“Lunatics” Open Animation Series Pilot is Looking for Interns
The “Lunatica” project offers some interesting internship positions for Blender artists.
Terry Hancock writes:We are now actively looking for collaborators to work with us on model development, rigging, and animation for “No Children in Space”, the pilot episode of “Lunatics”, a free-culture/open-movie animated science-fiction web series about the first settlers on the Moon.
This production will have a very different emphasis from previous Blender Open Movie projects, in that we are focused primarily on the storytelling and are working on a longer format story (the pilot is about an hour, most episodes will be 30 minutes long). Thus, the emphasis for Lunatics will be on rapid workflow and reuse of material to maximize animation and model assets, and less on extremely intricate models.
We hope to make extensive use of the “Freestyle” renderer. We also hope to use motion capture data and digital puppetry techniques to provide “performance-based”/”near real-time” animation. There will also be extensive physical simulation and path-based animation in this project, as we also need to simulate a lot of space hardware (this is particularly true of the pilot episode).
The image above gives some idea of what this might look like aesthetically, although we intend to experiment with different kinds of rendering for background/setting and foreground/character art. The idea is to do something similar to the masking effect as described by Scott McCloud — a very frequently used idea in Japanese anime.
I have also written some about the art direction and production design for Lunatics on our site.
We hope to find a few people with one or more of the following skills for our core team: “mech” modeling, character modeling, rigging, simultation/physics, and rendering — especially non-photorealistic rendering with Freestyle. We’ll also need people with skills in texture painting, lighting, 2D animation with Synfig, design with Inkscape, terrain modeling, sound mixing, and some python scripting.
More details, including full-time and part-time stipends, working arrangements, telecommuting, and how to apply are available on our website.
YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You must be a LUNATIC to work for FREE ! Come on BlenderNation? till when you will be fishing for idiots to work for FREE? this must end someday, they get the money and idiots get nothing but a line of credit that none reads ! STOP THIS INSANITY !
If you had actually read the details (follow the link), then you would see that this is a paid internship, and you wouldn’t have to feel stupid for making that comment.
I read it. “WE COULD COULD COULD make an arrangement” but not at all at Industry level, just to cover basic if you work hard for months” COME ON GUYS STOP THIS INSANITY ! Even flipping hamburgers is a job ! Animation, texturing,lighting,modeling,2D designers ??? Those are professionals with long hours of study and practice. Some people think that they are smarter than others ! These people want a whole team of professionals for free and some others a few pennies? THIS MUST BE A JOKE ! They will get the money with the series and a bunch of idiots jumping around because they EARNED a big HOT DOG with double KETCHUP? yeah RIGHT ! DON’T SELL YOURSELF FOR LESS, it is degradation, humiliating and break down the possibilities of make a living doing this HARD HARD HARD Work ! SAY NO TO FREE WORK CAMPAIGN ! Bart do not confuse people making them believe that this is a job !
IT”S NOT FREE WORK YOU GOOF! As said before the job is paid. Don’t believe me? Click on the link provided and READ. Not only is it paid, but you can work for the comfort of your own home. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.
Sorry, I meant “from” not “for”.
Your subconcious mind betrayed you anyways ha ha ha. Read the whole article Mister: PAYMENT DEPENDS of the KICKSTARTER Fundraising Campaign ! READ READ the whole article before posting no? BTW you must humiliate yourself first by submitting a video of you begging for work so they can use it for fundraising Campaign? ha ha ha …what a low self esteem human would do that?
Quote from page: If you are selected for the “core team”, then you will be asked to do some work in July, before the Kickstarter begins.” That’s the first part you missed.”This will be compensated $200 each out of our seed budget,” Second part you missed. “This will, of course, be part of the Kickstarter campaign.” And that’s the last of what you should have been able to get from the article. In others words kiddo, if you get the job of working on the trailer you get paid for it. Have yourself a nice day.
Quote from page: If you are selected for the “core team”, then you will be asked to do some work
in July, before the Kickstarter begins. This will be compensated $200 each out of
our seed budget, and will require about 2-3 days full-time or 5 days part-time work.
