Lord of the Cathedral. - a stop motion Bat-Rep

[WG Vrox]

I am working on a project that adds a narrative to a battle report through the use of stop motion. Here is a quick and when I say quick I mean quick teaser of what it will look like. We are about 20% done with the project and its looking pretty cool.  What is your thoughts on telling a story in this medium?  

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwAGqPo-5tg

[GrandMagnus]

I dont know what to say, its just a picture...

[WG Vrox]

I dont know what to say, its just a picture...

 

yeah, should have mentioned the picture is a link to the video.  so after edit, I just posted the link and it resolved to a show the video. 

[WG Vrox]

Writing the script for this "battle report" is more challenging than I expected. I had to rewrite several scenes per what I am able to capture in the camera.  I hope to have something a bit more substantial to show here in a few weeks.

 

Another project of the same type that I am finished with is called "Duel at Dawn", in this story I put Logan Grimnar and Kaldor Draigo at odds with each other over the priceless fate of Space Wolf lore.  They have a friendly duel to determine if the Space Wolves will keep the memories of a battle fought along side the Grey Knights against Chaos.  Instead of a stop motion effort, I put this piece together to represent a graphic novel. In general I liked how it turned out, but felt it was too slow of a medium to truly entertain the masses. I am going to post this piece in about a month. 

 

Because of the feedback I received for Duel at Dawn,  we are putting more effort into stop motion and I feel it better captures the action and story telling effort I am trying to put out. 

[WG Vrox]

The other challenge I am running into is how to capture psychic effects, shooting and damage in a way that does not hurt the models while still portraying action and moving the storyline along at a steady pace. Today we shot a scene that attempted to portray a Necron Royal Court unit successfully stopping a psychic ability with "Deny the Witch". The scene took 2 hours to shoot and sadly after it is rendered it will only last about seven seconds.

The below picture is taken from a series of shots from the shooting phase of our Necron army. No link this time just the still

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/Lord%20of%20the%20Cathedral/IMG_0038_zps84f8c2a1.jpg

[WG Vrox]

Hitting the studio for a full day or stop motion adventure, but thought I first would post a background written for the project prior to the game taking place.  Please feel free to post any comments or questions.  I also included another picture from the project. 

 

Background:

 

Kromal: A planet rich with strife has suffered 100s of years
of wars and conflict.  On the outskirts of
the imperium its presence is considered neither strategic nor of any great
importance.  Though considered under the
imperium’s control, Kromal’s planetary government struggles to maintain its
imperium allegiance under worsening conditions. 
The planet left to its own devices for too long is now rich with revolt
and at times outright rebellion.

 

The Cult Lives: After generations of cultivating the planet
Kromal’s genetic stock, a genestealer patriarch now comes into its full power.
With cultist and faithful gangers at its command, it now has the army needed to
push for full planetary infection and domination.

 

The Oba-Shu’s
interest: A hidden gateway portal lies deep within a buried cavern on
the planet Kromal. The portal built by the ancient Necron race, served The Oubastet Dynasty as a means to
protect its once rich culture. Inactive for untold millennia the portal now
pulses with power.

 

The Battle Setting:

 

Within a ruined cathedral’s vault the tomb raiders Jib and
Nib, contracted by the Patriarch, discover an ancient artifact protected by a
stasis shield. Jib and Nib are unable to identify the origin of the artifact
and call in the find to their client. The raiders receive orders to stay and
guard the artifact while the Patriarch gathers his forces to secure the area.

 

Unbeknownst to the Patriarch, a large Necron force from the
crown world Neb-Er-Tcher had
arrived through an ancient planetary gateway portal. Their mission; to retrieve
any and all Tesseract Labyrinths left behind by the ancient civilization. With
deadly anticipation they converge on a known location of one of these rare and ancient
relics.

 

As the two armies approach their objective, the opposing
forces spot one another and it quickly becomes clear that both sides intended
to give battle. As the warlords deploy their forces, we go to the battlefield
and the pending action.  

