Wednesday 29 May 2013

Previz, concepts and cgi sets for Spirit Warriors


Previsualization (also known as pre-rendering, preview or wireframe windows) is a function to visualise complex scenes in a movie before filming.  Previz is applied to techniques such as storyboarding, either in the form of charcoal drawn sketches or in digital technology in the planning and conceptualization of movie scenery make up.

For those of you guys who have been following my blog so far, I've just talked about my TV series getting greenlit, the next step for us was pre pre production which is a stage that I find tremendously interesting and by extension, some of you might too. 

Following the press release, teams were quickly assembled, predominately in the art and cgi department.  We also had a team of writers on board (more of that in the next blog entry when I talk writer's room!).

First thing you should know before this gets bloody confusing, "Bo and the Spirit Quest" turned into "Bo and the Spirit World" which finally became "Spirit Warriors", so you'll be seeing things titled with quite possibly all of these names throughout the blog. Personally, I preferred the first two titles as it feels more evocative to me, but I understand the change - it's all about the branding
!

The series takes place throughout a mythical Chinese Spirit World made up of four smaller worlds that represent: wood, earth, ice and fire.  Below are a few of the concepts created to cover these zones and some of the magic elements of the Spirit World.



 Earth

Wood
Fire


Ice

Below is a small showcase of some of the amazing previz work created by our SW team led by visual effects supervisor, Christian Jelen (Dredd, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) under the company, Retro Juice.  This might have been a children's show but it was epic in scale and ambition!

As titled!

Here's a short clip of one of our first tests showcasing the "chi power" that Bo, the lead character possesses.

Dragon mentor, Shen reworked concept

 Matte painting of the graveyard in Episode 5 "The Snake Spirit"

Li's palace and a trillion Nian warriors (or as I fondly called them, my ninja storm troopers)



These next few images are the finished cgi sets taken from the actual episodes.  Though our budget was considered high, it was still a balancing act to juggle all the many vfx shots we needed for the show.  One of the ways we got around the high costs of using a vfx house is by hiring freelancers who didn't have high overheads (ie. Soho rents) and have them work from home or in our studio.  This turned out great for the production as we could see the vfx as they were being created and if there were any issues,  they could be dealt with immediately.  

The Monkey Palace in Episode 3 "The Monkey King"

Exterior of the Monkey Palace

 Ice World Introduction

 Ice World City

 Outskirts of Ice World

Apocalypse comes! Final episode, "Blood of a Warrior"

And finally, some storyboards and animatics for the first fight in the series.  This so y'all can see just a little of the work that goes into a fantasy series and possibly, one of the reasons why they're so difficult to get off the ground, particularly in this country where budgets are tight.






This entry is essential my shout out to our fantastic vfx artists and the art department lead by production designer Catrin Meredydd, who worked tirelessly to bring to life the Spirit World that had previously only existed in my head.  

Hope you guys found this interesting. 

Next time (for real this time), I'l talk about the writer's room and the production process.  And don't forget those never-seen-before behind the scenes pics! 

Friday 24 May 2013

How to get a fantasy TV series greenlit (my story)

WHATSSUP??

It's been a fun week of social shenannigans, tweeting, blogging and podcasting for me.  OK, I came to the cyber party late but least I'm here now. With balloons.

Since my "Big Break" blog is getting decent traffic, I figured I should now write about how I actually got a series made and the harsh reality of life as a "neophyte" writer if you don't have a trust fund (not hating on trustafarians, just envious).  So kick off your shoes, take a load off and Iet me spin you a yarn about a young(ish) girl who dreamed of having her own genre show.

It was December 2006.  I'd been working at a TV company full-time for the last two years and I was utterly miserable.  I'd spent every penny I had to buy my flat and now I was stuck in this job I hated in order to pay the mortgage.  All of this meant I felt I was getting further and further away of my scripting dreams.  My commission with C4 seemed like a lifetime ago and I was desperate to get something going.  During this period of woe, I'd written a feature script called Monkey Nut Tales.  I wanted to do something a little different that would showcase my voice and make me stand out, and I believed this was it.


