Jump to content

(Cancelled for now) Voyage: The Animated Series, Recruiting Thread


Ultimate Steve

Recommended Posts

hEnYJon.png

 

For quite some time, a few readers of Voyage: The Final Warning have expressed interest in a possible movie or video series adaptation of the story. Recently, a few of them have gotten serious about it and want to try it.

Welcome to the recruiting thread for the adaptation!

 

In short, we are planning to animate a simplified version of the Voyage story in an episodic format. This will be in a storyboard-like animation style to save on frames needed to be drawn. These main points are in order to decrease workload and increase the chances of this getting finished. Before this, however, we will complete a short test clip (or perhaps multiple) to see how feasible this is and what needs to be changed before we start work on the series. In order to do this, we need many people including voice actors and probably an editor, but our most pressing need is an artist, specifically one able to draw people.

 

The longer version:

 

The Plan

The current plan is a series of episodes. The story will likely be simplified and altered to better fit the series format and the workload that the team is comfortable with.

 

The Plan for Animation

The key idea: Animation is time consuming. Minimize the time spent while still maintaining quality.

The series will be animated, but in a way that should require a low amount of effort but should still look good. The plan for animation right now is to animate the whole thing sort of like a storyboard with a higher framerate and detail level than the average storyboard - and, of course, in color. There will be backgrounds and "props" that are reused between scenes. The characters will also have stances that are reused. My current idea is to try to get away with 2D for many of the conversational scenes, with depth provided by the background. 3D will be necessary for some scenes, however, notably spaceships flying around, and for some scenes more elaborate than a simple conversation. For the spaceship scenes, the ships will be built in KSP and then screenshots or video will be traced over for the animation. This will help with consistency in ship design.

The idea is to minimize frame changes, and reuse as much from frame to frame and scene to scene as possible. This is done to reduce the overall animation workload, reducing the chances of burnout and decreasing the amount of time it will take to finish the project.

The exact art style, however, is still very much up in the air. I have decided to leave the art style mainly up to whoever ends up being the main artist. I am pretty flexible with whatever the style ends up being, but the people have to look like people and not people-shaped blobs. This mainly stems from the requirements that they must be able to move around well and fit into spacesuits.

Almost everything in this section is negotiable, however. If whoever ends up being the head artist has an easier animation method, or has the time and will to put more time into this than what the above requirements necessitate, then so be it. I am very flexible with this.

What is almost non-negotiable is that the method should be one that allows the animation workload to be split up between multiple people. For example in the above plan, I could focus my efforts on backgrounds, but I suck at drawing people, so another person could draw people, and another person could do props, and another person would arrange all of the characters, props, and background into frames and scenes, etc. There should be a lot of flexibility as to the level of subdivision.

 

The Test Short

Before we get started on the series, however, we plan on doing a test short, which will take place during one of Voyager's course correction burns. This short will be non-canon and will be modeled on the characters and ship from the current version of the series, rather than the revised versions that will be used for the animated series. Believe me, there will be a lot that changes... I also plan on directly revising the original story if I can get around to it. This allows us to jump right into practicing production without having to wait for me to revise everything.

The purpose of this short is to practice and change/fix the techniques needed to create the series, and also to determine if there is enough interest and commitment to complete the series in a reasonable timeframe. If not, at least we have a cool short! If there is enough interest to do more than one short but less than the whole series, a few shorts of the funnier moments in Voyage could be made. If everyone is on the edge, one option is to do the first episode/chapter and then see how people feel after that.

On the contrary, if there is a lot of interest we may do a second test short to test more changes.

 

A Quick Note

This project is getting started despite the fact that I have not finished writing the original story. I originally wanted to finish and then revise it to remove all of the things I regret putting in and make it make more sense before considering any video adaptations. However, I was convinced to start the process of the series early on for various reasons. In an ideal world I would finish it before moving on with the series, but I have a pretty good idea of how the story ends, and I have a pretty good idea about what I want to change. I've talked to the people that suggested this and some of them are very enthusiastic about it. I would hate to have the project die because of how long it takes me to write stuff, so I decided YOLO, let's let it happen.

