Ski To Sea

Big Bellingham Event

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Last week, Bellingham hosted the Jr Ski to Sea race. Grade schoolers, middle schoolers and high schoolers each compete in respective races. There's soccer dribbling, biking around Lake Whatcom, a tiny bit of running and an obstacle course!

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A week later, always on Memorial Day weekend, the adult Ski to Sea kicks it into full gear. 82.5 miles of physical goodness. It starts off with 4 miles of cross-country skiing, about 3 miles of 'downhill' skiing, running, canoing, 2 types of biking and the last leg, sea kayaking. It's a HUGE event for Bellingham and probably the event of the year. It's bigger than 4th of July!

3 years ago, I made the trip to B'ham for the 1st time since college (well, not really, but THIS was a special time) to meet my-now wife, Emi Onozawa-Hughes. At that time, she lived on Grant Street but moved about a year later. Anyway, it was our first date and Kody even came along too! So in a way, it's a special event for us because we got to properly meet each other.

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We got up and I made vanilla pancakes. It would have been vanilla blueberry pancakes but the blueberries were used up the morning before in smoothies! After that, we chilled until Thomas got up from his usual morning nap. Then we drove down to the Boundary Bay area, parked and walked our way in to where all the action was (in Fairhaven). But I have to digress here and talk about something else kinda special.

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Our next door neighbor, Mike, was on a team. He was taking care of the downhill skiing portion. Last nite, they had a party. We were invited but with my parents here, we didn't bother coming over. When they left, I ran over there to say HI and to wish Mike g'luck. It turns out that one of the team members I've known since I was, oh, 8, was there! Tim Snyder.

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We swam together on the View Ridge Swim Team (a summer swim league at the local, member-only pool). Tim's got about 4 yrs on me but while we swam each summer, I was able to swim on the Roosevelt team with him. (he was a senior, i was a freshmen) After HS, he went to Western where I visited when I was a senior because I was planning on going there. I'm sure there were other people I could have visited and they could have showed me around, but Tim was a friend of the family. So I hooked up with him for a day; visited his classes and checked out his apt. We (as in the family) knew he was majoring in Poli-Sci and had even done an internship in DC. After he graduated, I never knew what happened to him.

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So last nite, I ran into him. Being the socially-inept doof I am, I didn't ask what he was doing now and the usual questions. He WAS just leaving the party and I was able to find out that he was living in Seattle. Tim's always been a nice guy and very sociable and well, he was a role model for me. HE asked how my parents were doing, y'know? The next day, I was able to get it out of Mike that Tim got a masters degree in PoliSci and a teaching degree at Seattle University. Wow. And the kicker? He's teaching at Eckstein middle school.

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I managed 2 years there, while he went thru the usual public school system. It's a trip to know he's working there because a gal named Emily Stone (her father was Mr. Stone, the 6th grade science teacher) also works there. Emily was on the View Ridge Swim Team AND lifguarded with Tim (but not me, 4 yrs later). As a sidenote, one of my old bosses at Trader Joes, Gertz, his wife works at Eckstein too. The world becomes smaller, yes?

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Back to Ski To Sea. We thought we left late and that a majority of the fastest kayakers must have already come in. It was 1pm or a tad after (race starts at 0830) and walking along the trail which has an open view of the bay, we saw no kayakers.

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One of the highlights for me is the old car show at Boulevard Park. That 1st year we went, I thought it was so cool. But now, it doesn't seem as if there are as many sweet cars. Yeah, there were a few that really stood out, but I question if the rain didn't stop MORE from coming out. I took a few pics. After smelling the hot dogs and taking pics, we moved on into Fairhaven. It's about 2 miles from downtown B'ham to Fairhaven. Now... Bellingham was dead. Empty. Void of life. Fairhaven was alive! Thousands of people checking out the booths and heading down to the finish line. We milled around for a short time, talked to Brenna (co-worker of Emi's) at her charity booth, and then walked down to the park where the sea kayakers finish.

