Details: How I made Minushi
07-MR-08
Okay! So here’s the status:
Minushi is in distribution limbo right now. It is in the courts of the distributors and we’re just waiting for the bidding war to start… Heh.
So, in the interim I’ve had a chance to produce some short documentary-esque videos which I hope will answer a lot of the questions I’ve received over the years about how I produced Minushi. I call the documentary:
“Details: Making a Movie Called Minushi”
It’s a little less enigmatic a title than “Minushi,” I know. But hey, it is a documentary.
The doc, divided into eight installments, will be released online (of course!) here on Minushi.com (“Making Of” Section) as well as popular video portals like Revver and YouTube, among others. I hope there’s something in these installments that will amuse you or maybe give you some hints in your own projects. Anyway, without further ado, here’s the first installment of “Details:”
Installment 1: What is Minushi?
Let me know what you think!
October 6th, 2008 at 2:07 am
Hi Tyler:
First of all, sorry for my english but it’s not my native language.
Second, congratulations for your huge work. I was searching information about animation someday and I found your “Making a Movie…”.
I’m just starting in this world of animaton and I’ve never seen before a “making of” so full of really great information about making a movie.
I read one of the press notes titled “Feature length film in Flash?” and I have a question about this and I’d really appreciate if you can answer it if you have the time of course.
When I saw your Making Of, you said that you used Flash because it’s “the online standard software of animation” and in the magazine interview you said that it was because it was the software that you basically knew at that moment. The title of the note was “Feature length film in Flash?, so here is my point and question at the same time:
What software is supposed to be better to create an animation movie? What are the standards for an animation movie? Why is kind a surprise that some talented guy created a whole movie in flash?, please, understand that I’m talking about the software here, not about your obvious outstanding talent and hardwork to create a whole movie.
I mean I’m wondering if Flash should be my first option to create some work like yours. I read one of your notes about the complications: “I would probably have posted 500 words on just what a miserable affair it’s been getting the very image and sound intensive Flash files exported properly of online delivery”.
So those are my worries 1) Flash is the indicated software to create a movie? Should be my first option? and 2) What about the complications to export this work to other formats?
Thank you very much for your patience and congratulations for your great job, and as you said: “spread the word”,
That’s what I’m doing :-)
thanks, Waiting for your answer:)
Email: shineseeker@gmail.com
October 6th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
ShineSeeker,
Your English is fantastic, don’t worry about it.
I’m glad you liked the “making of” documentary.
I’m afraid I’m the wrong person to ask about what the current standard software is. When I started Minushi in 2003 the answer to that question was certainly Flash but since then that standard may have changed, I simply don’t know. Even during Minushi’s nearly four year production I didn’t really keep up with new technologies - Minushi was made using very old softwares: Flash 4 and a sound editing program that’s been out of use for nearly ten years. I just found I could work faster with these old programs rather than have to constantly stop work to learn new versions.
I think the surprise that a feature movie was created in Flash is not necessarily that the software used was Flash (in 2003 it would have been a novelty) but by now many television shows are produced in Flash and I’d imagine a few movies as well. I think the novelty is in the fact that (with the exception of my actors) I made Minushi alone. Flash itself is very versatile in the content that it can produce but I think to many web content producers the idea of actually making a feature film with it is sort of stretching what the software was designed to be used for.
As for whether Flash should be your first option if you’re getting into animation; again, I’m not really sure. I’ve been concentrating on live-action, HD work for the past year and have been a little out of touch with the world of animation. If I were you I’d certainly look into Flash but other options may have come along.
As for complications in exporting Flash to other formats; again, that should be considered with respect to the fact that I was using Flash 4, a very old version of Flash. None the less, it did still manage to export to video just fine. I don’t know if newer versions have Flash have fixed the limitations of the old version but I would imagine they have. Besides, if you’re only starting out, I’d encourage you to start small, think about doing a few shorts. I made animated shorts in Flash for five years before attempting Minushi.
Thanks for checking out my work - good luck with your project!
tyler