Fox 24 Interview

This was the evening interview for the MAS Screening Event.

WMGT Interview

This was the morning interview for the MAS Screening Event. 

WMAZ Interview

Here's one of the interviews I did leading up to the Museum of Arts and Sciences screening event.

Introduction to Earth

 One of the segments of the film is an introduction to the planet Earth. I've animated it to a 70's "Keep On Truckin'" kind of tune.

 The Sun.

 The Moon has to orbit the Earth so what better move to give it but a..... Moonwalk. This was actually very tough to animate, but I am happy with how it turned out. I might post a short animation of it later.

Finishing up the orbit while showing how long it take for the Moon to "slide" it's way around the Earth.

UG3's Space Ship

Here's the ship that the UG3 team get around in. It's about 2 1/2 long and about 2 feet tall. Here are construction pics.

This is a rough beginning sketch.

 

Main structure made from Styrofoam and upholstery foam.

 

 Here it is with the cloth covering.

Side engines

Almost there.

Finished piece for now. There are less "add-ons" than I originally planned, but I might add more before the time to shoot. I'm going to shoot it in stop-motion in front of a green screen then composite it with other elements. I'll post some of that when we get to shooting it.

Madam Thrunch - Stop Mo Animation Model Production Pics

Madam Thrunch is a minor character so instead of creating a hand puppet for her parts I'm going to put her in as a Stop-Motion animation. Here are some production pics of her creation from "blueprint" to completion. Go here for her original concept sketches.

These first three are rough designs and the beginning armatures laying out next to them for comparison. The materials used are, armature wire, plumbers epoxy, tooling foil and balsa wood.

Here are armature shots of the head. Regular wood shapes held together with armature wire and epoxy. Then covered with more epoxy to shape out the head. The tube in the center is where the different mouth shapes will go.

Hands and feet are being made and attached to the body.  The fingers are twisted floral wire and the knuckles are small plastic beads. All held together with epoxy and hot glue.

Now I'm covering all the exposed parts with latex so I can manipulate them for the animation.

Now I'm making her set. Madam Thrunch is the CEO of Gandermoon Studios. She's pretty terrifying so she's got a very strong Evil Emperor vibe going on.

 

The back of her throne is made of a television antenna, piece of an old alarm clock and half of a plastic ball painted blue. The two pedestals are made from left over pieces from ceiling fan installation kits. They're cold and shiny to help with the "Death Star" feel.

 

Here's the finished set. The pylons are made from plastic tubes painted with the same blue paint from the throne. The cool toppers are caps from syringes we got from the pharmacy. The black tubing on the edge is normally used to hide telephone cords.

Now here's the finished set with Madam Thrunch sitting in it. I made her robe from a T-Shirt. Now she's got rings and other jewelry made from cheap rhinestones and wire and foil. Her eyes are shrouded to mimic the evil emperor again.

This last shot is to show scale. The whole set is about 14 inches tall and 16 inches wide.

 

Thunderstone - Ultra Galactic Prima Dona

"Ok, I was trying to get some editing done today and in walks Thunderstone. For most editors they like to work alone. Having the director there for editing is one thing but to have the lead actor show up can be disastrous."

" At first I tried to accommodate him. He wasn’t too bad. A few suggestions on timing and a little comment about pacing. Nothing major. I finally had to send him out when he asked me to motion track a piece of lint on his face and remove it. I refused and he said something about my momma."

  

"I thought he was gone but well he showed back up outside the window."

"I think I am going to have to re-locate if I want to get this edited."

Lee.

 

 Believe it or not these images are composited into the shot from the green screen shoot. So, Thunderstone is not actually in the studio with Lee. It's all cinematic magic... and Lee's sense of humor.

Behind the Scenes at Green Screen Shoot

We just finished up a green screen shoot with the puppets last night. Here are a few pictures to share what the two days were like.

I  manipulated the puppets to a soundtrack we've already created with voice actors. We shoot each puppet individually then Lee composites them in the desired layout. In that way it is much like a traditional animation process.

Lee is responsible for the cameras, lighting, capture equipment and anything technical.

The characters waiting for their cue.

When shooting this way the image that I am seeing in the monitor is opposite to what my arm is doing. This always takes good bit of practice to get right.

A few of our puppets have too much green in their skin and costumes to shoot in front of the green screen, so we have to put up a make shift blue screen for their footage.