Friday 7 December 2012

What Is The Climate Of Cartoons Today?

Evening fans, I thought I would change the subject a little and delve more into animation but I would like to discuss about the quality of cartoons in the modern day. As you know, there are many different forms of animation; 2D hand drawn animation, stop-motion, cardboard cut-out and 3D computer graphics. The majority of animation studios today use 3D animation or use a combination of those. Although the animators can use many of these techniques, there are many aspects needed to complete this creative process.


I really enjoy cartoons and still do, they are part of the escapism if you are not watching live-action shows on TV, surfing on the Internet, listening to music and playing video games. What I have noticed is a significant decline in the quality of cartoons since the late 2000's and early 2010's. Remember shows like Ren & Stimpy, Ed, Edd & Eddie, Hey Arnold, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Flintstones or Dragon Ball Z? Well long gone are these shows and here come pointless shows on TV like so called reality TV such as Keeping Up With The Kardashian's, horrible game shows; Strictly Come Dancing, The Cube and others. Enough ranting, the point is I am not putting the blame on these kinds of shows, in fact some of them like Deal or No Deal and other UK and US shows are good. The point I am trying to make are there are rubbish programming and stupid decisions made by producers, studio execs and executive directors. 


Below are the problems found in cartoons today in the 2010s, most animations do not last more than 2 seasons or even 1 season. The same can be said by some live-action, reality TV and game shows. In fact, the only type of show which really last in programming in the U.K. are cooking, finance, stock and shares, marketing, shopping, family affairs, talent shows, gardening, antiques and documentaries. Some of these type of shows can even be said for U.S programming except they spend more on reality TV, games, family affairs and talent shows like X-Factor, American Idol and both America and Britain's Got Talent.


The issues are labelled under these aspects below, such as characters, story-lines, expense and seasons:

Characters


The problem with the majority of cartoons on TV today is some new characters they put out are mainly 2 dimensional. I am not against new ideas, concepts, settings, characters and even animation style but these characters most of the writers, directors, illustrators and animators create have no emotion and do not stand out much in the way of personality. They are cheap fads of a lazy creator's manifestation. 

Particularly in 3D animation, now I'm not saying I am against this style of animation but some of these 3D graphics only work for certain types of animation. They invoke these visual effects because for this kind of style it saves time although it takes long to render if you are talking about more realistic, action-orientated, cartoons. The downsides is for comedic pieces, there's more escapism and some of the characters look goofy, but they remain ugly in some cartoons in terms of appearance.

The look, feel and drive of the characters of course depends on the software the animators are working under. I prefer 2D hand drawn, cut out, flash and 2D/3D hybrid animation that use cel-shading and other applications of technology to make the cartoons look more hand-drawn when actually they have CGI (computer generated imagery), animation directors may use motion capture for voice actors and green screen as well as CGI to achieve the desired result. My point is sometimes the characters have no meat to them. 


Story-lines


Another thing, I will not go in too much depth in, but it is plainly obvious, is that the plot for each episode and story arc is weak and flat. There is either no originality (that word should be taken lightly) I will get back to that point in a sec; horrible gags, flat dialogue e.g.one-liners with a bad attempt of shock factor, no structure, characters we could care less about or guess stars who come in for pointless crossovers and otherwise generally very bad writing in part to the scriptwriter(s). 



If its comedy, the result is that the punchlines run out and become dry and become extremely boring fast. One example is Family Guy, that show is great but the annoying thing about the show is the writer always rely on references from pop culture or jump cuts to an otherwise random event as punchlines which can sometimes lead to unscrupulous and often retarded shortcomings in the humour. Whereas in some action, children shows, teenage drama, adventure, mystery, sci-fi and fantasy there are bad antagonists (villains) which the leading character(s) have to face, whiny supporting characters and abstract or random situations the main hero is placed which don't make sense. Sometimes a new team of writers are employed that make or break a programme and alter the characterizations of the main players.


This brings me back to originality, now face it, most of the concepts and ideas have already been done. New writers must come up with new directions to recycle the same formula or break the whole tradition completely and try change the game where no creator has gone before. It is stupid and darn right ignorant to even utter a sentence like this "Oh, they don't make cartoons like they used to" or "Can't they come up with something new?". Anyone who says these lines just go home or better yet live under a rock. There is nothing new, point blank. Even the creators of Batman, Bill Finger and Bob Kane, got the idea from pulp fiction such as Zorro and The Shadow.


Expense


The important thing to note is animation costs lots of money, especially in feature-length projects, Disney and Pixar only put out a feature animated film every 2-4 years. The range of their budget depends on art direction, time slot, schedule, working hours, technology, studio hire, specification etc. 1/3 of animators in the UK are women and professional animators over £25,000-£36,000 with an hourly rate of £12-£15/hr while scriptwriters can earn £120,000 and can earn excess of £8,000 per episode if the writer is in a writer's union such as WGGB (Writer's Guild of Great Britain) while in the U.S. from WGA (Writer's Guild of America) fees range from $5,000-$10,000. Producers earn between £1,100-£1,800+ a week but salaries can exceed to £40,000-£55,000 with experience and the average salary for directors in this field is around £86,000. The average money spent is $1 Mil-$3 Mil per episode (£623,200-£1.8 Mil).