The goal will be to test out your skills, your collaboration with your team mates,
and also to produce a brief “teaser trailer”, which has already been scripted. This
will, of course, be part of the Kickstarter campaign. WELL HOW OBVIOUS YOU TAKE OUT OF THE QUOTE THE PART SAYING: YOU HAVE TO MAKE A TEASE TRAILER FOR THE FUNDRAING FOR $200? IS THIS SERIOUS or you have no clue what it takes to create a trailer ! Modeling…rigging….texturing…lighting….camera…animation to see if you are good? $200? have yourself a nice day mister !
Also he forgot to quote this: Depending on your experience or portfolio, we may ask you to submit a small
demonstration project (less than a day’s work) and/or a brief video introducing
yourself, to be used in the Kickstarter campaign…YEAH RIGHT !
Wow. Are you seriously coming up with all these aliases just to comment on this article? I mean really, you’re giving yourself away when you keep double posting on comments. If I’m right, you’re probably the same kid who was trolling the tube fundraiser a while back since you kept changing your name their as well.
Anyways, no, I didn’t quote the whole thing considering that you are obviously reading it. Furthermore I have worked on trailers before, which involved, modeling, texturing, rigging, animation, lighting, and compositing, so yes I know exactly what is involved in the process of making the trailer. I also know that freelance work is a tough gig, which means that $200 for a short trailer isn’t all that bad. So if you wish to continue trolling this article BE MY GUEST. Personally, I have work that’s waiting for me.
No trolling mister Hellhound, simply getting things right to everyone. Asking for a small project + a video of yourself ( non PAID ) just to see if you are good and then use that material for fundraising without guarantee that this person will get at least your miserable $ 200 for ” OTHER PROJECT ” is just a rip off and also illegal. Simply put, they or you are fishing for idiots to exploit them and taking advantage of the less fortunate. To simply apply then you must create a project plus a video of yourself to be used in your campaign without payment? Is this trolling? I am just quoting from their or your site.
Your subconscious mind betrayed you anyways ha ha ha. Read the whole article Mister: PAYMENT DEPENDS of the KICKSTARTER Fundraising Campaign ! READ READ the whole article before posting no? BTW you must humiliate yourself first by submitting a video of you begging for work so they can use it for fundraising Campaign? ha ha ha …what a low self esteem human would do that?
BTW, it says: Payments depend of the KICKSTARTER Fund raising Campaign ! Send us a Video of yourself to be used in the KICKSTARTER Campaign ! It is not a matter of feeling stupid Bart this is a matter of SCAM ! They have no 3D trainning or expertise and no money either to invest ! These are the two main ingredients to make the RECIPE called: Fishing IDIOTS plate !
stop trolling, I spent ten years of my life trying to break into the industry working for free and still didn’t make it. Let people do what they want to do and takes risks on an opportunity without them feeling like an idiot for chasing a dream. there will be enough people making us feel like idiots as it is, don’t join the chorus.
You have just proved my theory. As long you work for free you will be
considered a low level artist to keep a job. You should have charged for
your work if you thought it was worthy. You are the typical example of
getting RIPPED OFF, then don’t encourage the new artists to follow your
erroneous path you took for 10 years, to bad for you but you gained it
because probably your low self esteem or may be you were not good
enough.
I was making my own films writing and directing and producing, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Your measurement of success is wrong. How happy were you making all that money.
p.s. I have to add one cavaet. I am gainfully employed now and make decent money. I was hired into my current position because of what I did on those films. They would not have happenned without all of working for free. You automatically assume free means failure, I am sorry you must have been burned at some point, but it worked out quite well for me.
I could only do 1 thumbs up but if I could I’d do thirty. Congratulations on your success in the industry and may it always be fruitful.
well if that is what you wanted to do at that time without any monetary
compensation is FINE, what I disagree is the fact of the seed of false
illusions ! Many would do the work hoping the miracle of success if
somebody reads the credits ! ha ha ha ! THIS type of SCAMS and taking
advantage of the less fortunate should end some day, it is a shame
BlenderNation promotes these rip off things. Also your phrase: “”” I
spent ten years of my life trying to break into the industry working for
free and still didn’t make it.”””” sounds very pit full and full of
resentment, don’t make us believe you were so happy for 10 years, your
comment is fulfill of frustration for the time lost.
