Crazy Chris's Most Sensantional Inspirational Celebrational Muppet-ational Replica FAN FILM PROJECT

[crazy chris]

Chris,

This is an interesting project. I've always wondered how long it would take for someone to make a Muppet Fan Film. Half thought about it myself but I have bigger projects on the forefront for now.

Some thoughts on your greenscreen. Obviously, somebody mentioned Kermit since you used his desk as one of the images. You will have to use another color for the chroma on that matte. Bunsen will probably also be an issue if he is the true chartreuse color of the original Muppet. Chroma (I'm sure know) will be able to pull some of his color if it's close. That why most all shades of the certain color can disappear when you use a chromakey backdrop. If it doesn't then you may still have issues with the outline of his features looking fuzzy (and not in a good way) against the background. Any color can be used to chromakey but green and blue are used primarily because they are farthest away from the color of human skin. You'll have to make adjustments accordingly and make sure you have strong rim lighting so they (the puppets) will show.

I don't want to sound like Debbie Downer but I opened up several of your images in After Effects to look at them. I don't know what resolution you plan to format the final film but at their current size, they look rough. They are pretty pixelated. The edges where you've created your matte really need to be feathered and adjusted to seem less harsh. If you make the final film frames smaller it will be less noticeable but there will be greatly diminished detail and the film quality then suffers. My prediction is if you use them as is, you are really going to have a lot of artifacts and traces of the matte left in the shots which will really make it look noticeable. Matching lighting looks like it may also be difficult.

To recreate these sets as CGI you will not be able to do it in illustrator. You will either have to use Lightwave, 3D Max, Maya, Cinema 4D or some other type of program that let's you create and render objects in three dimensions. The good news if you do it this way it lets you scale, move rotate the sets, camera, and lighting on all the objects you create. Then you can matte out what you need and create this you wouldn't be able to do on a practical set.

Again these are just my thoughts. While I am no expert I am in currently getting my BFA in Computer Animation, specifically, visual effects. Hopefully you will put together a strong team to help you pull it off.

Janice looks great btw!

Thanks so much for all the great advice!!

Just wanted to clarify a few things to help answer some of your points....

The mats shown are in the preliminary stages... i did not pursue feathering them all yet due to the fact that im not fully convinced this is the route i will go... ive put the word out and been in contact with many graphic artists and hope to come up with a different solution with a higher grade final product. But for now i am just trying to capture the images so that i have a portfolio ready when the time comes.

I would actually be quite happy if these exact backgrounds were traced and reformatted in illustrator (even if they kinda looked cartoony)..

This is an old friend of mines work all done in illustrator and possibly what i could use... he goes by the name MIAMI KAOS and he did a cover for me back when i was a mash up dj...

http://www.collegedj.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/miamikaos.jpeg

http://mixtapewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Miami-Kaos.jpg

and this is the cover for the cd he did for me...lol...please excuse the middle finger...

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/92/lab5504419a896f7452e5a9aj6.jpg/sr=1


.the images dont need to be 3d or have the ability to move with the camera....because my plan is to film everything with a still camera... i will probably even sand bag the tripod... then in post production add zooms and pans to the final product to sort of give life to it...

The reason the mats are green is because they are overlays.... the only thing i have to key is the image in the mat itself to overlay over an allready keyed video of our puppets... NOW... absolutely kermit will be filmed over blue... and bunsen will probably be built in a deep yellow to avoid issues... alot of scenes will be multiple composited performances done in front of appropriate colored screens.. like obviously zoot would be in front of green... etc...

The project is actually aimed towards being the missing "121st" episode of the muppet show... from the final season... aka "A show that only aired once and resulted in their cancelation...lol...hosted by a messenger named CRAZY CHRIS...cough cough...lol" So even though i made the judgement call to do it in widescreen... we may hope to try and achieve a really "70's" feel to the final product... meaning tweeking our final keyed images to be a bit dimmer and maybe a bit blurrier to match the backdrops... this may not be the path we choose but it is an option....

