Building a Character

Y'know, when I think about LAN'ded nowadays it is MUCH different than how I thought about it a year ago. What began as a cabaret idea is now blown out of preportion into a huge conglomerate of ideas that can't be encapsulated within a single show. Kyle and I have taken this notion and divided up LAN'ded main properties into several different facets of Imaginary Trends and I think it's all for the better.

The most useful thing we've been able to do the last few months were the viral vlogs that "Christian" would upload to YouTube. It's been a "secret" of sorts for a while but we're ready to really move forward with it and increase the cone of vision for this campaign. We've started uploading content twice a week to a YouTube channel dedicated to Imaginary Trends content. (www.youtube.com/ThisIsWhatWeDid) You can see the video blogs Christian does there. GO!

As I and Kyle have stated before, we're big fans of mimes. Why? I'm really not sure but I'll run with it. We've set up a separate channel exclusively for our Mime related shenanigans and you can bet that those shenanigans will intrude on Christian's activities. It's funny what a little make-up can do...

The shape of LAN'ded was once a square, taking place in a very regular space but it has since changed shape and it like an amorphous blob that can be viewed by any fan of any number of subjects. In doing the video blogs, I've gotten a much better sense of who Christian is, who he knows, what he likes, and what he is/isn't capable of. It's funny to think of this because I was always writing LAN'ded with me in mind for Christian, but having to actually go out and perform a him is another beast altogether. Though Christian and I are very similiar, we've many differences which mainly are attributed to social status and awareness. Many friends have suggested things for Christian to do, and most all of these things are fantastic! However, I need to carefully look at these things are determine not if I would do them, but if Christian would. I am not ashamed to say that there's been more than a few great ideas thrown away just because Christian wouldn't be capable of some of the things suggested.

In the coming months we're going to explore Christian's social fears and what exactly makes him want to stay indoors 24/7. Some of those reasons may surprise you, others will make you laugh, but most importantly it'll help you view him as a real person.

Hope you're watching, we're just getting revved up.

~ Aaron J.

We're Not Dead!!!

I swear to you that the development of LANded as a series and living entity is thriving!

For the first time since the reading, Aaron and I are going to sit down and discuss further revisions to the scripted material... via video chat (isn't technology wonderful?!).  As you've read in previous blogs, we have begun approaching the material from different angles to gain new perspective and solidify characters and their relationships.  Even taking into account that the presented script was a drastic abbreviation of the full story, there were glaring holes in our conveyance of the story.  This new view has led us to adopt new strategies in structure and style which may sound drastic (and it is) but we wholeheartedly feel that it is for the better.  

Each new step that we take in the development process has made it easier for us to explore this parallel world.  As much as the characters have developed from our own minds, they are becoming more real and seem to write the stories for themselves... and for a show about imaginary friends existing in the real world, we have begun to question ourselves accordingly.  By the time filming takes place we may be institutionalized!

The current viral campaign has kept me sidelined in a sense, but the creative process hasn't stopped in the least.  I can't wait to dive back into revisions, development, critiques, and this huge game of "Yes, and..." that seems to be our writing process.

Furthermore, I have been promised some sort of musical preview of a new song stemming from one of Aaron's TADs (a writing exercise he's been doing for several months now) and we are awaiting a rough cut of Christian's rapping debut... Yes, you read correctly.

Intrigued?  So are we - and also a bit nervous... For a social delinquent, he sure does have a sense of ambition!

Who Ya Gonna Call?

If you've been following the adventures of Kyle and I via our YouTube video and blog posts, you've come to expect that we've been going on some interesting adventures here in New Hampshire. Well, I present to you our next target.

You can read up on the place here. It's the Mount Washington Hotel in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Since we're trying to think of a good ghost storyline for LAN'ded, we figure why not investigate a real live haunted hotel right? Check back later on this week for updates and hopefully a video coming soon.

A big shout-out to our LAN'ders out there who've e-mailed us suggestions and ideas for episodes for the latest draft. Keep 'em coming guys!

And now, the formal embed of our first Developer Diary!

Kyle showed me how to successfully embed these things. Silly me, I thought it was much more difficult.