 

A Short Synopsis of Voyage: The Final Warning (For those who haven't read it)

The Galactic Union, an extremely peaceful organization comprised of over eighty species from all over the galaxy, discovers a new world called Earth whose inhabitants, the humans, display extremely violent and selfish characteristics. The Union gives the humans a test, known as "The Final Warning," to see if they are able to change for the better. Everyone on Earth is teleported to Kerbin, where they are tasked with completing the test. The core element of the test, designed to stimulate cooperation, is the assembly of a space mission capable of landing at least one human on every single moon of Jool and returning them safely to Kerbin. This is done under heavy constraints of all kinds. Despite the odds, the the mission, called Voyager, gets off the ground with a crew of five humans and four Kerbals. Halfway through the mission, however, the Galaxy is attacked by an insanely powerful intergalactic entity known only as "The Species," whose goal is to utilize the resources of the entire universe as efficiently as possible to increase the chances of escaping or reversing the universe's eventual end. The Galactic Union falls into chaos as they try to find some shard of hope that they can, in fact, survive.

 

 

The Important Part: Recruiting

 

In order to create the test short and series, we need animators/artists, voice actors, editors, and musicians. The two most pressing of those are animators and voice actors. Without a solid character artist, this project will not get off the ground.

 

Animators/Artists

Mostly self explanatory. We need people who can draw and arrange those drawings into frames. This role can be subdivided if necessary, into character artists, prop artists, background artists, and animators (who do the arrangement of those objects into frames).

As said earlier, the current plan to make animation as relatively painless as possible is to have several background pictures which are frequently reused, with characters and props layered over them (which can also be reused), changing frames only when necessary to lower the workload. The framerate and quality will be higher than this:

Spoiler

 

But lower than this:

Spoiler

 

Video choices are just because they are examples of framerate and quality and don't have anything to do with Voyage.

The framerate should be closer to the first one and picture quality should be closer to the second one. Fluid motion will not be used except for fast or sudden scenes.

Again, this is fairly flexible based on the preferences of the artists.

 

The number one person we need right now is someone who can draw people. The art style does not have to be (and probably shouldn't be) photorealistic, but the people should look like people and the characters should be fairly easy to draw as they will be drawn a lot from different angles. As for the art style, as mentioned earlier that is entirely up to the artists. In case it is not obvious, however, I believe that the drawing and animation should be done electronically and not physically.

This probably goes without saying, but animators should have the capability to transfer many picture files around between users. In this day and age I doubt internet speed will be an issue, but this is here in case, for some reason, it is.

In order to sign up please reply stating your interest with an example of your work. If you want to be a character artist, please reply with your idea for a character art style and if you have one handy an example of what you are thinking.

 

Voice Actors

This is another crucial area. There does not necessarily need to be a 1 voice actor per 1 character, as people can do multiple voices, but one person cannot voice everyone.

The hardest part of this, I believe, will be getting two female voice actors. It is definitely no secret that men are more common on the forums than women, and if there is even one woman reading Voyage I am unaware of her. I could recruit real world friends to help me, but within the year I will likely be moving for college so that may not be too terribly practical.

Everyone who voice acts must be able to coherently converse. If you can do a convincing accent that would be useful as well, but not required. They must also have internet good enough to transfer audio files, as with the artists. The one other requirement I will place on voice actors is that they have a decent microphone. It doesn't need to be anything over the top, it just needs to be good enough.

I won't list every character here, but I will list the main ones. I am fairly sure that once we have a core cast, we will be able to fill the minor roles by having the main cast speak in different voices.

 

Major characters:

 

Ethan Edwards - The main character and, at times, the narrator*. An American teenager (high school age) who is a bit socially awkward. He is smart and usually kind. He is selected to be part of the crew of the spaceship Voyager. While on the mission, many strange things happen to him. NOTE I will likely end up being the one who voices Ethan, as I am familiar with him as he was modeled after me.

* I have not yet decided if the story will abandon the concept of Ethan's journal entries, so Ethan may not end up being a narrator. There will likely be a non-Ethan narrator needed at some point.

