Thursday, September 22, 2011

New York Comic Con

With my Professional Status New York Comic Con Pass in hand, I begin to line up meetings for this October. First on my list is, Mark Hamill (co-producer of my short stop motion animated film, "The Halloween Pranksta"). The Javits Center is a great place to meet up. Surrounded by the very best entertainment con on the East coast (attracting artists and filmmakers from all over the US), I can't wait.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Tweaking the Animatic

Editor Larry Schmitt times out the animatic of "The Halloween Pranksta" short film (it is mostly made up of storyboard shots), then cuts in the new stop motion animation footage. It is great seeing the film come together one-shot-at-a-time.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Production Goes on Hiatus

After two weeks of intense stop motion production and creating over three minutes of film, for "The Halloween Pranksta", animation supervisor Matt Manning heads back to LA. A special thanks goes out to our guest animator, Zack Williams. The production will now go on hiatus for a few weeks to prepare for the final shoot.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Team Pranksta welcomes, Animator Zack Williams

Stop Motion Animator Zack Williams, joins Team Pranksta today. He is animating on the basement set where two children plot a prank to play on their neighbors.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

DP Ed Pagan Lights a New Set

As production on "The Halloween Pranksta" rolls along a second set is lit by DP Ed Pagan. Lighting miniature sets is tricky, but Ed dominates and adds his own style to it. Thirty seconds of animation is now complete and we are only four days into shooting, thanks to stop motion animator Matt Manning.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Animation Supervisor Matt Manning joins PRANKSTA

Our animation Supervisor Matt Manning is now on set. Fresh off the plane from LA, Matt begins plotting moves for the "Pranksta" puppets. The first scene up takes place in the basement of that old creepy house at the end of the street that just about all of us have on our block.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Voice Over recordings: Mark Hamill, Jeannie Elias & John Mariano

We recorded the character voices today in Santa Monica with Mark Hamill (as Bronte the tarantula and Beck the python), Jeannie Elias (as Penny and the Younger Boy) and John Mariano (as the Pranksta himself), for the short film, "The Halloween Pranksta". It was a pleasure working with three of the most talented people in the business. It only took three hours to record the fourteen page screenplay and a behind-the-scenes documentary was shot by DP Peter Schmitt. Supervising Animator, Matt Manning and Asssociate Producer Kasia Kruk were also in attendance to lend some guidance.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Producer Meeting

Our second meeting in LA was with producer / supervising animator Matt Manning. Matt will be journeying back to New Yortk with us to begin shooting the stop motion animation for "The Halloween Pranksta".