Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hey guys,

Well, what can I say? I haven't worked on the movie at all the last couple of weeks. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because let's face it, this time of year is crazy. Needless to say, family stuff has taken up all of my spare time and now that we're between Christmas and New Years I have to honestly admit that I'm just too tired to work on the movie at this time.

I do need to make another Power Dog costume. I've been putting it off for some time, despite the fact it will only take me about 3 or 4 hours now that I have some experience. Perhaps I will use some of my free time within the next couple of days to make the costume. At least I won't feel like I've wasted the entire month doing nothing. :)

I've also had some computer problems and that has slowed me down quite a bit. I'm just now starting to get my computer back up and running. Thankfully, I've got backup copies of everything so nothing is lost.

Now for the good news. Starting in January I plan on officially entering production as I will finally start filming the movie. It has been a long time coming but I think I'm finally ready. It will seem surreal when I finally get to say "lights, camera, action!" and actually begin shooting this thing.

We, meaning me and the cast, will need to do a couple of readings of the script before we start filming. The script has been final for quite some time but like all scripts, it has been updated as time has gone on. I will want to make sure everything sounds smooth and the story flows before we start filming and having the cast read through the entire script will help make sure that everyone is on the same page.

So, for the time being, that is all for now. I admit I've been a little lazy this month but everyone is gearing up and getting ready so we can start filming very early in January. As soon as I confirm dates I will update the blog.

Until then, have a great New Years!

Another Side of Thomas' Room!

I had too much fun with this so I did another pic of Thomas' room from a different angle. I also chose a larger format for the pic.

Click on the pic to see a larger image. :)

Enjoy!

Thomas' Room Set

Alright. I have to say that this was probably my most favorite set to build. The fact that the room is 12'x12' and not a 150'x300' warehouse or an entire island probably had something to do with that.

This was just a quick build, about an hour total, and only took 10 minutes to render. I also am convinced that this is going to be the most realistic I can get with my backgrounds. It isn't at all what I pictured in my mind when I sat down to do this movie but nothing I ever do is as detailed as the visions in my head. I just don't have the computing power to pull it off. I wish I did, but I don't. Like I said before, maybe some day some body will want to re-tell the story of Xam and Power Dog and hopefully I will get to be there as a creative consultant, but that will probably never happen and if I am ever going to get this movie done I need to continue moving forward. The hardest thing to film in movies is animals and children and that's all I have in my movie!

I may look into making the live action look more animated in post production. I will only do this if I don't like the look of the live action against the digital backgrounds and will only be doing it to give the movie visual balance. The truth is that I just won't know until I get to post so this idea is just that, an idea and I don't know if I'm going to do it or not. Feel free to look at some of my previous posts. It's full of idea's that at one time I was seriously considering and now quickly dismiss.

Anyway, enough of that. Here's the pic of Thomas' room.

Enjoy!

North Brother Test with Sound!

Well, I've spent the last week working on the North Brother Island test. I have to say, I'm pretty happy with this test!

This is only a quick 5 second shot but a lot happens in those 5 seconds. Again, in the movie, the final battle between Xam, Power Dog and T-Boom happens on the abandoned North Brother Island in the East River.

Here is a quick shot of the landing and I've added some sound to help polish it up a bit. This is from the perspective of Power Dog as he lands on top of the hospital on the island. This shot was rendered for 4 hours before I edited it.

I'm beginning to think this is the best I will be able to do for the movie. I really would like the backdrops to look more realistic but I just don't have the computing power to pull it off. I have to face the fact this movie is just not going to be a professional quality and I'm hoping this fact might give the movie a unique look and feel.

Who knows, maybe some day somebody will want to make a professional movie based on my characters. Until then, this might be the best I can do.

Enjoy!

Early Island Test!

Alright, I'm still kicking and breathing. I've been working on the North Brother Island set for the last week (along with eating a lot of turkey) and that is taking a lot of time.

For those that don't know, North Brother Island is an abandoned island located in the East River off of New York City. It is most famous for being an insane asylum and later a quarantine hospital where Typhoid Mary spent her last remaining years. Currently, as mentioned above, it is abandoned and nobody is allowed to step foot on the island.

That made it the perfect spot for the final battle between Xam, Power Dog and T-Boom! This test scene is no where close to ready. It shows Power Dog's point of view as he jumps to the island and lands on the top of the hospital and spins around.

Again, this is no where near complete. I just wanted to post something on the blog and this filled in nicely.

Enjoy!

Warehouse Bay Pic!

Alright. I rendered this pic of the bay area of the warehouse for 7 hours today and this is what I got. I have to say, I'm a little unhappy as I don't see much of a difference from yesterday's break room pic.

I don't know if the difference is that the break room has more texture than the bay of the warehouse, but the conversion of the rendered image to .jpg caused a lot of the detail to be lost. Perhaps it is because I am still using the trial version of the software. I'm going to have to look into that before I decide to purchase this rendering software.

Anyway, I'd hate to have spent (or should I say run my computer all day doing nothing but this) without having anything to show for it so here is the rendered pic of the warehouse bay.

Stay tuned to see what improvements can be made.

Warehouse Break Room Pic!

Well, I've spent the last couple days working on various parts of the warehouse. I spent about 2 1/2 hours rendering the break room and thought I'd share it with you!

