IanHubert
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Dynamo Scene: "You Wanna Know My Plan?"
🕑 Added 2020-11-22 04:39:17 +0000 UTCI wrote the above scene for Dynamo over five years ago (and filmed it in... 2015? Eeesh Time flies!), mostly as a writing exercise. I'd gotten kind of worried that I was treating CG as a crutch (cause ya knowww), so I wanted a whole scene that was just a guy (the amazing Aaron Moore) talking. I think it turned out alright!
Huge thanks to Aaron for his memorization/acting, and Selena Annis and Nathan Vegdahl for playing the background restaurant goers, Nate Taylor for helping me go nuts and build this crazy set in the car port, and Izzy Corey for being DP!
We built the set in the carport of the house I used to share with 8 people (a fun house, but also the inspiration for me moving out into the woods, haha), with the set just flowing onto the sidewalk, confusing the neighbors. It was great :D
We stuck a screen under the table for various embedded monitors (one big monitor playing 3 separate videos).
It was fun! We hung up a lot of garbage and fake flyers and random beer neon. Just kinda "What can we staple to the walls?"
Actually, I give it a hard time, but with the right camera angle, that set could probably work.
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For a bit of context, Dynamo is a show I've been working on constantly since 2011 (with ideas that have been percolating since 2007 or so). That said, I really rarely release episodes (ep 5 in May 2014, and ep 6 some time last year). Which is kind of wild. Like, I work on Dynamo for a few hours (minimum) every day, and that's translated to 12 minutes of released stuff in the past half decade.
Which is crazy, and kind of depressing, but I think I also know some of the Whys.
This is mostly just me writing stuff out to help process; read it if you feel like it :)
1.) I'm giving myself a lot of opportunities to be the bottleneck. I'm writing/editing/VFX'n, coordinating the shoots, all that stuff, and all of those steps take a while. If I could delegate some of that out, I'm sure things would go a lot faster, but anyone taking on that much work should be paid, and I've basically always been broke, so I've never really pursued that (you patrons are opening some new very very exciting doors though, so we'll see! I'm still solidly in the "I gotta do everything myself!" train of thought, but I'm hoping I can start changing that pretty quick here).
2.) Perfectionism. I feel weird even saying that word, because the stuff is so far from perfect (and it's only the past year or so I've started flirting with anything beyond "just good enough to get by"). The pacing can be weird, the line deliveries wonky, the writing heavy handed, the production value all over the place- I'm super aware of that, and that's why I'm always working so hard to compensate in post (where I still cut corners).
Cause there's a thing where I'm looking at a scene, or a shot or whatever, and it's fine, but I know (especially in terms of editing or CG or something) that I could spend some time and improve it: "But I could make it better" [BICMIB]. And if you know that, eventually it starts to drive you crazy if you don't make it better.
3.) It's just a ton of work. I've gotten really comfortable with the thought of just shooting a scene on greenscreen, without realizing that that can easily translate to a couple weeks/months of post. Conversely, when we shoot something practically, we usually end up building the entire set from scratch, which isn't exactly the fastest way to do it. I also drastically underestimate how long stuff takes. Like, I know I could conceivably track/animate a floating robot into a shot in like 45 minutes, but it never actually takes that long. Something always makes it complicated, or... just putting ANY shot through the entire VFX pipeline takes a while to get going "momentum wise". Multiply that by 20 floating robot shots, and instead of a couple days you're maybe looking at a couple weeks.
Kaitlin was watching 'Friends', and I was so envious. They just have to go into a pre-lit room and act. They're not building sets or finding locations for every scene, or doing weird camera angles or lots of post- just cutting between a few cameras (it feels like 2 takes at most??) It's fun, and it actually wouldn't be improved at all by additional angles or production value; that's not where the enjoyment comes from.
On that note, I think I have a fear of dialogue scenes- I'll talk about it below*
4.) I keep complicating it. Like- okay, so you shoot a scene, and it's bad or boring or motivations don't make sense. But it's always possible to re-contextualize a scene to make it better.
