Last Sunday, January 29th, the production crew and members from Animation Dynamics met at Dan Ackerman’s Stage 13 to collect the remaining pick-up shots for the live-action, short film Persephone.

In all, there was a total of five shots plus two selective 360 passes for stills in order to have proper coverage of Persephone in her two outfits; should we decide to create a 3D rendering of her for augmented reality purposes.

Christina Kortum from Ravenous Studios once again put Alix (Persephone) back into her chocolate skin for the last time. The process was much quicker (2.5 hours) as compared to the almost 7 hours it initially took last May due to the fact that the application of the skin, latex and facial masking had to be created on set so she could sculpt a layered, broken texture across Persephone skin.

Post movement at Animation Dynamics has been going smoothly. The team has been steadily working on keying, compositing and creating the layered, impressionistic world from which the story takes place; a 19th century dreamscape in the Netherlands region.

On other creative fronts – that from which Persephone was spawned from, is the development of Weevil and Nightshade’s Compendium of Farables & Tales.

Carla Lee, our talented and imaginative illustrator, has been consistently feeding me new drawings, concepts, illustrations, and ideas regarding the characters in the book. I have been showing many of the illustrations that Carla has been creating… but I can’t help myself. While there are many that won’t be seen until the books release… peppering my updates with at least one of her creations is always a joy for me.

In the below illustration, we see Mr. Johannson get a surprise as a piece of pork chop flies into his clam chowder delight. This is from the farable, Little Miss Monkey Mary.

The final layout of the book has not been established as of yet… but I do know the first print run will be a limited edition hardback book which will be sold during a concurrent fund raising campaign for sound development and score on Persephone. Donators towards the project will be able to receive the limited edition book along with a variety of other great items.

Since Persephone is adapted from one of the stories in the book, “Both Bitter and Sweet Was Persephone Inside Most Incomplete” I figure the promotion of the book works proper alongside the continued development of the short film.

Time to get back to work… many things to do.

Please comment and share this posting with your friends and family!

- Mark

Before my update on Persephone and Weevil and Nightshade’s Compendium of Farables & Tales…

These small quibbles, sentences, and non-nonsensical thoughts are all part of new farables I am writing,

“I’d apologize only if it made you feel sad.”

“The lightning tried to shake his hand, as it always wished to say, “Hi.”

“If she could shape a cloud from life, then maybe her darkness… that ghost, would pass into light.”

————-

Excerpt from new Novel I am working on, “The Vastness.” I am a big fan of Vonnegut, Hemingway, and McCarthy… in case the writing style seems a bit odd.

Sam is just a few feet away, sitting next to the floor jack. I can see her dirty feet snuggled underneath her legs as she bounces the screwdriver and pliers around like two action figures.

“Sam, grab me the socket wrench,” I say.

Her little hands begin fumbling around in the toolbox and I can tell she has no idea which tool I’m talking about. Sweat begins to sting my eyes and my fingers are numbing around the starter as I feel it slipping from my grasp.

Be patient. She doesn’t know. Take your time. My neck is killing me.

“It’s the one with the black handle sweetheart.”

“Ok daddy, she replies cheerfully.

A pair of vice grips gets tossed across the dirt towards me. It stops just short of hitting me in the forehead.

“Sam,” I say with clenched teeth. “This doesn’t have a black handle. The handle is black and rubber and it makes a snap-snap sound when you turn it.”

I see her little hand reaching back into the toolbox and after an excruciating two minutes she pulls out another tool and slides it over and it kicks a cloud of dirt into my face which sticks to the sweat on my brow and cheeks.

It takes a few seconds of rapid head shaking before I dare open my eyes.

Black handle?

Silver.

Snap-snap sound?

No sound at all.

Sam leans underneath the car and smiles my aggravation to relaxation for her eyes are bright and blue clouds holding oceans of light and the long smudge of grease across her cheek and forehead is too cute for me to remember why I was mad in the first place.

Until the starter slides out of my hand and hits me in the forearm.

————-

PERSEPHONE

The talented folks at Animation Dynamics have been working for weeks on keying, building, and designing the world around Persephone and her cruel guardians. I visited them last week to discuss milestones and new developing phases.

Vince Nimmoor has been spending his time working on fitting about a proper key on each shot… and the occasional rotoscope for those shots which are not cooperating properly.

*attached photos are works in progress.

Nick Nakadate, ADi’s 3D technical director, has been experimenting with the impressionistic construct of the world around Persephone. On-top of building the geography and architecture of the buildings and environment, his fashioning of what we imagined into creation is going quite well. We are looking at completing all animation by the end of February 2012. Once this stage of post-production is complete, we will move into sound design, scoring, and narration.

Pick-up shots for Persephone are scheduled for the end of this month and once those are complete, we’ll be in the home stretch. Next week, the ADi team and I are meeting up to discuss transitional elements between each shot – which is going to be most exciting as much of the impressionistic dream-world in this project takes its cue and flow from these movements.

