Film School Is In Session

Well, it's been a busy few weeks for me as I work on the VFX for my first feature film The Quantum Terror. As promised I've been live streaming a lot of my work, which you can watch in the following videos.

First off, we have the beginnings of using green screen, UltraKey, and Adobe After Effects to place actor Matt Blackwell into a practical effects, miniature environment, involving a creature puppet.

That one is "to be continued" as I still have to record some video assets that will factor into that scene. However, I was able to take water assets that I took video of at a park and incorporate them into a miniature tunnel scene, to make it appear to be flooded.

I also used UltraKey and After effects to incorporate a "Stranger Things" like alien creature (which I designed and shot way before the premiere of the show) into a scene with actresses Kristin Cochell and Paula Solinger.

At this point, I was feeling rejuvenated. It's been a while since I've been able to play around with VFX in the ways I had grown accustomed to in the past, so I decided to revisit another project that (for reasons I won't' get into here) I had to leave unfinished, for now. It's called Girl In The Window and this next video is a run-through of the some of the work I created for the film. I plan to revisit it after The Quantum Terror is done.

However, my main focus will be The Quantum Terror until it's done. In these next two videos, I show how I use green screen shots where the set alone won't do and needs to be extended.

If you enjoy these tutorials and find them useful, please consider supporting me on Patreon by CLICKING HERE.

...or if you'd rather support me through PayPal you can do so by CLICKING HERE.

Thanks, everyone. We're going to have fun and accomplish some lifelong goals here. Now, let's get to work.

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophercooksey/
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2014: Year of the Films

Well, there's the first month of 2014 gone, and I finally got Moonlight Art Magazine #2 out and available for free download. Click here so you can download it, too. 

Wonderful. So, as soon as I finish fighting off this cold, I'll be back to work on my film projects, which I actually have a fair few of. After having to recover from the theft of one of my computers and some sound equipment, I am now ready to resume the task of completing my short documentary When Hollywood Green-Lit Comic Con, which is about the impact that major movie studios have had on the comic book industry and its conventions. It will be available on You Tube as soon as it's done. I actually shot most of my footage for it in 2012, so I'll be happy to wrap that up.

I'm also glad to be starting work in earnest on another feature length documentary about the artists who bring you many of movies "in camera" special effects, called The Practical People, so stay tuned for more on that, soon.

Last (not really) but not least, I must confess that I'm still very heavily entrenched in the post production work on my all green screen, sci-fi, short film, Girl In The Window. It keeps taking a back seat to paying work, and I'm pretty much handling all aspects of this phase of the film by my self, much in the same was Ray Harryhause did, using miniature models, puppets, stop motion, and photo matte paintings, to create an entire futuristic world. Below, is a concept design peace, that I recently did, to better help me grasp how I'm going to handle the robotic aspects of the story. Special thanks to my daughter, who modeled for the pic. We had fun. Click the image if you'd like to buy a print...

Keep checking back, for more news on these projects and more, in 2014. Please, feel free to contact me at this link, if you'd like to hire me to add some magic to your project, too.

Ray Bradbury's The Groon: Speed Sculpt

Christopher Moonlight Making Of Ray Bradbury Groon from Christopher (Moonlight) Cooksey on Vimeo.

For Live Forever: The Ray Bradbury Odyssey (liveforeverthemovie.com/) I had to show Ray's childhood monster, The Groon, which he used to imagine seeing at the top of the stairs, late at night. The solution was to build a rod puppet, which was then shot against a green screen, and added to footage of a staircase, shot by Scott Smith (lighthousevideoservices.com) under the direction of Micheal O'Kelly. O'Kelly and smith were also responsible for videoing child actor Zachary Meade (imdb.com/name/nm5282501/) against a green screen for me to composite with the other footage for the final moment in the film. 

Watch until the end for a special comment from Malcolm McDowell.

Music by Bartok, Roumanian Dance No. 1 musopen.org/

If you have trouble viewing this video CLICK HERE for the You Tube version. 

2013 Show Reel for Christopher Moonlight Productions

Christopher Moonlight Productions 2013 Show Reel from Christopher (Moonlight) Cooksey on Vimeo.

Having trouble viewing the Vimeo version? Watch the You Tube version by CLICKING HERE.

It's been a busy and trying year for Christopher Moonlight Productions, with the completion of the Michael O'Kelly directed documentary, Live Forever: The Ray Bradbury Odyssey and the production wrap of my all green screen sci-fi short film, Girl In The Window (directed by Christopher Cooksey and Jeremy Hanes... now in post) but I wanted to make sure and get a few examples of my work on the web for 2013. Also on the way, Moonlight Art Magazine, featuring interviews and comics, which I show some of the pages of in this video, and at the bottom of this post.

For more info, go to: christophermoonlightproductions.blogspot.com I am available for hire.

