"Could we do animation differently?" In part 5 of this series, Chris and Joël talk about meeting financial and technological challenges in the making of the short film—challenges such as how to keep an animated character alive!This is a super nerdy episode, so if you're into animation you'll be geeking out as you hear about the innovations Shining Isle made during production.You can catch up with previous Shining Isle Q&A videos here: One | Two | Three | Fourhttps://youtu.be/xdicWTaTWXk
Shining Isle Q&A, part 4
Here are twelve more minutes of behind-the-scenes intel about how the animated short film was created. In this episode, Chris and Nicholas talk about the animators' style inspirations; using echolocation and catnip to bring teams together; the production triad of good/fast/cheap; and The Great Nostril War of 2015.Catch previous episodes at:Part onePart twoPart threehttps://youtu.be/cThamWr81Qs
Shining Isle Q&A, part 3
We're back this week with the next segment of our Shining Isle Q&A session at Hutchmoot. In this clip, you'll hear again from Nicholas, who talks about how the short film's visual style both intentionally leaves vaguery and space for your imagination, and aims to help the viewer experience the story visually as well as narratively. (Also, thwaps.)https://youtu.be/-7FZ7kw2ObU
Shining Isle Q&A, part 2
Last week we shared the first eleven minutes of the Shining Isle Q&A session Chris et al hosted at Hutchmoot, and today I'm here with the next fourteen! In this one, we meet Nicholas Kole, and hear about his introduction to Aerwiar, the "Rule of Cool," and finding the heart of the Igibys and their story.[Note: Yesterday I accidentally posted part one again. Sorry! Here's the actual part two, and a link to part one in case you missed it.]Enjoy!https://youtu.be/7m7OW2H8ZmU
2018 and the year to come
What is the most wonderful thing that happened in your world last year? Can you think of just one? I don't know if I can—lots of good things happened. Sometimes it feels like a year is so long, or (three weeks into January!) so long ago, that it takes a little effort to remember. But I love sorting through the year and rediscovering all the reasons we have to be grateful.Like this:https://www.instagram.com/p/Beo1e5XnyNh/Or this:https://www.instagram.com/p/BeWM-lBHgsL/Or this!https://www.instagram.com/p/BhesGYqnrnl/Or this:https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgme6LrBJ0J/So many goodnesses occurred this year.Here are a few more:
- In addition to Andrew's new music, his kids have released new music. Asher and Skye have both successfully Kickstarted albums, and Aedan was a contributor as well.
- Speaking of Aedan, he finished his freshman year of college and is now halfway through his sophomore year, and just launched a brand-new website for his art.
- That last photo above is only part of the story (literally): Andrew's second book is also now available in Swedish, and the translator is working on book three!
- Here in the Great Library, we hosted another year-long readthrough of the Saga. I don't know how many of you were reading along, but a whole bunch of new faces (well, usernames) showed up in the forum this year, and it's been so fun getting to know you all. :-)
- Some of you recently took up a huge project to help our producer, Chris, as he's compiling lore for the animated series. You put in a ton of hours digging up dates and connections and implications, and cross-referenced everything, and have been an enormous help. We're grateful.
- Andrew's been on several tours this year: Resurrection Letters, with a full band; the Bible Tour; Behold the Lamb of God.
- There were speaking opportunities as well: Andrew and his brother Pete (our bookbindery guildmaster) keynoted a writers' conference together, and they both got to participate in the Great Homeschool Convention as well. (That's exciting, by the way, and if you're a homeschooler you may want to keep an eye on the GHC website—there will be Rabbit Room authors and sessions at every single location this year!)
- Andrew finished writing the Florid Sword and Shadowblade comic, and it's in the ink-stained hands of our artist, Mr. Jay Myers.
- Our producer Chris has been working hard all year, too—pitching the animated series to studios (as above!), having great conversations with executives and potential partners, keeping the animation team going. (Chris Wall is a superhero. I am not kidding.)
That brings us to this year, in fact. What's happening in 2019?Lots.There've been big developments happening behind the scenes over the last several months, in fact. Andrew and Chris revealed this secretly to backers, and at a small session at Hutchmoot, and Chris tells me it's now time to start letting you all in on it! And what better way to do that than just share that whole Hutchmoot session with you? Here's part one. We'll be rolling out the whole session (nearly an hour and a half long, all told) over the next few weeks. The first few segments will be Chris, Andrew, Nicholas, and Joël talking about the making of the film, and the last one will give you an idea of where we're headed next.We're grateful for you, Featherheads! Your faithful enthusiasm keeps us going. Onward to 2019. :-)https://youtu.be/cuSNCmS0LvU
2018 Top Nine
Hey everybody! Andrew and I both took some time off over the last couple of weeks, and now I'm starting to think about this year and last year and how much I love where we're at. (I'm so glad to be your librarian.) Next week, Maker willing, I'll post a retrospective of highlights from last year, but for today, here's a quick top nine. Have you seen these? If you're active on Instagram, you may sometimes see people post a collage of the nine posts that have received the most likes over the last year. "Likes" are not the best way to measure significance or value or meaning, but they can be a fun way of looking back to see what was big deal at the time and maybe how we've connected with each other. So, just for fun, I thought that as a lead-in to next week's post, I'd post Andrew's top nine, both from his personal/music account and from the Wingfeather account. Do you remember any of these from last year?
Wingfeather a Best Animated Short Film
We just got word that A Crow for the Carriage was one of IAMAG's favorite short films of 2018! It's an honor to be featured alongside other great short films such as TAIKO's One Small Step.
Madame Sidler's review: Thermostat 6 contains a couple of minor subtitled swears, and Sonder and Look at Me deal with difficult subjects (divorce and alienation, respectively), so parents may want to preview. Personally, I was delighted by Scrambled—a super cute silent story about about Rubik's cube and a girl in a train station—and L'aviatrice, about the first European woman to break the sound barrier (also intense for a moment when she encounters a storm in midair). My Grandfather's Memory Book was excellent also. You can find the full top ten here! Thanks, IAMAP, and great job to our Wingfeather animators. :-)Featherheads, which films did you enjoy? Have you seen any other short films this year that you think belong on this list?
Christmas tour LIVESTREAM
[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq-0PMMFcYh/[/embed]If you'd like to attend Andrew's annual Christmas tour Behold the Lamb of God but live across the Dark Sea of Darkness, never fear—there's a livestream happening TONIGHT! You're welcome to cram as many people into your living room as can fit. For tickets, visit Andrew's music site, or go directly to the purchase page here.
This week, Madame Sidler is reading the last few chapters of The Warden and the Wolf King, starting with chapter 91. Come back on Friday for our very last excerpt of the year!Andrew on tour: There are just a few more shows left for the Christmas tour this year. Find out if one of them is near you by visiting Andrew's music site.