January 2025
The A's
ALL IMAGES OPEN IN TECHNICOLOUR
23 January 2025
Yesterday was quite an eventful day for The Project as I rendered around 100 clips, with only a handful that I ended up binning. That is good considering it was the other way around when I kicked off.
I focused on the two sisters as they are the protagonists within the story and I have to admit, the assets animate absolutely brilliant. I just wish the regeneration software would take bigger files as I'm limited to up to 20MB a file, which is shite. It really needs to handle 100MB, so as to keep the resolution of the assets intact.
I'm finding that once the asset goes back what looks like five or six feet in distance, I lose control of its eyes and its fingers, which is the main problem I get with the Jenny Mellor character as she is so small. Therefore, I need to mix up the shots and rather than zoom into them at distance and blow them up - as they deteriorate. I therefore have to recreate a close-up from scratch to break up the scene.
I listened to the 1987 Ecstasy and 1991 Loveless albums by the Irish-English alternative rock band, My Bloody Valentine on the B2 last night - after dinner, rather than before it, as I had Radio Caroline on and it was knocking out some decent tracks so I let it play.
They are both tidy albums if you like Psychedelic rock, and being that The A's has a 1960s influenced style about it, I will - if it is of course, cost efficient, use a couple of their tracks, although I'm not sure which just yet.
I also listened to an album by Elastica - the band who were led by ex-member of Suede and the ultimate It Girl - Justine Frischmann. That been the self-titled Elastica.
(Above) Last nights dish.
Fried Smoked bacon and mushrooms, new potatoes, kale, green cabbage, green beans, and carrots roasted in marmalade.
(To see in colour - Click the image).
(Above) The last thing I did last night.
A 20 second clip of the Gaynor character.
The clips weren't the problem - me not knowing the software was.
22 January 2025
I was up at 5:00 am and pulled both the brown and purple bins out. It's dark and miserable outside.
We did The Red Lion last night and had our curry. I'd have taken a photo of the meal, but after a few pints, the table has the tendency to look like it has been hit with an Exocet, therefore, I didn't.
Julie cleaned the table and stuck the plates in the dishwasher and I gave the dog her 1.3 mile walk through the woods, and when I got back in I watched a bit of the 1963 Hitchcock film, The Birds.
You really need to watch Sienna Miller in the 2012 film, The Girl, to really appreciate it. It really was the golden era of cinema.
The actress Tippi Hedren, whose name I have used as a minor character in The A's, oozed class and style - from her blonde hair and timeless attire, through to how she both presented herself and delivered her lines. There are a few similarities with January Jones' Betty Draper character in the TV series Mad Men, and hopefully, if I shoot it right, the Angie Mellor character in The A's.
I created over thirty animated clips yesterday, using the same system (sequence) I have been using. These were all of the Gaynor character against different 2D backdrops which are meant to be Mason's flat - and to make the the animation a bit more complex, in one instance I had her climbing on to a Vespa whilst wearing a dress.
This was to see if it reacted differently. It did.
A bit of a shitter, that!
It is still morning and I have animated some close up shots of the Gaynor character. Just check the high-res photograph to your right. The animation blows it away.
I've also done the same with the Angie character - but the interesting other thing is, is that I have animated them both together.
It is truly fantastic and I'm only 27 days in.
I'll chuck that up on here tomorrow.
Hey! Also, what I didn't know until yesterday, was that both the Angie and Gaynor characters are getting a bit of a fan club on YouTube - and that's only after a couple of weeks.
The Gaynor in the bath montage is fairly popular.
Just wait until the end of the year!
(Above) A 20 second montage of five clips of the Gaynor character supposedly cleaning Mason's flat. I say supposedly as when it comes to domesticity, she is rubbish. Her mum, Maureen spoiled her.
And, just to clarify a fact - she is wearing heels in the flat - and obviously there is a mirror in the room.
(Above) Gaynor climbing onto a Vespa wearing a 1960s swing dress.
This was an interesting animation that I am nowhere near happy with.
The problem is the animation in the face - especially the eyes.
I did another one this morning and I still can't get it right. It has to be broken into different shots and at different distances for the 2D.
Doing it in 3D should be much easier.
(Above) A very good high-resolution image of the Gaynor character.
The animation of this is fantastic.
(To see in colour - Click the image).
21 January 2025
Julie's phone went at 6:20 am.
Her mum had had a fall in the care home.
Alzheimer's. A lousy unforgiving disease.
When she was staying with us we treat her with kid gloves, then one Sunday afternoon, I heard Julie shouting me through the front room window. Her mum had fallen on the front drive and split open her head.
The inability to walk properly is part of the disease and as professional dementia nurses will tell you - they tend to shuffle.
The head wound looked bad due to the amount of blood, but in reality it was only superficial. The med's the doctor had her on didn't help - as some of them were blood thinners (rat poison), plus the fact she kept on touching it when asked not to. I think that was the straw the broke the camel's back, and hence, why a care home was the only valid option.
So, £100 later my wife got her phone back. It needed a new screen. Christ knows how many of those we've been through.
I rendered quite a lot of animation yesterday, some of which was of the Angie Mellor character.
Angie is a Genesis 8 and 8.1 asset and is one of those that looks very different once you change her hair.
Like most women, it suits her best when it's up, but it alters the appearance of her face, which had me scratching my head a bit.
As the story takes place over eight years, two series and 24 episodes, it's a great problem to have as I don't need to use the aging software - however, the downside is, that at times she can look older when she is supposed to be younger. If you get that! It is a problem, that I'll overcome.
The animation includes her husband - Pat Marshall, who in the story, and like Angie, is an absolutely lovely character.
Anyway, after a bit of editing, I'm chucking a 25 second segment up on here.
The Anita Pallenburg character is also an interesting one.
As I've already said, Anita is a top-end Genesis 3 asset which I'll convert through 8 and into 9.
I've always been into music history, but when I was in the last year of school I was fascinated by The Rolling Stones and in particularly, their highly-talented albeit highly-flawed rhythm guitarist Brian Jones.
His girlfriend in the mid-1960s was Swedish model Anita Pallenburg, who when they were all in Morocco in 1967, dumped him and chucked her lot in with the band's lead guitarist and Jagger's songwriting partner - Keith Richards.
