Blackwell gave us the footage for episode nine, filmed entirely with green screen background. David chose to do physical models for these shots instead of digital. I was in charge of making the models, while David was responsible for prop designs and postproduction effects.

Our assignment was to create a columned great hall similar to one in Star Wars and a large impenetrable door. We had a few recyclables to choose from so David decided that Gatorade bottles might work.

While he got busy designing the concepts for the door, I began cutting the bottles to form the base of the columns. We were going to use 2” PVC pipe and caps for the columns from Home Depot. I figured we were only going to use the top part of the bottle until I tore the labels off and discovered a more interesting top for the column.

After cutting and painting the various parts of the Gatorade bottles, they looked like this:

The door was constructed of mainly foam core, matte board, balsa wood strips, and various parts from a plastic model tank kit placed on quarter-inch masonite for strength. It had three height layers for dimension and the appearance of sliding open.

Once the door was painted, it was photographed for postproduction.

All the parts to the hallway were now finished and needed to be assembled.

David wanted to do that on top of a table so he could get the proper angles for the shoot. I was a little nervous for fear that we would accidentally knock one or more of the columns off the table. The columns looked good, but they were quite fragile and barely put together with super glue. We carefully spaced each column in two rows and hot glued a 1″x3″ board with decorative trim across the tops…so far, so good. Next, we placed the ceiling arches and hot glued them. Once we did that, we felt fairly safe that the whole thing wasn’t going to fall.

Several sheets of poster board were layered across the arches to enclose the ceiling. More foam core was painted and added behind the columns as walls. A 2’x8’sheet of Masonite was placed for the end of the hallway. Now were ready to set up the lighting for the hallway shots.

After weeks of running around in the Arizona heat for supplies, much hard work, and a few other minor setbacks, we finally got the shots we needed (at least David thought so). Now it was time to carefully deconstruct our model to be used possibly in the future for another project. Unfortunately, sometimes your greatest fears come true. As David was removing the arches, he hooked one up on the column bridge. The whole thing fell! Oh well, easy come… easy go!

Episode nine of Voyage Trekkers with hours and hours of David’s postproduction work will be up beginning September 12. We invite you to come see our efforts at: http://www.squishystudios.com/voyage-trekkers-web-series/

Phoenix Comicon 2011

For all of you who know that I pretty much started this blog to showcase my son Todd’s work, he now has is own site where you can see what he is up to these days. It is at www.toddcookdesigns.com.

I realize I haven’t posted anything here in almost a year, but I will get a couple of posts up soon.

Phoenix Comicon has been over for almost a month and I have been so slow getting these pictures up.  I actually prepped the photos shortly after the convention was over.  Unfortunately, other things took precedence in my life so this blog post was differed until now.

There were lots of great costumes this year, but here are only a few with , of course, my son as Spiderman and an Arizona Ghostbuster.

This is a project that has been in the works for over three years and it looks like it may just come to completion for the annual “Free Comic Book Day” on Saturday, May 1^st.  Months of research and testing has gone into the right combination of silicone, dye, graphite, and mold release to get to where we are today.  The actual one-piece spandex bodysuit was constructed in 2007 complete with gloves and covered shoes.  While Todd was responsible for printing the pattern on the fabric, I did the sewing per his instructions.  He created molds by laser cutting Plexiglas sheets for all the webbing he needed.  When this costume is complete it will probably only be worn for two events, but with all the work that went into it, one has to remember that it is not necessarily about the end result, but what we learned along the way.

Gluing was tedious as each web corner needed to be pulled out and tacked while the bodysuit was being worn.  Later the entire web was glued with the suit over a duct tape body double.

All the shots here are of the unfinished project.  Stay tuned for pictures of the completed costume sometime in May.

Special thanks to David Stipes (www.davidstipes.com) for helping to document this process.

A highly anticipated video game with the original cast of Ghostbusters and realistic animation was also released the same day. 

June also heralded the 20^th anniversary of Ghostbusters II.  Now the fans are just waiting for Ghostbusters III to be made and they will be in Stay Puft marshmellow heaven!