Say you have a random scene of two people talking, and it's kind of awkward or boring. Then later you film a shot of a secret agent in the room next door eavesdropping at the wall, and edit that into the middle of the scene.. Suddenly there's a bit of intrigue!
Then say you're looking at the edit and decide to do a pick-up shoot of a new scene that takes place before the conversation, where the agent secretly talks to one of them and says, "if they say the word "Incidentally", stab them in face or I'll kill your mother!" Suddenly there's some suspense! Will they be incidentally stabbed?
But then you realize that nobody cares about the mother yet, so you film another scene showing how important she is to her son.
Then another scene showing her hiring the secret agent!! Oh hot jeez now this is cinema!
But that's the problem. When you can shoot additional scenes at any point, the editing process isn't just a question of, "how do we assemble these assets into their best possible form", it's just another step in the brainstorm process. You look at the edit and it's like BICMIB.
Which would be fine- just keep iterating- except that footage has a finite shelf-life (as doooo human beings). A bunch of the "two hours of nearly finished Dynamo" I like to talk about was filmed five or six (or seven?) years ago. And we were filming scenes as we could, so we never actually got everything we needed back then. Which, again, was fine, we were just going to shoot it later, but now we'd be cutting 33 year old us with 25 year old us, back to back, which is a pretty hefty time jump. And maybe that's fine (I've been watching Better Call Saul (a prequel to Breaking Bad), which has actors 12 years later playing rolls 5 years younger, and you just go with it.) But it's still weird, and getting worse.
There's also the fact that a lot of actors I started filming with live all over the country now.
There's also a bunch of postwork I'd want to redo. As I was talking about recently, even stuff for the next-to-be-released episode I've started redoing, since the first shots I did over a year and a half ago, and I've learned a lot in that year and a half (NOW I'm looking a a handful of those redone shots thinking, "HUH. Pigeons though?"). ICMIB.
No joke, my current plan for wrapping up Dynamo 1.0 is almost literally a bunch of "agent eavesdropping through the wall" scenes. It'll totally work, and it'll get all the beats across, but it's not how I originally had intended on doing it at all. [And actually, I wrote this post as a draft 6+ months ago. The time difference is getting even wilder. The thought of resurrecting that old footage is seeming a little nuts.]
But yeah, in the meantime I just keep shooting more scenes, which is partly because...
4.) I'm addicted to the conceptualization stage. Thinking out the sequence/ideas. And a lot of times I'll jump towards trying to start a new scene/sequence/shot. It's throwing something at the wall and seeing what sticks and moving on. But when there's years of post on everything, you end up with a lot of crud stuck to the ol' wall.
SO!
This leads to Dynamo Dream, which is basically Dynamo 2.0- it exists in the same world, it's all going to tie in, but it was designed to be actually film-able. And it worked! Over a few weekends we were able to film like 45 minutes worth of stuff, it was amazing!
But then I kept working backwards, and added an episode with a heist, then an episode planning the heist, then an episode setting up the necessity for the heist, and then that short episode where Kaitlin's character is supposed to sell a few salads turned into 2 years of the most intense set building and CG work I've ever done.
And- to a degree that'll pay off (the Dynamo Dream teaser has been seen, in some form or another... 20-50 million times? I can't find the twitter post that particularly blew up) which hopefully will translate into finding an audience once we do release- and I'm definitely proud of what we've come up with; I think it's going to be pretty darn immersive/enjoyable, and captures the vibe I wanted-
But now I'm looking at the rest of the footage, that stuff we filmed over the course of a couple weeks back in 2018. These days I spend a weekend on a single VFX shot, and mixing that level of post with an entire scene we shot in 25 minutes feels a little imbalanced. So I'm looking at all that stuff that's already mostly edited and ready to go, and I'm already trying to re-contextualize it. Because effectively my bar for when it's "good enough" has gone up.