Everyone needs to be paid, the episode has to receive a lot of ratings and the main players in the offices has to make sure they keep the members of the board happy and they reach targets. Every show cut off air is a sting in their production cost and don't ever think big time studios don't get taxed by the taxman. My point I'm trying to make is the officials cash in on entertainment that does not actually please. Face it, they are targeting a particular demographic regardless of gender, race, etc. who are aged 5-14+ and 18-40+. These people don't give a cahoots about people over 50's and 60's, which is awfully strange as the average employees within these fields are at least between 30 and 60.


Seasons


Another problem is syndication, which is the number of episodes animated shows are sorted into grids for the market called blocks to cash in on DVD and Blu-ray sales. It is well known that networks in the UK buy  US shows and distribute them on multinational and domestic programming such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney XD, CITV and CBBC. Executives of production offices have enforced either a 52 or 65 episode limit rule on cartoons, especially from the US and Canada. Executives do not want to take risks on shows which may not give them the ratings they want regardless of how successful or a failure it is. That is why often new shows do not last more than 1 or 2 seasons, they are indeed exceptions of course like for example The Simpsons, Family Guy, The Boondocks, American Dad and some anime but the fact remains that business is business in the long run.

That is it for now,


- Written by Andre Farquharson






Friday 30 November 2012

Creative Arts Program Looking For Recruits.

A month ago, I posted about a program for young people aged between 14-24 to develop brands for the Nemesis the Hunter's Mark project, well I have come to announce that we are currently setting up space for new recruits. There will be more news coming this December. Young people will be able to interact with creative, like-minded, individuals and will have a chance to be paid for their services and may even have a chance to be referred to work experience or employment. 

- Written by Andre Farquharson

Thursday 18 October 2012

Young People for Creative Arts program.

I would like to announce I am running a program for the Nemesis the Hunter's Mark project for youth between 14-24 to become part of a collaborative effort to develop brand products for the comic book. I am looking for creative writers, graffiti artists, actors, graphic designers, music producers, singers/vocalists, voice-actors, rappers, lyricists, hair/make-up artists, costume designers, filmmakers, runners, editors, bloggers, promoters, researchers and web designers to contribute. I will be visiting people in schools, colleges and universities to talk about this. I will be giving more details next week, keep visiting this blog to look out for the information.

Ciao for now,

- Written by Andre Farquharson

Tuesday 9 October 2012

News for this Autumn.

It has been awhile since I posted a single post here, coming this 25th October 2012 I will release the Documentary for Independent Artists. I got some more news on both Nemesis the Hunter's Mark and the short film, Hardest to Survive. I am concentrating on directing and lyric writing at the moment, I apologise for the delay of releasing the mix-tape and EP but at the moment it is a holding pattern and more recording will continue by the end of this year. I cannot say anything else about the short film but I will say that production is approaching swiftly now and the first issue of the comic is slowly coming to fruition and is likely to be published online by the end of the year.
 
Until the next post,
 
 
- Written by Andre Farquharson

Saturday 25 August 2012

Latest update video.

This is my latest update video for all of the projects for the Go Wonders Team (LD Studios, Ezee Media and Frontier Ent). I am here to speak about the current developments of Nemesis the Hunter's Mark, Hardest to Survive, my new upcoming 5 minute short film 'The Hood' and the new revelation of Ezee's new official title for his Spy-Drama Pilot. There are also some updates for my Breakin' Da Rule's mix-tape and Rule's Broken EP I will reveal in the coming months. All is in the video below!

Next week I will post up a little treat,


- Written by Andre Farquharson

Thursday 23 August 2012

Documentary: Independent Artists Showcased on Vimeo.

Hello everyone, hope you enjoyed the Olympics! I have come back to announce that my Documentary will be released on the video sharing site Vimeo and not on YouTube. It will likely be released in October for the Black History Month celebration. Below is a short 30 second teaser of the Documentary. Unfortunately, there were some technical difficulties, which is the reason it was not released two months earlier and this site is better suited for this kind of presentation. All the guests have been featured on it.



Documentary: Independent Artists. from Andre Farquharson on Vimeo.

In the meantime see you then,


- Written by Andre Farquharson

Wednesday 25 July 2012

New Update Video.

I am here to inform you all that I am going to release another update video sometime in August about the progress of each of my projects. That will allow you to find out what is happening with the short film Hardest to Survive and the comic Nemesis the Hunter's Mark.


- Written by Andre Farquharson

Wednesday 18 July 2012

Nemesis the Hunter's Mark #1 being Released!!!


I am here today in order to announce to all of my fans that Nemesis the Hunter's Mark issue 1 will be released this Autumn 2012. A digital copy of the comic will be published online and will be found on the website. Each issue will be published accordingly before print is released and will be run bi-monthly. I will post here 5 colour samples of the work sometime within the next few weeks. I will release another update video sometime next month.