The Anita character in The A's has many similarities, but as with most characters in The Project - their personalities in the main, are the complete opposite of their real life contemporaries.
Anita is an amazing character. She is extremely slim and pretty and was there the very first day Gaynor met Mason. She was on the periphery of what was an intense relationship for its duration; and near its end had become close - through not just Mason and Gaynor, but by her close friendship with Angie Mellor along with several of the girls (on scooters) who worked the football betting syndicate.
The upshot is, even though she often got frustrated, is that she bided her time.
I listened to a bit of Roxy Music last night whilst the dinner was being prepared. If you want great tracks, More Than This, Over You and Avalon are exactly that. I think they may be a bit too expensive to be included in The A's, but I'll find out.
Dinner came courtesy of the stuff that got bunged in the freezer over Christmas. Tesco's finest Salmon en croute along with some egg mayo and a cheese and carrot salad.
A bit heavy if I'm being honest.
We are in The Red Lion tonight.
I totally need a Chicken Saag Vindaloo to offset all this rich food.
Anyway - have a good day.
(Above) Angie with her husband Pat Marshall.
In Series 1, Angie has a hard time coming to terms with the cost of married life and a new home - especially as Gaynor appears to have everything come to her so easy.
As for Pat, he worked like a dog to save what looked like a new marriage that was falling apart.
Great characters - both of them.
(Above) Anita Pallenburg and Jenny Mellor.
Using the same system (sequence of animation), I have created the Anita and Jenny characters.
Anita is a high-end Genesis 3 asset and Jenny a Genesis 8.
As I said, animating the Jenny character is extremely difficult.
In the story, Anita and Jenny have a wonderful relationship.
(Above) Last nights concoction.
Salmon en croute, rocket, carrot and cheese salad and egg mayonnaise.
Tonight, it will be a takeaway!
(To see in colour - Click the image).
(Above) The girl with the cats eyes.
The Gaynor character modelling at Christmas.
Using the same system (sequence) I did a 30 second clip of an asset from head to toe. It is the first time I have ever done it and it has worked well.
I now have a method of continuity - however, I haven't used it as yet.
I also have a much better clip with the asset wearing a 1960s swing dress. I may use that as part of a second music promo. Not sure yet.
In Series 1, there is a character by the name of Astrid Karcherr.
She is a year or so older than Gaynor, and is at university studying photography and art, and hangs out with their politically astute crowd in The Hammersmith Vaults and The Knights Templar in Notting Hill.
I sort of misnamed her after The Beatles photographer and the yellow vacuum cleaner I use for hoovering out my car.
As I said - inspiration comes in many forms.
In the series, Astrid sometimes uses Gaynor as a model, although there are absolutely no intense scenes, just camera flashing and stills when they are out on a night.
At the moment, however - that is just an idea that needs working on, and as such - may change.
20 January 2025
The trouble and strife has had her right arm cut off. Her mobile phone is broke. Like most people, almost all of her life is in her phone. It is without doubt the main topic of conversation and she's telling me that she is pig sick as she has a thousand and one jobs to do and it means her running into Doncaster city centre to get it repaired. She's also told me that if it had been mine that had been broke it'd still be her taking it into Doncaster. She's on my phone now trying to find out if today is the day for the appointment for her nails done.
Yesterday, the kids came over for Sunday dinner, so I prepared that during the afternoon and let various indie albums play on the B2. Again, nothing jumped out at me, although there were some decent tracks that I can't say I've heard before such as Slowly, Slowly by Magnapop and Saturn 5 by the Inspiral Carpets, which has a bit of plagiarism in it as the woo-we-woo harmony is a blatant rip off of The Beatles song - Back in the U.S.S.R.
I've chucked up a new animation of Angie and Gaynor's gran in 1958 straight after she had been proposed to.
I was going to lay it on a 1950s background, but the asset looks quite good against a dreary wall.
I used the same system of animation as I did when I rendered The Blums and the earlier Gaynor animation and it looks very realistic, so I'm quite content that this is the way to go.
I gotta admit, I'm looking forward to hearing the assets speak, especially the Maureen O'Hara character, as she will have a really strong Irish accent.
That aside, she really resembles the Angie character in looks and has the gesticulatory expressions of Gaynor.
Anyway - today is definitely a work day.
(Above) Yesterday evening's Sunday dinner.
Leg of lamb, roast chicken, Yorkshire puddings, roast (and new) potatoes, parsnips and carrots roasted in marmalade, cauliflower cheese with leeks and red onion, sprouts, broccoli and kale.
(To see in colour - Click the image).
(Above) Angie and Gaynor's gran - Maureen O'Hara as an 18-year old in 1958, showing off her engagement ring.
In Series 1 of The A's, their gran has Alzheimer's and is in a care home.
Gaynor goes to see her every Monday evening and whilst there, swats up on her college work.
In Episode 3 - I'm Dreaming of a Miserable Christmas, Mason has concerns about Gaynor walking to the care home from the tube station at night and buys her a car, which really pisses off her elder sister.
19 January 2025
Whilst walking the dog I noticed the first snowdrops of the year making their presence known through the undergrowth alongside of the path that leads from the Market Place up to St Andrews Church.
It was a late start this morning as Julie had been up all night, with a that stomach flu I'd been saddled with earlier on in the week. I have to admit - there's no worse feeling than having your head in the toilet half the night.
Yesterday was a breakthrough day as I created the yardstick from which to gauge the animation. My aim was always, that it has to look realistic.
Whilst doing the dinner, I finally listened to the two remaining Sleeper album's The It Girl and Smart, but nothing jumped out at me. I also trawled through a playlist that I'd created from DeeJay 95, which is a Cypriot radio station that ten years ago was pretty damn good. Nowadays - however, it's nothing short of shite.
There were some songs by the Greek female singer Σtella (Stella Chronopoulou) such as Come Collect and The Map, which are quite nice, but they are hardly It Girl material and therefore certainly not for The A's.
Mark Ronson's Bang, Bang, Bang came on, and that's when Julie mentioned the nineteen-year-old wearing the black leather mini skirt with the tied-up blonde hair and the cat-eyes - that being the Gaynor character. And with a rather caustic reference to both the character asset and indeed the song, asked if me I had thought about the latter for The Project.