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It was only a few minutes later when the 1st place kayaker showed up. From what I hear, he had about 2 minutes on the 2nd/3rd place competitors but it seemed longer. We stayed around for the top10 before heading out. Poor Thomas baby was getting tired. So we packed up with smiles on our faces, checked out the booths (but not the beer garden or the food booths in which the greek food's aroma was drifting our way...) in Fairhaven and then came back home. We left around 12pm and ended up back home around 5pm. It was a nice day, no rain and I signed up to try and win a... a... Some sort of car from the local classic rock station, KISM. It would be REALLY nice if I won, but I'm sure 100s of people signed up too. :(

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As for yesterday, my parents came up. Father and I rented a bunch of power tools to take care of some metal posts (that were used originally for cyclone fencing and then later on a shed) that were in the backyard (I had since taken down the shed). Father cut the posts down and then grinded the stubs. Father also edged our yard for us since we dont' have a proper edge. And this was ALL after Saturday's Ski To Sea parade! 2 hrs of local goodness, tho groups as far south as Marysville were in it! That nite, we had lovely Copper River Salmon. $20/lb salmon, known for its richness and flavor. (Course, King Salmon goes for more but that'll be later...)

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Until Next Time...

The Making-of "Transformation"
Chapter2
FEAR OF THE DARK
Part4


Part1 - Corridor construction
Part2 - The GI Joe RRTS
Part3 - Lobby construction

Today, part4, is about deleted scenes. Any dioist out there knows that even the shortest dio can end up with 2-3x as many shots as planned. Sometimes it's about getting the correct angle. Other times, it's trying to get the macro to work properly. Maybe the lighting is off. Maybe, just maybe, something isn't consistent (which is usually my problem along with the macro focus).

The first dio I ever did probably had over 1000 shots. The 5th chapter alone was broken into 2 parts and comprised over 150 shots. Back then, I was snapping them off faster, not having a clue how the camera actually worked! If the dio was around 1000 shots big, then imagine how many pics I actually took!

I've done several dios between "The Ultimate Weapon" and "Transformation". In a way, I am treat "Transformation" as my 1st dio. I finally have the resources to actually do a proper one. I have to use 2 photo programs to make it work. Arcsoft's Photostudio isn't too bad a program. It will freeze and then shut down if you ask too much of it. What do you expect from a product made back in '98? I resize there, change the original pics to grayscale, add film grain, etc. The 2 things it does NOT have are the abilities to insert shapes and word balloons. I had been making my own word balloons from the line tool (which often caused it to shut down before saving). We also have MS's PhotoIt. I only use it for printing and word balloons. I have yet to really figure out EVERYTHING in both programs. I use what I need and I learn what I need, y'know?

The 1st chapter of "Transformation" was very easy to shoot. The set wasn't that big. But in relation to sets that other people work on, it could be considered big. It could be 'built' on a desk or counter top if need be. It's portable and easy to break down. (HA! Finally found the pic that was supposed to be Part1 of Making-of.)

Chapter1 was fun. It was a sarcastic (maybe satirical) look at how Hasbro makes their GI Joe figures. Pop in an old figure into the Transformation Chamber, give it a whirl and out pops the next version! It worked on Snake Eyes, y'know? It worked on Rollbar too, but he came out as Hellfire, the Saw Viper. Being the mook I am, I left the end open-ended and decided I should continue on. I had all these wild ideas after Luke Ellison released his masterpiece of a dio.

Chapter2 was frustrating. It had MORE to do with the slowness to build the sets than shooting the pics or even getting the story straight in my head. I break every part into folders. If you read Fear of the Dark closely enough, everytime the black bars show up, it's a change in scene. In my case, it's another part/folder.

I think the corridor scene was the most involved of all the scenes. The lack of lighting made it incredibly difficult to get that 'right' shot. I had to throw away a lot of shots. Be it lack of focus, or inconsistency of story. I actually had to get rid of maybe 5 shots where the characters were in different places from scene to scene. That just didn't make sense. But there were a few scenes cut from the video sequences too.