We'd be jumping from an episode with a world where everything's been designed from scratch to something like this:
Which- that's fine, but it's just my kitchen. We didn't do anything to it. There's a Kitchen-Aid mixer, a picture of Josh Truax on the fridge, random booze from a previously shot scene.
And all of that is frankly a little bonkers, because in the end what I really want to tell is this story. I'm really stoked about it- I've been planning it for a super long time- and if I only get to tell it in 10 minute bursts every 5 years, I'll never actually be able to get to "the good bits" (everything's setup with no payoff). I'd like to believe it's a story that would work even without a bunch of flashy visuals, even if it were written down or being told verbally.
BICMIB. And I really want the experience of the world to be immersive, and I think trying really hard to create that experience has been a good thing (Actually, I think most of you being here is an indirect byproduct of that goal!)
Because I'm at a bit of a crossroads. I'm almost done with the first episode (if I stop redoing old CG and actually figure out some tricky parts in the edit (seriously somebody just lock me in this room and I can't leave till I finalize the edit. I've been poking at this one scene in particular for two years now)), at which point I get to decide if I want to jump straight into polishing the stuff I filmed 4 years ago (I've got a good 45 minutes of content substantially completed. Like- it's watchable), OR try to optimize reshoots using the things I've learned and resources I've acquired in the years since? Or both! Keep the old stuff, but let myself feel free to supplement it with little reshoots and such.
I think my goal moving forwards should be this:
1.) Set up everything for an Actual Shoot, where we take a week and just film the entire episode. There's actual pre-production/production/post-production times, instead of the mishmash I've been doing. The patreon is bringing in enough money that if I get everything optimized, I think I can do a proper shoot, instead of just scrounging for my friend's free days like I've done for the past 20 years (thank you SO MUCH for that, all of you!!! By being here you're helping make so many of my long-term dreams come true. I'm going to continue to work hard to try to keep it worth your while!)
2.) Try to get an Actual Editor. I don't particularly enjoy editing, but it's so integral to the creative process that I'm reluctant to give up control. Gotta find someone on the same creative wavelength that I trust!
And 3.) ...I think trying to shoot with more practical sets is a good goal. I still want to go all-out with the CG, but I think I'd rather focus that effort into better/fewer shots, instead of, like, 200 random shots throughout the entire episode (that said, I know me, and I always end up adding a bunch of extras, regardless)
Yeah- those seem like good goals for now.
Since episode 1 is close to done, I'm currently working hard on re-writing episode 2. I have some ideas I'm really excited to try pulling off, and some practical locations that I think will work really well (that Satsop power plant, for one).
Also- I have a bunch of scenes like the video above. At the very least, I might end up uploading some of them here every once in a while? It'd be fun to have somewhere to put them.
Ian
*Dialogue scenes! Most of the stuff I've been working on for the past few years tends to show each camera angle only once. We're traveling through a world letting the environment do most of the talking, and just like you wouldn't have an actor keep delivering the same line for no reason, I like letting each shot say it's bit then leaving it behind. I love nonverbal scenes- I get to figure stuff out visually, I don't have to go nuts in the writing stage, or feel awkward directing actor line deliveries.
But one of my biggest aversions to dialogue scenes is I just seem to shoot them completely differently. Instead of letting each angle tell a story, I just gather coverage, with maybe a few cutaways for "emphasis" or whatever. I don't like it- it feels like a habit I got into 20 years ago that I'm just sticking with. So I try to keep scenes as short as possible, end up shooting a ton of random footage, then take forever to edit it. It isn't a great system.
I think it's because normally I'm shooting "for the edit". I know how the scene will look as I'm shooting it, and making an edit in my head so I just have to film each bit I need, then stick all those bits together and BAM I have a scene. With a dialogue scene I don't really know what I'm shooting- it's not the "language of cinema" doing the talking, it's the actors- so I'm just getting assets I can use later for the edit room, which is when I'm really making the scene (I did warn you guys I was processing stuff out loud :P Trying to figure this out in real time!)