- Written by Andre Farquharson

Sunday 8 July 2012

J Solid "I Do What I Want" Official Video.

I'm back again, it's been awhile. I was meant to post this on Friday, but I have just handed in papers to my college for my course work. Can you believe it? I actually finished my long 3 year journey into Media and I'm ready to go on out to the big wide world. So what's next for me? Well, I'll be taking a gap year before I head into university. Anyway, enough about me. I came here to upload a music video I shot about two weeks ago with Jerry who runs a group called 12 SP (12 Star Productions). Look out for his next track, it will be cool. Check it out!



  - Written by Andre Farquharson

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Writer's Block Short Film.

Writer/Director Jstaarz does it again, this time with Writer's Block, originally intended for 10 minutes long it was eventually cut short to 5 minutes. Altogether, this was uploaded on YouTube last week. The film is in the perspective of an unnamed narrator and writer trying to come up with a story and we follow in his world of fantasy as two worlds merge, this articulate piece leaned more within the prospect of imagination, rejection, trials and reemergence as something greater as the psychology of insecurity, imperfection and inferiority are played. This was shot earlier this summer, the Director will go back to doing music videos.




 I will be back more this week with another video production,


- Written by Andre Farquharson

Saturday 30 June 2012

Reboots or Remakes that Make or Break a Franchise.


To celebrate the release of the Sony Pictures film, The Amazing Spider-Man, coming to theatres this July 3rd 2012 I have decided to speak about the subject of reboots and remakes that make or break a franchise. For those of you who do not know, a reboot is where a piece of narrative is discontinued and therefore lists the continuity of that original film or series of films to be non-canon and stats with new and fresh ideas. Whereas a remake is the opposite, it uses the previous films as a base for its source material and uses the same storyline while adding other elements and themes which usually updates a film to match a modernised setting. Now that is cleared up, let me give you a few examples of each remake and reboot; some good, bad and darn right ugly.

Reboots

Alright, first let's start with the reboots.

Best


We never get tired of 007, even though the Bourne movie franchise reinvented what it means to be a spy in the 21st century. Producers of Casino Royale (2006) booted Pierce Brosnan out and birthed the MI6 agent with a whole new face and hardened image in the form of renowned actor Daniel Craig who was praised for his performance in Layer Cake (2004). Stemming closer to the Ian Flemming novels of yesteryear, Martin Campbell envisioned a blood-thirsty and less charismatic Bond. With mission after mission of exonerating talent from the main and supporting cast members and fast-paced action, this Bond spawned a less received sequel Quantum of Solace (2008) and 23rd Bond 'Sky Fall' (2012) with Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road) at the helm.

Fine


After Director Ang Lee's (Brokeback Mountain) effort with "Hulk" (2003) made the green giant seem like a laughing stock with irrelevant melodrama, as borish as Shakespeare's Hamlet, Louis Letterier (Transporter 1 & 2) decided to make the Angry Man whole again with a new back story, cast and Marvel having creative control. Even the actor in the lead pitched in to make the script deviate from the previous movie as much as possible that created a less weepish, heroic and smarter Bruce Banner (Edward Norton). The script was tighter with some "easter eggs" found on the silver screen but was boggled down with intense special effects and CGI that turned it from soap opera to popcorn flick. However, the movie had its high points that shone brighter than its low points.


Worst



I will admit, I never watched the 1994 film based on the video game series but this reboot of the movie does not give me the incentive to watch the last one. Starring Kirstin Kreuk as the titular character, very few adaptations of very well known games can translate very well in cinema and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li (2009) is not one of them. Although the concept was good, I just felt the producers Patrick Aiello and Ashok Amritraj either did not care about the source material or did not try hard enough. Badly casted and terribly choreographed with less than inspiring plot and characters, Kreuk's Chun-Li I'm afraid did not carry the film. This film made Dragon Ball Evolution (2009) look better than it did. Oh well, at least we have the game to fall back to.

Remakes

Now for the remakes, here they are.


Best


First of all, I did not even know Scarface (1983) was a remake. Well if so, it is a very successful one at that and is actually based on the 1932 film of the same name. The well over 2 hours long crime film tells us the story of Cuban refugee, Tony Montanna (Al Pacino) who becomes a drug crime lord in Miami, Florida with "Manny Ray" (Steven Bauer), it lets us know about the rise and fall of their infamous drug cartel organization. With a great structure, acting, themes and well envisiged direction by De Palma, this cautionary tale scripted by Oliver Stone allowed us to dig deeper into the psyche of Montana and is arguably one of the best gangster films of all time.


Fine


A remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Internal Affairs, The Departed (2006) was directed by Martin Scorsesee and starred such big names as Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson. Brilliantly scripted, well sliced together and strong acting, this jumbled thriller told a story of corrupt cop (Damon) who is placed on the police force as an informant for mob boss, Costello (Nicholson) and Costigan (DiCaprio), recent graduate of the police academy, grudgingly agrees to go undercover as an enforcer for Costello. This confused mess was hard to digest and was thankfully unpredictable, although the message behind the film could not be clearly defined plus the character of Costigan is a bit underdeveloped in terms of his links to his criminal past.



