I wanted to inform you that DOLI is still on hiatus. For now, I have frozen all my deadlines to dedicate myself to work my two jobs. If my schedule didn’t change every weeks, I could have a stable schedule to follow. As of recently I have had to pick up extra hours off of one of my jobs because some people just decide not to work. The fact that the automatic scheduling system leaves extra hours open for me just in case another person calls out or calls in late makes my hours unpredictable. It has become difficult to do a project without the same amount of hours everyday. I’ve planned to compile whatever scenes I have done and put it up as a trailer so everyone could at last see some progress, at least. I am also redoing my professional website before DOLI makes its online debut because it will be featured on my portfolio instead of this blog site. Nobody wants to see an outdated portfolio, so I am completely rebranding myself and uploading newer animations, illustrations, and designs of all sorts. This will obviously take some time so please bear with me a little more!
It’s been a while. I understand some people are waiting to see this short. I’ll have to apologize for the wait. I did not expect to be working two jobs on top of my freelance work with my peers and clients. I hope you understand that I also need the financial support to stay alive to work on this film. If you don’t already know, I have a “completed” version of this film already, but it’s not the quality I want it to be. With most of my freelance animation out of the way, I will be able to concentrate on DOLI once again. Slowly but surely, I’ve been moving it from Toonboom Harmony 11 to Harmony 12. Out of 14-15 scenes, 2 have been completely cleaned up, but not colored. It has become very unlikely that I’ll be able to put the same amount of hours on it everyday. My schedules for both jobs are made at random every week and sometimes I’ll be given a random shift during the day because one worker won’t be able to make it and I won’t be able to get out of it.
So please bear with me a little longer. This year has been very difficult and quite the struggle, but with a little time and patience, I’ll be able to get it done myself.
Thank you for understanding. Have a Happy New Year!
Typhoon Soudelor, Earth’s most powerful storm of the year has put my little home-island of Saipan, CNMI , a US Commonwealth, in a state of disaster. Named after the Pohnpeian chief Soudelor, its destructive power was not a joke. In all my years living on the island, I have never witnessed nature’s attempt to annihilate my home and the people I love to this degree. The little barracks my family and I lived in San Vicente when I was 12 years old had been completely uprooted. The thought sent shivers down my spine as I morbidly imagined still living there. Air and seaports have been completely shut down until further notice so for residents who are supposed to be flying in for the next 2 weeks at most are stuck in Narita, Guam, South Korea, and Philippines. Over 300 power lines were knocked down, leaving the island without electricity for the next 1-4 months depending on the amount of help is provided by neighboring allies. But that is not the real problem. As islanders, we learned to live life without depending on technology and electricity (most of us, at least). We were taught to be resourceful especially in times like this. This typhoon, however, with winds that reached over 110 mph as rendered thousands of islanders homeless by ripping off tin roofs, wooden barricades, and concrete foundations. On top of that, the typhoon’s destruction has also caused food, fuel, and water shortages. Luckily, there have been no reports of human causalities (YET). Families residing in the US mainland, Philippines, UK, Italy and other parts of the world are worried sick due to being unable to contact their families on Saipan. I was fortunate that my parent’s landline didn’t require electricity, so I was able to get a status report on their situation. Apparently they have barred themselves in our apartment in Garapan. They also told me that Moki, my pet dog, went missing while the storm was raging outside. I currently don’t know what has become of him. The winds shattered all the windows and tore off a chunk of our ceiling, letting the rain enter and flood the apartment. My mom told me that the wind was hitting the apartment building so hard that it almost created a vacuum in the cavities of the building. Their ears were filled with so much air pressure that my parents had to shout in order to communicate with each other. Some family friends have lost their homes completely and have temporarily taken shelter with my parents.
Due to the shortages, residents are beginning to panic. Images of the disaster uploaded on Facebook were provided by a utility company while inspecting the state of Saipan hours after the storm. I almost didn’t recognize anything. The gray sky, the torn up homes, buildings, and vegetation made it seem post-apocalyptic. It looks like a direct screenshot of a ‘ Walking Dead’ episode landscape if it were filmed on Hawaii instead of Georgia. Damages halted the economy’s and people’s ability to work and make money to recover by themselves. They have just recovered from Typhoon Dolphin, which cut the undersea fiber optic cable, leaving CNMI unable to contact the outside world for a few weeks. It’s terrifying being unable to know the status of your loved ones for even a few days. Internet and phone-use was restored on Tuesday, July 28, 2015, but islanders received news of Soudelor’s arrival shortly after. The typhoon is still active and is evolving to a condition 5 super-typhoon. It travels North-Northeast towards Okinawa, Taiwan, and China. My mom also informs me of another typhoon headed toward the CNMI at the end of the week. Since the beginning of the year, the CNMI has been hit by over 20 typhoons and tropical storms back to back, Soudelor being the most devastating. Now, in the middle of recovery, they lie in the trajectory of yet another typhoon. Imagine what that its like when thousands are homeless in the middle of a shortage of resources. My parents and several other residents are already preparing whatever large containers they could find to collect rain water from the upcoming storm.
A friend who went to Marianas High School with me started a GoFundMe campaign to help the people of Saipan get back on their feet. This place, my home, inspired me to pursue my love for art. The CNMI government even funded me to represent the islands in the International Thespian Society competition from 2010 – 2011 in Lincoln, Nebraska. They have given me the opportunity to attend SCAD-ATL. I am now attending my last quarter before I officially receive my Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Animation. This film, DOLI, is my senior project. This is the last obstacle before I can claim myself as a professional artist. Of course my immediate family plays a large role in supporting this film and my entire career, but so has Saipan. So, I want to give back to it by helping it recover from Typhoon Soudelor and restoring it to its former beauty and helping the people overcome the shortage.
I dedicate DOLI to the people of Saipan and the rest of the CNMI, wishing them a speedy recovery. Please help me and the CNMI by donating to Eileen Echaluse and Hilary Cook’s GoFundMe campaign. Even a dollar will go a long way. There have been others that are popping up, but this one was the first one I saw and by someone I know nonetheless. After the production of this film, I plan to sell DOLI merchandise. I will record all proceeds on this blog and 100% of it will be donated to the GoFundMe campaign. Updates and images on merchandise coming soon so please stay posted.
Si yu’us ma’ase / Thank you very much for your time
Rochelle
I am glad to say that the film’s finished layout assets have been compiled into an assembly animatic. I was able to have a look at how the shots would cut together. It looks great and consistent compared to the state I was in 5 weeks ago! I’m so happy to have a great team to work with. I found new recruits for the positions I needed to fill badly at the SCAD Collab-A-Fair 2 weeks ago, as well. My staging/ storyboarding has been green-lit and all that has to be done now is to work until I complete the film! I am finally back on schedule (if not, ahead). The biggest challenge now is to nail the acting and fluid animation. Just thinking about how much movement and compositing that needs to be done is overwhelming, but I’m sure my team and I will get through this dilemma! I have also posted some new style frames from the film as well! Some aspects are most likely to change in the final render. I hope you are excited because I know I am!
November 20 – End of Concept/Pre-Production March 12 – End Pre-Production & Partial Production
May 28 – End of Production & Partial Post-Production
August 27 – Post- Production of DOLI and submission to Film Festivals
COLLABORATORS NEEDED. Please contact me at rocanimation@gmail.com or 907.887.9747
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