First, a couple of things about this pic. It is a backdrop for later in the movie. Obviously, when Xam, Power Dog and Willow move into the warehouse it is abandoned. Willow, who's power is extreme intelligence, eventually purchases the warehouse (from money gained in the stock market) and fixes it up. This picture is what the break room becomes. You can see her "Cat Computer" and a small kitchen in the background. What you don't see is a huge server room just behind the Cat Computer.

Now, this picture was only rendering for 2 1/2 hours before I stopped it. It was just at the half way point when I stopped the render. The finished picture should look twice as good as this! That said, 5 hours to render just one pic means I am going to be spending a lot of time in post rendering the back drops. I think the time will be worth the wait but we're gonna have to wait and see. Plus, I am hoping that as I use the rendering software more I will learn different ways to speed the rendering process up. I've already picked up on some tricks. Here's to hoping I find more!

And now, the pic. Again, this is not a completely rendered backdrop. This is just a hint of where I am hoping to take this idea.

Enjoy

Still Building Sets Very, Very Slowly!

Well, I wish I can say I'm moving forward with great speed on the sets but the truth is I am not. In my wildest dreams I never thought I'd spend more time on building the sets than figuring out the special effects for this movie.

And yet, here I am still building sets. The warehouse set was getting so big it was slowing my computer down to an absolute crawl. Then I got the idea of building an outside set and and inside set. That actually cut the file size by two-thirds, which is quite a lot!

So, now I'm working on the inside of the warehouse and then will work on the outside. It's still a slow process but I finally think I'm on the right track.

I also found a pretty good rendering software called iRender. It hit the budget pretty good, but I think it's worth it. As you can see below, it does a pretty good job.

The first picture is a picture of the alley. By the time I get done lighting it I think it will look pretty realistic. The blue background is where I'll add some buildings later on.


The second picture is a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge. I didn't build this model and after trying to build my own my hat is off to the person that made this one. I hope to one day have the patience and ability to do such a detailed model.


So, as you can see, I am moving forward. I wish I could say I'll be done soon but I still have a couple of sets to build after the warehouse. One thing I think I can safely say is that once I have all the sets built I will be ready to start filming the movie.

I am really looking forward to that!

Still Working on Sets!

Wow! This set building is taking almost as long as it would to literally build the freaking sets! Then, to slow things down even more, I can't find a decent rendering software that doesn't cost and arm and a leg. The rendering software is what would take my backdrops from Sketchup model to photo realistic image. So, lately, I feel as though I am at a dead crawl instead of moving forward.

That said, I have been working my butt of these last few weeks. I believe I finished the alley set. I say "believe" because I've learned not to declare victory on the backdrop department until I now for a fact I am good to go and like I said, I still haven't found a rendering software.

So, what is taking so long? It's kind of a long story and I don't want to bore anyone with the details so I will try to sum it up. The alley only took me about 4 hours to construct because it was only an external set. So, much like a real Hollywood set, I only had to decorate the exterior of the buildings. If you were to walk inside, you would see nothing but thin walls and empty space.

The set that has been taking up so much of my time is the warehouse. Now, I know you haven't seen the script (and I won't post it out here until the movie is finished) but a lot happens at that warehouse. Xam, Power Dog and Willow all have scenes outside and inside the warehouse. That means that I can't just create an exterior set like the alley (which would have taken several hours just doing that). I also have to create the interior and doing both is taking me forever! There are a lot of windows in a warehouse!

Anyway, since the warehouse is only 50% done I will not show any of those pics yet. I will, however, give you a glimpse of the un-rendered alley. Like I said, these are not rendered images. They do not look photo realistic and baring some unforeseen event where I can't acquire rendering software these look nothing like what I hope the finished product will look like. Still, I don't want you to think I haven't been working hard these last couple of weeks, so...

Enjoy.

3D Model Test Scene!

Alright! Just so you don't think I haven't been working hard, here is a quick test scene of the new Alley set I've created. It's far from finished but I thought I'd post it anyway.

I've got the model built and started shading but I need to make the shadows and set look more realistic. Once I figure out how to do that it will be on to building the rest of the sets. Doing a quick count, I still have to make Thomas' bedroom, the warehouse and the break/server room in the warehouse, an abandoned building, the top of one of the towers on the Brooklyn Bridge and the Tuberculosis Building on the abandoned North Brother Island in the East River.

That's a lot of sets to build so it looks like I'm gonna be in pre-production for at least another month. It's a good think this isn't an actual Hollywood movie because I would have been fired by now. Fortunately, I know the producers so I think my job is safe. :)

Once I figure out how to make this look more realistic I'll post it. Until then, here's what I got so far.

Looks Like I'm Back in Pre-Production!

I know, I know. I thought I was done with pre-production. I even reported that I was, but as you can see, the blog has been a little slow with updates this last week and a half. The reason, as you may have guessed from the title of this entry, is that it looks as thought I hadn't figured things out as well as I thought.

So, what's the problem? Surprisingly, it's not editing. The problem is the one things I thought I'd figured out very early in pre-production...BACKGROUNDS!

I spent many hours working on backgrounds during pre-prod. I did one for the warehouse and one for the alley and I used Photoshop to create some interesting locations. I did it in such a manner that I thought it would be easy to continue in that manner, just using Photoshop to create every background I would need. In theory, that would work pretty well, as long as there wasn't any camera movement during the scene!

