Kevin McCurdy 450b Course Blog

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They gave me 0.7 seconds of Dipper retching. I gave them hell. :D @gfanimate

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WIP

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@gfanimate

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What tragedy awaits our beloved characters today?

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Character Bios

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Pass 2 of the animatic. Mostly the same as the last.

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Not related to 450b, but here’s a music video I made recently, for the band “House of Wolves”. They just released their first EP, and I’ll say it’s pretty awesome, so please share!

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Here’s the first pass of my animatic!

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Motion Test for Bolge

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Storyboards

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Style boards

Some reference images:

From Steven Universe

from Homestar Runner

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Blog 5: Inspiration: Psychosis/Hallucinations

Drawings:

1. “Ativan / Haloperidol” by Bryan Lewis Saunders

2. “Snake” by Nagai Hideyuki

3. “Identical Clashing” by Moon-and-Iron

4. “Madnetic Delusions” by Daniel Loya III

5. by Jim Gogarty and Hadas Sturman

Photos:

1. by Matthew Christopher

2. From https://bentpictures.wordpress.com/

3. “The World is on Fire” by LanJu85

4. “22o” by please-you

5. (from http://www.scaryforkids.com/psychosis/)

Video References:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNzxsOB2Q3g

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjQAlp_jSyQ

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_0yuWbh8mw

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGetfvEdwUI

5. https://youtu.be/rU2D0ncBFm0?t=2m19s

6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScvIbcNV38k

Songs:

1. “Under a Glass Moon” by Dream Theater

2. “Tendon” by Igorrr

3. “The Test that Stumped Them All” by Dream Theater

4. “The Ballad of Hollywood Jack and the Rage Kage” by Tenacious D

5. “The Dance of Eternity” by Dream Theater

Literary Quotes:

1.  "...and then I decided I was a lemon for a couple of weeks. I kept myself amused all that time jumping in and out of a gin and tonic... I found a small lake that thought it was a gin and tonic, and jumped in and out of that. At least, I think it thought it was a gin and tonic. I may (grins crazily) have been imagining it." (Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams)

2.  “I simply am not there. It is hard for me to make sense on any given level. Myself is fabricated, an aberration. I am a noncontingent human being.” (American Psycho by Brett Ellis)

3. “I been in some meetings where the table legs strained and contorted and the chairs knotted and the walls gritted against one another till you could of wrung sweat out the room. I been in meetings where they kept talking about a patient so long that the patient materialized in the flesh, nude on the coffee table in front of them, vulnerable to any fiendish notion they took; they'd have him smeared around in an awful mess before they were finished.” (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey)

4. “I realized I didn’t hate the cabinet door, I hated my life… My house, my family, my backyard, my power mower. Nothing would ever change; nothing new could ever be expected. It had to end, and it did. Now in the dark world where I dwell, ugly things, and surprising things, and sometimes little wondrous things, spill out in me constantly, and I can count on nothing.” (A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick)

5. “Then no matter where you are, in a crowded restaurant or on some desolate street or even in the comforts of your own home, you'll watch yourself dismantle every assurance you ever lived by. You'll stand aside as a great complexity intrudes, tearing apart, piece by piece, all of your carefully conceived denials, whether deliberate or unconscious. And then for better or worse you'll turn, unable to resist, though try to resist you still will, fighting with everything you've got not to face the thing you most dread, what is now, what will be, what has always come before, the creature you truly are, the creature we all are, buried in the nameless black of a name. And then the nightmares will begin.” (House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski)

Art References:

1. “Nightmares” by Zdzislaw Beksinski

2. by Matthew Brandt

3. “Modern Rhapsody - The Seven Arts” by Salvador Dali

4. “Digital Spore” by Fabian Jimenez

5. “Liquid City” by Kevin Mack

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New Endings

#1: AG doesn’t blow Project Varikkyyden’s true nature like a dumbass and they successfully install BG’s gadget into its module. PV activates and disrupts the systems of all government-run non-emergency services within a 2 mile radius. BG and AG drive home. However, BG picks up a radio broadcast of news reporting PV’s effects, and confronts AG about it. AG kicks BG’s ass with his secret tentacles and throws him several yards off the side of the road. BG walks the rest of the way home, triangulating the strength of local radio stations to navigate. 

#2: A security guard for the building that houses PV wanders in. He sees AG and yells at him to get out of there. BG’s like, “Wait, I thought you had access here!” AG isn’t really listening, as he starts arguing with the security guard. Believing AG to be relatively weak, the guard climbs up to the platform to apprehend AG. Secret tentacles ensue. Realizing that AG is up to something, BG pushes his gadget off the catwalk and it breaks on the ground two stories below. BG sneaks off and leaves AG and the guard to their business. He drives home in AG’s car, and spends the rest of his day wondering what the hell just happened. 

#3: The complicated architecture of the catwalk-y warehouse building sets off a rather chaotic hallucination for BG, and he is unable to navigate the building with AG. AG takes the device himself and tries to install it. However, BG’s hallucinations lead him to wander into a pole that upsets the structure of the catwalk AG is on, causing a portion of PV’s structure to collapse. BG escapes outside, while a nearby policeman investigates the noise and finds AG. Recognizing AG as a person of interest, the policeman arrests him. AG is pissed off, but too shocked from the collapse to fight back. BG drives back home in AG’s car, and hears a radio broadcast detailing AG’s arrest and history. BG’s like “Huh, that’s weird, glad that didn’t pan out,” and continues with his life. 

