Merninja Production Blog What the hell is going on at Merninja Productions?

“The Web Series”

Sat, 25 May 2013 22:35:00 -0700

Well, I no longer have to refer to our new web series as “The Web Series.” For those who follow me on Twitter or Facebook, this is old news. But in case you missed it, we’ve revealed the name of the series and launched its own official website. Although I still have a shit-load of post-production work ahead of me, we are (practically) finished with filming. The series also has a launch date... September 15th. So, without further ado...

The unicornhunters.com website will stay “in character” -- as if our little spoof was an actual show -- while all the behind-the-scenes stuff will still be posted here on the Merninja site. Episodes will be available on both sites as well as our YouTube channel.

While the site is still in its infancy, we promise a great deal more content is on its way.

NEXT WEEK: More stuff...

Previous Posts

Shifting into High Gear

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 02:42:29 -0700

Things are starting to happen... In fact, several things... all at once.

A couple weeks ago I put out the casting call for “The Web Series” as well as for the “Merninja Holiday Specials.”
The response was overwhelming. We were unable to call all of the respondents in for auditions. Even with only two hours sleep, there still weren’t enough hours in the day... or should I say days.

WHOA!!! Wait just a minute, Rob! Didn’t you tell us eight months ago that you already had a full cast for this so-called “Web Series?”

Well... first of all... I don’t know who you are, but I don’t appreciate you constantly interrupting my blog. Secondly... yes... I did.

The “Web Series” was supposed to start filming last October or November. Initially, I recruited friends and co-workers to star in it. Getting them all together at the same time, however, became an increasingly daunting task. Others began saying things like “but what if someone sees it?” To which I replied, “Uh... that’s sort of the point.” To which they counter-replied, “Yeah, but what if my boss sees it.” To which I counter-counter-replied, “#$@)(%*()@#!!!!!!”

I can’t blame them though. Sadly, it’s become a growing trend for companies to scrutinize their employees’ online presence... and there have been people who were let go from their jobs because of it. But that’s a debate for another time... because at that moment, I needed to find some goddamn actors.

So, the ad went up. The response was amazing. I met some fantastic people and had to make some tough choices. The good news is that I have a cast that I’m incredibly happy with... and I think the knots in my stomach are finally starting to detangle.

Of course, all of that happened last weekend. This weekend we had our first read-through of the script. It was also the first time all the cast members got to meet each other.

But I’ll tell you more about that next week. After all, I need to figure out some way to stretch this into several blog posts.

NEXT WEEK: Our first read-through...

Previous Posts

Bloglessness

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 20:57:14 -0700

OK... I suppose I should explain my lengthy absence from the blogosphere, the Twitterverse and Facebookopolis...

Victoria and I have been in the process of moving. I’d like to tell you that we moved into a giant house that has plenty of room for an industrial-sized soundstage and an ginormous workshop that would make Santa’s elves green with envy. Actually, we simply moved into another 2-bedroom apartment.

“But, Rob,” you say. “You’ve been offline for two months! Why would it take you that long to move from one apartment to another?”

Well... allow me to explain (hopefully in a way that doesn’t come off as if I’m just making lame excuses).

Normally a 940 square foot apartment is not ideal for housing a film studio, plus an office where I can write, edit, work on visual effects and sound, plus a workshop to fabricate miniatures, models, costumes, prosthetic masks, props -- plus another studio/workshop for Victoria to create her amazing sculptures -- AND still have room left over for actual living/eating/sleeping space. But regardless of whether it is ideal or not, those are the things we require.

And meeting those requirements usually means that I have to do a few “modifications” to any apartment we rent. Unfortunately, what I call “modifications” are often referred to by landlords as “damages.”

