on to fellow Stuttgartgoers to go with it.This way all those empty cases won't be sitting around my apartment anymore, mocking my lack of follow-through. Well, I followed through, dammit! Five months later...
Some other festivals "The Naughty List" is scheduled to appear at after Stuttgart:Starting with Vienna Independent Shorts in Austria, which will show it on May 27th as part of their noon screening Très chic. Which is pretty très awesome of them, innit?
Next month it comes back to Germany for the International Filmfest Emden-Norderney, which runs from June 15th-22nd and will show the film twice, first as part of the main festival and then as part of a supplemental, family-friendly showcase. Exact times and venue information should be online early next month.I was also surprised to hear that in July my first film "House Guest" will be getting a screening at the Fest Anča International Animation Festival, an event that intrigues me given that its mascot appears to be a large, red, angry, toothed vagina. I generally consider the film to be retired from the festival circuit but it still pops up occasionally. Specifics closer to the time but that'll be sometime between July 1st-3rd.
Well, I should probably get my very small suitcase and attempt to jam at least one change of clothes in amongst all my self-promotion-ey crap. Toodles.

Babbling

Ad to pad out the graphic novel. I guess now that it's actually coming out on DVD it's not as much of a bare-faced lie...

My apartment is a post-birthday mess of empty cans and bottles. This year will be the year that I finally face up to my environmental responsibility and actually recycle. It will take an absolute minimum of effort and I'll feel good about myself contributing to the planet's well-being.
Or, more likely, I'll yet again decide to temporarily believe that the Mayans are correct in predicting we'll all be dead by 2012 anyway, and consequently just lump everything into one big refuse sack that I'll then toss off my fourth storey balcony. Cleanup done.
Detritus notwithstanding, it was a very nice evening and a grand excuse to steal Tom Bower (voice of the Duck in 'House Guest') away from his political duties. In putting together the 'House Guest' DVD I want to justify its release by cramming it with as much unnecessary shit as I can. In a bit of a mad pre-party rush I recorded the second of two commentaries with Tom and Jo Hepworth, who put a lot of her own time into making sure the film got done last year, all the while listening to my three anecdotes repeated ad nauseum for six months and never once stabbing me in the throat.The first commentary I recorded last weekend on my own, and it took a few attempts to actually come up with anything of value to say that wasn't self-important and twatty. Doing the second commentary was a lot easier as we were able to knock it out in one go and I was less prone to prattle on. It was also a nice excuse to be with the two people that did the most in terms of guaranteeing the film's completion and, doubtless in my mind, its warm reception.
Am presently fine-tuning the mix of both commentaries, here's a little preview:

Piracy! Arg!

Well, I’ve got a film done - the question now is what the hell do I do with it?
Any answer I come up with just raises further questions. Do I shepherd it around to festivals? Do I put in online? Do I send it to every animation studio I can think of? Is animation even what I want to do full-time? There were so many other elements of the production that I enjoyed, like storyboarding and composing the music - would it be more valuable to pursue these instead, career-wise? Or, do I carry on doing the post-production and video editing work that kept me afloat after my BA and use the money I make from that to supplement animation as a hobby, as I do with my music?
Lots of options, which I suppose is a good thing as it casts a wider net of possibilities, however one of my main goals in taking this MA was to narrow down my plan of action. That certainly hasn’t panned out.
These days I’m mainly putting together press packages for festivals and sending off DVD screeners. To keep my nose clean, the version I’m sending out there is the shorter, less-sweary, non-copyright-infringing edit I described in the previous entry. When I decide to release it on DVD, this will be the version that goes on it for the same reason. The unedited, 17+ minute original version with that perfect song over the end credits will never get a screening now that the degree show is over. It’s a pity, because at the end of the day that, to me, is the true version of ‘House Guest’, even if the new edit does flow a little smoother. That’s why I’ve decided to bootleg myself!
I can’t in good conscience charge people for a DVD of the original film when I don’t own all the music on the soundtrack, but if I’m just doing the rounds with friends and family there’s no real harm done, right?
The oxymoronically-labelled ‘Official Pirate Version’ is as bare-bones as a DVD can get, containing the cut and uncut versions of the film but nothing else by way of extras. To give it a nice, animationey feel the packaging design is taken from one of the rough layout drawings and printed on clear acetate. The end result is simple but, I think, pretty nifty.
I like to make geeky little ‘special edition’ packages - when I put out the last two Struwwelpeter albums ‘Rapeseed’ (2004) and ‘Agnosticaust’ (2006) I made a batch of home-made versions for friends, family and the first 100 people to order each album online. It’s a nice excuse to create extra album artwork, get creative with the packaging design and include music and video content that would otherwise never see the light of day. In this digital age my generation may very well be the last to take pleasure in the physical representations of movies and music. Sometimes the ingenuity of the packaging can even contextualise the media content. You just don’t get the same vibe from a JPEG in an iTunes ‘album artwork’ window.
I’ve also whipped up a spec design for an eventual ‘official’ release of the film, which won’t happen until it either gets picked up by festivals or I give up trying. Wish me luck, because I’m a nice guy and I’ll treat ya right…