Evelina - A Swedish teenager, about the same age as Ethan. Adventurous, confident, and kind. She and Ethan were on the same development team for the Voyager project. Ethan's friend and eventually, love interest. She takes up an active role in Voyager mission control after the launch, but wishes she could have gone with Ethan on his adventure. Her wish comes true.

Jebediah Kerman - Galactic Representative for the Kerbal species, which makes him the face and (to a certain extent) the leader of the Kerbals. At times he is incredibly carefree, badass, adventurous, and heroic. He is able to, quote, "land anything." In the story he mentions that he has landed a moon (yes, a moon, not on a moon) at least once. However, due to his normal responsibilities, the added workload of managing the rebellious humans, his crushing regrets from centuries past, and the impending doom of the galaxy are getting to him. As time goes on he gets increasingly stressed, desperate, and prone to angry outbursts. He longs to return to how things once were, back before he had a planet to manage. One of his clones is on board the spaceship Voyager to supervise the journey. For simplicity's sake, I'm going to make Kerbals talk mostly like humans I think. Jeb's voice equivalent would be middle aged I believe.

 

Secondary characters:

 

Alonya - A human crewmember on Voyager. Worked in a rocket factory in Russia. On the older side of middle aged, although for story purposes her age is fairly arbitrary. Not much of a distinct personality or character arc in the current draft but I plan on changing this.

Cheng - A Chinese-born North Korean fighter pilot, although in future drafts and in the series this will likely switch to a North Korean born Chinese fighter pilot. He is incredibly self-centered, belittling others and often refusing to talk to them. In my head he is also very xenophobic, although this is the forum so that has been significantly toned down. He is selected for the Voyager mission and tries to refuse to go, not wanting anything to do with the crew, but once on the mission tries to take charge as he is the only qualified pilot on the mission. He later sees the error of his ways and tries to become a better person.

Marie - A human crewmember on Voyager. On the younger side of middle aged. Is from Africa. She is extremely smart and kind. She is way smarter than Cheng, although Cheng refuses get help from her if he needs to understand something, until he changes at least. As with Alonya, Marie doesn't have much of a distinct personality or a character arc, but this will change in the story revision and in the series.

"Chad" - A human crewmember on Voyager. He is a replacement for Jacksepticeye, who I originally put into the story as a one time gag. Except for a few moments, I regret adding him as beyond the few gags he basically just sits there because I don't really know anything about him, so in the series and in the rewrites, I'm replacing him with "Chad." The name isn't final and his story isn't final, but in short, he is an overly enthusiastic (and possibly cringey) YouTuber who is way too dependent on what other people think about him. Most of what he does, he does for views, likes, comments, and reactions on his social media accounts despite not having much of a following at all. He hopes to make it big on social media one day despite it being obvious that it will never happen (Also, he is in his 20s and still living with his parents) - Until, one day, he sneaks onto the Voyager mission. He has to stay for the entire mission and just because of being on the mission he receives a huge social media following. Throughout the story he has to learn how to actually cope with fame and how to get over what everyone says about him. Again, much of this can change.

Valentina Kerman - A Kerbal crewmember on Voyager. She is there mainly in case something goes wrong. She doesn't have much backstory yet, but in the revision and series she will.

Bill Kerman - A Kerbal crewmember on Voyager, again there in case something goes wrong. He enjoys robotics and engineering in general.

Bob Kerman - A Kerbal crewmember on Voyager, there just in case, you get the point. He was formerly a scientist but is mainly a politician whose clone is on Voyager to supervise. He occasionally feels strong urges to get back into science.

The Voice of The Species - The Species has no specific form but they do have a specific, dark, menacing, dramatic voice (they can change voice at will but they usually use this one). This effect will likely be achieved with voice filters of some sort and may not require a dedicated voice actor.

The Narrator - It is not certain that we will need a narrator as I have not decided on exactly how I will go about adapting the story for the series, but it is likely we will need one. Must have a suitable voice for narration.

Note: Depending on interest, one or two of the Kerbals on Voyager may be removed to simplify things.