So... here’s how it all breaks down:

• Week 1 - Apartment hunting... “This one’s perfect. We’ll take it.”
• Week 2 - “Oops... Sorry. It looks like we accidentally rented that apartment to someone else.” ...Go back to step one.
• Week 3 - Found new apartment. Start packing up all our gear, supplies, equipment...
• Week 4 - “Shit! I can’t get any work done. I’ve packed up all my gear, supplies, equipment...”
• Week 5 - Move into new place. “Holy Crap! This looks nothing like the model apartment they showed us!”
“Uh, hon? The door just fell off its hinges...”
“Yeah... and apparently there’s no hot water and the stove doesn’t work...”
“Oh... Hon? It’s not just this door. It looks like all the doors fall off like that.”
“Must be some new-fangled feature.”
• Week 6 - Finished doing all the repairs, painting, etc. that our new landlords should have done themselves. Feeling less bad about all the “modifications” I’m going to be doing to this place next week.
• Week 7 - Renovations completed. Turned our new apartment into the new home of Merninja Productions.
• Week 8 - Went back to old apartment and repaired “damages” from previous “modifications” so that we can get our security deposit back and avoid a lengthy lawsuit.
• Week 9 - Tried to relax and get out of doing any actual work by writing a blog post about why I haven’t been blogging. Hoping subscribers will fall for it.

NEXT WEEK: Back to work...

Previous Posts

Updates on things I can’t tell you about...

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:35:02 -0700

I tend to keep a lot of my projects pretty close to the vest. For example: The Web Series (which actually does have a name - but even that is being kept under wraps). Although I’m hoping I’ll be able to tell you more about that in the near future, for now all I can tell you is that the project is going forward.

But this week, I want to tell you about another project that I can’t tell you about. I’ve started writing the script for an eleven-part web mini-series which will (hopefully) begin airing at the end of this year. Like “The Web Series” - even telling you the name of this mini-series would involve spoilers. So, I will be referring to it under the working title of “The Merninja Holiday Specials.”

However, there are a few things I can tell you. First, the series is a sci-fi comedy that will feature both live action and stop-motion animation. Secondly, the series will be spread out over the course of one year (plus one week)-- with the premiere airing on Christmas Day 2013 and the finale airing on New Year’s Day 2015. Both the premiere and the finale are two-parter episodes and the remaining seven episodes will air throughout the year on various holidays.

The air dates will be:

• Series Premiere (part 1): Christmas Day, December 25, 2013

• Series Premiere (part 2): New Year’s Day, January 1, 2014

• The Valentine’s Episode: February 14, 2014

• The Easter Episode: April 20, 2014

• The Memorial Day Episode: May 26, 2014

• The 4th of July Episode: July 4, 2014

• The Labor Day Episode: September 1, 2014

• The Halloween Episode: October 31, 2014

• The Thanksgiving Episode: November 27, 2014

• Series Finale (part 1): Christmas Day, December 25, 2014

• Series Finale (part 2): New Year’s Day, January 1, 2015

And although that is all I can tell you for now, I’m sure there will be plenty of hints coming up on this blog as I begin working on the various builds (props, sets, etc.)

NEXT WEEK: ???

Previous Posts

Building the Cargo / Fighter

Fri, 4 Jan 2013 08:24:27 -0700

Last week I showed you the Cargo / Fighter from Last of the Earthmen. This week I’ll go through how it was built.

This ship was actually one of the easiest and cheapest that I’ve made. Not including the items that I already had on hand (paint, glue, small thingies from cannibalized models), the total cost of materials was only $5.

It all started with a trip to Goodwill during one of their 50% OFF Saturdays. On their rack of broken miscellaneous toys, I found a couple of Hot Wheels launchers and these other two doohickies (whose original purpose eludes me). I also picked up a couple of toy binoculars from the dollar bin at Michael’s. Total cost: five bucks.

I took everything apart and broke out the spray paints.

I glued the two Hot Wheels launchers together to make the rear thrusters.

Before painting the front section, I drilled a hole and inserted the insides of an old pen to make a makeshift dowel rod. The other end of this will attach to the midsection (allowing the front section to rotate).

Then I painted the front section.

On the other side of the front section, I glue this little square cup thing ( which was left over from a previous build. Then I added various little pieces from cannibalized models.

I also had a couple of dried up highlighter pens laying around. I removed the felt tips and then painted them. I also drilled holes into the binoculars as well as the sides of the front section. Then I glued all those things in place.

