It has been a long two months since my last update... and there are many important and unimportant matters to write about.

Of course, what deems something important compared to non is of no concern to me, as I am busy navigating the recesses of my memory banks to actualize past truths in a manner which is comprehensible to you... the veritable reader.

Work-wise, everything has been going quite well. I polished up six editing projects for Nike in these past two months and produced a music video for The Toadies who started their tour with Social Distortion a few weeks back. The song was entitled, "Summer of the Strange" and needless to say... we had many strange things in this video. Dennis Fitzgerald Directed and Joel Stirnkorb lensed the beast.

Outside of that... I recently traveled to Boston for a bit of relaxation and debauchery. The second night there I ran into a cool cat outside a bar named Matt. We started talking film and music and I soon found out that he is known as Mr. Projectile who just started touring with Bassnectar. Next thing I know I am on the guest list, handing over my ID at the show the following day. Needless to say, it was a bad-ass concert with Mr. Projectile kicking off a sweet opening set which was very Aphex Twinesque and Bassnectar pulsation the neon clothes off the flesh of every young soul who danced their E-laced minds and bodies all over the floor.

Onto Persephone:

Animation Dynamics has been putting in a substantial amount of work preparing each shot for the impressionistic transitions which occur between each scene. Nick Nakadate and I worked together to put a proper color palette in place so that the flow of each shot parallels the emotional construct of the storyline and its progression. In short... the image below is but a small taste of one layer, out of three, that will exist during the course of each shot.

Next week, we're reviewing the first assembly cut of the whole project to discuss ebb and flow. It's coming together, slowly but surely.

Weevil and Nightshade's Compendium of Farables & Tales is 90% complete. Darrell Williams has just about finished the layout of the book, which is clocking in just under 100 pages and our wondrous illustrator Carla Lee is putting together sketch ideas for the final illustration. There will be a total of sixteen illustrations throughout the book and each one carries with it, new meaning and insight for each farable.

Here is a taste of her newest illustration...Atlantis sewing his lips shut.

Now, time to get back to designing, writing up the project's social marketing campaigns, and creating a more concrete promotional platform.

Pass the word to friends, family, and colleagues!

https://www.facebook.com/persephonefilm

https://twitter.com/PersephoneFilm

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Persephone: Colorful Transition

By Nick Nakadate

Working on Persephone (Mark Roush’s short film about a girl made of chocolate) has brought the opportunity to create a look that is painterly and dreamy. I have been creating CG backgrounds from 3D sets that are then treated in 2D for a more painted look and feel. In working on transitions among the shots, I have been exploring the opportunity to introduce more organic and painterly transitions. How does it move? What is the color palette and timing? How does paint move, or is it really paint, or more of an intangible dream scape? So the work flow also experiments with how transitions move between shots, and how their environments intertwine.

“Persephone:” a Live-action, CGI-infused Short Film

The Cast of "Persephone"

During the turn of the 19th century, in a tiny town nestled somewhere in the Netherlands, a husband and wife had once run a very unsuccessful candy shop. Desperate, broke and starving they had decided to trade their souls to a demon in exchange for a recipe that would teach them how to make the most delicious chocolate in the world. Much to their dismay, the next morning a basket was discovered on their doorstep, and inside – a young, living child made of chocolate.

And so, begins the tale of “Persephone”, a live-action, CGI-infused short film written by Mark Roush and currently being animated and designed by the talented people at Animation Dynamics.

Animation Dynamics, or ADi, is a Portland-based animation company that was founded in 1996 and is currently owned Kate Ertmann. ADi excels in visual communication for business-to-business marketing, consumer advertising, direct response television, education and entertainment. Their clients range from Fortune 500 high-tech firms to independent film producers.

Over the course of the past few months, Mark has been working alongside Kate’s talented and creative team to create the atmosphere that Persephone exists in. Imagining the world initially fell upon Mark’s hands to research photos of period architecture, wood patterns, designs and so forth. However, once production of the shoot was complete and the footage was handed over to the team at ADi, they took it leaps and bounds beyond Mark’s initial inquiries into art, architecture, and design… diving deeper into the history and time-period of which the story takes place.

The world that encompasses the “living” actors of the Persephone story is made of mist and clouds, which continually flows and shifts in order to create a more ethereal, impressionistic atmosphere. The basis of this choice in aesthetics exists in accordance to the fluid dynamic of earlier discussions between Mark and the team at ADi regarding the flow and pace of the project; as a non-cutting, morph- based edit. If you have ever listened to someone tell a story… you imagine the characters and descriptive elements visually in your head, flowing and fading in and out… constantly changing.

This style is also meant to juxtapose the underlying message in the story.

“People with an interest in social problems and subject matters that young adults encounter during different stages of their lives, such as struggling with ones personal identity and dealing with issues revolving around acceptance of ones inner and outer appearance, will hopefully find the innovative approach this story takes to be fresh and entertaining. Teens and young adults may not be able to relate with the black-and-white fairy tales of old because modern life is more complex, chaotic and random due to the advent of mass communication. This story must move as dynamically and flow as complexly as the life of a young adult does… not in black and white but in various shades of every color in the spectrum.” Says Mark.