 

To apply for a role, say that you are interested and if you like, state the role you would like to be and send in a short voice recording. Note, depending on interest, one person may voice two main characters in different voices. Either way, there are so many minor characters that most actors will have to voice some of them as well.

 

 

Editors

Both of the roles below can be combined depending on interest.

Sound editors will take the recorded audio clips (if not recorded all at once, perhaps over a voice chat or something) and place them together to create a balanced dialogue track for the animators to animate over. Once the animators are done animating, the sound editors will add in music, sound effects (clapping, clanging, engine firing, etc), and other audio related stuff.

Video Editors will be responsible for assembling various scenes into a video if the animators haven't done that already, adding intros, outros, and credits, doing other video related tasks. They will also be responsible for uploading the video once it is completed.

Internet speed and storage space is probably more crucial for editors than for the other roles.

Whatever editing software you are familiar with is fine on using as long as you are capable with that software.

If you are interested, please reply stating your interest along with a video you have edited.

 

Musicians

The series will likely feature a mixture of free music (as we have no budget :P) and user created music, as already on the team we have many people that are into music. If you would like to write music for the series or if you would like to contribute music you have written please say so! I can't guarantee that we will use it but it will be great to have the option.

If you are interested, please reply stating your interest along with an example of the music you make.

 

Last minute stuff for anyone interested

It is not nailed down how we will handle cooperation and file sharing, but at the moment we are working out of a forum direct message, and we will move to a chat service like Discord and a file sharing service like Google Drive (using a shared folder) or Dropbox or something similar. These may not be the exact services used, but you must be comfortable with making accounts for services like these if you do not already have them. I say this mostly because some of the younger users of the forum may have parents who tend to be cautious about what sort of accounts they can create.

 

Current team members:

@Ultimate Steve, Writer, director, voice actor for Ethan Edwards, possibly background artist, possibly musician, backup video editor.

@LittleBitMore, Sound Editor/Audio Expert.

@Kerbalstar, Role undecided.

@fulgur, Role undecided.

@VA7NFH, Video Editor.

@Kerballing (Got Dunked On), Voice Actor for an undecided character.

@ResonantWaves, Possible Voice Actor for an undecided character, possible storyboarder.

 

Crucial roles that need to be filled in order for the project to progress:

Character artist (determines character art style, very important)

Artist (backgrounds and props) (at least one, to shift workload away from the character artist)

Animator (arranges characters, backgrounds, and props into frames. Role can be independent, combined with an artist role, or combined with an editor role) (at least one)

Voice actors for Jebediah and Evelina (possible to shuffle around voice actors for other roles, although ideally each primary and secondary character would have their own voice actor)

 

 

Thank you for your time. I hope we can make this idea become a reality!

 

 

Edited by Ultimate Steve
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd love to help but have no idea what I can do. I can't draw well and I'm not doing voice acting. Basically I spend my time playing KSP, writing about KSP and occasionally doing miniature amounts of computer coding.

Guess I could be a pretentiously annoying fact-checker Scientific Advisor...

Edited by fulgur
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Dirkidirk said:

I think you should hire keanu reeves to voice jebediah

no regrets

The thing is, this is nonprofit.

Ergo, because we're spending no money on this and using a lot of copyrighted material, we probably won't be able to gain money legally. And if we're not gaining money for this, then there's no budget to spend *insert humongous amount of money for an actor here* on Keanu Reeves.

Chances are, a fitting, helpful and committed forum user will decide to voice Jebediah. Voice acting is one of the easiest jobs to do here, anyways.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd be happy to do video editing, I have a fair amount of experience, having edited all the videos on my YouTube channel. I have good internet and storage as well. Also I think it's pretty likely there will be at least a few bits that we need to record in KSP and I would be happy to do that.

Edit: Here's a link to my channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5rCNiuajBZE80WF4LKc-Tw

Edited by VA7NFH
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Ultimate Steve, I would love to join the voice acting crew! I would make a few audio clips for an audition type thing, but my voice is currently dead due to sickness, quick recovery soon. I'd probably have to play one of the younger (high school-ish) characters, but I can also do a British (It's more Scottish, but whatever) accent in a pinch if need be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, LittleBitMore said:

The thing is, this is nonprofit.