Sure, I could do that, but it would make for a very boring movie visually speaking. Think about it. What movie would look good, even low budget fan made films, if every shot was of the same background from the same distance? Answer, none. It would look like you were watching a play. Now, that works if you're in the audience, but if you're viewing it from the video you made from your camcorder it sucks! There aren't any close ups, there aren't any shots from different angles, it's all just one, boring, ill laid out scene!

So, that's not a problem (I thought to myself). I'm pretty good with Photoshop. I can manipulate the image in ways that will allow me to give the movie some depth. Yeah, sure, if I wanted to go through the hassle of creating a separate backdrop for every shot! To put it simply, there's no way I have that kind of time. As I've said before, I'm not ILM.

So, what's the solution? Simply put...3D models. Ahhhh, now you see my other dilemma. I have to build 3D models of every location in the movie and although I'm no slouch with Photoshop, I'm completely new to the artistry that goes into creating 3D models. So, much like when I started toying with video editing software and special effects, I've been trying out the world of 3D imaging software.

The truth is, there is a lot of modeling software out there. Some very expensive ones that would take weeks to learn, not to mention master, and ones that are pretty simple and very cheap. So which one will it be for this movie? Right now, I'm thinking Google Sketchup. The price is right (it's free) and it is a pretty good program that puts out some pretty good images. Below are some different angles of the alley the animals live in at the beginning of the film. Now, this model isn't even close to done and it has taken me about six hours (over the last week) just to do this. Once I am done with the model I will manipulate it into the image I want for the background and then I will use Photoshop to touch it up. All in all, a very intensive plan, but the only one I can come up with that will work for what I am doing.

So, It looks like I'll be back in pre-prod until I get the backgrounds created that I need. The good news is that is only about 6 sets to build. The bad news is that those sets are pretty complex. That said, I think I'll build the sets in pre-prod and do the touch up with Photoshop in post-prod. That way I can keep the movie going.

So, in the meantime, check out the set shots for the alley in it's very early stages. Click on each image to open a higher quality pic. I will update as new sets are built and then it will be back into production.

Wish me luck!

Opening Credits Done with AE!

All I can say is I love After Effects!

In order to get more familiar with the product I decided to re-do the opening credits of the movie with the new software.

With that, behold! The opening credits anew! The image clarity is better and there is even more space footage with a faster flyby effect. In truth, this is probably the only other test I can re-do. Because I used so many different blue screens in my early tests some of them are so poorly lit that even AE can't make them any better than the original tests.

Not to worry though. When it comes time to edit the movie the quality will be on par with these last few tests.

Enjoy!

Jacko Test with Sound!

Well, I didn't have much time to do anything on the movie this weekend, so I decided to add sound to the Jacko Test I did last week.

I don't know how much time I'm going to have to work on the movie this month. October is a pretty big month in my house. We are Halloween freaks and I'm going to be busy the next couple of weeks building new additions to our annual Halloween party.

That said, I'm still going to use as much of my free time as possible working on the movie. I'll try to make updates as much as possible.

Until then, enjoy Jacko with sound! Don't worry. I'm not doing the voice in the movie. I was just the only person around to read the line when I made the test.

Jacko Test!

I know, I said I couldn't do a Jacko test, but I did find a way to do it and I'm glad I did!

I got a chance to play with After Effects and it is simply the best! I like the free editing software I was using (Wax 2.0) but After Effects just has so much more to offer and since I'm already familiar with Photoshop it was relatively easy to pick up.

One thing AE offers that I just didn't know how to do with Wax is the ability to key multiple colors from one layer (so even if the blue screen lighting isn't even I can still get a pretty good removal of the blue) as well as add shadows! That was something sorely missing from previous tests.

Now, the test below isn't perfect, but I think it is one of the best tests I've done to date. There isn't any sound, but that's because I haven't added it yet. Let's see what you think.

Enjoy!

Xam and Power Dog Poster/Wallpaper

Hey guys!

I was messing around with photoshop last night trying to come up with a new wallpaper image and this is what I got. I like it so much I thought I'd post it on the blog. Feel free to download the pic for your computer. Then, when people see it, you can say you got it from some guys website who is keeping a log of his attempt to make a movie of a couple of animals that get super powers. Then you both can roll your eyes. :)

Opening Credits!

Hey guys!

Well, I had a blast last weekend working with Heidi the Dog while filming all of Jacko's scenes. Thanks to my brother Mike and his wife Deb it didn't take nearly as long as I thought would.

I wasn't able to do much with the footage though, since Jacko has such a small role in the movie I really need footage of the rest of the cast in order to edit anything coherent. So, with that said, I decided to work on some more test footage.

This time, I decided to work on the opening credits. Now, don't get the opening credits confused with the first scene test I did last month. In the finished movie, that scene would follow the opening credits. I had always known what I wanted to do in the opening credits and this down time gave me an opportunity to work on it.

So, here is the test footage of the opening credits. Enjoy!

Meet Jacko!

This is Jacko (aka: Heidi). Jacko is a terrier from Australia who was brought to America when his owner relocated to New York. Not much is known about Jacko, other than he is a “tell it like it is” bloke who pops up in the alley from time to time. He wasn’t in the alley the night of the meteor and therefore didn’t acquire any powers but that doesn’t stop him from throwing Xam and Power Dog an assist from time to time. Although he has a small part in the movie, look for Jacko to play a larger role in future stories since he is the first “civilian” to figure out the Discrepant Duo’s true identities.

Updated Teaser Trailer!

Well, it’s like I said yesterday. I hate unfinished work.

