How To Make A Short Film With A Wacom Graphics Tablet

Posted on August 10, 2010 by brunospaws

Welcome to my brunospaws (named after my dog Bruno!) series of video blogs where you can learn from the production of a short film I will create using the Wacom Intuos4 Medium Pen Tablet

After some long, awkward, mouse drawing sessions to make my recent video production I decided I needed a graphics tablet. I had never used one before so I wasn’t sure what to look for.

It didn’t take long before I came across loads of graphics tablets reviews for the Wacom graphics tablet, so I sold an old PC laptop I had and used the money from that to buy an Intuos4.

Here is the recent video production I wrote and made without the Intuos4. All the drawings were done with a standard Apple Mighty Mouse:

I have faith that my new video production, Randal And The Spitfire, will be drawn a lot nicer thanks to my Wacom Intuos4!

I have outlined the process I will use to create my film at my special Wacom Intuos4 Medium post.

Below is my first video blog in which I outline my production method. I also briefly mention the technology I will be using and I introduce my short story, Randal And The Spitfire, to the world:

Prior to posting my next video blog, I will decide on a stronger theme for my story and make some general adjustments. However, I do not plan to kill myself with lots of rewrites. See, the idea of brunospaws is to enjoy yourself while you make your video production, but also not to get bogged down in little details. Focus on the big picture and get your stories out there and into the world, even if they are only ‘acted’ by stickmen! Listen, that’s better than your story sitting in a cardboard box forever!

Below is some of the equipment I am going to use in the production of Randal And The Spitfire. If you want to make your own video production, I strongly suggest you get this gear too:

If you would like to learn how to develop your emotional writing skills, please follow my regularly updated 31 day series about how to learn emotional writing, which begins with Learn From Films You Emotionally Connect With

I encourage you to subscribe to my blog’s RSS feed by clicking on the ‘Subscribe’ icon on the top right of the page. The video blogs will be infrequent due to some days being busier than others for me. If you are subscribed, you will never miss a juicy, information-packed post.

Prior to getting stuck into creating Randal And The Spitfire, I can assure you it will be no smooth trip. Things often go wrong for me when using computers, so I will keep you informed of any mistakes I make or problems I overcome. Hopefully, you will be entertained and learn about video production along the way.

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People Change In Your Emotional Writing

Posted on August 9, 2010 by brunospaws

Learn from times in your life when you have noticed someone changing. How did they change? Did they change their daily routine? Did they talk differently than usual? Did their body language and clothes change?

It makes for a satisfying video production when a character changes during the course of your story. The change must be tightly interwoven with the thrust, or spine, of your story. For example, in a story I’m now writing, I want my character to change from not thinking they can save a life to firmly believing they can save a life. For this change to occur, the arena of my story is one which raises repeated opportunities to decide whether to save a life.

How Do People Change Attitude And Outlook?

Beneath the surface of the outward signs of change, it is interesting to learn how a person’s attitude and outlook can change over time. Also, please bear in mind that change can actually happen quite quickly, as a result of a major incident (good or bad) in life that burns an indelible impression.

Think again about someone you know who changed. How did their outlook on the world change? How did their attitude towards people change?

For emotional writing it is important to knuckle down and discover why this person changed. If you know, write down why they changed and how they changed. If you don’t know, just imagine why they changed. Did they decide to change into a more confident and tough person because they were bullied?

Sometimes, people are unaware that they are changing. They could be becoming a nicer person or becoming a creep! Can you think of someone who is like this? Write down how they changed and if you don’t know the why for their change please guess and elaborate.

Turn Your Life Around

For a character to completely turn their life around for the better they will have to make some tough decisions in order to progress themselves.

Can you think of anyone in your life who has made such a drastic turnaround? If not, can you think of anyone in the public eye who used to be on skid row but has worked hard to better themselves and live a better life?

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Your Emotional Writing Shows Contradictions In Character

Posted on August 6, 2010 by brunospaws

Think of people you consider in real life to be bad. Do you consider them to be all bad, every moment of every day? For your emotional writing, it is important to get a realistic perspective on your characters. You must imagine your bad characters as realistic human beings who live, breathe, taste, move and listen from morning to night just like us.

Contradictions in character make for delicious drama. The character in your story who is really bad can suddenly do something nice for a family member or a pet. One little warm action from this heinous villain can blow away a lot of stale ‘bad guy’ stereotypes your audience have fostered. Okay, so we still want to ensure that the antagonist in your story is no overall good samaritan. However, you must aim to show the human side of your antagonist wherever possible.

The protagonist of your story also must not be a goody two-shoes from start to finish. Make them human and breathe life into them by showing their vices or flaws. They might have a short temper or be a complete clean freak to the detriment of their housemate. Overall your protagonist should be showing your audience their ‘goodness’ through the crucial decisions they make. Let that not deter you from sprinkling them with realistic foibles.

