2012 in review

So another year has come to a finish. Just the other day, a friend of mine asked me if I believe in the Mayan apocalypse, if I think that the world will suddenly end in the next couple days. I cocked my head and said to him "I'll believe it when I see it." Which really, is the best that I can do right now.

This year was unexpected. A lot of things happened that made me question the path I'm going down. The only conclusion I was able to come up with was simply the admission that really, I have no idea what's going to happen next.

Space Jumper is going well, step by step. Finishing the screenplay opened the way for a lot of other possibilities, like taking a stronger stance on the art direction, and being able to distribute it to my colleagues. Right now, it's still in the pre-production phase. I've also been putting special focus into developing the VFX tests for Fisher, which has been a lot of fun. I'm really excited to see this finished.

And I don't think this year in review would be complete without mentioning the Hobbit. Surprisingly, my review would be like this: "It was everything I hoped it would be and more, and I can't wait to see the next one." I thought I'd have had more to say about that. But nope, that just about sums it up.

On a personal note, I'm getting a bow soon. I'm excited. It's a great sport. I like the focus it brings.

In the last month, I've also had the pleasure of meeting both of my childhood heroes. I've never really been one to idolize people. I prefer to admire things that people have done instead. When I imagined people to be larger than life, I've often been mistaken. Meeting both of my childhood heroes, I could see that they were just people, like me. And if I hadn't been careful, I would have been too busy admiring who they were to see who I was turning into. But meeting them both was very heart warming.

So that's just about it for this year, really. I starred in Blackadder, I met my childhood heroes, and I made some significant headway in my feature film project. If there's been anything I've learned from this year, it's that if next year is any bit as changeable as this one, I think I'm going to need to stay on my toes.

See you next year.

-Elliot

After what has felt like a little too long, the screenplay for Brainwheel Picture's new project has finally been finalized and printed.

This marks a significant milestone in the work towards completing the pre-production for this film. Watch this space.

New Workstation

So I got a new workstation the other day. Funny how it happened:

So I'm walking home from the train station after Archery lessons. I had left my wallet on the train, and I had no money or identification. As I'm walking down the street, I pass a free desk sitting on the side of the road. My house is not nearby. So, I ask some people who lived nearby if I could keep the shelves at their place to pick up later, and I carried the desk home on my shoulders. Imagine this big desk, and somehow I was able to balance it on my shoulder. I approached a pedestrian crossing, and I wanted to catch the green light, so I began to jog. It must have been very strange for the motorists to see a guy jogging across the road with a big desk on his shoulders. In the end, a stranger called Ben helped me carry it the rest of the way, and my flatmates let me keep the desk.

From my new desk, this is Elliot Blakely signing off.

Brainwheel Pictures update 13/10/2012

Hi everyone, sorry for the delayed posts. As I've figured out, my phone can do everything but post blogs.

A lot has happened since the last post. The art direction for the secret Brainwheel Pictures project has suddenly taken a sharp new turn. The screenplay has been completed to a point where we can now use it adequately to develop the art direction and storyboarding. I'm very excited to see where this goes.

Today, I went to AetherCon Steampunk Convention 2012. It was really cool. It's so inspiring to see what some people can come up with. I met this cool guy called Mike who makes rayguns from second hand materials. He made masks as well. He had this cool technique where he had this burned flesh kind of look which grew and spread across the face of the mask, by using a hot glue gun to make the twisted pattern. There was also an introduction to steampunk featuring at the convention, as well as a signup sheet for the local live action role playing club, and a tutorial on how to make chain-mail. Unfortunately, I had to leave early, but it was a really interesting day, and a great opportunity to be among so many creative minds.

New Toys

We at Brainwheel Pictures are very excited at the acquisition of some new equipment. What is this new equipment, you ask? Well...

<---(fiberglass mold)

This interesting addition to our inventory came from an op shop in Miramar, supposedly donated by a member of Weta Workshop. We managed to get it for $5. We are very excited to have this gear in our possession, and are looking forward to learning how to use this in our projects.