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WEEVIL AND NIGHTSHADE’S COMPENDIUM OF FARABLES & TALES

Collaboration with Carla Lee has been a consistent joy of mine. Everyday we are discussing her imaginative designs and illustrations which will compliment the farables in Weevil and Nightshade.

Compliment is not the right word… as I believe the illustrations do more than augment the story beyond mere visualization. They have become integral to the story… for while they hold descriptive elements… they will also give the reader a glimpse into the soul of each character.

Even a rat.

The tentative release plan for the book is March of 2012.

We will be selling a first-run, limited amount of books through our Kickstarter site which will also be used to raise money for sound design and music for the Persephone project.

I figure, why not combine a book release with a fundraiser for a project that is based off of one of the farables in the book? The idea of offering incentives of physical substance to all those that enjoy reading fairy tales, poetry, fables, and youth dystopian-based books seemed like a fine idea.

Of course, we will be offering a great many other things on the Kickstarter account once we’re live… but there’s more time for that later.

Speaking of time… I believe I’ve taken up enough of whoever made it this far in the update.

Have a good day and remember to check your dryer for goblins.

- Mark

The past few weeks have been furiously busy for myself and the small animal that is sitting beside me.

I have recently moved into a new apartment, juggled numerous projects for clients, worked on final edits for Weevil and Nightshade, and have been planning pick-ups for the Persephone shoot.

For the small animal beside me, well… she’s just been making sure the goblin doesn’t escape the dryer.

Regarding Weevil and Nightshade.

For the past two months I have been speaking with, researching, and testing out illustrators for Weevil and Nightshade’s Compendium of Farables & Tales. The process hasn’t been arduous by any means; it’s only that finding the right illustrator to capture the imagery that I see in my head, while adding a new, personal dimension and take to it has required a lot of patience.

I’m very pleased to announce that, through Twitter, I have found an illustrator from the UK who will be creating the illustrations for Weevil and Nightshade. Her name is Carla Lee and you can see examples of her work at http://www.carlalee.co.uk

Carla has enthusiastically jumped into creating the illustrations for the book (between 16 – 24 of them). I have attached her first pass at “Troubled Frederick McLinger Had Ten Tiny Mouths on the Tips of His Fingers.”

Needless to say, I find her imagination and talent to be most creative and haunting.

Regarding Persephone.

The fantastic team at Animation Dynamics has been pushing through all of the final keys for Persephone. Vince Nimmoor has finished keying all of the scenes; some of which were more challenging than others. However, the results, at least in my eyes, are fantastic.

Planning is in motion to complete shooting of the Persephone project. There are five pick-up shots which need to be filmed in mid-January. During this time, we’ll be sure to grab plenty of behind-the-scenes footage.

Once keying is complete and the team and ADi begins laying in the impressionist backdrop to the characters, then the real fun shall begin. Creating colored and layers mist and transitions to emulate the emotional construct of the story will be an intriguing process, one that I’ve looked forward too since the beginning of production.

Now that the holiday season is approaching, the next update won’t be until the new year.

I hope that everyone has a fantastic holiday season and please re-post and comment on my blog as often as you have time.

- Mark Roush

The month of October was a wonderfully busy time. I edited several separate Nike projects for three different companies and had the wonderful pleasure of working with a great team of creatives from RED GATE FILMS and HYBRID DESIGN from San Francisco.

Often it’s the case that I don’t get copies of project I work on for days, weeks, sometimes months after I finish working on them.

Two such projects I worked on were for Nike Pro Training and the new Air Max Lebron James 8.

Both projects were challenging and enjoyable in their own right. The Air Max Lebron James required multiple revisits based upon changed within the animation design and layout of the basketball players while the Nike Pro Training was just a matter of working closely with the client to find the most optimal shots that was readily available and at their disposal to use.

In the end, the client was very pleased and I was able to walk away from the job knowing they were happy, which is what matter most to me.

Below are links to both the Air Max Lebron James 8 and the Nike Pro Training Project.

Nike Air Max LBJ 8

Nike Pro Training Project

As production and development began on the Persephone project, adapting the story of Persephone into a visually-complex, animated short film was made easier through predetermined, well-planned collaboration of the designers at Animation Dynamics and myself.

The world of Persephone occurs during the turn of the 19th century in the Netherlands region. Imagining the world initially fell upon my hands to research photos of period architecture, wood patterns, designs and so forth. However, once production of the shoot was complete and the footage was handed over to the team at ADi, they took it many steps beyond my initial inquiries into art, architecture, and design… diving deeper into the history and period during which the story takes place.

Nick Nakadate is ADi’s 3D Technical Director, and his experience in the world of CGI and 3D modeling is vast. Instead of reconstituting a profile of Nick’s experience and history, I’ll simple resort to his profile as described on ADi’s website.

