VFX Plate Shoots for Like Moles, Like Rats

So I spent all day today with JimTorres (Like Moles, Like Rats's Director) shooting reference photos, texture photos, and background plates for Like Moles, Like Rats.

I must say, it was quite a fun experience. First off, we starting shooting reference plates and textures of the Times Building in downtown Huntsville, Alabama. We shot these reference plates and textures on a Nikon D100, which is a great still camera. That whole process took about 20-30 minutes, and then we headed back to the office to dump the images back onto the Macs.



Once that was done we went onto the roof of one of the buildings across the street of the times buildings, so that I could photograph more background plates and textures.

After shooting from one angle of the roof, I used a ladder to get a higher vantage point of the roof. I must say, that was quite scary. I had the weight of the camera slung on my back, and it felt like I was going to fall backwards the entire time.




I finally made it to the top, from which I took some pictures of downtown Huntsville for background plates and matte paintings. From after that it was time to go back down the latter, and that was very scary. I do not like heights.






So after all the roof photography was complete, it was time to drive out to Dallas Mill which serves as an evil hideout for the villains of LMLR. I had lots of fun at Dallas Mill, because I got to use the Panasonic AG-HVX200 DVCPRO HD camera that I have been wanting to get hands on experience with for a long time. I finally got that chance.











We shot plates of Dallas Mill from multiple angles and multiple exposures to ensure proper coverage of angles and lighting for the visual effects shots. The cool thing about the final shot on Dallas Mill, is that it will include miniature trucks, and I have been dying for an excuse to use miniatures in a film project for a long time. I'm excited.

Once plate photography was done, we took the camera gear back to our production office to dump the footage into the Mac workstations to that visual effect work to be done onto the raw plates.





Stay tune for more updates as I complete the miniatures for these shots, I will be posting a Work in Progress here.

Well, that's it for this blog, thanks for reading.

Trip To Iowa

So, last weekend I went to Iowa to visit with my in-laws. For those of you who don't know, I lived in Iowa with them in 2001-2002 for about a year. Undoubtly, the best year of my life. So, needless to say, this trip was a blast.

So, we left Friday morning at about noon on Northwest Airlines, and departed from Nasvhille. At around 3:45pm, we arrived at the Des Moines airport. Sarah's mom, dad, sister, and our 3 year old nephew, Riley, were there to greet us. This was actually the first time I had met my nephew, so that was a new and neat experience.

The rest of Friday included a trip to the hobby shop (awesome, btw). I went there to look for Star Trek model kits, but while there my nephew, who loves trains, saw all of the model railroad stuff in the hobby shop. He went nuts. I think we both were sad to leave the hobby shop.

After that, we all went to Sarah's sister's house to eat dinner. We had hot dogs and chips, how can you go wrong...yummy. As I arrived at the house, I got to reunite with my brother-in-law, Jason, who is a really cool guy. It was fun to see him again after 5 years.

The next morning, all the ladies went shopping around at Goodwill's, while the men had their own plans. Sarah's dad and I are both artist, so we spend much of the morning discussing our various art projects that we were working on, and complimenting each other's work. I got to view many of his paintings, while he got to view some of the visual effects work I did on Ryan Vs. Dorkman 2.

After that, Jason and Riley came over, and my father-in-law took us to Iowa State University's Reiman Gardens. I must say, it was quite the good time. They had over 80 species of butterflies in the atrium, and many exotic plants as well. Riley had a great time looking at the butterflies, as did the rest of us.

Later that night, we had a church meeting. After that, the whole family at at Pizza Hut, where we had sausage and pepperoni thin crust pizza. How can you go wrong? Yummy.

On Sunday morning, we attended our church services, and then went to Jason and Laura's house to have a delcious meal. Laura is a great cook, by the way, just like her mother and sister. After that, we all went back to Sarah's parent's house to play Cranium. That was a fun game. Movin' on up! That night, I had to say goodbye to Jason, as he had to work the next day, and I would not see him anymore on that trip. After everyone went their seperate ways, I watched Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith with my father-in-law. I always enjoy that movie, if for no other reason that the awesome visual effects.

On Monday morning, I went with my sister-in-law, mother-in-law, wife, and nephew to Ames. There I went to two hobby shops, and Hobby Lobby. I picked up a 1/144th scale F-15 Strike Eagle to assemble in my spare time when I am bored. After all that, we all, excluding Jason who was at work, went to my in-laws house for lunch. We had tacos. Very good.

Sadly, at around 4:00 pm, I had board a plane to come back to Alabama. A very sad and sinking feeling came over me as I stepped onto that plane. I had had such a fantastic four days, I did not want to leave. But alas, I am now back in Alabama, anxiously awaiting my next trip to Iowa in July.

And as a side note, my 3 year old nephew, Riley, is an awesome little kid. I'm happy to say, I have a new buddy in Iowa, that I look forward to hanging out with again in the future.