Bink

Eric Miller Animation November 2015 Update

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It’s time for my November 2015 Update to let all of you know everything we are working on.  I’m really good at keeping myself overworked, and extremely busy.  No matter how productive I am each day I never get to a point where I feel I’m caught up.  You may have noticed from my failure to post to this blog each week that I have not been able to keep up with everything.  While continuing to write weekly posts is very important to me sometimes I’m just not able to find the time in my schedule.  So while I might not post every week please don’t give up on me and this blog.

Business:
Recently I have hired a marketing consultant to do some research, and strategizing for my business’ marketing plan.  There are two areas we are working on with this plan.  One is branding and marking the company as a whole, and the other is planning the release of the animated short we are working on.  I feel these are both things which will help grow my business, and hopefully get us more client projects.

I have also been doing a lot of research on foreign animation service companies.  One of my biggest challenges is the cost to do animation in the US is much higher then it is in other countries with cheaper labor or tax credits.  My plan is to find out how much these other companies are charging for each service, and then finding ways to lower my costs to compete with them.  I know I will not be able to get costs as low as them, but if I can get close I feel I will be able to win clients through other things we can offer.  For example being local makes it a lot easier for clients, so being in Los Angeles gives us a huge advantage.  Having amazing quality that is better then our competitors.  I hope to show this level of quality with our animated short.  Customer service, I want to make working with us as easy and comfortable as possible for our clients.  I want them to be so happy they not only return to  work with us again, but also tell other people about us.  Hopefully these other benefits will be enough to get the clients to pay a little more  in order to work with us over our remote competitors.

Short:
The short always tends to take the majority of my time each week.  So far we have had 14 people working on the short, so we have had a decent size crew.  We started working on it in May of this year, and plan to be working on the first 30-second episode until early next year.  While it is taking a long time to complete I’m very excited with how things are progressing.

All the assets for the first episode are modeled and currently being worked on in surfacing.  We have also finished character rigging, and we have started working on camera and rough animation.

Here are some rough poses done by our animator Jacob Gardner to test the rig, and get something more appealing then a t-pose for surfacing to work with.  It really gives you a sense of Bink’s personality, and where we can take it.

Bink Poses

As we continue to move forward on the short I will send more updates.

CTNX:
This weekend I will be attending The Creative Talent Network Expo in Burbank for the second time.  I went last year and had such a great time I wanted to go again.  You can read about my adventures last year at CTNX here… “An Amazing Experience at CTN Animation Expo” .

The first year I went to see what it was all about, so this year I’m hoping to take full advantage of what the expo has to offer.  It is a great place for networking with artists, animators, and anyone involved in animation.  I plan to attend some really great panels, and also hoping to learn some new things.  Next year I’m considering getting a booth for my company, and maybe even participate in the job fair to find talented artists to work with.

Facebook Network:
My Facebook network is continuing to grow, and we now have over 4,000 Facebook likes on our company page.  The larger our network the better chance we have of getting the short to be seen my the right people.  If you have not liked our page you can do so with the link below.  Also I always appreciate when you share my blog posts, or other social media sites with your own network.

Eric Miller Animation Studios

 

Paris Attacks:
I wanted to end by briefly commenting on the terrorist attacks in Paris, and other places.  It is disheartening people resort to violence towards innocent people to make their statements.  My thoughts are with all of you who have lost loved ones, or have been effected by all this violence.  The animation industry has a very large and talented French community, and I hope you and your families also stay safe.

 

If you have not already, I hope you will join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  If you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.

Bink, Naming an Animated Character

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Bink… Yes, this is the name I’m considering calling the cute creature in our animated web-series.  Trying to find the perfect name is a very difficult task.  It reminded me of when we were trying to think of a name for my son.  You realize they will have this name for the rest of their life, so you want to find something that they will like.  For a character you want to find something that has not been used before, but that only makes it more challenging.  When you find a perfect name you have to make sure there are no other meanings that are less then desirable.

I have been looking for a name that is monosyllabic, easy to say, and catchy.  I have easily gone through hundreds of names trying to find one that fits, and did not have other issues.  One of the names I really liked meant Turnip, which I could live with, but also was slang for what is left of a joint after you smoked it.  While I really liked the name it did not seem like the best name for an animated character.

On Sunday, September 6th my wife and I were on our way back from visiting her parents, and we were trying to think of names.  I jokingly suggested Bink which gave us a nice laugh, but then my wife said that is actually a really good name.  You might be wondering why it was funny suggestion, so allow my to explain.  My parents had nicknames for me and my siblings when we were babies.  Well the name they had for me followed me into adulthood, since my parents, aunts, and older brothers still call me by it.  To me it was always an embarrassing name, but as I grew older I realized it was more of a term of endearment.  Bink is the shortened version of that childhood name.  I will leave you guessing to what the longer version of the name is.

While the initial thought of naming the creature after my childhood nickname was comical it started to grow on me.   The more I thought about it the more I could see it being a good name for the character.  We did a quick Google search to see if it is already in use, and if it had any alternative meanings.  To our surprise there was nothing to terrible.  Bink is the name of a proprietary video file format, the nickname of a musician, and a character name from a story called Bink & Gollie.  The storybook character is very different then my character, so it should not be an issue.  This might seem like a lot, but finding a name that has never been used is almost impossible.

The next test was looking it up in Urban dictionary, since most of the times this is where you find out about all the really horrible slang uses of the name.  Surprisingly it was mostly positive.  Here are a few of the definitions in Urban Dictionary.

pronounced- /Bing K/ *Adj: 1. A slang word, primarily used by Italians/New Yorkers, that refers to a sharp dresser or swell looker. Similar in meaning to the word “dapper” that is often used by Irish/Irish Americans, immaculate in dress and appearance.

(v) in poker, to catch fortuitous cards; also applicable in other gaming contexts
(interj) in poker, exclamation made upon catching fortuitous cards and/or winning a large pot
I binked a straight flush on the turn.
Bink! I just doubled up!
n. a generic nickname used to describe any upstanding individual in one’s personal network. Variations: binky, binkazoid, bink-bonk, banks, bianks.
Hey Binks, how’s Grandma Binks feeling? Binks said I should ask you.
The next test, and the one I feel is the most important, is do people like it.  My family members whom I have told instantly like it because of the history it has in my life.  I have mentioned it to a few people involved in the project, and they seem to like it as well.  It is hard for me to decide if it will be a good name, since I’m very close to the name.  I would love to hear what all of you think of the name.  What do you like about it, and what don’t you like about it.  I realize not everyone will like it, and that is OK.  I would still love to get an idea of the general feeling on the name.  Please leave your comments below.
If you have not already, I hope you will join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  If you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.