blog Lockdown Film - Sci Fi short

Hi everyone. So I'm embarking on a short film written and produced during lockdown. Its going to be 100% greenscreen and is both an exercise in VFX and a proof of concept for a larger idea. I have a couple of drafts of a script under my belt, and I have already started making the CG assets. A few ships, some are older ships I made, some things are kit bashed and some are total originals. Its a mixture of where can I save time, what will look great, and where will 'good enough' do.

Welcome to the production diary of 'Sorry We Missed You'.

Logline: 'A deadbeat interstellar delivery driver is returning to Earth after a long haul journey to the other side of the galaxy. A temporal event occurs that erases the Earth from history before his very eyes, yet somehow he and his sentient space ship are protected from the event's effects. Now he is the sole human left in the universe, left with the unenviable task of restoring the timeline and saving the Earth!'

Its a learning project to be sure.

1: I've written the script in FadeIn which I have been really impressed with and may treat myself to.
2: I have the crapiest greenscreen set up ever. We will see how that goes.
3: Not a lot of room to work. Basically in my front room.
4: Not much time really. I intend to get this done before whatever the new normal of the world will be returns.
5: I'm doing all the VFX in Element 3D and After Effects and I'm also recording the dialogue myself.

Lots to go wrong, but lets see how we go.

Here's the protagonist's ship known simply as 'C'.

Production01.png


Here's a test of inside the ship in the corridor just behind the bridge.

CockpitTestSmall.png


And here is my green screen :) (Will defo give it an iron before the main shoot...)

Rotot (0;00;21;27).jpg


Anyway, that's where we are at for now. I'm working on a few vfx shots. Here's one of them, I'll keep you up to date as I go. If you have any questions, fire away.


See you soon,

Paul
 
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Looks great so far! Is this planned as an action film or more of a comedy style scifi thriller? And are you planning on submitting it through any fests/distribution or is it more of a fun skill builder project?

Might be too early for all that, but I'd be curious how you go through your planning process.
 
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onebaldman said:
Looks great so far! Is this planned as an action film or more of a comedy style scifi thriller? And are you planning on submitting it through any fests/distribution or is it more of a fun skill builder project?

Might be too early for all that, but I'd be curious how you go through your planning process.
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It’s a bit action with a bit of comedy. The plan was ‘what can I shoot on my own in the house with what I have?’.

The plan after was to see if DUST wanted it. They took my film ‘Fissure’ which was ace so I thought this would be right up their street. During writing it became clear that as a. Idea it had web series potential. So I have a few ideas for future episodes.

If it’s any good.
 
PaulWrightyThen said:
The plan after was to see if DUST wanted it. They took my film ‘Fissure’ which was ace so I thought this would be right up their street. During writing it became clear that as a. Idea it had web series potential. So I have a few ideas for future episodes.
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Awesomesauce. Yeah getting on Dust was my plan too, but I guess they didn't care for our film. Never got a reply back.

Being able to do digital FX is a great skill to have, I'm sure your series will do well. It already looks pretty great from what I can see.
 
i find the renderings interesting. but i haven''t done any animation so i cant appreciate the making of aspect of it.

are you doing all the CGI first and then filming the live action stuff last ?
 
sfoster said:
i find the renderings interesting. but i haven''t done any animation so i cant appreciate the making of aspect of it.

are you doing all the CGI first and then filming the live action stuff last ?
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Building all the assets I think I need first. Then will shoot. Just so I can get straight into it without thinking ‘oh man, I need to build this or that’ Working on storyboards at the minute as well.
 
I actually enjoy watching the timelapses, to see what its like designing special FX. I will never have the smarts and tenacity to attempt it, so its cool seeing it in the works.

Are you going to do "pre-vis" for your film's sequences? I guess some of the early stuff you showed would count as that?
 
onebaldman said:
Looks great so far! Is this planned as an action film or more of a comedy style scifi thriller? And are you planning on submitting it through any fests/distribution or is it more of a fun skill builder project?

Might be too early for all that, but I'd be curious how you go through your planning process.
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Hey, I see you are an editor, would you like to edit one of my films for me? Contact me at drowynaut55@gmail.com if so!
 
onebaldman said:
I actually enjoy watching the timelapses, to see what its like designing special FX. I will never have the smarts and tenacity to attempt it, so its cool seeing it in the works.

Are you going to do "pre-vis" for your film's sequences? I guess some of the early stuff you showed would count as that?
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Glad you are enjoying them. I find time lapses can unlock bits of the process I havn't thought of before. They can also be super relaxing as well.

As for pre vis, yeah, story boards mainly. But would be cool to do a full animatic.
 
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