The Unsucksessful Vampire & FiveZs. Update.

In December 2008, I posted about an interactive website that I was writing scripts for called FiveZs, and thought that I had also posted about a short animation called The Unsucksessful Vampire that I was writing the script for. But upon a look through the archives (it didn't take long), there is no such post. So I must have imagined it.

But anyway, as I never received a copy of the animation, I have recently found it on YouTube and watched it for the first time. It was made by final year students at the then titled The Arts Institute Bournemouth (now The Arts University College Bournemouth) in the class of 2009.

So after no information or hype, I proudly present:



So there it is. What did you think?

Now for some brief exposition:

The collaboration came about after replying to an advert looking for a scriptwriter to pen the narration to an animation that was currently being made. Feeling out of my depth, set on rejection, but fired up about the prospect of writing it, I applied. I used my Vampire and Book short animation scripts as an example of my work, and they did the trick.

Although, I was completely frightened and equally enthralled about the task ahead. At that time, I hadn't written a specific narration before and had no idea whether I'd be able to do it. Plus it was a great project to be involved in and I didn't want to let anyone down. But I learnt fast and managed to hold up my end of the bargain and deliver. It was such a proud achievement and challenging, fun process and one that I have learnt so much from.

Much the same follows the story of FiveZs (Interactive Media Production at Bournemouth University) and writing those scripts: replying to an advert, feeling out of my depth, highly pressured, no experience, etc... but I came through and delivered.

From my previous post on FiveZs and writing for that I wrote about writing many puzzles and designing various other levels. Although they all didn't make it into the final version because it was all much too ambitious for a looming deadline and one student working hard to create it all. But what was made of the scripts works really well and I'm proud of it. So I've decided to add it to my portfolio on my website and you can view the interactive website here. It's best to view it in full-screen (F11) if you have a small screen as the bottom section cuts off.

Besides the challenge and the pressure, I had a lot of fun writing them. So I hope you enjoy them!

The Unsuckessful Vampire. - [Reflection/Update]

Strangely this is the first post on this collaboration which was completed over six months ago. But it was such an incredible experience that I am going to offer a brief insight and reflection on the project.

The Unsuccessful Vampire is a three minute stop-motion animation produced across the road from Bournemouth University at The Arts Institute Bournemouth. I didn't write the animation's story but did co-write the narration to it and had a blast.

Initially being chosen for the project was a mix of terror and excitement. I had no experience in the area and wanted to achieve the best I could because I didn't want to let anyone down and wanted to do justice to the story/visuals.

So I was given an animatic (rough version) of the short and had to come up with a suitable narration to accompany it. There was 30 seconds of an original attempt from the start, which helped to guide me and in the end most of it remained because it worked so well. At first it was very difficult because I had no story or character notes to work from, just the animatic/part narration and the fact that this vampire was rather unsuccessful in his line of work, well in his nature. But once I got started and involved it all started to flow and was great fun.

I think I did three rewrites on the narration which spanned over six months and received some great notes on them. I had time on this which was the best thing because it took awhile to get into the mind of the story and the world of animation. But it was such an incredible and rewarding challenge, and fun thing to do that I really miss the process. There were a few problem areas for awhile, where it just seemed impossible that anything suitable would fit there. But in the end, suitable words came from nowhere and seemed to fit and work.

It was such a great story and animatic and relaxed collaboration that it was a pleasure to work on and I learnt so much that it was also a blessing.

Currently, the short is being shown around film festivals and I should be able to get a copy within a month or so, as I haven't seen the finished version yet.

I do hope that it will be uploaded online at some point as it would be great to be able to proudly post the link.