The Meadow Man - A Fat-Pie Feature

Well......

2011-10-23T16:12:00.004+01:00

I must admit, I haven't been very good at updating this blog. This post will consist of a series of excuses. Let's start with a quote:

"It doesn't matter how slowly you, so long as you do not stop"

I don't remember who said that, or if I quoted it properly, but it fits. I have not stopped making The Meadow Man, but I am not doing much to it at the moment. Let's try and understand why:

1. I needed to make some money so I did some freelance stuff.

2. I dedicated a few months to the Meadow Man then needed to make money again.

3. I went a little bit insane.

4. I took a break from my work and went on a travelling adventure to America.

5. Now I am back without a place of my own and all my stuff in boxes.

6. I need to make money again.

7. Global financial crisis.

8. I need to re-write it.

9. I wasn't lying when I said it would take forever.

So all you need to know is that I still will make it, but I need money, workspace, a team of robots and a load of other essential life elements to prevent me from going insane again. Duke Nukem Forever came out eventually and so will The Meadow Man - hopefully it won't be a big steaming pile of shit like Duke. I promise it won't.

Right now I am currently doing a lot of writing and having the occasional meeting. Not for The Meadow Man but for other exciting projects. One day I will finish everything I have started and then have a little sleep. Then I will start a set of new projects and keep people waiting again. I shall repeat this until I die.

Current status update.

2010-03-08T21:16:00.003Z

1. I am almost pleased with the script. It still changes every day, but I feel the basics are all there.

2. I have sketched most of the main characters. There are loads of minor characters that need designing but the main ones are down.

3. I have certain scenes, areas, backgrounds sketched and designed.

4. I am almost ready to start recording dialogue.

5. I am making a "making of" video as I make this.

follow me on twitter for fast blasts.

Voice actors chosen.

2010-02-10T19:12:00.004Z

I have selected my voice people for The Meadow Man. They are:

Andrew Dennis, Tam Hinton, Joshua Tomar, Beag Horn, Christian Pickup and Myself. Voice recording will begin as soon as I am moderately pleased with the script.

A huge thanks to all the other people who sent in their voices for consideration. It was great to have such a selection and I am very satisfied with the outcome. There were over 600 demos sent in and I had lots of fun going through them. Sorry I couldn't reply to everyone personally, but it would probably take me about a month to do that.

I'll keep you all updated on what's happening and check my twitter for smaller things.

Still here...

2009-12-18T00:32:00.007Z

Yes, updates have been few. Time just flies by. I am still changing my script every day. I don't know if it's long enough, if it's too long, if it makes enough sense or if it makes too much sense. I have millions of sketches, each with millions of notes. There are bits of everything everywhere. The paid work I'm doing for the BBC is holding me up a bit, but that's my main source of income at the moment so it needs to be done. I shall hopefully come to some decisions regarding voice actors in the next few weeks and then hopefully get to a stage where I'm happy with my script. See -- that's why I haven't been updating, because my updates aren't very exciting. You're probably expecting trailers and screenshots and I give you excuses, but it's taking longer than I had imagined to get anywhere. For some reason I set up a twitter account, which I'll probably update more regularly than anything else....because they seem to welcome pointless irrelevant news there.

twshitter

Yeah, some arseholes took the names doki66,fatpie,davidfirth etc. What arseholes.

Voice auditions closed!

2009-08-02T01:33:00.002+01:00

Thanks for all your wonderful submissions. I have listened to about half of them and so far I am very impressed with the talent on offer, but I set a deadline and I'm sticking to it. It was today. Don't send me any more please. I have plenty to wade through. I haven't replied to anyone yet but I will try to get back to everyone eventually.

I know there haven't been many updates but I am making progress on my film every day. As soon as I have some interesting things to report and share I will update more regularly.

CALL FOR VOICE TALENT

2009-05-21T04:54:00.011+01:00

Hey chaps, it's been a while but here's an update. After finishing the last of my recent freelance work, I've been able to focus all my attention on The Meadow Man (which I guess is now the official title) I've gotten to the point where I'm thinking about voice actors and actresses. The script isn't finished but the majority of the scenes have been drafted out and I'm getting a good idea of how it will look. I have a long list of characters, most of which I have my name next to at the moment, but I don't want it to stay that way. I would ideally like to do only one of the main characters and a few small parts, but unless I find the voices I want, then I'm doing them all. This is where you chaps come in.

I need voice actors and actresses. If you think you are capable of doing a voice in my movie then I need you to send me a sample of your skills. I'm not looking for a show reel or anything *update: STOP SENDING SHOWREELS!!!!* I just want to hear you talking into a microphone. It doesn't need to be professionally recorded, I just need to get an idea of what you can do. Talk about anything, read from a film script if you must, I just want to hear your voice in character. Here is what I am on the lookout for:

Male - Authoritative, British

Male - Eccentric, British/European

Female - Variety of styles, British / European / Asian

Male - Variety of styles, British, European, Asian

These are just basic guidelines though, feel free to throw anything else in there if you think it might grab me.

Please send your voice samples to doki67@gmail.com with the subject heading MEADOW MAN VOICES. Please send only mp3s and nothing over 5mb. NO WAVS! Also could I request that you please include your name in the file name so that they're easier to sort.

INCENTIVE: If I do end up employing you as voice actor then you will be paid for your efforts.
DEADLINE: 1st AUGUST 2009.

The first motions

2009-01-27T02:57:00.001Z

Hello my name is David and I make cartoons. I have made over fifty cartoons over the last few years using a variety of techniques and styles. Some were instant viral classics while others didn't really do much at all. As time has trodden on, I've exhausted ideas, series, characters and jumped from one thing to another more that I should have been allowed to. I've got almost finished, half finished and quarter finished cartoons clogging my mammoth hard drive, countless scripts crammed into countless folders, online documents and five or six grotty notepads filled with ideas and bullet points that look more like odd words and phrases than anything remotely useable.

I used to think of an idea and make it quickly. That was fun but eventually I needed a new challenge. So I started trying to develop the scripts more, be more subtle, leave questions to be answered and put more effort into making my cartoons look more cinematic. The cartoons inevitably got longer and had more room to breathe. This satisfied me more but they weren't as punchy and instantly ridiculous/shocking/silly as before and many internet people lost interest. I started to feel my scripts and ideas were getting too drawn out and lengthy for internet shorts. I would start writing a cartoon and I'd actually have to force myself to stop just to keep it short - it was either that or I'd end up cutting stuff out that I probably wanted in there.

So one day I decided that I would just write a cartoon and not even think about how long it would be. I would actually cram all the stuff that I wanted in there and let it breathe and grow. Well that's been happening for a while now and so I must officially announce that I am working towards a feature length animation - one that I will try and get screened at various places and that I hope to release on DVD. I intend to do this almost entirely on my own. I will probably employ people to help me with various things but I want to keep the process very similar to how I would go about creating an internet short. The working title appears to be "The Meadow Man" but I can't imagine it'll stay as that - it's just the title of a short story I wrote a few years ago from which part of my feature will be based.

This doesn't mean I am done with internet shorts, it's just a new challenge that I need to attempt. This will not be Salad Fingers the movie or the entire story of Spoilsbury Toast Boy. It will be something new. The current status is that I have chunks of the script all over the place and a basic structure diagram. I haven't really done much to it over the last couple of months due to all the work I took on around Christmas but this post marks the point where I really get to work. I will hopefully update with every significant development and maybe even some videos too. If you have read all of this then thank you. I didn't realise I had this much to say until I started typing. If you have any questions I will gladly answer them. Summary: I am making an animated feature film.