ProDUCKtion Blog

Test Music Video

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:14:22 -0400

After 5 months of hard work the video is finished. We had a screening in NYC on April 17th. There was a live performance by The Subterraneans with the screening. There was a great turnout. We have been written up on Shortandsweetnyc.com as well as ASIFA East’s Exposure Sheet Blog. Thanks to the OSD crew, The Subterraneans, and all the people supporting our craziness!

Please buy a “Robots ♥ Ice Cream” T-shirt
The shirt is a 2 color silk screen print. This Anvil shirt is printed here in NYC. We have all sizes S,M(SOLD OUT),L,XL.

The shirt runs a little snug so a Large might be fine as a
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Video Invite To Screening Friday April 17th

Wed, 8 Apr 2009 13:48:34 -0400

You are welcome to join OSD for our 3rd short film screening. It will be at Blondies Sports on the East Side in NYC. Doors open at 8:00pm. There will be a live performance from The Subterraneans starting at 8:45pm. The screening will follow. Come on out it should be a fun time. T-shirts will also be available for $10. If you can’t make it out and would still like a t-shirt please email me at CONTACT. Please specify size.

Created 3D Backgrounds For Music Video

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:28:38 -0400

Since the animatic became more dynamic then any of the HD footage or still photograph that I took, I needed to create a 3D background. This would help me get the different angles needed for the music video. To create the background I used Photoshop and After Effects. The reason why I used After Effects was because the group of animators already knew that program. Also we could incorporate the robots in that After Effects project. This eliminated the need for rendering out movies and finding that the animation didn’t work.

Click the image above to watch the process.

Animation and Effects Compositing

Tue, 3 Feb 2009 12:14:15 -0500

Here is a sample or our animation and compositing process for our up coming music video. The music was created and performed by The Subterraneans. The song Test, was from their debut album The Bellow Below.

Directed by Robert Powers and brought to life by the creative team at Onestuckduck.com.

We are looking to finish this music video by the beginning of March. We will be hosting a screening party hopefully in mid March with performances by The Subterraneans. So please check back with us in a month.

Links and Info:

The Subterraneans
Myspace

The Bellow Below CD
http://www.store.pollenrecords.com
Also check iTunes

Director Robert Powers
www.slipperyrocknyc.com

Animation
www.onestuckduck.com

Background Plates

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:43:48 -0500

As our animatic grew and became more dynamic the footage that was originally shot on HD became less and less useable. It just wasn’t possible for me to get on roofs of building to get the angle of the city that the robot would see from. So the way I tackled that problem was to use my still camera and I would take pictures of the city streets from atop bridges. Most bridges cross streets at either end so I would walk up and take picture off of them.

The music video is supposed to take place at dust and transition to night time. So a lot of these pictures and some of the video will need to be treated in After Effects.

First Pass of Animation

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 19:46:57 -0500

We are on a roll, the animation has started. Here are a few scenes that have final animation and compositing. The robot animation and the compositing was all done in Adobe After Effects. The robot’s textures were done using photoshop. The ice cream truck was animated in Maya by Jene Wallace. Jene has also worked for Nick Jr’s new show called Team Umizumi.

First 3D Robot Test

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:40:39 -0500

This was the first test of a 3D robot in After Effects. We needed to see what After Effects could handle. We ran into issues of unusual scaling of elements. If you look at the lower arm on the left it is skewing a bit. We were able to create a work around for it. We also ran into layering issues that will need to be fixed on a case by case basis. Click the image to see the movie.

Animatic LOCKED

Mon, 8 Dec 2008 01:20:07 -0500

The song is from The Subterraneans debut CD called A Bellow Below. I came up with an idea of 1950s style robots fighting in the city. I didn’t have a full story but did lay the ground work. Then our One Stuck Duck group started to flesh out the story. We wanted to keep the story fun yet exciting. We really wanted to play up the urgency that the songs music conveyed. We pitched the idea to the group and they were very excited.

We have locked the animatic as well as handed out the animation schedule.

Building The Rigs Part I

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:32:45 -0500

When I first came up with the concept of the film I tried to figure out how could we make a 3D animated film only using a program we all knew already. This would be easier then for us to try to learn and animate in something new like Maya. Since I started working with After Effects in 1999 it has developed overtime and has increasingly implemented 3D elements. I took it upon myself to build a fully 3D character in After Effects. And rig it so that it could be animated with minimal layers. This would aid in the ability for the animators to ramp up fast and animate at a level that they are used to. This worked out well but there were many issues along the way.