Moosehead Studios

8/28/06 – Wow, what a month we’ve had. If your eyes get tired easily, or you don’t like sitting at your computer for extended periods of time, we warn you now because this is going to be one lengthy update.

First on the agenda: Apollo. Things are moving along very nicely. We’re chipping away at our effects list. It’s time to break the news to you guys, though. Due to schedule conflicts and unforeseeable circumstances, our effects team had to end their work on the project and Daniel had to take on all of the effects shots himself. This has once again pushed back the deadline. We’re uncertain as to the completion date but will keep updating on our progress.

And a fun fact for the day: There are approximately 35 effects shots that require some sort of compositing or green screen work. So enough talking, let’s bring on the screen shots.

This is the first test render we did with the new background matte’s set in place. The key was pulled from Photoshop, which is not perfectly accurate, so there are some apparent jagged edges. The final version should be a very clean key without any jagged edges.

Here’s a second shot which we’re still tweaking. The key was pulled in Photoshop again, and therefore wasn’t as clean as it should be but turned out decently. All of the background elements, like the previous shot, were created in Photoshop with the green screen footage placed on top. To give a little background, these two shots are at the beginning of the film, during a montage which explains the origin and downfall of the main character’s father who was in fact the original Apollo. We’re very pleased with the results we’re getting, and are all looking forward to seeing the final versions of these shots.

Next on our ridiculously long update: 3D motion work. Lately we’ve been getting asked to do a lot of motion graphic work (a.k.a “MOGRAPH”) and as a result, there have been many long hours spent in front of the computer bouncing between Premiere, Photoshop and Aftereffects to yield the results we were after. To get some practice and keep up with the demand, Daniel has been creating small vignettes for mock television shows and commercials.

The first was a lead in for a week long series for Discover Channel called “Crime Week”. The clip can be viewed by clicking on the Crime Week image seen above. The project involves a camera flying through a 3D environment, swerving around several image elements and then finally landing on the Crime Week bumper. As stated before, this was just to gain some practice for motion graphics, therefore there is no sound. The project took roughly 6 hours to complete including the creation of the graphic elements.

The second Mograph project we did was a sale for JCPenney’s. This would show up at the beginning or end of the commercial. This was the first Motion graphic project we attempted but turned out decent nonetheless. The clip can be viewed by clicking on the image. The clip consists of 13 layers set in a 3D environment. The project took roughly 3 hours to complete piece together, and an additional hour to create and process the graphic layers.

            What else have we been up to? This past month, we were asked to help produce some video effects elements of a short film by Matt Green over at Filmbandit Productions. The film is called “The Adventures of Jack Johnson”.   The site can be seen here. The film is a mockumentary of sorts about a famous actor who recalls his Hollywood experiences. We were asked to do an effects element for a James Bond sequence in which Jack Johnson is involved in a car chase and just barely escapes his death by doing tricky maneuvering with his stylish sports car. In total we produced three separate shots.

            The first was the introduction to the vignette. The intro was to emulate the highly-stylized introductions of Bond films with the silhouette dancers and flashy text. The intro can be viewed here. Once again, there is no sound with this one since it was just effects we were assigned to do.

            The second and third elements were from the actual car chase. The villain fires a rocket at Bond, and at the last second the hero whips his car around, allowing the rocket to fly through the windows. The effect was done by modeling the rocket in Maya, and applying the lighting, shading, shadowing, flame and camera shake in after effects. The clip containing both of these shots can be viewed here.

In other news, we’ve been working with Noa/Rice digital again to produce their production company animation. The logo itself was modeled in Maya, and then imported into After Effects where the text and sky elements were added. The animation involves a camera spinning around the monument and the pulling out to reveal the sky and text. The project took approximately 15 hours to do. Although it took quite some time to produce, we’re pleased with the results.

Above is the orthographic view of the project as seen in Maya.

We’ve caught wind of several film festivals who are interested in Apollo, and therefore our priority is to complete the film as soon as possible. If we can stay on task without any side tracks, Moosehead Studios hopes to have the film ready within the next couple of months. Keep checking back for more updates on Apollo and our other projects.

As a final note, our e-mail address has been temporarily disabled so if there are any questions or comments, please e-mail us at copple@gmail.com