Last month I accidentally included an unfinished test scene in the test scene trailer. I said I wanted to kick myself for doing that so I went back and added the newly completed test scene to the trailer.

So, here’s the completed teaser trailer. Again, this is a trailer put together with test footage. Some of the scenes are compiled using still footage. Although a lot of these scenes will be in the movie, they will be completely new (and hopefully will look better).

Unfinished Test Explosion!

Man, I hate unfinished work.

I was looking through the old blog entries last night and noticed I never completed my T-Boom test explosion. It was the one with the building blowing up during a thunderstorm at night. I even put the unfinished test in the trailer which makes me want to kick myself.

So, in the spirit of doing that test right, I took a few minutes today to put the final touch on the actual explosion. All in all, I like this version better and it pretty much represents what will be in the film.

Haven't Given Up...Still In Pre-Production!

Well, pre-production is still moving along at a snails pace. So, what's the hold up!?

Basically, it’s taking me a little longer to finish up casting. Up to this point, I’ve been working on test FX for the movie. I thought that would take the most time since I am doing all the principle shooting in my house… or so I thought.

When I sat down to write the script I decided not to let things like not being a professional film maker slow down the story. I decided to write a script that represented the movie I wanted to make, with no limitations of any kind. Things like budget and FX and actors were not limited to the script. Consequentially, when I finished the script I was left with something that I think is pretty good but very difficult for a guy with a camcorder and free editing software to film.

One of the things giving me trouble in pre-production is actors. 99% of the cast are animals and one very small part that plays a very large role in the movie is a dog named Jacko. The problem: I don’t have an animal to play Jacko. Don’t ask about Mitch the Turtle. His part has been completely removed from the final draft.

Well, after some time, I found the dog who will play Jacko, literally under my nose. Jacko the Terrier will be played by my brother’s (actually his wife’s) dog, Heidi! Don’t worry about the specifics of the gender. Everyone knows that Lassie was played by a female dog.
Finally, after a couple of weeks, Heidi’s hair has grown out enough for her to pass for a dog who lives in an alley. So, this weekend, I’ll be taking my blue screen and camcorder over to my brother’s to film what will actually be the first scenes that are meant to be used in the movie. This has to be done first because Heidi is really, really, really needing a hair cut!

Once I get Heidi’s (Jacko’s) scenes filmed I will then start focusing on preliminary filming and will officially move from pre-production to just plain production.

Wish me luck!

Not Much to Report from Pre-Production.

Hey guys!

Well, it seems like it’s been forever since I posted on the blog. Sorry about that. What can I say? The final stages of pre-production are pretty boring.

For the most part, I know how I’m going to film the movie and I’ve got a pretty good idea on how I’m going to do the FX. I am currently testing other video editing software to see if I can make the FX any better without blowing the rest of the budget, which truthfully isn’t very much. That is pretty much the hold up at this point.

About the only newsworthy thing that’s happened, if you can call it newsworthy, is that I was finally able to track down a yellow dog collar to go with Power Dog’s cape. If you look at the earlier photos and test footage you will see Power Dog has been wearing a red collar. This was the best I could do for testing purposes, but for filming the movie I needed a yellow collar. Surprisingly, that’s not as easy to find as you would think. Seriously! Pet stores don't carry yellow collars!

Finally, after a few days of surfing the web, I was able to find a place that sells a yellow collar in Gibson’s size and it is nearly a perfect color match for the cape. The best part, it’s leather and it’s quality is really good!

So, without further ado, here’s Power Dog’s cape complete with yellow collar! Try not to get too caught up in the excitement.

Intro Scene Test!

Alrighty! I moved on to the test for the first scene of the movie. It’s very different from the final scene in that I was trying for a flying over the city feel at the end of the first scene. Eventually, I had to use, you guessed it, a still shot as I couldn’t find a video that did what I wanted.

Like the final scene, Max is narrating in the first scene. I didn’t bother to do Max’s voice as I am pretty unhappy with what I did in the final scene. I can’t seem to get out what I hear in my head so I’m in the middle of auditioning Max’s voice.

So, I just let Billy Joel sing through the first scene, which will have Max’s voice dubbed over in the final cut.

Again, this is just a test. Enjoy!

Test Scenes Trailer!

Well, I got visitors in town and that has really kept me busy so I haven’t really done any serious work on the movie this week.

Still, I don’t wanna go too many days without thinking about the movie so I took a few minutes to build a trailer out of the various test footage scenes I’ve been working on.

Again, all of the scenes are test footage so it’s not perfect but it was never meant to be. Still, with a little imagination, you can kinda see what the movie will look like.
Enjoy!

Final Scene Test!

By far, some of the most complicated scenes for this movie will be the opening and closing scenes. They require the camera to fly over New York City and sweep in on certain points. In the opening scene the camera sweeps in over an alley and descends on Max, Gibson and Willow. In the final scene the camera flies over the city and sweeps around the Chrysler Building where our heroes are sitting on one of the famous gargoyles.

The opening scene has more obstacles so I decided to do a test for the closing scene. Doing that will help me figure out some of the more complicated parts of the opening scene.

That said, the closing scene has it’s own complications. I’ve searched to the very end of the internet trying to find any video footage taken over New York City. The only thing I can figure is that helicopters are no longer allowed to fly over the city as current footage was very rare and the ones I could find seemed to stay over the rivers and are shot toward the skyline.

