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Episode 11 Update - 06/04/24
🕑 Added 2024-06-04 07:01:36 +0000 UTCView Unblocked Image [SPOILER WARNING]
Hello. I'm still deep in character animation but wanted to keep you updated with what’s going on. To be honest, I’m a little frustrated. Scene F has been far more vicious to me than I understood it to be.
Scene F contains the climax as well as the most special effects required in the episode. The plan was to completely finish Scene F by the time I got Scene D back from the animator working on it. That way, I could pass F along to a VFX artist while I focus solely on D. Both D and the VFX will take ample time, so I really need to get them going ASAP.
However, I wasn’t able to cap off Scene F. I’ve been trying to finish all of F for two months. I keep thinking I’m almost done with it, but stuff keeps coming up and needing to be adjusted. I fear I might be acting too nit picky, but at the same time I feel like this scene is really working now. It's come so, SO far. This scene contains many characters connected by string, moving in tandem, and my adjusting any one thing offsets so many other things. I keep wanting to say it’s almost done but now I’m afraid to jynx it. I have completed the climax of to the best of my abilities, but it still doesn’t seem polished enough for me to confidently pass to vfx.
Scene D has now been given back to me with one of the characters fully animated. The animator did fantastic work. Even though Scene F is not done, I have given it off to that same animator to polish up the climax for VFX. He is a very skilled animator and I hope he can pick up some of the areas where I’m lacking, but only time will tell..
I really wanted to finish Scene D in June. It’s more than half done and it’s the laaaast one. Although I am finished animating the climax, there are still character-focused parts at the start and end of Scene F that I need to do myself. There are certain characters that I feel like only I can animate correctly, given the acting I'm going for. As much as I want to move to D, I really think it’s important to finish scene F completely and totally so that the VFX artist can do everything at once. Once I finish F completely and totally I will feel so much more confident. That scene basically /is/ the episode.
Outside of that, the musician currently scoring A has juuuust gotten back to me. He’s getting it done slowly on account of being a show runner on a different project for the last few months. My notes there included major changes, but I really appreciate that some of the songs in this episode will sound like a professional film score, while others are things you could swear are actual Pokémon music. It’s really interesting. I’d really like to have this guy score F if I am able to afford it.
Lastly, I am tentatively planning on releasing a short music video about Starter Squad, featuring some in-progress shots from ep 11. I noticed that my channel on YouTube does not have a channel trailer and I feel like this would suffice for one. It also serves as a great little ad for the show. However, the music is computer generated, and I’m not sure if it actually works as a piece. If you check out my rough draft of it can decide for yourself if it’s something worth finishing and releasing. I was thinking of putting motion-graphics over it, displaying the lyrics with a little bit of flair. It'd be nice to upload something, but also, I don't want to upset those who have been patiently waiting for the episode with yet more filler content. If you're still reading this, I'd love to know what you think.
Comments
RagingMalevolence
I love the rhythm, and the lyrics fit perfectly on the nature of this series.
Miguel Andres Cires Sanchez
The beat is amazing! The vocals are great too!
Andrew Carlson
Oh man… I’m getting so hyped by your updates. The trailer and song are great and should definitely be released. It has a lot of “inside jokes” so your viewers will love it but I’m not sure if it’s be a true trailer. Keep up the good work! We can always wait for a great episode!
DustyMikoyan
The Squad Song works well as a fun music video (I also noticed the new footage). I don't think it would work well as a trailer for Starter Squad though. Too many parts rely on context from seeing the show to work. I don't like it when trailers spoil too much like this one does either. Also, I reckon some would not be happy at an AI song being used. Or maybe a lot of people just wouldn't care. Difficult to say.
MauriceGS
We all know the wait will be worth it :)
Eric Chavarria
I think the trailer is pretty good so far! I'm always happy to see anything uploaded :) . Maybe for the non-patrons, acknowledging that you're still working on Ep 11 in the description or something will help appease them but I doubt anyone is going to be actually upset. At least I hope not. I'm super excited to hear this episode's music and hope we get scene F scored too! Love me some well-composed music
0001PE
I'm so hyped it's unreal. The music will be even sicker for episode 11?! And the song is really good, I feel it would be a shame not to release it. I agree that it probably wouldn't really feel like a trailer for the show, but as a channel trailer I think it fits so much. I was chuckling through it all but 'the green one the angry one and the one with the shell' with the associated clips straight up murdered me I'm writing from my gastly form. I personally think it would be cool to release it as a channel trailer. And I don't mind waiting no matter how long it will take
stitchfan08
Cool
John (L.J.) Foster
I like it, but obviously biased. It doesn't seem like much of a trailer, as it is something for someone who has already seen it. I think it works well, the music and the scenes. I guess I wouldnt know for sure because i have scene it, so I guess showing it to those who havn't seen it might give it a better idea of a trailer. But I know those who have seen it will enjoy it.
![View Unblocked Image [SPOILER WARNING]](https://i.ibb.co/m5pd1Yj/Squad11-Update060424-un.png){kind=link}