Our first YouTube video!

Hey all! After making my eyes bleed by taking crash online courses in GarageBand and iMovie, I have finished editing our first Imaginary Trends Developer Diary!

We plan to release these every couple of weeks on YouTube and other outlets. Since Blogger won't let me upload the video to here, I can only link to it.

Click Here To Watch Our First Developer Diary!

"My Life Everyday" - First Draft Lyrics & Other News

I decided to post some lyrics that were written for a possible song in the first episode. These lyrics are a work in progress and subject to change. Right now we're tossing around different musical routes to take with these lyrics if we decide to use them. We're thinking about a rock n' roll vibe, possibly a Jason Mraz-type musicality, or even a David Yazbek like folky feel. We've got plenty of time though, we'll see how things pan out.

"MY LIFE EVERYDAY" (Lyrics by Aaron J. Amendola, first draft finished 6/13/09)

Christian
A SECTION
Any distance can be a journey
if you're not accustomed to the trail,
and I'd waltz right down that hallway
if I was sure I wouldn't fail.

So I'll stay inside and press continue
Just the same as yesterday.
Don't look at me with your pity
This is my life everyday.

I wake up and check my mail here
Look, everyone's my friend
And with all the work I've piled up
I'm afraid there's no room for pretend

And while I'd love to get fired up in a musical soiree
I'm more content with my comics
This is my life everyday.

B SECTION
Don't think that I'm sullen,
don't think that I'm sad.
This way of life isn't just passing through
and I don't see it as a fad.

C SECTION
The outside world is scary if you're socially unaware.
I'd rather sit at home & watch cartoons while enjoying Solitaire.
I'm a stoic member of my own army with a dorky croix de guerre.
I'd reject the physical challenge while playing Double Dare.

A SECTION
50 feet can seem like miles
if inside is all you know.
It doesn't bother me cause
I don't think that I have to grow.

So I'll chill inside with a red bull and all my superfriends.
Even if I have thoughts of breaking away,
this is my life everyday.
This is my life everyday.
This is my life everyday.
--------------

So the entire LAN'ded dev team is now hangin' out in sunny New Hampshire! We'll be here for the whole summer and maybe even longer depending on how things go. We're planning on getting a ton of work done, as long as nobody in our dev team gets swine flu...so we'll see. I'm currently listening to the broadway show "Next To Normal" and I have to hand it to Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. They've just got a fantastic show on their hands. I've been amazed by Mr. Kitt repeatedly and this show is no fluke, he really writes music that amazing all the time. Do yourself a favor and check him out here.

And because a post here can't exclusively be about Musical Theatre and LAN'ded, I must mention that the Ghostbusters video game was released this week. I received the Ps3 version and Kyle opted to get the Wii version. I'm happy to say that we're enthralled with both copies and I can only imagine what impact our fanboyism will have on future scripts concerning ghost jokes.

Also, a special word has to be said about LAN'ded dev team alum Ashley Laverty, who's children's show "Dotty Dot" is going to be produced in NYC in the future! Ashley is, as I've said up and down before, a phenomenal writer and performer and this is just a testament to her gifts.

Hope all is well in the rest of the 49 states! And I hope you all have your dork clocks set to go off next week when Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen tears up theatres! Sayonara!

Never slime a guy with a Positron Collider.

Hey there everyone!

News is trickling out of the LAN'ded front more and more as the summer goes on it seems. A constant re-working of the 3rd draft gets more and more of my attention every day and the past week was no exception. After reading (several times) the way that the first episode sounds, I find myself constantly unhappy with the lyrics to the first major song of the show. After writing 8 different sets of lyrics (yes, 8) I think we may have found something that works or at least we're one step closer to what will become the final text.

I've been working on putting together a video-blog to keep track of our pre-production adventures and you guys can expect that sometime before the end of the month (hopefully, we'll see). As you probably know, the Ghostbusters video game comes out in 4 days and who knows how much work I'll get done after I get my hands on that. I've waited over 20 years to become a Ghostbuster, and I'm determined to relive every memory I have from Venkman, Stantz, and Egon.

Check back for more news next week!