Personally, I don't think that Bang, Bang, Bang would be a song that cool kids would ever listen to. And Gaynor and Mason's crowd, either up in The Knights Templar in Notting Hill or down in The Metropolitan (The Met) or The Vaults in Hammersmith, are the epitome of cool.
I'll have a think about that one.
I watched Michael Caine in Harry Brown last night. I've been watching a few of his films recently, including the original 1969 The Italian Job.
The actor is unique in his delivery and my idea was to make the Jacob Gotleib character have certain similarities.
Jacob is a presence through both Series 1 and 2 and, although he is mentioned, doesn't come into play until a scene where he is in Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital - not as a patient, but as a sort of Devil in a Dark Blue Suit that strikes fear into anyone that crosses him.
He's an absolutely awesome character.
I watched the 1969 version of The Italian Job, not that it's a great film, as it isn't, but for the style, the contrast of the colours and of course - the Mini Coopers.
In The A's, although the Gaynor character does get a Mini Cooper, it is the scooters that are prevalent. And it's not from a Mod-angle as in Quadrophenia, but from one of elegance and style.
I saw a photo of the Romanian model and actress Mădălina Diana Ghenea (and Sophia Loren lookalike) sat on a 1960s Vespa and I thought - wow.
In The A's, around half-a-dozen of Gaynor's crowd earn pin money spread betting for Mason, and with London Choco-o-block with traffic and ULEZ cameras everywhere, the scooters give them speedy access in and around the city. The point being that it is therefore, the females that you see on them and not the males.
It is all about elegance and style.
I have at least thirty Vespa's, Lambretta's, Piaggio's in various different colours - including the good old Union Jack, which I bought as 3D assets.
I have an animation of Gaynor riding a scooter, but it's shit. I'll try and work to rectify that through the week and do a better job and throw it up on here.
Anyway, I have to get back to my day job.
(Above) Last night's meal. Fishcakes, salmon, prawns and green salad.
(To see in colour - Click the image).
(Above) Working the B2 from the laptop. My life revolves around tech.
(To see in colour - Click the image).
(Above) Inspiration comes in many forms.
There is a certain style and elegance about the 1960s Vespa.
Here, Romanian model and actress Mădălina Diana Ghenea poses on one in her cameo as Sophia Loren in the 2021 American biographical crime drama film House of Gucci.
(To see in colour - Click the image).
18 January 2025
I was awake at daft o'clock, but outstayed the wife in bed and she ended up taking the hound out for the first of her three walks.
We did The Red Lion last night, but failed to dine and I ended up phoning in a takeaway from the Tandoori on High Street.
The reason?
We were about to order when I had some guy come up behind me and cover my eyes.
"Guess who this is?" he said.
"Smitty," I replied.
I'd not seen him in well over 18 months.
"I've been back since September, and I've been calling in (The Lion) to try and catch you."
Smitty's real name is Ian Schmidt. A character if ever there was one. His life is an absolute train wreck. His downfall? Women. He's garbage with them, and last night he had a different one in tow. Fuck knows where he digs them up.
She was well impressed (sic) when I told her that his great grandfather was the Butcher of Belsen and ended up being hanged in Nuremburg.
"Don't believe him," Julie told her.
His father or grandfather is/was called Adolf, however.
I first met him around 20 years ago, and I was having the same conversation back then as we were last night. The irony about it all, is that wife - Emma, a professional chiropodist, is lovely.
He's also like a frigging magpie. He works as a contractor on the railways and weighs in more steel than Rainham.
I once asked him: "Does your neighbour actually know what you're up to, bearing in mind all the scrap in your garden?"
"He knows a bit," he told me.
His neighbour - Mark Grannon, is a special constable, which in layman's terms means he's an unpaid grass. If you want a few adjectives in there, big, fat and ignorant are a few worthy descriptions. He must be the only person that could ever get a mail order bride and come back from Thailand with someone more fucking minging than him.
I can't understand why I have never used either of them as characters.
As they left, Luke Platts and his girlfriend, Charlotte came in. Luke was in school with our Jamie (my son) and he and and his girlfriend are two of the nicest people you could ever meet.
I've used Luke as a character in The A's, and just like Luke himself - the character is a lovely lad.
The Luke character is ten years old and an ex-school friend of the Jenny Mellor character in series 2.
This is a really nice story. Very emotional. I just hope that I can pull it off on screen.
Regarding music, I only got to play one of my new Sleeper CD's the other day. That was - Pleased to Meet You, as the B2 decided to jump artists and played Pod by the Breeders - who were an American alternative rock band fronted by the highly-talented female, Kim Deal, followed by Feeder's Polythene.
These are both very good albums therefore, I let them play.
The stand-out track off Pod, is the rather short Fortunately Gone, which due to its immaculate rawness - could be incorporated into The A's with the actual band rigged as street musician(s) playing it.
I'll have to have a think about that. Nevertheless, it is quite a catchy song.
Anyway, Julie has just come back in from doing a veg-run at the Co-op as Jamie and Lianne are coming for [Sunday] dinner tomorrow.
Right - my day job beckons.
I reckon that I've cracked it.
At 2:50 pm on Saturday 18 January, 2025, I made the cleanest animation [using two assets] yet. And I am only 22 days in.
There is a system for doing it.
(Above) Maurice Blum 26, and his elder brother, Francis (Frankie) Blum, 31. Maurice Blum was a businessman who owned several bookmakers shops as well as The 214 casino in Crystal Palace. His brother worked as his enforcer-stroke-debt collector.
Mason Green had a system to "beat the book" and, with no-one really knowing, ended up taking the Blum's for £440,000.
The Blum's found out who was behind these young girls on scooters, who had been putting these huge bets on, and planned to hurt him.
They went for both his Achilles heels, that being Gaynor and his gran - Ana Reung.
(Above) The bathroom is bright and has a good background for animation.
Some of the best clips that I've done have been in the bathroom.
Another feature of the Gaynor character, bar the fact that she's as blind as a bat without her glasses (or contact lenses), is her spindly legs.
This is seen in series 1 (and not 2).