Monkey was about a young girl Mai (11), who's mother is sectioned due to a mental illness.  With no other family in the UK, Mai's grandmother flies over from Hong Kong to look after her.  However, Mai has never met gran or even spoken to her, and the two are soon at loggerheads, especially as Mai (the only English speaker in her small family) is used to running the house and doesn't like being bossed around.  The only time the two come together is in the evening, when gran shells monkey nuts and tells her fantastical stories of her past, usually involving the mother Mai misses so dearly.  But just when it seems Mai is growing close to gran, she learns the reason for the family's estrangement and why gran keeps making excuses not to visit her mum in hospital - gran is ashamed of Mai's mother's illness.  Determined to reunite with her mum, the tenacious Mai kicks off a series of escalating events that forces the old woman to confront her personal demons and rethink her prejudices.

I'd tried sending this script to the BBC via the usual sources but no one there was interested*, however, I knew it had merit and wasn't going to give up, so I retitled the script and sent it to a contact I had met at a scheme.  She read it, very much liked it and called me into the beeb for a meeting.  After we talked about what I wanted to do, my script was forwarded to CBBC who also liked it and called me in for a meeting.  I was asked to come up with an idea with all the heart and emotion of Monkey that would work as a TV show for their target audience.

I came up with the initial idea for "Bo and the Spirit Quest" quite quickly and it was taken into development with the in-house CBBC team.  This didn't mean we would definitely get a commission however.  CBBC then ran a twice a year commissioning process.  All ideas had to be pitched on one A4 page which would then be submitted online.  With the guidance of the CBBC in-house team, I worked up the A4 document and took the unique angle of writing it in the voice of the lead character.  It was an emotional piece, and we felt this would convey the jeopardy and the very real drama of the lead character.  Some anxious waiting later and I was given the fantastic news that I'd made it through the first round and CBBC was taking my show into development!

While this was happening, I was making some hard choices about my home.  I realized if I were to commit to making my show happen, I had to focus - writing had to become my full-time job and though having a show in development was amazing - particularly as I hadn't even written so much as an episode on an existing show before - it didn't pay enough for me to live on (BBC rates depend on experience and as a new writer, I was on some of their lowest rates).  I made the hard decision to sell my home and live off the profit.  It was an incredibly risky move, one which just about everyone questioned.  I was the only person in my family to have been able to buy property on their own and now I was gambling everything on a dream!  It was a tough pill for them to swallow and more than one member thought I'd lost my mind but you know, I had this dream that I just couldn't shake.

After the flat sold, I only had enough money to live on for one year.  That's one year to get my writing career going or I told myself I'd have to quit and get a real job.



It was the most finite deadline I've ever had to work to work with and while incredibly stressful, it did teach me more discipline.  With my script editor's guidance, I started working on the show's bible: I wrote an A4 page on each character's biography in their own voice; outlined a basic season story arc; came up with possible episode synopsis and generally created the world and the rules.  I went through several more commissioning rounds, with the documents I was commissioned to write getting progressively longer.  When the bible was finished, I was commissioned to write a pilot script.  This wouldn't necessarily be the one that would be shot but would show the scope of my idea.  Finally it was all done and we just had to wait to be told whether the show would the go ahead or not.  So I waited.  And waited.  And waited...

(The actual selling doc. Note: first name change for the show. Discussions on whether we needed the "s" in "worlds" continued for several weeks)

Meanwhile, CBBC had prepared a selling document which they took to Mip Junior, the world's showcase for children's television programming.  This basically would be the testing ground for the show.  Here broadcasters around the world would hear of the show and let their interest be known, if any.  I was informed it was one of the best received shows at the event with international interest.  Off the back of that, I remained positive as I waited some more.

I watched CBBC announce all the other shows they were making that year but there was no word on my own.  I was told it was because my show was so ambitious - a cutting edge martial arts fantasy set in a mythical world - that the budget was the greatest cause of concern; we'd have to build the world physically in a studio and also in CGI, but that wasn't all.  Who would play our lead?  She would need to be East Asian, a great actress, young enough to pass for fourteen and perform martial arts.  The only actress anyone could think of at the time was Katy Leung from the Harry Potter movies but she was already in her 20s.  I had no doubt we would find her though and kept referencing Field of Dreams. "If you build it, he will come"...

