One man, one animated movie

There is a new Kickstarter campaign running for an animated film called Blast ‘Em Up!

It is being run by writer / director Michael Davis, who, back in 2007, did a little movie called Shoot ‘Em up!, starring Clive Owen, and filled with lots of over-the-top action violence. He is taking the idea, translating it to a sci-fi setting, adding in elements of a heist movie, and an alien invasion, and animating the whole thing.

Why am I telling you all this? Not because I think the movie sounds interesting and is my cup of tea (which I do.) I’m telling you because Michael Davis is doing the whole thing by himself.

So what, you say?

I’ve already talked about wanting to be a cartoonist, and about my interests in AI. I’ve been sitting on a script for an animated film, along the lines of Disney’s Fantasia and Fantasia 2000, for the last 30 years or so. I was going to set mine to Holst’s The Planets. I had a whole storyline planned out, a sweeping tale of war, romance, and grand spectacles.

The drawback being that I’m not skilled enough to produce the art I see in my head to make the movie I want. Nor will any movie studio provide me with the money and production facilities to make the movie.

I figured with the advent of AI generated art, I might somehow be able to use AI to animate my movie and produce it myself. I’ve considered this a pipe-dream, at least for a few more years, until AI art generation gets easier to use and better at doing animation.

The reason I am excited by the Kickstarter for Blast ‘Em Up! is that Michael Davis is doing all the animation by himself. He taught himself animation, character design, lighting, and all the other things to put together his animated movie.

The Heavens have separated, and golden shafts of light shine down upon me. There is still hope. I too may be able to create my animated movie without having to go to a studio or hire a team to make it.

Onwards and upwards!

If you’d like to support my efforts, why not buy me a chocolate chip cookie through my Ko-Fi page? https://ko-fi.com/jhusum