(Above) I wasn't going to put this clip on - however, it is a very good animation.
The main reason is that it gives away the part of the story.
The A's covers 11 months in 2022/3 in Series 1 and five months some seven years later. This scene is somewhere in between - a flashback, where Jenny Mellor is just 10 months old.
Gaynor was socially cut off by most of her friends and Josh Harrington was there.
In this clip, Gaynor - against the wishes of her parents, goes up north to visit him and his family. At this point, they are just friends and nothing more.
(Above) The kids are due tomorrow evening for Sunday dinner.
Leg of lamb, two chickens, and from what I can see, a lot of vegetables.
Tonight it looks like [cheap] Chicken Kiev's and/or fishcakes and green salad. To be continued.
(To see in colour - Click the image).
17 January 2025
Another late start this morning. I woke up at 3:40 am and with my mind buzzing as it does, I couldn't get back off to sleep. And when I finally did - I didn't want to get up.
Yesterday I put together a fairly long video clip of the Mason character sparring in front of the mirror; with the Gaynor character, basically trying to jockey for position.
Although it was quite humorous, I wasn't happy with neither the proportions and resolution of the characters, nor the fact that I had to fill it with other inferior clips.
In my humble opinion, if something wants doing - it wants doing right, therefore it was binned.
We are due out to The Red Lion tonight.
I texted the head barman - Alex - or Ted as I call him (after Ted Danson on the old 1980s sitcom, Cheers), and told him we'll be dining, and with it being a Friday - it means fish and chips, which if I am being honest, are quite awesome.
I have an Alex as a minor character in The A's.
He stars as the head barman at the Chiswick Green Sailing Club and Marina, which is a fictitious place on the River Thames, and a place where Gaynor and Angie's parents often go.
I have no idea as yet exactly how many of these minor characters there are, but in Series 1, I reckon there could be around 100.
For the voices of the characters, my original idea was to advertise The A's in drama classes in local colleges and maybe amateur dramatic clubs. It's another one of the thousand things I need to think of.
AI is do-able, but I think I'd lose the reality.
As I've already said, by the time I get to that juncture, and from a technical angle, things will change.
Anyway, my day job beckons. Onwards and upwards.
(Above) One of the problems with animating in 2D is the proportions.
The Mason character is 6'0, and Gaynor 5'5.
I could put it down to her wearing 4" heels, but one of the things you'll regularly notice in the series, is that when they are in the house (or flat) - is that they don't wear shoes.
(Above) Last night's dish. Liver, sausage and onions in red wine gravy and Yorkshire Puddings, with mashed potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans and carrots roasted in puréed apricot.
(To see in colour - Click the image).
(Above) The head barman at The Red Lion - Alex.
I've used Alex as a minor character in The A's.
(To see in colour - Click the image).
16 January 2025
A late start this morning. I didn't leave the house until 7:20 am, which might have something to do with me not getting to bed until just before midnight. I watched the remake of The Italian Job with Mark Wahlberg.
I've cut a few video clips over the last couple of days. At the moment I'm working with 2D images as backgrounds, therefore, the starting point of the animation dictates how the clip turns out. It is no way near perfect, but I need to understand how it all works including the problems that I encounter, so I can overcome them - one of which is proportional sizing.
In the story I have Mason standing at 6'0 feet tall, and both the Gaynor and Angie characters at 5'5".
As I'm not yet animating in 3D, the sizing and proportions can be problematic - especially when the background characters move towards the camera where there is a character (asset) already in place.
I experienced this on creating the clips for both Episode's 5 and 7, whereby I had the Gaynor character come from the background and into the foreground and suddenly she became 6'0.
That cannot happen - ever.
As I said - I like women to look like women and men likewise, therefore, I can't have any gigantic females roaming around set. Creating in 3D will help me nullify that problem as when an asset is moved around, everything will be in proportion.
I created around 30 clips of the Mason and Gaynor characters in front of a mirror in Mason's flat.
The idea was from a song that I intend using within the series - The Girl In The Mirror by Louise Distras - however, none of these clips will ever be used. It is just practice.
Mason is using the mirror to shadow box - Gaynor, just to purposely annoy him. Again, sizing here becomes a problem, but I suppose it could be that Gaynor is wearing 4" heels - which she often does.
Regardless, some of these clips are quite funny.
What should be noted is that the properties (houses, flats, bars etc.) that you see in the clips on the website, won't be used in the TV series. The reasoning being, that these have already been purchased as 3D assets, meaning that I can create scenes from any angle with everything in proportion.
I listened to three albums by Echobelly last night, whilst preparing dinner, which was helped by knocking back four Peroni's.
These are a 1990s Indie band fronted by Sonya Madan, the thinking being, that I might get some killer track that I've overlooked.
Outside of their singles, the only one that stood out was Iris Art from their Lustra album.
Another girl-fronted band?
The story revolves around two so-called It Girls, so to me it makes absolute sense.
Speaking of It Girl's - three CDs have just been delivered by Tony the postman - all by Sleeper. Pleased To Meet You, Smart and The It Girl.
I'll give theme a whirl tonight.
Liver, sausage and onions in red wine gravy, mashed potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli and green beans tonight knocked down with a few 330ml bottles of Asahi beer.
(Above) Last night's concoction: Chicken and mushrooms, fried in black pepper, Green salad, Tuna, Cous Cous and Cottage Cheese. A healthy-ish kind of surf and turf.
(To see in colour - Click the image).
(Above) Three new CDs - Sleeper. Pleased To Meet You, Smart, and The It Girl all ready to be uploaded on to the Brennan B2.
(To see in colour - Click the image).
15 January 2025
I was up at 6:00 am and out with the dog. It's still miserable out, made worse with the thaw. All the cars are filthy, which, again, is made ten times worse by the fact they are white.
We had our evening at The Red Lion.
I decided to leave the dog at home as I'd given her, her 1.3 mile trawl through the sludge minutes earlier.
I did in five or six Beavertown Neck Oil's and Julie copped a bottle of dry white wine. This was followed by a cheap curry from the takeaway on High Street.
I took the dog out for her third walk around nine-bells - just around the church and graveyard, and I had Wow come up on my headphones.
