Getting Animated

For a long while now I’ve wanted to make an animated short (perhaps because I grew up during the golden age of Disney Animation). Well, now that I’ve gotten my feet wet and started exploring the world of Cinema 4D, I’m attempting to make that dream a reality.

Although I figure it’s going to take me a long while, I decided to start conceptualizing a short animated project. Even if the whole thing goes bust, at the very least it will make me more adept at using Cinema to model proper looking environments.

Several months ago I wrote a script (it can be read here for all those interested). Then, I contacted Ben Schwartz, a talented friend of mine who helped with the musical score in both Finding Time and We Were None. Although we’re still very much in the planning states, Ben is going to help me with concept art, character design, and eventually, music.

All in all, it’s an exciting side piece to work on amidst all my many other assorted projects. The story itself focuses on the constraints of geometric shapes–an artistic choice very much made to coincide with my basic knowledge of 3D modeling.

I’m hoping to keep everyone updated as the project slowly moves along (it’s a marathon not a sprint). Below you can see my first render of the main character’s neighborhood in all its boxy goodness. Next it’s off to model his work cubicle and a few other choice locations. That is, if I can ever find the time.

Finding Time at Alexandria Film Festival

My movie, Finding Time, was recently accepted into the Alexandria Film Festival in Alexandria Virginia. The festival is screening the movie on Friday November 5th at 7:30 pm. More information about the festival can be found here: http://alexandriafilm.org/

In related Finding Time news, you can now view the movie in its entirety on Vimeo. It’s embedded below.

My lens flare is so bright I need shades

Every once in a while you come across something so brilliant that your mind practically explodes because of its awesomeness. This is one of those times.

The graphics gurus over at the daily planet made this hilarious little musical romp depicting the lowly like of the motion designer.

Granted, it’s a little “inside baseball” for some. But, for me…well…it’s like having my life put up to a mirror and reflected back as a kick ass hip-hop music video. I mean, I recognize the After Effects “finished render” ding before my own rigntone.

Watch below and enjoy (just don’t ever use Comic Sans or Papyrus)

Green: The Motion Picture Trailer

A while back, I posted the animated titles that I created for Nick Gregorio’s feature film, Green.

Well, time sure does fly, because now Nick is prepping the film for a DVD release in September. In honor of the occasion, Nick commissioned me to cut together a new trailer of the movie. I consider myself a video editor first and foremost, so I really enjoyed sinking my teeth into a pure editing project once again.

Grab a tub of popcorn and enjoy the trailer goodness.

NPC’s Bumper Part Deaux

My friend and fellow filmmaker, Jonathan London, is busy trying to launch a new L.A.-based web-series called “N.P.C.’s” (that’s Non-Playable Characters for all you noobs out there).

He asked me to help him out by making an animated bumper for the show’s intro. My initial try came off as too “dark and serious” for a lighthearted comedy series about comic book and video game nerds living in L.A. So, I took the same basic framework and tweaked it a bit. I brightened the colors–adding a more comedic vibe–and also included an L.A. backdrop with funky animated radials to give the whole thing more pop.

I’m quite happy with the new results. Check it out below.

More fun with Cinema 4D

Keeping my experimentation with 3-D animation and modeling alive, a friend asked me to build a bumper for his upcoming web-series. The result was a faux video-game graphic piece that combined Cinema 4D and After Effects.  The result looked pretty cool–though he eventually passed on the bumper, and we’re currently working on a different, “less-polished” approach.

Regardless, it was another good way to keep learning the delightful world of C4D…

Check out the result below:

Superheroes: Have We Had Our Fill?

It’s been a while, but I recently wrote a new article for Geekscape, discussing the over-saturation of superhero movies at the cinema. Check it out below.

Not too long ago, director Matthew Vaughn made an interesting statement regarding the state of superhero movies in Hollywood . He said:

“[Superhero movies have] been mined to death and in some cases the quality control is not what it’s supposed to be. People are just going to get bored of it.” He went on to add, “the genre is going to be dead for a while because the audience has just been pummeled too much.”

At first glance, there’s a lot of truth to what Mr. Vaughn is saying. I don’t think there’s a single person out there (geek, nerd, or dweeb) who can deny that Hollywood seems to be churning out superhero movies at an alarming rate. It’s also surprising to see such a statement come from a man whose last movie (Kick-Ass) and next movie (X-Men: First Class) are clearly superhero flicks. Not to mention, we’re standing in the wake of a Comic Con that seemed to prove that superheroes are bigger and badder than ever.

Over the next few years, Marvel’s storming the market with a certified blitzkrieg of comic book fodder. First, Thor…then, Captain America…all of it eventually building to the biggest nerdgasm of all, the Avengers. All the while DC Comics is backing its own thoroughbred pony, the Green Lantern. Throw in the Green Hornet, a revamped Fantastic Four, Wonder Woman, Ant-Man, a Justice League movie, the next Nolan Batman outing and you’ve got yourself a veritable superhero orgy. Really, folks, how can the superhero stream be going away when it hasn’t even begun to stop flowing?

