Producer's Commentary: Dicks Season 6
This batch takes a hard left turn as I threaten the trailer park's very existence with a tornado. After all, what's the classic target for a tornado? Obviously I couldn't do much destruction, as it would put an end to the series, more or less. But I could use the tornado as a device to explore various subjects, such as being poor, making choices, and having friends. I chose Paul as the target since it forces him to take a different attitude toward his fellow residents.
I also wanted to give Sam's wife Valerie an alternate personality, since just leaving her as a bitchy housewife was a one-dimensional, hackneyed joke that had already run its course in the previous season. I do admit, though, that I had no such plans for her at the outset—yes, I was lazy. But I think that making her a medium was a good idea: it gave her a lot of personality, and it allowed me to "resurrect" Rita, a character I missed having around. (I also miss Glerp, but I don't want to get ahead of myself here.) Anyway, Goddamn Lady Valerianananananana has proved to be just the right sort of tonic: an unabashedly wacky character that affords me comic opportunities when things turn dark, and the tornado surely cast quite a lot of darkness on the season.
Indeed, like the season before, I struggled to pivot back from heavy drama to lighter fare, although I confess writing drama is significantly easier than writing comedy: humor requires a deft touch and special gifts I do not have in abundance, although it's getting easier as I get to know the characters better. Sam, for instance, is a wonderful vehicle for humor given he's a salesman with a case of foot-in-mouth disease.
In addition, this season I wanted to introduce some new character dynamics, so that I'd have more emotional avenues to explore. Now, before anyone accuses me of going "woke," bear in mind two facts. One, homosexuality has been around in entertainment for as long as we've had forms of entertainment. And two, sexual orientation is not the focus of the series; it's an incidental aspect of one or more characters. Now, on the other hand, if someone wants to accuse me of turning Dicks into a soap opera, I have far fewer objections.
With Season 6 came many technical challenges, which I always embrace; I revel in the chance to pull off exciting new visuals, and the tornado offered an abundance of opportunities. As an aside here, I also completely re-engineered all of the artwork: all of the characters were re-rendered both to improve their appearance and to give me more options. In particular, when characters are shot in closeups, they're much sharper because their heads are now separate from their bodies—previously they were all one piece of art, so zooming in on their faces reduced the resolution of the image, leaving them looking fuzzy and pixelated. Their new, larger heads also now have separate eye art, allowing me to control mouth and eyes independently, which provides loads of expression control.
I've also tweaked the characters' eyes. At the outset of the series, everyone just stared straight ahead. But when it becomes necessary to create emotional connections between characters, eyelines and eye contact are all-important. Nowhere was this more crucial than in "One More Thing..."
Why didn't I do things this way from the outset? Because, first, I hadn't originally intended the series to be anything more than just a stupid comic cartoon; I never foresaw it becoming so dramatic, and in order to sell drama, character expressions must be far more nuanced. And second, I was just being lazy. But now that I'm taking the series more seriously, I'm likewise taking the animation more seriously, with plans for further improvements for the future, such as shadows. I will, however, remain with flat, front and back only views of the characters, for both technical and aesthetic reasons. Technically, character side and three-quarter views are problematic; and I like the idea of sticking with a visual style, as limiting as it may be.
I wanted to kick things off with a wild twist, and turning Ping into an alcoholic seemed like a good
attention-getter. As Glen points out in the following
episode, when someone is wound as tightly as Ping, they can unwind in spectacular fashion. This
was originally intended to become the means by which we learn Ping is a homosexual, but it
just didn't seem to have the punch I sought. I felt as though the emotional stakes had to be much
higher, and I found what I needed during the production of "It's
Looking Really Bad Out There." Which just goes to show how concepts evolve over time.
One unexpected stumbling block was what to title the episode. I'd already created several seriously boring ones, such as "Ping Is Missing." But the episode as finished, and as I previewed it a dozen or so times, I finally realized that the first line of dialog was exactly right.
The technical challenges I faced here involved control over Ping's eyes, in particular getting them to roll into the back of her head as she passes out. It required creating many new eye shapes, most of which I'll never use again, not that it makes any difference at this point. I used to struggle to make do with what I'd already created; now I willingly create new art specifically for an episode, especially if it sells the story better.
