Author: IJ Duncan

More of the same… sort of.

Post author By IJ Duncan
Post date November 12, 2014

Pre production continues.

Production or modification of the HEV suit is going slower than hoped. The undersuit is really pissing me off. The effect I am trying to achieve with the ribbing is proving to be difficult to create without the tools of a seamstress. I am going to try cannibalizing some existing garments and I’ll share that progress next week once it arrives from amazon.

So from the images below: The horse shoe shaped thing is the padding that goes into the top of the chest piece. It was red before, but I had to re-cover it in pleather so as to match the look of Half-Life.

I finished the other wrist and some modifications and details. I have decided to take the whole suit to a more orange look, as per Half-Life. The HEV Mk5 concept art from VALVE had a yellow/orange de-saturated look to it and I tried to emulate that first time around. This time I want to emulate the Black Mesa model based on the HEV suit in original game with some additional stuff and a bit of my own flair. I can only do so much, as the suit is just one part of the film.

I have added a kind of jump/fall shock absorber to the boot for effect. This is a bit of creative license. The feet will be the least seen part of the suit so I can practice and have my screw ups on parts that don’t get a lot of screen time.

The suit is still a big work in progress. None of the really fine detail is done yet. All of that, i will leave until the very end. Right now it looks like a big orange thing. Although I think the suit will be 3 or 4 times better in this film than the previous. I was never happy with it. It just looked fake to me and it had no weight to it. This time I am improving something that already exists so it’s more interesting. Oh and I will also put weights in it. The chest electronics are being tackled soon as well as the chest itself.

Location scouting continues. Some shots of ones I particularly like. We are still waiting on costs of these. Conceivably we could do a 3 day shoot but depending on the cost of locations it could end up being two. I was originally planning 4 but then the producer told me in a nice way I am an idiot and to get my head ~~out of my ass~~ out of the clouds. 🙂

Visual effects are being broken down and prioritized. Work on the Vort model and the nasty green lighting has begun. The modeling of the barnacle has also been started. There is a small team spending a few hours each per week now. It’s really opening up the possibilities for what will might be able to do in this episode. And don’t worry, I will avoid using CG for the sake of it and I am not a fan of CG that obviously isn’t real so there wont be any of that either.

Episode one had only a single computer generated shot (slo mo bullet). I made it in 3D studio max after I got excited watching an Andrew Kramer tutorial. There was a bunch of compositing in post production but it was all 2D, guns, smoke, bullet hits, blood splats, etc.

For this episode we have done far more complex work simply for testing. It’s really an exciting process but very time consuming. VFX production on the first episode was pretty much a solo affair and my experience in 3D is was very limited. It still is, but the experience of the guys working on it right now is not limited at all.

Lastly I have been breaking down what props and costumes are absolutely necessary for the film. I had a bit of stuff from the first film plus the teaser we shot. I have added a bunch of soldier uniforms and weapons that will be needed to pull of the scenes that feature many HECU marines.

There is a urge to buy a bunch of props and what not, but the budget doesn’t have the leway for that, so it’s better to get the minimum required to get the shot.

There will certainly be instances where we shoot multiple shots of the same scene to composite many more people than we will have available on set, thus reducing the need for people, equipment, props, food, transport, etc.

We need to do several large scale gore effects for this episode and I am breaking down those scenes to see what we can achieve for the money we have. Major death count, gibs and some crazy burn makeup would all be ideal. Whether or not we will have the budget we still need to fill the spots on the team that will be taking care of this.

I am hoping for the return of our SFX artist Leanne who I have worked with a couple of times now. She has bene stellar but we have never got any money to pay her what she is worth so it’s fingers crossed time again. If she does have a gap in her scedule I am sure she will need help on this one, we will be looking for additional people as we get closer.

That’s all for this week. We have a mountain to climb to get this thing done, but we have some great people along for the ride. It’s always best to get the great people first and then figure out how your going to get there after.

Chariotdrive

P.S. Remember to get more Freeman glasses this time!

Behind the Scenes HEV Suit Pre-production

Pre Production & HEV Suit

Post author By IJ Duncan
Post date November 2, 2014

[fancy_header type=”3″ subtitle=”for type=2″]What’s been worked on this week[/fancy_header]The suit, location scouting, script updates, VFX breakdowns and more 3D modelling. A couple of suit pieces were 3D modeled and then sent to a 3D printer online. This is a first test and if it turns out we maybe able to do a number of things like this. Still have to be painted of course.

