Pre Production Photos

I just wanted to share some photos I whipped up for the Into This World short film I'm directing. It's coming soon for the Kickstarter campaign. This is the concept behind the film: Drea versus pixelated enemies. This will be easy to make. Right? RIGHT?!

And a quick look at Drea's gun. No prop building behind the scenes on this piece. I really didn't want to take the time to explain it all. I think iI was busy watching Cinema Snob reviews at the time. Let's see... Foam, parts of a Nerf gun, flexible thin foam, misc screws, plastic bottle top, other stuff, etc.

Old Versus New

Whenever I start a game project, I tend to get better with my animations over time. I tried putting together a River City Ransom game (FAILED!) and the first couple of animations I put together for that game were amateurish at best. Then over time I noticed the later animations and character designs got better and better. Which in turn made the older animations stand out too much with their shittiness. Or is it shittyness? How dare you red squiggle underline my spelling!

RIVER CITY EXAMPLES: OLD VS. NEW

This is the Glen character from my River City Ransom game. See the difference in his old ground flip compared to his new ground flip. If you can't see the difference, you had better get yourself checked out by some professionals.

Glen's Hadouglen (har har har) fireball move. The old version has little to no impact when Glen unleashes his fireball. The new version has way more frames and life to it. There is no way the older moves could exist in the same game with the newer moves. They look too stiff to be alongside their new counterparts.

Vespa

Erythro

Here is an example from Into This World of two different enemies. The Erythro and The Vespa. They are completely different from each other but the effort of animation put into both of them are on two different levels. Where as, I am proud of the hard work that went into The Erythro, I am ashamed of the Vespa and it's lackluster movement. Look at the thing. Can you not feel the power behind those wings? It's almost like Mothra is flying right passed your face.

The Erythro has it's own animation for flying upwards. The Vespa on the other hand, would have the same exact animation as flying forward, up, down, x, y, z, across the 8th dimension, etc.

I have already begun going back to the older enemies and rebooting them to give them more life and character. No more nudging pixels. I am going to take the effort and draw them frame by frame. And I mean it! Maybe! Definitely maybe.
Now I am going to watch the movie Definitely Maybe. Oh, Ryan Reynolds, you dreamboat.

Into This World Behind The Scenes: The Props: The Arm!

So if you have been following the blog so far.... GOOD! If not, go back to the older posts to know what the hell I am yammering on about. For those in the know, here is the final prop for Drea's costume. Her mechanical arm. 

I almost didn't make this. Not because the level of difficulty but the level of laziness I was feeling at the time. I almost (very close to actually doing it) had the actress playing Drea just roll down her sleeves to cover up what should have been her mechanical arm. Then she would have worn a glove to further cover up the fact that I didn't take the time to make the prop. The Bannon of two days was such a lazy pice of crap. 

Roll down her sleeves? Psshh! What kind of cinematic genius would I be if I skimped on the most important asset of her costume? Not a good one is the answer. Not a good one.

I started off with a cheap ass glove from the 99 Cents Store. Guess how much a pair of gloves were. You get one fucking guess.

I cut out pieces of my favorite foam (that I mentioned in the older prop making posts) to my liking and glued onto each other and then glued them onto the glove. When the glue was not as hot, I put the glove on so it would form to the shape of a hand instead of laying flat.

I found out this way works better then hot gluing the foam to the glove whilst wearing the glove. Needless to say, I got an "booboo" on my knuckles.

I kept the arm in three separate pieces so the actress could easily move and twist her arm and the arm prop would twist also in accordance. The body of the arm was nothing more than a tubular shaped disinfectant wipes container.

Tubular indeed.

Put all together, it looked like this unpainted. I stuffed a sock in the glove to keep it upright so I could see how it rests in the arm. I then stuffed a sock in my pants and rode the subway. I caught several onlookers gazing upon my majestic bulge.

The actress had a hard time keeping the glove on when the arm portion of the prop would push and bump up on it. I know how hard it is for ladies to handle themselves when I push and bump up on them, so I obliged her. I glued the glove to the inside of the wrist. Then I painted the entire thing in a black primer.

And there you have it. Drea's military issued mechanical arm. I sprayed metallic silver spray paint on a paper towel and continuously rubbed it on the arm. I tried avoiding the nooks and crannies so it would be more black and give the arm more depth.
I thought the arm needed some color, so I taped off the black/silver areas and spray painted an olive green on the hand and wrist area. I took a shinier silver spray paint and did the same towel technique but only on the edges where paint might have been chipped on due to Drea's rough housing.

Drea costume: Complete.



Ah shit... her pistol!

ITW Kickstarter PreProduction: Making the Vest part ONE!

I decided to get started on the pre production side of the live action short based on Into This World. It will be used as my Kickstarter campaign (start saving your pennies now). First thing I wanted to get out of the way was the wardrobe. If the actress doesn't look like her video game counterpart, then she might as well be naked. Well...
I am no stranger to making props. I've done it for my own stuff and for art direction on shorts and webseries. What do I make props out of you ask or did not ask but I will tell you anyway because that is what this whole f'ing post is about. I make most of my props out of foam. It's light weight, semi-cheap and easy to cut (just like my ex wife).

"Bannon, you sonofabitch. You still owe me child support. I know we never had kids but I found a couple last week rummaging in my recyclin' bins. They keep trying to tell me that they are an old Chinese married couple. But I know kids and their sneaky tricks. I'm on to em'. God, I miss you."