Worst


Directed by the great Tim Burton in 2001, and based on Pierre Boulle's book and the original 1968 film, the Apes riding the King's Horsemen came up with Planet of the Apes. Aboard a space station, sometime in the late 2020's, Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) sends a Chimpanzee into a freak storm and he pilots after the primate. Davidson and crew find themselves on a barren wasteland in a world run by humanoid Apes. Great premise but weak execution from direction, prosphetics, structure and downgraded plotlines, the movie itself eventually became a paradox of it's own doing. The tone was just so bizarre and silly, even the final showdown and climax that ended it all was over the top and it did not make any sense and reminded me of the excuse of an ending from Terminator 3.

Well, that's it for reboots and remakes. I will come back to you next week with  what I got planned for all of you.



- Written by Andre Farquharson




 


Tuesday 5 June 2012

Documentary Cancelled.

I apologise for a week with no reply, I was supposed to post on this blog a Documentary on an 6 month project I have done but  unfortunately it is cancelled until further notice. By the time of release, it already gone through post-production via editing and it is finished. However, I had some problems uploading it via YouTube. Therefore, I can't upload it here unless I do it through another format, so I decided to postpone the post of this video until further notice until I can find the right format I can upload it to. I am sorry for the delay, but it's better to send you things late than to send you rubbish.


Later on,


- Written by Andre Farquharson

Saturday 26 May 2012

New Draft of Spy Drama Pilot.

It has been a long wait, but Matthew has finally done the script for the Pilot. I can't wait till I get the new draft, but it is going to take me awhile to do a re-write. I got nothing much to say on that except that I am excited about it and hope everything goes well and that I hope my spin on it translates well into the final product. The Documentary, Independent Artists has not been on my blog yet due to the length of time it took to export. However, it has finished and should be up here on Monday.


Next week is the clip and update on trailer,


- Written by Andre Farquharson

Wednesday 23 May 2012

Rehersals for Trailer Ongoing...!!!

I apologise for not getting back to all of you sooner, I have just been so pre-occupied with my studies for the past couple of weeks and it is still on haitus. It is my last year at six form and I want to get the best grades possible so I can enter university and continue with a degree.

Yesterday, I have just had a meeting with Nuttylenz and we have discussed how we are going to approach Hardest to Survive this year. I am not revealing any news on that yet, but all I have to comment on is we are starting to move forward.

What I am here to speak to you about is the ever-awaiting teaser trailer for Nemesis the Hunter's Mark, not much to say but all I can tell you is the animation is almost prepped to start and I had a script-reading but rehearsals are now still ongoing. I will bring you more up to date with that on Friday.

Also, the Documentary for Independent Artists is completely finished and will be showcased on my Youtube account plus on this blog sometime on that day as well.  

Catch all of you soon,



- Written by Andre Farquharson

Sunday 22 April 2012

Director's Cut: Hardest to Survive part 7.

Hello again, to my seventh Director's Cut for Hardest to Survive. My last news on this was on my update video in March. Time has certainly flew, and we're now near the end of April. This year, the short film will continue where it left off with the test shoots. I can't say too much, but I can say that I'm gathering a lot of new team players in the fold. I am looking for a new fresh start and to learn from the past and so far it is looking promising. Sometime in May, I am scheduled to have a meeting with a media studio called Nuttylenz. In partnership with Nuttylenz, LD Studios and Frontier plan a host of ideas involving the look of the film and how we plan to play out in the long run. I am close to finalising the budget and after test shoots, we should hopefully start production in July 2012.

Until then I will let you know what's going on,



Take Care,



- Written by Andre Farquharson



Tuesday 17 April 2012

My Thoughts on Smallville #1 comic.

Those of you who don't know, Smallville was a long running TV series based on the early years before Clark Kent became Superman, created by writers and producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. It spanned 10 seasons and featured on two networks, The WB and CW, which ended with Kent having finally embraced his destiny and took flight in the iconic red and blue suit and pushed away Apokolips from Earth's orbit. News cropped up of a possible comic book in the works that continues on the hit series. It has indeed, it was released electronically last Friday 13th April on Comixology on phones such as Android and I-Tunes. The first chapter was written by Bryan Q. Miller, who also wrote the TV series, with pencils by Pere Perez.

With the 1st issue heading to print on May 2nd, I managed to catch a quick read of the first chapter of Guardian part 1 on my Samsung Galaxy. It turns out here it has been six months since Kent defeated Darkseid, gave the people hope and thus purged the darkness out of everyone's hearts and saved the Earth from a cosmic threat of intergalactic proportions. Most characters draw their likeness to actors from the Smallville show such as Superman (Tom Welling), Lois Lane (Erica Durance), Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) and Chloe Sullivan-Queen (Allison Mack). So what can I say about this? Was this a great adaptation?