I cut out some pieces of craft foam to cover up the exposed sections.

What to do with those burnt out Christmas light bulbs? Paint them and turn them into laser cannons (which also served to cover up the screw holes in the front section). I also added a few more scrap pieces from models.

Before assembling the three sections, I handed it over to Victoria to work her magic detailing paint job that really sells the illusion that this is metal and not just a hunk of cheap plastic.

Finally, I glue the rear section (thrusters) to the midsection (cargo pod). The front section simply (and snugly) pushes on to the midsection, making it completely detachable.

Building the stand for filming this ship was also a snap. On the non-camera-facing side of the cargo pod are some very deep and very conveniently placed screw holes. I simply inserted the rods into these and mounted the other ends of the rods into whatever happened to be close at hand -- which in this case was this whatchamacallit.

And she’s ready to fly...

NEXT WEEK: More stuff

Previous Posts

The Resistance Cargo/Fighter Ship

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 07:17:27 -0700

This week I thought I’d give you a sneak peek at the latest ship in the Last of the Earthmen universe. This ship will be used by two of the resistance fighters at the beginning of the film.

The front section of the ship can rotate on its axis and has four maneuvering thrusters attached. In addition, this section is detachable from the ship’s cargo hold and rear thrusters.

A little fictional backstory on the ship (which isn’t talked about in the film, but will be part of the novelization):

When the mysterious rifts in hyperspace suddenly appeared throughout the galaxy, the most advanced civilizations were the ones who could take the greatest advantage. The people of the Truchion star system were already ahead of the curve when it came to space travel. They had colonized both of their moons, terraformed and colonized four other planets in their system (along with colonies on seven other moons and three asteroids), and built a couple dozen space stations ranging in size from simple refueling depots to enormous floating cities. The Truchions had quite successfully turned urban-sprawl into an art form.

Of course, to maintain supply lines between all of these colonies required a massive fleet cargo ships. These ships were the Truchion equivalent of a tractor-trailer (or possibly a freight train). While these pics only show one cargo pod, the ship is capable of carrying multiple pods. The ship’s detachable front allows the pilots to drop off a shipment and then pick up an outgoing shipment.

The front section was also armed with a four small laser canons to defend itself against pirate attacks.

When the rifts suddenly appeared - making interstellar travel possible - the Truchions were posed to take full advantage. The vast network of Rift Stations that seemed to pop up throughout the galaxy almost as quickly as the rifts did themselves is due in large part to the Truchions and their expertise in building such space stations.

And with their massive fleet of cargo ships, they helped to quickly spread commerce (and as a side effect, cultures) between the many habitable worlds.

The Truchions were so ubiquitous amongst alien civilizations that when it came time to develop a common language amongst the space-faring races, they simply chose to adopt the Truchion language as the universal tongue.
Sadly, being such a prevalent presence in the universe meant that the Truchions were also one of the first species to be brought to the attention of the genocidal D’Trun empire. The 250 billion inhabitants of the Truchion star system were wiped out.

Luckily, those Truchions who were out hauling freight or building more Rift Stations -- and therefor not on their home world (or one of its colonies) when it was attacked -- survived. So there are still approximately twelve billion of them running around the galaxy. Most continue plying their trade in commerce, construction, and long-haul trucking. Others -- who are slightly more miffed about the destruction of their home world -- have joined the Resistance.

NEXT WEEK: I’ll be going through the steps of how the Truchion ship was built.

Previous Posts

Blame it on the Mayans and Kris Kringle

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 00:36:46 -0700

Sorry... No blog post this week. Although, seeing as how I’m posting this on the blog site, I suppose this technically counts as a blog post. Okay... No blog post of any real significance this week.

Why? Well... I will be far too busy with post-end-of-the-world dusting and vacuuming. Armageddon has a nasty tendency to leave a thick layer of dust and human ashes all over the furniture. Of course, by the time I get through cleaning up after the apocalypse, it’ll be time for Christmas. And I can’t be expected to blog AND watch the Doctor Who Special.

