Tuesday 23 February 2010

A Double Double Feature

To celebrate us getting Hewitt and Walker nearly wrapped up I thought I would upload my two double feature posters. Might do a few more for when I put them together in AE. Should look good. I really like the way these turned out, and always like coming up with tag lines for each film.



Hope you all like them!

-Jonny

Motion Graphics and Animation Film Night

Thursday night is the Motion Graphics and Animations film night at the Tyneside Cinema!


Click the poster to see in higher resolution

The night will include showreels for both the first and second years. Its the first time we have got to showcase our work since the course started and we are looking forward to getting our work out there. If anyone who reads this is in Newcastle on thusrday get down to Tyneside Cinema! Free entree, promise!

Will probably blog about how mint it was later on.

-Jonny

Few Days With Ollie

Ollie came to Newcastle for the past few days. We got some good "Making Of" footage and got a lot of stuff finalized. We took my posters and the DVD cases to the printers and got that all finished up. Am really happy with how they have turned out. Though we should get some more pics on Saturday for the posters. We pretty much have the intro all planned out. I just need to motor through the graphics in the next couple of weeks. Might end up looking like this. Minus the Death Chair logo.


Please click HERE to see the video in High Definition

Also on the night, after watching some District 9, we came up with a final battle scene for Johnny Burdock. So I came up with a quick VFX shot of the "Mothership" and Johnny Burdocks ship flying away. Really looking forward to getting this shot animated and cut together. Its going to be so much fun. Im thinking of it as a more "War of the Wasps" sort of thing. Anyways, here is a screenshot!



We also got chance to mess around in the sound studio at uni and get some good trailer voices. Unfortunately i dont know how to use Ableton and we lost quite a bit. Nevermind.

Overall its been a mint few days. Had loads of fun and we are really on the home straight to getting Hewitt and Walker finished!

Mint!

-Jonny

Thursday 18 February 2010

DVD Cover Design, and City Lights! (You know, city lights!)

So I have sort of calmed down a bit after finding out that Killer Flies will be on the Paranormal Activity DVD. And its kicked me and Ollie up the arse to motor on and get all the design finished for the DVD. Im in the process of scaling down some of the posters to square for the "limited edition art cards", but the DVD Poster/Case is all done! So I thought I would upload just the cover to give you a peak at what you could get your hands on, if you ask really really nicely...



...I went for that Zombie Nazi Hunters look. Really basic colours that stand out, and make it look all screen printed. I think the red and black really encompass the feel of Grindhouse and Hewitt and Walker.

On another note, I was in a lecture today and challenged myself to a speed poster design during my tutors talk. So I did one for my good friend David Neal (of City Lights)



City Lights was a short film where David Neal predicted the future, Ross Kemp Style! Check out his YouTube Channel HERE

-Jonny

Paranomral Activity DVD Entree!

I am SO proud to announce that mine and Ollie's short film, Killer Flies From Mexico, has made it into the top 10 entrants for the Paranormal Activity "Prepare To Be Scared" Film Competition! Which means that our film will appear alongside 9 other films on the Paranormal Activity DVD and Blu Ray!


Click HERE to watch the video in High Definition

Check out the other film entrants HERE.

You can still go and get our view counts up and watch it a few times! Don't think it will really help with the competition. But if you have a YouTube Account please go and leave some nice comments on the channel!

And also to celebrate here is the poster in Glorious High Definition!



Go and watch! And let us know what you think!

-Jonny

Tuesday 16 February 2010

Something In 3D

Have just uploaded a Red/Blue 3D version of my Looshkin, complete with some 3D after effects just to pad it out a bit! Just kidding. It was mainly all an experiment in how After Effects 3D glasses plugin works. I think that the Looshkin character works a hell of a lot better than the 2D words. I think its about camera positioning in 3D space that makes it work. I also think that Red Blue 3D is only really meant for that slight bit of extra depth, rather than really jumping out at you. Thats how you can get the most believability out of the animation.

Anyways here it is! Please leave comments either here or on the YouTube video and let me know what you think! Remember your Red/Blue specs!


Please click HERE to watch on YouTube in High Definition. Thanks!

-Jonny

Seeing the world in Red and Blue

Hey!

Spent the day making several pancakes thanks to my good friend Betty Crocker. Im a bit full now though.

Tonight for me is 3D night! Using my favorite placeholder I have put together a 3D camera rig in Maya. Took a few goes to get it right.


If you happen to have a pair of RB3D glasses, put them on. It works!

