Moonlight Art Magazine #1 (free download)

Moonlight Art Magazine #1

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

(it's free)

Read interviews with Eisner Award nominee David Mack, Eisner winner Eddie Campbell, Billy Martinez, Christy Lee Rogers, and Oscar winning special effects artists Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. Also, the first installment of the comic book story, The Temp, written by Frank Kane and illustrated by Christopher Moonlight and updates on the indie films, coming from Christopher Moonlight Productions, which include My Little Zombie, Girl In The Window, and a collaboration with Michael O'Kelly Productions on the authorized documentary, Live Forever: The Ray Bradbury Odyssey. Download it for free.

Special thanks to original MAM staff member Beth Ashby (www.fotojedi.com)

Contains depictions of artistic nudity. Reader discretion is advised.

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. 

The Official Live Forever: The Ray Bradbury Odyssey Website!

IT'S HERE! The official website for Live Forever: The Ray Bradbury Odyssey. 

CLICK HERE to Enter

Click Here for more info on this blog.

Opening Night at Live Forever: The Ray Bradbury Odyssey

I was in Austin at the time of this opening, but it's nice to see how well received the film was. These are interviews with Michael O'Kelly, Malcolm McDowell, Joe Mantegna, and many more:


"That creature that they did on the stairs. They did a great job with the effects, I mean, for what this costs, I mean, it's a staggering piece of art. It's a living piece of art. It really is. I must say." 
~Malcolm McDowell, talking about the puppet and visual effects I did for Live Forever.

Special thanks to Malcolm McDowell for acknowledging the visual effects I did, at the 10:35 mark of this video. You can see some of the VFX he was talking about here:


For more information, click HERE below or go to http://liveforeverthemovie.com/ (coming soon)

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 

Get Your Tickets NOW!

Get your tickets for Live Forever: The Ray Bradbury Odyssey. 

CLICK HERE TO BUY!
(Christopher Moonlight is a third party and assumes no liability for ticket sales)
Like Live Forever Facebook Page. 

Updates for October 3rd 2012

There's a lot to keep my busy, ever since I moved production over to Austin, TX. There has been little time to work on my baby, my all green screen short film Girl In The Window, but I did manage to get this little look development test done.


I'm really excited to find some time to get this movie done. I think it's going to be really great, if I do say so myself.

With Live Forever: The Ray Bradbury Odyssey almost done (but not almost finished, it's a long story) I just may have some time.

Live Forever is going well. If you're interested in seeing an advanced screening of this sure to be classic documentary about the legendary writer, you can order them by CLICKING HERE.

It stars Ray Bradbury; Joe Mantegna; Hugh Hefner; Edward James Olmos; and Malcolm McDowell as Mr. Electrico.

If you happen to be at the Austin Wizard World check the schedule for us there. We're currently talking to them about doing a panel and and showing some sneak peaks.

If you can't make either, then at least we can show you the new trailer for the movie.

 ...and for an extra bit of fun, here's an interview with Malcolm McDowell from the opening of the original Live Forever stage play.

More press on the movie and Ray Bradbury can be found at Variety, News Blaze, The Ventura County Star, and The L.A. Times.
I wish I could show more at the moment and talk about another potential project that I'm very excited about, but I'm all bound up in non disclosures. Thanks for reading. I hope to post more soon.

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.

RIP: Ray Bradbury 1920 - Forever

Today, the summer morning felt like October, Venus crossed the
sun, and a poet of a story teller has died.

Ray Bradbury.

He was the first author that I ever read that made me realize that books could be more than
just entertaining stories. When I picked up my dad's paperback copy of The
Martian Chronicles, as a kid, I realized that a books could speak to you
about your own inner thoughts and feelings. They could show you that it
meant something to have integrity, aspire to ideals, that you weren't alone
in your fears, and that we could live in a world of higher value than what
reality television, corrupt politicians, willfully ignorant people, tabloids, and cell
phone dependency had to offer.

 On one of the many times I met him, he said, "I charge you with making sure

that we go out into the stars, and continue on." He cared about what
happened to us, as a people, and knew that it was all in our own hands.



 For the past three years, I have been privileged and honored to work as
production designer and effects supervisor on the documentary about his
life. A movie, that he told his close friend and producer of the film,
Michael O'Kelly, will be, "The fireworks at the end of my life."

