Journal
July 24 2014
One of the top animators who's been working on the project opts to continue schooling in USA. Great news for him but another obstacle for completing the film. On other news, I will be presenting the Air Miles production pipeline during the Asia Animation Forum in Korea in October.
May 10 2014
Walk cycles of the dog and girl are complete. Personality of the dog is exaggerated and definitely inspired by my interactions with my mom's dogs.
April 10 2014
Progress on the film is slowing now that the studio has picked up more work. They also hired a number of new staff so training them will take additional effort from the rest of the team. The animatic is being reworked by adding a couple of more shots and fixing some screen direction issues.
March 17 2014
The 2D sequence of the girl and her hero is exceeding my expectations. It has a fluid feel that will complement the live action CG.
March 8 2014
Rigging is almost complete for all characters.
Feb 26 2014
One of the first images of the shot film with the 2 main characters overlooking BKK from Above 11.
Feb 10 2014
The gun modeled in 3D. The orange tip helps keep it playful. .
Feb 9 2014
The Hero character. Doesn't seem to have the same aesthetic as the drawings however. His design is similar to Ralph in Wreck it Ralph
Feb 8 2014
Having too much fun, this is a prop added to the short.
Feb 6 2014
Early logo designs for the marketing of the film Trying to incorporate one of the design motifs from the heroine character but it makes Miles a bit difficult to read.
Feb 4 2014
The lighting and rendering team matching up the 2D and 3D assets beautifully from various locations.
Chinatown
Asiatique:
The studio
Feb 6 2014
Reworking the story with storyboard artist Pong.
Feb 4 2014
The final 3D model of the dog. Made him look more like a pill to simplify his silhoutte. .
A bigger shot of the dog in the studio environment in scene 1, which is also my desk
Feb 3 2014
Every dog needs a ball, and this ball might just be what we need to drive the story?
His facial range for the film will be passed on to the rigger so he can create blendshapes accordingly
A few additional sketches. Think Inspector Gadget dog!
Jan 31 2014
In the studio, they're fast away creating expression sheets for the rigger.
Her gun and the different charging colors
Jan 30 2014
Really looking forward to this day/night of shooting. We'll go to Above 11, one of the most beautiful spots to see the skyline of Bangkok before heading to the touristy Asiatique, an outdoor mall full of cute things.
The imagination 2D sequence. Having it done in 2D separates the dream and reality. It's also a homage to 2D.
Jan 29 2014
Another evening of shoots. It's always a race against the clock since the golden hour is more like a half hour.Traffic is horrific around 5pm too.
And in the office, more design comes from preproduction, this being the sewer she gets herself into, in Chinatown.
Jan 28 2014
Our live actor for the film. It's a perfect time in Chinatown since it's Chinese new year and the lanterns are up!
Jan 28 2014
The final design of the hero. My recommendations on its design were lost through a game with 'rock, papers, scissors' with Tun
Jan 27 2014
The heroine character is fully rigged. Some great poses by Ray, a senior animation supervisor.
Jan 23 2014
More stuff is being piled up. Some prop for the top of the car as the Suzie cruises around town. Which do you like?
More color character designs. There's no escaping the Thai design influence in everything that's produced.
Jan 22 2014
X modeling the female character. Love his inspiration on top of his monitor!
And in preproduction, the villians of the film to create a part 2? Oh oh.
Jan 21 2014
Another attempt on the male character now that the female is finalized and these designs are working a lot better. Since he's not a major focus, he can sit on the preproduction table a bit longer.
Jan 14 2014
The female character is officially the main character. Her design is aesthetically working compared to the male design.
Jan 13 2014
The dog was added for comic humor. He's just too cute to cut out but makes production longer. We'll see how this goes!
I mention that the black might be tough to create contrast between the character and some of the night shots, so they try a gray version. The green on the top needs to have repetition on the bottom somewhere too.
Jan 9 2014
Color styles for our dog. He must also complement the other characters so the accent color is essential to create cohesion.
Another artist attempts to remix the girl character
Thought it would be epic to have the male character be a symbol of a strong predator animal and astronaut, but it isn't really working.
Jan 7 2014
Another design for the male, which I think is working but lacks a unique style.
Jan 4 2014
The girl and her gun. The gun needs be a weapon but in a non threatening way. It's quite versatile and she can shoot blasts to hyper jump
Jan 4 2014
Each of the designers got a chance to hear our genre, story and character profiles before designing. We're leaning towards a female hero driving the story. Here's Pong's designs.
Jeow's designs
Jan 4 2014
Early storyboards by Pong. Lots of great drawings and his additions to the story is a welcomed suprirse.
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Jan 4 2014
Each shooting day is designed with this approach to limit the number of possible errors while avoiding traffic and determine lighting situations. This day however is special, as we'll be going around Bangkok by boat.
Getting ready for the boat, it's just the 2 of us as we'll be out getting B roll footage.
Some of the interesting cultural differences in Thailand. Here's a ferry to cross one of the river channels.
Some of the iconic locations in Bangkok we've been shooting in. One of the other problems we've been faced with is the Shutdown Bangkok protests going on. This has made it difficult to get the shots we want since protestors are camping out on our locations.
Dec 26 2013
Another trip with Tun allowed us to do some scouting and decide where to shoot. We made some friends along the way too.
Dec 21 2013
A staff retreat allowed me to get to know some of the artists and understand their personality and cultural make up. This was instrumental in figuring out what makes them tick.
Dec 20 2013
RIFF Studio Christmas party .... they had to buy a gift and draw a photo of their secret Santa. Some of the drawings were amazing! 
Dec 11 2013
Brainstormed some ideas with Tun on the story, from genre to design. My push to make it a love adventure story went through.
Nov 8 2013
Chatted with Tun about another visit to Thailand. He mentions it would be a good project for me to direct a short film with his studio, which I agree to. We also briefly decide on creating a live action 3D film which would be a new type of project for him.