Progress Update + (oops, I done got depressed again)

Hello, time to do a pinch of oversharing.

I said in my last update video that I couldn’t promise not to have more fluctuations with my motivation/burnout-cycle/executive dysfunction, and sure enough, here we go again. Not everyone will (or should) care about this sort of thing, (and to be frank, I’m not really used to talking about it publicly) but as my resplendent patrons, I do feel that I owe it to you to be accountable, so I wanted to give a little update on my deal, as well as some info on the projects that I do have in the works. (more on that below) Feel free to read if you want, or not.

Okay yeah so basically I’ve been depressed again for a while and hopelessly overwhelmed (please excuse the hyperbole) by all the different things I want/need to do and it’s been like pulling teeth to get past the overwhelm and force my brain to focus on actual work. That said, I do have a handful of projects in various stages, one of which I’m currently editing. If I’m not able to get it finished very soon, I will pause payments on this patreon page until I’m able to release it, because I don’t feel that I’m holding up my end of the bargain at the moment. I always bounce back at some point, but I’m doing my best to make that point be right now!

Read the next bit at your own risk, or don’t if you don’t want to be spoiled and/or disappointed. Otherwise, I just wanted to say that I’m so grateful to everyone who supports me on here, and I’m really trying to be worthy of it.

Update on Upcoming Projects

Everything here is subject to change, (this isn’t necessarily the order these will come out in) but here’s a general idea.

In Editing: Blender Stop-Motion Effect Walk-through

Here’s the one I’m currently editing. The Rudolph video from last year is still my favorite project I’ve ever done, in no small part because of the stop-motion version of Jawn I created for it. It was a hell of a task, since I knew very little about blender or 3D modeling going in, and I followed a myriad different tutorials to piece together the full effect. There isn’t really (or at least I couldn’t find) a full tutorial/overview of how to achieve an imitation of the Rankin/Bass style in 3D anywhere online, so I’ve been wanting for a while to walk through the process and explain how I did it. If I waited any longer it would slip from my memory too much, so I’m doing it now.

I also don’t have a good title for this, so if you have any ideas, lmk. XD

Partially Scripted or at Least Partially Researched

”Why Does Every Anime Opening Look Like THIS Now”

I said in my Lazarus video that this would be “my next video,” but things got shuffled around a bit, so now you should expect it in early august.

There seems to have been a trend in (particularly shonen) anime openings lately, towards a particular style. (realism, abstraction, mundane moments, heavy compositing, etc.) Think jjk, ousama ranking, the lazarus prologue, that kind of thing. Why is that? Well, it mostly comes down to one particular dude (and more recently one other particular dude) who seem to be directing like, every anime opening lately.

“PLEASE Stop with the 60fps Anime Edits”

This is an offshoot of the A.I. In-between video. I started to get way too bogged down in the particulars of frame interpolation and why it generally doesn’t work well for animation, and also went down a little rabbit hole about 4k60fps anime openings and edits, the culture of the people who make them, and why I hate it SO much.

”In Defense of ‘Boring’ Media”

This one’s been partially scripted for a while, and it’ll be a miracle if I get it finished at some point.

It’s ostensibly about Frieren and how it shines brightest when it focuses on the mundane over the sensational and (in my opinion) loses some of its spark when it strays away from that mark, but really, this is just an excuse to get into some film theory and get real pretentious about slow cinema and one of my favorite movies of all time, Jeanne Dielman.

On the horizon somewhere, but still just a vague idea — may or may not actually happen

“To Your Eternity” season 3 FINALLY has a release date (I thought it was dead) and I kinda want to talk a bit about why I’m intermittently obsessed with this show. If you watched the first season, first episode, or even just saw the hype around it when it first came out, you seriously would not believe me when I told you what the show is like by the end of season 2. This is one of the most insane break-neck transformations of a story I’ve ever seen, and I’m NOT EXAGGERATING when I say that every single feeling that one could possibly have while watching a show (good and bad!) is somehow present in this one. Tone, animation, pacing, they all fluctuate so wildly, it’s insane. Also the production is a complete shitshow.

I just started The Summer Hikaru Died and Gachiakuta, maybe I’ll end up doing something with one of them, who knows. They both seem kinda interesting so far though.

I found an old OVA from the 80s (whose name I’ll keep secret for now) ages ago on VHS and I kinda want to watch it on stream at some point and turn that into a video, idk.

Huh, maybe having all these ideas, too many to follow through on is why I get so overwhelmed? Who could say.

Thanks again.