There's a story here. Wow is a song by Tess Parks.
My wife, Julie, fucking hates both her and the song, so it must be good!
Just look at Episode 7 of the first series and the title. Hey, God Damn, Wow, I'm So in Love. That's one of the greatest one-liners ever. That's a line out of the song.
I've chucked a 5 second clip of Galway up. It's not the greatest animation, but - hey, it's still early days.
Mason and Gaynor were having some shite at home so they drive off for the weekend and go to Galway in Ireland to drop off some flowers on her great great grandparents grave. That was inspired by Wow.
Hey, babe I know; You've been working hard; Let's take a holiday - Just you and me...
Gaynor and Angie's granny, and their mum's mam was Maureen O' Hara. She came over from Galway to London's East End as a kid.
I named her after one of my favourite actress who was the lead lady in films such as How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Quiet Man (1952), and Only the Lonely (1991), amongst others.
In The A's she is at the end of her life and resides in a care home as she has Alzheimer's.
I wrote this up prior to the experience of my mother-in-law having it and living with us for a few months, after Julie's dad died in June. It's a shit fucking disease that, in my humble opinion, is as bad, if not worse than cancer.
The Gaynor character visits her each Monday, and whilst there she does her college work and reads Russian literature to her. This is strange as her gran was horrid with her, when she was a child.
The reasoning?
I'll let that come out on screen. As I will, Mason being introduced to her - as he ends up scaring everyone shitless as it turns out that he can actually talk to her. Episode 2 - Sixth Sense.
There is a flashback in The A's where Maureen O'Hara gets proposed to by both girl's granddad, Stan Butler in 1958, which ties in with something Gaynor is doing at the time.
Again, I was going to mix / blend character assets, but I found a Genesis 8 / 8.1 asset that looked similar to the Angie Mellor character, so I went with that. I gotta admit - I am happy with the decision.
Anyway. My day job beckons along with some international banking.
(Above) Hey, God Damn, Wow, I'm so in Love.
In Series 1 Mason has everyone wanting a piece of him and has an idea. "Lets go to Ireland", he tells Gaynor.
(Above) Maureen O'Hara - 1958.
This is Gaynor and Angie's grandmother and Maureen's mum, when she was 18. I tried to get her to slightly resemble Angie (Inset).
Maureen O'Hara is a sad story. Hopefully, I can bring it out on screen.
(To see in colour - Click the Image).
14 January 2025
I was up at 6:00 am and out with the dog. The frost as gone and has been replaced with sludge. This is how a new year starts for most people who actually go out to work. A hard uphill slog through the mire with the only thing to look forward to, being a holiday at mid-point to break the monotony.
I made 51 (fifty-one) 5-6 second videos for the website while I was having a couple of Peroni's at the breakfast bar yesterday evening. I reckon that I have well over a couple of hundred now. I am getting quite happy with how the Jenny character is responding to being animated. This one - I have to admit, is complex. Complex, in that I have to keep on making her look like a near-on-seven-year-old girl. In life you have to keep banging away and continually fine tuning. Perfection is very rarely achieved, but you have to keep trying.
I'm hoping to complete the website today. Once that is out of the way, I can get back to The Project - the completion of the screenplay and getting more acquainted with all the complex software.
Last night, and under duress, I did us a bacon Tagliatelle. I say duress, as pasta agrees with neither of us.
It is, however - the easiest meal ever. Two cans of tomatoes, four of five cloves of garlic, a pack of fresh basil, some chives and crushed black pepper chucked in a blender. Fry a red onion and chuck in the sauce. Add a tub of soft mascarpone cheese, and then chuck in the lean strips of bacon and roast peppers, and boil up some pasta. A great meal for indigestion.
Tonight, or this evening rather, we are on about going out for a few beers in The Red Lion - a hotel which is situated in the town's marketplace. We take the dog, who generally has chicken or fish goujons, and we pick up a curry on the way back home.
Anyway, back to my day job and let's see what tonight brings.
(Above) Jenny Mellor with her mum, Gaynor in the background.
The animation of the little girl has been complex.
(Above) Jenny Mellor reading a letter from Granny Vonny.
This animation is near perfection.
(Above) Bacon Tagliatelle.
A lesson in how to turn one kilo of bacon into 500g and have a meal that sits inside you like a house brick.
(To see in colour - Click the Image)
13 January 2025
The dog barking, woke me up at 3:15 am. The golden rule is to never ignore it, as it could be anything or anybody. Fortunately, and as is generally the case, it was just one of the near-neighbours cats prowling around the house.
Yesterday, I did nothing on the screenplay, just set up the short videos on the website. There is still a lot of work to do - however, it is a very time-consuming job, as the software conversions often don't work as fast as, and how you always want them to.
The other year when The Project was in its infancy I looked at an animation of a girl dancing on YouTube that was done by some random guy. I think it was a Genesis 8 asset that had been animated with the Blender 3D software.
I thought it looked really good - however, time moves on, and looking back at it, it wasn't. The guy who did the two minute animation said that it took his PC 32 hours to render the animation. That is quite staggering.
I run with powerful tech, but once I go into production I will be using hardware with ten times the capability of the ones I use now as the graphics have to be spot on. I'm assuming it may be a £10,000 - £20,000 investment per unit.
I was up at 7:00 am and out with the dog.
As with last night, and with the temperature not in the minus, I dispensed with the woollen hat and was back to having the headphones on. Listening to music is where a lot of the inspiration and ideas come from. I mentioned the song by Sleeper the other day. That's the London-based indie band that were fronted by Louise Wener. The song: Rollercoaster.
Look out for the character Mr Morgan in the back end of Series 2, because inspiration works just like that.
I'm currently on with my day job and have a haircut planned, although I will do some work on The Project after 6:00 pm.
No idea about dinner.
(Above) Last night's meal. Roast beef basted in mustard, with roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings, purple and green broccoli, kale and roasted carrots in marmalade.
My hobbies: Music, films and cooking.
(To see in colour - Click the Image).
12 January 2025
I had a late start this morning and was out with the dog just before 8:00 am. The frost is still thick out - with the temperature around -2°. I look around and take in the countryside and I feel fortunate to live where we do.
