New Method of Getting Into Space - Slingshots

Here are some more animation stills from the film.They come from a segment on the Science of Rockets. Bleeph tells about a testing program he was part of for using a giant slingshot to escape a planet's gravity.

Animation Stills - Footling

Here are two more stills from the animation of Bleeph's sports career. This one is called Footling. It's a mixture of motocross on flying surfboards and throw in some whale sized carnivores. Fun.

Animation Still - Jammeljip

In one segment of the film we compare the race to the moon to a sports competition. Since the ones telling the story are aliens we have them bring up alien sports. Here are a couple of still shots from the animation demonstrating the sport Jammeljip.

As you can see, Jammeljip is a lot like Earthling tennis, except for one difference...

...You don't have to worry about the ball chasing you.

UG3 Merchanise - Collector's Bookmark Set

 

Here are the images for the UG3 Collector's Bookmark set. We've created this for sale at screenings, and online and they are part of the reward packet for Kickstarter supporters.

UG3 Merchandise - Collector's Badge Set

 

We are coming down to the last month of production for the film and are looking at the merchandising that will go along with it. Here is the badge/button pack that we'll be selling. It is also a part of the reward set that goes to certain Kickstarter supporters. Other Collector's merchandise at this point will be the art and script book based on the film, bookmark sets, and posters. If possible we hope to have T-shirts too. 

The Belly Button of The World - Youtube Channel

This was posted many months back. I'm reposting it here because it is now on our new Youtube Channel - where I'll be posting further video updates and linking them here and on Facebook.

It is a short we did in about 6 weeks (part-time hours) to test out the animation and compositing techniques as well as the writing and character development.

If you socialize on Youtube and you like the video help spread the word.

Aliens In the Hatchback

Just loaded up the crew to head up to Tennessee for another shoot. We'll be doing some promotional stuff over the next few days. I just hope no one rear-ends the Highlander.

New Character Pose - Bleeph

I'm currently working on some promotional materials for the film and have designed character poses of each of the UG3 crew members. This is Bleeph's pose created entirely in Flash.

Blepharon - Hand Puppet Version

The next puppet I made after Thunderstone and Fang (see previous posts) was Blepharon or "The Bleeph". One particular challenge was that he's a little more rotund than the other characters. Hand puppets usually have most of the audience attention on the face, since this is where they do most of their acting. So I cut back on the torso size. 

It's important to keep the weight down on a hand puppet whenever possible since even a few ounces can make a big difference on how long a puppeteer can keep a puppet elevated without wearing out their performance arm. Oh, and I decided to leave off the one exposed tooth since I had used that element in the Fang character.

The Belly Button of the World - Finished Short

Here’s the finished short “The Belly Button of the World”. This is one of a series of SSSNAPPE’s that we are doing to experiment with the characters, style and writing of the Ultra Galactic Gung-Ho Gurus.  To see some more on the 3D set design look here for original construction and here for how it translated into a computer generated version. Go here  and here for details and pictures on how the Stop-Motion character of Thunderstone was constructed. Here are some links on the original design of Thunderstone and the characters of Bleeph and Screever.

We are putting away the shorts for now and starting on production of the longer format episodes. It is a series of 24 minute shows on Mankind’s Quest for Outer Space. More to come on that soon.

Animatic for SSSNAPPE Intro

Here's an animatic for the SSSNAPPE introduction. SSSNAPPEs will be shorts hosted by the UG3 characters. It will give us a chance to test out voices, timing and how the chemistry between characters are working. The main host, Thunderstone, will be stop-motion animation while the others will be done in Flash, although the round monitors that they appear in will be stop motion also.

Here's a mock-up of the chair that Thunderstone is sitting in. The green domes are the monitors that rise up around him and hold the images of the other hosts.

Initial observations include: we need to up the acting with some of the voices, possibly add a music bed and tighten the timing.

We should have another rough animatic for the Half-Naked Snowboarders SSSNAPPE up soon.

Updated Design - Bleeph

Here's "The Bleeph" or as most just call him Bleeph. This is his form for Flash Animation - which will be used in the shorts we are producing before the main film. Here is a link to the preliminary sketches and some more information about the character and his place in The Ultra Galactic Gung-ho Gurus. .http://process742.blogspot.com/2010/04/introducing-characters-blepharon-aka.html

Introducing the Characters - Blepharon aka "The Bleeph"

The previous post gave a short intro to the project itself. Right now I want to start introducing some of the hosts of the show. This first one is called Blepharon. He’s a former galactically famous daredevil known as The Bleeph. Now he is older and too many years of surfing the Milky Way without a helmet has caught up with him. Picture him as the burned-out hippie, surfer type. Rather absentminded, but sweet. He’s never reluctant to volunteer for reckless assignments and is the butt of many slapstick jokes because of it. I’m working on some phrases from his heyday that he still uses like “We went completely Super Nova!” or “I’m feeling totally Zero G right now.” Any suggestions?

Here are a few of the preliminary sketches. They come straight out of my sketchbook and are pretty rough. They’re mainly to show the thought/discovery process for this character.

The word blepharon is an English word no longer used that means someone with large eyebrows. So I designed him with bushy eyebrows as his most predominant feature. I quickly started liking aspects of this version. The large lower lip worked well against the large eyebrows. The dreds are a bit like squid tentacles. One thing I had to keep in mind though, was that this was going to be a hand puppet as well as an animated character. If I got too much on the puppet then it would be very difficult to use for long periods of time. Here he is getting a little older. Don't think I liked it though. For some reason I like the bottom one of these, but I can't see it working. I'm liking this a little more but still afraid of the weight of all those tentacle dreds on the top of the head. It's come down to this one. I'm working on a functioning version of this one. I'll post some pictures of the puppet construction later. Then I'll be able to do a final drawing of the animated version.