The biggest thing- the lesson I realized a few years ago and which I always forget- is that as director my biggest question should always be how should the scene FEEL? More than anything else, audiences respond to vibe/emotion/whatever the scene makes them feel, but it's totally possible to get together actors/scripts/sets/cameras and film a whole thing without ever intentionally putting emotion into it (or, focusing on the characters emotional experience, instead of the audiences. It isn't always a given that they're the same thing). It's so easy for me to forget this; a lot of times when I'm floundering I realize it's because I never answered that question, and once I do everything comes into focus, and scenes I didn't like before suddenly come to life.
And with all that in mind, I'm gonna get back to some writing!
Comments
Red Belly Media
I was stuck watching that snail the whole time..... I thought he was going to jump at the edge! haha
Noneya D Biznazz
I dunno man... if the only thing stopping you from delegating is lack of funds, you may just be underestimating how much any of us would like to help. If you start having more live sessions with patrons you might find you have an army of modelers, riggers, animators, etc who'd love to contribute just to see their name in the credits... just communicate what you need to succeed and see what happens
Mate, people who know about and appreciate David Goggins are my friends (I'm just guessing here that you are appreciating Goggins. :D).
nice
Jose Vega
haha I got that metaphor
Man, you are a workhorse. The David Goggins of vfx and filming. #WhosCarryingTheBoats I wonder who will get that metahper. :) I'm new here, but I think you would get along great with Stu Maschwitz and Robert Rodriguez. Same approaches to problem solving. Does anyone remembers The DV's Rebel Guide? Anyway, great stuff you are doing and I'm happy that I'm here on your Patreon site.
WOW you Got Me!! BastAARrD 👍👍 2 thumbs up! Great job
That was hella real Ian
Mornarion
I have rewatched the whole series today and I'm very in love with everything. And amazed at the quality improvement in episodes 5 and specially 6 :)
I had some much fun reading that. Just started with everything and this makes learning so much fun! Thanks bro
Ian Hubert
Ahahaha yes! For the final composite Nate Taylor changed the neon to say "BEEEEEEEEES" though. And I feel you- it's been getting harder and harder to film stuff as I get older. Sometimes a year'll go by and... that's a long time to go without filming anything.
Lukas Sprehn
Well, look no further! This is the OG main Dynamo series :) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbrqQd75T1jTti68a2-XbYA
John Abraham
That scene was excellently written and well acted. The mystery of it makes it mesmerizing! I'm impressed and would like to see more dialogue stuff like this.
I feel you here. But at least you ACTUALLY shoot stuff. I just go 'well, I've got no time so whats the point'. Stupid me. As an aside, is that a Boddington's sign? If so, Manchester represent.
Lukas Sprehn
Just to clarify: There is no season 1 or 2 of Dynamo technically, from my understanding. There is just 6 episodes. On IMDb I think some episodes are put into seasons, and maybe on Amazon Prime, but Ian's never said anything about ordering any of them like that.
Ian Hubert
Yes! And I'd say when it comes to "the experience" good performances are even more important than good writing (in terms of which can "save" the other. I like watching movies and imagining how the raw lines looked on the page, and there are a lot of really lackluster scripts saved by excellent performances). Maybe not in the long term, but for any given scene, I'd rather see mediocre writing performed excellently than amazing writing delivered shoddily. I've only ever cast from my immediate friend group, and just got lucky that Aaron here is a great stage performer. My biggest goal right now is figuring out how to branch out a bit.
Ian Hubert
Yeah!! Like, I know it seems so obvious when it's written out like that, but I always forget, and the moment I remember it makes so many other things more clear.
