Monday, August 17, 2009

Studio Upgrades!

Hey guys,
Justin here with a quick post on whats been happening. Shel has been doing an amazing job with upgrading our studio and getting the stage floor set up. Im floored by the way we compliment each other as artists , filmakers and partners. I am Very lucky dood!

So {upgrading our studio}.......This required - {cleaning out-organizing the garge} - Which we did on a BIG sunday Push. This is basically a transition from shop to Animation Studio.

Then Shel and Our composer removed all the drywall from the ceiling. allowing Shel to hook up the Lighting system She designed for our space..........Awesome -

The whole ceiling is covered in Pipes to hang our lights from. We also have a Power conditioner on order very similar to what Nick Hillingoss has in his new studio. This Puppey will make our Issues with ever changing light fluctuations in our garage dissapear.

After Cleaning up the Huge mess the drywall left ..........

...... we moved into ACTUAL stage construction.
Blocking out the size needed for the shots designed.
This stage is HUGE guys-one 14 ft long 4 feet wide main center stage where the ships are crashed and will be spending over a year planted within. Then Shel made 4 seven foot tables that will be removeable depanding on the shots I need and access necessity.
These table started as awesome fold down extensions to the set....but we realized I could'nt reach under the main table for tie downs....Duuuuuuughggh. Its amazing what you can look over when tackeling these jobs.
MONSTROUSLY HUGE SET!! .....this sets gona look like a museum Display when its all there.....a True world created just for the telling of this story. I am pumped and a little intimidated by the realization of all our ideas. I want to be able to live up to the vision in our head....surpass it even!! Shels been doing such an incredible job on her end I gota live up my side of the bargain.
so..... into the future

I brought home a big pile of foam for shel to start sculpting into a desert planet surface.
She officially starts this Tuesday with sculpting....The sets going to be a combination of clay
and foam covered in Plaster like substance.....Clay in the main area.....fadeing into a harder surface on the ends of the tables.

NEXT On the list.... we need a HUGE Blue screen backing in order to comp in the extra land we dont possess for the Film....We have some napkin drawings of the early design but We plan to do some tests first.
Hopeing to hang some paper or sheet- 4 by 8 painted boards?? Any Ideas are appreciated?
We are a bit worried we wont have enough room to light the Screens properly for a good keying though..... a test should give us an idea.
We also picked up a new bunch of lighting equipment off Craigs list. Saweet....Its exciting to see our studio grow!!!

Next Posts should have Planets surface a happening...by the way Shel Knocked out 5 foamed puppets in 4 days for future use......Interns will have lots ta do and learn in the next week.

jriggity

22 comments:

Shelley Noble said...

I love the way you guys are going about things. Huge vision and loads of good help. I love that all the greatness will come from your own garage, as all greatness should!

Alonso said...

looks epic! got that early days ILM feeling to it.

Yuji said...

It's amazing how much gets done when I'm not there! Haha!! Looks great guys.

Darkmatters said...

Hey, for coating foam, I hear a good putty is a mix of Fix-All and Elmer's glue. The nice thing is, you can pick up Fix-All in 25 pound bags for around $11.

Awesome dies, removing the drywall from the ceiling... opens up the space and gives you access for the grid.

Darkmatters said...

That was supposed to say awesome IDEA... one of those typing-too-fast internet dyslexia things!!

Robert Litton said...

This post will really help my Pepsi endorsement...that's PRIME product placement.

Darkmatters said...

LOL yeah, and it could also come in handy if you ever decide to try out for Tarzan!

rich said...

you guys are my heroes

Yaz said...

Your studio is looking great with that huge table! Waiting to see your post about desert surface.

amoebaboy said...

your garage is amazing its huge !
i had to give up my studio a few years ago when the folks i shared it with moved away.
nice to see things steaming ahead
all the best guys.

Erik said...

Cool cool cool! We love everything in your blog.

Ryan McCulloch said...

Litton Is A Monkey!

jriggity said...

Herself} thanks lady....Any greatness we produce should be well rooted in our garage for a good long while. Ha!

Alonso} cool video man. I totally was drawing connections to the animation on Empire strikes back. The size of the Hoth snow set and all the trap doors they shot through.

Yuji} We are working 100 miles an hour in stopmo timeing....we havnt see you for a long time Yuji....where ya been?

Darkstrider}yes....We have the formula and its already been applied. Opening the cieling gives us a little more room to get the camera up there too.

Robert} ppeeeepsi....

Rich} thanks dood....waiting to see your latest short.

Yaz} its really really HUGE....the pic doesnt even show the MASSiveness of the set. Its really exciting!

amoebaboy}awww sucks....hard to lose a space once had....but thanks for the support man...appreciated.

Erik} hey man! thanks for stopping by....I love you guys work too !!

Ryan} Ha.....I think he actually pretends to go home at night....but he really just lives up there feeding of cans of Peeeepsi.

Sean Galloway said...

Dude... I am so STOKED to see this. I'm, sad I missed ya at the con. How was your short received? Standing ovation no doubt.

Kelly Shon said...

you guys are amazing...

Anonymous said...

Look out, Disney! Dayum.

Gregory Sesma said...

Exciting.

Ethan said...

Super-cool! Super-Huge!

Damien said...

I'm amazed at the scale of your set...it's looking fantastic!

For covering large areas of ground and sculpting details into it, have you considered Hytrostone? Might be a different brand-name where you are...it's gypsum plaster/cement, often used for mould-making. Really strong but holds amazing details and doesn't cost the earth if you get a 20-25kg bag and only need a thin layer.

Marc Hendry said...

WOW. great to see you're moving up in the business.
I envy those interns.

Mad Max Winston said...

this is so cool! You guys are realllly doing it! And doing it well.

a guy in a gorilla suit said...

reading your blog gives is really kicking me to finally finish my stuff - this works better thatn the strongest specially caffeine enriched esprosso grande with caffeine flakes... this is real grown-up stuff !