In the end, I went back to what seems to have worked the best over all these tests, still images. This test footage is far from perfect but it may end up being the best I can do with the equipment I have and as I’ve said time and time again, I’m not ILM.

This test footage has it’s problems, but for the most part I’ve learned what I needed to learn. Most of this test uses still photos. The Chrysler Building is a Google 3D model that I was actually able to work with. Xam and Power Dog are still photos but like all the other tests, editing them as stills or actual video uses the same techniques so for testing purposes, a still photo is just fine.

So, here is the test footage. This is a test for the last scene of the movie but don’t worry, it won’t spoil the movie in any way. I even added some credits to give you an idea of what the final scene will look like.

Enjoy!

Willow Telekinesis Test!

Alright. I got the new blue screen backdrop today and not yesterday as I was promised, but that’s alright. As long as it got here before the weekend that was fine.

So, in order to not feel like I was wasting any time, I worked on the test footage for Willow the cat’s telekinetic powers. In the movie, there is a scene where Willow uses her powers to straighten out a crushed dumpster. I thought that would be the perfect test footage.

This test was built using nothing but still shots. In the movie, the coloration will all match and Willow will actually be moving but the rest of the test is pretty much the same editing I will need to do with live footage so still photos worked just fine.

Enjoy!

It’s funny, but with this last test I feel I have a pretty good grasp on all the video effects I will need for the movie. I’m sure as I film I will need to come up with some new things I haven’t thought of, but for now I feel I can stop working on test footage and begin prepping for the rest of the movie. All in all, I think I will be completely done with pre-production by the end of the month.

Then it’s on to production! Don’t worry. I’ll keep making weekly updates as needed until then just to keep you in the loop.

Look, Up In The Sky!

Well, my new blue screen won’t be in until Monday. I decided to stop messing around with different fabrics and instead purchase an actual blue screen. So, since I didn't want to waste the weekend, I decided to work on some more video effects for the movie.

Below is a clip of the meteor approaching Earth. The meteor, of course, is what gives Max, Gibson, Willow and Thomas their powers. Surprisingly, this effect took a couple of hours. The problem was getting the background color in the pic to fade out without fading out the dark parts of the planet. I couldn’t use a green or blue background because, well, Earth is green and blue! In this case, I had to go to the other side of the color wheel, red, for it to work. Then I had to find the right shade of red and to my surprise, it was dark red.

Anyway, here’s the video.

Xam Lightning Test!

Wow! This was so much easier than I thought!

I’ve spent the last week thinking about how I was going to rotoscope the lightning in this movie. I’ve read article after article about the various software needed and many different ways it can be done. I’m using free software (Wax 2.0) and I was on the verge of breaking down and buying software to render the lightning. Then the idea hit me, forgive me for the pun, like a bolt lightning!

The answer was really very simple. I just needed footage of a Tesla Coil in action and I could crop and screen the lightning over the video. Simple!

So, that is what I did. The video below is a still shot of Max (from the slideshow teaser trailer) with the lightning removed. Then I screened in the Tesla Coil and boom! Done!

This will be the same process for video so that is the end of messing around with this effect! Enjoy!

Xam Speed Test!

Alright, I had too much fun with this one.

Here is the first Xam speed test footage. All in all, not too bad. It’s actually pretty darn funny. So what if it’s not ILM, it works. I’m sure with a little more messing around I will improve it a little but for this purpose, it’s pretty much done.

Now I have to figure out the lightning effect. That is going to take me a while.

Willow Force Field Effect!

Alright. I finally figured out how to add color to the force field so here is a test clip of Willow using her force field powers. It’s minus the half hearted attempt to rotoscope a glowing collar. After many hours messing around and trying to make Willow’s collar glow digitally I decided to do it as a practical effect and not a visual effect, meaning I’m just going to make/buy a glowing collar. That will save me considerable time in post.

Now it’s off to start prep work on Xam’s effects of super speed and shooting lightning. That should take me well into next week.

More Test Footage!

Well, I’ve been working some more on the visual effects for the movie.

First, we have an updated T-Boom test. I was able to blend the fire effect very nicely with the test footage. The video needs shadows and smoke to help make it look more realistic but I think that effect is coming along very nicely.

The second video is the first test footage of Willow the cat using her power to create force fields. I’m trying to figure out a way to add some color to the effect and you can see the beginnings of her collar glowing (this will happen every time she uses her powers). I still have a lot to do with this effect but I thought it would be fun to post this footage anyway.

As you can see, the visual effects are taking a lot of time to figure out but I thought that would be the case. Honestly, it is going much smoother than I thought it would. Of course, I still have yet to tackle any of Xam’s powers but if that goes as nicely as the rest of the testing has I’m sure I will be able to start principle shooting as early as two months! That may sound like a long time from now but I know that time flies and it wil be here before I know it.

Fire Video Effects!

Alright, so I started working on fire effects for T-Boom. Although it is far from finished, I thought I would post it anyway. I also added some sound.

Enjoy!

Now... back to working on improving these video effects...

Messing With Sound!

Today I was working on sound and thought I’d add some to the Power Dog Jump Test footage I filmed over the weekend (see blog entry below).

First thing, I needed to add the sound of the wind as Power Dog jumped through the air. As you can see, this gives the scene more of a movie feel.

Then I thought that it needed some music as well, just to give it that much needed “Can You Read My Mind” push over the edge. Here’s what adding that does to the clip.