But don’t worry. I’ll be back next week with a brand new spaceship.

Merry Christmas and Happy End of the World (although, not necessarily in that order),
--- RJ Lanning

NEXT WEEK: Building the Resistance transport ship for Last of the Earthmen.

Previous Posts

D’Trun Fighter Ship - part 3

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 05:58:06 -0700

This week we finish the D’trun fighter ship for Last of the Earthmen and take a few test shots.

To mount the ship for filming, I used one of the same stands that I made for mounting previous ships.

The previous ships used round rods to mount them. This one, however, uses a flat rod (which I suppose technically isn’t a rod). I modified the hole in the top of the stand so that it could accept either shaped rod.

There are three slots where the mounting rod can go into the ship (one on the back and one on each side), giving me options to film the ship from various angles. For the side slots, I needed something to hide them when they are facing the camera. Of course, that something was going to be two more small laser canons (bringing the total number of guns on this ship to an even dozen). These guns fit perfectly into the slots so they can be easily inserted or removed as needed.

And now for some quick test shots to get an idea of what the ship will look like in its natural environment.

NEXT WEEK: Your guess is as good as mine...

Previous Posts

D’Trun Fighter Ship - part 2

Sat, 8 Dec 2012 13:12:16 -0700

Last week I finished the main body for the D’trun fighter ship for Last of the Earthmen. This week, I brought out the big guns and the small details.

Because the D’Trun tend to want to kill any and all intelligent life they happen to come across, I decided their fighter ships should be armed with an absurd number of ridiculously large guns. To make these, I used some old pens, magic markers, hair curlers (50 cents for a giant bag of them at Goodwill), the handles from a jump rope, and some cannibalized model parts.

Before adding these, Victoria distressed the paint job on the main ship to give it that lived-in look.

Starting on the bottom, I added the ship’s two massive rail guns.

Next up are two plasma cannons.

In front of the two small laser cannons that I added last week, I added a third.

Now it was time to flip it over and start working on the top, where I mounted the ship’s two photon cannons on each side.

And finally -- in the middle -- I added a tachyon pulse cannon which has the amazing ability to hit its target before the weapon is actually fired. Luckily for its intended victim, tachyon pulse cannons cause practically no damage other than making the target ship’s clocks revert to Daylight Saving Time and causing its crew to experience fleeting moments of deja vu.

Then I started adding more little what-nots to the ship.

Next week I’ll build the mount, add the last couple of details (which may involve two more small laser cannons) and take same test shots (with the camera, not the cannons).

NEXT WEEK: D’Trun Fighter Ship: part 3

Previous Posts

D’Trun Fighter Ship - part 1

Sun, 2 Dec 2012 04:43:32 -0700

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted on the progress of Last of the Earthmen. But rest assured, that project is still underway. This week I began building one of the fighter ships for the evil D’Trun empire.

I started with a couple of weirdly shaped plates that we got at Goodwill. I also cut a piece of board and a couple pieces of foam board in the same shape as the plates.

This time, I’m using a flat piece of steel for mounting the ship (instead of the round rods that I’ve used on previous builds). I cut the foam board to create channels for the mounting rod. I then glued everything together.

I glued part of a coin bank and this square cup thingamajig (also from Goodwill) to what will be the top of the ship.

Using more foam board, I began building the tail section of the ship.

Inside the groves of the tail section, I mounted silver card stock. I put a thin coat of metallic red over the bottom and left the inside walls silver. I began covering the foam board with craft foam and scored the foam to simulate panels. I also used craft foam to cover up the edges of the foam board. And somewhere in the midst of all that, I gave the whole thing a quick base coat.

Another Goodwill item we found was the toy boat which I modified, painted, and then mounted a couple of lasers guns (scavenged from another model) to the rudder. I also printed the D’Trun symbol on adhesive-backed paper and placed it on the boat. I cut a piece of craft foam to the shape of the boat and glued it and the boat to the bottom the ship.

