Drawing Inspiration from one of my Favorite Films.

A Sketchbook, a Concert, the Ultimate Fan, and Learning Cinematography

Dec 21, 2023

Hi folks, its been a bit since I wrote, but I wanted to get one last newsletter out before the end of the year.

🎬The Empire Strikes Back Sketchbook by Joe Johnston and Nilo Rodis-Jamero

The “Art of” books put these days are fantastic, but what if we could take a look back a the production sketches for a classic like “The Empire Strikes Back”?! This is a video i made about a fantastic little book I found at the local library. Let me know what you think, and if you can, share it, and Like and Subscribe to my YouTube channel.

If you want to dig deeper into Nilo Rodis-Jamero, check out this interview here.

🎸 Helping to make KISS “Immortal”

I never really spent much time listening to the band KISS. As a kid in the 80s and 90s, they were a little taboo. They were a little crazy, a little over the top. To be honest, until recently, I really couldn’t have told you what song was a KISS song. I feel bad saying that but it’s the truth.

So, when I was assigned to help on this project, I didn’t know what to expect. Now it’s done. I’m SO glad I had the opportunity and I can confidently say that I am a KISS fan and can join the millions of fans they have made over the years.

The iconic band KISS completed their final tour, and they wanted to do something special at the end of their final show this past Dec. 2nd at Madison Square Garden.

They hired ILM to make digital avatars of themselves, but not so much photoreal as hyper-real, almost like superhero versions of themselves.

I was part of the team that created the piece that played at their final concert. The song was “God Gave Rock n Roll to You”. I helped the team that was responsible for the rigging and cloth and hair simulation. The hair sim was quite fun for KISS as you can imagine. Hair is a big part of their identity as a band.

This attached video documents some of the process as well as talks about the bands future intentions.

It is an interesting time in visual effects. We are seeing lots of new technologies, and some folks out there confusing AI with Visual Effrcts, but vfx projects like this are still a lot of work done by a ton of talented artists.

It makes me sad so see so many folks discrediting and minimizing the work of vfx artists. Many folks do not realize how invisible, and how prevalent, visual effects are in so much of the film and tv that we all enjoy.

The founding members of KISS are in their 70s now and they are excited to transition their band into something a little different. I’m thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the beginning of what they have planned.

🔎More than a Fan

I found this on the internet. This creator made a perfect miniature replica of the old ILM model shop and then made a YouTube video with himself composited into the miniature scene. He did such a fantastic job and I wanted to share it.

https://twitter.com/kyabetsumade/status/1729065249092022416?s=46&t=p_jVTq3aCx1h2lYuhDFRvg

🎥Learning About Cinematography

About 18 years ago i was in school and I was taking a stage lighting class. One of the assignments was to do a presentation on a Cinematographer.

At the local libary I stumbled on a documentary called “Visions of Light”. I was a bit blown away by it. I had not heard film Cinematography talked about like this before. One cinematographer that stood out, and the one I did the presentation on, was Conrad Hall. Conrad is a legend, I could tell you more about him, but I would rather you all watch the documentary.

I’m so grateful for this HD remaster of the documentary, with better quality clips from the films shown. Check it out.

OK, that should do it for now.

Take care, and I’ll see you around.