Gunderson; an Xmas Noir (and the Road to December)

Back in Dec I asked, what came first: the promo posters or the story?

Santa was a Daz asset I got on sale and Ms. Claus was a CC character that matched him real nice. Then the two of them look as smug as a bug in the rug, hence the “Naughty” tagline. And then once the posters were created I knew that the story of a villainous Santa Claus would have to come to fruition. So, December and into January I drafted Gunderson; An Xmas Noir.

It’s a mildly serious tale of elves and santa and an automaton and its humor lies largely in taking itself serious. It has elements of The Big Sleep and maybe a sprinkle of Chinatown.  It’s also a rather ambitious project for me with a 15 page script, 4 major VA roles (and many smaller speaking parts), 7 custom sets  and a slew of elvish extras to bring my version of the (North) Pole to life.

Another thing it has is a strict schedule to be completed in time for Christmas 2023.  Based on my estimates from my last 3 projects its going to be tight (working hobby hours).  I’m a project manager type of guy so I’ve developed a shooting schedule with several major deadlines along the way to December. 

• May 1 - Script rewrites, major character design, general set design (to be finalized before shooting) and casting the voice acting roles  
• July 15 - First 3 Scenes 
• Oct 1 - Next 2 scenes 
• Dec 1 - Final 2 scenes, foley, editing and titles

So that’s that (mattress man).  My 2023 dance card is filled up.  I'll give some progress reports as I jingle all the way to the finish line.

CastingCall.Club - A Review

In the past I have relied upon family, friends and Fiver to find voice actors for my projects.  For my latest project (Gunderson) I found CastingCall.Club and decided to give it a go.  I posted my project with four unpaid roles and a two week audition deadline.  With three days left to the deadline I have received 11 auditions with good choices for each role which far exceeds my expectations for the site. 

Here is my listing: https://www.castingcall.club/projects/gunderson

The process is you add your profile with social links and a description where you can list previous projects.  You add the project with description and photo, and then add roles to the project which allow for a description (should include the size of the role; how many times does the character speak, number of scenes, number of words), a photo and space for three potential audition lines.  Then you set the audition deadline.  When a VA auditions you can visit your project page and listen to (and possibly download) the auditions.  There's also a fair amount of things to do with the auditions in case you get a lot and need to easily manage them (upvote, public comment or pm the VA, ect).

Here are some tips from my experience:

• Provide expectations and act professionally and courteously  - Detail your own level expertise + examples to temper expectations, scheduled project completion date, deadline for audition, deadline to have the roles complete, an assurance that you will let all the VAs know if they are accepted or passed, how you want the voice files (file type, separate individual lines vs whole scenes in one take).  There are a lot of projects and the the better yours looks the better chance you have of getting VAs interested. Provide pictures of the project and the roles.  When you add your project the site provides a pretty good example project which you should emulate to some degree.
• Describe the project and VA roles in ways that will be interesting to the actor.  They want to have fun and try voices and emotions that give them a chance to shine so the more details you provide the better. 
• Remember that the audition lines are often not enough to set the scene so you may need to "direct" the audition by providing context, scene descriptions or directions.  Its better to do this from the start instead of having to change it later once you realize the auditions are not getting what you want (this happened to me twice and I turned off one VA because of it).  
• Provide these details before you publish.  You can edit later but you only get one first impression.
• Be patient.  I've received auditions in a steady stream over the two weeks.  Every time I think all the auditions are in I get another one.  

So yea, overall I have been impressed with the site which is suited well to hobby level projects and VAs but also has users with  varying levels of experience as well.

CONS

• Free version ads are annoying  but not a deal breaker
• You have to work out the transactions for paid roles yourself.  The site doesn't seem to have functionality for this.

PROS

• Its free to list one project at a time but there are pay variations that remove ads, offer advanced statistics and allow more projects at once
• Lots of voice actors

Frustrations of the Rewrite

I wrote the first draft of Gunderson in about 2 weeks.  Was super excited with the idea and the characters.  Then I let it sit for two months while I finished production on "Hail to Thee, Ralph King".   

Coming back to it, I was a bit perplexed on how to make real improvements.  After a bit of time and research I identified what I thought were the weakest parts of the script (and the strongest).  I added new ideas to beef up the world building, worked on dialog and went back and forth and back (and forth) on my intro scene.  I think the script is definitely improved but instead of the excitement and feelings of accomplishment from the first draft I have doubts and a bit of frustration.  

That first draft is where you tear the idea out of your imagination kicking and screaming onto the physical page.  It goes from nothing to something.  It's ALIVE!  I am a creator!  

The rewrites pick that creation apart and pat and mold it in various ways that may or may not be for the best.  I am an editor. 

OK, time to put on the set design, voice actor and casting director's hats. Schedules to keep if I'm going to pull this one off.

Elder God

After 6 months this ElderGod model finally went on sale on the Daz site and I grabbed it for less than 5 bucks (I think this was the first model I added to my wish list).  It has many many morphs to make those tentacles wriggle and the mouth quiver.  Here's hoping I can get it into Iclone with all them morphs cause I have a definite script (half written) and a cow (wholly uneaten) waiting for this guy.   

But with Gunderson paying rent in my mind this year that's a ways off.  Get in line Elder God, the Christmas Elves were here first!