I took apart a tap light and--after a quick paint job and some pin striping-- glued it on top of the coin bank. I also began adding a what-nots that I cannibalized from other models.

This gives me the main body of the ship. Next week, I’ll start adding some massive weaponry, lots more details, etc.

NEXT WEEK: D’Trun Fighter Ship: part 2

Previous Posts

Sole Defender: BLOOPERS

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 06:26:00 -0700

Although Sole Defender didn’t come out exactly as planned, there were plenty of laughs while making it. And it was great being able to spend time with the kids on this, as well as Colony of the Damned. Hopefully they had as much fun as I did.

The projects also proved to be valuable learning experiences for me (mostly on what NOT to do).

Now that these side projects are done, I’ll be diving back into the Last of the Earthmen feature and will also get started on the super-secret “web series.”

But for now, sit back and have a laugh (at my expense) with these outtakes from Sole Defender: 5000 AD.

NEXT WEEK: I begin building a new spaceship for Last of the Earthmen.

Previous Posts

Sole Defender: 5000 AD

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:25:28 -0700

OK... This is going to be excruciatingly embarrassing. But sometimes you just have to strip off your dignity, wad it up in a ball, throw it on the floor, urinate on it and then march out the door with your head held high as you take that long and lonely walk of shame.

A couple weeks ago, I said I was going to reshoot some scenes for Sole Defender. But there comes a point when you have to accept defeat. It’s the point where tinkering with something only serves to make it slightly more broken.

Most of Sole Defender was shot at the same time as Colony of the Damned. So many of the issues in that film cropped up here. Except worse... much worse. Good lighting is essential for even the most standard of shots, doubly so (possibly even quadruply) when shooting in front of a green screen. In addition to the bad chromakeys and bad lighting, there were also problems with the sound. Then, of course, there’s the acting... It’s physically painful to watch. So why show it? Well, because my urine-soaked dignity is currently wadded up on the floor. So why not? Also -- as I’ve said before -- we learn as much (if not more) from our failures as we do our successes.

So without further ado -- or further apologies -- here is Sole Defender: 5000 AD.

NEXT WEEK: Sole Defender BLOOPERS (which promises to be more entertaining than the film itself)

Previous Posts

Robot Monster Returns!

Fri, 2 Nov 2012 18:59:00 -0700

I’m back! Originally, I planned to mark my return with the long-overdue debut of Sole Defender: 5000 AD. But technical difficulties have caused yet another delay. By technical difficulties, I mean that my ridiculously bad acting requires that I reshoot some of my scenes. Normally not a big deal, except that I cut my hair and now need it to grow back out so the scenes will match.

In the meantime, I did finish the Ro-Man video. For those who have never seen the sci-fi cult classic, Robot Monster, this video may seem like random nonsense. But for you Ro-Man fans, it’s guaranteed to make at least as much sense as the original film.

In addition to being posted here, the video is available on both my YouTube and Vimeo channels. Feel free to visit, comment, subscribe, etc.

NEXT WEEK: Victoria and I will be out of town (celebrating her parent’s 50th wedding anniversary). See you in two weeks.

Previous Posts

Telepathic Blogging

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:04:15 -0700

For those who’ve been following along, you know I’ve been going on about all the projects that are in the works. In an effort to catch up, I’ve decided that for the next month I will be posting this blog via mental telepathy.

[ placing index finger to temple, squinting, and... there! ]

For those of you who didn’t receive that transmission, please spend the next month trying to develop your cyber-telepathic skills.

I’ll be back in November with the debut of Sole Defender: 5000 AD.

COMING IN NOVEMBER: Sole Defender: 5000 AD, The Ro-Man Video, and info on the new web series!!!

Previous Posts

Creating Super Mario Land

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 01:05:13 -0700

This week I had a unique miniature set that needed to be built. For an upcoming short, I have a scene that takes place in Super Mario Land. Building the set (which the actors will be dropped into in post-production) required a combination of building miniatures and photoshopping a few images.

As a reference, I used screenshots from Super Mario 3.

