When I laid out my goals for 2023 in January this year, I mentioned how I had ambitions to make a feature film called Empty Pages. It would be an anthropomorphized version of Laika and the Sputnik 2 mission, showing her fate as the first animal to ever go into orbit with tragic results. I picture it being an animated adult drama, influenced by movies like When the Wind Blows, Apollo 13, Titanic, and the Plague Dogs. I’ve been quietly planning and preparing it for well over a year at this point. I had to research historical details, learn how to make a screenplay, constantly revise the writing, design the characters, get feedback from friends, etc. With today being the anniversary of the real Sputnik 2 launch, it’s only fitting that things go public now.
The first phase of work is just about done. A new draft of the screenplay is in progress, and I’m feeling confident that it’ll be a good foundation to build upon. So the next phase of work, which I’m calling Project Star Dog, will have four main parts to it:
1.) Storyboarding the entire script from front to back, and editing the stills together into a full-length demo reel for the movie.
2.) Hiring a cast of freelance voice actors to dub over the storyboards and create guide tracks for all the main characters’ dialogue.
3.) Composing a full soundtrack for the storyboards, potentially with professional music software if I can afford it.
4.) Adding basic sound design, foley, and audio mixing to the storyboard reel as the finishing touches.
On top of all this, there’s also character model sheets to make, environments and props to design, concept art to draw, and trying to get the word out. The voice actors will be by far the costliest part, and so far I’ve been saving up my own money to afford them when the time is right. I’ve set up new social media accounts to help promote the project and share updates on it as I go. If my current plans work out, I hope to have this storyboard reel finished by the end of 2024. I’ll most likely post it to YouTube once it’s ready. What will happen then? At this stage it’s too early to tell, and I’ll be honest and say I’m not sure where it could go from there. But until then, getting a full storyboard reel is the priority, so that’s what I’m putting everything I have into.
Although I picture most of this being a solo project for now, I’m more than open to collaborating with other artists and creators to help speed things up. If you think you have something to offer the project, send an email or DM me at any of the links listed below. I don’t have a ton of money to spare, but I’m willing to work out payment agreements for anything that could help artistically. Even just following one of the accounts or sharing things around would be an enormous help for getting this campaign as far as it can go.
Online indie animation is currently in a renaissance. Things Helluva Boss, Lackadaisy, Murder Drones, Digital Circus, etc. are paving the way for a new era of the medium. Combine that with the long-overdue victories won by the WGA strikes this year, and the future feels brighter than ever for the scene. I want to try throwing my hat in the ring with a story I hope will connect with people, and emotionally resonate with them. The process of getting there will be hard and time consuming, but at this point, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