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Story Outline

(BG and AG’s real names to come as soon as I can think of any that I like.)

1. Introduction to Delko

Delko is having a normal day in his quiet rural home. We see a couple of different hallucinations, cutting between Del’s view and reality. Around here it is probably established that he can eat anything, listen to radio signals, is self-sustaining, etc.

2. Willis needs stuff.

Willis is in the city working on Project Varikkyyden. The last major thing he needs to complete it is a device that his old acquaintance BG owns.

3. Willis breaks in.

Willis sneaks in to Del’s house. Del is currently hallucinating a family out of random objects on his coffee table. Willis sees the gadget he needs in the corner of the room. He poses as one of the kids and asks if he can borrow it. Del recognizes Willis and asks him what he’s doing here.

4. Willis convinces Delko

At the kitchen table Willis explains part of Project Varikkyyden and how he hopes it will benefit society, and asks Del to help install it. Del admits that PV sounds nice, but is slightly wary about helping Willis after he tried to steal the device. Willis says it will give Del something to actually do, as Del hasn’t contributed much to society since the incident that FUBAR’d his mental state. This convinces Del to help.

At some point within the preceding two scenes we get a cryptic hint of the existence of Willis’ secret tentacles, obscured through Delko’s mental state.

5. They arrive at the city

Willis and Delko drive(?) to the city with the device. The desnity of the city makes Del’s visions somewhat more dense and chaotic than usual. Del is slightly uneasy at this change in environment. Willis and Del enter the catwalk-y warehouse where PV is installed. While Willis acts like he has access to the building, it is subtly apparent that he’s actually sneaking in.

6. Reveal

They climb up to the module where Delko’s device is to be installed, but Willis lets slip that the consequences of PV are much more destructive/disruptive than he had let on, revealing that PV is an anarchist project. Del denounces Willis and the project and tries to leave with his device.

7. Fight

Willis formally reveals his secret tentacles and tries to grab the device and push Del away. A fight ensues. Lots of intercutting with Del’s pov. Del tries to break the device, but Willis catches it; eventually Del eats the device, destroying it. Willis gets really pissed off and starts fighting more erratically, but Del manages to break his balance and push Willis over and trigger the building’s security alarm.

8. Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir

Del escapes the building and drives away before the police show up. As he arrives home, he listens to a news broadcast saying that Willis was found unconscious in the building and arrested. Delko is glad that he was able to actually do something useful, but also happy to be back to his quiet home.

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Beats

1. Box Guy is having a normal day at his house. We see several glimpses of his ever-shifting cognitive state. 

2. Amoeba Guy is in the city working on Project TBD. To finish it he needs Plot Device X, which he remembers is in the possession of his old acquaintance Box Guy.

3. Back at BG’s house, AG tries to infiltrate BG’s current fantasy and discreetly steal PDX, but BG recognizes him immediately.

4. After some convincing, BG agrees to lend PDX to AG and help him finish PTBD. 

5. They travel to a catwalk-y warehouse in the city and attempt to install PDX.

6. However, when AG lets slip the controversial true intent of PTBD, BG refuses to help. 

7. A fight ensues, with AG having the upper hand, but BG destroys PDX by eating it.

8. BG goes home.

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Hero/Anti-Hero

Conflict: (see previous post, #1)

Difference: BG is insane, but benign; BAG is intelligent, but psychopathic.

BG: Innocent

BAG: Outlaw

Scene 1 (Panels 01-12)

Dialogue: “Yeah... that looks good...” (board 11)

Scene 2 (Panels 13-24)

Dialogue: “What? Okay, I am not doing this.”(board 13)

“Come on, man. I was hoping you’d understand...”(board 14)

“No. I’m taking this thing back home, and I never want to hear from you or your insane plans again.” (board 15-19)

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” (board 20)

“Get out of here.” (board 21)

“You’ve made a mistake.” (board 22-23)

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2 Concept Statements

Concept 1: Don't underestimate the benignly insane.

Plot 1: "Box Guy" is enjoying his life until "Bald Amoeba Guy" breaks into his house in an attempt to steal (plot device X). After some convincing from BAG, BG decides to help him use PDX for (secret project). BAG brings him to a catwalky-warehouse place in the city where they will install PDX and activate the project. However, when BG finds out the true nature of the project, he refuses to help BAG. A fight ensues, and BG eventually wins. BG goes back home happy to have prevented (whatever bad thing BAG's project entailed).

Concept 2: Inanimate objects have feelings, too.

Plot 2: Dave is a rock musician who likes to smash instruments on-stage. One day, after getting hit in the head with a flying chunk of broken instrument, he finds himself in an alternate dimension where instruments smash people. At first, he tries to escape. Then he decides to lead a resistance against the instruments. After dying in battle, he wakes up back in reality. He decides to stop smashing his instruments, because shitty moral lesson.