Shot: A 3D special-effects composite created for "Into The Abyss" movie trailer, published by Sea Chest Books. Tools: 3DSMAX, Sound Forge, Sony Vegas.
Turn-around: 1 week. A couple of afternoons to build the model, setup the animation, and test-render the volumetric lights. After client approval, another 10 hours to render the frames at high resolution on a single Pentium 4. Another couple of hours compositing a layer of camera flash (using Sony Vegas Pro) keying on the 3d volumetric lights, plus a layer of color shift to simulate deep diving. Finally, a simple sound effect by recording my PC fan tweaked in Sound Forge. Wella - another happy client! Just wish I had time to add some bubbles.
When a young extraterrestrial girl witnesses an evil race using humans
for experiments, she takes the matter to her people who summon a
mysterious vestige of time-traveling warriors.
One fine afternoon sitting in my office listening to the monotonous staccato of rain beating on my desktop, and reading the name on the glass of my harvard door, "rehctarcs pihsrats" - suddenly the email rings! It is Shannon Henegan, an indie film-maker from Zombieduck Films, "we're looking to replicate the look and feel of an early 70's Sci-fi B movie," she said. "We need an original spaceship model approximately 15 inches in length. If you are familiar with John Carpenter's Dark Star, something similar to that spaceship is what we need."
The Flying Tigers won America's admiration because they
were the men John Wayne pretended to be. They were outnumbered, and
their supplies were inadequate. Their weapons were soon worn out, but
the won anyway, and America loved them for it.
Known
as the "American Volunteer Group" they were military trained, and
mounted one of the country's first ventures into covert operations
against a foreign nation. Hollywood idolized the Flying Tigers because
they were credited for having shot down nearly three-hundred planes at
a time when conventional U.S. Military forces appeared to be losing on
every front.
A little while ago now, I was Commissioned
to restore the original 1/8th scale P-40 movie prop. This project has
led me through the annals of history, where I have learned a lot more
about the Curtiss P-40, and the sacrifices of brave men and women to
preserve freedom. Not just freedom for Americans, but freedom for the Allies.