Regarding Mr. Vaughn’s initial statement, I think it’s important to look at a larger, more overarching question: why do audiences even go to see superhero movies in the first place?

It certainly isn’t because of familiarity of characters. At one time this might have been the case—way back when the original Superman and Batman movies were hitting it big—but as time moves on (and Hollywood churns through character after character, franchise after franchise) this definitely doesn’t hold any weight.

Take for instance the upcoming lineup of superhero flicks destined to hit theaters over the next few years. Thor? Captain America? Green Lantern? While these characters may be fawned upon by the geek hordes, they’re definitely not the “big names” that your average Joe Schmo can recognize. The success of the Iron Man films further reinforces this point. Three years ago nobody outside of our collective nerd niche even knew who Tony Stark was. Now, he’s a household name. Call me crazy, but I guarantee that it wasn’t the character of Iron Man that got people’s butts in theater seats.

So, what’s my overall point? Frankly it’s this: when people stroll into the cinema on a hot summer afternoon, popcorn and large soda in hand, they just want to be entertained by spectacle. And, if they can get that visceral fix from a superhero movie, so be it. Audiences are going for the blockbuster, not the man in tights.

If you look back at other significant “event movies” over the past twenty to thirty years, you’ll begin to realize that the tropes and structure are completely identical to that of the superhero flicks that are currently saturating the market. Really, when you think about it, what is the difference between Spider-Man and Star Wars? Sure, the semantics may be different, but the reason people are going to the theater—the reason they’re forking over the cash for their tickets remain the same. The cool special effects, the likable characters, the hero’s journey—those things haven’t changed one iota. After all, weren’t Rambo, Rocky, John McClane, and even the Terminator really just superheroes without capes?

I guess it comes down to this basic question…have we really had our superhero fill? Are American audiences going to start voting against capes and cowls with our wallets? In my opinion, the answer is a simple “no.” Sorry, I just don’t buy it, Mr. Vaughn. Well, at least not when viewing things from a broader perspective. Even before the influx of comic book flicks in recent years, we were watching superhero movies. They just happened to be disguised as something else.

Eventually, I do believe there will a come a time when Hollywood simply runs out of properties to milk—when the proverbial four-colored well dries up. But, that just leaves room for a new type of superhero to take center stage. Frankly, a genre can’t die as long as it’s constantly being reinvented. And, let’s face it, if there’s one thing Hollywood loves, it’s a good comeback story.

Making Good on New Year’s Resolutions

Way back in January of this year, I made a resolution that I was finally going to start learning a 3D program. Well, who would of thunk it? I actually…did it! And, who says people never actually follow through on those sorts of things?

Over the past month or so, I started fooling around with Cinema 4-D. Thanks to a lot of trial and error (mostly error) I started to get a grasp on the basics. Much thanks to Nick Campbell and his amazing blog, Grey Scale Gorilla. I’m sure I’m not the only motion designer in this world that is hugely indebted to his free advice.

Below is  a bumper I created using Cinema 4d with some additional compositing in After Effects. I have a lot to learn, but, hey, it’s certainly a start. Watch below, and enjoy.

Beyond the Still

Long time…no post. Sorry about that, folks.

A while ago I heard about a collaborative video contest between Canon and Vimeo called “Beyond the Still,” where entrants were given a starting still image and then had to make a short movie from that initial visual point. Basically it’s like a collaborative game of telephone, except with videos moving the whole thing along. A neat concept to be sure. It also helps that it has some serious pull within the industry–the first entry was shot by director and cinematographer Vincent Laforet and one of the judges is the ubiquitous Phillip Bloom.

Well, I recently got access to a brand-spanking new Canon 7D HDSLR from my work, and I had some spare time over the past few weeks (shocking, I know), so I thought, hey, what the heck? I’ll enter!

I shot and edited my entry to the “Chapter 6″ section of the contest this past weekend. Things came together very quickly–I had some wonderful friends who managed to pitch in at a seconds notice. I’ve never really shot anything with an HDSLR before, so I took the opportunity as a great learning experience to really figure out the workflow and shooting techniques. I know I made a ton of mistakes, but heck, that’s why you do little projects like this every once in a blue moon.

A ton of opinions have been posted about the HDSLR revolution, so I’m not really going to throw my hat into the already crowded fray. However, I will say this–the 7d takes beautiful images.  Moire. Jello. Non-sync sound. Bad ergonomics. Yeah, they’re really annoying. But, at the end of the day, it’s hard to fight the purty pictures that tiny little still camera can produce.

For all the technical geeks out there,  I used the 7d as my “A” cam and recorded sound and “B” cam footage with my Panasonic HMC-150 (I challenge you to pick the shots from my HMC-150–it’s a great camera that really holds up even when shooting against the bokeh heavy 7d).

Anywho, enough rambling. Check out the finished short below…

Finding Time website has launched

Now that I’ve finished post-production on my new short film, Finding Time, I manged to quickly scrape together an official website: www.lucky9studios.com/findingtime

As I start submitting the movie to festivals over the next few months, be sure to check back often. Of course, I’ll post any updates to this blog as well.