Incidentally, I'd originally intended to create a whole raft of booze bottles for Ping's kitchen counter. However, while I was blocking out the shots, I temporarily used the row of beer bottles that were Carl's targets in "Frustration." But I liked the effect so much that I kept the temporary artwork as is. It was much less work, and also visually less busy, which was important, since I wanted the focus on Ping's face.
Ping's soliloquy on death was a huge surprise: I had not expected Voicemaker's synthetic vocal engine to produce such dramatic-sounding dialog. I didn't have much finessing to do beyond timing.
"Unhappy Medium" was the last episode I produced for this season. I needed some connective
tissue to introduce Lady Val, and it just wasn't happening for me. I also had the extra challenge of
getting Sam more deeply into the mix. And to pile it on, I wanted something lighter, with a touch of
humor. And so this episode was born out of frustration, and out of that frustration came its title.
As I finally started drafting it, once again I found the 47 second hard stop to be a blessing in disguise, since it keeps me focused on efficient storytelling. I had the dialog recorded and the visuals all blocked out right through Sam's introduction of Lady Val, and then... nothing. Everything just sort of ended up hanging in midair, with no punctuation. The "punchline" came to me after I'd begun lip-syncing everything. Now, I'll admit the punchline was awful. But it was precisely the sort of awfulness the episode needed! What is comedy without the occasional eye-rolling groaner?
Goddamn Lady Valerianananananana was one of those jokes that just kept getting bigger as I went along.
Indeed, I was changing her name as I building the episode. I went back and re-recoded the dialog over
a dozen times. Originally she was simply "Lady Val." But the name just fell flat, while
her character was wacky: a nasty, bitchy medium was a great twist on the stereotype, and her name had
to be just as absurd. So I kept adding bits to it until it had just the right amount of silliness.
But it was only after I created her headpiece that I realized it had a bunch of purple bananas.
Perfect!
Incidentally, just in case you were wondering, the "great spirit" that Lady Val addresses is named Brumahamma Mullalockpass Flammamaleman. It was great fun coming up with a name even more absurd than hers, but also one that Voicemaker could pronounce without sounding unnatural, if that makes any sense.
Obviously the big technical challenge here was creating Rita's spirit, which involved several passes. First, I had to make a static Rita head that lip-synced to her dialog, and render it. Next, I split that video into red, green and blue layers, each set out of sync, and rendered it again. Then I took that video and manipulated it by twisting, squeezing, bending and relocating the image in space, and combined it with a mist effect. The mist was also a process unto itself, as it had to get layered in front of some characters and behind others, with a degree of translucency. It was an enjoyable couple of days of experimentation.
One of my favorite films from the 60s is A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To the Forum
with the late great Zero Mostel. Granted, the name has been misused countless times already, but why
should I let that stop me from doing the same? Besides, it kept the humor level up for an otherwise
fairly boring episode that just serves as a setup for things to come.
Technically there was nothing new here. I'd already established the effect, and so it was just a matter of repeating the long, slow, tedious process of building the layers.
Now we get to the meat of the season, and "It's Looking Really Bad Out There" sets
everything up. I'd actually planned on having a tornado hit the park for quite some time;
it was just a matter of picking the time. I decided now was good because it inserted a bunch of chaos
right into the middle of some otherwise fairly "soapy" story lines. The biggest struggle I had
was what to title it, and the name emerged from the first line of dialog after the episode was nearly
in the can, in precisely the same way as "Has Anyone Seen Ping?"
The storm effect turned out to be pretty simple: I just took the rain effect from "Voyager 1" and turned it sideways. The tornado itself was a slice of the same rain effect, brightened and blurred, overlaid on top of itself.
Incidentally, I wasn't trying to be "inclusive" when I created the Indian TV announcer; I was simply looking for an interesting, different-sounding voice, and created a character to fit it.
