SHIPS week 9 (deadline schmeadline)

hi.

shel here: chug chug chug......making progress steady and sure.......

i really thought that once we got to the painting stage it'd be a downhill ride and i'd finish up in a week........ but wow........i am continually blown away by HOW LONG EVERY SINGLE PART OF STOP MO TAKES.......and by how opptomistic i still am.......HA!

so i eagerly prepped, and gooped,

and we sanded, and painted, and painted,and second coated, and (sigh) repainted the colors that weren't quite right, .....and cleaned up edges, and cleaned them up again, and dug grooves to paint inside of for depth (even though it takes forever and they kind of don't show once they are painted, i just have to trust we'll be able to FEEL the groves and it's worth the time since we want texture, esp since we're shooting in 3D now.)and (groan) some days it feels like i've actually moved BACKWARDS!!! in that i've come up with more new things to do then i've gotten done.

this is where i can't tell you how grateful i am for DICK KANESHIRO who's been so steady in his intern-ness (i truly hope he is learning as much from this process as we are benefitting from him!) and Bridget Dash, who's been an inspiration and huge help on Tuesday nights.....because even tho i keep finding new things to do (or to re-do) to add to the list (setting us back), they keep moving forward. Dick's daily progress is salve to my (what feels like) antiprogress!

(i know this "antiprogress" is part of the progress process, and in the big picture i'm cool with it.......but this week i have to admit i got a bit disheartened.)

to which justin gently reminded me that the deadline is not what matters, what matters is that we enjoy the ride (this is what we do for FUN after all!). which is very funny cuz that's exactly what i try to convince him of (and earnestly believe) in regards to his deadlines......but i want to MAKE my deadlines!!

black paint for Flea Ships's primer:
grooves dug in and painted,
purple top coat with spray paint......exciting to achieve the base "eggplant" color i've been dreaming of.......
Todd artistically playing with rivet color options purple wing cap doohickys

aedon and i will go on our anual mother/daughter dance festival vacation up in berkeley this week, which will be a welcome break from the garage, and when i get back this is my mission for week 10: BALANCE.....deadline-schmeadline.....enjoy the ride......

Bridget's got it!

SHIPS!! progress weeks 7 & 8

shel here with the latest ship report.....

We've been so BUSY building ships (all our amazing helpers and i) that i skipped a whole week of reporting, so here's the week 7 and week 8 update combined......

AMAZING HELPERS: (L to R) Todd Ferrand (Justin's brother), Bridget Dash, Dick Kaneshiro, Jeff (Set Master) Cross

Hey, isn't that.....even brilliant composer Robert Litton couldn't resist pulling up a booster seat and grabbing a brush!!

I'll let the pics tell the story, but if you have any questions.....throw down a comment and i'll get back to you.......

WEEK 7

Flea ship interior....

The Steering handle column is animatable (on an armature wire--so the brass channel there is in case the wire breaks......then we can just swap it out, and won't have to make a whole new steering handle (thanks Jeff).

(That cool little radio was build by Cam Leeburg)

WEEK 8

Flea Ship Exterior

the EXCITING GLUE IT ALL TOGETHER stage!!!

Prepping for the GOOP stage by filling in the big gaps with PATCH N PAINT

Aunt Jenna was here this week to not only keep Aedon (our youngest) company while i obsessed on ships, but (lucky for us!) to also handle the dental emergency that came up with Aedon's retainer......(It was fun cuz Jenna's dental licence had just been processed that morning......and she did sanitize that sculpting tool before she went to work....in case anyone from the Colorado Dental Board stops by our blog!!).

Aedon checks out Jenna's brand new Dental License (No really, it's legit......Congrats Jenna! and thanks thanks thanks!!)

The SUPER EXCITING GOOP stage (Joint Compound)
Finished first coat

Dober's Ship Progress:

Jeff Cross's fancy removable wing (for animating)

Dick Kaneshiro carving out Dober's Ship's MINE LAUNCHERS

Jeff and I as human glue clamps....Jeff's new hood ornament (as we're running out of room in the garage already!)