I admit, there is a lot of jabber in my dio. More than I like, but it's helping get the story across. A lot of the scenes cut would have been ones with them jabbering. The scene below was cut. When I shoot the scenes, I'm usually winging it because the story is in my head. This would have been a scene of the crew getting ready to enter the body of the Cobra installation. Thing is, there would have been about 5-6 consistent frames of babbling.

So what it comes down to is this. Do I want several shots of the guys carrying on the conversation or do I shove the conversation into 1 frame and make it really wordy? Either way, it's a ton of dialogue and honestly, who wants to read a ton of it? The dio is supposed to be fast paced. *snaps fingers - snap/snap/snap/snap* There are places where it is supposed to slow down a tiny bit.

Chapter1 was practically a prologue. Chapter2 was supposed to set up the atmosphere and mood of the whole story. What were the Joes facing? What did they miss on the monitor? Some of the deleted scenes are thrown away simply because it doesn't mesh with the story, which can be different than scenes being inconsistent.

This particular shot, the Joes are out of order. When the sequence starts Footloose is point, not Bombstrike. It doesn't matter WHERE this shot would go, it is inconsistent. Of course, part of the problem might lie in the story itself. There are actually 2 sequences. 1 is the corridor that goes from the lobby to the body of the installation. The 2nd sequence is the from the door to the installation to Overkill's Lab. The whole lighting thing was testing my patience and I rushed thru it. In DOOM terms, there's a scene of the RRTS leaving the safety of the lobby, going thru a connecting corridor and then into the installation. The idea was supposed to be the same. If I had been smarter, I would have used different lighting for the 1st corridor and then the emergency red lighting for the 2nd. Oh well...

That should wrap it up for today.

Until Next Time...

The Making of "Transformation" Chapter 2
FEAR OF THE DARK
Part 3


Part1 discussed corridor construction. Part2 discussed the GI Joe team that went in. Today is part3 and I will discuss the construction of The Lobby.

I won't BS anyone here. The Lobby was an absolute headache. I had high hopes for it, but because of my lack of carpentry skills, I can only do so much. Plus, money was tight and I really had to work with what I had. Way back when, our friend Brenna was having a fence built. We ended up with all the 2x4s that were used as guides for the fence posts. So I had a ton of 2x4s sitting around. Plus, my father came up and installed a couple of shelves in a closet. The old shelves, made w/ what seems to be a really lame particle board, were discarded and kept by me.

The Lobby is made 90% of wood. This is actually in a pretty early stage. 2x4s make up the support pillars and part of the floor. You can't quite see it, but the 2nd level is sitting on a couple of 2x4s. I drilled 2 2x4s into the back of the support pillars (T-construction).
For the flooring, I used those discarded shelves. I used a dremel and cut a square U shape. Would I like to have done a rounded lobby? Yes, I would have. But like I mentioned, I don't know how. This whole process didn't come all out of my mind. I used the lobby from the movie Doom as my inspiration.

I know, I know, NOT quite the same thing. But I used it for reference. It would be during this particular phase that I started taking test shots to see how things would look when the occupied with figures. It was pretty cool but not finished enough to get a good idea. There was one little element that kept on bothering me. Would it be BIG enough? I would find it months later the answer to that.

Now, if you look hard enough, you can see that Beach Head is standing on something. That was the early stages of the steps/stairs. I bought 2 sets of steps so the Joes could walk right up to the raised floor. You can also see the basswood 'beams' I used for just about everything. Easy to cute, fairly inexpensive and it just adds little details here and there. They would also be used for guard rails. I used the figures to figure out the scale of things. The height of the guard rails, how tall the structure should be, distance between 1st and 2nd floors, etc.

So this is a shot where things are closer to being finished. Beams were added to the pillars to hide the screws. It also added a lil texture and color to an otherwise GRAY set. The stairs are finished with a tiny bit of dry brush to make the steps look a lil worn. I also built (out of basswood) 2 computer consoles. Unfortunately, they aren't working consoles. It would have been really cool to have light coming from them to help illuminate the area. The console downstairs would act as a... Errrrrr... whatever consoles do when you see them in movies.