Speaking of painting, I finished some of the first coats on the HEV bracer today. More touch up painting to do but getting more in line with the Half-Life HEV suit.

[pullquote animation=”fadeInUp” align=”left”]The suit needs major upgrades in the maneuverability and survivability areas.[/pullquote]I am reworking every piece of the suit from the first film. While I am waiting on some parts for the undersuit, I am updating other parts.

During the first film Bernhard didn’t do a great deal of activity. Just the zombie smashing. In the second episode he’s also running, jumping, falling, etc. I only have enough budget for one suit but if we screw it up on set we could be SOL. During the zombie smashing in the first episode he tore the hell out of it and smashed the only pair of glasses we had. I was super gluing them back together on set.

The suit needs major upgrades in the maneuverability and survivability areas. So am going to attempt to produce a few extra pieces and seriously rework the undersuit and how it connects to the oversuit. He also has to be able to take it on and off a little easier. During the filming he will have to have a person constantly wrangling the suit when the camera is not rolling. Making sure its all lined up, any touchups to paint, hair and makeup.

Rodrigo and Zeke have been at work on the 3D stuff. Rodrigo has been breaking down all VFX, reworking the headcrab 3D model and building some parts of the suit for 3D printing. Zeke has been working on the turret that will be featured early in the story. At this point I am still not sure if we will need to construct one practically, I am hoping to cheat it with a nice cut away however we might also consider a green cylinder that we replace later. Building one for real is costly and time consuming and I have enough to do.

Locations in both Los Angeles and San Francisco were scouted. Our shoot schedule has us running into the possibility of rain during the filming. We will be prepared for that but likely have to shoot rain or shine. I will post more updates on locations as they come up. Location scouting is still by far the most important thing we are doing. Each day of shooting is very expensive, even with all the free help some general crew positions will still have to be paid. The better the location, the more can be shot and the cheaper it gets.

Ok well that’s about it for this week.

Thanks,

Chariotdrive

Stuff used and or purchased during this week.

Here’s the WIP of the model and texture map for the HEV charger. Rodrigo created the 3D model and then we both worked on a basic texture in photoshop.

Tags HEV Suit

Pre-production

Production is a GO!

Post author By IJ Duncan
Post date October 27, 2014

After months of seemingly endless delays and missed opportunities the production is finally picking up pace. All the pieces are falling into place and the excitement is building again.

First of all I want to apologize for being silent. I was going by the mantra, the only news should be good news, but a few people pointed out on facebook that any news is important. So I’m going to remedy that.

Here goes…

I have been working on the HEV suit. It’s really coming together. The under suit is proving tricky, at one point I had lined up a seamstress, but it fell through. However I had a realization that I could use a wetsuit as a platform for the under suit and that is working really well. I had shipped to Bernhard (Freeman) for sizing. Below in the middle is the wetsuit on a chest bust stuffed with t-shirts and underwear.

Tons of painting still to do and I am planning to get some pieces 3D printed. 3D printing is more economical than sculpting them by hand, so long as the pieces are small. I also have my trusty father working on the electronics panel on the front of the HEV suit. He did some pretty amazing work on another project I worked on a long time ago. Lots of LEDs and fans on dimmers and stuff all running on batteries inside a helmet.

I want to provide something that looks cool and I will stay as close to the Black Mesa model below as I feel I should. In the end keeping cost of materials low is imperative. I have been tempted to add some flair and the image to the bottom right is inspiration for that although something as complex is not possible for this productions small budget. I have worked on films where the cost to create a suit was many times the entire amount we have raised and for perspective the cost of producing the Robocop suit in the videos below was over 1 million dollars. Yeah I am just making one orange foam suit but every time a new piece is made it is being made for the first time. Anyway I am very happy with how its looking so far.

I look at these images above and watch the videos below when I need inspiration. Awesome!

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Steve Wang is committed to providing a Vortigaunt puppet and we will likely shoot it on set, on green screen and also take a 3D scan of it. That should begin creation in the first week of November. This is an insane process which I hope he will completely document. First he will literally have to hand sculpt the model in clay and then create a mold that can be used for the outer skin and body of the puppet. After that I have no idea what the process is. I have never been part of that type of creation. Here’s a link to amazing Steve Wang imagery, some recent stuff for RIOT games featuring League of Legends characters I have seen in person and they are epic. Money well spent. A true legend this guy is.