As far as I can tell, it was interesting. It's too early to judge the entire series as a whole but it was gratifying. The only problem I had with it was the pacing felt a bit rushed. However, it does set the stage of what to expect, for example, Kent no longer goes by The Blur and is now fully fledged in his Superman persona. Little is known of his work at the Daily Planet but I hear Kent still works the same floors down whereas Lois is promoted 8 floors up. I won't spoil the whole story, but it involves a rescue mission in space. Chloe and Oliver are enjoying their marriage and still at Watchtower. The suit that Kent wears from the New 52 is okay, but I like the Superman Returns inspired version better. The writing has done justice to each character's voices, which is what I would expect from having done Smallville and the art is really great.

I will be honest, I never really got into Superman's character, I grew up on the cartoon series and the Smallville TV show from way back in 2001 but only for the spectacle of it and nothing more. I more invested in the live action version than anything else. Only because Superman is too god-like and it is hard to care for someone too powerful. If I were to read any DC comic, it would be Batman but this one and some of it's material would convince me to buy it. I can't wait till the next chapter on April 20th and I'm waiting to see how they pull it off and who Superman will face from his rouges gallery, plus how it will fit this universe. I leave by saying kudos to the solid, encompassing, writing, excellent art but short and flat-nosed finish.


Next post is my Director's Cut,




- Written by Andre Farquharson

Friday 13 April 2012

Ezee Media Online Series Moved Ahead.

The untitled Ezee Media project for the spy-drama online Pilot are moving ahead, I am not certain about the ramifications but we definitely want to make it. There isn't much I can say on the status of its production but it's in the early stages of production. I can't wait to see what Ezee can deliver from the next draft when I see it. At the moment, I am looking forward to Maria Orsutzu to hand me her wash of colour for the 1st issue of the adrenaline pumping miniseries, Nemesis the Hunter's Mark. Jstaarz and I just filmed a scene of Writer's Block with more to come. I will commit to the next draft of the Pilot after I have tied up a few loose strings in my schedule. Next post is my thoughts on the Smallville comic for issue 1 that was released online today on Friday 13th April.



Have a good weekend,




- Written by Andre Farquharson

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Writer's Block update.

A week has passed now, I'm here to reveal that production for Writer's Block has started and it's ready to roll as we speak. Jstaarz has confirmed to me that actors have been ready to grasp on the spotlight, not much I can say on what is happening. I am keeping it tight as possible but he got some more plans in favour later. Next time, I'm showcasing my Director's Cut part 7 for Hardest to Survive. For those who are not clear on what is going to happen with both of my comic book series, Nemesis the Hunter's Mark and the prelude comic amongst my short film project and mix-tape Breakin' Da Rules check on my Update Video#2 below.




Back with Ezee Media projects, have fun!






- Written by Andre Farquharson

Sunday 1 April 2012

Killer Heels latest News.

What's up, fans? Just here to let you know about the shenanigans with Killer Heels. I am told the short film will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival. Again, I'm being tight lipped about that, but I'm saying that I'm proud of how it is looking up. I can't wait to see the finished product and I am confident from the way it is written that it should be brilliant. Although, what is on the blueprint, does not mean its going to be up to scratch in the actual big screen. There are many factors even the average moviegoer can point out. At some point, I will post up some tutorials about how to create your own comic book and graphic novel? This will likely be after I post up the Documentary: Independent Artists sometime in May.


Later on,




- Written by Andre Farquharson

Sunday 25 March 2012

Update Video #2.

This is my second update video for all of my projects. Sorry for the lateness, it took awhile to process on Youtube, but it's right here. The Flyplann interview has been shot but is just being edited at the moment. I got some more news for you apart from what I'm about to tell you here. 4 months ago, I shot a documentary about independent artists and it is being edited right now, it is about how artists in the music industry struggle between signing a record deal or acting out on their own. That will come up here soon and is almost finished. In the video, I'm talking about what is going on between the Go Wonders Team with all the projects I mentioned, about Nemesis the Hunter's Mark#1 and both my EP, Rule's Broken and my mix-tape, Breakin' Da Rules. Don't be shy, take a look.





That's it for now later,




- Written by Andre Farquharson




Flyplann interview.

Finally, it's here, the interview you've all been waiting for. Flyplann is here to take you to Cloud 9. Go Wonders Team filmed the one and only rapper, we spoke to him about how he got to where he is now. He did another freestyle, a quick 16 bar to get us buzzing and I'll be honest with you, he's a man with few words. We talked about what he intends to do in the future and who is it in the game he's willing to work alongside. Unsurprisingly, the US native is willing to work side by side with UK artists, but the indie has indeed got a long way to go to hit mainstream artists though I'm sure he could pull it off if he carried enough weight. Inspired by artists like Talib Kweli and Busta Rhymes, he's up for a double feature with Tinie Tempah. So, what are you waiting for? Check the video out.




Next one Update Video#2,




- Written by Andre Farquharson

Friday 23 March 2012

Do all Scientist's lose their way?