Please, contact me at christophermoonlightproduction@gmail.com

Thank you to Rich Goddard, who originally taught me how to use After Effects, and is always there to talk through the creative process with me. I couldn't have done it without him. Also, to Jeremy Hanes for being a brilliant an invaluable co-director. Also, to Michael O'Kelly for giving me permission to use footage from his authorized documentary about his friend Ray Bradbury in my reel.

 Special thanks also go to associate producers Jennifer Lewis, Jack Ritchie, Jackie Estrada, Batton Lash, Jonathan Levit, Heather Lowe, Michael T Malve, Cindy Ventrice-Pearson's son Hunter, and Courtenay Stallings.

CLICK HERE FOR THE CHRISTOPHER MOONLIGHT PRODUCTIONS STORE.

If you missed my 2012 Show Reel, this is it, below...

Christopher Moonlight 2012 Show Reel from Christopher (Moonlight) Cooksey on Vimeo.

...and there's plenty more to see on this blog, so have fun and keep coming back. More exciting stuff is coming this year.

Designing Bradbury's From The Dust Returned

By way of Live Forever producer Michael O'Kelly's friendship with Ray Bradbury, I had an opportunity to pitch my idea to him, on how I would interpret his book, From The Dust Returned, into a low budget movie. Of course, I was thrilled to be able to do this and wanted to also possibly pitch this to the stars who are in Live Forever, including Edward James Olmos, Malcolm McDowell, and Joe Mantegna. Sadly, while I was working on this, Ray's health took a turn for the worse and not long after, MGM acquired the film rights to the book.

What fallows are an introduction video I made, to show how I would have liked to incorporate puppets, animation, and actors together, using green screen, as well as dummy posters for the movie pitch, and a select few designs I did, all with the hopes of showing them to one of the most brilliant writers in the last one hundred years.

I also owe a huge shout out to the band Death By Dolls and Dame Darcy at damedarcy.com for letting me use her brilliant music for this demo video. It has been a long time dream of mine to have her score one of my films, and I think her music would have been perfect for this movie. Go to her website and buy one of her albums. You won't be disappointed.

Here are the dummy posters:

Beyond the would be posters, were these designs for Timothy's Egyptian mummy cat, his mother, and a random family member that might be a gorgon.   

This sketch would have been the beginnings of my Timothy design as well as another family member, but I never got around to putting it into Photoshop. Still, I like the design. See the rest of my PORTFOLIO BY CLICKING HERE.

I did send these designs on to the producers working on the film right now, but never heard back from them. That's not unusual. My understanding is that the film is already in production. I look forward to seeing it.
#christophermoonlight 

1st Mr. Electrico Storyboards

Just a quick post showing my early storyboards from when Live Forever: The Ray Bradbury Odyssey was a stage play, meant to incorporate video (which you can read about by clicking HERE) with actors in the theater. This was for the legendary Mr. Electrico scene. Of course, this was before I knew that there was no money in the budget for "lovely assistants" or even an electric chair. I had to throw together one of those using a dinning chair, cardboard, and an aluminum lamp for the cap.

Dave Grave played Mr. Electrico back then, rather than Malcolm McDowell, but in my opinion he did a damn good job. We shot it in his back yard with a green screen with the help of Jeremy Hanes and producer Summer Potter and creator of the project, Michael O'Kelly. You can see these storyboards put into action in a pitch-viz video on THIS POST. It's the first video. Forgive the quality. I did it a long time ago.

CLICK HERE TO GET TICKETS TO THE SNEAK PREVIEW! 
#christophermoonlight 

CM Productions: Busy As Ever

Things are moving along, faster than we can keep track of, so look for a lot more from us, coming soon. As you can see from the picture below, things are progressing nicely with Live Forever: A Ray Bradbury Odyssey. Also check out Variety's mention of me, in THIS ARTICLE announcing the movies winter release.There's also News Blaze.

In these photos: Live Forever producer and writer Michael O'Kelly with Edward James Olmos, Devin O'Kelly (Michal's son), with actor Jeremy Hanes, and Malcolm McDowell. Joe Mantegna at the green screen studio. Michael O'Kelly with Jeremy Hanes.

Also in Production, Girl In The Window. I'm directing this one myself, and it stars (in order of photos) the bad ass Jeremy Hanes, the multifaceted Michael A. Thomson, and the ridiculously good looking Christopher Moonlight. Who writes this stuff? Oh yeah! Me.

Girl In The Window has almost wrapped production, and will be going  into post in July. It will be an all green screen, R rated, sci-fi, short film, integrating models, puppets, and computer effects.

Note: All photos have been enhanced by me.

Christopher Moonlight Productions Sizzle Reel for 2012

Christopher Moonlight 2012 Show Reel from Christopher (Moonlight) Cooksey on Vimeo.