“Nick’s diverse background includes lighting and rendering, particle effects, paint and compositing, 3D modeling and technical animation. Key experiences include feature film projects such as Superman Returns, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Sin City, Shark Boy and Lava Girl 3-D, Ironman, and The Day after Tomorrow. Nick has also worked on numerous TV commercials. He also has seven years experience as an architectural designer. When not working, Nick likes spending time with his family, cycling, and BBQ.”

It was Nick’s charge to first build the Shoppe of Sweets. When I visited ADi last week, Nick walked me through his current progress and I was amazed with that all he accomplished thus far, in such a short period of time.

Utilizing photos I found online, Nick re-imagined the overall construct of the building, putting it together piece-by-piece and frame by frame. By combining elements from several buildings he began to build the framework for a whole new building, going so far as to even place traditional wood frames of that time period.

To watch a brief video of Nick discussing the Shoppe of Sweets – CLICK HERE!

In the world of Persephone, there exists a persuasive force that offers the antagonists the choice to exchange their souls for a recipe that would allow them to create the world’s best taking chocolate.

As I was writing the story, that persuasive force slowed morphed into a demon that was created from mist.

When I first met with the team at ADi, we carefully went over the storyboards and discussed everyone’s thoughts and creative ideas for each scene. During the progression of our conversations, we finally got to the topic of the Mist Demon and that’s when ADI’s Lead Character Animator Donald Fergus became especially intrigued about the demon being imagined from the likeness of a cat.

Over the course of the following weeks, Donald put together many drawings and renderings and his imagining of the character started coming to life.

When I visited ADi last week, I captured a quick interview of Donald regarding the evolution of the demon.

CLICK HERE to watch the interview.

Up soon: Building the Candy Shoppe

A couple of weeks ago, Brad Mosher from Actual Industries and I worked together on a promotion video for Nike’s LunarSwift+3. He needed an editor who could work on a tight schedule and I’m pleased that he picked me to fill that position.

Brad has been producing for quite a few years, and had worked at the Nike Campus for some time as their music licensing manager. I have worked alongside his wife Annie for many years. She’s produced a number of projects that I’ve directed and it’s great to work with her husband on this project.

The edit was fairly straightforward and took only a few days between the animationist and myself to put together.

Here is a LINK to Nike’s LunarSwift+3

PROJECT:

Nike LunarSwift+3
Producer: Brad Mosher / Actual Industries
Editor: Mark Roush
Camera Operator: Sam Brosnan
MUSIC
Song title: Come Get Me
Composer: Richard Boisson [SACEM]
Publisher: Koka Media [SACEM]

Yesterday I visited the the  team at Animation Dynamics to check on the progress of the Persephone project.

As usual, I was very impressed. Sean Hutchinson, Animation Dynamic’s Producer, was kind enough to document the process and take many photos as I stopped by each station.

Creating the world around Persephone is no easy task. The first initial steps are keying out the greenscreen and installing, in its place, reference backgrounds for the characters to exist in. This all occurs before any lighting details, frame alterations and other adjustments are applied.

Vince Nimmoor is ADi’s Art Director and a very talented compositor. He walked me through several shots which take place inside the Shoppe of Sweets. By simulating and experimenting with various lighting techniques, he can vary shadow depth and background perspective. This grants Vince the  ability to imagine the end design and create a foundation for what the interior will actually look like.

Below is a link to a short video describing what Vince is working on.

Inside The Shoppe of Sweets

And, just so it’s known… what you’re seeing in the video is not the end product. They are merely assembly shots.

The world of Persephone exists in a dream state… a fantasy… a farable.

Up next: Pt. 1 of Donald Fergus and Imagining the Mist Demon.

In one scene, Persephone is at odds with her guardians and begins venting her frustration.

The Mark Miner and the Nike Free XT Quick Fit+ video was a very educational and creative project that Midu Creative hired me to edit together.

Nike Women’s Facebook page describes the video wonderfully.

“A Nike footwear designer’s work is never done. Case in point: Mark Miner and the Nike Free XT Quick Fit+ . Women athletes asked for a training shoe that was super flexible and great for natural motion, but also more supportive and protective. Done and done. Listen in as Gevvy interviews Mark and uncovers just how innovative and strong this new shoe really is.

In 2011, I edited two promotional videos for the Ashland-based, EV motorcycle company Brammo.

As stated on their website, “Brammo is among the most innovative power sports companies in the world, and also one of the most admired and accomplished international electric-motorcycle racing teams; currently the North American champion TTXGP/e-FIM title-holder. Brammo is the leading global supplier of technologically advanced battery-electric motorcycles. We design and manufacture systems for both consumer-use, and for commercial/government fleet operations.”

It’s always a good feeling to work on a project that’s featured on the front page of your client’s website.

Please check out the two videos: One features Brammo’s ENERTIA PLUS and the other showcases the EMPULSE – which currently has over 600,000 views on YouTube.

BRAMMO ENERTIA PLUS

BRAMMO EMPULSE