The Arizona Ghostbusters did their part at the nearest Game Stop to help collect donations for the Salvation Army and promote the release of the video game.  A blow-up movie screen was on hand to view the film as the Salvation Army painted kid’s faces, provided popcorn, and “pet slimers” for a dollar.

James Marion Winter was in the Army during World War II and the Korean War.  The only stories I have of him were through my mother and I’m sure her memories became sweeter with time, painting him bigger than life for me. I know he was a captain and at one point used to run cable lines ahead of the troops for communication purposes.  There was a time during WWII that he was doing his job high above the ground when a mortar shell exploded nearby knocking him down.  He managed to live through that but sustained injuries from vertebrate crammed into his brain.  He either had a benign tumor already or developed one from his injuries.  He lived for years until the headaches became so severe that doctors at Fort Simmons Army Hospital in Colorado decided to operate.  Unfortunately, the doctors in 1953 did not have the skills and resources for delicate brain surgery like they do today.  My mother was nearly nine months pregnant with me and had an eighteen month old child back in Arizona.  It did not surprise me that she wanted to keep his memory alive as her knight in shining armor.

I had no real emotional connection with my Dad until Saving Private Ryan came out.  The opening scene took place at a military cemetery.  My thoughts were flooded by a similar memory of my sister and I in our twenties roaming the cemetery in Denver looking for my Dad’s grave.  From that moment in the movie, I began to cry.  Tom Hank’s character became the image of my Dad and the tears were non-stop as I held my son, Shaun’s hand, through the entire movie.  I found the emotional connection with my Dad that day as I literally sobbed for another two hours when I got home.  I have never been able to see Saving Private Ryan again.

The horrors of war take a toll on everyone.  Please be grateful for all of the men and women who serve this country so we can live the lives we have.  Savor your memories of those who have fallen and never forget that they did this out of love for this country and their families.

 Hats can really add to the completeness of a costume.  I have made outfits for frontiersmen, renaissance,  and pirates.  None of which would have looked finished without a hat. In some cases, I was only required to make hat when the rest of the costume could be pieced together from thrift store items or forgotten old clothes.

For example, in both of my son Shaun’s student films, he did not have the budget for a complete wardrobe so in order to set the theme, I made hats. In the Chupacabra movie (see Family page), Shaun needed a pith helmet for the main character to wear in a jungle scene.  Trying to find one was not easy (although later we learned our next-door-neighbor who was a mail carrier had one), so I formed one over an inflated balloon out of paper maché, white glue and cloth strips. Khaki fabric was cut and sewn to fit the molded pieces.  I spent a lot of time watching and rewinding scenes from The Mummy in order to get the look that Shaun wanted.

The next film, Atlantis 2032, needed Russian hats for several of the players.  After making a slew of coon skin caps for Shaun’s Boy Scout troop, this was a less challenging project. The pattern was basically the same as the coonskins only I needed to add “dog flaps” to the sides and an emblem to the front to distinguish it as a Russian hat.

Up close and personal these hats did not have that professional look, but on film they passed.  For any costuming in the future, I’ll have to up my game for the new high definition film.

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY

www.freecomicbookday.com

AZspidey and friends are really trying to get some mileage out of their Halloween costumes this year.

This dedicated group of over-aged trick-or-treaters spent more time getting dressed than they actually were at the gig.   The spectators (young and old) seemed to have really gotten a kick out of the whole thing!

These clowns are pretty creepy, so I could see how they would work in a haunted attraction. Although I have been known to make a clown costume, it was never as scary as a killer clown.       

The closest I have come to a spooky costume was when I made Frank the Rabbit from the Donnie Darko movie (another cult classic) for AZspidey’s friend, Ron.

Of course the part I was sewing was the fluffy bunny body, which if worn separately from the mask, couldn’t scare a bunch of carrots (Hey, I live in a world around animators; of course carrots can be afraid. They can even scream!).  The mask was purchased online, but was not painted.  AZspidey completed the final touches on it for that special ‘don’t even think you’re gonna to make it home’ look.

How could Ron see (or pee) you may ask?  Let’s just say somehow he found a way!  See you in an another universe, Frank!