Bible Animations

 - Storyboards continue from last week
Last week I told you guys in the post that I still had a few frames not yet scanned, well those made it into the video as well as the shot list for the plague of frogs as well as it's conclusion. Progress people!! Plague two be boarded! :D

 - Writing style
Haha, this is something I keep coming back to. The King James is notorious for being not to user-friendly in use of English. Thankfully, that's not an issue here. What is though it how things are laid out. In the video, I referred to one place in particular where, for the sake of keeping it brief, a lot of information is left out. It has already been mentioned what will happen during the plague, so that part was left out and it does present difficulty, because as someone doing a visual Bible, you really want it to be absolutely spot on, but still show the plagues for what they were. It's an extremely difficult task to do GOD's Word justice in a visual form and keep it accurate, so I understand why so many people in the industry avoid it.
  I think it's difficult because you are putting visuals to eyewitness testimony and you're not allowed to add or take away. That means I am left with a few choices:

 - Not have those shots shown
I don't favor this one, because they were called plagues for a reason and it's sort of the point of making a visual.

 - Have them shown while the dialogue is being said as visions
This could be one viable solution, but it doesn't flow well. It can leave the viewer confused about what happened where.

 - Just make the calling of Moses and Aaron as interesting and full of frogs as possible
Probably the most accurate, but also the least awe inspiring.

That's the great part about the storyboards - nothing is final, so I still get to go and talk to GOD about it. This is definitely something that I need wisdom on to reach the highest possible number of people and keep scriptural integrity. One thing GOD told me when I was battling through a similar thing on Esther 6 was that if HE didn't trust me with HIS Word, HE would not have assigned me the project. I want to do HIS Word justice - I really do.

 - Reality vs desire (the work of a studio on one person)
I was very surprised by this this week. I took a few days this week and watched a lot of those "Making of" videos for various animated movies. I felt lead to do this and I had hoped to learn a few things that would make the process a lot simpler, but nope. Pretty much going about it the same way they do, except I am much more dependent on the computer and GOD to help me complete the work. The biggest difference between someone like me and a studio - man-power. Take a look at Nehemiah. GOD was with them and they built the wall in 52 days. We're not talking about a single wall, we're talking about one that surrounds a city - that's a lot of work they finished in a very short amount of time.
A studio, based on mainly two behind the scenes I saw, uses 400 (The Hunchback of Notre Dame had about 450) to 700 (The Prince of Egypt had about 680) people on a movie and it takes them a few years to make the movie. That is a lot of hands a single production goes through. I can reduce the comparative figure quite a bit, because this does include all the technical staff as well, ie programmers and the like. Let's be more conservative and say I have to do the work of about half those people on the low end. You still have to do the work of 200 people by yourself, hahahaha. That's still a boatload of work! If you want to take on a project like that or even on a smaller scale, do realize that there is a lot more that goes into it than you realize. It's worth obeying GOD and HE will enable you to do what HE calls you to, but it will take some serious effort. Work smart, not just hard. If you can buy assets, buy assets. If you can hire people, hire people. If you can use the same assets with minor tweaks, do so. If you can use a picture background to reduce render times, do it, because I promise you, you don't want to work on the same project until you pass away in 30 years and still be modelling door handles, hahaha. Don't let your desire to make something better than the studios or on-par with the studios, drag you into ridiculous territory. With GOD you can do the impossible, yes, but that power usually comes with an assignment, not fleshly excitement. Sounds vaguely similar, but so not the same, hahaha.

 - Most of the bees removed
Super great news! GOD gave us favor with such a great beekeeper. He was generous enough to come and help us remove the bees and he and his son worked super hard. We cannot fault them on any level. He said that the hive he removed, was the biggest he had ever taken out of a tree. I am so not surprised. I am doing this project and I do other ministry things. I am not surprised in the least that it's our situation that would be the worst he's ever seen, haha. He said that the bees would scavenge the site for the honeycomb and honey that fell to the ground, so we need to be weary of that, since these are killer bees. We did heed the warning and while the bees are significantly reduced, it appears that they may be trying to set up another hive. I called him and he said that if they didn't have a queen, it would just be a small matter of time and they'd be gone, but he would make sure that he got the queen. If he didn't, he would come back and vacuum the rest. Praying that would not be needed and that the bees would just go away. Super super thankful that there is end in sight for the bee issue, haha. I'm sure you guys are too, hahahaha.

It's still a very interesting thing to see how they behave. Bees seem to be a very curious little insect and because we're so scared of getting stung, we don't want them curious around us, hahaha. Despite some close calls, thankfully no further incidents - praise GOD!

 - Flashback to Esther 6 with a Graphic Novel (using the term loosely)
You guys are well aware of the Esther 6, KJV animation. If not, check it out on the Esther watch page. While wrapping up production, I felt lead to do a written version as well. Specifically a comic style one and this was the result.

It's not very long. I think it may even read faster than the video is long, hahaha. Very very cool experience and I am so thankful GOD lead me to make it. May it bring you enjoyment and a wonder for GOD's works beyond what we can see!