Thursday, January 05, 2006

Barbie Breakdown

With the holidays behind us, it's time to get back to work. For me, this means I'm back working on Barbie. You see, since moving here in November of last year, I've been employed at a studio in the East Village that's taken it upon themselves to create a 3-D animated, direct-to-video, feature length Barbie Movie. Yup, a Barbie movie. I can't tell you the title of it, or what it's about, or how it's made, or assembled, or who it's for, but you can guess millions of little girls (and maybe boys) will be clamoring for it upon release.

It's been a great first job since moving here, because it's totally allowed me to hit the ground running, so to speak. It's taken care of the rent and other numerous expenses after my move. Plus, it's a good, well-known studio to be working for. I'm hoping it will lead to many other projects.

As you can see, I've posted a few glimpses into my state of mind while on the job, recorded on various bits of paper and, of course, post-its! Even though it's been great experience to work on a project like this, there have been those days that I want to jump up from my computer and run around the office screaming and ripping my hair out. Barbie can be a BITCH folks. She's very demanding...and high maintenance...and insufferably PINK! Trust me, as a reasonably well-adjusted gay man, I have no problem with the color pink, but boy, try staring at it for ten hour days, six days a week, and see if you don't go a little nuts.

After awhile, post-its with drawings like this started appearing at my desk...
(click on it to make it larger, if you must)

Luckily for me, said project is actually reasonably cute and well-written, so it hasn't rotted away my core, but the compositing work has been grueling. Looong hours, lots of coffee, sitting at a desk, staring at a computer, in a room full of others doing the same, like drones...can test your endurance, and it can test your breaking point. Since we were all freelancers, none of us could really claim a permanent spot or desk as our own. What ensued was reams of unorganized paper, and randomly disappearing office supplies. Where's my highlighter? Where did I put that pen? As you can see from the post-it below, I started to crack.

But don't worry. The movie wraps next week, so I'll be breaking up with Barbie, and off looking for a new love to spend my days with. Hopefully, whatever it is, won't be centered around the color pink.

10 comments:

jungle jane said...

Did you know that anti-barbie kids melt them in microwave ovens?

JustMe said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
JustMe said...

Hahaha! Yes! A friend of mine sent me an article from the London Times last week about a study where little girls were reportedly mangling their Barbies! Kids today apparently see Barbie as disposable, not special...interesting.

Thanks for commenting.

jungle jane said...

Actually Justin i have a very amusing ornament in my loungeroom - its a bunch of barbies in a birdcage trussed up like chickens. its hilarious - i call in Bondage Barbie...

JustMe said...

Yeah, heh heh. I do remember that, bloggernaut! I loved my He-Man action figures. I kept them pristine. Castle Gray-skull was always set out with some sort of fight scene going on inside...and we took Tela's arms and put them in a pencil sharpener, until she had pointy-sharp arms!

Ward Jenkins said...

Maybe, Justin, since Barbie has broken up with Ken, you'll be in line to work on Ken's direct-to-video movie!

And I love all the sketches and post-it drawings! Upon seeing the Barbie with a whip, Ava asked me, "Is that Barbie?" Me: "Yes, and she's in a silly costume!"

Jan Halvarson said...

ha! this is all so interesting knowing the inner workings of what's going down behind the scenes...fun sketches!

thanks for visiting my blog! so cool! glad you dug the pillows!

i'm so jealous of you living there - i hope you are having a blast!

Anonymous said...

When I was a kid,I was PASSIONATE about Barbies. One time I thought, Barbies are all the same except for the heads. So if I had 10 different Barbie heads it would be like having 10 different Barbies. Since I din't plan on sharing or playing nicely with others,the logic worked out great. Until my Mom found all the shoplifted Barbie heads in the lining of my ski jacket.

andrea said...

I have a love/hate relationship with barbie. on the one hand, she provided me with years and years of creative play. on the other hand, she seemed to mock the body that I came into this world with. I'm having a hard time forgiving barbie for that one.

anyway, it's been fascinating to hear you talk about this particular job. of course, I am crazy about your drawings... especially the one featuring barbie as slave driver. divine!

my house is cuter than yours said...

Cogrants on landing that barbie movie deal! I am in love with that post it drawing! So so cute!