Even though he did see much of my work for the film, I am very sorry that he
did not live to see the finished product. I really wanted him to. I wanted
to know, that after he charged us with such great responsibility, that he
would see it, and be proud, not only of us, but of himself for showing us
all, that through our works and our deeds, and our desire to make the human
race a better one, that we can all Live Forever.

CLICK HERE for more about our work with Ray.

 "Would you not admit, child, that forty billion deaths are a great wisdom, and those forty billion who shelve under the earth are a great gift to the living so that they might live?"


-Ray Bradbury

From The Dust Returned 

Live Forever: A Ray Bradbury Odyssey (Extended Trailer)

This is (as the title says) an extended trailer for the documentary Live Forever: A Ray Bradbury Odyssey about the life of the writer, himself. Originally it was to be a short film, boiling down his life into fifteen minute for the You Tube Your Film Festival. Due to what was felt to be very one sided contest rules, dealing with ownership, it was decided not to enter to contest, so the movie was re-edited into what you see here.

 (Sorry, we had to take it down, due to re-editing. It'll be back soon.) 

Unfortunately, the continuity of the effects I created were meant for a short film, so they aren't entirely what I would have done for an extended trailer. However, now there is this sizzle reel, which shows (somewhat) what I had originally intended for the individual scenes, and their continuity.

(Sorry, we had to take it down, due to re-editing. It'll be back soon.) 

 This project was done on a micro budget, and wouldn't have been possible without the help of some super talented artists and producers, who's photos are below. I'll try to explain these photos, the best I can.
Here is producer Summer Potter, sitting on stage with Mr. Electrico (Dave Grave) projected behind her. Summer was a major contributor to the production, and did many thing to keep it from stalling.
Here's me (Christopher Moonlight) with Live Forever creator, writer, producer, and good friend of Ray Bradbury, Michael O'Kelly. What are we doing? Trying to figure out why his Mac isn't working how it's supposed to. Seriously, that took up half the production time.

 ...and this dapper fellow (he's single, ladies) is the AMAZING Rich Goddard, who acted as FX supervisor for the video portion of the original stage play, and consultant to me, for the extended trailer. He's a little camera shy, so this is the only photo I have of him.
Here is Mr. Electrico himself, Mr. Dave Grave. Not only is he front man for the death rock band Frankenstein, the builder of that epic Ferris wheel you see in all the videos, the actor who plays Mr. Electrico, but he's also a fantastic grip. Oh, and we shot all the green screen at his home.
These sketches are an example of Dave's mad genius. I give him the simple task of building a spooky old Ferris wheel, and suddenly I'm getting page after page of notes and design ideas. If you want a model builder who can take an idea and run, and run, and run with it. Get Dave Grave.
  Jeremy Hanes (who is first and foremost and actor) was also instrumental in the production of this project, working as director of photography, sound recording engineer, and stand in actor. Like Rich and Dave, I couldn't have made this project happen without him.
Here's some more on set silliness for you, (makes a great desktop) of us sitting behind the fish tank that was used for all of our puppeteer work, as well as the dining room chair that was converted, using cardboard, into Mr. Electrico's electric chair. I know, it's way budget, but did you notice, when watching the video? I don't think you can honestly say you did.

For all the extended behind the scenes work, click here and scroll down. Being resourceful on a budget is my specialty, and the specialty of all of my crew. There's plenty of videos, photos, and links that will show you just how brilliant they are. You can also read news stories on the project HERE and HERE. Enjoy.

Working On The Ray Bradbury Odyssey: Part 4 (Why Mars?)

Out space is a particularly fun thing for me, to animate in After Effects. I've actually found that creating the elements in Adobe Photoshop can make for just as convincing stars and planets, as the 3D programs. That may be a bold statement, but when you're working on a project that can't budget for expensive 3D rendering, it can be done, and it can look good.

In this case, producer Michael O'Kelly wanted a slow run through the solar system while Malcolm McDowell read the Ray Bradbury poem, "Why Mars". A problem arose, though. The animation which was being crated by a 3D artist didn't look very convincing. In addition, the concept wasn't fitting the Mars theme of the poem in quite the way that was hoped, as well as the fact that the render time was far longer then we had. Action had to be taken. The result is this animation...

