The Journey of a TV-length episode has begun! (Patreon)

Hi Patrons!

Hope you are all doing well - Summer here in North America has just ended, and my favorite season has begun. Autumn is not the only thing that has started - so has the long journey of Story 8!

I've been eager share with you all the progress and steps I've taken to get this next project up and running.

Writing - Done!

In the weeks after "Rock Hard Gladiator", I was busy handling merch orders, marketing the new plushie (which is still on sale for the next 2 hours!), and relaxing. That last one, was actually very important to my creative juices, since the crunch for Story 7 went longer than expected. My ideas have been slowly percolating throughout September and have finally manifested into a workable project.

Although this story has been in the works for four years now, I'm happy to report that I've solidified the script in written AND animatic form. The story is significantly longer than the usual music videos, and had to be separated into 8 different "chapters" during writing. Don't worry though, I don't plan on releasing the final animation in multiple parts. The chapters just mean that Gildedguy (and Mar) will be travelling between a larger variety of environments, featuring snow, ice, gold, and fire.

25-Minute Long Animatic

I spent the last couple weeks translating the script to visual form, and timing out the scenes. The product is the "Animatic", which is a slideshow of storyboards for preview and synchronization purposes.

The biggest thing about this project is that it is going to be about twenty-five (25) minutes long, which is about what you'd see on television! The daunting task of producing a "pilot" length project is something I've done in the past, with my Falcomaster3000 series. 

The difference is that "Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar" will be animated (and not a visual/graphic novel), as you'd expect from a syndicated TV episode. Some important things to note are:

• No plans to use voice-acting.
• There will be sound FX and full musical scoring.
• We'll still be featuring action-packed segments synchronized to a song!

Featured Musical Artist: Koethe

In addition, I have secured character permissions from the creator of Mar, and the planned battle music, written by the featured musician:

Koethe (pronounced COE - THEE)

His music was introduced to me by a song requested from Soapy (one of our prod team members). He has an incredibly indie, rock style that I really dig. His music ranges from slow and peaceful to gritty and epic. 

He's given me the greenlight to use his music for Story #8, and I look forward to blowing his socks off with the final animation!

Please go check out his music and see if you can spot which song of his I plan to use!

Koethe on Spotify and YouTube.

Production Team & Budget

In order to accomplish this mammoth project, I have already recruited several of the previous animation's team members. So far we have inbetweening, animation, background art, scoring & concept art covered! I feel confident in the team size (8 people), but since everybody has less-than-fulltime to spare, I may need to hire more hands later on.

As for the budget, I'm ready to spend up to twice the amount I did on Story #7 (mainly due to the extended production time). This animation will take at least full year to produce. I'm targeting Summer 2023 as my optimistic release time.

I believe the finances will hold out for the next several months of production, but don't be surprised if I release more merch opportunities/promotions to push for fundraising. I still want to keep these animations fully independent!

Wrap Up

As I've scoured the internet, I am realizing it is becoming more and more common for independent animators to create longer form pieces through the use of economic techniques and smart writing. I hope to deliver a similar, entertaining experience as these indie pilot animations, while also pushing my storytelling abilities even further. I know a lot of you guys enjoy the deep, meaty meanings behind my work, and I'm betting that a story that is twice the normal length will give me plenty of room to tell it.

I hope you guys are on board with me on this endeavor! If you have any concerns (as you have every right to, since this is your money being used), please feel free to let me know through the comments or email (michael@gildedguy.com).

As usual, I'll be streaming most of the process on Twitch, while keeping major spoilers to a minimum. 

Thanks!