This is my Sizzle Reel for the first part of 2012. It contains scenes from my upcoming short film Girl In The Window, staring Jeremy Hanes. I also hope it shows my skills as a production designer, digital composite artist, matte painter, model builder, and puppeteer... just to name a few. I've worn many hats and my only regret is that I couldn't put the other two thirds of the projects I've been working on, in it. I'd like to submit (in this post) a few stills of the models and puppets I've built, so you can spend a little more time looking at them. I find its always best (for me) to find practical solutions to visual effects challenges first, and let the computer be there to enhance what those solutions are. When working on a budget, I find that the blend can be better than satisfying.

e mail me:
christophermoonlight (at) gmail (dot) com

Be sure to "Like" Girl In The Window on Facebook.

Let's start with a few of my digital matte paintings. These are a combination of digital painting, and photography... with the last pic being a concept painting to be developed into a two and a half D matte painting.

Next up are my models and puppets, which I create from Sculpy and latex (as in my monsters and goblins) painted with acrylic and polyurethane or in the instance of my space ships and robots, are put together from found objects. It's the best way to work, on a budget.

  My daughter really enjoys my work, by the way.

Storyboarding isn't an intricate part of what I do, but I do like to rough out a general idea of what I have in mind for a scene. These days, it's more practical to rough out ideas in Adobe After Effects, animate them, and let them evolve within the computer.

From drawing, to painting, to digital, its always good to visualize not only the look of a character but that character's mood. Sometimes choosing a medium will dictate that mood.

Painted:

Sketched:

Digital:

Bloom by Christopher Moonlight

Special thanks to Rich Goddard who has been my adviser in a lot of my work, and did the 3D background for the vampire bride puppet, and Dave Grave who built the monster head (to my specifications) which I animated. Also, to Jeremy Hanes who not only acts for me, but has been my director of photography, though all of this. Also, thank you to Richard Hines for loaning me one of his DV cameras and light kit to shoot my short film. You can learn more about their work, by checking out other posts on this blog.

Giant Robot From Christopher Moonlight Film Leaked!

When I find out who leaked this, I'll make sure they take it down.

Working on the Ray Bradbury Odyssey: Part 1

The thing that I'm most proud of, in regards to the play Live Forever: The Ray Bradbury Odyssey, is that my small team and I did so much on such a small budget, and on such a tight schedule. I quite frankly was lucky to have a team at all, but I had the fortune to have access to some of the top talents, at just the right time. It didn't start out that way, though. First, as leader of the group, I had to prove that I had a vision, a plan, and the knowledge to execute both. I had to start with some tests, that I did at home, to show other talents and the producers what I would do with the project, if put in charge. So, my first task was to pitch the project, which I did by creating some story boards, and simple versions of effects, which I had to create on my own.

This video provided many of the starting points for what I would later turn into a malty media video production, taking the audience into the farthest reaches of space, and into the heart and mind of the man, Ray Bradbury, himself. But, I also had to do it in a family friendly way.

Goblin Test from Christopher (Moonlight) Cooksey on Vimeo.

This puppet was an early test I did at home. Based on a poem by Ray called The Groon, I had to seek out a way to make a monster both menacing and family friendly. I ended up going with a design that was not a copy of, but could fit in with monsters from an old comic book cover that Ray gave us.

Michael O'Kelly, the play's writer and producer took the finished puppet over to Ray for approval, and he loved it, so that was a good feeling.

Another challenge was to create a Ferries wheel full of creatures from Ray's childhood movie going days. Originally, the idea was to rotoscope characters from old movies from Rays Childhood, and put them in the cars, but due to time and budget, it just wasn't possible. It was decided that paper cut outs of these figures would have to do, as non of the shots last more than five seconds, projected on a screen, in the play. It's a shame really, as the effect could have worked really well. It's not a hard one, just time consuming.
However, I knew the wheel it's self had to be sensational, so I brought on one of the greatest improvisational monster and set builders I know. Mr. Dave Grave. Based on my descriptions, and supervision, Dave met the challenge with zeal, and came up with a real show stopper, which we shot using stop motion animation.

Live Forever Ferris Wheel Set from Christopher (Moonlight) Cooksey on Vimeo.

After the model was built, I had Jeremy Hanes (as my DP) help light and shot the whole setup with green screen, using the rapid fire fetcher on his camera, as Dave and I ever so slowly turned the Ferries wheel, using monofilament line.





After that, it was up to Rich Goddard and I to composite the whole thing. I spent time, putting together some digital mat backgrounds, like the trees and moon, while Rich did the final green screen keying, color corrections, fog effects, and composting. Go teem. The final result was this...

Opening Sequence - Compositing from Rich Goddard on Vimeo.

Next: Mr. Electrico