This is

It occurs to me that I maybe didn’t need to switch to an easy-access blog-style system for this site because it never actually gets updated. I have this vision of subscribers to my RSS feed sitting at their computers with big white beards all matted with dust and cobwebs, grown old and decrepit waiting for the next infodump.

That’s going to change soon though, because there’s a new film on the way. All the animation is done and it’s 99% edited. I’m just waiting for some original music and then it’ll hit the intertubes, so dust off your download buttons and keep your eyes peeled for something new before the end of the month. That is all.

Actually, not quite all. I might post some teaser screenshots in a while. Maybe.

When you’re writing a four minute story that features nothing but two characters talking to each other, don’t forget that animating dialogue is actually really, really boring.

Not content with carrying out a sweeping redesign in the space of ten days, the crack team of technicians at Oblong Pictures have been working round the clock to set the site up as oblongpictures.com, making it far more universal and fantastic than it was before. The .co.uk address should still work as well, for anyone who wants to keep things English.

Now where’s all this venture capital I’ve been reading about?

So here it is - the exciting new design. It’s my first attempt at all this xhtml/css stuff, so here’s a picture of what this page should look like. I’ve checked it on a handful of browsers but if it looks significantly different on your browser, do let me know.

The redesign isn’t quite as redesigned as I thought it might be, but it’s not bad considering I’ve had to teach myself about 10 years’ worth of new web technology in 10 days. If anyone wants to explain a standards-compliant way of including inline images, I’m all ears.

Anyone visiting the site for the first time as a result of the CSS Reboot project is more than welcome to come in and have a good poke around. There’s films and everything.

Finally, true to my word as always, I’ve added a page for The Brick Gulch Chronicles, the film I made back in November and didn’t bother telling people about. You’ll probably get more out of it if you’ve seen the popular web series Red vs Blue. You’ll certainly have a better idea of how little of my own original work is involved in it.

Over the last few days I’ve been reading about the web standards movement. Actually, I don’t know if it’s a movement as such. It’s mostly web designers getting evangelical about a structured approach to designing web sites. In a nutshell, you create the content separately from the presentation - the content goes in the html and the presentation goes in a css file. This makes your site easier to maintain and more compatible with a wider array of browsers.

Having spent all of three days reading about this stuff, I’m thinking that it would be a good idea to redesign this site (if you look at the source html, you’ll see what a big mess it is at the moment) and get it all standardised and structured. To make things even more interesting for myself, I’ve decided to sign up for the May 1st CSS Reboot project. So there you go - in about 10 days, on May 1st, you will be looking at a shiny new Oblong Pictures. I might even go nuts and finally add a page for the Brick Gulch Chronicles film that I made 6 months ago.

Now I just need to learn how CSS works…

OK, this is nothing at all do do with LEGO or stop-motion animation, but it’s something I believe deserves some publicity. See the banner up there? Here’s what it’s about…

For those who don’t remember it, “Sledge Hammer!” was an acclaimed eighties comedy show that spoofed the Dirty Harry/Hunter renegade cop style of show. If you’ve never seen it, you really don’t know what you’re missing.

Due to international demand, an official website has launched at www.sledgehammeronline.com

Additionally, series creator Alan Spencer confirms that not only is there interest in putting his series out on DVD, but he’s also in talks about turning “Sledge” into a feature film ala “Austin Powers,” “The Pink Panther” and “The Naked Gun.”

The official site now has a message board for fans of the show to reminisce, talk about the proposed new movie and offer suggestions as to what they’d like to see on any future DVD release. Mr Spencer is currently trying to gauge the level of interest in a DVD release. The best way to make your interest known is to post on the message board. This is your chance to have a say in shaping what could be the DVD release of the year (whichever year it gets released in).

There’s also the first part of a brand new Sledge story (text only, unfortunately) written by Alan Spencer.

Long time no update. I haven’t had much animating time lately, and that trend looks set to continue
for a while longer. I did manage to find time a couple of weeks ago to squeeze out a quick entry for the Brickfilms Informal Chicken Dance competition. It’s not my first choice of music, but it was an interesting challenge.

I’ve also put what little spare time I have to good use by fiddling about with my camera and taking a few pictures. The results are now available in the brand new downloads section.

I’m still plugging away at OOT. I’ve got 1 min 14s left to film, then it’s off to the editing suite to tidy it all up. In the meantime, I got a couple of Alpha Team sets in a sale a few days ago and came up with an idea for an Alpha Team short. This is now distracting me from OOT because it’s shiny and new and doesn’t involve lots of tedious dialogue.

Here’s a couple of mock-ups of shots that I did in a spare moment. See if you can guess what the story will be for this one…

Charge in his robosuit outside some kind of mysterious portal. Wherever might it lead?

The evil Ogel and his minions plot some heinous crime against civilisation.