this monday thing will never get through my skull...

5pm Monday always catches me off guard. Last semester it was because I went right from class to formal dinner at my sorority, had to be standing behind my chair at 5 o' clock on the dot.
This semester... I don't have class on Monday, so I get all day to work in the lab. I get in a groove and then suddenly: AHH! It's 4:50pm! Update update update. I'm still having trouble uploading files to blogger from my computer in the lab, but I can write with no problem. That being said, I guess you should expect a text update at 5pm followed by at edit around 7:30 (after chapter meeting) with any video clips / screen shots of the progress that I can upload once I get home to my laptop.

Anyway, the last couple of weeks I've bee working on integrating the suggestions made by the faculty review at the end of last semester:
*Need more of a "build"
*The beginning is abrupt
*Show frustration with communication she has when she cannot draw
*She looks at him- then tries to draw. Maybe not sound effects, but make it clear nothing is coming out of her hands.
*Could make pencils and pens for hands for clarity
Maye she draws a question mark?
*Show the reactions of the crowd
*At the beginning you show the boy first. Instead, you could show her in the foreground so we know the story is about her.
*Instead of drawing a crowd they could ignore her. The anger could cause the ink to stream from her hands.

I definitely agree with the vast majority of these. I really liked the visual communication bit so I've added that in with Penny's first 'conversation' occuring early on and demonstrating how their world works. I've added some bits to insert into the beginning and reframed a few shots to show Penny the most and people reacting to her inability. People are a little more confused at first rather than going straight to ignoring her. I'm not THAT mean...

So, those are all boarded and ready to be plopped into Flash for animating. Other than that, there was a little that we talked about during a sound spotting session last semester, too, about Penny's "flight" where she runs away from the crowd. I'm going to have her leave the city altogether, clearing the background away to make room for her own growth. That being said, I'll be adding more environmental background stuff to the rest of the beginning shots, i.e. the world that the city people have made.

These new inserted bits are a LOT stronger than the first pass, I'm excited to see it all take it's final (hopefully) shape this week.

edit: Also, I'm meeting my composer/musicial/all-in-one awesome dude this week to make sure he's still game to make some sweet, sweet tunes for this project and start getting stuff down on paper. Stay tuned!