Ergo, because we're spending no money on this and using a lot of copyrighted material, we probably won't be able to gain money legally. And if we're not gaining money for this, then there's no budget to spend *insert humongous amount of money for an actor here* on Keanu Reeves.

Chances are, a fitting, helpful and committed forum user will decide to voice Jebediah. Voice acting is one of the easiest jobs to do here, anyways.

Spoiler

that was a joke, but maybe your reply is also a joke .

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

Hey @Ultimate Steve, crazy idea, but maybe we could see if some of the other prolific story writers (@Just Jim or @adsii1970?) would want to voice Jeb!

OMG, thank you, I'm flattered...

But... while it would be a huge honor to play Jeb, I just don't think I'm the right person for it. To be perfectly honest, I don't have the greatest speaking voice... it's kind of high pitched and whiny, and I tend to say "Ahhhh" and "Uhhhh" a lot... I'm afraid y'all would be really disappointed.

But thank you for thinking of me!!!  :cool:

Edited by Just Jim
Link to comment
Share on other sites

38 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

OMG, thank you, I'm flattered...

But... while it would be a huge honor to play Jeb, I just don't think I'm the right person for it. To be perfectly honest, I don't have the greatest speaking voice... it's kind of high pitched and whiny, and I tend to say "Ahhhh" and "Uhhhh" a lot... I'm afraid y'all would be really disappointed.

But thank you for thinking of me!!!  :cool:

Oh... well, I guess it was worth a shot. Thanks for getting back to us so quickly, though!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, ResonantWaves said:

Could this 'Chad' have a different accent? Mine is a weird mix of Aussie/Kiwi and British. Failing voice acting, I'd be happy to fill in as a storyboarder or something such. Have you got a Discord for us to centralize our efforts?

 

Res, who said you had to limit yourself to just voice acting? Why not do both!

 

Honestly, though, when I first saw the character of 'Chad' my brain immediately attached a Scott Manley voice to him XD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

Res, who said you had to limit yourself to just voice acting? Why not do both!

 

Honestly, though, when I first saw the character of 'Chad' my brain immediately attached a Scott Manley voice to him XD

Fair enough, but I'll wait for some more details. @Ultimate Steve said those are only the main characters, so maybe I could voice a minor character or something? My internal 'Chad', for the record, had a stereotype Aussie/Californian surfer dude accent:

'Aw bro, we're like, so totally in a spaceship right now, bro! Totally rad bro. Bro.'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, ResonantWaves said:

Aw bro, we're like, so totally in a spaceship right now, bro! Totally rad bro. Bro

HA!

 

Okay, I do like your Chad better :wink:

 

 

AND I REALIZED WE ALREADY KNOW FOLKS TO TALK TO!

 

Does anyone here keep in touch with the "Occupy Duna" crew?

 

@Lo Var Lachland?

Edited by Kerballing (Got Dunked On)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

Is there any chance you could see if some of the guys from Project Essence would want to join in on this?

I left that server a while ago, but I might be up to helping with something like graphic design and Public Relations. 

Speaking of servers, I haven't seen you in EEDC in ages. Where ya been?

Edited by Lo Var Lachland
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Lo Var Lachland said:

I left that server a while ago, but I might be up to helping with something like graphic design and Public Relations. 

Cool! @Ultimate Steve, we *might* have an artist (for scenic shots)!

 

 

As to where I've been...well, Discord quit working on my computer *AGAIN*.

 

Hopefully should be able to get it on my phone soonTM

Edited by Kerballing (Got Dunked On)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, ResonantWaves said:

Could this 'Chad' have a different accent? Mine is a weird mix of Aussie/Kiwi and British. Failing voice acting, I'd be happy to fill in as a storyboarder or something such. Have you got a Discord for us to centralize our efforts?