Ok, so other than adding details and stuff, the last things to do were the walls and in theory, a ceiling. Because I wanted to just get Chapter2 done, I skipped the ceiling and skipped on 1 wall panel.

When I was doing the next test shots, I found that the set wasn't big enough. :( I added two more floor sections to make the set longer. If I took a pic of the 'small' set, the viewer could see the edges. Look closely and you can see the guard rail on the right side ends right at the wall, which also is the end of the set. Didn't quite work the way I wanted so using the trusty 2x4s, I created 2 more floor pieces. Foamboard was glued on top then painted gray like the rest of the set. As for the floor, it's the same idea as Overkill's Lab. 2 painted boards.

As for the walls, those were pretty easy, but time-consuming. The longest part of doing this was waiting for the paint to dry. Like the corridors, it's: measure, cut, paint, wait-to-dry, and add detail. Those too warped so there was a lot of bending of the foamboard to try and keep the straight. I added a 2nd door (it's red) just to make the set more interesting. For the most part, the walls are taped on. The backside of the lobby was set up so it's not 1 big wall piece, but several. Masking tape is everywhere, keeping the stuff standing. The left wall is taped on. You can't see a piece of tape that goes from the wall to the left pillar. As for the right side, it's not taped at all. I have 2 water bottles holding it up. The green towel is there to help keep out the light because where the walls meet were NOT cut straight. :(

Just for the record, I'm not into flash photography for the dios. So I try to use natural light when possible or a good old lamp. In this case, ALL that is illuminating the lobby is an overhead halogen clip-on desk lamp. Due to a bit of warping of the actual 2x4s, I had to tape a section to the table! Despite all the lil inaccuracies of the set, most of it can be fixed w/ a lil photo editing.

The final look of the set as seen in the dio? Take a look. Not once do you get to see the whole thing at once. Part of it is director's choice. Part of it has to do with what can be pictured properly w/o seeing all of the set's faults. Hope you enjoyed it!

Until next time...

The Making of "Transformation" Chapter2
FEAR OF THE DARK

Part 2

Yesterday, I discussed how the corridors were created. Today, I discuss the team that I used, how they were created (well, not how the figures were created, that's actually done in the 1st chapter of the dio), WHY they were created and the influence of the team.

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After watching the ultra cool movie DOOM, it totally changed my idea of how GI Joe should be set up. I've never been a big believer of GI Joe being the type of force that would just melee across the battlefield, tho that's what the cartoon tends to portray. I figure that smaller, specialized teams make more sense. As a kid, I didn't know better. But there was a point in the comic where I questioned just WHY certain characters were used for missions. Barefoot Quick Kick running around really didn't do much for me, y'know?

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I took a look at my Joe collection and formed a 7-man team that could work in any situation. The original 13-man GI Joe crew was great like that. They were trained for just about any situation. Series 2 brought in some speciality guys but it also departed from the uniform look that really sucked a lot of us kids into the toy. At the same time, the more distinctive outfits the characters wore, well, they weren't as outlandish as what would come 10 yrs later.

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I'm not the biggest customs guy. There's a whole community out there who likes to create their own characters and revamp established ones. I got into the whole frankensteining bug and came up with some decent stuff. Some good, some incredibly poor that they ended up in the garbage can. Out of the several I've done, 2 are most memorable. (but more importantly, I can 'play' with them. not all customs can be played with due to the paint applications)

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Lt. Graydon was created and since he had no role in my 'verse, I quickly came up with one. He became the leader of the RRTS (Rapid Response Tactical Squad). He hasn't found a decent codename yet. I figured if General Rey from the comic book doesn't have one, then Graydon doesn't either. In any case, I love the figure because he is incredibly usuable and he looks cool.

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In my JoeVerse, Hawk is the commander, Duke is the Field Commander, Flint is part of Rescue Ops, and Falcon is off doing his own thing. I would love to use Falcon but he is a part of the Jungle Strike Force. Graydon was the one officer who didn't have an actual command or role.