 

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/Lord%20of%20the%20Cathedral/IMG_0260_zps69a6695b.jpg?t=1384278033

 

[WG Vrox]

Slow day in the Studio, I have decided to look at the time we are putting into this project as R&D, learning the tricks of the trade by trial and error is painful. On the other hand sometimes recreating the wheel results in a new ideas and/or looks that may never have been seen before.  The age old question of where to draw the line between Speed, Quality and Money is at times a bear.  Well regardless the project trucks on and progress gets made.  

 

The below shot is my first attempt at learning the wily ways of adding in-camera effects. So no editing or after effects have been added to the shot. Its the WYSIWYG of photography. 

 

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/Studio/IMG_0029_zps2eed8f12.jpg?t=1384400046

[WG Vrox]

In the studio sitting down after standing up for 6 hours leaning over the table moving cameras, models, lights, lasers, breathing fog and sticking painted cotton onto models......  then thought, hey this looks pretty cool, so here is a real-time snapshot of what i am seeing while I write this. And here you go, a behind the scenes look at the studio.. 

 

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/Lord%20of%20the%20Cathedral/IMG_00022_zps951515b1.jpg

[WG Vrox]

Set off the fire alarm,,, again.... Wife is not happy,,, again......

 

 

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/Lord%20of%20the%20Cathedral/Ordo_zpsa28bf99c.jpg

[WG Vrox]

A simple thing like turning on a light I hope will add some fun to the project and depth to the storyline. 

 

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/Lord%20of%20the%20Cathedral/12_zps9d5a3f6d.jpg?t=1384795821

[WG Vrox]

Just shot one of the better scenes we have done thus far today. I tell you it sure is a great feeling being able to create and capture a scene just like what you saw in your head. When I try to force scenes to happen, they rarely do. Then all the sudden it feels right, I go with my instinct and end up with coolness that gets me all excited about what I am doing again.

Let me introduce you to Jib and Nib the stars of the show and of course the objective; THE TESSERACT LABYRINTH < oooh! bold and italics must be important.

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/Lord%20of%20the%20Cathedral/IMG_0264_zps6305d701.jpg

[Snickers]

Definitly will be watching this project, My friends and I tried something similar for a high school project but couldn't get past the planning stage.

[WG Vrox]

Definitly will be watching this project, My friends and I tried something similar for a high school project but couldn't get past the planning stage.

 

 

Yeah,, though we did do a lot of planning, I feel the same as the general who said "plans are the first casualties of war."  The planning stage is now happening real time.

 

 

As much as the Imperial Guard must be told to love and care for their las guns, It must be a love hate relationship because at the moment I don't like them at all.  When considering scenes with lasers, the perspective and angles that we are dealing with are beyond crazy. Then, when you consider your doing it on a game table and not on a movie set, it makes sense why I want to smash small things. 

 

The shooting of the below scene took about 3 hours to complete.   Regardless of the shot, are those not great looking models, hats off the the modeler and painter....

 

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/Lord%20of%20the%20Cathedral/LaserShots_zps2abc672f.jpg

[WG Vrox]

The 180 rule, Maybe some of you are familiar with the concept of the 180 degree rule, but it's best described as the half sphere that you can place the camera and not confuse the watcher by having the image flip and it appearing as if the sides have changed.  Think of a televised football game, the cameras are always shooting from only one side otherwise it would look like the guys on the field were running the wrong way.  

 

As tempted as it is to get shots from the opposite side of what I want to shoot because they would be so much cooler, you have to take into account that you would confuse your audience plus your lighting would be all wrong, backlight would be underpowered by the front lights and so on and so forth.  What I can do is flirt with the line by bringing the action as close to the camera as possible. 

 

Anyway thanks for reading and as it looks like I have moved to a new home here in Works in Progress, welcome aboard to all the new readers. This is an open blog so feel free to post any questions or comments. 

