January (?) update: Music Video, Pitch & Sketches

Dear Patrons,

It's a little early for the monthly update - we're not even into January yet! But I thought it'd be a good time, since I wanted to share the music video we've just released, and tell you a bit about how the pitch went.

Of course, it's been a short while since the last update, and on top of that there's been plenty of Christmas busy-ness, so it will be a shorter post than usual, but let's jump into it nontheless!

MUSIC VIDEO

So, as you can see in the video above, we've just released the music video for Marquette's song "Lose Her". This is a song that we had specifically produced for 'Tales of Zale - Flickering Lights' - although it just so happened that Marquette had already happened to be tinkering with some fitting lyrics beforehand. Originally, we'd planned to make a separate version of the song for this music video, and even film some of the singing and playing of the instruments. But unfortunately, equipment issues and bad luck meant we had to limit the scope. I took it upon myself to edit something together from the material from the web-episode. It took a couple of tries to find a through-line - at first I was more focused on prioritizing my favourite visuals and match the atmosphere of the song. But it started to feel far to jumbled and disconnecting, so I ended up cutting it down to just Zale and Elva, and their relationship throughout the film.

Also, I felt that if I went with a traditional screen shot from the film again, the video may get confused with another short clip instead of something new. So I did my best to make a thumbnail that'd be a good fit:

I hope that eventually, this along with the upcoming OST can be a nice addition to people's music play lists <3

PITCHING

Ok, so as mentioned in last update, we went to Copenhagen on the 9th to pitch to a certain broadcaster, and it went... really well. Like proper, really, the person-who-we-pitched-to-has-a-kid-that-would-LOVE-this-type-of-show well. We've been called in for another chat in January, so we'll see how things go, but there are reasons to be positive at the moment. Right now it's more-so down to showing a realistic budget and financing plan, and that part is kinda out of my hands. If it goes badly in January, I'll be able to tell you guys all about it. If it goes well, I might have to hold my tongue for a while. So I hope you will forgive me if I get even more cryptic at some point. Just know that even if it goes well, it probably won't go fast. But the year will definitely produce some proper answers about the future.

SKETCHES

Alrighty, so it's been Christmas-busy, and I've spent my drawing-time prepping for a potentially upcoming animation lead role in the beginning of the year. So there hasn't been a LOT of sketches, but here are a couple of warm Zales I did:

I was also doing some brain-storm sketching when discussion with Matthew how to approach the OST visuals. I thought it might be fun to take some inspiration from Lo-Fi study illustrations:

Perhaps it's just me trying to encapsulate some coziness in the cold winter days. 

ROUND-UP

Alright, so that's it! Super short update this time around, but I hope you're happy to hear the news nonetheless. 2023 will be interesting for sure. Hopefully a little more historically calm though, so we can focus on the better things in life. I will be putting together a mega-thread with highlight of the year, and look forward to seeing you in the new year. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!

- Sif