Originally Posted by
J. Publick's Live Journal
[ mood | sore & sniffling ]
[ music | TV On The Radio - Young Liars EP ]
There will be some Venture Bros. "original production art" up for bids on ebay very shortly. These are storyboard pages from the Christmas special, mostly by Doug Lovelace but some by yours truly, and signed by both where appropriate. The money from these auctions goes to the Lance Armstrong Foundation for Cancer Research , so it's not just us trying to make a quick buck, I swear. Anyway, look for those.
PRODUCTION JOURNAL:
Noodlesoup moved their studio a couple of weeks ago. And though I am loathe to let go of the raw/industrial, open space stylings of their previous world headquarters in favor of the smaller, more quasi-corporate setting of their new offices, I welcome the change of neighborhood with open arms. Barely a hop, skip and/or jump away from its former setting, the new Noodlesoup finds itself in much more austere surroundings--namely, across from the fabled, stone-lion-bedecked New York Publick [sic] Library and Bryant Park. Perched atop the 26th floor of this architectural wonder, I will sit in my cramped office and allow the stunning southern views of the Empire State Building and some building with gargoyles all over it whisk me away to a sci-fi/family/action-adventure/adult comedy inspirational wonderland. I will miss the palsied, oversized-hip-hop-gear-wearing, scabby, babbling masses that teemed along our former stretch between the Port Authority and Penn Station...I will miss their belligerent requests for cigarettes and change...I will miss the pigeons on the overhead ledge that thrice crapped upon me...I will miss the occasional knifings and vehicular manslaughters on what I like to call "our corner," and the palpable sense of dread that accompanied the setting sun there. Rest in Peace, Old Noodlesoup Headquarters...Hell-OOOOOO Fifth Avenue!
With the move comes, of course, utter chaos in our production. Where my keyboard and Wacom tablet are, I have no idea, for instance. Nor do I know why I am suddenly in possession of not one but three Scotch tape dispensers. But with chaos also comes discovery--my notebook from season one, containing unused and, in retrospect, somewhat unfunny notes, and a bootleg copy of "Heat Ray and Jack" long thought lost. At least I have an office again--having lost mine to a personnel shuffle over a year ago--albeit a shared one with Character/Prop design supervisor/all around decent bloke Mike Foran.
Production-wise, I don't know what week this is. 7? 8?
The character/prop and background design teams are just finishing up their work on episode 4. Among other things, they've had to bring Egypt, Paris, the South Pacific, the New York subway and Spider-skull Island to life--along with countless henchmen, villains, soldiers, Indians, spies, goth girls, innocent bystanders and heroes--all while refining the Venture compound (they have a pool, a bathroom and a study now!) and many of our pre-existing characters.
The first drafts of the storyboards for episodes 1 and 2 are finished, and episode 1 goes to animatic next week, which is where I start to actually direct the show. We lay the audio track down, match up the panels and action to it, and see where that leaves us. Timing problems make themselves apparent immediately, and we start cutting and lengthening and adjusting and so forth. We make notes as to which storyboard panels need to be revised--whether it be adding poses to match the characters' voices and attitudes, or cutting confusing or distracting shots, or restaging things so they're clearer or funnier or whatever.
On the writing front, I turned in the script for episode 4 a few weeks ago (featuring the not-so-triumphant return of the Impossible family and a few other familiar faces) and Doc delivered the amazingly insane script 5 (featuring some backstory for Orpheus) last week. We're working on episode 6 together at the moment, which, confusingly enough, will actually be the second episode that airs if we have our druthers. Although we're a little behind at the moment because we've both somehow come down with nasty colds (despite the fact that it's been over 90 degrees every day this summer), which come hot on the heels of me taking a week off to have knee surgery. I've been holed up my Brooklyn bunker recovering. I should have been watching Rear Window, which would have been very appropriate, but since I've already seen it about 30 times I've been stretched out on the daybed (which would be at home in the apartment from Rear Window) watching old Fritz Lang DVDs instead.
We recorded episode 3 last week and episode 4 on Monday. The Daily Show's Stephen Colbert reprised his role as Professor Impossible -- [ RyChus: Wow!, I didn't know that was him... ] -- to delightful effect and it was a thrill to have him in the studio again. We also learned that Paul Boocock, who last season voiced Jonas Venture Sr. and a host of other characters, can do a chillingly spot-on imitation of the Apple computer "Kathy" voice. We've had to do without Patrick Warburton's vocal talents so far, but I'm due to take a trip to L.A. to record the first four or five episodes' worth of Brock's tracks in a few weeks. While I'm there, Home Movies' Brendon Small has also promised to do a couple of voices, which should be a treat. And speaking of Home Movies and treats, Jon Benjamin (the inimitable Coach McGurk) has also promised a voice for Doc's latest episode.
The color department doesn't start for another month, so no news there.
J. G. Thirlwell won't start his score composition for a month or two, but he's back from an extended stay in Europe and eager to get to work. His new cd, under the Foetus banner, has just come out and is available here. I suggest you check it out--the music itself is great, and there's a bonus DVD featuring the four Venture Bros. commercial spots Doc and I cut for Adult Swim and the preview we did for Comicon '04, as well as music videos for two Foetus tracks, directed by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O. and Jeremy Solterbeck.
The Venture Bros. DVD project continues. One of our editors has been diligently scouring season one's original footage and animatics to see if there's anything worth resurrecting as "deleted scenes" as well as designing some motion menus and transitions in which to frame said scenes. Not a whole lot of extra footage gets cut out of cartoons, generally, but we have a few things here and there that might be fun to see. We're also planning to shoot some video interview stuff next week.
Nothing else doing. I bought a used car recently...and let me tell you, nothing sheds light on all the pettiness, selfishness and opportunism locked inside the human soul like driving in New York.
--JP
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