B R O K E N    S A I N T S    C H A P T E R    1 3    R E V A M P

The first thing one has to do while working on a Cinematic Graphic Novel is understand the medium. To feel comfortable with all its strengths and weaknesses and most importantly- to make mistakes. Thus, before entering production of Seraphim, I decided to dissect my predecessor. 

The following is a short excerpt from Chapter 13 "INSERTION" of the critically acclaimed, BROKEN SAINTS. 

T H E    S T O R Y    T H U S    F A R

We now join Oran and Raimi, two characters from the show in an intense moment. 

Oran is being used as a test subject for a secret experiment involving the implanting of a chip onto the nerves behind the patient's eyeball! It could cause the loss of Oran's vision in that eye, forever! 

Raimi must use his supreme computer skills to hurry and save Oran by looking through BIOCOMS files in attempt to find a less dangerous nerve to implant the chip onto. he only has seconds before the cut. will Raimi find an alternative in time?

 <  B A  C K    H O M E 
 F E A T U R E S


WATCH THE REVAMP
WATCH THE ORIGINAL

 R E Q U I R M E N T 

>Flash 6
>1024 by 768 or higher
> preferred iExplorer


 A F F I L I A T E S   


 P R O D U C T I O N    N O T E S    A N D    S T U D Y

C R E D I T S
For Revamp 
Illustration by Efraim Siounis (unless otherwise stated)
Animation by Efraim Siounis
Written by Broke Burgess
Directed by Broke Burgess
Technical Direction by Ian Kirby
Artistic Direction by Andrew West
Musical Direction and Composition by Tobias Tinker
Musical Editing by Ian Kirby
Produced by BrokenSaints.com and F-Ram.net

For Original
Illustration by Andrew West and Ian Kirby
Animation by Ian Kirby
Written by Broke Burgess
Directed by Broke Burgess
Technical Direction by Ian Kirby
Artistic Direction by Andrew West
Musical Direction and Composition by Tobias Tinker
Musical Editing by Ian Kirby
Produced by BrokenSaints.com

P R O D U C T I O N    G O A L

- Re work everything they did from scratch. (Except music, script and direction.)

- Recompile the scene to its roots and rebuild it up using their final product as guidance. (Sometimes using the final production to fill in gap)

- Like studying Math with the answer in the back. 

- Keep in mind that all notes are for further advancements. Be prepared to make mistakes and stick to the original as much as possible. 

P R O D U C T I O N    P L A N

After working- I found the best way to produce a cinematic graphic novel is just this:

Pre Production
- List out all SCENES (x) with story boards
- Write out DRAFT of DIALOGUE for each Scene
- List out all SHOTS (y) for each X with story boards 
- List out all FRAMES (z) for each Y.
You can make a folder with the chapter name "A" and then name each file "X-Y-Z.jpg/.gif/.mc/.png" 
ex. 13/ 02-03-03 = Chapter 13/ Oran getting his eye attacked - Scalpel going down towards Oran's eye - Doctors hand w/ scalpel"
- Sketch up a list of all SFX

Production
- Sketch out all Frames
- Sketch up a time line. (to find out how many layer you'll need and can reuse)
- Finish ALL Frames
- IMPORT ALL Frames
- Set up Frames BEFORE tweening
- use the sketched up time line to TWEEN ALL Frames.
- MAKE ALL TXT (bubbles and boxes)
- ADD ALL TXT
- COMPOSE MUSIC using SFX LIST
- IMPORT ALL SFX
- EDIT ALL SFX

Post Production
- TWEAK movie (looking for Frame Rate) (if you followed Production Plan, this should go easy)
- MAKE HTML page
- TEST on different computers
- TWEAK again
- PUBLISH (upload) 

S H O T    L I S T  /  C O M P A R I S O N S

BS = Original Frame
ES = Revamped Frame
xxx = Frame Revamped

WEB
Layout BS ES

13-01
13-01-01  
Oran (Face/serious) BS ES
Oran (Face/Happy) BS ES
Mountains BS ES
Sky BS ES
City
Hallo BS ES
Text Splash BS

13-02
13-02-01 BS
Oran on chair (dark)  
Oran on chair (light) 
Oran on chair 
Doctor BS 
Ground

13-02-02
Oran (Close) BS ES
Hand (scalpel) BS ES
Hand (Doctor) BS ES
Trailing' light 
B/G BS ES

13-02-03 
Raimi w/ B/G BS ES

13-02-04
Static
Window Screen (full)
Window Screen (blank) BS
code set.1
code set.2
Hand (veins) .1 BS ES
Hand (veins) .2 BS ES
Hand (x.ray) BS ES
Hand (outline)

13-02-05
Hand (muscle) BS ES
LSS Chip (was accidentally replaced with Ians but WAS remade)
Code set.3
Code set.4
Track Light .1
Track Light .2
Brain (x.ray) BS ES

13-02-06
Oran (Face Close) BS ES
Eye 
Trailin' light (close)
Hand (scalpel close) BS ES
Teardrop BS

13-02-07
Brain (real) BS
Brain (neurons) BS
Hand (muscle/close) BS

13-02-08
Raimi ("Wait!") BS ES

J O U R N A L

Update 11 - October 08 2004 - Final Entry

There is a lot of confusion as to the purpose behind me straight up coping most of the 3 minutes of chapter 13 and a bit of creative input behind it.

