Chief Bryant, AKA "The Egg Smasher"

The tyrant loosens his grip...

This blog post comes courtesy of Assistant Director Mike. I've silenced his voice long enough, maybe. Here's what he had to say about the shoot last night:


Thanks to Stuart who filled the last speaking role of the movie. We've been very lucky to have great actors with a high degree a professionalism work on this film. Perhaps that is a testament to the quality of acting in the area, perhaps we've just been lucky.

We filmed in Nick's house, again. This time we threw raw egg around his kitchen which is not too terrible compared to the armed nuclear warhead we threw around his living room, but regardless, sorry Nick. I hope we cleaned it all up for you.

We didn't necessarily film in the locations we intended. In one scene the Chief is turning on the shower, but we forgot that the bathroom walls were covered with mirrors. Rather than set a record for the highest number of camera reflections in a shot (infinity), we opted for the bedroom. I think we made the right decision and got some very entertaining footage.

We also filmed the first non-human animal of the film. Dorian Gray, Nick's pooch managed to cute his way into some footage. That reminds me, we also filmed Kroz the Alien... Do we have to put a "no Kroz's were hurt in this film" notice in the credits?

It feels really good to have the Chief scenes done. They've been hanging over our heads since we started filming and for one reason or another they've eluded us. The list is shrinking and Patrick and Nick are largely responsible for it. Thanks, guys.

Gotta love that microphone

Thine sound man has been on the move over the last week or so. Sightings have placed him and his recording gear in Kenmore and as far away as West Seattle in a quest to capture our radio voices. And man, do they sound GOOD! Kudos to Patrick for gathering up some great audio.

Keeping the dream alive

Patrick just watched the most recent version of the film and sent along some great notes for stuff to tweak in the edit. The weekend saw the delivery of some of the first final effects as well, which is cool. There is a lot of 3-d stuff still to come in, this was mostly 2-d stuff.

Also, never animate a digital numeric display. That is a lot of keyframes. Only in the morning after, while contemplating the affair did it occur to me a graphical element like a needle would have made life a lot easier.

More f/x goodies

Some new work in progress shots of the scenes with the rocket launch. Our man John is cranking out some awesome stuff.

A note from the Director

Hello everyone,

I wanted to let people know what's going on with the movie at the moment. Kennyboy has now been in the works for two years, which is a very long time. I know that everyone really wants it to be done, and certainly so do all of us on the production team. When people join up on an indie production like this, there is always the fear that the project won't come to fruition. It is a very realistic fear as often projects do fall apart whether for logistical, financial or other reasons.

When I started this blog, the intention was to put an account on the web of what happens during the production of a movie like this. Someone reading it can see one possible path of a production - lots of unexpected events that can jeopardize and delay it. Some we could control and tried to as much as we could. Others we couldn't, like when I lost my job. Unfortunately, I'm sure a lot of people out there are in a similar situation right now. There's nothing you can really do, it just means that the project can't always move forward smoothly.

We never wanted the project to take this long but it simply has. Just as depressingly perhaps, it will still take longer. That may be disappointing for many of you, but that's the reality. We're not giving up on it. I can assure you all that whatever pain you feel over how long this is taken, it is a hundred times worse for me and the others on the production crew.

During editing, we've found a few pickup shots we needed. We shot most of them, but there are still a few more minutes of footage to get. Mike, Patrick and Nick are going to be working hard on that. Right now, they need positive support from everyone. You all contributed hard work on the production and now we've got a last hard push to finish up those few shots and complete the audio post-production. We should all be proud of the work we've done and support each other as we finish up the work that remains. We've got a neat little film on our hands.

This movie's gonna end someday.

Justin

Slogging

Still moving along, slowly for a number of reasons. But I wanted to share some of the cool concept/preliminary special effects art. Here's a couple of shots of the spaceplane and space station, courtesy of our good man John.

Actor on the Office!

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to pass the word that one of Kennyboy's fine actors will be appearing on the Office on October 8. I hope everyone will watch and keep an eye out for Ken Kreps!

I am now firmly ensconced in a new city, but the movie is still being worked on. Hope to have some more information soon.