For now I am using traditional Red and Blue 3D glasses. Its a bit of a step backwards technology wise but its the same principal as RealD 3D. Each lens, whether it be from polarization or from just canceling out the Red and Blue values, transmits a different flat image from each eye, creating the illusion of 3D. Hopefully I plan to make a 3D animated film for my final year project. That will more than likely be in Red and Blue 3D, but if it reached a wider audience, then its easily transferable to Real D.

I am just at the moment rendering out my Maya camera rigs to see how a moving image works in 3D. No doubt that test will go on YouTube for everyone to take a look at!

-Jonny

And One Last Poster...

...As I was on a Grindhouse Poster spree, I thought I would make one to celebrate the completion of another local film. Crimefighters is a film that has been in production for a while now and is nearing its screening! So I thought I would make, what you might call, some "fan art" for them. Hope they like it!



We met Miles and Co. at a small event called the Freestyle LDN, where we where the only film makers screening that day. I hope Crimefighters goes well for them! And good luck!

That is all for tonight. Its late. And I've been at The Cluney all evening :D

-Jonny

Monday 15 February 2010

Some Other Grindhouse Posters

Hey!

I've been on a design spree most of today. So I've made a few more posters and I am putting them in another After Effects document later on for the opening. Again, really happy with how these ones have turned out too. Just hope I can keep up the style throughout. Im off to the printers tomorrow to get my favorite ones printed. Who knows, I might give some away at Leeds Zombie Film Festival if you are lucky! :D


Click the image to view in a higher resolution

Ollie has given me a list of about 20 other film posters. Think my favorite one out of them is either Mommas Boy 2 or The Quick and the Painful. Hehe.

-Jonny

Sunday 14 February 2010

Hewitt & Walker Film Posters!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

I spent my day making some posters for you to take a look at. Im really happy with how these have turned out, and might even get some printed for my wall.


Click the image to see a higher resolution

I tried to get a varied range of colour in these posters but still maintain that grindhouse feel. I limited my main colours in each poster to three, to keep the look of being screen printed. I got the feeling that if Hewitt and Walker where commissioning these posters, they would want them to look good but still be cheep. My favorite so far is Foxy Pam Mantis with Zombie Nazi Hunters a close second. The obvious ties with Inglorious Basterds can be seen in Zombie Nazi Hunters. I also wanted to make one a 3D feature.

More on their way today! Need at least 8 to make the opening look good.

-Jonny

Saturday 13 February 2010

Opening Credits First Draft

I thought I would show you the first draft of the Hewitt and Walker History of Cinema credits. These credits appear at the end of the film, which is the beginning of the gangster film we where filming the other weekend. If you get my drift.


Please click HERE to see the video in higher quality.

There are a few things already I feel i need to alter and change. But this is just a draft to see about getting the look and feel of the titles. I think that there needs to be more time spent on the names, and the sequence needs to be longer. Just a few things to rectify though.

Im about to get started on some posters next for the opening trailer. Again its nice to get back into making these Grindhouse posters for our film. I can't wait to see it all come together. Me and Ollie only have a short time to get everything together, with me in Newcastle and him in York. Its great watching it all come to life at the end.

-Jonny

Friday 12 February 2010

Overnight Rendering

I was hoping that my opening credits for the Hewitt and Walker History of Cinema would have finished rendering by now, but it might end up being an overnight job. Its a lot for my little laptop to handle!
But either way for now I will show you a couple of screenshots. I've gone for a Dr No, Saul Bass inspiration. Ollie got the feeling that the owners Johnny Hewitt and Ollie Walker would want themselves to be all over the credits and would go for this sort of look. Really like how its turned out.







Hopefully the rendering will be done by tomorrow morning, where upon I will post the video! yey!

-Jonny

Thursday 11 February 2010

Leeds Zombie Film Festival 09

This year on April the 25th, Dominic Brunt and Mark Charnock present the Leeds Zombie Film Festival. Me and Ollie have made our pilgrimage to Leeds for the past 3 years now and we love going every year. We use this film festival as a deadline to get our films finished. The first Hewitt and Walker was made in time to show Mark and Dom last year.

I've spoken with Dominic before about creating some designs for a future film festival to follow the Zombie Film Festival, as there arn't many more (quality) zombie flicks to show next year! So I used the name Leeds Horror Film Festival as a placeholder for now to create some designs! So I thought I would share some designs I have come up with so far!







Of course they only have placeholder text recycled from older posters as I am not sure what films they might be showing or the date for the 2011 festival. Just another thing keeping me occupied!

-Jonny

Pixarpedia Competition Update

I've been checking back on the Pixarpedia Competition's YouTube channel every now and then. And I checked back today to find the community in uproar about the shortlist of animations chosen to be sent to Pixar. People have noticed that two animations are by the same person, there are 12 shortlists, not 10, there is a corporate logo in one in particular and some do not match the length.