I start back work tomorrow. My day job.
I own the UK's Leading Specialist Civil Engineering and what is the UK & Europe's Leading Mining and Piling Journal.
I am on a tight schedule as we are booked on a flight out to Cyprus on 1 February, so it's going to be a busy month. 18 days to write up an 86 page magazine from scratch. Nothing like a bit of pressure!
I started replacing the photographs on the website with animated clips. It isn't perfect, but that perfection will come, of that I am sure. 16 days in and I already have a process in my mind for the production of The A's.
24, 60 minute episodes over two series. That is one hell of a task.
We had chicken and mushroom with salad in wraps last night, which I managed to keep down - thank God, along with four Peroni's; and whilst listening to the B2 I picked up another decent song: Rollercoaster by Sleeper.
When I mentioned the busker the other day, one of the songs I had in my head was Sleeper's When Will You Smile.
My idea was to use not more than two songs by the same artist.
This morning I prepared a beef joint basted in mustard, with roast potatoes, purple and green broccoli, kale and roasted carrots in marmalade.
We always eat after 6:30 pm.
I'll continue replacing the photograph's whilst multi-tasking on the screenplay today.
(Above) The Mellor Connection.
Yesterday, I mentioned the aging process. Here Gaynor has aged, not by the aging software - but by just giving her different hair and clothes.
11 January 2025
Yesterday, I was badly.
I thought it was the antibiotics, but I don't think so. Some kind of wanky stomach flu.
It was -5° this morning when I went out with the dog. I generally walk with the headphones on, but since I've got back - that hasn't been the case.
Last year I bought three 15TB external hard drives to hold all the 3D assets. I have still not downloaded them all as yet. That is something I really have to do.
I have over 3,000 character assets - people.
The Gaynor and Angie characters are what they term as Genesis 8 and 8.1 assets. The Mason character is a Genesis 3.
These can be converted through software into the new Genesis 9 - which is basically, and from a reality stance - out of this world.
The Mason character at times looks a bit plastic in the promo - however, once I convert him, his complexion will become more prominent and eyes more realistic.
In Series 1 and 2 the Mason character looks different - however, it is the same character.
Change the hair, put on different good quality clothes and you'll be staggeringly surprised at how a person's looks can change.
You stick dark hair on the Gaynor character and she looks drab and dire. And Mason looks completely different.
As Series 1 and 2 are seven years apart, I aged the Gaynor character by letting her put on weight, dressing her dowdy and giving her a middle-aged bob-cut.
The difference is remarkable.
I have character-mixing and aging software, which I was going to use to create Gaynor and Angie's mum - Maureen, but I found an asset within the Genesis 8 and 8.1 portfolio that I liked and stuck with it.
I didn't base the parents on anyone in particular - just the names. I wanted a perfect mum and dad, and I reckon that I have achieved that in The A's.
There is a story within the series that I'll not divulge, but the Maureen character, really holds the family together. She is not only pretty, but sexually inquisitive, dead nosey, very affectionate, and has a heart of gold. As for the dad character - well, he completely changes - but that is part of the story. In Series 1 he tends to refer to Mason as "lad". By Series 2, he is "son".
Some of the story can be heart breaking, I just need to put that over on screen.
(Above) This is a segment of the Maureen and John (mum and dad) characters.
I needed to make a perfect set of parents, and with these characters - I think I cracked it.
(Above) This is a segment of Mason and Gaynor, and how the characters evolved from being two kids in love to what they became some seven years later.
10 January 2025
I woke up at 6:15 am - however, that was with my head in the toilet.
I've not been sick in 16 years but today I was. I've had a gluey kind of cough since before Christmas so in my wisdom, I decided to nuke it with a course of antibiotics I got over the counter in Cyprus. They obviously reacted to the tandoori king prawns, eight Cobra's and two brandy's.
And £115 later ...
I've not felt this bad in fucking years. I still walked the dog, however.
I've been trying out new AI software all day and some of it is shit hot. And by shit hot, I mean shit hot. There is still a lot to learn, but I now know that I can go down a completely different route and half the production time.
We have fish planned for tonight, and I have to admit - it's not something I'm looking forward to..
It's 6:30 pm and I've had two 330ml Beavertown Neck Oil's and a few of Brewdog's Elvis Juice.
(Above) This is a segment of the Mason and Jenny characters in Series 2 - new animation.
(Above) The fridge and the Fish pie.
In The Soprano's, the fridge was always a feature in the series, and when visitors came on the set at HBO, the fridge was the first thing they went to.
In The A's, Mason's fridge is always empty and the perfection of the Gaynor character is massively offset by her uselessness and indeed selfishness, in the kitchen. To put it bluntly, she is fucking terrible, and this is seen throughout much of the first series.
(To see in colour - Click the Image).
9 January 2025
Christmas and the New Year finished today.
We generally do the Christmas trees 12 days before and after the 25th, but as we've been away it was a kind of this-Morning-task.
I got up at 6:30 am and walked the Alsatian. The first of three walks a day. The weather? -5°. We then took down the Christmas trees. Got it done for 10:30 am.
I'm deleting the photograph albums from the website today. These will be replaced with 5-10 second video clips. I feel it makes sense, especially as I'm supposedly putting together a TV series .
Music is an interesting topic and I'm always after hearing new and different sounds. I'm a bit of a collectormaniac whether it be CDs or DVDs. I upload every CD I have onto a digital music library that I have in the kitchen. It is a Brennan B2 coupled to some Wharfedale speakers. I think I have close to 1,000 albums and nearly 15,000 songs. The B3 is out now, but apart from a quicker CD ripping and it looking a bit wider and sexier, it's pointless throwing £700 at something I don't really need.
Anyway, it was playing last night, and Two of a Kind by Cast came on and I thought - Shit, I forgot about this. It's not too dissimilar to Lovebirds by Dodgy - in that the chorus and it's build up is great.
Obviously within the series there will be music, but here comes the interesting bit. It is as expensive as hell.
Throughout both series, I fancied using a real musician placed in a fictitious place in Hammersmith city centre called Buskers Corner. The idea was to create him or her from a photo and rig them for animation, which is indeed do-able. To be honest, the reality is scary. And then I enquired on cost. It costs between £20,000 and $40,000 per song.