With the release of The Avengers coming to cinemas in less than a month a way in the UK, (we get it early for once, yay!) I decided to put together a question, which has burned through my head since I ever got into movies. In fact, had brewed many of our minds: Do all scientist's lose their way in many media? And what I mean by that is what makes Doctor's in various fields in Science play with God, per se and screw up? This conversation had come about yesterday when I had a brief talk about motivational speakers, which lead into character's of the media and that is when the question cropped up. Most scientist's in TV, comic books and so on are so engrossed in their science whether mixing chemicals, serums and genes or testing particle accelerators, Gamma-spheres and whatever invention that came to mind and these many trials and prodding ultimately becomes their downfall.

Curiosity literally kills the cat, with these folks. Take for example Norman Osborn from the Spider-Man films; shrewd, egotistical, brash father, scientist and CEO of Oscorp. He started off being some kind of father figure to Peter Parker/Spider-Man and only made pep talk with his son, Harry Osborn. Norman had ambition and was not selfish at first, but wanted perfection in the form of soldiers with untapped human potential. So, instead of listening to Dr. Stromm and "go back to formula" Norman took a dangerous risk and inhaled the fumes of the drug and of course became the Green Goblin. He got killed and his son became New Goblin and met the same fate. Another example is Dr. Sebastian Caine from Hollow Man, immediately, we get a smell that reeks of bad company and his disappearing act multiplied his behaviour ten fold. The same can be said for the alien chick from Species.

I guess the question to ask is what is the motivation for their experiments? Let's be real here, some of us would actually want to improve our everyday lives. It's the part of us that want to be more or simply want to make things easier for ourselves. So we continue to advance more and more in technology but isn't the quality of what life has to offer enough? Most of who I mentioned are villains but what about the heroes (or anti-heroes)? Mohinder Suresh from the TV show Heroes started off 2 seasons with his research searching for extraordinary people who could do great things and found a way to make himself superhuman with a formula. It started off great having spider-like powers but he slowly became infected and lacked reasoning but he got a cure and only is left with super-strength and agility. He returned to live a normal life with his new girlfriend in India.



Next will be an interview for Flyplann,




- Written by Andre Farquharson

Tuesday 20 March 2012

New Web Pilot.

Back with another update, this is the new online series produced by Ezee Media, about a spy-drama on MI5 agents suddenly going missing and it being tied with the Chinese government. Writer/Director/Producer, Matthew Easy, decided to do a Pilot rather than a full 5 episode run, there are no details on the actual title of the series as of yet but development is still ongoing. He said he's focusing on show running the pilot before continuing the entire series. I will help the Director with the Pilot after I have finished some next projects I got lined up for this year. Apparently, he wants to get it right first hand before he does the series, Writer's Block over the Frontier Entertainment network is nearing production and I will be helping out over there also. Killer Heels, the short film, at Seventh Wonder Films is now in post-production. Next week, I will be revealing a new treat for you, also.


Until next time,




- Written by Andre Farquharson

Thursday 15 March 2012

Update Video.

Look out for the update video coming on March 25th about everything tied with the current projects the Go Wonders Team are doing including some of my work. Hardest to Survive is back on track, all I can reveal on that is there is still going to be test shoots for the film. More details on the short film will be talked about on my upcoming video and on my next Director's Cut Journal. Read the past few Director's Cuts to get up to date with the progress on that project. I will cover what is going on at the moment with Nemesis the Hunter's Mark comic, the animation trailer and Nemesis Dawn of a Legend books and other features around that as well. My target release date for both comics will be revealed in the update video.


For now, good bye.




- Written by Andre Farquharson

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Writer's Block.

What's happenin' fans? I'm just informing that the new short film directed by Jstaarz is coming soon on Youtube. I am doing some of the camera work and there is cast for it too. At some point, I may put up still photography on this blog and show it all to you at a later date, but Principal Photography should take place sometime next week. More on the Flyplann interview this weekend.


Later everyone,



- Written by Andre Farquharson

Tuesday 21 February 2012

The Nemesis.

What more have I got to say about Nemesis eh? I have been pitching my storyline to quite a few comic publishers for the past couple of months and I am going to launch a campaign very soon online, which hosts T-shirts and possibly some other goodies. Check out the polls on Facebook and get involved. To do that, type in Nemesis the Hunter's Mark on Facebook Pages and follow up on the polls and look out for any applications.


- Written by Andre Farquharson

Sunday 19 February 2012

Interlude VI.

I'm back just to inform everyone Killer Heels the short film has been wrapped up last week and has just hit post-production, I can't mention any story details as yet but it will be shown within film festivals very soon and it has been written by screenwriter Norina Mackey and directed by Courtney Starr. I spoke to Matthew about the development on his spy-drama series and he is about to send me more details soon. There are no mention of any casting, but I will give you more on that later. Last time I mentioned Nemesis the Hunter's Mark being coloured and it's progressing but expect print to come immediately after the final lettering by Rommel Fabian who is being assisted by Shawn Milazzo, the graphic artist, who is taking over completely in the prequel graphic novel. I recorded a demo of "My Sweetness", a singer, Candice will be going over it through vocals and I will be recording more tracks on my mix-tape and EP, I'm waiting for more tracks that will be produced. Look out for more reviews by Kbon, he finished doing reviews for The Darkest Hour film and Take Care by Drake. He will be doing more reviews for some mix-tapes for Graveyard Grind by IGniite and Still Life by Kieron Boothe.