Since the ships have progressed to a stage i can handle (and we've maxed our ship budget), we bid farewell to Jeff this week, with many many thanks for all the skill, experience and knowledge he's lent our project....the ZILLIONS of things he's taught me are going to come in handy for many projects to come......THANKS JEFF!!!

I'm off to the garage now to GOOP up Dober's ship....

Tomorow (week 9) we will sand and TUESDAY = PAINT yay!.........we are very close to finishing, possibly by the deadline--end of June (at least with one of the ships!!!)

Also, this next week Justin sets up the camera and starts doing animation and 3D tests......i suspect he'll have some cool walk cycles to post soon.......

Story Boards Done!!

MILESTONE BABY!

The entire Film is on Paper......big step. Had To Post.

jriggity

Ships Takeing Flight - week # 6

Hey Guys,

another week goes by way too fast....... but big progress on the Ships. Shel and the Crew are moveing forward toward a {1 last week} Goal of having the Ships to a skining level by next Monday...........

Skinning as in Put on a plaster like substance that will act as the hard skin in which we will detail for final painting .

This means the ships all have to be built except maybe small greeble stuff for the cockpits....we are trying to get that stuff done too though .

Battery part for fleas ship in the cartoon.This is a very optimistic goal {one of our many character traits} but we are shooting for it reguardless....our ships are scheduled to be done in 3 weeks exactly....makeing room for begining work on the Planet surface that the majority of the film takes place on.

so......this last friday I took{brother} Todds finished SPACE window shapes to a place called Plastic Depot in Burbank ca..."Bucks"-{slang for shapes to be formed upon}........I am convinced everything you ever need to make a stop mo film is on San Fernando blvd in Burbank. {Its all just minuets from where I work}I take it for granted how lucky we are to be in the middle of all required to do the art we love!

Plastic Depot -Chris- warmed up the vacuform machine ...and grabbed the "Bucks"he heats up a flat sheet of plastic which is then pulled over the "Buck" and Sucked with a powerfull air tank.......untill it fits perfectly....very cool process.And I got to see it in action......

The Windows were a puzzle we had no idea how we were going to solve ....so watching it happen was very rewarding....and One more seemingly impossible-unknown task Conquered.

after he pulled our 2 pieces- I took them home where Shel cut them out and started working out the fitting into the ships.....some problem solving but manageable.

One of the things that I did last week was alot of drawing of assets for the film......there are a series of items the characters collect through the story....and I had to deliver concept art for all of them to the guys for construction

I also had to show shel what I was looking for the skin-out terrior of the flea ship. I always saw the fle ship as a Flying TANK with rivits....and heavy steelWHILE Dobers ship was more clean Star Trek Plastic smoothe.

I missed my deadline with the story boards....dangit! but am in the very last 2 Shots...so I will have the Entire Film boarded this week. YESSSSSsssss!!!!!

I cant tell you how tired my brain is of story boarding. Its like Ive been doing crossword puzzles for 4 months now and my brain is TIRED of the thinking so much

we do have a plan to take the finished boards -film and do a FUN RUN on it......where we go back over the whole story and add in DEPTH to our characters....and give the kids some laughs and Gags through the telling. Im looking forward to this part

Dick and Cam did some backup armatures for Dober Last week -and they are working on small bits of the Ships - assets for the deadline

Jeff started on Dobers Steering colum and Him and Shel worked out the attaching and mobility of the Steering for both characters

I also drew all the Greeble for the ships Interior - Dashboards .....for both ships...pictures at home....?

In GLD NEWS.....we are going to be part of a HOTEL pay perview showing in most MAJOR HOTELS through the US. These include Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, InterContinental, Mandarin Oriental, Rydges, Hyatt, Novotel, Wynn Resorts, and many more. Films will be part of an Independent Film Collection available to guests on demand. We could gain TONS more exposure in the Showing at the Hotels across america. Great for our Future in Filmaking

We also just found out we Won another fest {BEST Long Tail!} Award at the Pet Flix Film Festival!.....very cool!

and Just because I LOVE my Monkeys so much I wanted to post some pics and videos from our House....My daughter broke her POLE VAUTING record this weekend and made DAD bubble with pride.