Let's all get together and make an anime!

[UrbanMysticDee]

I changed it to the other thing I pictured. (and now I feel stupid for picking the other option, since I knew that didn't make sense, anyhow. >_>" ) http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/A ... bTest2.gif
(oh, and about the red on yellow thing, I think it depends on the colors. If it's a dark red on a lighter yellow, I think it could work, maybe)

hmm... your vechile goes the opposite way mine does. O_o ...I wonder why I commonly picture things moving the directions I do... The tire covering the title is interesting. ...I think the problem I have with zooming out that way, is that I feel there needs to be a time when it's zoomed in on the guys in the vechicle, to hear what's going on and be there with them (and get first impressions of them). But... that way, it's getting farther away, and then I don't know how to come back...
maybe the camera would slowly catch up with them again...?

I guess when we're in the air behind them we can spin around and come back in, or maybe cut to someone's face and then have the camera move along side them and go back and forth from the left to right. That's for the director to figure out.

What I was trying to say with that comment is that in your previous posts, it seemed like you were saying there is no such middle ground. Don't spend your time in these forums trying to shut me or anybody else down.

Also, I think Haentelus was saying that it might not be within our means to make a feature-length thing at the first go...which is why I keep pushing the "pilot" suggestion. We could use it as a promo and get some more artists onboard so we can actually see it through to the end.

Nothing is written except the opening maybe 20/30 seconds, and that's been a struggle getting that far. I can figure out the first five/ten minutes but I don't even know what and who I have to work with.

There's been this fundamental lack of direction since the beginning. There are animators and actors I've never met so I don't know how to write the story around what they can do, I've been trying to join the official site for several days now and it keeps saying "membership pending approval" so I can't even communicate with several people there or even read some of the stuff there, there doesn't seem to be clear structure to anything. I'm trying to do my best as "head writer" when I don't even know who the other writers are or how to contact them and it can get frustrating when I keep having to repeat things several times.

[Shoprocks]

don't start making finished pictures yet, since not everything's worked out.
hmm... I just realized how odd it is that earlier today, someone from church asked me if I could draw some 30's/40's planes for them...

Got it. I'll just wait. Also, that's kind of bizarre lol.

Nothing is written except the opening maybe 20/30 seconds, and that's been a struggle getting that far. I can figure out the first five/ten minutes but I don't even know what and who I have to work with.

There's been this fundamental lack of direction since the beginning. There are animators and actors I've never met so I don't know how to write the story around what they can do, I've been trying to join the official site for several days now and it keeps saying "membership pending approval" so I can't even communicate with several people there or even read some of the stuff there, there doesn't seem to be clear structure to anything. I'm trying to do my best as "head writer" when I don't even know who the other writers are or how to contact them and it can get frustrating when I keep having to repeat things several times.

I've got to be real with you guys, I had never planned this far ahead because I thought this would go right in the can like another Smackjeeves anime I won't name. (Too honest? Maybe.) I chose the web site because it was the first one I saw, and it turns out it's creating way more problems than it's solving, so I really apologize.

I'm considering switching to something like Google Docs or creating a forum with the same host Smackjeeves uses, in an attempt to organize the people who actually intend to lift a finger and work on this. I'm totally open to suggestions. (I think Docs would be the best because it will have one definitive draft, but I know setting up 1000 accounts is a pain in the rear.)

I realize I've put you all in an awkward position by having no structure or guidance or anything. However UrbanMysticDee it seems like you're an extremely competent writer, and the same can be said for a lot of you who have contributed. There's no pressure for you to lead us or go through with this, but you seem to have a vision that has been here from the start, and I personally trust it. If you ever want to bail, no worries. But I agree something really has to change about how we're doing this QoQ (i am just a small person but i will figure something out)

EDIT: As for the other people...if they're "writers" but they don't visit this thread often enough to really get involved then that's their problem. You'll find out soon what we have for artists, and we can find more.

[Troll]

I knew this would happen.

If you guys just came up with a simple story. You could have already been starting.
Like a simple slice of life, romance - girl likes this guy (or the other way around), confesses, add some extra scenes then happy ending.
Or a typical manga/anime action story - Anime hero/heroine must defeat evil monster which terrorizes cupcake city, hero/ine beats monster, happy ending.

Always start with a small project to gauge everyone's capabilities. Not like this, planning something big and complex where most people doesn't even have a clue about the theme.

[Shoprocks]

I knew this would happen.

If you guys just came up with a simple story. You could have already been starting.
Like a simple slice of life, romance - girl likes this guy (or the other way around), confesses, add some extra scenes then happy ending.
Or a typical manga/anime action story - Anime hero/heroine must defeat evil monster which terrorizes cupcake city, hero/ine beats monster, happy ending.

Always start with a small project to gauge everyone's capabilities. Not like this, planning something big and complex where most people doesn't even have a clue about the theme.

For somebody named Troll...

