How would you like your own personal blimp?

This is a test I did to see how well I could blend a live action shot I did with an actress/steampunk named Cherie Savoie and the blimp I made for the first establishing shot of Boston. I think it turned out pretty well- Although at four minutes a frame, the sequence took 24 hours to complete. I would like to add a little rock and ease that stop a little more, but as a test, I think this looks awesome.

Well, it's been a while, but there's a lot of new stuff coming. Here's the finished monorail train, as well as it's station. In the context of the shot it's in, we'll never get this close, but if there is, at some point in time a webseries, well, this is where some of the action might take place.

This is essentially a reversed steam engine. I referenced the back end as the boiler and the front end as the cockpit, although I'm not sure a forwards view is even necessary.

From the other side. The notion is, the supports are on the left and the rail mounts are on the right.

I based the cars on pullman style coaches from the late 1800's. The first class and the second class are identical on the outside, but the inside is much more plush for the folks paying more. Not that I actually built that or anything.

This is all part of the Boston Horseless Transportation Company. Now, Some people have pointed out that the support arms for the trains should be bigger, and I agree. But, if I want to finish this shot I have to call it out as a CBB, or "Could be Better." If there's a need for this in upcoming episodes, well, I can always put em on.

The station is sort of a combination of a regular train station and a subway station. The "G" stands for Glowerston, a major stockholder of BHT.

The bunting is because it's the fourth of July. And the day the Hypatia sets sail.

I rigged the trains to stay on the rail, and these last two are renders with motion blur.

A grand reveal...

In preparation for a shoot I'll be doing in the coming weeks with Scott, who will, in a twist of fate play his own father dying, I started to put together this rough comp in After Effects.

This is a flashback Mulvey has when he reads a telegram sent to him that finally, after ten years of searching, reveals the location where his father died at sea.

In the sequence, we watch Mulvey read the telegram. When Grimmauld asks him what it is, there is a flash of his eyes, and a reveal of a lone man barely holding on to a broken board. Illuminated by a fire, the next shot is over his shoulder, looking at the ship as it burns out of control. The last shot (the one you just looked at) is directly overhead as he stops struggling. Right at that moment, there's a blast and the camera travels straight up, to reveal a map and the location where Mulvey's father died. Back in the present, the camera pulls out of Mulveys eye and he says, "They know where my father died."

Obviously, the father and the ship aren't in the shot yet.

This sets up an interesting quandry for our hero; Does he go to the Moon, or does he search for his Dad's ship and the fortune he was travelling with? His decision is made for him when Glowerston tells him to build the bathysphere.

I know you guys are probably sick of this view..

But things have been winding down at work, and while I still have to be there, I now have a little time on the side to make my digital set pieces look really nice. So, you'll notice the new crates. Doctor Grymm Laboratories has provided the gravity retardants, the aether manipulators and the blasting caps. The barrels contain gunpowder, cavorite, saltpeter and methyl nitrate. There's a travel poster on the wall, and I've done my best to simulate bright daylight streaming from above. What do you think?

More to come!

One more reason I know this film of mine will work.

It's pretty wordy. But nevertheless, it's frickin' awesome. Modern camera work, contemporary scene layout and composition in a silent format. It works!

It works.

Herman I. Copperthaite introduces Adventures in Science!

Here it is. Remember, we made this entire thing in less than eight days (five of which I was working so I couldn't spend that much time on it!) All in all, I think it is pretty impressive, and I hope that you also get a laugh or two while watching!

Remember that matte painting I was working on back in the when?

You know the one I made back in October?
Here it is all bright and shiny and... moving. It needs a lot of work, but I think I am pretty happy just because it worked.