Stalker gets a spot for a few reasons. He's got a cool JvC figure, he's an eod guy, he can give advice to Graydon and he carries a big gun. That's right. I changed his specialty to heavy weapons. He carries a grenade launcher much like Poncho in Predator.

Gung Ho gets a shift in heavy weapons specialty too. Everyone probably remembers GH carrying a grenade launcher. That duty's been given to Stalker. GH gets the chaingun. And believe me, he doesn't mind!

Bombstrike. She's the newest of the crew in terms of both GI Joe and RRTS. She acts as the sniper of the team. Her best friend on the team is Gung Ho who she looks to for advice.

Snake Eyes is a commando w/ martial art and bladed weapon skills. His focus is infiltration and acting as scout.

Beach Head is the cheerleader of the team. That doesn't mean he's jumping up and down and doing cheers. He's the old war dog who pushes the crew forward when they want to turn and run. He also brings in a sense of reasoning and a kick-ass attitude.

Footloose provides a bit of light-heartedness to the team. He's a soldier and he knows it. His job is to follow orders and shoot bad guys. He adds extra firepower when needed.

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The other Joes on the team act as back-up or support for the RRTS. Any member can be replaced if one is already on assignment. ie; Snake Eyes can be replaced by another member if he's active in another team.

Until next time...

Making of "Transformation" Chapter2

"FEAR OF THE DARK"

Part 1

A few months back on Joedios.com, I posted a quick and lame making-of. It was to show how easy a set can be made using stuff from around the house. I don't have a picture of the set anymore. In any case, I used saline cans (for contact lenses), 2 pieces of wood, 8 Sigma6 weapon cases, a black art folder, a clip-on reading light and VenMax's Venomizer Chamber. Put together it kinda looks like this...

Don't bother to click on it. It won't lead you to the actual dio.

Anyway, let's move onto another element. Chapter2, "Fear of the Dark", was considerably bigger. Not only in characters and how many shots were used, but in terms of set and the scale of things. I won't cover everything in today's blog. So today, we'll examine walls, ceiling, lighting and corridor construction.

I'm a big fan of using wood for stuff. While it IS stronger, it is more expensive. I like my stuff to be sturdy. If it falls, I really don't want it to break. Using a wood floor helps keep it strong.
Building the lobby, it's almost all wood. But doing the corridors, I gave up on that idea. I had bought a bunch of wood pieces. I forget the exact dimensions, but when I cut them in half, it creates a perfect sized floor. (too small for the hanger, but it's what I used as the floor for Overkill's Lab.) If I take those pieces and line them up the long way, it becames a corridor. All you have to do is paint them whatever color you want and you multiple floor pieces.

The next step was to buy a bunch of L-brackets. These would help the walls stand on their own. (Mind you, this is all trial & error). The 1st corridor I built, I screwed in the brackets at the ends. That was a mistake because the foamboard I use for the walls warps after painting. (That would be why Luke Ellison uses paper on his and never paints the actual wall!) In any case, setting the L-brackets in a bit, you support the walls in a different spot.

The walls are made of foamboard. As long as you have a sharp blade, a t-bar and a metal ruler, you are good to go (give or take a pencil and measuring tape). The height and length of the walls are entirely up to you. I cut the length of the walls to equal how long the floor boards were. As for the height, that is dependent on what you need it for.

Looking at the above shot, you can see that the walls are really tall compared to a 3.75" figure. Frankly, I had a reason for doing that. I use a few figures for height comparisons. To give it a tiny bit of detailing, I added some basswood beams at the bottom. In the end, they were painted Boltgun Metal to offset the grayness of the set. I drew on the walls to make them look like the walls were constructed as panels.

Painting the walls probably wasnt' the best idea but I wanted the corridor sections to be uniform. I went to Lowes and had a couple of different grays made up for me. 1 paint scheme is dark (you'll see that in the lobby) and the other is light (like this one). The foamboard will warp. To keep the walls straighter, I made slight folds on the backside. You can see the creases in the 2nd pic. If you do it gently, you dont' see the folds on the inside, but only the outer.

