"Sam Rocket" Concept Art

As mentioned in a previous post, my big summer project is an action/adventure serial,
"The Adventures of Sam Rocket." Visually, I'm aiming for a combination of "Sky Captain," the live-action version of "Cutey Honey" and Republic Pictures "Adventures of Captain Marvel."

But as far as dramaturgy, I'm hoping to avoid the retro-corny parody stuff that seems to be a requirement for some garage-built f/x films. I have seen one too many take-offs on cold war robot flicks. Ironic, tounge-in-cheek sci-fi parodies (in black and white) are replacing zombie flicks as the lingua franca of every cheeseball with a DV camera.

Probably every frame will have at least one visual effect or composite element. But after looking around at other no-budget projects I've come to the conclusion that it's real hard to cut from a live-action scene to a complete CGI scene without looking pretty cheesy. I'm going to try and make sure everything at is anchored in some sort of real-world footage. All the render farms in the world can't come up with the kind of natural light that Jesus renders unto thee on a daily basis.

Sounds like a no-brainer and while I didnt really plan on doing any full-on CGI scenes, it seems to be a pretty common mistake. Obviously it's something that is done all the time in the Hollywood films. Saw the new Hulk flick this weekend and even though the effects were pretty damn cool, every once in a while a shot would call a little too much attention to itself and it started to feel like watching cut-scenes in a video game. Maybe it's just something that happens when the script is less than stellar and you start losing the audience. They start subconsciously nitpicking and next thing you know, you generate a reality-distortion field in the brain tissue that controls suspension-of-disbelief.

Even before digital effects, this sort of thing was a problem. F/X pioneer (and "Silent Running" director) Douglas Trumball said that when he took his kids to see "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" they asked him why Dick Van Dyke had funny blue edges in his hair everytime Chitty went airborne.

"Tron" had some of the same issues when bouncing between (more or less) organic imagery and wholly CGI shots. But I think "Tron" pulled it off because it was more an animated than a live-action one. And everything was pretty consistent in the fantasy realm where it spent most of its screen time.

And Ralph Bakshi made these kind of jarring transitions something of a personal trademark.

Spiderman 2 and 3 are pretty good examples of a crappy story getting in the way of cool f/x. Some of the effects in 3 seemed a little over-baked and distracting. Of course, "Spiderman 2" probably had even more full-on CGI stuff but the story was so cool - and the pace never waned - and you just got fully involved in the story.

Do I have that kind of script? An incredibly involving and propulsive story? Well, I kind of doubt it. But I'm trying. And a big thing working in my favor is that I'm going to be releasing it in short chunks of six-minutes or so. Yes, there will be a high ratio of just plain eye-candy to actual exposition- but in small chunks, you will hopefully not have time to get distracted.

And I think if you leave enough of the real world in there, you won't have to worry so much about people getting pulled out of it in some kind of jarring way.

I have a hunch this is another tangent of the "uncanny valley" theory. But if I wanted to really explain it, I would have to spend years at M.I.T. scanning peoples brains and writing grant proposals.

And that's just not the way I roll.

Here is a quick piece of concept art for "Sam Rocket." Not exactly Ralph McQuarrie. And when I'm really under the gun, my storyboards will revert to crude stick figures of absolutely no use to anyone but me. But doing pieces like this forces you to really concentrate on how you are going to sell the shot and all the various pieces that you need to make it work.

And maybe more importantly, you learn what you don't need. You might be better off with just a quick flash of light and some squiggly lines instead of digital actors on a meticulous digital set.

And because your effect can't hold up to more than a few frames of scrutiny, you'll tend to get out of it a lot quicker and be less inclined to stay on something that you spent weeks putting together. Pride goeth before a fall. And the biggest sin is leaving something in that aint moving things forward - just because you expended so much damn effort on it.

Kill your darlings. Hopefully, I will.

CUT TO: Sam SPINS around, brings her board up like a MACHINE GUN and -

SAM:
Eat this, fish-face.

-Sam IGNITES her jet-board. FLAMING EXHAUST ENGULFS THE SKY SHARK-

"Summer Project 2008"

Whenever Woody Allen makes a movie the title is usually kept under wraps. If there is an actual title, no one working on the film seems to know what it is. Call sheets, scripts - and the check I picked up at his dark and scary office in 1992 for my two days work as a production assistant on "Husbands and Wives - all say "Fall Project" (or "Summer Project", "Spring Project" etc.)

I doubt it's really a matter of secrecy, no one is really that curious about the specifics of what the Wood-man has up his sleeve. I don't mean that as an insult, its just that you have a pretty good range of ideas what to expect when you plunk your shekels for a Woody Allen flick.

My own "Summer Project" has been the subject of much speculation and rumor-mongering by all you haters on the digital inter-webs. The blogospehere and the shadowy clans of Penguin.com have all been conspiring to leak details of my forthcoming opus.

So I am officially lifting the veil of secrecy right now.

"The Adventures of Sam Rocket" will be shooting sometime in June. You can read a PDF script here if you are so inclined.

"Sam Rocket" is a teenage girl who delivers pizza on a jet board, it's sort-of like a snowboard with a jet engine on the back. It takes place somewhere between "Children of Men" and "Bladerunner" on the speculation timeline. It's a bit more dystopian than "I-Robot" but less than "1984." It's an adventure/action piece with tons of effects, animation and cute girls and rock and roll.


My aim is for something like an updated Republic Serial or Fleisher Bros. Superman shorts. With a dollop of anime and just plain eye-candy. I'm the guy who actually liked "Speed Racer." I had giant reservations about the story and dialogue but I dug the look and the technique.

'Sam' will be serialized on the web and we'll see what happens after that. I'm not against film festivals per se but I'm more interested in reaching an audience of people who arent making movies, at least at first. Is anyone out there NOT making a movie or writing a script?

It's both encouraging and defeating to know that the barriers to entry are non-existent anymore. Just because you CAN make a movie doesnt mean you SHOULD. It's arrogant of me to lament that and then decide to push ahead with my own vanity project.

But what the heck.

So download the script and let me know what you think. Please feel free to tell me it sucks, but more urgently, tell me WHY it sucks.

That is exactly what everyone doing this kind of thing needs...and seldom receives. Your friends will tell you it's great but what they are really telling you is: "I think it's great that you wrote a script - between shifts at Burger King." Encouragement and support from your homeboys is important and nice. But you really need someone to tell you that your protagonist would never stay in the haunted house after the first ghost ate his girlfriend.