First some news about Phungus & Mowld’s pilot episode “Dead Angle”. The first episode is finally available not only for purchase/rental via Vimeo On Demand, but also Amazon Prime Video in the UK, US, Germany, and Japan. While Amazon US, UK and Japan took only 3 days to get the video published on their platform, Germany took about two weeks. Go figure. But when I started inquiring via Twitter they did react quickly and let me know the moment it was online, so kudos for that part.

Festivals

As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, I’ve submitted the first episode to several festivals, well aware that it probably won’t be selected, because honestly the first half of it shows that I was still “learning the ropes”. The pacing is too slow, animation is stiff and mechanical, I can’t really watch that part anymore, there are just too many things sticking out negatively. The latter half is OK though. Having said that, it appears not everybody sees it that way, because so far the Phoenix Monthly Shortfilm Festival has selected “Dead Angle”, so let’s hope it’ll make it to the final round. Also my pilot episode so far has made it to finalist in the Flixze Film Festival. The final verdict for both festival will be out mid December.

Episode 2 “Schröder’s Cat”

Yes, that title is not a typo, it’s a pun. The script for this episode is mostly done. With “mostly” I mean it’s completed, and the story itself is unlikely to change fundamentally, but there’s a good chance I’ll be making a few tweaks and probably try to sprinkle in a few more jokes before I start recording the narration. I’ve started to draft new backdrops and characters needed for this episode, some rough sketches of the rest of the rooms in the Pon Kho 2. Below is one idea for the cargo bay / entrance to the ship on the ground level. I’m still randomly drafting quite different layouts (diverge) until I’m going to decide what look and feel that room should have (converge).

It’s a Drag

As much as I love creating new characters, spaceships, thingamajigs, I really find creating backdrops especially for interiors to be really, really exhausting. I suck at it. And it never comes out remotely as I picture it in my head. But someone’s gotta do it, and currently the head count of my design team is three: me, myself, and I. So I don’t see any other volunteers jumping in any time soon.

What Happened to The Vlog?

Well, we’re quickly approaching the end of the year, which means holidays and time off, so I’m confident I’ll be able to produce a few episodes of my vlog during this time and then I can release it in small doses over an extended time. Just frequent enough to remind people I’m still alive and haven’t fallen off the edge of the world, and neither has Phungus & Mowld.