Pete Burges
First of all, don't give yourself a hard time; every artist has at least one project that never gets finished, so that fact that you've managed to release 6 episodes of season 2 already is epic. Second, as long as you know what Dynamo is supposed to be, it doesn't matter too much what anyone else makes of it. Some will enjoy it just as a showcase for epic Blender techniques, some will get right into the backstories and emotionally invest in the world. To me it feels like more of an anthology title like Aeon Flux or Judge Dredd (the comic, which is less about the title character and often more about the whacky shit going on in the future megalopolis he polices). It doesn't matter if there's loose ends, the overlapping story fragments are intriguing in themselves without tying it up into a neat linear narrative. Third, if your plan for Dynamo is to really get it wrapped up so you can move onto something else, then yeah, get some extra pairs of hands and start delegating. But if you're just having too much fun with it working solo, then keep on going. Enjoy the journey and don't worry about the finish line.
I relate to this post so hard. Wanting to do everything, even the sucky parts, which end up being the biggest bottlenecks because the fun parts are what inspire you most to do it. A good chunk of success fear as well. I have experience with prop building. Maybe someday when Covid is a under control you can do a call to arms. Best of luck Ian. You got this. We're in it for the ride, but the destination is important too.
On top of all the cool art, thanks for running easily the most entertaining, most useful & most insightful Patreon I know!
Robert Singler Jr
such a good ending, hahahahaha
Mark Pratt
Learning from Ian's videos is a like trying to absorb information from a fire hose but definitely inspiring. I've taken a lot of online courses from other Blender peeps and then gone back to Ian's videos and then found that I get make more progress in them. Ian, it's inspiring what you can do and to learn about your journey and progress. George Lukas said in interviews that he was never entirely happy with the way any Star Wars film was released (there were always things he would have liked to have done better) so being able to make the right kind of compromises seems to be a skill in itself :) Looking forward to watching anything you produce.
Mark Pratt
Yeah, me too. It might be interesting to have some kind of Google Spreadsheet where people on Ian's Patreon could list there location and way to discuss projects for possible collaboration. I'm writing and learning 3D in order to be able to shoot short films and sketches so meeting other people with a similar background would be great.
Erich Stenzel
So, I'll ask again...! Will we ever find out what happens to Axle Rubix?!?!!!
Erich Stenzel
Great acting by Aaron! Yes, the scene plays more like a stage play rather than a scene from a movie... but still I think that "style" could work if that is the way you present the whole movie. Think how stylized Wes Anderson (amongst others) are work for his story telling. I've really loved your original Dynamo series. It's how I found you to begin with.
dat is great, cant stop watching it and laughing at the ending
Mike L. Taylor
Good writing and a good performance are the best special effects you will ever have. Everything else is gravy, no matter how tasty and how much time you took into making it, if that gravy is on top of cold soggy potatoes... it’s a waste of gravy.
Chromfell
Great post. Very valuable experience to learn from. VIBE OVER EVERYTHING!
that script! that delivery! I was so drawn in that I didn't realise I was actually leaning in towards my screen XD
Zachary Macintyre
I love these posts! It's nice to hear your creative workflows with Dynamo (or any projects), and it's nice putting some of the various scraps of behind the scenes and posts you've made into a bigger context. It's also pretty painfully relatable, but there's a lot of great things to take away from your thoughts. Thanks you for such an honest infodump. For what it's worth, the first five episodes of Dynamo were so meaningful to me from the first time I saw ep 4 and knew it was good enough to watch from the start. (After episode 5, 6's production value blew me away again and I had to sit down and reevaluate some things, but the patreon has upped the inspiration to a whole new level again).
Ozzie
In a perfect world I would definitely, happily, work for free for you. You have such an interesting way of tackling things that's immensely satisfying and while, yes, everyone has their weaknesses, you're really amazing at your strengths. Sadly though, this isn't a perfect world, but I'm still happy to support your projects just through this Patreon :D
Hey Ian! I can’t tell you how much I relate to this. For years it’s been just be funneling whatever money I can get into mine or my friend’s shorts just to get them shot. Some never see the light of day because of endless retooling but I guess that’s just how it is sometimes. I wanted to take the time to say thanks for these patreon posts and tutorials I’ve learned a ton that’s actually translated into real VFX work on top of my full time editing gig which is a dream come true! If you ever have a few dynamo scenes and scripts that you wanna toss up like these I’d love take a stab at putting together a scene for ya! I can’t wait to see what comes next
Blake Rizzo
So excited for the future stuff you make! I feel this so dangg hard. Like I often feel bad about how long it takes for me to make films (doing a ton of different parts of the pipeline alone) but I don't know how else to make them so I just end up doing it. But I miss and love the community element of filmmaking. And really really really want that to carry over across all parts of the filmmaking process.
