Work matters have left me unable to concentrate as fully on puppet-making as I'd like. Grafting the clay onto the head form is a delicate process, requiring astute attention and countless hours of free time. Haven't had the energy for all-nighters, so the Pope puppet was shelved for a few days. It wasn't until the weekend rolled around that I sat down with it again, building up the cheeks and forehead.
Oddly enough, my return to work affords me an opportunity to initiate processes on the Luke puppet. There are enough stalls in the workday to where I can sneak away and carve out an eye socket before going back in to be exploited by the man. Still a long way to go on Luke, as is apparent with how long Pope is taking.
One thing I seem able to do at night after the long day's slog but before the hellish onset of sleep: Editing. Remember I'm compiling selected bloopers for Scott to tack on at the end of the movie. And I'm doing the same for a very thin behind the scenes reel. So I've spent a lot of time cobbling together the usable bits, trimming out the dreck and rearranging audio, making sure we only see and hear a minimum of what went on. I'm well aware that no one really cares how many tries it took to get a given shot, or how difficult a fake stabbing can be, so it's been a constant battle between what will connect to the average viewer and what I personally find interesting.
The latter category is getting unwieldy. As a vested participant in this ridiculous affair, I never tire of seeing all our hard work on display. But pecking away at it every night or so, it's becoming crazy apparent that displaying our hard work is hard work in and of itself.
Matt
Monday, October 31, 2005
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Clarification on the KW2 Premiere
Didn't want to broach the topic until I knew more, but it's time to come clean about plans to debut the movie. Just weeks ago, my associates and I settled on what we thought would be the perfect date for premiering "Killer Weed II": January 6, 2006. This is the date posted on our website.
We arrived at this date after receiving some misinformation about when spring classes would start at the University of Alabama. Seeing as no one will be in town until almost a full week after the approved date, we've been forced to reconsider. Since Scott, Bill and I live on the west coast, and we can't justify spending a stretch in Alabama from pre-Christmas all the way to January middle, we've elected to chuck our original plans for the 6th.
Mind you, this doesn't mean nothing will take place on the 6th, only that the bonafide premiere will be closer to March when WMP can make it back to Tuscaloosa and do this thing right. Simply put, we're not content to pop this in the VCR for a slew of relatives or disinterested Philistines. We hope for nothing less than a potentially full fanbase. We want our crowd to be there.
The wait should be worth it; the extra prep will allow Chris to really go whole hog on ancillary stuff like door prizes and memorabilia. I'll have time to do right by the behind-the-scenes bits. And maybe, just maybe, Scott will have time to burn off saleable DVDs.
It's better this way.
Matt
We arrived at this date after receiving some misinformation about when spring classes would start at the University of Alabama. Seeing as no one will be in town until almost a full week after the approved date, we've been forced to reconsider. Since Scott, Bill and I live on the west coast, and we can't justify spending a stretch in Alabama from pre-Christmas all the way to January middle, we've elected to chuck our original plans for the 6th.
Mind you, this doesn't mean nothing will take place on the 6th, only that the bonafide premiere will be closer to March when WMP can make it back to Tuscaloosa and do this thing right. Simply put, we're not content to pop this in the VCR for a slew of relatives or disinterested Philistines. We hope for nothing less than a potentially full fanbase. We want our crowd to be there.
The wait should be worth it; the extra prep will allow Chris to really go whole hog on ancillary stuff like door prizes and memorabilia. I'll have time to do right by the behind-the-scenes bits. And maybe, just maybe, Scott will have time to burn off saleable DVDs.
It's better this way.
Matt
Potatoes For Everyone
I've made considerable headway on the Pope puppet in the past several days. Finished the hair tonight, and it looks stunning if I may say so. Hundreds of individually applied strands of brown and gray clay went into the completed doo, blended into the fleshtone mask. Indeed, the whole face is now covered in pinkish skin, carefully rounded at the point where the jaw will connect.
At this point I'm clocking over a hundred hours working on this thing and am wondering how much longer my life will be devoted to reproducing Drew Tompkins' upper body.
Happily, my time is somewhat metered among the various divisions here at Wm. Moses Prods. Between sculpting and making prop necks (more on this later), I'm editing & writing. I've volunteered to assemble the outtakes and behind the scenes materials for the KW2 DVD, which so far has been sheer tedium. Also, look for more website content to come, like character and talent bios, loglines and much much more!
Matt
At this point I'm clocking over a hundred hours working on this thing and am wondering how much longer my life will be devoted to reproducing Drew Tompkins' upper body.
Happily, my time is somewhat metered among the various divisions here at Wm. Moses Prods. Between sculpting and making prop necks (more on this later), I'm editing & writing. I've volunteered to assemble the outtakes and behind the scenes materials for the KW2 DVD, which so far has been sheer tedium. Also, look for more website content to come, like character and talent bios, loglines and much much more!
Matt
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Clay Tastes Good
Now that I've got the simple mechanics of the Pope puppet up & running, I've started in with cosmetic alterations. The interior of the head consists entirely of styrofoam, which I carved down to the basic shape of actor Drew Tompkins' enormous noggin. I then sealed the styrofoam with mutliple layers of gesso, waiting 'til they dried before sanding to a smooth texture. After I had this shape and foundation I struggled to make the moving mouth. Now it's a matter of adding the 'skin' and 'hair'.
