2020 Round-up

 What a year of progress 2020 has been for this project! Despite what has been happening in the real world with COVID-19 and what not, I have made probably the biggest leap in progress with Diamonds Reimagined than I have since starting this project two years ago.

For starters, the screenplay has gone through numerous alterations since the start of the year, which has lead me to recently finish the Fourth Draft. I've tightened up the dialogue and even done careful re-structuring of scenes that haven't turned out quite as well as I originally devised when testing in Moviestorm or otherwise. Sometimes I just come up with better ideas, which seriously improve the script.

Last year I began implementing Moviestorm Mods (Addons) into my scenes which were a lifesaver because of how limited the assets of the software were in comparison to the needs of my project. And so too has this year's development of me being able to create new assets via Sketchup, which finally gave me the opportunity to animate car sequences that are authentically 1970s as well as build sets that were previously impossible to create.

But whilst using Sketchup has been of great help to enhancing the project, it has also been at times an absolute nightmare. There have been countless moments of frustration and anger when I realise that a Sketchup model I have spent ages tweaking or just finding is too complex for Moviestorm to render, meaning the software crashes. So whenever a complex model is rendered, you can tell how relieved I am. 

In addition, it has not been easy finding a way to convert my models to Version 6 Sketchup files, which are the only type that Moviestorm can render. No doubt this is because the Sketchup converter (and indeed Moviestorm itself) has not been updated for quite some time.

Nevertheless, I wish to thank the Moviestorm Community for all the help they have given me this year in solving some of these issues. I'm sure there is much I would not have known how to do in Moviestorm without their useful information.

Before I wrap things up here, here is a video montage showing sped-up versions of nearly all of the animated sequences I have worked painstakingly hard to animate and edit in 2020 for the project. Naturally they will all make sense once you see them at their full length in the final film.

WARNING: It goes really really really fast...

So what's next for the project in 2021, you may ask? Well, it must be noted that 2021 will be the 50th Anniversary of the original Diamonds Are Forever's release in 1971. The project will go full steam ahead in completing numerous sequences such as the Motorbike Desert Chase, sequences aboard the Baja Oil Rig and even a shooutout between Bond and Spangled Mob gangsters.

In light of the sad loss of the man who portrayed Bond in Diamonds Are Forever; Sir Sean Connery, I will pay special attention to getting the animation of Bond himself just right. And whether I am finally able to get voice actors for the project next year remains to be seen, but I shall certainly make sure the voice for Bond sounds good for Connery's likeness.

But the main thing that will hopefully materialise by the end of next year will be the very first teaser trailer for the project. 

At the moment it is too early to tell what it shall be like, but I shall definitely need more footage and a few voiceovers to make it work. It is my intention that this trailer will raise more awareness about the project.

For now, cheers and happy holidays!

The Retro Captain

Arrival in Las Vegas sequence (Short transition scene) - Newly animated!

 

This sequence is one I've just finished animating in-between my work on the Motorbike Desert Chase. It's one I improvised on the spot and does not come from the script. The intention is for it to bridge the gap between Bond departing from Slumber Inc and going to his hotel in Las Vegas (which in this version is The Whyte House rather than The Tropicana).

Big Scene development post 2: Motorbike Chase in Whyte Tectronics complex and across the Nevada desert (Part 1.5)

A small update on progress of the Motorbike Chase sequence's development. Storyboarding is still underway, but about 1/3 is finished. In the meantime, I can share with you a couple of rough tests for different elements of this incredibly complex chase.

As you can see, most of the vehicles are working quite well. There are problems with them that are somewhat unavoidable (like how the vehicles 'snap' into place during their turning animation) when I'm animating them, but I will use some careful editing to limit the issues to a degree.

What I haven't shown in this video is what I call the backdrop stage, which is where I film all the closeups and mid-shots of the passengers in the vehicles using a video playing on a backdrop behind them. Here is an example in a still, which has a blank backdrop as a placeholder:

And so there you go! There's still quite a bit of work to do on the sequence, but everything is coming along nicely for the most part bar a few limitations from Moviestorm's method of animating vehicles. Next time this blog is updated, there should be a video showing all of the completed storyboards in order. At least, that's the plan.