Well, that was unpleasant. She's a fantastic woman, hell of a cook too. But, eh, not in the kitchen. Breaking Bad anyone? I just started watching. If you live in Los Angeles and you don't watch it, they come after you with pitchforks and torches.
What about the foam?
This is the foam I speak of. You can find it on craigslist every now and then for cheap. It might have to be cleaned because some parents put it in their children's playroom as a fun floor for the kids to fall/piss all over.
I buy mine at Target because I like to support small businesses. A pack of four run about $24 each.

FOAM! For the love of foam, it's FOOOOOOAAAM!!!

The first prop I started building was the battle vest that Drea wears. It's a mix between a modern military flak jacket and sci fi armor. It's meant to protect a driller from shrapnel and other debris flying at them.

The base of the vest was a cheap ass life jacket I found at a thriftstore. It's perfect for a thick vest like a flak jacket and it already comes with adjustable straps.

I did not add a photo of the life vest before I put shit all over it. Because we all know what a life vest looks like. Enjoy Chris Farley.

Here is the first stage of the vest. This is unpainted of course. I dont think the day glow look is bad ass enough. Like I said, the foam is easy to cut and adheres well when you use hot glue. It pretty much melts the foam into the other foam piece you glue it to. I got the basic shapes done, cut them out  with a razor blade and started gluing and used some masking tape to hold pieces together. I taped it together so the foam wouldn't bend back to it's original flat shape. You can bend this stuff with a heat gun. I do not have one. A blow dryer will not work. Trust me.

 I added some rivet holes by simply taking a magic marker top and twisting it hard into the foam. It leaves an imprint. Kinda like bevel and emboss. Any Photoshop hustlers out there? Holler!

I also took my dremel tool and etched some battle marks into it. This will be painted later to make it look like the paint got stripped and scuffed the metal.

This is the back of the vest. You can tell because it's the opposite of the front. Once again, I did the whole magic marker rivet trick. Those will get finished up with the paint job. That will be for next time. 

And no, that is not my jewelry hanging on the wall. It belonged to my ex wife...

"You bastard! I have been looking for that necklace for the past five years. I'll sue your ass so hard that your ass will countersue me. And then you'll have to front a bunch of money to your ass's lawyer. But you won't because your'e a cheap sonofabitch. Then your ass will be all butt hurt and you two will have a falling out. Kiss your ass's friendship goodbye, sucka!"

Getting to know you

Let's get to know each other!

Well, just got done watching another shitty episode of Grimm. How is it that I have watched every episode and have never been enthralled by it? Yet, I have seen every episode? Must be some Hexenbiest spell. Meh.

So let's get to know the main character... Drea LeBas.

Drea Cuadra
So she had some bad luck in the past year or so. Her planet was overtaken by an alien virus (boo hoo). She was ripped in half and put back together with cybernetic parts (double the boo thrice the hoo). And to top it off she is now back on Earth and fighting an army of creatures to find her long lost brother (cry me a river, then jump in said river and drown yourself, please). So, basically she is a drama queen. Possibly a diva. Still working that out.

Drea has a military background but for her recovery process, she has been working for the UDF drilling company mining precious ore in the caverns of Mars. She acclimated her motor functions through diligent work and got used to her new cybernetic body.

She is kind of a Bitter Betty since the accident and doesn't talk much. She is pretty legendary around the Mars community due to the fact that she is the only person to ever survive an attack by the alien planet.

My inspiration for this character was of course Samus Aran. Who is of course inspired from Ripley in Alien. Drea is not a rip off but more of a homage to the perfectly competent female capable of kicking some major ass type of character of movie and game lore. At the same time not throwing it in the face of the audience that Drea is a woman. Sure she has some nice bazooms but this character can be a male or female. Doesn't matter. It worked for Ripley in Alien and Aliens (we don't talk about the other movies).
The major difference in character is that this chick is pissed. She has a military background and therefore does not take anybody's crap. Unlike some people that would like to talk out their problems, Drea would rather punch it out. Since the accident where her body and face got mangled, she has become kind of a shut in. She's kind of an emo girl that would kick your ass. On a side note, I pray to whatever cosmic god out there... Please O mighty deity, let there not be this vile emo fad in the future. And if you do not heed my cries, it's no future I want a part of.

"Since your'e rambling, I thought I might add my two cents. I don't know if the emo craze is still officially going on. I think they started as scenesters, evolved into emo then into their latest form of hipsters. Much like the misunderstood nerds turned into goths then eventually turned into vampires after Twilight came out."

Uh... wha? Anyways, you'll get to know more about Drea when the game comes out. During the game you will be able to jump out of the EDU drilling mech and give your legs a stretch. Of course you won't be physically as strong as your mech but you will be able to fit in smaller spaces and be more nimble.

   

I promised bazooms. You shall receive bazooms.

"Another thing about social classes. Why do the jocks and bros pop their collars? The original collar popper was Dracula. It was used on stage to help the actor disappear into a trap door but a giant popped collar is synonymous with vampires and other nocturnal ghoulish fiends. Why do jocks pop their collars? Dracula is just about as gothic as you can get. Don't jocks despise and pick on goths? Sure Drea has a popped collar but it's because she wears a military flak jacket. It's meant to protect the neck. And have you ever tried to fold those things down? Impossible. Plus a popped collar was how they used to make seemingly boring characters seems more hip and cool."

He is as cool as Mickey Mouse playing a blue guitar without any pickups and not even plugged in. Good job, bro.