For the background, I ninja-ed my way into the local country club and took some pics of the golf course. I then photoshopped the pics to get rid of any buildings as well as any golfers wandering into frame.

For the floating blocks, I used 2 inch wood blocks. Victoria sculpted and painted the red bricks. For the other blocks, I just created the images in photoshop, printed them off and glued them to the blocks. After gluing them together, I drilled a hole in the back of the middle block and created a mount so the blocks would “float” while I took pictures of them.

The other do-hickeys (I’ve no idea what to call them) were made from the lids of various boxes. The lids were covered with poster board and then painted. The “rivets” on the corners are adhesive beads I got from the craft store.

The pipe is made from pipe fittings I bought at the hardware store, which I painted green.

I’m a huge fan of the Little Shop of Horrors movie. For my birthday, Victoria got me an Audrey 2 hand puppet. I decided to use the puppet as a stand-in for the Super Mario fire flower.

After taking plenty of pics, I threw everything into Photoshop and...

All that’s left is to add the actors, some flying turtles, and a few fireballs from Audrey 2. But for now, I need to go listen to “Suddenly Seymour” on the old iPod.

NEXT WEEK: More stuff...

We’re Back!

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:48:18 -0700

After taking a week off from the blogosphere, I’m back with a few updates on the announcements made on my last post.

• WEBSITES... The redesigned Merninja.com and SFNetcast.com are up and running. While this blog no longer appears directly on the SFNetcast site, a link to it does appear on the SFnetcast homepage. SFNetcast also now has all of the links to WEB SERIES, COMICS and AUTHORS right on the homepage. For the Merninja site, the latest post for the production blog appears on the homepage along with links to the BLOG ARCHIVES as well as our VIDEOS.

• NEW WEB SERIES... While I still can’t disclose any info regarding our new web series, I can tell you that everyone who has read the script has responded with an enthusiastic “thumbs up” and plenty of laughter (luckily, the series is a comedy -- otherwise that might have been discouraging). In addition, Chris Piquette (who will be starring in the series) has done a great job casting most the remaining roles for the series. We only have one ancillary character left to cast (and we are close to filling that role as well). Thanks to Chris, we should be able to move forward on this project sooner than expected. Knowing this, I spent part of my week hunting for props and acquiring the additional equipment that will be needed for production.

• SOLE DEFENDER: 5000 AD... We finished filming the majority of the scenes. Because of everything going on with “The Web Series” I didn’t have time to build the last miniature. So I will be doing that this week. Then there is one very brief scene left to shoot and it’ll be time to finish up the post production.

• RO-MAN (AKA Robot Monster) VIDEO... Because of the aforementioned delays the Robot Monster skit has been pushed back. Filming for that will take place the first week of October.

NEXT WEEK: I get back to building things.

Big Announcements and Other Stuff

Sat, 1 Sep 2012 15:36:39 -0700

The list of projects that I want to do just keeps growing. If my actual abilities and resources were ever to match my ambitions, I swear I would be a force to be reckoned with. Then again, I’m not one to let a lack of skills or an empty wallet stop me. With that said, here is a rundown of my To-Do List...

BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS:
• WEBSITES GET REVAMPED... Beginning September 16th, Both Merninja.com and SFNetcast.com will be getting redesigned to make for a better user experience (and hopefully make my job of maintaining them a little easier). Right now the Home pages on both sites are just sort of taking up space. For SFNetcast, I’ll be putting the WEB SERIES and COMICS directly on the Home page to make navigation easier. The AUTHORS page (for now) will probably remain a separate page -- although I am looking into ways to integrate it as well. I will continue to repost this Production Blog to SFNetcast as a separate page. For the Merninja site, I’ll be putting the production blog directly on the home page and will also be adding links to our videos and possibly a photo gallery. For those of you who have Bookmarked these sites, you ‘may’ have to redo your Bookmarks/Favorites for them after the sites are updated on September 16th... There is also another website that I’ll be launching, but details on that will be released in the weeks to come.