Why Mars? from Christopher (Moonlight) Cooksey on Vimeo.

Okay, so, that went by fast. You didn't think I was going to make you sit through a slow zooming vista of Mars, did you? No. You get the idea though. So, what did you just see? After talking with Michael, it was decided that we would use several moments from the script that we liked, but had to be cut for time. Ray has a love of old Sci-Fi movies so we wanted to show some of those, but didn't see how it fit in the play. Ray also ha a vision of Martians that wore golden masks to hide there emotions, but we didn't know how to fit that in, anywhere. I suggested that since the whole play is a journey into metaphor, we might be able to show these things as we slowly descend into the red planet. It could be as if Mars was sending them out to us. The final moment also inspired one of the two finished posters for the play.


An aside note, worth mentioning here is the look of the mask. Ray had always thought that the Martians were very much like the ancient Egyptians, so I based my design for their masks on the sarcophagus of King Tut.

Working on the Ray Bradbury Odyssey: Part 3 (Of Groons and Ghosts)

Of Groons and Ghosts from Christopher (Moonlight) Cooksey on Vimeo.

This video is of some moments from the effects shoots for Live Forever: The Ray Bradbury Odyssey. It demonstrates how I created the underwater puppet effects (with green screen) for such Ray Bradbury creatures as "The Groon" and "The Monster on the Stairs." Family members from Ray's past were also a big part of the story, so we had to come up with a way to make them look ghost like (ghosts from his past) using only some green felt, and a 7D camera. 7D is a great camera for shooting actors, but is hard to deal with when it comes to keying out green, because of the way that it compresses files. In the end, we ended up using some of the noise that compression caused as part of the look, instead of spending time outside the budget, trying to clean it all up. The results turned out very nice, if I do say so myself. As always, I had my loyal team of visual effects supervisor Rich Goddard, co-director and DP Jeremy Hanes, and model builder, grip, and actor Dave Grave, to aid me in making the magic happen. Written and produced by Michael O'Kelly.







These photos are of my creature design for "The Groon" and the staircase I photographed at Dave Grave's home. I then broke the staircase down into layers, so that Rich Goddard could more easily blend the puppets into the scene.

Working on the Ray Bradbury Odyssey: Part 2 (Mr. Electrico)

Mr. Electrico Demo from Christopher (Moonlight) Cooksey on Vimeo.


Ray Bradbury's story of how the carnival magician Mr. Electico sat in an electric chair and knighted him with an electric sword, was another very important part of the play. It is indeed the moment where the young stage actor playing Ray as a boy, stands before his projected image on stage, and is told "Live Forever." That's the name of the play, so we needed to get this right. The only problem was that all we had was a piece of green felt, some lights, an old aluminum lamp, and Dave Grave's (whom we got to step in as Mr. Electrico at the last minute) back patio to shoot the whole thing on. Again, I had Jeremy Hanes as my DP and Rich Goddard as my Effects Supervisor, who I worked with, using After Effects, to get the results you see above. The producers where happy.



I also created this mock carnival poster, for the show. Here are some photos from on set...




It's also worth mentioning that Jeremy Hanes was in charge recording the sounds of Malcolm McDowell, who read four poems by Mr. Bradbury, that aided in telling the story of his life.

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

Ray Bradbury Pitch-Viz

Early pitch-viz for the project Live Forever: The Ray Bradbury Odyssey. This was used to help producers get funding for the play. Special thanks to Rebecca Kim for the 3D work, and Rich Goddard, for the first lightning effect. The Ferris Wheel is a stop motion piece, set against green screen. The goblin is a puppet, designed and animated by me. Storyboards, also by me.

Ray Bradbury Ferris Wheel

Ferris Wheel for Live Forever: The Ray Bradbury Odyssey, written by Michael O'Kelly. Scene directed, and art directed by Christopher Moonlight. Composite and FX by Rich Goddard. Ferris Wheel model by Dave Grave. Lit and shot by Jeremy Hanes. Digital mat painting by Christopher Moonlight.

Ferris Wheel Shot Breakdown from Rich Goddard on Vimeo.