With that in mind creating as much in GC as possible to reduce cost in the production has been of great importance to me. Here’s a couple of examples put together by what’s shaping up to be a pretty amazing VFX team. Creating back ground props and set dressing in 3D will save enormous cost and complexity and will allow us to move fast on set. See the test videos below.

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Fingers crossed I can keep hold of these guys through and after production. They have been putting in the effort and made some great stuff.

So much more CG is planned but the focus now is on the things that are required for the shoot itself to happen. We are looking at a 4 day shoot in the Marin Headlands. There are some awesome old school batteries from pre world war 2 that have a cool industrial look similar to the game. We are also considering some refinery type locations in the Los Angeles area. A decision will have to be made within the next couple of weeks. Permits, the costs of having park rangers, insurance, etc all play a part in the decision. We need to get all the shots in one location. One exterior and one interior. Two days at each location is planned.

Although the plan is to do a lot of effects in CG after the film is shot, there are plans to have practical effects as well. The rules in California are really strict so there is typically no outside fire or smoke. We can fake it and then we will do some compressed air cannons for debris. See video below, it’s pretty underwhelming but its basically filled with dirt. When it comes time on set we will use some pre made movie debris mix.

Thanks to all those that reached out about music. As soon as we get into post production we will reach out and see if anyone still wants to donate their time to compose and go from there.

The script was broken down some time ago and many costumes and props necessary for production have been purchased. These need to be roughed up and toned for the film. Stone washing, sanding, etc. There are numerous guard and HECU soldiers costumes, wepons etc. A lot of the time we will probably reuse the same costumes for multiple actors since we dont want to spend on costumes that can be shared. We will also have several zombie costume variations although only one Headcrab mask. This will be shared, wearing the mask for any great length of time is not fun at all anyway.

I would love to make another but its gonna have to be one that we duplicate with some CG wizzardry.

There are some scenes in the script that involve the G-Man and dialog that he has never said in game. I am still looking at the dilemma of pulling off that voice which is so specific. We had reached out to the actual voice actor but never heard anything. I assume that is a tricky line to cross for any talent. I have the perfect actor to play the G-Man so we will probably shoot several options and alow for ADR in post or a solution that has not yet presented itself.

Wrapping up then, with at least weekly updates to follow.

Thanks again to everyone that donated. We are finally bearing down on it and it’s shaping up to be amazing. There are some really special moments in the script, we have fantastic actors and crew and I cant wait for everyone to see the final film.

best,

Chariotdrive

Behind the Scenes Crowdfunding Pre-production

2 Weeks Left on Kickstarter

Post author By IJ Duncan
Post date February 6, 2014

We will have raised over $40K for The Freeman Chronicles by the time Kickstarter ends.

I really can’t believe it.

That’s a great achievement by the fans and supporters of the game. I can honestly say given time we can truly make something worthy of that support. [pullquote align=”left or right”]We’re gonna play close attention to what Uwe Boll has accomplished[/pullquote]We’re gonna play close attention to what Uwe Boll has accomplished and then do absolutely nothing like it.

This week we have been working a lot on the campaign, the support on Facebook has been great. There are a special few doing all kinds of stuff behind the scenes and giving advice as far away as India.

We have started on camera tests and some CGI tests to see what we can accomplish with headcrabs. You can see a screen shot below.

We are building a lot more actual stuff this time. The locations will be much more like you would imagine Black Mesa and many things you will recognize from the Black Mesa version of the Half-Life game. Although we won’t have the money to build any sets, we are planning to hit the green screen and take you all back to a very familiar place and that’s really exciting.

The campaign is going well and we are pricing out all the rewards so we can get an idea of how much we will actually have to put aside to deliver everyone’s stuff. Unfortunately it’s a lot but everyone deserves to get the reward they donated for. Since we made our goal, kickstarter only takes 5% unlike the 10% that Indiegogo took. We are gonna be accounting for that 3 grand when we put the budget together.

The script is undergoing some final updates and embellishments. We’re adding a bit more humor and some eater eggs. I don’t expect the film to be funny, but it will have some quirks.

More to come. Hopefully video.

Please continue to share the campaign.

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