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.