For both your antagonist and protagonist I strongly suggest that any contradictory touches you apply to them be things you have experienced yourself, or have witnessed someone else doing.

When you create your characters, I want you to ensure they are emotionally grounded in your own reality. You must have full identification with them and also be able to feel their foibles or positive aspects right there in your gut and in your heart. Please don’t be daunted by this. Get stuck in. It’s a rich and rewarding experience to create characters of your own.

Characters Believe What They Do Is Right

You’ve probably heard this before, but I’ll just reiterate it here. The majority of the most heinous people in the world believe that what they are doing is right. Millions may die as a result of their decisions, but they genuinely believe that they are doing the right thing for both themselves and those they associate with. Therefore, try as best you can to get your teeth into the reasoning your antagonist has for their actions. Try to feel what they feel. Why do they feel this way? Is is something from their childhood? Is there a voice in their head? Learn from your experience inside the head of your antagonist and write down what they explain to you.

There are many great movies and video productions where the audience isn’t really allowed to get a handle on the antagonist’s motives. Indeed, the mystery can make for great cinema. However, it is essential that you know exactly who your antagonist is and what their motives are.

Your protagonist’s desire to do the right thing in a given situation should backfire from time to time. A decision your protagonist believes to be good and true can have knock-on devastating consequences to the lives of other characters in your story. This happens in reality. This is emotional writing.

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Make Your Character Atone For Bad Deeds

Posted on August 5, 2010 by brunospaws

Just as you can realistically think about your past and any bad deeds you have done, so must your character also be able to think the same way. This is key to emotional writing. Despite your imaginary characters living in what is essentially a fictional story, the feelings you have for them and the feelings they experience must be as real as the air you are breathing now.

When they look back on themselves, your character must see themselves as a pretty consistent personality. In other words, they should know what their attitude will be like in any given situation. This is a pretty real feeling that we all have. Your character has this too.

The real feelings your character possesses must be sensitive to the same feelings of guilt and shame that you genuinely have experienced in reality.

When you have felt guilty in the past, describe what happened to you. Did you pull your duvet over your head and never want to face the world again? Did you brush it off and get on with things? Learn from your different methods of crawling into your shell or strutting back into existence without a care in the world.

How Do You Atone For Bad Deeds?

What action is your character prepared to take to make up for their previous badness? How in the past have you gone out of your way to patch things up again? Were you punished? Did you accept or reject your punishment?

Your character could volunteer to work for charity, or they could be nice to their family for the first time. The important thing is that the audience of your video production sees your character clearly facing the consequences of any bad deeds.

Your character must then choose whether to face the music and resolve it, or deny it. The inevitable consequence of denial is a build up of guilt within them. This buried guilt is poised to rise to the surface at any time. Also, the guilt can become worse than it originally was and reach a point of no return. Think of Robert DeNiro’s character constantly avoiding the loan shark in Mean Streets. If you haven’t seen this movie, check it out.

Now, forget about all the movies you have seen. Think about you. Don’t lose your focus. You are the source of so many examples of bad behavior! You are also the only person who can clearly describe a realistic plan to atone for your badness.

Have your character think about themselves and all their instances of past bad behavior. How did they overcome their feeling of guilt? Did they just deny it?

If you have heard about someone in real life who went to incredible lengths to do good despite having been guilty of bad deeds in the past, how do you feel about them? Make sure you think of a real person. Are you unforgiving? Or, do you give this character a chance to turn their life around as best they can?

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Worst That Could Happen To Your Character

Posted on August 4, 2010 by brunospaws

In your emotional writing, to identify with the worst thing that could happen to your character, reflect on what you think could be the worst that could happen to you.

Think about what gets under your skin in your daily existence. What makes you angry?

Think about your phobias. Write them down and learn from them. These are real life anxieties that you can feel in your stomach and heart.

For your story to truly transcend, you should create some strong emotional empathy for the audience by using your own personal feelings and anxieties as your benchmark.

Specify Your Character’s Worst Outcome

It’s fun to talk in general terms about phobias and events that could happen to you or your character. However, you need to write a description of this disastrous scenario.

Write an explanation of why this event is a catastrophe for the life of you or your character. When you think about it, something that seems like a disaster to one person may seem like a walk in the park to another.

Think about just your character’s past life up until the point of their catastrophe. What kind of person were they? What is their life experience? How come this event has such gigantic meaning for them?

For me, I’m  imagining a video production featuring a character who is a businessman. He is addicted to cell phones and all the latest gadgets. He has been a gadget geek since he was just out of diapers. Anyway, he gets kidnapped and taken underground.

To his relief he still has his cell phone, but then the worst thing that could happen to him actually happens. The battery has ran out, thanks to his wife urging him to use his phone to video his son’s second birthday earlier that day. Now he is alone without his gadgets and is at his wits end.

