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!