It's been 6 months but I'm back working on the Panda Girls anime / manga pretty much full-time now. I was helping out a friend of mine, Dave Royer, with his business called SAGE Creatives, and we may see more developments with Dave and Panda Girls in the near future.
Jumping back into the Panda Girls project was a little odd and exciting. Odd in the way that I felt distanced visually, (Crom and I have maintained story meetings consistently during my hiatus), and exciting in that sense where you know time away always brings with it a new perspective. For my first post, I didn't want to make a splash. More just easing into it again, and giving myself time to find my stride.
Here's a couple of thumbnails, (in no particular order), to help me feel out the 10 page teaser. Jumping around to events/moments that inspired, and tried to catch them with the simplest shapes.
Whoa! you've found the Treatment page Crom linked you! Too bad he suckered you! Crom will be creating a video regarding the treatment for Tuesday October 2nd, so check back next week, and see the big man in action!
This is my first post as Composer for the Panda Girls Movie project! I'm very excited to be writing the soundtrack to this movie; it should prove to be very very challenging! The process we're going through with the movie is quite different than 'movie production' as a whole; the development time will be quite long, and allow us the opportunity to write and rewrite all elements of the movie (hopefully we won't get bogged down). Typically, a soundtrack is written in the post-production phase: the movie has been shot, edited etc. BEFORE it gets to the music and foley soundtrack phase - here, we're trying to involve our audience before it's released, allowing their input and comments to shape the production.
So, please comment on this! It's a short sketch this time; as I don't have scenes or situations to score, I'm just writing to anything that comes into my head; and I'm trying to find the 'sound' that I want for the movie. So far, the inspiration is largely Elfman symphonic; we'll throw in some Asian instruments later to give it some Panda Girly spice.
"Sketches", by their very nature are incomplete; sounds may not be exactly as they will be, and the overall effect may be a little different - give me your thoughts!
So what am I currently writing to? What’s the plan, as it were.
well….here’s the plan:
The other acts are filled out, these are still in mostly to hold everything in its place. We’ve gone through this part about a hundred times, and it has evolved pretty heavily since the first outline got spat out. Part of that is ideas sitting with us over time and we felt different about them, and part of it was getting to know our story better. When we took a long hard look at what it was we were trying to say, some events, some character traits, and a lot of moments we loved, were tossed aside in favour of newer, better ideas. Getting to know this story, has been like getting to know a person for me. As time passes I find deeper understanding of the story’s meaning and personality, and since I’m the one telling you about my friend, I’d better know her pretty well.
The plan is that have the first act on paper for monday of next week. Slower then I had hoped back in February, but the bottom line is that I really had my head in my ass about what was still needed back then. Ambition is all well and good, but it’s only worthwhile if there’s a focus for it.
PRODUCTION DAILIES 