A few of the people, (including me) have emailed both Pixar and DK's marketing department to see if they actually watched the animations, and what they where thinking sending an animation of a Poo to the top animation company in the world.

Again, here is the Pixarpedia YouTube Channel and here is the shortlist.

Oh and here is mine again :)



I If you have any opinions on the matter please feel free to email DK's marketing department at:
dkchildrensmarketing@uk.dk.com

-Jonny

Some Gangster Screenshots

Evening!
Just got back from watching Sherlock Holmes, a bit delayed in watching this one, but nonetheless I thought it was really well thought out, brilliantly framed and paced and the visual style was spot on. The crowning moment being the closing credits; these where handled with such brilliance and looked so good! As soon as it finished I wanted to get home and try out something in that style. Maybe for our next film...

...anyway onto current film making. As promised here are some screenshots from the Hewitt and Walker History of Cinema Gangster flick. We are very impressed with how these turned out and think that its some of our best work yet. We can't wait to show you the film in its entirety!







Kudos to Ollie for putting these shots together so quickly and getting the editing started soon! Better kick start the graphics to keep up!

-Jonny

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Thats Propper Gangster!

Ive just seen some of the rough edits from the Hewitt and Walker gangster film that is shown at the end and it looks amazing! Even in the rough edit the colour correction looks really 70's and the set looks pretty well made. I had loads of fun making it over the weekend and I'm happy to be back filming with Ollie.

Whilst filming we also came up with some mint idea's for Johnny Burdock too. At the moment I am choreographing the climactic ending featuring UFO's on strings piloted by our hero of the hour. Im putting it mostly together in Alias Maya and Adobe After Effects. So I thought i would show you some screenshots of its work in progress.



...and some render tests...





... just to show you what Im up to. As always, let me know what you think!

-Jonny

Sunday 7 February 2010

Just A Quick Animation

Hey!

I spent my night messing with Maya's character animation. And used Looshkin from Bear! Take a look...



If you havn't heard of Jamie Smart, I have done his character no justice at all. And you should check out his website and see some mint artwork!

Night!

-Jonny

Saturday 6 February 2010

Pixarpedia Competition Update

The shortlist of entree's for the Pixarpedia competition have been shown on DK's website. Unfortunately my animation didn't make it into the final 10. If you want to take a look at the entrants that have made the cut check them out here.

Nevermind, can't say I'm not disappointed.

-Jonny

A DeviantArt Revamp, Filming Re-Hash

Just got in from a days film making with Ollie. We filmed some really short Grindhouse trailers for the Directors Cut of Hewitt & Walker. We came out of my garage studio with some amazing looking shots. We ended up imressing ourselves and really outdid ourselves with this one. Its part of a short gangster film as part of the Hewitt and Walker History of Cinema. There. Thats all I'm saying. I look forward to seeing how it all edits together! But if you want to see it in full, you will have to request a DVD. To reserve your copy, again, please get in touch and I will put you on the list for when we finish it!

Also on another note, I decided to get back into DeviantArt! I opened a DA account when I was in college back in 2005, and I only really uploaded 4 things. But already I have thrown a load of my sketchbook work on there from Berlin and some more poster work. If you have an account go and say hi! Link here. But here is a couple of pages from my sketchbook to take a look at.







-Jonny

Friday 5 February 2010

Another Filming Weekend-A-Thon!

This weekend I get to spend some good times filming in my mums garage with Sir Ollie Bostock of Moorlands Films again. We tend to do this once every now and then; get together and spend a day filming and getting only half of the stuff that we had planned done due to everything being so very very funny all the time!

In preparation of a days filming I have been spending the past week getting some sample graphics together and some sample CGI shots. So I thought i would share one of the UFO tests I spent this evening making!



As you can see I have tried to emulate the 1930's look with the shots, held together with thin wires and embedded with some shadows. The shadows being to bad lighting if we are going for the whole Ed Wood style of film making.

Im sure this weekends film making will be an absolute blast as it usually is. And I'll give you a summary of what went down when I get back to the 'Toon.

See you then!

-Jonny

Tuesday 2 February 2010

Why? Cos I'm Johnny Burdock!...

Just got back from an amazing trip to Berlin and Amsterdam. Got some mint character design from the street art and saw some really inspirational stuff. So glad I went.

Just wanted to show you a title screen work in progress for our next film: Johnny Burdock, And The Strange Occurrence Of The Lights In The Sky! Its a 30's looking film emulating the styles of old Film Noir films. Its a mint style that I have grown to love working with. We have shot some footage as a test and its starting to look amazing. Kudos to Ollie for getting his new lights for Christmas. Ill upload some footage as soon as I can.



Right! Bed for me!

-Jonny