So until next time,



- Written by Andre Farquharson

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Ezee Media Online Series Pushed Back.

It's Valentine's Day today, so I'm going to be a bit quick with this one. Ezee's spy-thriller series has been pushed back due to production issues but most of the episodes has been written, I'm starting a re-write very soon and his search for casting is ongoing but locations has been found. There will be 5 episodes each 10 minutes long and shown on Youtube on his channel, I am going to re-write the series 1st, 3rd and 4th episode and will be co-writing the final episode. A teaser poster will be up here soon and on Tinie Reviews site. Another Director has already started filming the short film, Killer Heels, I handed revised pages of storyboards last night. Jstaarz has almost got casting and pre-production sorted out for his next short film "Writer's Block" but as for my projects, Nemesis the Hunter's Mark, I will be going to a seminar sometime in March and colours has just started on issue 1 by Maria Orsutzu from Juanmar Studios. More updates around that and my projects will be on my next update video in March 25th so look out for that.


Next week more sweepstakes,




- Written by Andre Farquharson

Monday 6 February 2012

The Flyer with the Plan.

Go Wonders Team is about to set up an interview with American born, British raised artist, Flyplann in the coming month. I can't wait to see how this turns out, but viewers don't expect this to be just a 1 on 1 within these flyer miles, the Mystery Man has more to him than meets the eye and he wants us to be clear on that. The interview will be set-up very soon so keep a look out for it on the Frontier Entertainment Youtube channel. Over there, you can also see his freestyle he did for ECHO early on about 2 months ago in 2010.



I'll be back soon,




- Written by Andre Farquharson

Wednesday 1 February 2012

The Nemesis on Mile High.

Hey, fans. Back to another day of speech, to let you all know that we are prepared to start voicing the characters for the animation trailer headed for Spring 2012. All of you keep asking me when my comic book, Nemesis the Hunter's Mark, is coming out, if ever. I have no comment on that, I won't reveal that until after my trailer is released until then you are just going to have to wait. However, I can tell you that my pitch to publishers like Top Cow and Dark Horse are going through a review process so there isn't much I can say on that part except I thank everyone for being patient for up to about a year now since I first revealed it. Again, I do apologise for the wait and I can assure you, it will come out sooner or later. I am going all out to produce the books and I will come up with the goods.

In other news, Killer Heels, the short film will be filmed in two weeks and I am invited to take part in the film shooting which should be massive. I should be doing another freestyle this month and expect to hear more news on Hardest to Survive in the coming weeks. My break should be arriving soon and it is not too long before I finish my studies for this year and head out into the big wide world. As well as helping people within the Go Wonders Team with their projects, the majority of the time, I am focusing on my own at the present moment. I won't be taking on any outside commissioned work for awhile, anything I do find will be shelved for now. Jstaarz is busy promoting his next film, which I'm supporting while Ezee is busy on his online series, which I haven't started on but will help out.

Until next time,




- Written by Andre Farquharson

Saturday 21 January 2012

Spoilers for the Nemesis Prequel Graphic Novel.

Last time I spoke about Nemesis Dawn of a Legend, the graphic novel, I spoke about splitting the story into two parts. Well, that idea is now dropped. Instead of breaking the story arc into two parts the book will be whole only they will be two versions: the standard edition and the bonus feature edition that will contain variable covers, behind the scenes, artwork and more. That's all I need to say right now, plus we got a different colourist for that series who is working on a very special project of mine. I will resume providing layouts and inks while Rommel Fabian will replace Julio Falkenhagen in the pencilling duty and Shawn Milazzo is in for the letters, nothing more should be revealed for the series until we are through with the current series that is coming up soon. You should hear more from me about the prequel sometime around in March on an update video.


Next time fans,





- Written by Andre Farquharson

Thursday 19 January 2012

Flyplann interview.

You know who it is, Dre is on the blog doing what he does best and what he'll intend to fly to. Remember that interview with the animator, Jordan O'Connor, that's not happening. But I'm here to state about an up and coming British-American recording artist, Flyplann a.k.a Flyplane. He's done a freestyle on the ECHO channel you can view on Youtube but nothing is really known about this new guy, he's really into the Grime scene that's out there and even is looking to collaborate with me. Look out for him, though I'm sure he'll blow quite big on the scene. The man with the unusual name stated his name means "Fly" which in American terms means he got "swagger" or has "coolness" and plan which obviously means "the man with the plan". His flow has that kind of slick, monotone to laidback approach to spitting. He says he likes to keep things simple "less is more, he said. That's all we know about him, but he is open to do an interview with us with the "Go Wonders!" team (LD Studios, Frontier Ent and Ezee Media).



Look out for that soon,







- Written by Andre Farquharson

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Director's Cut: Hardest to Survive part 6.