That's nothing. The producers of the Wolf Of Wall Street paid £3 million to use Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones.
David Chase and the producers of The Soprano's were going to use a different intro in each episode. The cost outweighed the benefit and they ended up using Woke Up This Morning by a rather unknown band called Alabama 3.
Whereas the Gaynor and Angie characters were inspired by two girls from school, with the former telling me: "I loved Who I was"; the Mason Green character was inspired by the Pink Floyd song - Comfortably Numb. I've no idea how much that would cost, but I reckon we'd be close to seven figures.
As it stands, I want Western Playland by The Holy Wave to open the series, being that west London is where it's set. I have an idea of what I want, but I'm not ready for trying anything just yet - although I do know that I'll be removing the eight-bars of nothing from the middle of the song.
Anyway, we are out tonight - dining in the Curry Leaf with Cuban Pete and Broken Arm Sue.
We have names for everyone, although Pete and Sue haven't been used as characters. Omar Farooque is the owner of the Curry Leaf. I was not only the Best Man at his wedding over in Chittagong in Bangladesh, but I used his character as an Asian Doctor in a gangster book I wrote titled S5 Uncovered. That started off as a script but Sky Atlantic said that they didn't take scripts directly, but if I got a production company interested, they'd certainly set up a meet.
My life was a million miles an hour at that time so nothing happened.
I was going to use If Love is the Drug Then I Want to O.D by San Francisco band The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
Terence Winter used a Jonestown song for Boardwalk Empire - Straight Up and Down.
Mine, I feel was the much better song.
(Above) It's always a sad day when the Christmas Trees come down.
(To see in colour - Click the Image).
8 January 2025
The taxi picked us up at 1:00 am and we flew out of Larnaca on the early morning flight and got in the house 12 hours later.
I wrote some scenes in the lounge of the airport and had to thaw the car out at Luton as it was -1°.
We did a shop up at the Co-op and got some fresh veg and salad.
I managed to create a few video shorts, but nothing to speak of.
I have two roast chickens in the oven. We are having those with broccoli, cauli, sprouts and new potatoes. I'm drinking a can of Beavertown Neck Oil whilst I do some editing.
A bit of a nothing day, really - however, they always are when you're travelling.
(Above) This is a segment of Gaynor in the bath - new animation.
(Above) The chicken dinner.
At times, The A's is something of a dark comedy and the Gaynor character's trials and tribulations with domesticity - especially in the kitchen are something else.
(To see in colour - Click the Image).
7 January 2025
Got up at 6:00 am and bagged up the rubbish to find the cat at the door. He has a GPS tracker on his collar, so God knows what his owners think he's doing? I couldn't find the cat meat so I opened him a can of Tuna. He quite likes that. And Parma Ham, Serrano, Mortadella and any other cold meats we happen to have in the fridge. He's on the sofa now, having a kip.
First up, I had a coffee and I resized the animation for the music promo on the Home Page of the website. As I said, this is a whole new learning curve. I'm hoping by the time we go into production that I'll not only know the software inside out but can dispense with YouTube as the resolution when it gets embedded into the website is nothing short of shit.
I'm doing some writing today as I have neglected that side of things for the past week trying to learn the video software. I managed a few scenes.
I knocked off around 4:00 pm and we went to Fosis for a couple before calling into this traditional restaurant just off the Paralimni - Dherynia roundabout. No idea what they call it, but we name it the Silly Man Bar. The guy who owns it is a total fucking halfwit, but his food is awesome when he has what you want.
I fancied Liver, egg and chips. Hardly traditional, but Cypriot food is as bland as a day out in Cleethorpes and his liver is very good.
"I got no liver," he said
"What have you got, then?" I asked.
"Look at the menu," he said.
"I have and I wanted liver," I told him.
I ended up ordering four lamb chops, egg and chips and a separate plate of fresh Kalamari rings. Surf and turf-ish.
"I put you some liver on as well," he said.
"I thought you said you'd got none."
"I have two pieces," he said.
Twit!
Julie had Sheftalias and one lamb chop - plus she had a dry white wine and I had a Keo. €50.
We called at the Lionheart on our way home and did in four or five and Julie fell asleep with T.C. and chucked him out at midnight.
(Above) T.C the cat.
I used T.C as a character, rather interestingly in Series 2 of The A's, even though he was around seven years earlier in Series 1.
Series 1 covers 11 months in 2022/23 whilst Series 2 covers five months some seven years later. There are however, flashbacks in Series 2.
If you get that!
(To see in colour - Click the Image).
6 January 2025
It is Epiphany today. It's a big deal over here. Got up at 4:00 am.
Last night it was arranged that we would drive into Nicosia and use up some of the full tank of petrol on the hire car. This is totally my fault. I thought we'd be a few days to get the FTO back - especially with it being the holidays. It never happened as T.C called in, had his breakfast then had a kip on the sofa into the afternoon.
I did some close up animation yesterday that is the cleanest that I have ever seen. And that is just nine days working with it.
I also cut some other clips which suit the Music Promo much better, so I've installed those. I would have done it already, but I keep moving shit around and the software I am using decided to test me, so it was a start from scratch job.
I've put the Gaynor animation on. As I said, the resolution and animation is the best I've seen.
Julie ended up tempting the cat outside with some food around 2:30 pm and we went out for a drive. We got as far as Nick's in Protaras, which is some warehouse that flogs booze and cigarettes. I got three cases of 330ml Estrella (72 bottles) on some mega deal for €20. Buy three cases get one free. Julie got a bottle of Cockburns No. 1 Special Reserve Port for €12.50. I gotta admit, going there out of season, you get some top deals. He also does the best currency exchange in Cyprus.
We had a walk around Ayia Napa harbour, which was packed as the President of Cyprus was there. Not that we met him.
Julie shook hands with Lech Kaczyński whilst in a restaurant on the Green Line in Nicosia around 15 years ago and made Cypriot TV. For those who don't know, he was the fourth President of Poland. I say was, as he died in a plane crash a few weeks later.