As I waited for news, I watched my funds decline and really had no idea what I was going to do. Moving home to ma wasn't an option - my brother still lived with her and there was no room for me.  Other than my executive assistant skills, there was nothing else I felt I could do that would provide a steady income and the thought of working full time in an office again caused depression to rear its ugly head.  Maybe everyone else was right?  I had gambled everything away and only had myself to blame.  Despite my fears, I forced myself to remain positive and worked on other projects while waiting for news.

Then, ten months into my one year deadline, on my BIRTHDAY (I jest not), my show was greenlit.

Huzzah!  Much celebrations ensued.  It was real.  I had a go show.

I HAD A GO SHOW!!!  I wouldn't need to get a real job after all!


We were granted one of the biggest budgets a CBBC drama had been given at the time and from then on, it was all guns blazing.  We had nine months to get the scripts going, source a studio, begin the casting process and do all the prep work (storyboards, set design, create cgi concepts and previz etc) with preproduction set to start at the beginning of 2009.

As hard as I had worked to get to this stage, life was about to kick into high gear.

Next time, I'll reveal what it's actually like to write (and be the creator of) a CBBC show, how we found our amazing lead, Jessica Henwick, plus some never-seen-before pictures from the set!  Stay tuned for more...

*This script has subsequently gained a ton of love and opened many doors for me at various companies and broadcasters.  So the lesson here?  Keep pushing, keep flogging your work.  Polish when possible but trust your instinct.






Thursday 9 May 2013

UK Scriptwriters features me for this month's Podcast


Well I'm pretty proud.

It's been a week of firsts for me:  I set up my website, yesterday my blog went live, and today I recorded my first podcast.

In a lively chat conducted by fellow screenwriter, Danny Stack over at ukscriptwriters.podomatic.com we talked about my start in the business, how I went from novice writer to creating Spirit Warriors (my CBBC fantasy TV series), to what mischief I'm up to now.

In addition to the monthly podcasts, Danny also runs a blog on scriptwriting in the UK. It's a great resource so any new writers should go check it out immediately! http://www.dannystack.blogspot.co.uk




Happy reading and listening!












Wednesday 8 May 2013

How I got my first writing gig, became an "overnight success" only to crash back down to earth just as fast.





I came into the industry cold, with no contacts or experience, hadn't even studied it at university.  I was in my early 20s, broke, stuck with a student loan and useless degree before I knew I wanted to work in showbiz.  Against the wishes of my entire family (including all those far flung ones in Hong Kong), I committed myself to learning about this business of show.

Fast forward two years and I'd been working in film production for a while now, on independent, low budget movies, doing whatever roles I could get my hands on (for how I got my first industry job, see previous blog entry).  I wasn't sure what I wanted to be at this time but I figured it would come to me if I just kept gaining experience. The money was shit, the hours, long (on one movie I did 18 hour days, six days a week for three months) and the films would turn out so bad, they wouldn't even get a release. Sitting in the garden, reading this terrible screenplay that was about to shoot, I thought to myself: surely I can do better than this?

Around the same time, The West Wing was on television, and I became hooked on the characters, their stories and the writing on the show.  I couldn't afford film school or any other course but needed to learn how to write pronto, so I decided to lock myself in my room for a month and study this amazing show.   I searched around and found a few of the show's scripts online and poured over those too.  During this period, I'd heard about a writing scheme that would teach the basics and all that was needed was a short film script to enter.  I wrote one that weekend and sent it in.  I was selected for the scheme (which was free, yay!) but amazingly, everything they covered I'd already gleaned just from watching TWW.

My short film script came to the attention of a well known RTS and BAFTA award-winning producer who was guest lecturing there.  He liked my writing but wasn't interested in making shorts, only TV series.  He asked if I had a TV idea he could look at.  I replied yes, but wanted the weekend to tweak it and told him he'd get something the following week.  I went home that night and had a full blown panic attack - I had lied, big time.  I had no TV idea.  I had no other ideas at all, but I wasn't going to let this opportunity slide.  I spent the weekend drinking vast amounts of coffee and knocking up a drama series idea of around 8 pages, which I sent to him on the monday.  By friday, he had committed to being my producer pending his business partner's approval.