No, I’m sorry it came across as pitiful/resentful, I wasn’t aiming for that. I went after my dream and didn’t make (welll not yet), but I would rather live my entire life chasing a dream than wondering what would have happenned if I had quit or not tried. I still chase my dream in spare time, and I do it all for free. If taking an internship or doing things for free advances your dream I will NEVER belittle it. A lot of people worked for free on our films and I am grateful for their help, there is something noble and good in what they did. I think we all did it because it was fun and we loved it. Thank you Bart for posting this.
well then….this is your opportunity to keep chasing your dream !
Humans are the only one getting stuck with the same obstacle twice, ha
ha ha. 10 years and you haven’t yet learned your lesson? Now I get why
you did not get a job in such period of time ! Also mister,,, forget
about working for love…gratefulness and stuff. If you have no money
you wont eat..nobody eats with sweet poetry ! ha ha ha ! by the way, aren’t you living under a bridge stealing some internet cable signal? ha ha ha !
Okay troll, I’m done
well then….this is your opportunity to keep chasing your dream !
Humans are the only one getting stuck with the same obstacle twice, ha
ha ha. 10 —years—- and you haven’t yet learned your lesson? Now I get why
you did not get a job in such period of time ! Also mister,,, forget
about working for love…gratefulness and stuff. If you have no money
you wont eat..nobody eats with sweet poetry ! ha ha ha ! by the way,
aren’t you living under a bridge stealing some internet cable signal? ha
ha ha !
well if that is what you wanted to do at that time without any monetary
compensation is FINE, what I disagree is the fact of the seed of false
illusions ! Many would do the work hoping the miracle of success if
somebody reads the credits ! ha ha ha ! THIS type of SCAMS and taking
advantage of the less fortunate should end some day, it is a shame–
BlenderNation– promotes these rip off things. Also your phrase: “”” I
spent ten years of my life trying to break into the industry working for
free and still didn’t make it.”””” sounds very pit full and full of
resentment, don’t make us believe you were so happy for 10 years, your
comment is fulfill of frustration for the time lost.
Are you guys kidding? The fact that an internship is free doesn’t mean it’s a “scam”. Just because you don’t make money today doesn’t mean an internship won’t make you money in the future– whether it be the connections you make, the skills you gain, and/or the portfolio piece you’ve developed. You’d think blenderheads, who are using a high quality product for free, would be a little less selfish. Thanks for posting this Bart. I’d love to do an internship like this if I wasn’t already busy.
yeah right ! I would love to see your face if someone asked you to work at some Hamburger Maker for FREE, flipping and delivering hamburgers the whole day in exchange of the possibility you could make money in the future and meeting other GOOFIES flipping hamburgers like you would. Don’t lie to yourself Mister ! Also that phrase of: “”””” I’d love to do an internship like this if I wasn’t already busy”””” is the typical thought of someone that won’t do such goofy stuff ! Yeah ! Send me a video of you begging for money so we can do the Fundraising campaign with your pity face ! ( THIS is actually one requirement from these guys )
To clarify the money situation, since that seems to be a hot-button issue:
* There will be small commissions for people selected for the core team. This money is not conditioned on anything except that you deliver (we’ll agree on what’s reasonable to do in this time beforehand). This test will be useful in estimating the risks and effort required for the main production.
* Then we’ll run a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds needed to pay internships. The accumulated agreed-on pay for the 3D internships is the primary cost driver — I expect it will be about 70-80% of the production budget at minimum funding. This is a team effort, like any crowd-funding campaign.
* Assuming that succeeds, then we’ll go into production mode and internships will be paid according to the contracts we made before the Kickstarter. If we fail, then all obligations are off — we’ll let you know in a few months when we’re ready to try again, in case you want to be in on that.
Addressing the point about 3D expertise, it is true that we are not 3D experts — that’s why we need you. We do have a few 3D and 2D artists who are interested in our project, and who are being considered already. But obviously, a project like this has to be a team effort, and different people bring different things to it.
