ON THE GREEN SCREEN

You may have seen in the backgrounds of many of my pictures, but I haven't really talked much about it: The Green Screen.

For those of you who don't know, the green screen is the green fabric behind my dinosaur, Ray. Since the dawn of filmmaking, filmakers have attempted to increase the variation in the stories they told by means of special effect, not just to create fantastical creatures and vehicles, but to also take their person out of the studio and into another world, without ever leaving the studio. Most filmakers simply took their actors to obscure locations, or made artificial jungles and article wastes. But for those who didn't have the money, they used rear-projection, essentially the classic film version of filming your actors in front of a television, only with a projection screen and mirror. This is how King  Kong fought dinosaurs as human cowered in their presence, and how Superman flew. Still, people sought more creative ways, such as the matte, using blackened areas of two different clips as a proto green screen to form a compostite shot, and Dynamation, Ray Harryhausen's technique, which is essiantally rear-projection in reverse as the dinosaur is animated frame-by frame along with the live-action background, to be dropped into the human world. Smart, really. This technique was used (in some cases stolen) to create most stop-motion monster movies of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, where the technique was perfected by animator Phil Tippett, who replaced the animation board with a wire brace, shook the model between shots to blur the movement, and created go-motion. All these different breeds of composite shot were used to varying degrees of perfection, from excellent to B-movie level. Eventually, the blue screen was developed, most prominently used in Star Wars. A hybrid of the matte and rear-projection with digital technology thrown in, the green screen has your actors act in front of a large blue screen, and later a computer fills in the green with the background. This evolved into the digital age as green screen, and everyone from George Lucas to amateur filmakers use green screen. You can put your actor in a car, and put a moving background behind him to simulate driving,  animate your monster in front of a green screen to plop him into the real world, paint yourself green to become the invisible man, and all sorts of awesome techniques. But how do you do all this?

First, obviously, you need a green screen, which can be either a big green sheet, or green wall. As long as it's smooth and spreads past your camera's view, it's good.

Second, you need lighting. Light evens out the color recognition, without it, your green screen will look fizzy. I use a simple soft light, but if you want to get truly professional, use a real powerful light.

Third, you need a movie editing program that has green screen. It won't work without it. I suggest using FinalCut pro. It not only has green screen as an option, it works in more than one color, has a
range of options to a alter the way your characters interact with the world, and even erase
 fizzles should they show up.

I hope this has given you insight into the world of green screen. Enjoy!

Kelston Hubler

ACTING PART 2

So, on live action.

Frankly, it's very hard. You don't have complete, 100% control of your actors like you do in stop motion. For example, a couple hours ago I worked on some new shots, and my actor, Gavin, wouldn't stop giggling and didn't always do what I wanted for the shot (didn't mean it wasn't good footage, though. Gavin is still a good actor).

Today, I learned some things shooting live action. Here's what I learned:

1. You need to describe exactly what you want with your actors (unless it's a silent film, then you can be lazy and tell them as your filming). You don't have the same mind as your actor does, and he might have a different vision from you.

2. Your actors must memorize their lines. I already knew this, Gavin barely speaks at all in the film. But still, you can't just expect to give them long complex dialouge on the set them expect them to say it 20 seconds later. You need to write it down them let them practice. This will make your film seem much better.

3. Try to keep continuity. If you're shooting more than one day, try to keep your actors wearing the same wardrobe. Unless the film's shots shift in time between day 1 and day 2, it will look like they magically changed clothes. I made this mistake, when earlier in the movie Gavin's shirt changes from purple to yellow.

4. Try to keep authenticity. Unless the characters in your world live in the modern day, try to give them realistic wardrobes and sets. If they're spelunkers, give them climbing ropes and headlamps. If
they're victorians, give them steampunk-ish 18th century attire. If they're cavemen, give them fake fur

robes and rubber prosthetic foreheads. I know it's hard to get this kind of stuff, but you can ask family members, learn on websites how to make them yourself, or even search your attic for old clothing. For sets, try to look for good, realistic locations (Gavin was doing a castaway-style film for the silent film festival, so he was lucky to get his shots done on a vacation to Maui. Made
a fantastic film. I also did a silent film about Mothman, and luckily had a really creepy chicken shack, which helped the creepy factor). If not, use a green screen and green screen programs, and legally upload photos from the internet.

5. Be nice, but have a limit. You may want it to be perfect, but you just can't do that. Be nice to your actors, and accept their ideas. But if they give you the lip and complain, have a limit.

6. NEVER, EVER, EVER FILM, if your actors have the giggles.

They won't be able to function if they just laugh. Unless you want an impossibly long out takes reel full of the giggle fits of actors and curse words of directors, just don't film if they keep laughing.


So, any way, except for GIGGLING FITS (I told you), acting on set has been okay. Gavin had to survive by setting some mushrooms in the script, so I got some raw mushrooms from Mom, who's a cook. Gavin ate the mushrooms, then promptly ran into the bathroom to spit them up.

Antediluvian is currently going well and filming is almost complete!

Antediluvian, coming to a prehistoric, dinosaur-infested cave near you

ACTING... WHY IS IT SO HARD?!?

So, production on live action has begun, and finally moved to green screen! Dang, I thought Stop Motion was hard! I have troubles with actors, but so far, I'm doing good! Most outfits and locations are dead cheap, going to such exotic locations as the backyard forest, the green screen, and the bathroom with the lights turned off. Thankfully, my underground explorer, Rick (played by my brother Gavin), will look great, dressed in a thick jacket, head lamp, and rope, which I got from my Dad, who's a rock climber. Makes Gavin look like a real explorer! Gavin doesn't always agree with me on planning shots (we aren't terribly great at translating ideas, we both have are own visions) but I like what he's done before in my movies, so it should be great.

On the other hand, Hemmingway finally got her due as a model. She worked well, but she had trouble walking, so I simply had her leap away on an arial wire, which was cropped out in FinalCut pro. She looks great!

See ya later!

Kelston Hubler

UNEARTHING ANTEDILUVIAN

I'm happy to say most of the animation in "much to fear about summer" is complete, but I still have to cast actors and shoot the film this summer. So, what film do I make in the mean time? Well, I recently regained my love for Hollow Earth stories, so, prepare for a new short film, ANTEDILUVIAN.

ANTEDILUVIAN is based off the myth of the hollow earth, in which the world is hollow, and prehistoric life and advanced civilizations live there. Antediluvian is inspired by these tales. Although the world is not at the center of the earth, it is an entire a network of caves beneath a mountain. It's inspired heavily by the works of Jules Verne, whose book was so cool, I almost made a movie out of it once, my first true stop motion epic, who I'm certain that my pipe-cleaner plesiosaurs and Icthyosaurs are still lurking in my closet somewhere. Of course, I'm not going to make new puppets for the project, I'll just use ones I've made already. However, I did make one puppet for the project: the antediluvian gorilla:

This creature has an interesting backstory. In Jules Verne's novel Journey to the Center of the Earth, there's a mysterious chapter only included in certain editions of the book. It describes a dream sequence about a fight between a prehistoric ape and some sort of dinosaur. This is insanely weird, because:

1. This mirrors King Kong, but I've read books about the subject, and Verne's novel was never mentioned.

2. The creature is supposed to be a prehistoric gorilla, but no prehistoric gorillas were discovered at the time Verne wrote his novel. Perhaps, as David Standish suggested in his book HOLLOW EARTH, the ape is a representation of Verne's opinions on Progressive Creationism (God slowly changing creatures from one species to another to fit his plan), the ape regressing over the generations from it's prehistoric ancestors for new creatures to emerge.

So, he mystery of the Antediluvian Gorilla continues. The prehistoric gorilla in my movie was made from wire, foam, and black wool. The pictures above show his his face, restored with clay after it was all but destroyed during the animation process. The gorilla, Verne, will battle Harold, my swamp ape, as a sort of battle of the missing links, a tribute to king kong animators willis O'brien and Marcel Delgado.















There will also be a boneyard and mammoths, another reference to the story. The sets were simple green screen composites with plastic dinosaur bones and clay mushrooms. The mammoth, who sadly was torn apart before I could get a picture of him, is a mammoth skull with clay and wool wrapped around it.

Also, Ray is returning for the picture.
















Speaking of Ray, here's some test footage for Much to Fear about summer.
















When it's finished, I might even make a sequel. It's a fun little story with various references to Journey to the Center of the Earth and Edgar Rice Burrough's Pelucidar.

Please Comment. Hope you Enjoyed it!

THE RISE OF HIBERNIA

My scriptwriter has a fantastic imagination, so he gave the name for a new l,ovation in my movie: Hibernia, where dinosaurs hibernate. It's a big cavern, with a prehistoric wall, like King Kong, around it. Thanks to Green screen, there's no need to make the full set. I just take pictures of the wall:

Then post them behind the gate, where Ray eerily crawls out:

The gate and Walls were made with project bricks, something I luckily found searching for Hot glue in Joann's. They're tiny bricks you can use to create the illusion of large stone bricks, like on the pyramids. I even used them on Mammut, for my Pop-sickle stick fort:















I also used the green screen to make Edgar look like he's flying:















I hope you enjoyed it. Please comment.

FINISHED CREATURES

Hello, everybody! Here are my finished creatures:

This is my Mothman, based off a cryptid from point Pleasant, West Virginia. He's not for the project, I just already finished my Flatwoods Monster, and decided to finish my mothman, too. I may add the membrane to his wings later.

This is my Proto-Dragon, Fafnir. I'm seriously glad with how he turned out. He will shoot fire later on, but that's another story. He will attack a human village in my story for reasons undisclosed...

He was made through a Tubers and Zots coated in wire and latex, with the head strapped on. He will help reveal a serious menace in the film.

Here's Hemmingway! The rabbit fur worked well, as my saber-toothed tiger is finally complete and ready for filming! Her whiskers were actually rabbit whiskers. Her legs aren't very good, but she will only have a small role in the film, and her head's fantastic, so I'm happy with her.

This is Mokele, my Brontosaurus. I'm not exactly happy with the way she turned out (my fault, I rushed), but again, she only has a small role, and her animation is okay.

Ironically, the one I expected to be the worst turned out looking the best. My titanavis, Tweety, looks incredible, and the paint job hides the faulty manufacturing of his crude armature. I'm happy he turned out so well, too bad his role is to essentially be Ray's appetizer.

Here's my Mylodon, finished and ready for painting. I'm not sure about him, he was sort of rushed and he looks crude, but his armature works well, and he should be a good new addition to the team.

Well, that's all my current creatures. See ya!

My tribute to Ray Harryhausen

I know it's a tad late, but here's my tribute to Ray Harryhausen, who passed away last year at 92. He was very influential on my career, so here's my tribute.

While I was a huge fan of dinosaurs, I never really knew who Ray was. Frankly, I wasn't sure there really were too many dinosaur films out there. I recently came into a fascination with Greek Myth, so mom rented Clash of the Titans and Jason and the Argonauts on Netflix. Coming from an era of CGI, I was a tad jaded, but, frankly, his creatures Medusa and Talos were some of the few monsters to ever scare me. They didn't even need to explode out of a doorway, screaming at the top of their lungs, the sheer mood and movement of the creatures genuinely creeped me out. This is coming from a kid who forced his Grandma to play Jurassic Park 3 every Friday, a film where Velociraptors pin down mercenaries and split open their skulls with their claws. A few years later, after a bit of research on the subject, I came across Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger on television. The death of Trog and the Saber-Toothed Tiger affected me more than any monsters death, even more than the original Godzilla.

Well, I didn't hear much about him until my old teacher put on a video on about him. I think that's when I was certain I wanted to make stop motion dinosaurs and animate them. I already had a stop motion program I got years before, but that video made me certain about what I wanted
 to do. I went through many trials and tribulations, from baked sculpey creatures, to pipe cleaner plesiosaurs, to plasticine Godzillas, to Patchy, to Malcolm, to O'bie, to Ray (get it?) . I eventually was able to buy the Beast from 20,000 fathoms, a beautiful movie with a fantastic monster, a combination of Ray Bradbury's short story and Ray Harryhausen's concepts. I also was able to record a strain of Harryhausen movies, and git to watch 20 million miles to Earth, First Men in the moon, and Earth vs the Flying Saucers. It was awesome.

When one of my teachers who also loved his work broke the news, it was terribly sad. But I'm happy to know that people still care about his craft and continue it to this day. Richard Svensson's working on his Lovecraft Projects, Phil Tippet's making MAD GOD,  ML Tharme is working on Wildlife on Mars, Peter Jackson recreated the Spider Pit sequence from the original KING KONG, and I'm working on MUCH TO FEAR ABOUT SUMMER.

His work inspired all of us. Thank you, Ray Harryhausen.