A week later, after my day job (I office temped in between film jobs), I met with his partner who happened to be the head of drama at a company who's name I've honestly forgotten, but I do remember it's based off Tottenham Court Road.  He liked it too.  So there I was, a complete newbie, with two known producers.  All we needed now was a broadcaster.  We went into C4, pitched the idea and shockingly, won a commission.  Just like that.  I went home, quit the temp job and celebrated my new overnight success story status.  I didn't even have an agent at this point, but I had a drama series commission and two producers.  I immediately searched online for a house to buy for my mother.

But then, disaster struck!  Only two months later, in the middle of my writing the pilot, the show was cancelled with no explanation.  It wasn't until years later, when I would find out why, namely that C4 were making major cuts at the time and any risky projects (especially those from newbies) were being axed.  So my overnight success story ended almost as quickly as it had began.  It was a hard crash back to Earth.

After licking my wounds, I was back to temping and was assigned a job... AT CHANNEL 4!  How could the universe be so cruel?  I had no choice but to take it, bills needed to be paid.  I told no one who I was and they didn't realise but that job?  Big test of my character. Huge. (Those eagle eyed among you may spot the movie quote here though I've taken a few liberties)...

I know this story hasn't ended particularly well, but all of this was essential to my growth and subsequent success.  In the space of five or six months, I went from complete newbie, to pitching my own show at a broadcaster, winning a commission, working with known producers, getting an agent, writing a pilot, navigating development waters and then suffering the dreaded red light.

The two things I want you to take away is this: if I hadn't said yes to that award-winning producer when he asked if I had a TV idea, my writing career would never have started.  Yes it's best to actually have something to back up your claim rather than outright lie like I did, but you know, we do what we can to get on.  And the other thing, if you want to write for film or television, WATCH lots of great films and shows, and READ their scripts whenever possible.  You can learn as much theory, read as many "how to" books as you like, but you'll only learn how to write like the greats by studying their work, and then doing it.

Tune in next time for more madness and let us know if you got the film reference! A prize will be sent to you in the post.

Disclaimer: That last sentence isn't actually true.


I've given in to the blogside!




Firstly, a big warm welcome to you.  Thanks for stopping by!

I've been meaning to start a blog but work and stuff kept getting in the way plus you know, it's finally sunny out.  Anyways, I'm here.  I'll be using this space to talk movies, television, screenwriting, reviews, cats, girl power, anything that's on my mind really.  If you have any questions, feel free to comment here or tweet me @missjoho and I'll answer when I get the chance.

Let's kick off this getting to know each other with...

10 Things You Didn't Know About Me:
  1. I learned how to write by studying my two favourite TV shows, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and The West Wing, and continue to watch each boxset once a year.
  2. Gained my first industry gig by going through The Knowledge and cold calling each and every listed production company until I found one who was crewing.
  3. As a kid, I was scouted by big time film producers while on a trip in China, who wanted to train me into the next big action star.  My ma said no because it would mean leaving me with them in China.
  4. Translated, my beautiful Chinese name means "daughter of the snow".
  5. In English, my Chinese name sounds like "whore shit".
  6. I played football with an armadillo once, until my grandparents cooked it.  *Amendment: this reads like I used the armadillo as a football when what I mean is, I rolled a ping pong ball over to him and he would kick it back.  I was convinced I'd discovered some unique animal whispering/coaching talent. Then one day, I got back from kindergarten and was served him as my main course. Heartbreak ensued.
  7. I'm probably a better gamer than you.
  8. I think I'm American.  I use American words and spellings, write big budget genre shows/films (usually set there), and have their "can do" attitude to life.  I am genuinely shocked when someone points out I'm British. 
  9. Ballerina's scare me.
  10. That accursed Michael Arndt is getting all the jobs I want.
Kooky or cute?  Do you have any fun facts you can share?  Let us know in the comments below!