Now we get to the meat of the season, and "It's Looking Really Bad Out There" sets
everything up. I'd actually planned on having a tornado hit the park for quite some time;
it was just a matter of picking the time. I decided now was good because it inserted a bunch of chaos
right into the middle of some otherwise fairly "soapy" story lines. The biggest struggle I had
was what to title it, and the name emerged from the first line of dialog after the episode was nearly
in the can, in precisely the same way as "Has Anyone Seen Ping?"
One huge side benefit is that it dovetailed nicely into the whole Ping issue, and created a bigger payoff for her big reveal in "One More Thing..." It's surprises such as this that adds a thrill to the process of creating the series.
The storm effect turned out to be pretty simple: I just took the rain effect from "Voyager 1" and turned it sideways. The tornado itself was a slice of the same rain effect, brightened and blurred, overlaid on top of itself.
Incidentally, I wasn't trying to be "inclusive" when I created the Indian TV announcer; I was simply looking for an interesting, different-sounding voice, and created a character to fit it.
The aftermath of the tornado created all sorts of dramatic opportunities, which I explore in
what was originally going to be one episode but turned into two. I'd drafted a single-part version
and was in the middle of editing the dialog when I realized there wasn't enough time to give the
deeply affecting emotional beat enough room to breathe, and so it became a two-parter.
This provided the space to really dig down deeper, and explore the consequences of certain choices, such as skipping insurance. This is based loosely on personal experience, so Paul speaks with veracity.
Technically the big thing was the cloud effect, which I did in layers so that they moved past at different rates. I didn't have to do this; I simply did it because I could. And I think the result was worth the work: it effectively sets the emotional mood. Other than doing a lot of original art that will never get reused, I also took great pains to make Paul's emotional meltdown as effective as possible, which involved a great many facial expressions that, like the backgrounds, will never get used again. And that's perfectly fine by me.
"Friends" is the rest of "Choices,"
utilizing a lot of dialog that I'd cut out in my attempt to squeeze it all into one episode.
I really wanted to give Paul time to contemplate what having friends meant, because this was somewhat
new to him.
The final shot of the whole gang staring at the mess created by the storm is another one-time rendering. In fact, the image was the first one I created for the sequence. I don't know why I started with the end, but that's just the way things play out. Oftentimes I want to see where I'm headed, as it can shape how I get there.
It was vital for me to create an uplifting follow-up to the dark, deep episodes before, and was the
second-to-last one I created. I decided a chat with Rita might help provide some emotional closure,
particularly with respect to Paul's situation. It was effortless to create: I wrote it in one
pass, with no edits, and after recording the voice track, I dropped it into the template, and it
precisely fit. I was stunned.
The title was inspired mostly by Rita's observation about Carl and his bravery. It reminded me of the closing bit from The Wizard of Oz, specifically regarding the Cowardly Lion.
In retrospect, Rita's monologue seems in some way "final," as though we'll never see her again. This was not intentional; I already have plans for her return several times in the future.
"One More Thing" was the second episode I produced, right on the heels of
"Has Anyone Seen Ping?" I built the beginning and
end of this piece of the story, having only a vague idea of what would transpire in between.
Originally I'd intended for Ping to fall in love with Dot after Dot had helped her recover from
alcoholism. But the tornado offered a much more emotionally satisfying means to bring the two
together.
Even before I'd written the dialog, I animated Ping's head as she moves in to kiss Dot. This absolutely had to work, or else I wouldn't do the kiss at all. The second aspect of its success was in Dot's reaction. I tried several effects to suggest it, and in the end I realized I had to do it the long, hard way: one frame at a time. And the third challenge was Dot's post-kiss expression. In particular, her mouth had to totally sell the WTF just happened, and not sure if but maybe it was nice. I don't recall spending as much time on a single mouth shape.
Another thing that helps this episode, and indeed any episode that has strong emotional charges, is eye contact between characters. At the outset of Dicks, everyone just stared straight ahead. Gradually I began introducing different eyelines. Now I needed to start selling strong connections, so I created eye darts, just as you'd see when two people are talking in close proximity to one another. It became more crucial for this episode than any other, as Dot and Ping really had to connect.
All in all it was a most enjoyable season to create, full of exciting technical challenges and ripe with promise for things to come. And trust me, there are many more things to come.