All in all, it was a pretty fun day messing around with the movie. Adding sound was never going to be a challenge, but it gave me something else to focus on, even if it was for only a day.

Tomorrow I’m back to working on the visuals. I may even try my hand at some super speed and some explosions. We’ll see. :)

Power Dog Test Footage!

Alright! I did another test this weekend. I used a different backdrop and did some different things with lighting. I also used a tripod (something that was missing in the last test video). All in all, this effort was better. That said, there are still things that need improvement.

First off, the blue background was not completely flat. I used a blue tarp I bought specifically for this project and didn’t iron it out when I opened the package, leaving the creases from the folds left from the packaging. I will iron the tarp before my next test to see if that gets rid of the folds.

I also need to do more work on the lighting. The lighting is still too harsh and I will need to make bounce cards to help diffuse the glare.

I also used a flat surface for Gibson to sit on and this makes him look way to stiff to actually look like he’s jumping/flying. I am planning on building a surface with a hump in the middle that will give him more of an arch underneath and help make him look less stiff.

I’m also going to have to break down and buy some blue chroma key paint. This, along with ironing out the tarp, will make the surfaces less reflective which I now believe will be the only way to get an even, blue surface for the background.

Stay tuned for more test footage!

First Blue Screen Test Is A Learning Experience!

Alright! Here it is! The first blue screen test footage for the movie. As you can see, it wasn’t a complete disaster. It’s far from perfect, but it’s a fair start. I knew this was going to be difficult and this first test only cemented that fact.

What worked? Well, I was able to cut out the blue from the live action footage and merge it with the background image.

What didn’t work? To put it plainly, it's not that good.

Why? Lighting, lighting, lighting! The first rule to getting good results with Chroma Key is to have good lighting. I clearly did not have good lighting. You have to get a good, even blue in the background for Chroma Key to work. If you don’t, you get splotchy, uneven removal of the blue. That is exactly what happened here. In order to correct this problem I altered the color levels to make the blue stand out. This also brought out the blue in everything else. I countered this by tweaking the brightness, contrast and saturation. What was left was a color tone to T-Boom that didn't come close to matching the background. He is also slightly transparent at times.

So, what I learned from this is that without good video to start off with then there is no point in trying the Chroma Key process. That said, I’m going to spend the next week working with different types of blue backgrounds to see what works the best. Then I need to figure out how to light it evenly. Once I get those two things done I will hopefully have a better video.

Backdrops, Backdrops, Backdrops!

Well, it’s been a crazy week. The rewrites of the script are minor at best; clarifying descriptions, polishing dialogue, adding a scene to help the flow, things like that. I’ll soon sit down to do a complete read through and that will give me an idea of the running time of the film.

In the meantime, I’ve been working on backdrops for the film. I’ve also decided that I’m not going to do mono-colored backdrops. The one’s I’ve put together look so rich and nice that I don’t want to alter them.

I hope to do some blue screen test footage this weekend. I’m hoping it looks good because that will be one less thing to worry about. Now that the script is nearly complete I’ve turned my attention to how I’m going to film it. The chroma key is just one aspect of the filming. Once I’m convinced I’ve found what I’m going to do with the blue screen I will move on to the special effects. That will be an entirely different problem that at this moment I have no idea how I'm going to tackle.

Script First Draft is Done!

Well, I finished the first draft of the script! Right now, in it’s current state, the script is 84 pages. I still need to polish it up and maybe do some rewrites so that number could easily change.

This is a pretty big deal for me. Writing the script was a labor of love. Losing our main villain was a huge blow but I love the direction of the new script and T-Boom is a fantastic villain. All the character’s powers will be difficult to film but the power to create fire and blow things up will undoubtedly be my biggest challenge. I hope I can pull it off.

So, it’s off to do rewrites. Then, a read through of the script with the principle players. I’m sure they will all have their own ideas for their characters and those will need to be written in so I have no doubt I will be working on this script for many months to come.

Xam and Power Dog Teaser Trailer

Well, I’ve got 64 pages of the script done and things are moving along fantastic. That said, I needed to take a short break and do something else, something other than the script, so I decided to whip up a quick teaser trailer for the movie. Like the last trailer, this one is done like a slideshow, and it uses a lot of the images from the previous trailer based on the old script, but this one has scenes that will be in the new movie and the music is the Xam and Power Dog theme. Enjoy!

Now it's back to the script! I hope to have something new to report in the next couple of days!

Script Update

Well, it’s been one heck of a week. I’ve already turned out 41 pages of the script and I’m only halfway through. If the second half is as many pages as the first then that will put it over 80 pages, which is right on track with a feature length film. That’s far longer than I originally intended the movie to be but I’m not going to let that slow me down. I plan to tell the story no matter how long it makes the movie.

Not much else to add at the moment. Still, I want to post something new so here is a pic that never even made the first slide show trailer. I don’t have any plans to use this scene in the new movie, but I’m sure there will be something like it, so here it is.

(Fun Fact: That isn’t even Max playing Xam. That is a stand-in cat, his stunt double if you will. That is, however, Gibson playing Power Dog).

What Will the Movie Look Like?

Well, it’s been over a week since my last posting. I’ve been working on the script and it is coming along nicely. Not as fast as I would like, but what can I say? I do this on the side and this doesn’t pay the bills.

As I was writing the script, I started picturing the movie in my head. The look was always something I was kicking around. The big reason is that Xam and Power Dog live in SoHo, NY, and I don’t live anywhere near there. That being the case, I new I was going to have to use a blue screen for my backgrounds.