This is now my sixth entry of my Director's Cut post for Hardest to Survive, I would like to say that all hope is not lost. Admittedly, this project has been through a lot, so it is safe by saying I will most likely be raising some of the money funding myself but I will not be alone. I have in fact pitched this short film to Live Ultd and I am discussing this situation with them, serious re-casting will have to be made but not a lot. Most of my actors are now busy including myself so I'm taking a backwards step as I'm mostly caught up with both my recording for music for my Mix-tape "Breakin' Da Rules" and EP "Rule's Broken" plus my comic book project and education is on my top priority list. Including being an Script Editor and Executive Producer for Matt's upcoming spy-drama online series. Not to worry though, I can multitask, which is not a problem as evident with finishing the storyboards for the Killer Heels film I am involved in which should be ready to film pretty soon.

It's just at this moment in time, it is a bit stuck but will not stay on the pedestal for long, battling with investors to bring about good films is tough. I feel highly underminded due to my young age but I'm going to give the "grown ups" a run for their money. The problem is, which I had with Artefacts Edutainment and most of these organizations is they don't want to see many young people like myself do commercial films that do not help the community and they are "stingy" with their money because they don't believe it's going to show much of an impact to others. They want us to do films that show more of a social endeavour for people and because mine is more "in-between", an entertaining short film with a message behind it this is regarded as not eligible. Truth is they are not willing to take risks, period. I refuse to make films with any enterprise that only fits their perspective of what my film is about then remove the essence out of it, which makes it "shocking", end of.



I will keep you in the loop,






- Written by Andre Farquharson

Saturday 14 January 2012

Back on the Animation!!!


I have just finished doing storyboards for the short film, Killer Heels, and I'm going back to my animation trailer. The last time I was on it, I was half way into it. Well it shouldn't be too long, I have nearly finished narrowing down a few digital artists and concept artists for this particular animation plus a secret project I am working on. I have pitched to more comic publishers and I am waiting for a response. It might take awhile till I get an answer. I will be rehearsing my role as the set is taking shape for production. I will be juggling some of my time on Jstaarz's new short film, Matt's new spy-drama series and spending time working on my very own.

More to come,



- Written by Andre Farquharson

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Top notch Studio to replace Colourist!!!

Good day, I'm sorry to say but Kieron Boothe, the colourist, will no longer be with us working on the book. He will be moving on to pursue his music career full time. I am deeply saddened by this although I guess it was for the best. He was very difficult at most to work with his schedule as he has been delaying us for quite some time now and is the main cause of these delays. However, not to worry, he will be replaced by Argentinian company of illustrators, designers and colourists called Juanmar Studios who have a great track record of 6 years in the making, working on such studios as Image Comics, Boom Studios, Devils Due Publishing and so much more. One of their employees, Maria O, will be working on the book and the whole series and we will continue as normal. A letterer is going to assist Rommel Fabian with letters and he will be back for issue 2. Expect issue 1 to be ready for print by the end of February 2012.


Take Care,




- Written by Andre Farquharson

Sunday 8 January 2012

A New Year.

It's a new year and a new dawn for some upcoming projects, I spoke to Matthew Ezee and he said that there will be 5 episodes of his spy drama each 10 minutes long, not 6 episodes. So there will be heart-dropping action and techno-savvy language in the vein of "Spooks". I won't spoil too much of the plot but I'll give you a brief summary, I read the first Pilot and it "absolutely blows you away". Set in London, it throws us in the world of espionage and sticky detail with the Chinese government as elaborate British MI5 Agents are mysteriously eliminated one by one by an unknown enemy. Primarily, I will be serving as Script Editor and Executive Producer of the project. I will be co-writing at least 3 episodes and doing a polish every now and then, but it is looking to be done well.

What I can't wait for is to jump back on pre-production for the Nemesis anime trailer, I am nearly finished doing my part in the new short film I told you about. As soon as that is clear, I will be finishing off what is left of the storyboards, which is 1/2 finished now. I am employing more artists to be tied in with this project, some have even worked for Marvel and DC Comics. In the meantime, for the comic, I have pitched to an independent publisher Time Bomb Comics and contacted a couple more such as Dark Horse and Image Comics. My website will be re-launched later this year, most likely during the summer. I have an announcement to make this coming week about the project and there will be more update videos around March. I should be done with Killer Heels a week from now.

Breakin' da Rules is alright, I finished recording a track called "My Sweetness" and when I have traveled to Atlanta, GA and Greenville, Virginia it had inspired me to write two songs for my EP, Rules Broken; one about Atlanta girls and another about fitting in with other people, both of which I am working on and I'm going to record a track I'd like to call "Bridges". I'm not sure about "We'll Be At the Top", a track I did with 4 Real and Bola, but there is one track I did with a few artists, Neeko, Assassin and Breezy called "My Life" and can't wait to collaborate with them on "All Night". I will be hitting more time at the studio, plus I will be doing freestyles every 2 months with the next one coming this February and hope to work with Blaze Barnation very soon. He dropped his mixtape Barnation World last year and he'll be spittin' on my mixtape. Also, check out American rapper Fly Plann as well.


Later on,



- Written by Andre Farquharson