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Describe A Realistic Setting For Your Story

Posted on August 2, 2010 by brunospaws

To get your teeth into emotional writing I think it is very important to start with a realistic location for your story. This way, you know and feel that this world is real. You can imagine characters interacting in this world you are already fully acquainted with.

Think about the area you currently live in, or a previous area you have lived in. In your imagination place yourself in this setting. Walk the streets, look around you and listen. Picture new characters approaching you for a chat. Converse with them. Talk to them about their day and any anxieties they have.

Lock down this clear physical area in your brain. This is your real location for your story.

Present-Day Story Setting Feels Realistic

I find that a present-day setting will feel much more realistic and pack greater emotional punch than anywhere else on the timeline of your life.

You could be tempted to write an emotional story set in the past, or set in the future. I suggest you leave that for a future story. What I want you to target is sheer, live, raw emotion that you can feel right now.

By opting for a present-day setting you should be looking at the bustling daily environment of your story as the local world in which you currently live and breathe. I am talking about the same television, food, fashion, politicians and lifestyle that you now experience.

Think about the customs and traditions of the world you live in. What is your attitude towards them? What do you think about the rules imposed upon you by society?

A real world that exists in sharp focus in your mind frees you to focus on your story elements with emotional punch.

You may feel compelled to learn something new about the place you live in. I recommend that you put your research aside for now. Only consider that which you already know. Consider what you now see, hear, taste and smell.

By inventing your story inside a material present-day world that you know is real, you will feel relaxed knowing that neither you or your audience will view the world of your story as completely unbelievable. In staying authentic and honest to what you feel and know you will emotionally convince whoever watches your video production.

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Feeling Guilty In Your Emotional Writing

Posted on August 1, 2010 by brunospaws

For me, a character flaw is a specific character problem but is a problem which has general consequences. For example, a character’s selfishness may affect any number of other characters, including themselves.

On the other hand, a character’s guilt is a general character problem but which has stemmed from a specific moment of decision for that character. Perhaps the character has insulted their sister on her wedding day and they feel guilty about it. Perhaps they have had a torrid affair behind the back of their doting partner. They feel bad about something specific. They know in their hearts that they had a choice to choose one option over another. They chose an option they knew was wrong but went with it for the thrill of the moment. Guilt takes its hold on their minds in the aftermath of the consequences of the choice they made.

What Do You Feel Guilty About?

Think about what you feel guilty about. Specify those major things you feel guilty about. What small things do you feel guilty about? Write all these down.

Describe how you have made amends for any of your guilty deeds.

Describe your awkward guilt pangs for past deeds you are responsible for.

I feel guilty for not doing enough to save my alcoholic mother when she was still alive. I feel guilty for snapping at my dog to stop barking when I know he’s only being friendly.

There are many big and small ‘guilt-trips’ in our lives that you can easily explore in your writing.

Make Amends For Guilt

How would you make amends for each of your guilty deeds? What would your circle of family and friends think of you for trying to resolve past deeds?

Do you feel guilty when you see people suffering in far flung countries on the television? Is there anything you can do to help? If not, why not?

Learn From Guilt

Don’t discount your past guilty deeds as being the ‘old you’. Learn from your guilt. Admit your guilty deed has happened and be responsible. Your guilt will contribute towards your short story. You can incorporate your freshest ideas into your video production.

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Explore Your Flaws For Emotional Writing

Posted on July 31, 2010 by brunospaws

By thinking about your own flaws and describing how you came to have these flaws you will develop a firm grasp of realistic character flaws you can incorporate into your story.

Do you eat or drink too much despite the pleas of friends and family? Do you look down at others? Are you easily intimidated by others?

How Will You Overcome Your Flaws?

To overcome your flaws and change for the better, what actions will you undertake? It’s like climbing a ladder. Change usually doesn’t happen overnight. It happens in small incremental steps. One small action occurs after another.

Write down each of your flaws. For each of them write down, in small steps, each small action you will take towards banishing your flaw.

Your actions to get rid of your flaw must continue after your flaw appears to have initially gone. So, please also write the actions you will take to ensure your flaw can never possibly return.

The series of actions you take towards overcoming your flaw may not necessarily be visible to a spectator. You can take small actions internally. You can adjust your attitude about something, or your perception of a situation, step-by-step.

Feel Your Flaws In Your Gut

With each small action you take towards overcoming your flaw, how do you feel about doing it? Do you feel awkward? Do you feel good?

It is important to imagine the excited butterflies in your stomach as you take action. Alternatively, if you find it difficult to take action, try to imagine the gut-wrenching awkwardness you will feel as you take your latest step.

Being honest with yourself will ensure you get satisfying, real, material you can build upon for imaginary characters in your future writing. You will learn how hard or easy it is to change an aspect of your personality. If you want your characters to live and breathe in your video production, shouldn’t they find it just as hard or easy as you, in order for them to overcome their flaws?