You guys are right.This might even be doomed to failure. The question is whether we get frustrated and give up, or keep on grinding. Things are looking way better than they were a week ago when I threw you all into the water and said "swim..." Now we have the beginnings of a story. I can say more on this later but I need to get to class >_>

I think we have pretty high standards, which will be a blessing and a curse. I don't think this group will settle for simpler. But I'm forcing you to settle,for now, for shorter--pilot. First episode. Whatever works.

[Asj]

Last night I had the idea of the first shot happening like... The title appears on the screen. It's in black, and it kind'a wiggles a little (but is still readable) like in the heat from the sun. The Vehicle zooms past (mainly the front right tire is visible), taking the title with it. It leaves a huge cloud of dust behind it (takes a second for the dust cloud to catch up). The dust thins out as the camera rises, and the camera gets to where it can see the vehicle from above, and follows it, gradually catching up, where it'll show the different people in the vehicle - I should just call it a jeep, I think it's a jeep. (just thinking of a few different ways of doing it... if it's the first shot/scene shown, it's important.) I might try animating a version of that...

Spoiler! :

I also thought about a few possible characters a little... (I tend to have a lot of time to think while lying in bed)

Spoiler! :

Black-haired: kind'a loner-ish, doesn't talk much, usually serious. Red-head: Good fighter, but tends toward thinking of it like a game to keep his distance. When thinking of the enemy as being like ordinary people, it bothers him and makes him question things. Blond and brunette: I donno.

I like talking about it here. It should just be here.
Also, if we find out what happens in the first episode/several minutes, it would probably help people focus on figuring out how that part will work... It should probably mainly be about introductions, showing their lifestyle, their personalities, basically what's going on, etc. But, the more people know about the whole thing, the easier it would be to figure out what's supposed to happen at the beginning.

[haentelus]

It's really awesome that everyone is contributing and so eager, but before we can get so in depth with our intro we really need to figure out where we're going and when- we don't want to corner ourselves.

And "troll" (hurr hurr nice name), very right. I agree that this is really quite a big project and out of most of our grasps of understanding. But worth a try. What have we to lose?

[Shoprocks]

I liked that the camera spun around the Jeep in the first one...just my two cents, carry on

(although that would be harder on the animators. i'll give it a whirl if need be)

[RTSSH21]

ok im a bit confused, i said A war story, i didnt realize we were 100% doing a ww2 story? o.0 obviously its true that my idea wouldnt work in ww2 stuff, but as a general war thing it would, so im just gonna sit and wait for things to clear, since posting thoughts doesnt seem to be working much. o.o;

[UrbanMysticDee]

For somebody named Troll...

You guys are right.This might even be doomed to failure. The question is whether we get frustrated and give up, or keep on grinding. Things are looking way better than they were a week ago when I threw you all into the water and said "swim..." Now we have the beginnings of a story. I can say more on this later but I need to get to class >_>

I think we have pretty high standards, which will be a blessing and a curse. I don't think this group will settle for simpler. But I'm forcing you to settle,for now, for shorter--pilot. First episode. Whatever works.

I don't know how long you've been on SJ but please, please, please, NEVER EVER LISTEN TO TROLL. Troll is a grade A asshole who always shoots everyone down and never has anything positive to say to anyone ever.

I filmed a rough version of the opening first minute, complete with explanatory narration. It's called "Desert Fox" in the video title because film crews always use fake titles until the thing is released.
It's about 6 1/2 minutes long with all the details. The last minute is the opening. Since it's a complete model of almost the whole action it should be easy to animate something off of.

Spoiler! :

Last night I had the idea of the first shot happening like... The title appears on the screen. It's in black, and it kind'a wiggles a little (but is still readable) like in the heat from the sun. The Vehicle zooms past (mainly the front right tire is visible), taking the title with it. It leaves a huge cloud of dust behind it (takes a second for the dust cloud to catch up). The dust thins out as the camera rises, and the camera gets to where it can see the vehicle from above, and follows it, gradually catching up, where it'll show the different people in the vehicle - I should just call it a jeep, I think it's a jeep. (just thinking of a few different ways of doing it... if it's the first shot/scene shown, it's important.) I might try animating a version of that...
I like talking about it here. It should just be here.
Also, if we find out what happens in the first episode/several minutes, it would probably help people focus on figuring out how that part will work... It should probably mainly be about introductions, showing their lifestyle, their personalities, basically what's going on, etc. But, the more people know about the whole thing, the easier it would be to figure out what's supposed to happen at the beginning.

I was working off of your red title and here you changed it to black.

[Elesa]

I don't know how long you've been on SJ but please, please, please, NEVER EVER LISTEN TO TROLL. Troll is a grade A asshole who always shoots everyone down and never has anything positive to say to anyone ever.

I filmed a rough version of the opening first minute, complete with explanatory narration. I'm uploading it right now.

sure your not talking about me

[UrbanMysticDee]

I was thinking about foreign sounding names for the people in this other country. Some of them are just real names that have the sounds switched around.