What we bring to this project is years of work on a series premise, characters, setting, deep world-building, a strong script, a strong cinematic vision, technical and artistic design skills, and audio production skills. We also have a high level of scientific and technical understanding of the setting — we know our subject. And of course, we bring the initiative to put it all together. The character design work has already been completed — we have model sheets ready to go. Technical design for sets, vehicles, and props is currently underway, and will be available before you need to make a decision on this. We should also have a talented voice cast at that point, based on the responses I’ve seen to our casting call.
I hope ultimately, that it is the strong story and the promise of a self-sustaining free-culture project which brings your interest in this project. Those are certainly the reasons I am involved. I love science fiction and movies both, but I’ve always been a little disappointed by science fiction movie and television productions — not that they are bad, but that I feel we ought to be able to do better. And I feel a fan-funded, free-culture (CC By-SA) model using free software tools may be a much more effective way to reach that goal. I would certainly like to try!
Folks, just ignore the troll, please.
As far as the raging debate goes I’ll throw in my two cents with the lot of you.
1) They are not asking you to work for free but they are asking you to put in work in advance to lead to future payment. This is alarm bell number 1.
2) They will not be paying industry rates “by any means”. This is alarm bell number two. They’re openly saying that they will not be paying you what you as an industry professional deserve based on your effort and the tasks you will perform.
3) They mention how good it will be for your portfolio. This is up there with it’s great exposure as a major alarm bell in the media profession.
4) The project depends on a KickStarter campaign. This would make me uneasy because it is always a gamble. From my experience KickStarters with Open Source backing tend to succeed but it is still a gamble.
5) There is no real evidence of previous undertakings and a webseries with 30minute episodes is not only a massive undertaking but indicates a disconnect with how web content is formatted. In general 8-10 minutes is the longest a webisode should be and given that this is an unproven team 6 minutes is the most I would recommend for this series.
Overall I wouldn’t be massively worried about the risk of the kickstarter but I am concerned about the business model and how aware of the web climate this team is. This is not working for free but it is not a professional budget piece either. It is also a long commitment for anyone looking to work on it full time and the gravity of this commitment should be undertaken before agreeing to be a part of it. Questions you should ask yourself are “Do you have savings”, “Are you willing to dip into your savings to bring someone else’s vision to light”. Depending on the strength of the writing and one to one conversations with the crew in advance of working for this project it could be a good fit for a lot of people and a poor choice for others.
Ultimately it comes down to you. My advice is approach with caution and ensure that you have your own back covered before you go out on a limb.
Well said.
60 Minutes is a colossal undertaking even with the “rapid workflow”
techniques you are atempting. I would recommend a 90 sec teaser
to get a feel for the amount of work involved. A teaser will also make
you guys more credible(If it is any good).
“rapid workflow” techniques you have in mind could be ground breaking,
it can also end up looking like poo. There is no way getting around that
good 3D character animation is very labor intensive. Mocap is way faster than key-frame animation but still requires cleaning up and tweaking.
Never the less the project seems very interesting. I will certainly keep an eye on any progress you guys make.
Best of luck!
I can’t get this insanity! :) Why is this guy who writes from different nicknames (obviously it’s one man – the same style) is trying to prove his point so hard?
Quote:
Source: http://haacked.com/archive/2007/01/22/Identicons_as_Visual_Fingerprints.aspx
Identicons are easy to implement and will guarantee that people who like to create many personas can’t do so easily. It makes astroturfing harder.
Gravatar makes that automated, but you can also implemented it yourself or get one of the many open source implementations of it.
WARNING ! Those sites contains viruses, aspx ( Active server Pages and AJAX ) scripts holding information of passwords accounts. Heads up !
I agree about this being a huge project, but isn’t the nature of Lunatics what Blender is all about? If you aren’t a working professional (and I question how many of the loudmouths in this project are), then this is not a bad situation. Isn’t it better to be working on a team getting a stipend, then just to be working by yourself? I’m looking forward to signing up for an internship with Lunatics, although if something better came along, great. (Let us not forget how many unpaid internships are out there with the main reward being the experience and how many studios take advantage of students).
Isn’t there truth to the idea, “Hey! Let’s make a film! It will be fun.” I guess some of us have forgotten that.