Since I’m using a blue screen, I don’t want to try to make this thing look realistic. Like I’ve said before, I’m not ILM and I don’t have a big budget. I could spend months to years trying to make a realistic background. Still, I don’t want this movie looking like Sin City or The Spirit. That look has been overdone. So, what was I going to do?

I decided to use real images of SoHo and make them monochromatic, then really grain them up. This gives a kind of comic book feel without looking exactly like a comic book. The picture above is an example of what I am thinking. I don’t have any plan to use this particular image in the movie, but I think it gives you a pretty good idea of what I’m trying to do.

The background is blue, to indicate night. Day scenes will be orange or sometimes red. The foreground images will be filmed and added to the background with little to no manipulation, making Xam, Power Dog and the trash can pop off the screen. All together, I think it will be a pretty cool look.

The more I work on this project the more I realize that there is a very good chance I am working toward the impossible, but that is the point of this blog. It’s a way of keeping me on track and feeling the need to post updates is keeping me moving closer and closer to filming. My hope is to have the script finished by the end of the month. I’ll let you know how that works out!

Xam and Power Dog Theme!

Well, after several days of trying to shoehorn a particular style of music into Xam and Power Dog I decided that I needed to scrap everything and start over.

In doing that, I was able to look at the movie and let it tell me what the music should be. Xam and Power Dog are quirky. The movie doesn’t take itself seriously. It’s not big budget and it’s not being edited by ILM.

What the movie will be is silly, with an old world feel in a modern world setting. It’s a movie with a television mentality. That’s not John Williams. It would be Danny Elfman, if Xam and Power Dog were anything like Batman but they’re not. They’re more like Shazam, with a lot of Agent 86 thrown in.

So, something modern, with an old world feel, that would hearken back to the days of Get Smart and Mission Impossible…

Here’s what I came up with.

Is There Anybody Out There?

Well, it’s been a very busy couple of days, but you wouldn’t know it when viewing the progress from the outside. So, what’s been going on you ask?

I’ve been working very hard on writing, and not just on the script! One thing that all good movies need is a theme song that makes you want to jump out of your seat after hearing the first few bars of music. You know what I’m talking about. That feeling you got when you first heard John Williams music as Superman’s shield came flying past the screen. Or the first time you heard John Williams horns blare into the theater moments after reading, “a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”. Or the first time you heard John Williams music when Indy jumped that pit after throwing Alfred Molino the idle!

Beginning to see a pattern? I don’t think I’m going to be able to get John Williams on such short notice, or ever, for that matter. Heck, I’d settle for Danny Elfman. His Batman score was so fantastic I used it in my little slide show Xam and Power Dog trailer (posted May 19th).

But, you get the idea. Great movies have great, big, original soundtracks. I’m nowhere near the caliber of the award winning artists mentioned above. I don’t have access to the London Symphony. What I have is a little music making software that can get me as close to the London Symphony as I will ever get.

One thing I’ve noticed, however, is that writing a piece of symphony music is hard! How the heck was Mozart writing these things before he even kissed a girl? Well, perhaps he was writing these things because he wasn’t out kissing girls. I guess that’s not the point. Writing these things is hard! And it’s going to take me some time. I’ve even stopped working on the script in order to write the two minute piece of music. It’s my hope that the finished piece will inspire me even more to bang out the new script. I’m crossing my fingers.

Oh, one more thing happened this week. I got the new T-Boom shirt I ordered (yes, the one in the Meet T-Boom posting on May 21st is photoshoped). It looks fantastic and I can’t wait to start filming. Here is a pic of the shirt, along with two other shirts I ordered several months ago. Comic book geeks. What can I say?

How Many Suits Does One Hero Need?

How many costumes does one super hero need? In the movie, Xam and Power Dog have one costume each. Throughout the movie the costumes will get really torn up. Seeing how I don’t want to rip up the costumes as I’m filming (you never know when you’re going to need to do re-shoots) I can’t just rip the costumes up with no regard for the future. So, similar to a big budget movie , my little movie is going to require multiple costumes for each hero.

In a Hollywood movie, there are fleets of designers that do nothing for weeks on end but design and create costumes for the movie. I am not that lucky. I’ve never really sewn before sitting down to create this project, so I pretty much had to learn on the fly. That’s not a problem since I’m going to be ripping and shredding some of the costumes. That gives me some leeway as to the quality of each costume.

Xam has three costumes. I designed the patterns myself so each costume varies slightly from the other as I was making tweaks and improvements with each new costume. The big thing was to make sure that each costume looked exactly the same on film. In their current states, they all look the same. Throughout the film, Xam’s costume will get shredded and torn. Three costumes will be needed to achieve the varying degrees of degradation while still leaving me with the ability to do re-shoots.

Power Dog has only two costumes. Due to his indestructibility, his suits don’t really take a whole lot of damage. It pretty much takes a near nuclear explosion to hurt Power Dog. When you see his suit shredding, you know he’s taking a serious beating. I’m sure as I finish the story I will have to reevaluate how much punishment Power Dog will actually receive. Perhaps then I will determine he will need an extra costume. At this point I hope not. I’m getting pretty tired of sewing the same suits over and over again.