To stand the walls up, I used masking tape. Good old masking tape. Better than duct tape in these instances because I can cut the tape and break them down. (see 2nd pic) BTW, that's a corner piece you see in the 2nd shot.

The ceiling, while fairly easy, was an absolute headache. You'd think all you have to do is cut out a piece and put it on top of the structure. HA! I cut my ceiling to be slightly bigger than the area it covers. Punch holes thru the top to put in the X-Mas lites and you are good to go. Luke had suggested using masking tape to help block out any residual light filtering in. Cuz face it, the cuts aren't entirely accurate so there are cracks and open areas between joining areas. I ended up putting a towel over the whole thing to block ANY light come in. :D

Now, you can't see it, but 1 of the ceiling sections has basswood beams around the lights. It runs the length of the ceiling. I did that because it would add texture and depth to an otherwise REALLY boring corridor. You MIGHT be able to spot it in Chapter2. If not, it's no biggie. It's just an analistic thing.

With my dio, the corridors are supposed to be dark. I wanted that Doom/Aliens feel. I love how they change up the lighting and there is very little of it. I tried using a row of blue x-mas lites but it was still too dark. I tried red and it wasn't the right color. Yellow. No. Magenta worked best in the end. Shooting the pics was incredibly difficult. If I remove the ceiling panel, light comes in, right? It turns out that the x-mas lites weren't bright enough. So I took extra string and shoved in the lights around the camera or near the figures. When doing the finished shot, I cut the x-mas lite(s) out. And yes, I would literally hold the camera in one hand and the string of lights in the other to get it right.

So there you have a finished shot. You can just make out the beams running along the ceiling around the lites. I don't remember the specifics on HOW I did the scene. I most likely have a light or two in my hand, directed toward the crew in the pic. Amazing how something so bland can turn into this!

I have 4 sections; 1 has an elbow.
Long section = 24" x 11.25" x 8"
Short section = 18" x 12" x 8"
(Height varies between 7.5-8")

Until next time.

MAKE IT SO

We had quite a busy weekend. The Jr Ski to Sea on Saturday morning and then our friend, Dawn, came up to visit for a couple o days. It was good to see her. Neither of us have seen her much since she lives in Renton and we live in Bellingham. Emi and her went to Big Rock Garden to stroll around. When they returned home, we all ran off to Cold Mountain Nursery. Emi is all about plants. I'm getting there. I like fiddling with the garden and making things look neat. Sometimes pretty, but I'm a guy so it has to look 'cool'. We strolled around, took a hard look at Maple Trees (Japanese maples...) and Emi bought me a Bleeding Heart. :D I've been wanting one but I always seem to forget because the Black Mondo Grasses tend to beckon me when I'm in a garden section.

I also worked on my dio. My dio, "Transformation" is broken down into Chapters. Chapter1 is self-titled. Chapter2 is "Fear of the Dark". Chapter3 will be "Hell Is From Here To Eternity". Yes, those are Iron Maiden titles! ;) So a regular dio of mine is broken into chapters and published at different times. Each chapter is made up of parts, or on the computer, folders. The 1st part was actually shot when dealing w/ Ch2! Somewhere along the storyline, it didn't quite fit into Ch2 so I shoved it into the next chapter. I shot 3 parts for Ch3 with 2 more to go! And tho I shot 3 parts, they only go into 2 folders. Sometimes, I slam it all together into 1 folder so I can view the story easier thru the filmstrip option. The video sequence, while getting it's own folder, is later retitled and shoved into the main story. I make it sound MORE convoluted than it really is. It all makes sense in my head.

So I'm quickly going thru the 3rd part (Overkill's Lab part2). Then there'll be (another) short corridor sequence and then onto the finale.

What's funny is that I KNOW what's happening in the story as well as what WILL happen. But the viewers, they dont' know! I forget that in Ch2, they NEVER see what they are fighting. In a way, it's a set-up of atmosphere and tension for Ch3. Yes, I meant it to be that way, but I didn't 'tease' the audience enough in terms of what the Joes and Cobra end up fighting. When Chapter3 starts, it starts off with a faster bang than Star Wars Ep3! Not as pretty of course, but the 'hanger sequence' is 80% action. And the action continues on until the Joes can get back to the safety of Overkill's Lab. ;)





It's back to work on that. It's looking pretty tight and I'm still pulling out shots that either dont' fit or drag it on. And I *think* I have an ending.