Saham - brother is killed in air strike (collateral, he wasn't the intended target) He decides to join the warlord's army to get revenge. Probably (almost certainly) dies by the end.
Asmer

The warlord can be named Marcus Illa. He was educated in the West, speaks 6 or 7 languages. He's a real villain but he's being used like Kony to justify the war. He opposes the official government, which is also run by a very bad man, but the current leader can be courted by the US to secure trade deals so someone else (China probably) doesn't get them.

Delta guys names
Jim
Bean


Here's some stuff on the first Gulf War (around 40 minutes total). It should serve as a good primer on desert warfare and examples of what a lot of stuff looks like.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

[Troll]

I don't know how long you've been on SJ but please, please, please, NEVER EVER LISTEN TO TROLL. Troll is a grade A asshole who always shoots everyone down and never has anything positive to say to anyone ever.

Hahah! Butthurt!

[UrbanMysticDee]

Bradley in action. Complete with specs. This should be a good supplement for the previous Bradley link that didn't have video. Now the animators can see how it moves.

[avian-reader]

May I try as an assistant writer? I love the idea of writing from the "bad guys" perspective; I like Sven Hassel's books.

omg educated person oAo With relevant knowledge. You're welcome here (wondering if too many chefs ruin the soup, but we'll see what happens). It'll be pretty important to have both sides have justifications for their actions, so that perspective should be helpful.

Heh, GCSEs are only basic education Thanks a lot though.

Is there any time when the people most interested in writing can get together on Skype, a chatroom, or some other kind of instant communication to decide some stuff?

I'm probably not going to be able to do instant communication, my time's pretty tight. Hope this isn't a problem.

May I try as an assistant writer? I love the idea of writing from the "bad guys" perspective; I like Sven Hassel's books.

Cool. You can invent the culture of the unidentified airid highland country and/or the warlord and his personal army.

Sure thing, I think I've got a couple of ideas already.

For the country, seeing as this is an anime, why not set it in Japan? This probably sounds silly (and probably is...), but please let me explain my train of thought:

Due in part to escalating violence in the Middle East, particularly involving Pakistan, India forms a close alliance with China, putting the US on edge, especially as the Indo-China Alliance keeps a tight grip on the export of natural mineral resources.

Soon after this, the Japanese Communist Party comes to power, having gained support due to the global financial crisis. It immediately begins motions to terminate the Japan-US military alliance and distance US relations.

Despite the JCP's anti-militarism, defense of Article 9, and desire for independent foreign policy, the US government is suspicious of the party and suspects it of planning to join the Indo-China Alliance (not 100% sure why this is a problem for them).

The government sets up some atrocities to "prove" that the JCP is abusing it's power and must be swiftly dealt with. They soon after dispact troops to capture leading party and Diet members, before the Alliance can make moves to defend them.

Also, have you considered putting up an request for voice talent on the VAC site? Some pretty big names like Rina and Tomamoto hang out there. I can't see us getting them, but then you never know, they seem to turn up everywhere.

[UrbanMysticDee]

Sure thing, I think I've got a couple of ideas already.

For the country, seeing as this is an anime, why not set it in Japan? This probably sounds silly (and probably is...), but please let me explain my train of thought:

Due in part to escalating violence in the Middle East, particularly involving Pakistan, India forms a close alliance with China, putting the US on edge, especially as the Indo-China Alliance keeps a tight grip on the export of natural mineral resources.

Soon after this, the Japanese Communist Party comes to power, having gained support due to the global financial crisis. It immediately begins motions to terminate the Japan-US military alliance and distance US relations.

Despite the JCP's anti-militarism, defense of Article 9, and desire for independent foreign policy, the US government is suspicious of the party and suspects it of planning to join the Indo-China Alliance (not 100% sure why this is a problem for them).

The government sets up some atrocities to "prove" that the JCP is abusing it's power and must be swiftly dealt with. They soon after dispact troops to capture leading party and Diet members, before the Alliance can make moves to defend them.

Also, have you considered putting up an request for voice talent on the VAC site? Some pretty big names like Rina and Tomamoto hang out there. I can't see us getting them, but then you never know, they seem to turn up everywhere.

I wasn't really liking the idea at first, as it would involve some explaining of the opening scene, why they're driving around in the desert if they're going to invade Japan. I went away and did some more thinking and don't like it even more.

While the idea of the US going to war with Japan seems like an interesting idea for a war game, it's already a way more involved idea than even what I was thinking of.

There are large areas of disputed borders between India and China, armed and manned at all times. China is close with Pakistan, India's top enemy. With how close the two countries are I don't see India and China forming an alliance strong enough to worry the US or Japan. There are also large areas of India that are dealing with Maoist guerillas, resulting in Darjeeling transforming from the honeymoon capital of the world to a terrorist nest, among other things.

Japan and China are also historic enemies. There is much animosity to this day between Japanese and Chinese. As much as I doubt India and China would form an alliance, I doubt Japan and China forming an alliance even more, or even strong enough suspicion that they would to justify military action against Japan.