Lovecraft update: New pix of exterior and interior.


The explorers leaving their plane.


Inside the Elder Things' hive.

Put in 10.5 hours on the movie yesterday. I've designed a new texture for the critters. I've been working on testing the cave's lighting design -- it's still not right. Trying to figure out the cave floor. It's much simpler to arrange the critters if it's flat... But the right way to texture it is still evading me.

Worked on the eteriors, aiming at getting the storyboard for that sequence finalized. Assembled a five shot rough cut, but didn't like it. Put extra effort into photoshopping different elements together for two of the shots -- and am really happy with the results. The shots that have moving backgrounds aren't up to snuff, though.

What's the sense that I'm trying to convey with the opening sequence? (1) Making the audience think for a moment that the explorers are the monsters? (2) Showing that these people have traveled to a very remote place? (3) Showing the hubris of the humans, who think they're giants among men? (4) Highlight that these are warm bodies in a very, very cold environment?

Lovecraft update: New "proof of concept" pictures for exterior. "Neon-Gothic Manifesto" notes.

I've come to understand that this film breaks into two distinct sections: outside of the cave, and inside of it. Up until Saturday, I was feeling pretty muddled about what the exterior shots should look like. Not knowing that piece holds up work on finishing the storyboard, which is vital if I'm going to get my final footage with actors shot before it gets ridiculously hot. Well, I don't have the storyboard yet -- but I've got "proof of concept" for what the exterior's going to look like.

I'm going to make the exteriors look like paintings. And they're going to be in brilliant colors. Here's the first test image I got done. [Won't necessarily show up in the film.]


The painted mountain.

What I've done is put a photo I found through some serious Photoshopping ("paintdaub" filter). I spent some time yesterday learning batch processing in Photoshop. What this means is that I can now apply this process to either still images or to DV footage. For DV, what I do is export my footage from Quicktime Pro as an image sequence. I create a new action in Photoshop, then use automate > batch process. Here's what the original photo looked like:


The original photo.

So, you're thinking, "Damn! That's a lot of color for a Lovecraft film!" Well, let me rationalize...

First of all, I'm piecemeal assembling my own little document to be called "The Neon-Gothic Manifesto". One of my ideas is that black and white (or, god forbid, sepia tone) has become a horrible cliche of low-budget horror films. Granted, filming in black and white is often a budgetary rather than artistic consideration. Nonetheless, I get the sense that some filmmakers think that because Lovecraft is creepy, noir is a must.

Me, *puff up self-importantly*, I'm out to show folks that you can make something much more visually exciting. Wanna shake things up a bit at the fest this year... Y'know, just cuz Lovecraft's stories were written circa 1930, that doesn't mean your film has to look like it was made then too! [I've got some half-formed criticisms about using the dated language of Lovecraft's writing in film adaptations, too. ...And... Oh hell, let me just go get my notes...]

Notes for "The Neon-Gothic Manifesto"

• Black & white / sepia tones are cliche; use neon -- it's visually exciting, and "unearthly"
  
• Dark is a cliche; horror can work in daylight, e.g. "The Stepford Wives" and "Wicker Man"
  
• Show the monster. Contrary to HPL's own objections, the creature is sometimes the main character -- some of the story should be from its point of view.
  
• Revisit "denial". Simply saying something's "inconceivable" isn't enough. Treat denial seriously, as a main theme in the story -- or cater to the audience, who know what's coming.
  
• Update Lovecraft's language. It doesn't translate to the modern screen; it's just painful to watch.
  
• Emulate documentary style where possible
  

...Anyway, with "At the Mountains of Madness", I've got a particularly good justification for using bright colors for the exterior. In the story, Lovecraft references a real painter, a contemporary of his, Nicholas Roerich. He compares the arctic landscape that the explorers see with Roerich's paintings -- which are very vividly colored. Examples:


Abode of Gessar by Nicholas Roerich


Tibet by Nicholas Roerich

Artistically speaking, I am a little concerned that this new "painting" style that I'm using for the exteriors will clash with the interior of the cave, which is all modeled in Lightwave 3D. However, I think there will be a fade-to-black between the exterior and interior sequences that should help. And, more to the point, I'm hoping that the brilliance of the exterior will just make the drab and dark cave that much more creepy by contrast. It's all about atmosphere, baby!