Until next time!

Today was the Junior Ski to Sea race. The Ski to Sea race is a huuuuuuge event in Bellingham. There are various adult divisions. Running, skiing, biking and I don't quite remember what else make up the adult race. Their's takes hours. But the kiddies, it's a tad shorter. There are several divisions; moreso than just elementary, middle school and high school. Kody and his team, the Peeps, took 3rd place for the co-ed (aka mixed). He did the soccer dribbling. It was very cool. Thomas and I just made it in time too. We had to park at another lot and hike our way in. Which wasn't bad. I needed the exercise. I took a few pics here and there and plenty of Baby Thomas as well. :D

So a bunch of pics there (including a video of Kody doing his part in the race). Then it was back home. What makes TODAY worthy is that I got my lazy booty in the garage and actually shot more of my dio. I actually shot 3 parts today. The corridor sequence (which I have it labeled as Hanger to Overkill's Lab Corridor), the Lab (aka Overkill's Lab or Overkill's Chamber or just plain old Chamber), and then another video-like sequence. The video sequence (not actually a video, just resembles one...) stars Ghost Bear and Overkill and will cover where the monsters are coming from. Well, kind of. Anyway, it felt good to get that under my belt. I am in the process of transferring the images to the computer.

The biggest headache so far has been the corridor/hallway scenes. I am using magenta x-mas lights to light the thing but they just aren't bright enough. So I have to use extra lights (not placed in the ceiling) and w/ 1 hand, take the picture and w/ the other hand, try to light the figures up a bit better. Very tedious process. Especially when there are 3 sections to the corridor!!!

In the test shots of the corridor, the hallway looks really big. Probably bigger than it should AND that it doesn't quite convey that horrific claustrophobic effect I wanted. However, there's a reason why the corridor is as big as it is. After then Hanger sequence, the Joes have to get back to the Lab... Anyway...

There is a sequel already in the works. It'll play a little bit more with the current story, but I think it will go on its own course. As it stands, a very short sequence has been shot of LowLight and Bombstrike on the run from a pack of Saw Vipers. Any Joe fan would automatically assume the 2 snipers would have no problem taking out 3 Saw Vipers. But in my Joe 'verse, the Saw Vipers are clones. The source material was a GI Joe named Rollbar. That means the Saw Vipers are smarter than the average, uh, Cobra trooper running around. Besides, the snipers can hide all they want, but what happens when the Saw Vipers are more than willing to blow a place apart? Doesn't make hiding work quite as well.

Anyway... We have a friend coming tonite. She'll sleep over and then Emi and her will have fun hanging out tomorrow. It's a big deal that she is coming. Big for HER because... Let's just say it's a huge step forward in dealing w/ anxiety and stress.

Until next time...

My 1st blog and what should I write about?

(Uhmmmm, I'm a GI Joe fan)

My dio, of course. Available over on JoeDebriefed.com, the dio "Transformation" is slowly being unveiled. Chapter1 was finished and posted around January and Chapter2 was completed this month! It seemed to have taken forever to do. It's not the story that was the problem. I'm always good at getting stuff started, it's the finishing I am poor at. In this case, Chapter3 is in the works.

As I was trying to convey, Chapter2 took so long because I was building the sets. Technically, it should have been quick but due to money constraints and me being slow, well... Let's just say I like to let the paint dry for days. But as it stands, all the sets are ready for Chapter3, I just need to get my butt in the garage and shoot it. Give or take figure out an ending.

Check out Chapter1!http://www.joedebriefed.com/modules...ry&storyid=1226

Check out Chapter2!http://www.joedebriefed.com/modules...ry&storyid=1258

Hopefully, I can wrap up the story by late June/early July. It's all dependent on when Wave4 is released.

G