We are officially halfway through the year as June comes to a close. 2015 is halfway done, let that sink in a little. Below are my stills of what I’ve accomplished with my first run using Autodesk Maya. To say that I am overjoyed is an understatement. I am proud of what I’ve done, but I’m still pushing forward to close out the following six months with green screen integration, camera movement, compositing, and nDynamics, a section in Maya that controls interactive particle based properties that can be rendered as smoke, water, explosions, etc. Really looking forward in working with nDynamics! Let’s not focus on that too much and now take the time to see how the lobby of my set turned out.
Like we did with Kelly Rogers on Production Log 18, I also like to take this time to showcase another one of our actors that portrayed one of the villains in our film; Suriv. Johnathon Byrd has been working with me since my college years and I was thrilled to have him on board for this project. I honestly couldn’t see anyone else pull off the multi-personal character other than him. Johnathon brought his quirky, witty persona into Suriv and was a treat to have him on set. Key word “treat”. See what he thought of his experience with the film below:
How would you describe Suriv?
Suriv is a darker shade of grey. Very egocentric. Although he has swagger, sophistication, and many other desirable traits and qualities, he lacks empathy and compassion. He’s an “ends justify the means,” sort of character. When his sights are set on a target (person or otherwise) he’s relentless.
What was your experience like as an actor performing in front of a green screen?
I loved it! I have a vivid imagination and like many kids growing up in my generation I used it to entertain myself with stories of adventure and playing make believe. With the green screen I just got to be a kid again. It also helped getting to see what the backdrops were going to be.
What have you learned as an actor from being in this film?
I didn’t learn so much as I did teach. Dylan Strechberry and Kelly Rogers were terrible when they came on set the first day. Quite frankly I’m not sure why they were hired. But through my (and mine alone) brilliance I made them. Like lumps of clay needing to be formed, I made them. As a result both are in LA now. They’re welcome. As for the directing, don’t even get me started. Sorry, I went all Suriv for a second.
BTW in all seriousness Dylan and Kelly are both uniquely and tremendously talented and were a blast to work with. Jeff’s direction and vision for the film has been the drive to keep us all focused and on task. There was never a dull day on set. Hopefully there’s a chance for us all to work again.
Overall I learned more in depth about the ADR and green screen process. As an actor I’ve become further entrenched in the belief that the more you understand the character the better you’re performance will be. Not necessarily to agree with or condone their beliefs or actions, but to just simply understand them. Once you understand their thought process you can conjure their emotions and portray a more honest and genuine performance.
What are your thoughts seeing the set your character lives in, come to life?
Impressed. Very cool. Any time you’re playing a video game, no matter what type of game, you ask yourself at one point “man, how cool would it be to be there?” Now I sort of am there thanks to the CGI set designs and green screen. It’s really cool!
Johnathon is a comedian by trade and has his comedy page up and running that you can visit here.
For the past few months I’ve been highlighting the lobby section of our 3D set, for it was my main focus. Now that the majority has been completed, this month I had the chance to give a little love to the dance floor part of the theater. I added the lights, shading, materials and texturing to my models. As you see some of them still need to be assigned a material for they are still in their default setting of the color grey. Regardless I’m stoked to see this part of the set come to life considering that this room is where the majority of the scene takes place. I also love the touch of having Suriv’s portrait up on the walls. Such a cool look.
In closing, I want to inform you that I won’t be sending out another Production Log until the month of September. I’ve been very fortunate and blessed to have paying gig opportunities for my creative services come into fruition that will take time away from further developing my work on Gauntlet. Because of this, mixed with personal travel and time off, I thought it be best to take off posting the rest of the summer. That doesn’t mean that I won’t stop my progress, it’s just it won’t be as hands on as it has been since the beginning of this year. You’ll see in the image below my goals for the next two months which is very realistic and am looking forward to seeing those being accomplished. As stated at the beginning of this post, we’re already halfway through this year and it has been a blur. I am very proud and happy with my results. Here’s to another six!
“I think it’s a very strange question that I have to defend myself. I don’t feel that. You are all my guests, it’s not the other way around, that’ how I feel.”
– Lars Von Trier (The Element of Crime, Melancholia, Nymphomaniac: Vol. I/II)