Trivialities aside, we called in at the Red Ruby - the Asian restaurant and went for Japanese - a 24 sushi-sashimi platter of prawns, octopus, salmon, eel and other fish along with a plate of garlic prawns, whilst Julie had a curry. The place does Indian, Chinese, Thai and Japanese and even as its own Sushi chef. An awesome place, but like I've said on TripAdvisor, never expect the curries to be like in Sheffield or Bradford, because they are not. The chefs are from south east Asia ....Vietnam.
Got home via four beers in the Lionheart bar and finished watching the Yellowstone series with the cat, who we had to throw out at midnight.
(Above) This is a segment of the Gaynor character - new animation.
(Above) This is the updated music promo for the first series
5 January 2025
Had a lie in this morning and got up at 7:30 am.
Yesterday, I was working on the second series - Episode 15. Not its animation but the script.
The little girl - the Jenny Mellor character, is prominent all the way through Series 2 - her sole aim in life at this juncture, being to get her parents back together and own a mobile phone.
This is an interesting character as although she is not yet seven-years-old, she has the same gift as a father - that being the possession of an inordinate I.Q.
One of my best friend's daughter's was a student at Pauline Quirke's Drama Studios in Doncaster and I sounded her out about the part.
"Wouldn't I be too old?" she asked me.
"No, I don't think so," I replied.
The good thing about animation is that the appearance of the actor doesn't really come into question ...well to a point, anyway.
Getting the characters speaking is at this moment in time an interesting obstacle. I have the MOCAP (Motion Capture) and facial recognition software which transfers mouth actions and movements from the actor to the asset (character), which by the time I get to production, I am sure will be 100 times better. Therefore, I'm not overly worried at present.
That aside, I did the most clear animation that I have ever seen this morning - and it is the Gaynor character dialoguing. To be honest it blew me away.
I'll upload that on here tomorrow.
We went up to Fosis around 4:30 pm had a couple of beers then went down into Kapparis and had a meal at the Zeyn Lebanese Restaurant on Kennedy Avenue.
The first time we we went it was were Tapas-like and nothing short of brilliant - the time after, was last summer and they'd altered the menu solely to rip off the tourists. This happens everywhere in Cyprus. Last night it was back to how it was.
Four starters (Chicken Liver, Salmon, Beef, Squid), two side dishes (Spicy Potatoes), one main (Four Mince Kebabs), two dry white wines and two Lebanese beers - €110.
(Above) This is a segment of the Angie character.
4 January 2025
Today is my mother-in-law's birthday and would have been my mum and stepdad's 56th anniversary.
I got up at 5:30 am to work on The Project - basically smoothing out the screenplay and to try and fine tune the Music Promo as I am still not happy about it.
One of the many questions I get is about the characters.
Most of the time I base them on real people - in The A's it is no different. The two main characters are based on two pretty girls that I went to school with but who are not so much the alter ego's of the people that they really are, but opposites placed in a completely different environment - that being an upper middle class family in the fictitious leafy village of Chiswick Green. Maybe it is a tale of what could have been? I don't know.
Another question I get is the appearance of the characters and the clothes they wear.
I like smart appearance where women dress as women and men likewise.
A few years ago I watched the TV Series Mad Men (As a box-set, not on TV). The appearance of January Jones (Betty) and Christina Hendricks (Joan) was nothing short of Wow. John Hamm - the series protagonist - Don Draper, must have been the luckiest man alive. Not because of him being married to Betty, but because he is the most wooden actor ever. I have to admit - I would never have cast him.
Just goes to show what I know, eh?
I knocked off at 4:00 pm and we went up to Fosis and had dinner at Yiannis - mine was a fillet steak with garlic prawns.
The owner of Yiannis was another character that I have used in the past - however, his is a rather sad story. Interesting but sad.
Watched another few episodes of Yellowstone.
Pristine hair and clothes.
I loved the 1960s look.
In Quadrophenia all the kids looked unwashed and dirty, whereas Mad Men was the epitome of elegance and style.
In The A's, I will try to make the latter happen.
(To see in colour - Click the Image).
Tomorrow I will do a segment of the Angie Mellor character.
(To see in colour - Click the Image).
3 January 2025
I got up just after 6:00 am and got stuck into The Project only to be sidetracked by our adopted cat of three years who we named T.C (Top Cat). He's like some people I know and is a total user. He comes to us to get fed and have a kip.
Another sidetrack was a visit to Lidl to stock up. We rarely use it in the UK but over here in Cyprus its a bit different. I still can't get my head around the fact that there are things like engine oil and clothes in between the fresh fish and meat counters. Weird!
The good thing about Cyprus is that when you insure your car, they pick it up when it doesn't start. I called into the Auto Electrician on April Avenue in Paralimni to tell them to expect it coming in and by 4:30 pm, and after parting with €150 I got it back.
We then went to Fosis Coffee Shop - which is in reality an unlicensed gambling den, and got a haircut and shave from Tony - who is the barber next door - both of whom I used as characters in the I Am Sam trilogy. We then called in at the Lionheart bar in Paralimni to see some friends and where I met some guy, by the name of Steve who has a second hand shop - D&D, and who does the markets. A real life Del Boy.
Trivialities aside.
Regarding The Project, I need to keep plugging away with the software as there is an awful lot to learn - especially as it is continually being updated. It is not just one piece of software - it's lots of different ones.
The one thing I do know now is which software not to use.
As the story takes place in West London, I'll need a day down there with the Canon EOS / and a 3D cam to take some high resolution backdrops.
Gaynor in the bath.
High resolution backdrops are without a shadow of a doubt, the best.
(To see in colour - Click the Image).
2 January 2025
I got up at daft o'clock to work on The Project.
My wife, Julie, phoned to arrange car hire from Chris at Empire Taxi and Rentals and he dropped us a car off so that we weren't grounded.
I managed to do some of the cleanest animation that I have no only done, but quite frankly that I ever seen. Even though I say it myself - the reality is quite amazing.
Check out the video on the right.
After 10 hours in front of the computer I knocked off and we nipped up to Fosis Coffee Bar in Vrysoulles for a few beers and topped off the evening with a curry at the Red Ruby in Ayia Napa.
Got in and watched an episode of the Yellowstone box-set and tried out some ideas.
(Above) This is a segment of the Gaynor character.
