Hackberry Hollow

The final pass for Volume 2 has been completed over the past two months. It seems that the most recent threats have had an impact on productivity.

Hang in there little buddy!

We have just received word that there is an update to our hostage situation!

I have just been informed that a member of our test audience has gone renegade and threatened us for the completion of the script for Hackberry Hollow.

In addition to the above threat, we have been sent a photo of the hostage.

<blows into microphone>

Is this thing on?

<tap tap>

Okay. We have the entire script written beginning to end and are working on a final pass before we sacrifice it to the test audience gods. I suspect that this will be accompanied by a great deal of wailing and gnashing of teeth on my part. They have explicit instructions to point out any flaw they find.

Just moments ago we finished our final pass of Volume 1! That means there are no plot holes, no notes, or any changes that we can think of before we place it upon the sacrificial alter smeared with our blood, sweat, and plot.

That’s right. Today Google has stretched forth its almighty hand and imbued us with the power of posting videos longer than 15 minutes on youtube (and collect money from advertising). Usually this is an honor reserved for people that are more important…like, content producers. We didn’t even post any cat videos! (Or squirrel videos as Glen points out.) No, apparently Google—on a whim—decided that we were worthy. Apparently Google worship has payed off at last.

To celebrate we have uploaded a video of 16 minutes of silence, just because we can.

In other news, we set up Gobby 0.5 and it works great.

After flying underneath the radar, we present to you our current progress of the script for Hackberry Hollow. We’ve done a ton of work since the last time we posted our writing progress. Even though it’s been a while since we’ve posted a writing report (um, November), since that time we’ve almost written the entire last half of the script for the entire comic.

You heard me. *clackity clackity clack*

Alright. Now that I got that out of the way, here’s what we’ve been up to….

Big news folks. The Animation Academy is starting their online program next week on Wednesday the 8th! It’s going live! Woo! (For those that haven’t been following this blog, or it’s been so long that you’ve forgotten, we’ve been working on the online software for the school for the past several months.)

There’s more info about the school and enrollment after the jump, but here’s the summary:

The reason why Hackberry Hollow is going to rock is because the training program at The Animation Academy rocks. Without it I couldn’t create good character designs.

Okay. I actually don’t have any plans on turning this into a series; I just loved that headline.

Over the past two months I’ve felt really good about attending Animation Nation Night. Let me rephrase that: I always feel good about attending Animation Nation Night, but these past two months have made me feel particularly smug good because two months in a row the guest speaker said that writing the script first before doing anything visual is the best way to go. The two guest speakers in question are Peter Chung (creator/director for Æon Flux and director for Firebreather) and Max Howard (producer/executive for Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Space Jam, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit to name a few).

So what exactly did they say that made me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside? Read on for the rest.

As posted previously, we officially resumed work on Hackberry Hollow this last Tuesday. Currently we are re-reading the entire story that we have so far with fresh eyes and marking the entire thing up with notes for things we need to fix, improve or smack each other upside the head for including.