 

Swarmlord attempting to imbue himself with ironarm. 

 

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/Lord%20of%20the%20Cathedral/IMG_0042_zps4a0f0bd0.jpg

[Snickers]

I understand your point on lasers, its one of the main reasons my project got derailed :P and which model is that for the swarmlord? I love the glowing effect to represent the usage of it psyker powers.

[WG Vrox]

I understand your point on lasers, its one of the main reasons my project got derailed and which model is that for the swarmlord? I love the glowing effect to represent the usage of it psyker powers.

I'll have to get with the owner on the details and get back to you.

Thanks, the effects are the largest time sync into this project by far. Though we borrowed from the internet on some of the stop motion effects, i feel we are breaking some new ground as well. Unless we run..

into serious trouble, this whole project will be old school Star Wars effects with 40k miniatures on a game table. Oh yeah, and with a micro budget, but it is true that necessity is the mother of all inventions and we are working with some pretty cool models that are inspiring in themselves.

Here is wider shot from the project, maybe you can better pick-out the models used.

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/Lord%20of%20the%20Cathedral/4X4_zps5759c570.jpg

[deathspectersgt7]

Very cool The Nid Broodlord is a great set up Now where is the strike team!!!

[WG Vrox]

I am told it's the original rogue trader patriarch on throne, it came with advisor and familiar. The carrier's are of course IG.

 

 It's going to be a light week with family visiting and turkey day so I don't expect to get much done. I do plan to get through turn 3 by the end of next week. The pace starts going much quicker in the later turns as usual for a game of 40k. 

 

We are about 60% done with the principle shooting and I have a meeting today with the sound design team to get started harvesting some sound bits for the project, for the curious we are planning to use about 6 different people for voice talent, two of which will be the armies owners for their warlords.

 

Here is a side picture I took of a member of the royal court. 

 

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/Studio/IMG_0057_zpscd9a6c01.jpg

 

 

[WG Vrox]

Progress,,, On average when we put a full day in the studio, the camera is taking about 200 to 250 pictures, of those we will use less than half.  Each scene is averaging about 25 pictures and we get about 4 scenes done per day. Now if I am the only one in the studio I am lucky to get 2 scenes a day.  The cool thing..

 

is we are getting help from gamers in our local area which is Portland Oregon, most are interested in seeing the setup but some just come over and help move models, operate the fog machine, adjust lights, basically whatever is needed at the time... this is a huge help and is much appreciated. 

 

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/Lord%20of%20the%20Cathedral/IMG_0010_zps79d1759e.jpg?t=1385483117

[WG Vrox]

As mentioned the whole stop motion project follows an actual game. We are attempting to capture every event that happened in the game while still keeping the pace moving along.

 

here is a pic from a phone during the real game.

 

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/Lord%20of%20the%20Cathedral/Ordo_zps9160d6fc.jpg

[WG Vrox]

A quick update for those following this thread, we are back after a break and shooting the bat rep again. All is looking great and coming along slow but sure. I wanted to post a recent picture from a the necron shooting phase.  The Cryptek of Despair uses his Abyssal Staff.  I feel depressed just looking at it.. :) 

 

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/IMG_0052_zps6bce7dd1.jpg?t=1389822887

[deathspectersgt7]

Glad to see your back at it.

[Russ Brother 92]

this looks awesome and will deffo be following :)

[WG Vrox]

So finished the shooting today,,  finally..   I must say its looking really cool. Now of course we have to do editing, Sound Design, Music, Voice and color correction, but its as they say IN THE CAN.....

 

I will keep updating this post as we make progress on the post production side of things, and other projects that we have planned.  

 

Here is a behind the scenes look at the final scene of the report.  gives a little perspective..

 

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p800/GameFaceNation/IMG_0004_zpsffc954a3.jpg?t=1394066945

[gezabutla]

Fantastic! I'm looking forward to seeing the final product.