Well- um.. ever take someone art and copy it to improve your skill?

Okay- that's what I did. I also added a bit of myself in there to.
Not to much- (well besides my naked body)- cause it mainly a study and not a creative peice.

Okay. That's it!

Anyway- it was in Update 10 that I submitted the revamp to Ian and got it into the BSDVD. So um.. yay!

Revamp file size: 1, 131kb.
Original file size: 505kb.

Almost double! I couldn't believe it.  I feel like I failed- but really I need more details about his exporting quality. Oh well. 

The end.

Update 10 - September 15 2004

So it's finally done.

<\ <| </ *waves flag*

I toke a break from working on it and went and meet Ian Kirby in the flesh at NYC. I rapped him with questions and through my time there I learned, first hand, MOSTLY everything I need to know to make a 'cinematic graphic novel'. And with all my expertise I realized that Seraphim would be impossible to make alone or with just Woolie and I part time.

My final conclusion after all this is: Seraphim will be put on hiatus.

Today is a dark day.

But then again- I will be on the BS DVD.

Update 8 - June 11 2004

I finished all the frames. Phew! I look over it now, and I did slack a bit, but all in all I finished a lot faster after I wrote up the production plan. I'm going to add a back ground underneath Orans chair and the doctor in the first shot. Then poof! done! ...well except the music. Which I want to comment on, but first the frames, then the music.

Frames: I realized that keeping a list of the frames beside you is kind useful but whets even more useful to change how i title the images. from 13-02-03-03 to 13-02-03-orans_eye. it's a lot easier this way. maybe even 02-03-oran's etc.

Music: I know nothing yet! Better study.

Update 7 - June 10 2004

So i finished most of the frames and i'm smacking the movie together and everything is running SO smoothly! This production plan is great! GREAT! MUHAHA!

Anyway. A few things I've learned that ian did.
- he turned a symbol into a graphic to have it play. What is the significance of this? why not use action script, make the movie, and-- oh wait. I just realized, it's cause he moves the symbol itself. but.. does it reduce in filesize/frame rate
- you can save directly to .psd from painter
- he uses his layers for all their worth. though some effects he separates into different layers when he can simply use one. why? does he HAVE to do this, or is it because he can. and when he can, what effect does it have?

Update 6 - June 09 2004

I decided to clear out all of Ians data from the .fla file. So I'm going at it without any guidance. The idea is that I will make all the mistakes and when i look for the answers in Ian's .fla file I will understand them a whole lot better. Like, I will have the black to understand the white.

I noticed that following the production plan like a bible is very very important. In Update 5, I was just replacing Ians frames with my own and lets his tech work and music lock in over it. I realized that if I continued like that, I wouldn't learn a damn thing. Also I kept trying to tween and add music to every shot right away. This leads to a lot of editing later on. So I developed a production plan, that if followed, the medium will be easier to use and more forgiving.

REVIEWS

Ian Kirby

 over MSN
 Ian: lookscool though man
Ian: there's a ton of my flash in there
Ian: :)
Ian: and my art for the brain n shit
Ian: even oran's tear is the same
Ian: wnat me to list the shots. ;)
Ian: like the little intro piece. ;)
Ian: hacking is the same
Ian: hand nerves are the ones i painteed
Ian: close up with chip and bg is my bg
Ian: brain
Ian: brain interior i stole from sgi.com
Ian: i'm just being an ass....looks cool man
Ian: i dig your art
Ian: i've got to run
Ian: need food
Ian: thanks dood!!!

-----

Now what Ian didnt know is that of all the thing he pointed out that I stole- the only one he got right was the tear drop and the x-ray brains (that he also stole)

So that means I tricked the master!

I've graduated!

Andrew West

over MSN
Andrew: so u COMPLETELY re-did the chapter eh?
Andrew: u tried to throw a fast one on him eh..
Andrew: mmm hmmmm
Andrew: dood u can't frickin trick us..
Andrew: its OUR SHIT!!
Andrew: HAHAHA WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH THAT PICTURE!!????? HAHAHAHAHHAA
Andrew: well i to be honest i think it's kind of dorky..
Andrew: but since it's from you, its funny..
Andrew: also shows u as a lil narcissitic and ego centric..
Andrew: hahaha..
Andrew: well u didn't DO EVERYTHING..
Andrew: well it looks good anyways dood!

Broke Burgess

Pretty damn cool...keep going!!!

(if it continues, I'll definitely send a link out in the upcoming mailer!)

b