As unlikely as it sounds, I'm using oven-bake clay as my medium of choice for adding these outwardmost layers. Yes, I'm aware I can't stick a styrofoam head in the oven, no matter how much clay I've glopped onto it. I've allowed for this, and yesterday bought an embossing heat gun for hardening the paper-thin flesh-tone clay from a safe distance. Works great.
The end result for all of these dolls should be a smooth ceramic finish, complete with miniature costumes sewn with love by the sultry Karolyn Mayo.
Matt
As unlikely as it sounds, I'm using oven-bake clay as my medium of choice for adding these outwardmost layers. Yes, I'm aware I can't stick a styrofoam head in the oven, no matter how much clay I've glopped onto it. I've allowed for this, and yesterday bought an embossing heat gun for hardening the paper-thin flesh-tone clay from a safe distance. Works great.
The end result for all of these dolls should be a smooth ceramic finish, complete with miniature costumes sewn with love by the sultry Karolyn Mayo.
Matt
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Puppet Design for Dummies
This puppet-making business is slow-going. After a slate of trial & error I finally managed to secure the mouth in its socket, complete with a wire mechanism for moving it up & down. The original idea I had for this involved rubber bands and tiny hooks plus an independent lever for pulling against the mouth, but I found it impossible to insert the hooks while preserving the tautness of the rubber bands. So I arrived at the lever solution, with one end situated inside of the movable mouth and a fulcrum inserted inside the back jaw. The other end is manipulated at the back of the neck, via wire. Pulling down on the wire makes the puppet 'talk'.
I can't believe I have to make two more of these silly things.
Matt
I can't believe I have to make two more of these silly things.
Matt
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Pastor of Muppets
Some photos to chart Matt's progress on the Pope puppet...
If memory serves, these first two were taken about a week ago.
These two were taken this evening.
Matt rigging the mouth mechanism...
scott
If memory serves, these first two were taken about a week ago.
These two were taken this evening.
Matt rigging the mouth mechanism...
scott
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Blog Ho!
A year ago "Killer Weed 2" was mired in pre-production. Chris Merritt had just finished casting and was organizing rehearsals. Scott was prepping for photography. And I was stuck here in L.A. pushing pencils. They went on to shoot the movie in different parts of Alabama, and I kept my ear to the phone waiting for progress reports nearly the whole time.
Now that Scott has relocated to points West, that dynamic's changed. Chris, used to being at the center of things, is suddenly the one phoning it in as Scott & I immerse ourselves in post-production. Too bad; I feel for the guy. That's a lonely place to be & I can tell you.
But whatever. Send the guy some tissues.
As Scott mentioned we are in the middle of several KW2-essential projects. In addition to general editing, he's carving out a trailer & I've got designs on some behind-the-scenes reels. We're even lensing supplemental gore footage, so a lot of my time has been spent sculpting.
But the big news is the 11th hour addition of puppets into the flick. So now I'm a month into making this small replica of Drew "Pope" Tompkins' head. Am currently attaching the mouth. Very laborious.
Matt
Now that Scott has relocated to points West, that dynamic's changed. Chris, used to being at the center of things, is suddenly the one phoning it in as Scott & I immerse ourselves in post-production. Too bad; I feel for the guy. That's a lonely place to be & I can tell you.
But whatever. Send the guy some tissues.
As Scott mentioned we are in the middle of several KW2-essential projects. In addition to general editing, he's carving out a trailer & I've got designs on some behind-the-scenes reels. We're even lensing supplemental gore footage, so a lot of my time has been spent sculpting.
But the big news is the 11th hour addition of puppets into the flick. So now I'm a month into making this small replica of Drew "Pope" Tompkins' head. Am currently attaching the mouth. Very laborious.
Matt
Website relaunch::10.08.05
As you’ve likely discovered, we launched the new and improved KW2 website this month. The exciting news, as I’m sure you’ve witnessed emblazoned on the front page, is that we’ve set the premiere date. Time for another hit. January 6th, 2006 in t-town. First weekend of the spring semester. Exact location to be announced by ham radio on xmas eve. Stay tuned.
Post is humming along at a good pace now that I’m all settled in LA. For those of you that don’t know, I shacked up with Matt S & Bill Moses back in August. These guys are keeping me in beers, log notes, and general counsel as I chop, key, and animate my way through the rest of the film from our post production bunker in Hollywood.
Matt is steady occupied with logging source tapes, acquiring an ever-growing arsenal of gear, editing bloopers/making of footage, and carefully constructing an elaborate pope-brand puppet. Word has it that our man Chris Merritt will be making the trip out to LA for a supplemental ending shoot/foley session. Look for a theatrical trailer in the coming weeks...
scott
Post is humming along at a good pace now that I’m all settled in LA. For those of you that don’t know, I shacked up with Matt S & Bill Moses back in August. These guys are keeping me in beers, log notes, and general counsel as I chop, key, and animate my way through the rest of the film from our post production bunker in Hollywood.
Matt is steady occupied with logging source tapes, acquiring an ever-growing arsenal of gear, editing bloopers/making of footage, and carefully constructing an elaborate pope-brand puppet. Word has it that our man Chris Merritt will be making the trip out to LA for a supplemental ending shoot/foley session. Look for a theatrical trailer in the coming weeks...
scott