There really is nothing like experience. By having the guts to analyze your own feelings you will be able to have a clearer picture of the human condition. This priceless experience can then be used to create realistic characters whose journeys to overcome their flaws are completely identifiable and believable.

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Poignant Childhood Memories For Emotional Writing

Posted on July 30, 2010 by brunospaws

What are your poignant memories from childhood?

I can think of a time when I walked home from my grandmother’s house on a dark, rainy night and saw a poor duck get hit by a car. The car didn’t stop. When I caught up with the duck it was still breathing. I gently carried it back to my grandmother’s and asked my cousin if she could drive us to the nearest vet.

While my cousin searched for the vet’s address, I sat in the kitchen with the duck. I remember how beautiful its feathers were. I remember feeling so sorry for it and still do now nearly 20 years later. I could tell it was slipping away. I told the duck that he or she would be going to a happier place and that it was okay to ease out of this existence rather than suffer any longer.

My duck example carries emotional weight for me. In this fast-paced world we live in, it was such a fleeting incident. I mean, who cares about one duck? However, it meant a lot to me at that time. If you have childhood memories that are poignant and make your heart swell as you reflect on them, please write them down. These incidents carry tremendous power for you as a writer.

Both Good And Bad Childhood Memories

Was there a moment when you stood up to a bully? Was there a time when you said goodbye to a friend you just knew you would never see again because they’d be moving house?

Was there a time when you confronted your parent about how they treated you? Was there a time when you lost a pet?

I believe that little poignant moments in childhood form us as people. These small moments can change us for the better. They give us life experience as we learn from them. They make us responsible. We mature through them.

Think of some films you love that tap into poignant, realistic, childhood memories. What are your favorites? “Stand By Me” is a great example of a film (based on the short story by Stephen King called “The Body”) of poignant childhood memories being used to create excellent, gripping drama.

Tap into your specific, poignant, childhood memories. Don’t let them disappear forever. Please share them. They are beautiful and worth telling.

Just think of how amazing your video production will be when you delve into personal and poignant story material. Your audience will love you for this. Go for it.

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For Emotional Writing Explore What Makes You Happy

Posted on July 29, 2010 by brunospaws

When you think about the amazing world around you, what really exhilarates you and makes you happy to be alive, but remains out of your reach? For me, I think of epic snowy mountains, wildlife and people in war-torn countries being affectionate towards a neighbor who they might normally despise!

To experience some of this currently unreachable happiness, what steps could you take to reach it? Think of the journey. Lock away the logical, common sense, part of your brain for a moment and instead let your imagination fly. If the object of your happiness is to set off a fire extinguisher from the roof of your office building, that’s totally fine.

What you will immediately notice is how hard is can be to actually get off the ground to try to achieve the goal of this happiness. Life is really hard. In your thoughts, let life be realistically hard. Make it nearly impossible for you to take the first step and the step after that. Make it a torture. Learn from reality and have it inform your ideas.

Find Ways To Reach What Makes you Happy

Despite the realistic efforts of life to prevent you pursuing true happiness, think of how you will overcome each horrid obstacle shoved in your way. See and hear that obstacle being placed in your path. Feel its pain in your gut. Grind yourself to a halt facing that obstacle. You cannot simply walk through it like a ghost or deny it exists. You must find a way round it.

Think of your personality and how your friends see you. Think of how they would imagine you overcoming this obstacle. What elements of your personality could lead you to discover an ingenious method of finding a way past this obstacle? This injection of honest personality into your writing immediately makes it gripping. If it feels genuinely real to you the audience of your video production will find it real also.

Push as hard as you can to reach the thing that makes you happy. Write down your attempts. Never give up. Describe how hard it is to reach your goal, but also how you never lose sight of your goal. It inspires you. You want it. No matter what.

What Makes You Laugh?

What has you in convulsions laughing? I love when I’m out with friends and someone tells a hilarious story with a good build up and an unexpected twist. If you think about the moments in your life when you are happiest, can you explain the specifics of why you are happy in those moments?

In my case I am with friends feeling comfortable and safe where I feel I can laugh without fear of offending anyone. I can think specifically of who is present when I laugh. The more I picture the scene, such as the location, clothes and facial expressions, I start to smile again.

Recalling moments of genuine happiness and humor and getting them written down on paper help form a terrific basis for your emotional writing. Think about all the specifics in each instance. There is the build up, the aftermath, the big moment of hilarity and what you could see, hear, smell and taste when it happened. This is powerful, positive, realistic emotion.

The more you recall and analyze your own authentic happy moments, the more you will be stimulated to ‘take off’ with your own imaginary characters and achieve the same swell of delight in your chest as you fully know you have experienced in reality.

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