FlamingoRich

Howdy everyone!

I just updated my demo reel in anticipation for applying to the Savannah College of Art & Design as a professor of animation. Feel free to check it out above!


~ Zach

Howdy True Tail Fans!

I'm excited to announce that my show's new website is up and running! Head on over to www.truetail.com to check it out! Feel free to post your comments and questions below and I'll do my best to answer them. ^^

Thanks!

~ Zach

Howdy everyone!

Well, after fifteen months of work, me and my studio are finally ready to pitch True Tail to major networks! Feel free to watch our first trailer up above, and if you enjoy what you see, then like, comment, and subscribe for more!

Thanks!

~ Zach

Well it looks like my junior film Double Rainboom just hit 7,000,000 views!

Thanks again to everyone who worked on, promoted, and has supported this project! It was quite the ride! Now that I've moved on to my next project and have branched away from ponies (www.True-Tail.com), I've had a lot of questions posed to me asking for my thoughts on the episode and what I think of the negative backlash and somewhat harsh criticism it has received from some areas of the fandom. They always ask me if I think the film was worth it, and what I would change if I could do it again.

Now that it's been nearly nine months since Double Rainboom's release, I can better answer this question. I'd say the film was definitely worth it, and it has been extremely successful with regards to its original purpose - that purpose being an educational experience. The whole point of creating it was to learn more about the process required to create an animated production from scratch, and learn what I'm good at and what I'm not good at so that I can address the areas I'm not strong in and make my next film stronger as a result.

So what did I do wrong?
• I've learned that I need to market my productions better and be more aware of how potential plot twists can alienate viewers who were expecting something completely different. As a result I've taken a step back from marketing and have hired someone else to take over that for me.
• I've learned that I'm not the greatest writer, but I'm really good at coming up with cool ideas. As a result I've taken several steps back from engaging in any form of writing and have hired a team of writers to take care of creating screenplays, handling dialogue, and writing announcements and other promotional material for me.
• I've learned how important editing is to the process of creating a film, and how I pretty much skipped that part for Double Rainboom. The pacing could have been improved tremendously and a good eight-to-ten minutes should have been trimmed off to improve the experience. I've since hired a few people to help with editing when the time comes for True Tail.
• I've learned that I'm decent with voice direction, but not the best. As a result I've hired someone else to handle recording dialogue and hiring/working with voice actors.

So what did I do right?
• On a positive note, I've learned that I'm very good at Art Direction. Despite its flaws, Double Rainboom looks good! It's very well-animated and has a highly engaging and detailed world that feels like one solid place - which is an important result seeing as how dozens and dozens of different artists all worked on it.
• I've also learned that I'm very good at Crew Management and keeping people motivated. We had 105 people work on Double Rainboom throughout the year it took to make it and I had to be extremely charismatic and highly organized in order to keep everything together and production flowing.
• I've also learned that I'm fairly good at directing sound design and orchestral composing. While not the best at creating it, I can certainly critique and "speak the language of sound" to my composers and sound designers in order to create emotional undertones and an atmosphere that is integrated seamlessly with the visuals. 60% of any visual production is sound, and I believe Double Rainboom succeeded at that.

In Conclusion?
So my answer to everything is this: Double Rainboom, despite having several flaws that turned off a lot of viewers, was totally worth it. I love any and all criticism, and especially criticism that calls out flaws in my work - because it is through making mistakes that we learn life's greatest lessons. I still consider it an overall success! It taught me and my crew a tremendous amount about how to create an animated production, it is an incredible achievement and success story for what a fandom is capable of creating when they are organized and dedicated, it has served as an excellent foundation from which to launch Skynamic Studios and begin my next project, it caused several of its crewmembers to get hired in the animation industry (including myself), it has surpassed 7 million views on YouTube, and most importantly: it's just a heck of a lot of fun to watch!

~ Zach