I am obsessive compulsive and will no doubt lose alot of sleep over the final product... so obviously i would love to have every background image flawless and in super high res.... but i simply dont know how to accomplish that given that they are screen grabs from a 70s tv show..... many of the shots u see are composites from 3 or 4 different screen grabs... and i feel lucky to even have them...lol

if ANYONE ....anyone at all has an answer to this delimna and would like to lend a hand or helpful advice please do so!! i may even be able to pay for the work in the future!

At the end of the day i realize this project may not be as pretty as i would want... but i hope that fans will appreciate the passion and effort that went into it...and that's all we can really ask...

cc

 

[ncchuck]

it might be easier just to go old school and build more simpler backgrounds than the 3d effects because really the whole focus will be on the muppets preforming and you would have less to worry about in post. and it would have more of a 70's feel to it being real.

 

[crazy chris]

it might be easier just to go old school and build more simpler backgrounds than the 3d effects because really the whole focus will be on the muppets preforming and you would have less to worry about in post. and it would have more of a 70's feel to it being real.

yeah i definitely dont want to take away from the puppets and the puppeteering... and i dont want the background to stand out (for being too awful or being too extravegant)

sadly building even the simplist of sets is costly... espescially because it has to be built high in the air for the puppeteering...so everything below whats shown on camera is added expense just to raise it 2 or 3 feet... theres also the space rental and size needed for that space in order to not only house the sets... but build them...over a period of weeks... thus meaning added rent and time

its tricky...and though part of me would love to build these awesome sets... part of me wonders if the end product would have just as much heart and love with simple unobtrusive green screen mats...

i hope fans of the project will understand that this is nothing but an act of love on my part.... THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of dollars are going into the puppets alone... then lighting... software and other technology will only add a couple thousand on top....

cc

 

[ncchuck]

i never ment to imply it was easy or cheap to do this i understand i was just shooting my mouth off sorry about that. no hard feelings i hope

 

[crazy chris]

i never ment to imply it was easy or cheap to do this i understand i was just shooting my mouth off sorry about that. no hard feelings i hope

HAHAHA NO WAY MAN.... im sorry if i came off defensive... i was just shooting the breeze and explaining the delimna we are in.... please feel free to speak openly and throw any and all ideas our way!!

I am an easy going guy ...trust me...lol...

cc

 

[ncchuck]

HAHAHA NO WAY MAN.... im sorry if i came off defensive... i was just shooting the breeze and explaining the delimna we are in.... please feel free to speak openly and throw any and all ideas our way!!

I am an easy going guy ...trust me...lol...

cc

thanks I honestly do wish you all the luck cant wait to see this finished

 

[WhoBuddieZ]

Instead of building the sets real high in the air….maybe we can do what I do with my live shows….I use those doctor's chairs you find in the doctor's office…you know…the round, hydraulic ones on wheels….that way the sets can be a bit lower…the puppeteers can adjust their stools to match heights (instead of wearing platform shoes like they did on the Muppet show…AND the puppeteers would be mobile because of the wheels….well..that's what I use for my shows….I dunno…*shrug*

 

[crazy chris]

Instead of building the sets real high in the air….maybe we can do what I do with my live shows….I use those doctor's chairs you find in the doctor's office…you know…the round, hydraulic ones on wheels….that way the sets can be a bit lower…the puppeteers can adjust their stools to match heights (instead of wearing platform shoes like they did on the Muppet show…AND the puppeteers would be mobile because of the wheels….well..that's what I use for my shows….I dunno…*shrug*

COOL IDEA!! ive seen those pretty cheap at hobby lobby!!

or even better... BYOC!! Bring your own chair...LOLOL

cc

 

[WhoBuddieZ]

I have two!

 

[crazy chris]

**BLOG UPDATE ALERT**

New green screen backgrounds added!

http://muppetshowproject.blogspot.com/2013/02/several-new-green-screen-backgrounds.html

cc