Novick productions - Production Ramblings

Update - I'm Still Here

5/10/2016

Hello!

I'm still around and still working. Here's an update of what I'm doing and what I'm working on. I am currently an voluntary editor on a youtube webseries.

I am set to work on my friend's crowdfunded feature film this summer, which is super exciting! It's called "The Sisterhood of Girls Who Won't Date Me." The director, Max Radbill, managed to raise over $25,000 through kickstarter, letting this film become a reality! Here's the link to the kickstarter if you want to learn more about the project. There is also a facebook page for it

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1831430901/the-sisterhood

I am also trying to work on personal projects while I job hunt. I have two ideas for web series that I'm trying to write. One would be live action and a sitcom. The other, the one I'm most excited for, is an animated series that I'm hoping to have started animating by the end of the summer. I'm currently creating character designs and plotting out the stories of the episodes, so I have nothing to show you yet. As I finish character designs and conceptual details, I will post them, showing the progress the show is making.

There's a lot going on right now and I'm excited for what's coming up in the future. There are a lot of opportunities that I'm hoping to take advantage of.

~Rachel

Anansi's Legs Completed

3/21/2016

I finished the first version of Anansi's Legs, my stop motion short. Due to school scheduling and a few other set backs, I only had two days to film the paper. I do hope to work on a tighter version this summer. I am still incredibly proud of how this turned out. I did not do the recording or mixing, that was my good friend Sam Stone. He handled all the audio, including a wonderful original score. I hope you enjoy this!

I've been productive!

11/2/2015

You heard correctly! I've been super productive the past two weeks.

Last Monday, we recorded the narration for one of my animated shorts, The Ant and the Grasshopper. Despite a few technical glitches in the beginning, everything was recorded. The only things left to do for that project, in terms of voice actors, are a few lines of dialogue for the ant and for the grasshopper. The score is going to be recorded this weekend, along with the grasshopper's dialogue. It's really coming along!

I also made the color palette for that short. I used watercolors to mix and make my own color swatches. This will give my project a different look, and I'm very excited about that!

Today we recorded the narration for my Anansi short and Rabbit's lines. It all went too smoothly, despite a mixup with the rooms (and a person not leaving our audio suite on time).

A few days ago I helped out on another Film 1 project, which was nice. It was fun to be on location at a local baseball field. I was doing general PA work mixed with a little grip work (since there weren't any lights needed, that part was mostly holding the light bounce).

It doesn't matter what I do on set, whether it's a lot or a little, directing or being a PA. I LOVE being on set. I'm never happy unless I'm on set. When I'm making things, that is when I feel whole. This is what I am meant to do. I hope I can always make things and help out, whether it is my job or just something I do on the side.

update

10/25/2015

I've had one setback after another this semester, so I haven't been able to update. My dog died, my computer died, my hard drive has decided that it doesn't want to work anymore (with all of my projects on it) and much more.

Right now I'm sitting, ready to act in my friends' Film 1 project. We just did set dec for the classroom and are waiting for the extras to show up.

Setting up the classroom

Moving to the next shot.

I'm currently doing two animated shorts. One is The Ant and the Grasshopper. We start recording the audio tomorrow. I am hand drawing the characters and backgrounds and then animating them in After Effects.

The other is an Anansi tale depicting how Anansi's legs became long and thin. I am doing stop motion with paper cut-outs. Everything is going to look like shadow puppets. We start recording the audio this week as well. I'm hoping to have the cut-outs started by Thursday at the latest.

I'm super excited for these projects and the many others I have to do (because I'm forced to take 20 credits and it sucks but the projects are hopefully going to be awesome).

Speak - finished film

9/20/2015

Speak is now posted under "My Projects." Please check it out! The blood, sweat, and tears of my crew went into this piece. I am so proud of what we have accomplished. That was my first time directing a crew that consisted of more than just me. While there are some things I would change in hindsight, I am extremely proud of what we created. The screening for the film was extremely successful, which feels so amazing. The fact that I was able to touch people through one of my creations is such an incredible feeling. This is why I want to create films. This is honestly why I do what I do. This is why I'm pursuing an impossible business. This is what I was made for and nothing else feels as right.

Please check it out and leave a comment! I'd love to hear critiques and comments.

Loopdeloop Entry

9/20/2015

I just finished my entry for this month's LoopdeLoop contest. I posted the video under "My Projects." I drew the robots and the backgrounds and then animated everything in After Effects. Because my computer is on the way out, After Effects has been erasing and corrupting my file, making me start over too many times. But it's finally finished, I don't have missing keyframes again, and I'm really happy with how this has turned out! Please check it out.

One of the robots from my animation.

Coming soon

5/14/2015

As soon as finals are over, I'm hoping to add a photography section to this site. It will have production photos, behind the scenes pictures, and my own personal photography.

Enjoy!

~Rachel

New Projects Added

5/7/2015

Hello!

I added a few more projects that were already finished. They're projects I've completed over the past few years. There are logos, animations, random shorts for practice, and editing practice. Click the "My Projects" tab to see them.

Feel free to check out my youtube channel for updates as well.

Enjoy!

~Rachel

Speak - Day 4

5/3/2015

I'm the director of a short film called "Speak." It is about a college student with selective mutism who befriends a girl who has issues at home. He must decide to either keep quiet or speak out for his friend.

This project has been so much fun to work on. The script was originally one of my group member's, Artem. His original script ended up pretty different from our final draft. He and I wrote and rewrote a total of 7 drafts of this piece.

We started filming on April 23. We filmed that entire weekend and that was all an adventure in itself. We made curtains for our actors (at that point, stand ins. That's another story.) to be silhouetted against. We ended up using paper towels instead of actual curtains and it's pretty awesome looking. Even our professor didn't realize that they weren't curtains.

Despite one actor dropping out, our lead actress being incredibly sick and missing our last shoot day, and our crew dropping out last minute, we shot almost every scene from the 23rd-26th. It was incredible! We had long shoot days, but they were so worth it!

We still had two scenes to complete and a few pick-ups for a montage, so we filmed again yesterday, May 1st.

For bts on filming on May 2, see under the break.

Project added

4/30/2015

Hello!

I added one of my older projects to this blog. It's an experimental piece titled "Watch." I honestly had a ton of fun making this video and it remains one of my favorite I've made. For this project, we even had to create the soundtrack completely from scratch (no music allowed, either). I loved creating this piece and I really want to dive into more experimental pieces.

I hope you like this!

~Rachel