We have a group PM here on the forums. Once @Ultimate Steve says "you're hired!", I'll invite you (since I am the one who owns the group PM, and ergo the only one who can invite (unless in group PMs, anyone can invite anybody)).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/16/2020 at 12:33 AM, fulgur said:

I'd love to help but have no idea what I can do. I can't draw well and I'm not doing voice acting. Basically I spend my time playing KSP, writing about KSP and occasionally doing miniature amounts of computer coding.

Guess I could be a pretentiously annoying fact-checker Scientific Advisor...

Alright. If we can figure out a role welcome aboard!

On 1/16/2020 at 4:03 AM, Dirkidirk said:

I think you should hire keanu reeves to voice jebediah

no regrets

That would be breathtaking.

On 1/16/2020 at 12:07 PM, VA7NFH said:

I'd be happy to do video editing, I have a fair amount of experience, having edited all the videos on my YouTube channel. I have good internet and storage as well. Also I think it's pretty likely there will be at least a few bits that we need to record in KSP and I would be happy to do that.

Edit: Here's a link to my channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5rCNiuajBZE80WF4LKc-Tw

Alright! Fair word of warning, though, it is expected that the editing will be more complicated than most of what is on your channel.

On 1/16/2020 at 2:11 PM, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

@Ultimate Steve, I would love to join the voice acting crew! I would make a few audio clips for an audition type thing, but my voice is currently dead due to sickness, quick recovery soon. I'd probably have to play one of the younger (high school-ish) characters, but I can also do a British (It's more Scottish, but whatever) accent in a pinch if need be.

Alright! There are a few places where we could use that. None of the characters are specifically British or Scottish but there are several where the accent was never specified. I hope you get well soon!

9 hours ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

Hey @Ultimate Steve, crazy idea, but maybe we could see if some of the other prolific story writers (@Just Jim or @adsii1970?) would want to voice Jeb!

Interesting idea!

9 hours ago, Just Jim said:

OMG, thank you, I'm flattered...

But... while it would be a huge honor to play Jeb, I just don't think I'm the right person for it. To be perfectly honest, I don't have the greatest speaking voice... it's kind of high pitched and whiny, and I tend to say "Ahhhh" and "Uhhhh" a lot... I'm afraid y'all would be really disappointed.

But thank you for thinking of me!!!  :cool:

I pay a mighty salute to the great Jim of Justice. I'm flattered that you're flattered!

6 hours ago, ResonantWaves said:

Could this 'Chad' have a different accent? Mine is a weird mix of Aussie/Kiwi and British. Failing voice acting, I'd be happy to fill in as a storyboarder or something such. Have you got a Discord for us to centralize our efforts?

N nationality has been decided on for Chad yet, so anywhere is acceptable. There is one minor Australian role early on in the story as well that you could fill in for. Storyboarding and minor artistry is also good to have, since what we are doing is essentially a nicer looking storyboard.

No Discord just yet. The Discord and shared storage stuff will be created once/if we have enough interest to start work. For now we will keep discussions to this thread and the forum PM.

6 hours ago, ResonantWaves said:

Fair enough, but I'll wait for some more details. @Ultimate Steve said those are only the main characters, so maybe I could voice a minor character or something? My internal 'Chad', for the record, had a stereotype Aussie/Californian surfer dude accent:

'Aw bro, we're like, so totally in a spaceship right now, bro! Totally rad bro. Bro.'

That could work, again Chad is not concrete yet.

6 hours ago, Lo Var Lachland said:

I left that server a while ago, but I might be up to helping with something like graphic design and Public Relations. 

Speaking of servers, I haven't seen you in EEDC in ages. Where ya been?

I've never heard of project Essence ore EEDC, what are those?

Graphic design and public relations could be good too. At this point we will take anything art related that we can get. What kind of graphic design do you do?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/18/2020 at 1:11 AM, Ultimate Steve said:

Graphic design and public relations could be good too. At this point we will take anything art related that we can get. What kind of graphic design do you do?

I made posters for the Project Essence crew and I can do some vector graphics, as well as photo editing and manipulation. 

I was the PR lead for Project Essence, and I made sure we were noticed.

Edited by Lo Var Lachland
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...