The website is up!

For me, putting together a website is a completely foreign concept. It is lesson after lesson of patience and hair pulling. I have the utmost respect for those of you who do this every day. That being said, after uncountable hours web-designing bliss, I give you the new website for Rise Media!

www.risemedia.org

It is still a work in progress, but from now on I will be updating the blog there rather than here. Please update your bookmarks accordingly. Thanks!

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"We are human in expression but divine in creation and limitless in potentiality."

- Eric Butterworth, Discover the Power Within You

Woot!

By the way, over the weekend the site had its 500th visit!

Storyboarding Update

I've been hard at work on the new website which should be up soon. In the meantime, here are some more storyboard sketches.

With the last shot from the previous post, the camera had zoomed way in to the rubble laying at the bottom of the river. Here the viewer sees lots of little rocks, twigs and other things that normally lay at the bottom of a river.


Upon closer inspection of the grass, though, the viewer will see little creatures cling to the blades.


A narrator of some sort will explain that as long as this river had existed, so had these little creatures, clinging to the riverbed. The camera will then show the landscape above the river going through the cycles of the four seasons to indicate the passing of time.


Back in the river we will see a couple of river creatures having a conversation.


One will be remarking to the other something along the lines of, "I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom!"


The other creature replies, "Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!"



More updates soon...

Thank you

I am extremely grateful that so many of my visitors keep returning. I feel like I'm letting you down when I don't update the site every day. Please know that I am hard at work at something when an update isn't made on a daily basis.

Along with working on my storyboarding, right now I am in the middle of creating a full fledged website that will be viewable at www.risemedia.org. I'm also spending a bit of time working with Meals on Wheels. I truly want to give as much as I've received, and I feel like I have so much to be grateful for.

Good readin'

I have read a number of books recently that have contributed a great deal of clarity and encouragement to this endeavor. Here's a list of them:

• The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis (These I actually have as audio CDs, so I listened to them on my commute to work rather than read them. I have the rest of the series, but no longer have a work commute...)

• Illusions : The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach

• Jesus, Life Coach : Learn from the Best by Laurie Beth Jones

There are a few others that I keep handy and read passages from, but haven't read cover to cover. These are:

• The Runner's Bible by Nora Holm (Thanks, Mom!)

• Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (Thanks, Dad!)

• The Holy Bible: King James Version (Thanks, God!)

• World English Bible (Thanks, Internet! This isn't an actual, physical book; it's accessed through a program on my computer)

Here's a list of to-read books – ones I have but haven't gotten to yet:

• Discover the Power Within You : A Guide to the Unexplored Depths Within by Eric Butterworth

• The Quest: A Journey of Spiritual Rediscovery and Adventures on the Quest by Richard and Mary-Alice Jafolla (technically, I don't have these yet. Although I have ordered them from Amazon.com, they haven't shown up yet)

• Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch (Another one I don't technically have yet, but will soon)

I wasn't too sure where this fit, so I'll just mention that I also get the Daily Word which gets read (almost) everyday. They offer a free issue at their website for those curious about it.

Please feel free to comment on any of these books if you've read them, or wish to. Or have suggestions on other books you thinks would be helpful to me.

Learn to look at the donut, not the hole

I read an excellent article over at spirituality.com this morning that captures many of the same experiences and emotions that I have been feeling lately. You can read it here.

Head Progression

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing a few of the different concept sketches I've done to try to figure out whet these river creatures are supposed to look like. Here are a handful of sketches I've done focusing on their head.



Here is a full-body sketch of the critter. This is pretty close to how I think he should look.


I apologize for the low quality of the sketches. My scanner is pretty old and doesn't want to cooperate with my sketchpad. :)

First Scene Sketches

Here are a few sketches for how I see the animation currently starting out...












You see this peaceful landscape with a crystal clear river running through it.












The camera moves towards the river...












...and then into the river.












The camera finally stops near a cluster of large rocks.

Here we will see lots and lots of the little river creatures clinging desperately to the rocks. I'll have more sketches up soon!