Lukas Sprehn
No matter how long ago you filmed that original Dynamo stuff, I'm also here to see that being done, so I don't care how long it takes. And honestly, the bits and pieces I've seen of that old footage has never made me think "Wow, that looks wonky and old!" It looks amazing. I love your cinematography style to... maybe that's because of that whole "shooting for the edit." Though you do say when shooting dialogue scenes it's totally different from that. I have to say, though, the dialogue scene in the cardboard castle between Topaz and Rubix, with Gage lying knocked out - or whatever happened to him - is one of the most interesting things I've seen cinematography-wise. So good. I'm here for both Dream and og. But I don't want to add pressure to you. So take your time. But yes, I do agree, sounds like you need people working for you! I think you should put out a YouTube video about looking for an editor first, maybe put an email in it! Also, that old set isn't that bad at all. Or the kitchen thing. I love seeing how some people still live a little more formally inside of your world. Makes it seem like there's a real world of lives. But you could always add a little tech to it if you want??? Just... I advice not having BICMIB be a crutch. Planning out stuff, writing, maybe doing storyboards - maybe that could help a lot? Just some thoughts as to how you could streamline though you prolly thought of most of this already! Love you man. Ps. The scene is fantastic. Love the set love it love it love it. It looks lived in, it looks cozy but also cramped and modern. And the tech jargon and worldbuilding is fantastic. I also love Aaron's delivery. Even though he said the memorization wasn't that bad, it seems like it must have been somewhat hard with that tech lingo.
Greg Beaudry
Goddamnit Ian😂😂
James Ballard
Thanks for the insight, man! Can relate pretty hard. Have you considered going down the 'work-all-this-up-into-a-pitchable-concept-and-hit-up-some-major-studios' route? I feel like with the absolute wealth of fresh visuals and works in progress + the narrative in your mind it'd be so pitchable. No doubt you've considered this, I'm just curious! We've managed to get some traction with a lot less than you've got visually + strong world/story and that's about it. I think the world is such a huge part of what got them interested and yours is SO damn enticing and intriguing! No free lunches I guess when other people's money gets involved so you might be determined to keep it indie.
They had us in the 1st 3minutes and 5 seconds not gonna lie
Benjamin Lacey
Such a fun scene Ian! Great short film, really. Getting these kinds of thoughts on paper (or screen;) ) is so helpful, for you I hope, but also for other creatives like myself. Its comforting to see other people, people with more experience, people that I admire (like yourself) , to see these people struggling much how I do. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about your Dynamo baby. Also! I love the snail, such a great little addition
Kai Christensen
ian. i can relate so frickin much with some of this. the bcimib, the feeling like you gotta be a one man show, the having tons of skilled people you know but for some reason don't fully trust to take over job xyz. if it helps, i've learned a lot about how to deal with that stuff by watching how you deal with it. i'm certainly more self aware of my creative now than i was when i find the Patreon. i wholeheartedly look forward to any and all dynamo i get to watch. you're making some really frickin awesome work. i hope you figure out all this crazy workflow stuff. you and your crack team of intrepid filmmakers are *flawlessly* accomplishing with 5-6 folks what many full-staffed Hollywood studios can't even do. while you may only be directly responsible for the projects you work on, i can guarantee you the number of future projects you've inspired *other* people (including) me to do is massive. keep at it man! EDIT: the longer "blog post" kinda format is great btw. would totally read future posts like it.