Elliot Blakely Generalist showreel 2012

Hi guys, Elliot here.

I've updated my showreel for 2012. Take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH0sTgHwlyw

Right now, we are currently working on the visual effects for "Playground Battle". We will keep you posted.

Eisenhower's Machine

Hi guys, Elliot here.


So I was rummaging around on the old hard drive, backing things up, and I found an old concept which was part of an orthographic projection I made in college.


(Side note: According to Wikipedia, an orthographic projection is a technical drawing "representing a three-dimensional object in two dimensions". Basically, we draw an object from different sides so that we can rebuild in in 3D in the computer. In short, they're blueprints that we use to make stuff with.)


This concept was just an exercise to try and illustrate characters in orthographic views and playing around with different techniques (flat shades of grey, T-pose, etc...), and I didn't spend enough time on it to give it any depth, but when I'm designing a character, even a little, I'll always try to develop at least some small aspect of the character. In my opinion, I'm not motivated in designing a character if I don't have at least some small idea what this character is about.


But roughly, Eisenhower's machine was invented when Dwight Eisenhower came into presidency. In the prelude to the cold war, the Americans were developing military hardware to protect America and her interests. As a general, Eisenhower had the genesis of an idea that would eventually lead to becoming the most advanced piece of military hardware since the invention of the Tank. He theorized that a humanoid Tank controlled by radio waves could be sent into battle in the place of a normal soldier. And so, from blueprints directed by Eisenhower and developments by the American military, a single prototype was created, which was aptly named "Eisenhower's machine"

Also, in before "Iron Man reference". He's not the first character to have a battery in his chest.

Brainwheel Pictures Update: 15/7/12

It has been a lengthy stretch for Brainwheel pictures, but the wait is finally over. After a very long period of rendering, we have processed a ten second sequence which includes eight different render passes. That's 1920 frames in only ten seconds of footage.

From here, we comp it all together, and add more post production goodness. But until then, here's a preview of what the sequence is going to look like:

Brainwheel Pictures Update: 09/06/2012

This Saturday, Brainwheel Pictures was at a park shooting our latest project. The working title is "Playground Battle". We were very graciously allowed to use the wardrobe of Unity Theater, a local theater company in Gisborne. Using a few props, and a handful of keen actors, it was a successful day of shooting. Here are a couple production photos:

Brainwheel Pictures Blog Update 06/06/2012

Hi everyone, sorry for the late reply.

We have been scattered a lot this last month. A lot has been happening for us on a couple fronts. We are currently working on a short film, among other things. But we'll get to that later. Some exciting news for us: Brainwheel Pictures recently got some publicity in a local paper:

http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=27836

It was really exciting to get some publicity. It was a big confidence boost for us.

Now to our film project. In between our own personal works, we have been planning a short film. As it is still in the pre production stage, we can't reveal too much about it. What we can say is that it involves a big axe, a shield and some fighting. In all, a good mix.

Until next time, here is a preview of another props workshop we've been allowed to use.

MR Fisher - Test Film

We wanted to explore the possibilities of using a green Lycra suit to generate an artificial intelligence character on film. The idea was that the character was part hologram, and was somehow unable to reconstitute himself fully. We shot the live plate

This is the first part of our explorative process in realizing this character, and we are very excited to develop it further. More posts to follow.

And here are a couple images from our production diary:

Brainwheel Pictures Shooting - Week 1

Hi everyone. I'm very sorry for the silence these last couple months. Settling in was not as straightforward as we would have liked, but now we're settled in, and our studio is set up. We've very graciously been given an upstairs floor to work in. As long as we don't get in the way of the owners of the building, we're allowed to use the space for whatever we need.

At this stage, we have some photos of a special effects test we did last Saturday, where we did facial capture, keying and tracking elements for a digital effects test. Aside from the camera and the tools we already had, we did this effects test for about $15. Please take a look.

More updates will be posted soon. We're going to try and keep it as regular as possible this time.