What skills are worth recruiting for? Read about it here:
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Last edited by michaelcawood (02-17-2012 2:56 am)

Released from the vault. Here's a look at the reasons behind some of the shots being dropped over the course of the film.

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Find more Behind the Scenes videos here:
http://devilsangelsanddating.ning.com/behindthescenes

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Here's a Director's Commentary. I recorded this at reduced speed playback so that there was more time to talk. Enjoy!
http://devilsangelsanddating.ning.com/v … the-scenes

Good question... I'm going to guess you're contemplating it yourself, or you know someone that is. If I have a choice.... ask me again in a year. Simply put it's going to take time to see what the real impact of a project this big is. Already it's lead to better jobs for a large number of our best team members, so from that perspective it's fulfilled its main requirement. Of course it's also very likely there's a shorter route to that than making an entire film. Obviously the other team members didn't commit as much time as I did so they get more value out of what they put in. My commitment is yet to be evaluated in full. Talking to other short film makers years after the fuss has died down it's not always proved to be that rewarding, but it really depends on what the individual is like and how successful they are at assessing the best opportunities and taking advantage of them. Some already have their foot in the door somewhere meaningful and they have used their films to leverage great opportunities, most haven't really taken full advantage of the opportunities as they over estimate what they can get and wait too long for something that might never come. I think there's a middle ground that an experienced industry professionally can steer towards to get the best out of it without their expectations getting too unrealistic. That's where I'd put myself, and from that perspective it's already a success.

But I think for those considering doing something like this, they really need to assess their experience in virtually all areas of production first. If they don't cover most areas to a high level then they probably shouldn't be trying to make an entire film. It's going to be far more work than most people expect.

Yup... you could say that!

Indeed the needs to the project frequently overtake other priorities like... animating, and having a life. Only you can decide what's important to you.

The film is up on YouTube of course and it has been throughout the project... officially going online with the final version on the 4th of January. It's also being sent to festivals, but they were never as important to this project as the online release. We probably won't get into as many festivals as other films, as they like premieres (so that they can sell tickets). But showing the film (and all our shots in reels) was more important to our team than any festival screenings or awards.

I've just taken a new job, which I'm not going to go into here... but that's keeping me busy right now.

Well obviously it was about results... as we got it finished... a pretty rare thing for volunteer shorts!

I'm not quite clear on what you're asking next though. I pretty much did have control over the schedule... as much as you can with a volunteer remote team. If you're saying how long would it take with paid people onsite, then maybe around a year... but it really depends on the studio, the people, etc... Too many factors to guess. I would have liked to have finished the film a year earlier, but there were the usual unanticipated delays... models, rigs, tools, story changes, people leaving the team, people taking jobs and putting their assignments on hold, etc... Actually what delays things the most are those people that take an assignment then don't follow through but also don't give it up. If someone just says they're out, it's fine... the assignment goes to someone else and things keep moving forward (with maybe a little step back). But waiting for someone to tell you they're out or doing their assignment is what really slows things down. Add a year to your schedule for that kind of stuff, unless you can be brutal enough to just cut people off as soon as they don't respond to your emails.

Devils got a 2 page spread in 3D World Magazine
http://devilsangelsanddating.ning.com/p … age-spread

Devils will be screening at the California International Animation Festival

Devils has been accepted into five festivals so far, with several more recently writing to me to ask for the film to be entered. As a real treat it'll be at the HollyShorts Festival in Grauman's Chinese Theatre on the Walk of Fame on the 16th of August. I'll be there, and I'll be at the Awards ceremony. If there are any film makers in the area that want to hook up let me know.

Devils just won an Award for "Animated Short Film" at the Burbank Film Festival

I quite enjoyed the story myself, very interesting concept. Congratulations