For the purpose of the movie, Willow the cat makes the duo’s costumes. In reality, it is me, and I’m not a world class tailor by any stretch of the imagination. Still, it has been fun at times and I’ve been able to learn something of what it takes to sew. This has given me a new appreciation for people that do this for a living. It’s hard work and I really won’t know if it was worth the effort until I finish this project. Not being under any deadlines, I have no idea when that time will come. Until then, I just have to assume that it will be totally worth the effort.

Where are the masks?

Alright, as some have noticed, Xam and Power Dog aren't wearing the masks seen on the cover of the comic book. I’d love to go into some great explanation as to why they won’t be wearing them in the movie, but the truth is actually pretty lame. They don’t like wearing them! Actors! What can I say? They are a fickle bunch.

I know the first rule of directing is to direct, and not be pushed around by the actors, but I truly believe some battles just aren’t worth fighting. The actors already don't like wearing the costumes, but they understand the importance the costumes have to their characters.

I’ll also let you in on a little secret. The actors pretty much told me that they really can’t tell one another apart just by looking. They really need to sniff certain undisclosed places to get a real feel of who someone is so no real animal superhero would be caught wearing the things. That being said, I agreed to bend on the mask issue.

Now, if I find out they were abusing a commonly misunderstood perception we humans have in order to gain the upper hand then there will be serious consequences. Until then, I’ve decided to let the audience see their cute little faces and not hide them underneath the masks.

Meet Xam!

This is Max (aka: Xam). A meteor gave him the power of super speed and the ability to generate electricity from the friction caused by that speed, making it look like he can shoot lightning bolts from his paws. Max was a cocky, loud mouth before he got his powers. Since getting them he hasn’t slowed down. The big difference in Max after receiving his powers is that he realized he doesn’t have to put up with the abuse life dishes out to him and his friends in the alley. Now whenever an obstacle presents itself, he, along with Power Dog and Willow, has the strength to resist and to fight for the oppressed and all the other creatures that are too weak and too small to fight for themselves.

Meet T-Boom!

This is Thomas (aka: T-Boom). He is a kid that lives near the alley where Max and Gibson reside. Before he got his powers he loved spending his afternoons tormenting the animals, tying cans to their tails and chasing after them, until it got dark and he had to go home. The night of the meteor shower he saw the meteor rocketing toward the alley and ran as fast as he could to watch the devastation it would surely cause. As a result, the meteor gave him the power to blow things up with his mind and to create and control fire. Now he truly has the power to torment the animals in the alley, with his two most favorite targets being Xam and Power Dog.

Character Logos!

In the spirit of doing at least one post every day, I thought I’d show you all the character logos.

The first logo is, of course, Xam’s. I know Xam hasn’t been introduced yet so for those who don’t know him, he is an orange and white cat. His coloration pretty much dictated his colors be green with an orange accent. The trouble with coming up with his logo was trying to capture his superhero identity along with something that indicates speed. Lightning bolts in the shape of an “X” might seem like a no brainer, and in truth it probably is, but for some reason it took me quite a while to come up with a pattern I like. Try it. It’s not easy coming up with an “X” made out of lightning bolts. You gotta tweak it a lot to make it look like both.

Next is the Power Dog logo. As you can see from Gibson’s post below, he is a tan dog with black spots. These colors pretty much meant I could use just about any color I wanted and red, to me, screams strength. I chose black because the shape of the logo comes from the typical cartoon rendering of a heavy weight. You know, the ones that bugs bunny uses that say “1 Ton” on the side or something like that. It also looks like the basic shape of a dog tag and that made it even more proper.

The last logo is the logo for T-Boom. T-Boom is the human antagonist of Xam and Power Dog. He has the power to blow things up using only his mind. All in all, a very cool power but not something that brings immediate logo images to mind. The first thing I thought of was using a word logo but that looked underwhelming and, quite frankly, I couldn’t picture it on the front of a t-shirt. So, instead of spelling “boom” I used the image of an explosion and placed it on top of the “T”. Throw it on a black background (black for evil) and mix in the colors of the orange from Xam’s logo and the red from Power Dog’s logo and you’ve got the logo of the Discrepant Duo’s arch enemy!

The Original Xam and Power Dog Movie Trailer!

Sorry for the lack of updates. Willow the cat is still working on the Xam costume. As you can imagine, it is rather difficult taking the measurements of a cat that can run faster than the speed of sound. So, in order to appease you, the fans, I have decided to post the original Xam and Power Dog movie teaser. Now, don’t get too excited about this as due to budget constraints and an actors strike, we had to let go of the actor who would have been playing the main villain and will be bringing in a human who will work for considerably less money. That pretty much changed the entire storyline and because of that, this trailer will in no way, shape or form represents the movie that is being made.

Still, it can be fun to see what might have been so here it is…

Meet Willow!

This is Willow (aka: Willow). A meteorite gave her the powers of extreme intelligence and telekinesis, to include the creation of force fields. She is the brains behind Xam and Power Dog and without her they would simply be a cocky speedster and a cowardly power house. Willow, although mostly a behind the scenes hero, is a valuable member of the team and is also the creator of the duo’s superhero identities.

Meet Power Dog!

This is Gibson (aka: Power Dog). A meteorite gave him the powers of strength, near invulnerability and the ability to jump such great distances it appears as though he is flying. Despite these powers, he is a ginormous wuss. When evil is afoot, Gibson would prefer to be as far away from it as possible. Still, he has a tremendous sense of right and wrong and that is what inevitably drives him to don the Power Dog costume (which was made by Willow the cat).