Rolling Along

So Spring of '04 is slowly winding down, and all the second-year students are doing their final panel defenses this week. A tense time -- for them, and for me a bit. I'm doing some trial runs on a character for Maya II / Character I, and discovering just how time consuming it can really be. I still think I have time to do what I want to do for my thesis, but it really does start now, and if I don't keep up the momentum over the summer there could be trouble.

Met with Rob last week and pitched him the idea for the first time. His initial response -- "What's the point?" -- wasn't exactly what I'd hoped for. But after some discussion he warmed to the idea. I think if I do it right, it's going to be something that you get right away, versus something that has to be explained. But that's pretty damn important, and I have to constantly remind myself of that as I storyboard this puppy.

Also added onto a compilation reel of stupid cheap commercials, so that I can watch them one after the other and pinpoint what they have in common. Besides the conventions, I think I need to watch out for some more fundemental ideas -- like the products they advertise are always cheap, flimsy, and serve a need that isn't really a need. This is the one thing I'm not really addressing with my idea right now... While I think my product idea is funny in and of itself, it isn't a clearly stupid product that fills an unnecessary void, and I wonder if I should try to go that route. Not sure how that would be accomplished -- something stupid that aliens don't really need a machine for... maybe the same thing, but somehow convey that it's plenty easy to roast your beast without this gadget? Or maybe I don't really need to worry about that.

Also went to a small presentation on MetroCAF and what goes into that festival. It reminded me that concise is good, but so is weird and attention-grabbing. I think I've got a good line on the latter, and I need to just keep the former in mind. I still sometimes think I'd be better off with a clear story, single-character thesis, and worry a bit that I'm falling into the trap that I've been aware of for a while now.