Post 28: A rough test movie at D-47

   Christopher is coming this morning to look at what I got, advise me on technical aspects of the project, and give me his Artistic opinion. 
  PTTR has a meeting on Monday for the participants to discuss needs and progress. They asked that we bring what we have to show, so I spent most of the day yesterday reworking my previous full length test with some new roughed in sequences and place holder still images, moving some sequences, and adding some sound effects and music.
 I posted several sizes in my Dropbox Public Folder:
        PTTR2011TEST5/27-BIG
        PTTR2011TEST5/25-MEDIUM
        PTTR2011TEST5/25-SMALL

Post 27: The Run Down Building

   I had to redo it twice because I forgot to save and lost the first version... I hate when that happens... But the good thing is that the second version is better. I am trying to decide whether to keep the stark black background, or go to a dark brown as in the bottom center window. The old plywood is a nice touch.
  Now, I got to go back and break the glass, and then break it some more till the holes are big enough to let the snake go through. Of course, I could break chunks as part of the stop motion animation as the snake pushes them out. The cutouts in the wood panel would have to be the full size of the opening, and sections of glass could be snipped out from the photograph pasted to it as the snake moves.The chunks could be animated falling down too.

Post 26: A Route 66 Service Station

   I wanted to go ahead and build the set for the snakes animation, so yesterday morning, I started to work of the idea of a decaying sequence leading to an abandoned building with a darker run down facade with broken windows through which snakes could weave, but with window frames still in place for the snakes to have support when I very slowly inch them in and out of openings to shoot the stop motion sequence. 
  But somehow, things took a different turn, and I ended up with a funky Service Station on Route 66, with vintage enameled signs covering the facade, and an old Model T parked inside(a picture I shot on Route 66 couple of summers ago). 
   That's not exactly whatI was shooting for, but I am pleased with the picture, and it will be a good addition to the Time Travel sequence as part of the beginning "decay". I will get back to that right now.

Post 25: Working on the Fire

  This is one of the key sequences of the show, and I have been thinking of the best way to achieve the effect: build a model and burn it, video instances of fire and combine them in After Effects, create virtual fire in software, or somehow animate the still images to give the illusion of burning fire?
  Software fire is not realistic, real fire is dangerous and difficult to control and video. I chose to find as many pictures of fire as possible and "animate" them. I found a great source for sequences of images of different fires at Mega-Tex Studios. Using these and others combined and blended, I created several Test Fire Animations.

Post 24:Roughing in the Rebuilding Sequence

  This is a very rough first draft, in fact, I am not even using the appropriately "new" construction blocks,just pieces of the actual building, and the crane is not used to move anything yet. I just wanted to get the general effect. 
  You can see 2 different sizes test movies In my Dropbox:
        016REBUILDING-TEST2-SMALL
        016REBUILDING-TEST2-BIG
 A considerable amount of work remains to be done: in a first stage, create all the clean "new" building blocks out of the dirty ones, and then make the crane pick them up and drop them in place one by one with appropriate sound effects. A complicated refinement to be attempted later if there is time is to make the blocks 3D, and have them move in space and rotate as they are lifted and installed.

Post 23: Roughing in the Radio Sequence

    I spent all day today roughing in the complete radio sequence. My reasoning is that it would be difficult to explain precisely enough what I want with words, and it is easier to demonstrate it in a rough movie. Plus I have to research and find images and sounds, choose the best, and process them to my liking. 
  Volunteers can refine pick up here and refine it later, if any appear to help.
   I believe I will apply the same procedure to all the sequences: first rough them in, then polish and refine, and then if there is time, polish and elaborate some more... For example, the mechanical hand is pretty effective as a still image, but it would be better if the fingers and the wrist had at least some limited animation, and that can be added later if we have time. Refinements may not be noticeable enough in the final projection to warrant spending a lot of time on them.
  The video does not seem to play well, so here is a link to 2 different sizes in my Dropbox:
          RADIOTEST2-SMALL
                                  RADIOTEST2-BIG

Post 22: "Ruins Under the Sea"

 As I was waiting to start on the snakes, I played around with the idea of the fish tank, but things have a way of taking a life of their own, and the fish tank turned into Ruins Under the Sea, with a coral reef, fluorescent purple anemones, a school of sardines swirling, and a blowfish swimming around with a starfish. We could make the anemone flutter, the sardines swirl, and the blowfish puff up as the starfish touches it.
   Actually, instead of starting on the snakes, I played with this one a little more and made a test movie:

Since these don't seem to work too well, here are links to 2 different sizes in my Dropbox:
      RUINSUNDERTHESEA-TEST1-SMALL
      RUINSUNDERTHESEA-TEST1-BIG

Post 21: The Snakes Sequence

   This picture is merely a place holder in the Storyboard, and I have to figure out how to animate the snakes(I only have two).
  I first thought of doing a stop motion animation in front of a 30" x 45" or so wooden blue screen cut out with holes matching the doors and windows of the actual building, keying out the snakes, and layering the animation in After Effects on an image of the facade. But the problem would be in getting realistic software shadows.
   To get the realism I am after, it seems I am going to have to actually glue a photograph of the facade to the board.
  In that case, what photograph? It could be the  burnt out building(the bright colored snakes would look good on that darker background:

  On the other hand, if the window frames were in, the animation would be both more intricate (there would be more possible paths),and easier , as the frames would provide structure and support to the snakes, especially in the lower part of the building. But the just rebuilt "new" facade is more light in color and would not be as interesting a background:

   So, may be I should create a special background image of the facade in a "run down derelict abandoned " state with broken windows, but with most of the frames and the doors still in place...

Post 20: The Cabinet of Curiosities

  I spent a whole day working on this composition, working from my vast library of images of my collections, mixed with some pictures collected on the Internet, and am pretty happy with the result. Once upon a time, when I had boundless energy, and still had hopes of recognition as a painter, I would have made it into a painting, which probably would have taken me months to complete, and would most likely be in my collection...Just too weird to sell, there are not enough weirdos with money out there to buy my work! Plus I have become lazy, and spending months pushing a paint brush to more or less reproduce this image does not seem worthwhile anymore... I am digressing...
  Anyhow,the composition was built in Photoshop using png files, and each object is on a separate layer, so the whole thing can be opened in After Effects, and the objects animated individually.
  I can think of a number of things to do: start with empty shelves , and either have the objects appear magically and fall in place, may be even jumping from one slot to another. Or the mechanical hand could move them. We could have a "Nutcracker" kind of sequence where they come alive at night, move, turn and talk. That would probably require some stop motion animation for some of them, or at least using the puppet tool. 

Post 19: The New Cabinet of Drawers

   Here is the new "improved" Cabinet of Drawers with more drawers to play with than the original design. I am very happy that Christopher has volunteered to model it in Maya so the drawers can be animated, and project realistic shadows when they move in and out. I would like stuff to come in and out, and tumble from from to the next drawer, possibly a mechanical hand open one, drop something in and close it. I have not watched it in a long time, but I am thinking of the fabulous 1974 animation "The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer" by the Brothers Quay .

POST 18: Modifications, and More Whacky ideas!

I started improving my "Chest of Drawer" with more drawers and better "Burl Oak" veneers. So hold off a little before you start making them go in and out with the beat, I will post a new folder shortly. Actually, I made a brief test a year or so ago animating my 17th Century "Spanish Vargueno":

  And then, more ideas are brewing up: a "Jukebox, a Puppet Theatre, a "Collector's Cabinet of Curiosities" with little cubicles full of weird stuff(I got plenty of that!),a Fishtank, a Greek Temple Ruin, an Astronomical clock...

POST 17: Fifth "Transformation" as a "Faux Marble Italianate Church Altar"

   I have been up since 5 o'clock this morning putting this one together, and it was again great fun looking for and choosing all the pieces of the puzzle from my numerous collection of Religious Art pictures. I didn't make anything up, and I hope our traditional Southern Baptists don't see it as sacrilegious...Italians would probably understand it better.
   As some of you may already know, the three main figures come from the most famous painting by Jan Van Eyck: the Ghent's Cathedral "Altarpiece of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb". I just slightly "super sized" Adam and Eve, the American way...
  The Sacrificial Lamb is an "Agnus Dei" by Zurbaran. The statues on each side of the Altar are Judith holding the head of Holophernes and her servant(the servant is always there so as not to get her confused with Salome holding the head of John the Baptist, a theme I actually recently treated photographically in my recent "Self Portraits Gaga" Series.
  I am not sure yet what is going to happen in front of this altar. I could see Judith do a little Salome Dance, the candles burn out, the red drape catch on fire,the dead bishop get up and leave,my mechanical puppet celebrating mass, the dog jump down, the doves shot down, etc...I won't even mention actually sacrificing the Lamb and blood running down the Altar...You may think of better gags too, I am open to any suggestions...

POST 16: Fourth "Tansformation" as an Old Time Tube Radio

   This one was a lot of fun to put together. I have collected pictures of old radios for years, and got to make one up to fit the façade with parts and pieces of different sets. I know I want the hand to turn the knob and have the corresponding sound effects. Todd suggested that it looked a bit like a face, and that we could make it speak or sing. The tubes will have to glow and pulse, the speakers to shake, the needle to turn.
  I want to take the opportunity to make people listen at the famous premonitory key phrases of President Eisenhower farewell address, where he so accurately described and warned us against the "military industrial complex", and the predicament it has nonetheless put us in today...

Post 15: Third "Transformation" as an " Empire Bronze Mantel Clock"

   This time, the basic structure was colored a "bronze doré" shade, and I used brass textures to smooth it out. The pediment this time comes from the facade of the "Pantheon" in Paris, where Napoleon rests among famous French Heros.
  The dial, pendulum, gear, pulls balls and moon dial came from various clocks I collected pictures of for my ongoing "Clock Project". 
   The weights are my favorite symbolic plumb lines, and run up and down on little brass pulleys as the clock ticks or rings. A lot is going to happen when this is finished: the pendulum swings, the hands turn, the bell ring, the weights move, the gear turn, a hand is going to wind it up with a key, all with appropriate sound effects. I would like "cuckoos" to come out of the holes and sing, and the bottom set of gear could possibly give way to an animated set of rotating figures as in astronomical clocks, , or a bell and hammer, etc...
      Here too, I have made a very very rough quick test, that unfortunately also plays sideways: 

   If it doesn't play, you can find 2 different size movies in my Dropbox:
          030CLOCK-TEST1-SMALL
                      030CLOCK-TEST1-BIG

Post 14: Second 'Transformation" as an "18th Century Grand Church Organ"

  

 I re used the basic cabinet frame and fitted it with organ pipes, a German console, a bench, and a set of "Trumpets in Chamade" that will blast your head off. This time, the neoclassical pediment came from the Church of the Madeleine in Paris.I used my "mechanical puppet" as the organist, that will need some basic animation swaying, pounding the keyboards, and pulling all the stops. 
   I made a rough short test with the pediment jumping around and the pipes bulging just to get an idea, which unfortunately plays sideways, the new Quicktime not allowing a vertical format anymore...

Post 13: First "Transformation" as an "18th Century Cabinet of Drawers

   This is the first basic version I came up with, simply by changing the color of the building and adding 2 divider columns at the bottom ,wood textures drawers and knobs, and topping it with a recolored pediment from the Senate building. Now, somebody will have to make the drawers come in and out, and things fall from one to the other. My mechanical hands can pull them, or they can do it on their own.   
   I am not sure whether it will be necessary to map the whole thing in 3D to make it work, or whether we can get by with a simplified version using the scale tool on the front of the drawers, since from the perspective of the spectator, only the bottoms of the top drawers, the top of the bottom drawers, and one side of the left and right drawers can be actually be seen...
   I think along the lines of a sequence in the fantastic 1985 animated film by the Brothers Quay in Homage to Jan Svankmajer, the great Czeck Animator: "Le Cabinet de Svankmajer". If you have never seen it and are interested in stop motion animation before computers,take the time to look at it on YouTube.If you don't know who Svankmajer is, check out his "Alice" at Netflix, it was done in 1988, and it's far superior to Tim Burton's or anybody else's in my view.

Post 12: Slow Progress at D-72

      Well, I have been working on making folders available for difference sequences for eventual collaborators, but nothing has happened so far, because I work with the latest version of Adobe After  Effects CS5, and the UAB After Effects class still uses and outdated CS3, because of "budget constraints". Honestly, I find that preposterous, and borderline unethical on the part of UAB to teach hard working and hard paying students a version twice removed from the current one, even if it is on brand new iMacs... 
Anyhow, because of those "budget constraints", nobody there has been able to open my CS5 files and even look at them... So I am still on my own. But there is hope to get CS5 on at least one machine soon...
   As I have been working, new ideas have been popping up that I like a lot, and really want to put in the show. That is what I call the "TRANSFORMATIONS", whereby the building becomes something else based on the same architectural lines.
  I have gotten a larger paying version of DROPBOX to fit all the files, but there seems to be a problem at the other end retrieving them with the basic free version. So I am in the process of loading them to my Mobile Me Public Folder,from which anybody can download them to play with them. It is not as fast nor as convenient as DROPBOX as far as going back and forth, but is workable. Just remember to load back a folder on which you have worked with your name appended to it and a version number so we can keep track of who is doing what and of the progress.