• NEW WEB SERIES... I’m just finishing up the script for Season One of a new web series that I hope we’ll be filming later this year. Season One will consist of twelve episodes. I wish I could give you more details about it, but we’re keeping it close to the vest until we begin principle photography. I can tell you that I’m very happy with the script. The original concept for the series was the brainchild of a friend of mine, Larry Zahn. As soon as he told me the idea, I was laughing my ass off. I can also tell you that Chris Piquette (who appears in both Colony of the Damned and Sole Defender: 5000 AD) will be starring in the series. Although most of the other roles have also been cast, we do still need to find actors for one female lead and a couple of minor characters. In addition to this web series, there are three other web series that are in the early stages of development.

• LAST OF THE EARTHMEN: The NOVEL... Originally, I had said that one of the reasons I was going to make Last of the Earthmen a film was because there were aspects of the story that didn’t lend themselves to the written word. It had to be told visually. Now, as I’ve spent time developing these characters and creating their universe, I’ve discovered that there are also certain aspects of the story that can only be told via the printed word (or at least the digitized word). So I’ve decided to release a novelization of the film that will delve into areas where the movie cannot go. The plan is to release the book in conjunction with the film. In other words, don’t start looking for it on Amazon quite yet. The film is still years away from completion. In addition to Last of the Earthmen, I have several other manuscripts that are in various stages of incompleteness -- a state of being that I’ll be attempting to resolve.

OTHER STUFF:
• LAST OF THE EARTHMEN: The MOVIE... I know I haven’t blogged about it for awhile, but I assure you work on the film continues. Some of that work has been in the form of polishing up the script and doing tedious computery-type stuff that just doesn’t make for very interesting blog posts. But I promise: More fun stuff is coming soon.

• SOLE DEFENDER: 5000 AD... The companion piece to Colony of the Damned has a couple of scenes that still need to be filmed (which I’ll be doing this weekend) and one last miniature set that needs to be built (next weekend). Then some quick editing (some of it has already been done), adding the sound, and it should be ready to make its debut in a few weeks.

• RO-MAN (AKA Robot Monster) VIDEO... At some point I seem to recall mentioning a Robot Monster skit. Filming for that should begin in two weeks.

NEXT WEEK - NO NEW BLOG POST!!!! In an attempt to make a dent in that giant To-Do List up there, I’ll be taking a week off from the ‘In Production’ blog. I’ll be back on Sept. 16th (with a spiffy new post).

NEXT WEEK: The exact same post that you just got through reading.

Sole Defender: 5000 AD -- The Star Fighter

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 18:49:37 -0700

In Sole Defender: 5000 AD, there is a scene in which Jacob and I are in the cockpit of a spaceship discussing the eminent battle. We filmed our dialogue sitting in patio chairs at a table with plastic cabinets behind us. Needless to say, it didn’t look very spaceship-like. The film is a comedy... and a parody of those cheesy 70’s - 80’s sci-fi movies that had awful effects. So I didn’t need to make the scene look realistic -- But I did need to at least make it look we were ‘supposedly’ in a spaceship and not just sitting at a table in our apartment.

I decided to build a partial miniature of the ship’s exterior and then insert the footage of us in the cockpit.
First, I printed a screenshot of us to make a temporary mock up. This would help me figure out the scale of the ship (and more importantly, the size of the cockpit window) and aid me in determining the proper camera angle that I would need to film the ship.

Bonus points if you recognize the outfit I’m wearing.

Using foam board, I started building the basic shape for the cockpit canopy and viewport. Then I continued to build out to the sides and in front of the cockpit.

I gave it a coat of hammered copper paint. I also used some corrugated card stock to create some vent-type thingies (I believe that is NASA’s technical term for them).

I also took strips of regular card stock, scored them and painted them with a hammered bronze. I used these for trim and support struts (and to hide the edges of the foam board).

More shapes, more paint, more trim...

More work on the canopy using both foam board and craft foam.

Time to move on to the wings. I cut circles into the foam board and (after a few coats of silver paint) used paper plate holders for some turbine-looking things for the wings. I also extended the back of the canopy.

