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