Ups and Downs, or What Does a Burning Oracle Really Look Like?

Endings is lurching toward the finish line. After weeks of very little happening (coinciding with the weeks when I was out of town), things are starting to move along now. The composer, Joseph Leggett, is churning out some really interesting pieces that nicely complement the film, and Kelley Baker and the sound crew are hard at work cleaning up dialogue and adding sounds (backgrounds, atmosphere, effects, etc.)

The process has its ups and downs. I have been very frustrated as of late, feeling like the film wasn't coming together fast enough or, well, good enough. That's not to place blame on any of the artists collaborating on it with me; I simply wasn't feeling like the film was working.

Of course, those ups and downs are a normal part of any artistic endeavor. Sometimes you're feeling it, and sometimes you're not. I wasn't feeling it, and some of that was probably connected to personnel difficulties with animation, technical difficulties with sound, and the slow movement of all the parts coming together.

At the forefront of my mind lately has been animation. As I may have mentioned previously, the several animated sequences play a key role in the finished film, and we've just begun getting to work on those. Our animator, Tom Whaley, is doing terrific work already.

Collaboration is always interesting. I can, for example, describe the fact that Emmy (the little girl in the film) sees a character "as though he is a burning oracle, on fire but not consumed by it" -- but that leaves a lot of room for interpretation, doesn't it? I mean, one man's burning oracle might be another man's nonsensical scribbles. So Tom's job is very creative here -- he has to interpret my words visually, but he also has to add in his own creative flair.

So far, he's doing a great job at it. I don't want to give away anything, but here's a little taste of what's to come in the film: