FXWARS! "Close Encounters": Team 'Stitch', Hybrid

#1

Hi!

As the deadline is extremely extended, and we have Christmas vacation right now, we’re going to try to finish a nice ‘Close Encounter’-movie!

The ‘team Stitch’ exists out of… 2 persons at this time; Jochem Harmsen and Gijs Leijdekkers (hmm… thats me! :wink: ).

Last friday we had an inspiration-explosion and we have a really cool idea in mind. Our entry will be a 60-seconds commercial, that has a CGI-creature in it and a very nice climax in the ‘mini-story’.

The only clue I’ll give for now is ‘Lilo & Stitch’.

As the script has allready been written, we’ll be shooting really soon! :slight_smile: Updates soon!

Greetz!
-Gijs (& Jochem!)

#2

hey guys, great to see some dutch precense in this comp with apparently some great ideas!

Good luck and have fun! (Dont forget to watch out with fireworks on new years eve as you’ll probably need all your fingers to finish here :wink: )

#3

@ Droidoz: Thanks for your kind reply, Matthijs! Good to see that you thrust in this project! :wink: And… yeah, I’ll be watching out with the fireworks… I’m not a great enthousiast of fireworks (‘I prefer digital fireworks’ :scream: ), so nothing can really go wrong! :slight_smile:

I’ve been developping the ‘Stitch-character’ a bit, and the sketch under here is what I came to.


[b](Click on it for a bigger version)

[/b][size=2]I first did a sketch with fineliners (I found out that they work soooo great to get a more ‘sketchy feel’ of the image!) then I scanned it, and did some coloring in Photoshop.

His ‘brain’ will only be laying under a very thin skin (whoo: I feel some SSS on the way!), and probably his belly will be quite hairy (to have a good reason to go playing with some hair-sims :wink: ).

The current story/script (I have allready typed out 4 pages of script, as I found out that working without any guideline is really bad and stupid, especially when being on set!) contains 11 shots with this CGI-character (comped into a background with actor) in it, so if I keep all those shots in, I’ll need a hell good optimalisation of this project! Thats an interesting sub-challenge, isn’t it?! :scream:

Updates soon! As time is getting short, I’m planning to model and (partly) rig this character tomorrow. If everything goes right I can then do some animation-tests on sunday, and then we’ll be shooting monday. Then just hope there rests enough time for all!

Thanks for watching, and please leave a comment! Have a nice day, and have fun on newyears-eve (and be carefull with drank, drugs and fireworks :wink: )!
-Gijs

[If anybody has some webspace available for the final (for when its finished. the final will probably be around 20 megs) please PM me or mail me or leave a reply, so that I won’t have to look for good webspace just before the deadline! :slight_smile: ]
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#4

Hey Gijs,

You really have a nice idea of dealing this project.
I wish you good luck and support during this process…
I’m sure it will be a great success, because the idea is really cool!

Keep on checking your fabulous fan-site :cool:

Kim

#5

Good luck tomorrow with shooting :thumbsup:

X

Kim

#6

MrsKickass: Kim, thanks for the nice replies! :scream: It feels so good to have a very fanclub, even with at least 2 members! Yeah!

Today we did ‘the big shoot’! In total we have shot 4 houres very intensive (especially changing the camera setups and so). It was a really exiting and all went quite good, as we had prepared everything very well (script of 5 pages, lots of notes, all situations and setups well thought). Though it was quite tiring (I’m really… véry tired now, and I can imagine that Peter Jackson lost some pounds of being director :wink: ), I think the result will be rewarding.

Also -very important!- we finally have ‘casted’ the actrice: Noëmie. Romy (her sister) is the ‘Stitch-double’, if you may call it so. :slight_smile: They both really did a very great job today!

Some pictures!


The final discussion on the little points of the script. Also the ‘2 actrices’ having a break before the ‘real work’!


[b]The setup of one of the shoots. The bluescreen will be replaced with a mattepaining of a big grass plain, and a farmhouse in the background.


And another setup with the bluescreen agáin serving for the ‘grassplain mattepainting replacement’.


Always cool, but especially usefull, some spherical lighting reference (with me holding the… reflecting teapot :smiley: )

[/b][size=2]That was it for now… I really need a good rest now, and then… I need to continue the VFX shots! (modeling the creature, texturing, animating, lighting, rendering, composting… winning :wink: )

I hope to get some replies soon!

Have a nice day!
-Gijs
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#7

Hey! Looks very promising, cant wait to see what you come up with.
Love the HDRI teapot. :smiley:

#8

Hey u guys r going gr8 with this…waiting forward to it…
and yeah cool HDRI teapot!! :smiley:

#9

Gijs, This is really awesome! I’m absolutely stunned about how professional you (guys) are filming!
Really, I do have deeply respect for you, and I’m sure there is no other way then this AND you, to become very successful!
When you have finished I would like to interview you for the fanclub:bounce: !!!
I wish I could be your manager… Don’t underestimate my project! Thanks to my WONDERFUL campagne, we already have 6 members!!!:bowdown: :wink:

Good luck with being creative when finishing this project!

I love you guys…!!

btw; I do have that much space on my site, but the uploading is not so quick…

X

#10

@ DivideByZero: Thanks for the positive feedback! I can’t wait to see what the final is gonna be, either, as time is getting short, and the work to be done is still… Huge! :scream: Hopefully we’ll get all finished by the deadline! And that teapot: yeah, its just the right shape, isn’t it? I’d call it ‘being creative with your environmental objects’! :wink:

@ The_Jigu: Thanks for that nice reply to! I feel very honored to get a reply of you, after checking your War-thread! You really got some very impressive stuff! :slight_smile: I think you choose the time for the more spectacular stuff, while we did choose the more cute and surreal ideas. Lets hope your and our entries will be finished nicely! :slight_smile:

@ MrsKickass: Whooo Kim, 6 members of our fanclub allready! That sounds great! When will the first sign and meet-and-great sessions be? :twisted: Thanks for all your enthousiasm about our project(s) and the time you put in the fanclub! :slight_smile: Lets hope the fact we have a fanclub will motivate us even more to finish everything in time! (We? :scream: ) love you tooo! :love::slight_smile:

About the progress: after the shoot I’ve not had very much progress. Unless I’ve found some nice inspiration for the character on ZBrushCentral. I don’t believe to have so much time to get the character look like that, but at least it motivates me to see what ‘could be posible’! :slight_smile:

When there are updates, they’ll be posted soon!
-Gijs

#11

POST YOUR ENTRY! FXWARS! Close Encounters Challenge:9

The actual Voting thread will go up the 23

-R

#12

We’re still on the run! :cool:

To prove I’m really still buzy, and that we have completed some shots yet, I show you this before-and-after still:

Click!

This time I don’t take the time to explain everthing about it. In every case the background is a mattepainting of several photos we took. If you might have any questions; just ask! :drool:

Prepare for a cool 1-minute-movie! :cool:
-Gijs

#13

Looking forward to it.

-R

#14

Roberto: good to see another one looking forward for our entry! :scream:

Again, there are updates, as I have been working on the project veeery hard the last 3 days! :twisted: Still there has to be done quite allot, but I thinks all wents really good! :slight_smile:

Images of the updates:


[b]
The ‘Stitch-creature’: modeled with 3ds Max (5) and ZBrush. The basics of the rig are done with Character Studio.

[size=2]CLICK![/size][/b][size=2][size=1] (its too big to show right here)[/size][/size][b]

Two testrenders of the ‘Stitch-character’. They don’t have a pair of eyes yet, as it was just a testrender. The image at the bottom is a skin-shader test (fake SSS) on the well-known Max-teapot! The lighting on all these shots was done with the E-Light Maxscript and one directional light (with shadowmap).

One of the mattepaintings that we use in the shortfilm.

[/b][size=2]For the people who wanna see some more production-photos: Click here! [/size]Our very nice (girl)friend Mrs Kickass hosted a fansite (!) about us over there! :scream: (I must warn you that its Dutch!)

[size=2]I’m going on with the stuff! Hopefully I get you guys’ngalls a bit warm for our movie! :scream:
-Gijs
[/size]

#15

Looks great guys! :thumbsup:

You are cutting it awful close to the deadline :eek: :smiley:

#16

I liked the feel of matt painting …looks like i m in a paradise!!:smiley:

#17

Hey,

wass going guys?

did u finish the final short?

#18

@ Max_Power: Thanks for your encourangement, and yeah… we did all things quite close to the deadline… Just hope that we’ll count in as ‘a normal entry’… :surprised :bowdown:

@ the_jigu: Thanks for the nice replies and the interest in our project! :slight_smile: I see it as one big compliment that you ‘feel like in paradise’ when looking that mattepainting! About our movie: the last 22 houres I’ve been working non-stop on it (‘goodbye sleep’ :wink: ), as all things took some more time then expected… I hope to put the final online within 2 houres! :slight_smile: Expect… big things! :wink:

Updates veeeeery soon! & Thanks for your interest!
-Gijs

#19

The last two days i’ve been checking this thread everytime I had a chance:D Its great to hear you are almost done, I just cant wait to see the results :scream: You can do it guys!

#20

Come on Gijs!
You can do it!
Finish it! It will be perfect, I know, because you’ve put so much effort and interest in it. I can barely wait to see the final result. As I promissed Jochem, and now you, I will wait with checking it. Thanks for you link btw!

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