On the tail section I used some silver scrapbooking card stock to make some pyramid-shaped thrusters.

Now it was time to build the guns for the starfighter. The dollar bin at Walmart provided these plastic flutes. I attached these to inserts that I removed from the inside of liquid laundry soap bottles. These were then attached to supports that I made from foam board and craft foam. And finally, I added a couple of painted plastic containers that were once home to peanut butter-filled pretzels.

I then added silver trim around the edges and worked on miscellaneous detailing.

On the inside of the window I added a photoshopped image (printed on card stock) to simulate the back of monitors/equipment.

I then took an ass-load of pictures and video. I also took a photo of a clear piece of plastic against a black backdrop. Later, I would composite this into the shot to give the appearance that there is glass in the viewport window.

Now it was time to take everything into After Effects and composite the shot. I layered the shots in the following order: (1) A photo of earth from low orbit. (2) The video of me and Jake [scaled down]. (3) Picture of plastic [scaled down, brightness & contrast adjusted, and opacity reduced] (4) The star fighter [with the window of the cockpit masked out]. Then some fine tuning, and parenting the top three layers so they would move as one.

The video clip below shows the (more or less) final composite of Jake and I beaming aboard the Starfighter [minus sound].

Then came the sad time when I had to take the ship to the dumpster (so I could make room for the next project). As I was doing so, I passed a father with his two young sons in the parking lot. The father was completely oblivious to my presence. The two boys, however, were in wide-eyed amazement. As I passed, I heard one of the boys exclaim, “Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Daddy, I saw a Star Wars plane! DADDY!!!!! I saw a Star Wars plane!!!!!!”

I felt kind of bad throwing it in the dumpster after that.

NEXT WEEK: ...big announcements and more stuff

Building the Future

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 22:14:58 -0700

For Sole Defender: 5000 AD, our second short (this one featuring my son, Jacob), I needed to build a futuristic set to which Jake could be transported. As with Last of the Earthmen, I decided to build the sets in miniature, film the actors in front of a green screen and then composite the two. I filmed all of Jacob’s scenes when he and my daughter, Cayce, came out to visit me earlier this summer. Now I needed to actually build the miniature sets in which to place him.

In the film, Jake plays a gamer who is transported 3000 years into the future. That meant the set needed to not only be futuristic, but also contain some sort of time travel / teleportation / portal device. As always, I assume everything in the future is made out of foam board and craft foam -- so off I went to the craft store.

I started with the floor -- using foam board. There is one point in the film where shutters in the room slide open to reveal the futuristic city of 5000 AD. So while I was making the floor, I used cut pieces of foam board to make grooved tracks in which the shutters could easily slide. I also created some floor tiles in photoshop and printed them off on adhesive-backed paper. For the time machine / portal I used some fancy scrapbooking paper and a weird stargate-looking thing I found in the floral arrangement area of the craft store. A few coats of paint, some craft foam to fill in gaps and unfinished areas, some spare model parts, and some Christmas tree light bulbs and viola -- instant time machine.

Moving on to the walls... also made of foam board. I covered them in craft foam, which I scored to give the illusion of panels. I also used some various strips of scrapbooking paper to help break up the monotony of the all-white walls.

For the ceiling, I added a circular skylight. I also created grooved tracks on the ceiling for the top of the shutters. And finally, for the shutters, I used some black corrugated paper with an extremely light overspray of silver paint.

Then it was time for photos, filming, and a quick test composite...

Jake arrives in the year 5000 AD.

NEXT WEEK: Building the Starfighter for Sole Defender: 5000 AD

Colony of the Damned! - BLOOPER REEL

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 23:53:47 -0700

The gag reel for Colony of the Damned is now up. WARNING: If you haven’t seen the video yet, be aware that the Blooper Reel does contain spoilers.

In addition to being here, you can watch the bloopers as well as the original video at:
youtube.com/rjlanning and vimeo.com/channels/merninja

YouTube: youtube.com/rjlanning

Vimeo: vimeo.com/channels/merninja

NEXT WEEK: Building the miniature set for Sole Defender: 5000 AD